Sorry for the delay, I've been through a period where I haven't really been into the Haloverse, mostly due to Reach ruining it for me. Reading Halo: Cryptum has made me fall in love with Halo again and has also given me some great ideas for this. So, hopefully chapters will be more frequent. May - July will be quiet though, exam period. Thanks for reading, as always, and putting up with my sporadic updates. [b]Part 26 - Skirmishes, and reflections[/b] "Admiral, my warriors are dying!" Zharn shouted at the distraught old man, who had just entered his quarters with a distracted look on his face. Cole looked at Zharn, and for the first time he really saw him. Not as a prisoner of war who was a valuable asset. As an Elite. As the Covenant. The enemy. The Admiral strode forward, raised his fist and struck the bound Sangheili across the face. Zharn reeled back. The blow did not truly hurt from one so old, but was shocking nonetheless. Cole had never quite lost control like this. "Cole--" Zharn began, his words suddenly cut off as the Admiral's hand grasped his throat and begin to squeeze in a surprisingly powerful way. The Sangheili's eyes bulged as the carotid arteries in his neck were gripped as if by a vice. "I've got a mutiny on my hands here!" Cole yelled, his eyes two lasers burning through the dimly lit room. "I don't give a damn about you bastards! Let them be killed for all I care." Zharn managed to get out a few words, and said: "If they are, then my warriors still on the surface... shall hear of it, and your people yet to be evacuated shall die." It was a petty, vindictive thing to say with no honour, but did what Zharn had hoped it would. The wildfire in the Admiral's eyes died a little, and his hand finally relaxed. "There is nothing I can do, for now. My other ships are moving in, and with their help we'll stop this... many of your people will still die, though. It is not my fault, or the fault of our people in your custody below." Cole told him, and he almost seemed to be pleading. His worry for his people had evaporated his pride and aloof attitude. "You humans are all the same," Zharn recited the words he had spoken countless times before after seeing acts such as these. "Savages." Cole laughed sardonically at that. "We're not the ones who raze planets and kill billions of innocent men, women... and children. You even murder the children, you sick bastards." "You would do the same, had you the chance," Zharn growled back, fists clenching. A haunted look dawned in Cole's eyes, and he shook his head. "No," he told the Sangheili in grave tones. "We wouldn't. Now will you have my people killed out of spite, or will you do the right thing for once in your wretched life?" Zharn glared up at the Admiral with fire, before snatching the receiver linking to Covenant warriors waiting for hourly confirmation from Zharn that they should continue to allow the captive humans they had to go free. "[i]Noble Ultra, we have received word that our brothers are being killed up there. Should we slaughter the humans as recompense?[/i]" [i]Click.[/i] The sound of a weapon being levelled at Zharn sounded through the room, and the Sangheili knew that if he did not continue with the evacuation of the humans his life would be forfeit. Some choice. Even if he had one though, Zharn believed he would reach the same decision. "No! We shall not stoop to their level. Continue to allow them to go free," Zharn commanded, shutting his eyes and thinking of the Covenant on board the [i]Everest[/i] being effectively lynched as he spoke. [i]Killing the humans out of vengeance will not halt the mutiny, however. It would worsen it.[/i] "[i]I do not believe the Council will sympathise with your choices, if you do not mind me giving voice to my opinions, noble one.[/i]" The Sangheili receiving his orders spoke in the common Covenant tongue. "I shall answer to the council," Zharn replied likewise in his native language, masking from Cole knowledge of the Council. "Do as I command, major. Responsibility shall fall on my shoulders and mine alone." "[I]... understood. Stay safe, Zharn.[/i] The connection was cut, and Cole snatched the communications device from Zharn's manacled hands. He nodded gratefully. "Thank you... this mutiny will not go unpunished, if that means anything to you," the Admiral added, catching Zharn by surprise. He chose his words with care. "We Sangheili believe blood is sacred above all things. To draw blood unprovoked is the greatest offence imaginable. You have done this. I shall not forget, Cole. One day, if you stay true to your word and allow me to leave, we shall face each other on the battlefield as equals, and you will pay for what has transpired here." Cole smirked, opening the door at the end of the room and preparing to go back to the ship's turmoil-stricken bridge. "Your words reflect truer on yourselves, Elite." The door closed behind him, leaving Zharn all alone in the night. He stared solemnly out of the room's large window, down at Eridanus II below and the UNSC ships orbiting it. The wrecks of the Covenant occupation Cole's fleet had ruined still hung in space, like a chandelier in the diamond fortresses of Sangheilios. [i]Ahkrin... you better not be caught up in all this.[/i] * * * Ahkrin was very much caught up in it all, unfortunately. The Unggoy had never been much a species for stealth, with a tendency to breathe loudly through their methane respirators when under duress. And Orpheus' sheer weight made sneaking for him impossible. A group of marines guarding the elevator leading up to the bridge had heard them, and now Ahkrin found himself in a situation he loathed; a direct confrontation. No shadows to conceal, no advantage of surprise to be had. Zharn was the warrior, not he. The special operations Sangheili could handle a rifle fairly well, but even Sorran with his limited experience had almost been able to match him in that regard. If darkness pervaded the room and the element of surprise, Ahkrin could sneak past an entire army to assassinate their leader; indeed, he had done so before, ending the dissent of a colony of Lekgolo before it had truly started. That achievement had earned him ascendancy to spec-ops. But when gunfire was battering the air inches away from his body, as he huddled behind an unpleasantly small crate, with his shields at minimum strength level... well, it wasn't an ideal situation he found himself in. And to make matters worse, the Unggoy were panicking. Four of them had already been slain by the constant assault of the humans, in their superior numbers. "Keep it up, marines!" a slightly old human wearing dark glasses, a green flat-cap and an officer's insignia bellowed from behind the stock of his own M5K Carbine as he let round loose. Ahkrin ducked out of cover to try and take a shot at him, and instead found himself on the receiving end of a bullet. It embedded heavily in his right shoulder, tearing sinew and flesh gruesomely. His armour thankfully sealed the wound in seconds, but the pain remained. Ten more seconds, and the gunfire was far outweighing the plasma fire. Orpheus had established a blockade at the foot of the stairs which he now cowered behind, occasionally firing over it with hands unaccustomed to the grip of a plasma repeater. Ahkrin could tell he longed for a spiker rifle, or any of the other barbaric weapons the Jiralhanae favoured. The humans were pushing forward slowly. "Ahkrin, we need to pull back!" Orpheus roared. Ahkrin didn't even consider the suggestion for a second, shaking his head. "No! Zharn is up there! And whilst the humans keep him captive they have succinct leverage over our warriors below. And what would we pull back to, pray tell? A mutinying lynch mob baying for the blood that flows in our veins? Nay, Orpheus! We must grab our leader and find a way off this troubled ship." "What of the other Covenant?" Orpheus yelled back over the fire. Ahkrin adopted a stony expression. "It is too late for them. We must escape ourselves, and honour their sacrifices in future battles." "[i]Sacrifices?[/i] By the gods, Ahkrin, they're being thrown out of airlocks like decommissioned parts! We cannot permit such sacrilegious deaths." Ahkrin agreed... but there was nothing that could be done. He then turned away quickly, grabbing a steel knife he'd stowed in his belt and holding it by the sharp, tapered blade, marvelling at the simple beauty of its sheening, keen edge. They didn't make tools like this in the Covenant now, it was all magnetically shaped plasma. He stared at his reflection for an instant, before poking out of cover, aligning his target and hurling it at a soldier. The weapon struck him in the unprotected part of his neck, bringing death instantly. Another man caught him, staring with wide eyes as the now-crimson blade sticking out from his neck. "Are you defying my orders, Jiralhanae?" Ahkrin demanded lividly as he ducked back down, 'pulling rank,' as the humans liked to say. A cloud crossed the large Brute's face, and left behind a resigned expression of despondency. "No, Ahkrin. But how--" [i]Bang![/i] The shot missed Orpheus' face by mere centimetres, and he instantly went a shade or two lighter, ducking further down as he fired a few more warning shots. Another Unggoy made a break for better cover and was gunned down, thrown backwards against the wall where it slid down, plastering the metal with copper-rich blood. "We'll have to storm them," Ahkrin answered the Jiralhanae's unfinished question. There was silence aside from the constant battering of weapons being fired, before Orpheus finally roared over the turmoil: