{working on a picture, will be in chapter comments}
Human Calendar Year 2531, February 5th - The Burning of Harvest
A thousand years… A THOUSAND YEARS! The covenant has stood! Through wars and tribulations… through death and betrayal! In that time we have learned much of our gods…of their ascension! And of their tools! We're so close now! I can feel it in my bones! But… If it wasn't for those demons… of their imps! We may have already reached Nirvana!
Countless arbiters have already given up their lives for this! Yet... Major Faze… you ask me if it was right to burn the human world of harvest? A world that sheltered our greatest enemy? Who I remind you, has desecrated "their" holy relics, with their filthy hands!
{yes, shipmaster… the humans have desecrated our gods' relics, but even so, they have fought well, and by right should be given a chance to join us in covenant!}
[major… Faze… am I sensing this right… are you gaining a heart for these… abominations!] screamed the shipmaster as he pointed to the image of a demon on his monitor, while Harvest burned in the backdrops of the bridge's windows.
{no! My shipmaster... it's just that, by right, they should be given this chance, as we have given it to all who have proven themselves. Also, should we not prioritize protecting the relics left behind? Isn't glassing the world a direct violation of that?
[proven? What have these… things… proven? Sigh... Major Faze, listen I know you're overjoyed to have just received your promotion, but still, it is not up to us to question the hierarchs commands! They wish this world to brun and thus it shall burn, so, I suggest if you ever want to make it to shipmaster, that you put away those feelings... Faze… after all... The covenant has no room for more brutes!] replied the shipmaster as alarms rang through the bridges of his ships as it registered a slip space disturbance!
Human calendar year 2560
[so, you survived by receiving the help of halflings, interesting… but more impressive is your luck in surviving the trap itself… though you did lose all but one of your elites….]
{luck… Huh…. I guess so, but Admiral, was it by fate's luck that I had to choose between two options…}
[hmm? What two options are you referring to?]
Human Calendar Year 2552
Within the dark underground, and above their heads, were ghosts, and screams of war danced in tune, Major Faze stared at the back of the children, while they walked through the shaking tunnels, knowing he was going to ask their parents to come on a mission where they would likely die!
But word needed to get out, and Faze knew it, but at the same time, and even though it was an honor to die, it was such a shame for it to be by this… but what is, is what it is, and so, Faze continued to put such feeling down.
But while he walked in the back, Ykan grew restless at the front, as his mind raced with words he could only describe as mocking him in shame! For the actions he took, that got so many of his brothers killed! Their blood phasing in and out like an illusion on his hands drove him mad! If not for the kids at his back he may have already ended his own life in shame! His sword glowing… nay! Demanding it at his waist!
The kids could feel it, even if they didn't know why, but they all recognized an elite that wished for death! As they were all accustomed to seeing it…hearing it… through rights and customs… through prayer chambers and stories by their elders… it was because of this, that the children kept a sizeable distance from Ykan, they dared not even speak to him in fear it may spur him on, though in the background… the sons… already acknowledge his choice… as it was his to make and his alone.
But with an eerie awkwardness that hung in the air, the tunnels vibrated a subtle buzzing sound! Stopping everyone, Ykan stared hard into the tunnels as the power cycled again! The lights going out in rows one by one as they did before! With that dark silence, Faze made his way to the front and looked at Ykan.
With a head nod, Faze gestured to Ykan with a finger to his lips as they continued to listen very carefully… Buzzz…
[There! That sound… it can't be right major… tell me what I'm thinking is wrong!]
[BUZZ, BUZZ!]
{Shit! Ykan you're not wrong… that sound could have only come from them! Drones!}
[but how! I thought they couldn't make it to this side! The walls and system…just how did they do it?]
{grr… it was probably those dam brutes! They must have offered them a better deal than what we could!}
[A better deal? But what could the brutes possibly have to offer to get their queens to agree to this?]
{HA… with brute intelligence, I could only imagine one possibility!}
[such as?]
{well, as you said "What could they have to offer the queens" Well… their lives for one!}
[Vile beast!]
{To that I agree Ykan!}
[humm... So what's the plan then? Because if that growing sound isn't an indicator of them approaching then I don't know what is!]
To Ykan's words, Faze simply smiled as he pointed at his active camo unit. Confused for a moment, Ykan was about to ask, when Faze placed a finger to his lips. He then gestured to the kids to hide.
With them hidden but two, and their combat harness glowing like little stars in the dark tunnels, the drones buzzed like mindless creatures… observing them with their multifaceted eyes, in armor that glowed green with highlights of blue!
Twisted and turning, their bodies moved like puppets on a string, as they spotted in the dark, the two children hiding away in the back! Communicating to each other in the language of the drones, they charged their plasma pistols as they stormed to the children! Their sudden plasma charge lighting the tunnels in green. As they fired them! Two twin green stars flew past Faze and Ykan, passed the other children…
Hitting the two right as they armored locked! Lighting up the tunnel in green and blue, with the suddenty of the light, the drone in the back didn't see the bayonet as it tore through his back! With blood and a scream, the drone tried to flee, but Ykan wasn't so merciful!
With an invisible hand, Ykan grabbed the Drone by the neck and forced the bayonet deeper through his back! But even then the drone would not die…
[stubborn bug! Just die!] yelled Ykan as he slammed the drone to the floor, tearing it free from his bayonet, just so he could then jab it right through its head!
Looking up from the dead drone, Ykan looked up to see Faze deactivate his cloaking, and with a hand gesture continued on their way. The children said nothing as they passed the dead drones but one, a female elite, who for some reason just stared for a minute at a dead drone that had a pink crystal in its head!
During the fighting, she had seen this thing about to slam into her, but before it could even touch her, Faze shot it in the head! A clean and quick kill, not as showboating as what Ykan had done to his target, while the males of her generation preferred how Ykan did things, with brutality and blood, she found the way Faze did it to be more… respectable… silent, and quick…
[major, if there two…]
{I know, Ykan… we need to hurry! Before these tunnels become flooded with these bugs!}
But having said that and to the pair's disappointment, as the light cycled back on, they could hear, that all around them in the tunnel system… The sounds of countless bugs as they stormed every sub-section!
Hearing them coming, and knowing two kids could not hide, Faze sighed as he turned to the kids to swap back their devices. As the kids cloaked again, Faze and Ykan stood their ground with a smile, as the bugs swarmed the turn!
With words passed in a bug's language, they opened fire! With needlers and plasma bolts, Faze scoffed as he armored locked and absorbed them! While Ykan laughed as he unloaded a clip of brute shots! Bouncing off the walls and through the gunfire, they exploded into the group of drones! Sending shards of metal through their fragile shells! Blowing limbs and chunks of flesh, raining blood, and painting the tunnel walls!
After emptying his clip, Ykan needed to reload, but the bugs were in numbers far too many, and not giving him the chance. So instead he chose to swap places with Faze! Armor locking and absorbing the next bout of bugs! As Faze snipes each bug with such precision and accuracy, that the female elite in the back, coated in red and black skin and scales, a rarity for their species, couldn't help but watch in amazement! Even as she stared at her own carbine weapon…
[teach me!] asked the female elite on her knees to the major. Much to his surprise at the suddenty of it.
Staring at the young teenage girl in front of him, Faze couldn't help but ask:
{have you not learned from your house battle master?}
[I… have not, as my family is not a noble one, so we do not have a "battle master" so I only received training from a distant relative. As even all our family's uncles have passed on to the great journey.
{I see, but know this young one, as a female you can't inherit the title or position of a warrior... You do understand this, yes?}
[I do, but still… I wish to fight!] replied the female elite with stern determination.
Studying her further, Faze took notice of her strange scale tone and thought through squinted eyes:
{what a strong gaze, but that color scheme… A mutant? No… from a lineage far too old? Forgotten maybe?}
Lost in thought for a moment, Faze didn't seem to notice the growing awkward atmosphere as the young Sangheili kept her stare. Even Ykan began to side-eye his major…
[sir, now is not the time to…]
{Quiet Ykan!} interrupted Faze quickly, as he turned his attention back to the youngling in front of him.
{child what is your name... your full name…}
Confused why the Faze asked such a question, but knowing she needed to answer quickly, she stated:
[my name is… Layla'Lafum…]
{Layla'Lafum…hmm… What a strange name…}
[Yes, my mother told me it's a word my father learned while fighting humans… though she didn't go into detail as to why that name was so important to my father… only that, during the fighting… he saw something that rekindled his own honor…]
{I see…well your strange name aside, I don't mind teaching you somewhat if you can prove your worth my time anyway… }
[And how major... Do I do that?]
{ha… Simple! Is that gun you're holding just for show? Come now youngling, show me what you can do! Join us in the next battle!}
[hey! What about us? We would like a chance to prove ourselves too!] screamed others within the group.
Hearing their protest, Ykan shook his head as he thought of complicated things, and stood up to say:
[Quiet! Younglings! And listen! The major does not have the time to teach you all, and now is not the time to be acting your age! In case you forgot this is not a game! So shut it and follow me, I may not be as skilled at the major here but I am still better than you all!]
Visible upset but knowing any further protest would be dishonorable, the males in the group quieted down and followed after Ykan, while the other females asked Layla:
[are you sure about this... Layla… were not meant to be warriors…]
[I know, but I… don't want to hide... Anymore… I don't want to watch my keep be destroyed again… surely you understand that… right?]
[...]
With silence as her answer, while a nightmarish scene played inside Layla's friend's mind, the group's short reprieve came to an end! Together they raced through the tunnels, till Ykan smelled something… stopping abruptly. Ykan took another whiff…
[sir is that…]
{waste waters!}
[great… let's just hope it's the non-polluted kind…]
Shaking his head at his junior words, as if they were a curse, the group found themselves in just that! A polluted cesspool of filth!
[Great and with only one way across to...]
{hey, it's your fault…}
Unable to refute his Major words, Ykan looked over the edge of the tunnel entrance, to see hundreds of sleeping drones! How they could withstand the smell alone, Ykan had no idea, but overlooking the bridge, he saw a strange set of sleeping drones…
[Master Faze, what are those? Their bug skin is silver…] asked Layla through her scope.
{those... Layla are Drone ultras.}
[ultras… Do you mean like our own class of ranking?]
{yes, but if they're here then…}
[then a hiveward must be close as well…] replied Ykan cutting in.
[oh! Ummm, excuse my ignorance but what's a Hiveward?]
{sigh, youngling, you still have much to learn still! They're basically like royal guards to the queens and or general to the rest of the bugs!}
[then… if they're that dangerous can't we just snipe them from here?]
{no! Younglings, like us, they're also equipped with energy shields! And by the time we can disrupt them, well already be dead… No! I'm thinking that this time instead of fighting we're going to have to walk through them...quietly}
[But Major…]
{I know Ykan, we don't have enough cloaking devices for all of us, which means the two of us will just have to walk extra quietly… let's go!}
Heading down the gravity lift, and into the cesspits, going down one at a time, the lift suddenly malfunctioned as the power cycled off again! Trapping one youngling as he fell midway! Lucky for him and the rest, Ykan was about to catch him just before he slammed into the floor! But the sudden subtle noise sent a silent vibration through the tunnels, causing all the bugs to stir! Just a little, only enough to cause the closest one to twitch for a moment!
As everyone made a sigh of relief, Faze stared ahead at the bridge… to see the early stages of a hive! Knowing what that inclines, Faze thought to himself:
{we need to hurry!}