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The Plot Thickens
Posted By: Lance Johnson<jett_mann@msn.com>
Date: 28 April 2004, 6:36 PM


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Huri walked through the hallways of the cartographer, watching and waiting. He heard footsteps approaching. He knew it had to be the green armored human. He prepared to fight, but when he reached for his rifle, it wasn't there. His sword was gone as well.

The human rounded the corner and raised his own weapon. Huri reached for his shield activator, but it was gone. He had no defenses! The projectiles hit him squarely in the chest; he felt his life give way.

Huri shot out of his bed, sweat poured from his forehead. He slammed his head on the bars above his bunk. He roared in pain. Zayap jumped up, he looked bewildered, but it was normal now.

Huri had been having strange nightmares ever since they got back to his home on the moon of High Charity, the covenant homeworld. Zayap ran through the hallways to Huri's room. He walked in and woke his master quickly.

"Sir! Wake up, it is the same dream!"

Huri shot up; cold sweat was evident on his body. He grabbed his sword, but didn't activate it.

"The same dream, for five nights I have had the same dream."
"I can't explain it. But it seems that ever since the ring was destroyed, you haven't had a restful nights sleep."

Huri hadn't had a good nights sleep in eighteen cycles. He was starting to show signs of fatigue, even through his great stamina.

"This has to stop, I have tried everything."

Huri sat up; he walked slowly down a flight of stairs to Zayap's lounge room, the one the grunt sits in while he meditates in his concentration room. But he hadn't been able to properly meditate since the ordeal with the Osoona on the Sovereign Shield.

The hunter, named Larel, walked into the room. He started work as Huri's assistant with Zayap ever since they got back to Huri's lavish home on the moon. But Huri couldn't be counseled or helped in his ordeal with sleep.

"Is it the same dream, Zayap?"
"Yeah, I can't explain it, but he seems to be getting worse. He had a cold sweat this morning."
"Master Furomee, the prophets have summoned you."

Huri splashed some water onto his face and neck; it felt cool, settling him down. He sighed, then clicked his mandibles. Walking to his armory he put on his armor.

"I will be going alone, you two stay here and do, whatever it is you do."

Huri stepped into the waiting dropship and was gone in a micro-cycle.

It took a cycle to reach the temple. He was soon in the presence of eight high prophets; one of them was his Do'Sheem, the prophet he was an Osoona to. They all stared at him; the others must have never seen such a massive elite.

The doors closed. Four brutes showed themselves from the shadows.

"Osoona Huri' Furomee, you have been tasked with a mission of utmost importance. But to see if you are ready, you will face a brute in hand-to-hand combat."

Huri felt like he was hit by an overcharged plasma pistol. A brute was likely stronger than even him, and had much more stamina than he did now.

"We will decide if you are ready for the mission, you may begin now."

A brute roared, then charged at him. He scanned the brute, it was in the wrong position for such an attack, it had lowered its arms, and a knee into the chest could disable it enough to finish it.

The brute was about to barrel into Huri when he side-stepped quickly, then kneed the brute with all of his might. It coughed, then squelched a roar. Huri didn't wait for it to recover; he slammed a fist into its skull, then a sidekick into the knee.

The brute doubled over, but recovered and attacked. It was to slow; it missed its attack and ran right into Huri's fist. But the brute pulled a gorilla smack over Huri's side. He fell backwards, but flipped back up, slamming into the brute with a flying kick.

The brute was launched across the room, it slammed into the wall on the far side, it didn't move again.

"Very good Osoona, you have pleased us, return to your home, we will call you again when we are ready for you."

Huri bowed, then walked out of the room. Once outside the temple he fell to his knees, he hurt all over, he couldn't walk very well, and he had broken ribs from the slap the brute gave him.

He looked up in time to see two creeps float past. He had heard that in an invasion of a human colony, the covenant had taken prisoners for sport later. He squinted; the creeps had humans in them.

"What, human children?!"
"Yes, we captured them from the station orbiting the human world" A new voice said.

Huri slowly looked behind him, there was a ship master, but this one was familiar.

"Zuka' Goramee, why human children?"
"They are so much simpler to capture and break; they won't be killed, just made to serve."

Huri snarled under his breathe, something he did often. He didn't agree.

"If I may ask, would I be entitled to a human servant, I have only two servants at my home already."
"I can arrange it" the master then turned and walked off, heels clicking on the metal floor of the street.

Huri made it home, then flopped onto the sitting device he had built. It resembled a device the humans called a "chair". He rested, thinking about the humans he saw riding in the creeps. They had been chained and were obviously frightened. They seemed older than most human children he had seen in holovids.

Soon he had his ribs mended and bandaged. He seemed to feel more relaxed, maybe fighting helped calm his nerves more than he thought. Soon, a dropship was heard approaching his personal hanger bay. He was rich, even for an Osoona, so he could afford a hanger.

Two red elites jumped off, towing a human teenager behind them. It was a male, but he seemed unafraid of Huri's hulking form.

"That will be all, unchain him and leave."
"Yes Osoona."

The elites took the chains, then stepped onto the dropship quickly. Huri looked the human over. He seemed to know what happened, and knew that fighting was no way to win here. Huri could speak the human's language quite well, so he tried talking to it.

"What is your name?"

The human didn't even look at him, just stayed quiet.

"I asked you a question, you will answer."
"Aaron" it said finally.

Huri looked at him again. Aaron was well built; he even had muscles showing under his ragged clothes.

"Follow me Aaron."

Huri turned and walked back into his home. The human followed slowly, rubbing his wrists. Huri looked at him, he seemed distant, and afraid, but neither showed very well.

"What happened at your home?"

Aaron again said nothing, but did look at Huri, with tear filled eyes.

"Did they kill your family?"

He simply nodded.

"I understand, I am Huri' Furomee, you may call me whatever you see fit. I can keep you alive and protect you, but you must work as assistant to me."
"What does that mean?"

Huri turned, the human barely came up to his waist, so it seemed tiny to him.

"It means you will follow me, and learn the ways to stay alive. The covenant do not particularly like the humans, but I am not a normal covenant member. Avoid jackals at all costs though."

Aaron showed Huri slash marks on his back that jackals had given him. Zayap walked into the room.

"Is that him, sir?"
"Yes, but if you do know his language, use it, it will help him be more comfortable here."

The grunts face twisted, a sign of confusion.

"You human, you help master now?"

Aaron nodded.

"Good, more help for Zayap, follow me, new clothes you need."

Aaron's eyebrows raised, he looked at his own clothes, they had been torn by the jackal's claws. He also had cuts along his body from the rough aliens.

"Come, come, this way."

Aaron finally complied, but he moved very slowly, taking in this new environment. Once he had been given clothes, he also was given the job of keeping Huri's armor in tip-top shape. He seemed happy with it.

"I used to help my father shine his armor, it isn't that different, other than the fact you're a lot bigger than he was."
"I just need it shined by the next cycle."

Aaron looked confused.

"What's a cycle? Is that like a day?"

Huri looked at the human carefully.

"What do you use for time? A cycle is one revolution of this moon around High Charity."
"We use days, one revolution of our planet."
"One cycle is half a day then."
"Then I have lots of time."

By the time Huri returned from successful meditation, his armor had a bright sheen on it. Aaron looked winded, but no longer looked afraid; he seemed content with his work as well.

"I used some old fashioned shine my dad taught me, it worked great."
"It looks fine, thank you."

Huri donned the armor and was soon on his way to the high prophets.

"Osoona Huri' Furomee, we know you now have a human servant in your home, is this true."
"Yes Excellency, he is my Hek'Row. I am glad for the extra help."
"Then you may do as you wish with the human."

The prophet clicked his claw. Another human appeared, and gave the prophet a data pad.

"Your mission is to infiltrate the human facility near Founding Resolution. You must find a certain human and bring him back. The use of lethal force is permitted."
"Yes Excellency, I will leave next cycle."
"Very well Osoona, leave us now."

Huri turned, and left. He got home during the night. He found Larel sitting in a special chair made for him. He was watching the human.

"He found a sleeping area; I wanted to make sure he didn't get into trouble."
"I don't think he will, it isn't logical for him too."
"He fell asleep quickly, but he keeps tossing around on that bunk."
"Just make sure he doesn't go anywhere when I leave."

Larel huffed twice.

Huri grabbed his two rifles, his swords, and his extra shield generator and loaded up onto his personal dropship, and blasted off during the night.

The next morning Zayap screamed when he saw the human, then remembered why he was there.

"It will take me long time to get used to human here."
"You just need some confidence."
"You hunters have loads of it, can I have some?"

The hunter made huffing noises, their way of laughing. Huri was soon inside the human facility, it took him almost a cycle to maneuver his thrustpack towards the massive station.

Once on board he activated his active camouflage. He slinked through the halls, trying not to make any noise. He finally made it to a computer; he soon found the location of the human.

He made his way into the reactor room, it had many humans, all running to and fro. It was not like a covenant engine room, which was more organized. He found a terminal for data transfers; he slipped a data chip into it and began downloading.

He then found the human, a scientist. He knocked the small man out, and pulled his body towards the airlock he had come in through. An alarm suddenly sounded. Huri flashed his shields on, then pulled a deactivated sword from his pouch.

After storing the human, he went back for his data chip. He retrieved it, but he suddenly felt his back being hammered by something. He looked and saw marines wearing special head coverings. They allowed the humans to see him.

He pulled out his rifles and returned fire, but hit only the walls.

"Out of range."

He ran towards the door, trying to get out. But the door would not open. He cut through it with his sword. After reaching the airlock, he activated the dropships homing device. It shot up to the station, and before the humans could fire on it, he was long gone.

The human was given a sedative to keep him from waking. Soon, Huri had delivered the human, who in fact was a covenant spy in disguise. The data was transferred to the prophets, and Huri was on his way home again. This time with a full twenty cycles before he would be needed again.

Once he stepped out on the hanger floor, he heard Zayap yelling something. He rushed in to see the human; Aaron wearing one of Zayap's breathing masks. Zayap was trying to retrieve it, but the human was very fast.

Huri couldn't help but laugh at the antics Aaron had caused. When Aaron saw Huri, he immediately grabbed a special tool and began to unlock the heavy armor from Huri's body.

Zayap grabbed his extra mask and put it back into his quarters.

"Human to mischievous for Zayap's taste."

The armor around Huri's arms and chest were removed with care. The human must have studied his extra suit to learn how to take it apart.

"So, what did you do?"
"I retrieved a covenant from an installation, he wasn't very careful, and would likely been killed if I hadn't recovered him in time."
"Ah, cool."

Huri looked side-ways at the human.

"What does temperature have anything to do with, anything?"
"It's something us humans say when we think something is interesting, I guess you guys don't have anything like it."
"No, we don't."

Huri was finally out of the bulky armor, and sat onto his chair.

"So, you got a TV?"
"What is a, TV?"
"You don't know what a TV is?!"
"No, I don't."
"Man, that would be way too hard to explain. Its entertainment."
"I have Zayap for entertainment, when that becomes a bore, I use this."

Huri lifted a small remote device, and pushed a holo-pad. The wall on the far side of the room disappeared to reveal his holo-panel screen.

"Sweet, a TV!!"
"If that is what you call it, yes, it is a TV."

Aaron pulled out a small device, then pulled out a disc. He flipped the disc into the device and pushed two nodes into his ears. Huri suddenly heard sounds coming from the device.

"What is that?"
"Huh?"
"That, what is that?"
"What did you say?"

Huri pulled one of the nodes out his ear and yelled.

"WHAT IS THIS?!"
"Oh, it's a music player, I pop a memory disc into it and it plays music, here, listen."
"This will not fit into my ears" I said, looking at the nodes.
"Then just hold it up to them."

He pushed a button on the device, and the loudest sounds the elite had ever heard were emitted from the nodes. Huri dropped them, holding his ears.

"Oops, sorry, to high."

He gave them back, and Huri slowly held them up again, this time it wasn't too loud to handle. It was a strange mix of instruments.

"What is it called?"
"Flip music, I love it."

Huri stared at it.

"We don't have such music here, he do have chimes though."
"Chimes, wow, old stuff."

Huri gave Aaron the remote device. He called it the "clicker", which Huri didn't understand. Huri began to meditate in his concentration room. He thought about the covenant policy.

"No prisoners."

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed wrong. The covenant almost never take prisoners, when they do they are dead before the next cycle starts. This child was spared, along with the others that were with him. It seemed so wrong. If the prophets say that the humans are evil, why use them as servants.

Huri stood up and donned his armor. He then climbed into his dropship and flew off towards High Charity. He walked into the high prophet's chamber without even announcing himself.

"What is the meaning of this Osoona?!"
"What has changed, why take prisoners to serve us. It goes against all you have held from the Forerunners, as you have said. Why allow me a human servant?"

The prophets looked at one another.

"We have implanted each human with listening beacons. We believe there are those in the covenant that do not obey the wishes of the Forerunners. The humans will serve their purpose then will be executed in the central square. Kill by their own masters. That means you Osoona; you will have to be the one to execute the human you have acquired."
"Why?"
"Because it is the will of the Forerunners!"

The prophets all looked squarely at Huri. He snapped his mandibles shut; few talked back to the prophets and lived. He didn't want to kill the human, but would have to if he was to live.

"You have been challenged by another elite, one who wishes to avenge his brother, the one named Demi. You will be here next cycle."

Huri's eyes widened, few elites chose revenge. He would not relish this fight.

Soon, he was in his home, preparing for the fight.

Aaron walked over to Zayap.

"What is he doing?"
"He getting ready for fight for honor, someone want to fight him. He always wins."
"Why fight against another alien?"
"Because, way of honor in elites, they never turn down fight. Have no honor without fighting."
"If he wins, what happens to the other guy?"
"Master Huri kill other, done it many times. We watch on holo-panel. It be big news, revenge fight."
"Who wants revenge?"
"Challenger, want revenge on master Huri for killing brother in honor fight. Master Huri win this fight and have much honor."

Aaron looked bewildered; he had never known the covenant fought each other just as much as they fought humans.

Soon they were watching the fight. Huri towered above the other elite, but the other elite was very fast. The fight took a full half-cycle. But soon, Huri snapped the neck of the challenger and the fight was over.

"Has Huri ever lost?"
"No, he would be dead if lost, never lose."

Once Huri was home he walked up to Zayap, Larel, and Aaron.

"I am going on assignment. You are all coming because it is a full-time assignment. We will leave on the cruiser Towering Cross. It will take us to a planet were the covenant have attacked, and besieged the world. The humans are putting up an amazing fight. I am needed to record the battles."

Aaron showed a slight smile. Once on board the cruiser, the crew stared at Huri's human servant. Several jackals attempted to slash at him, but were met with Aaron's strong fist.

"Fight for yourself, good, do not let them attack you without retribution."
"They just piss me off, that's all."

Once in Huri's quarters, Aaron began buffing the Elite's armor. It was his favorite work because it took less time than the other jobs, like cleaning the armor. Huri was in a small room, meditating. He soon came out and put his armor on.

"I am going to the bridge; do not leave this room without Larel. Lock the door if it makes you more comfortable."

Huri walked out and the door shut behind him. Aaron quickly hit the holo-pad that locked the door. Larel walked out of his own room, wearing his armor, and making the shuffling noise he always makes.

"What do you think of the jackals, Larel, do they bother you too?"
"I step on jackal if it gets in my way."

Aaron laughed.

"And I'm sure you could."

The hunter huffed his comply. Huri stepped onto the bridge. The ship master looked at him crossly.

"Why do you bring a human onto my ship?"
"It is my servant, and he is not to be harmed."

The gold armored elite snarled, then returned to his duties on the control station. In Huri's quarters, Aaron looked around, Larel and Zayap had left to attend to other duties. He touched his right arm; it opened like a control panel. He tapped onto a keypad in his arm. A picture of a human face appeared.

"General, I have infiltrated the covenant and am ready to initiate phase two."
"Very good seven one, you have a go for phase two."

Aaron, or seven two opened his chest; it contained robotic components and wires, tubes, and such. Androids all have fail-safes, but Aarons was no ordinary fail-safe. Contained inside his armor plating was a forty-five megaton nuclear warhead.





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