Part 2 (1/2)

IN ORBIT, METISETTE, 23 LIBRAE.

Thel grumbled happily. They'd taken the Kig-Yar shuttle out farther away from the Rubble, slowly scanning the area until they'd found a larger Kig-Yar transport s.h.i.+p on its way to Metisette.They boarded it, fast and quick, before the few Kig-Yar on board had even realized what had happened.On board were several hundred Unggoy. The Kig-Yar had been in charge, but didn't have the numbers to run their own s.h.i.+ps. Now the Kig-Yar were dead.But the Unggoy had run the s.h.i.+p for the Kig-Yar. That made them useful. They were willing to work for Thel and his crew, or so the cowering Unggoy Deacon said as Thel stood on the purple-stained bridge. ”It would be the Prophets' will,” the Deacon yelped.”It would be,” Thel said from behind the Unggoy. ”We are on a direct mission from a Hierarch.”The Unggoy waddled about, s.h.i.+fting its mouthpiece, to face Thel. It looked up and spread its arms out. ”I do not question. I serve. That is our fate,” it moaned.Thel couldn't care less for Unggoy self-pity. ”Tell your crew this s.h.i.+p flies where we command, or we will slaughter every last one of you. Saal will go down to engineering and watch over you. Veer will roam the corridors.”Veer growled, and the Unggoy backed up. ”Sirs! We will do our s.h.i.+p duties! Doubt us not.”Thel turned to Veer and Saal. ”Be wary. The slightest notion the Unggoy are playing games, hold nothing back.”Veer and Saal grunted affirmatively and walked out of the c.o.c.kpit.The deacon turned to go, but Thel held up a hand, and the Unggoy froze.”What is down there, Unggoy?” Thel asked. He pointed at the image of the planet on a screen at the front of the c.o.c.kpit.It was Metisette. Its sickly, yellow-orange-colored atmosphere swirled; thick, cold storms lashed the icy surface.The Unggoy stared at them, saying nothing.Thel turned back to the screen and folded his arms. ”Zhar, my closest advisor, didn't want to come here. He wanted to turn this transport right around to attack the Kig-Yar s.h.i.+p docked by the humans, and take that right back to High Charity High Charity so we could warn the prophets about the Jiralhanae treason.” so we could warn the prophets about the Jiralhanae treason.””A n.o.ble choice,” the Unggoy said.”It is not,” Thel said. ”We were captured, and jailed. When we return, we will be lucky if we hold our t.i.tles, if not our very names.” names.” The Unggoy trembled at Thel's anger. ”What is your name, Deacon?” The Unggoy trembled at Thel's anger. ”What is your name, Deacon?””Pipit,” the Unggoy replied.Thel folded his arms. ”Pipit, one of my ancestors, a kaidon of Vadam, lost a war to one of the keep's bitter rivals. The new kaidon put my ancestor in the cellars, jails where the defeated were left in the most dishonorable manner imaginable. They were fed sc.r.a.ps, and visited by the invaders to be mocked and laughed at. The most honorable among the jailed killed themselves or each other.”The kaidon escaped after weeks of starving. He had become so thin he could pull himself through the bars of his window looking out over the Vadam keep cliffs. He scaled the cliff, and swam down the river, all the way to the valley.”The kaidon walked for many days, eating vermin and sc.r.a.ps, becoming lower than low, until he came into the vast deserts that lie in the interior of all our lands. And out there, after wandering for many years, built his strength, his hardness, and made allies from other wanderers. They were the least of the least, yes, but with a will to fight, and a will to live no matter the odds.”With this new tribe, my ancestor returned to Vadam keep and scaled the walls. He killed his enemies all, throwing their bodies to the river. It is said that it ran purple with blood for a week. And when the kaidon was done killing his enemies, he opened the jails and killed the Vadam who had been cowardly enough to remain alive in them. That was my kaidon. That is Vadam. Vadam. Our blood was forged in the desert, confirmed in the keep that day, and purified through Kaidon Ther's experiences. So it is carved on the Vadam saga wall.” Our blood was forged in the desert, confirmed in the keep that day, and purified through Kaidon Ther's experiences. So it is carved on the Vadam saga wall.”Thel looked over at Zhar, who asked, ”s.h.i.+pmaster, do you have a point to retelling a stanza of your family's saga?”Thel sat down in the s.h.i.+pmaster's chair at the center of the c.o.c.kpit. ”I can hardly turn my back on my lineage, can I, Zhar? I will not return to High Charity High Charity with a lost s.h.i.+p, knowing we were locked up by Kig-Yar, and little knowledge of what is happening here. I would be no better than the jailed Sangheili that Ther executed for being useless.” with a lost s.h.i.+p, knowing we were locked up by Kig-Yar, and little knowledge of what is happening here. I would be no better than the jailed Sangheili that Ther executed for being useless.””It was a suggestion. An option,” Zhar said.”But it is not an option, as we are Sangheili.” Thel now turned back to Deacon Pipit. ”So you understand, Unggoy? We are here to stay. I ask you, again, what is on Metisette?””Dreams,” Pipit sighed.”Do not play word games,” Thel growled. ”Be plain.””When commanders need fighters, Unggoy are ordered to breed and expand. Then we die in great numbers. Unggoy, you all say: do this, do that. Some dream of free,” Pipit explained. ”And though we hate Kig-Yar, this one named Reth, high commander, says to those Unggoy that they can come to Metisette. Come, build a home. Help change this moon so it becomes a place you can live where the methane is free in all the air. Breed free.”Zhar started to laugh. ”And you believed this... Reth?”Pipit looked up, beady red eyes squinting in anger. ”Kig-Yar always betray, yes, but the opportunity...” The alien shrugged.Thel looked down at the fatalistic little alien. ”So Metisette has methane in the air that you can breathe.””A place for Unggoy,” Pipit said. ”A safe place, where we can live without interference, without controls on our population that are imposed from on high. Where we can walk around without these chafing harnesses and breathing tanks.””An Unggoy paradise,” Thel muttered. ”Where you can breed until you overrun the entire place.” The Unggoy were well-known to reproduce like mad. During peacetime the Prophets monitored their population closely; the Unggoy had never cared for that. And even though they hated the Kig-Yar, it made sense that the Unggoy had jumped at the chance in this strange sequence of events to gain a world of their own.Thel scratched his lower mandibles.Saal called Thel over the intercom. ”They have our infiltrator harness here,” he said. ”In their storage bay. The Kig-Yar stole it from our s.h.i.+p!”Thel stopped scratching as he thought about the news. ”We have a change of plans. Take the armor down to the Kig-Yar shuttle. Get the shuttle warmed up as well. We are going down.””Into that murk?” Zhar protested from nearby.”Yes. Zhar, the Prophets unleash the Unggoy to breed whenever there is a war; they stop mixing antibreeding hormones into the methane supplies. Now we have a renegade Kig-Yar breeding Unggoy. I think this 'Reth' is creating an army on the surface of Metisette for himself.””So we are going to see for ourselves?” Zhar snorted.”I want to talk to Reth,” Thel said simply.”Why?””If he is in charge of Metisette, he knows what is going on with the humans and the Kig-Yar working together. And he knows about the betrayal of the Tiralhanae. Reth knows things we need to know.””And he is surrounded by hundreds of Unggoy,” Zhar noted.The deacon cleared his throat. Thel turned to him, and Pipit said, ”Not hundreds.”Thel waited a moment. ”Thousands?”Pipit still bobbed his head. ”Tens of...” but already the alien had shaken its head again.”Hundreds?”Now Pipit nodded eagerly as Zhar swore.Reth had quite an army at his disposal. This would make getting to him a lot more difficult.But Thel smiled. ”We have our infiltrator harness back.” That gave them an edge. They were not just Sangheili, but well armed, well armored, and also invisible Sangheili.Like his ancestor Ther, the ancient kaidon, Thel would come back against great odds, swarming into the middle of his enemy before they even knew what had happened.”Get us ready, Zhar,” Thel ordered. ”We are going down there. Pipit, Veer will take over while we are gone; you will help him. Give us the coordinates to Reth. And if you deceive us, Veer will be here to make sure you suffer immediately for it.”Pipit nodded and, in a voice that seemed to crack, gave Zhar the necessary coordinates.”Thank you, Deacon.” Thel looked around. ”You will also need to have an Unggoy pilot meet us at the shuttle, Deacon. Talk to the Unggoy down there on Metisette, tell them you had an accident aboard, and need to be resupplied with methane for Unggoy to breathe.”With that done, Thel stalked off the bridge with Zhar close behind.”Three of us against hundreds of thousands of Unggoy,” Zhar said.”The little ones will cower with fear and run from us in floods,” Thel proclaimed as they thudded down the corridors.Zhar laughed. ”You are confident.””I am Sangheili,” Thel said. ”This is what we are.”

They crammed into the tiny shuttle. Spec ops armor lay on the benches where Unggoy would have lined up and sat. Now there was only one Unggoy, a terrified pilot who remained strapped in and staring at the Sangheili in terror.Thel felt the warmth that came to him when he had a direct plan. ”Take us down, Saal.”Once they'd broken through the worst of the deceleration in the upper atmosphere of Metisette, Thel unstrapped himself and walked back to don his spec ops armor, and helped Zhar with his. The shuttle shook and rattled its way through the thick atmosphere, but they remained balanced on their feet easily enough.Once suited up, Zhar flicked the armor on, and faded away into invisibility.”It works,” Thel said. Then tested his own.Zhar and Saal switched places. As Saal struggled into his armor alone and Zhar flew the shuttle in, Thel walked up to the edge of the c.o.c.kpit to look down.Nothing but thick orange clouds and haze-at least until they broke out under the clouds to fly over a jagged, ice-cold landscape whipped by constant storms.Zhar banked them slowly through the orange murk toward a ma.s.sive crater. As they flew across it the sides reached up like distant mountains, and Thel could see a ma.s.sive lake at its center.In the distance stood what looked like a keep, straddling a giant river of liquid that tumbled over the edge of the crater down to its floor. The keep was ramshackle, made out of parts of old, ruined s.h.i.+ps that had been rudely deorbited and landed near the lip of the immense waterfall.But it stood high with additions that had been built in between the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps' hulls, with tubes and domes that hung like carbuncles pocking the rock faces and rising above the river. Thel saw that it could house hundreds of thousands.Elevators ran down along the sides of the thousand feet of waterfall to structures around the giant lake.Metisette wasn't a world one could breath in. Its mostly nitrogen atmosphere would leave Sangheili, or Kig-Yar, or most races with nothing to breathe.The liquid on the very cold Metisette was methane. Thel watched as a stream of it fell off the lip of the crater. Methane mist hung strong in the air all throughout the natural valleys and low areas of the crater, thanks to the falls.”Giant reactors heat the land all around the crater,” the pilot spoke up, pride suddenly more powerful than its fear of the Sangheili. ”It makes more of the mists.”Zhar skimmed the lake and approached the falls. The shuttle hit the mists, and then rose up near the falls, pressing Thel against the seat.”We pop over the edge and land, Zhar,” Thel shouted. ”Make sure your armor is tight, Saal. It will give us air until we are inside the structure. If Reth is breathing and Kig-Yar are in there, then we will be okay.”If there is only methane, we go in as far as we can before coming back. Zhar stays with the shuttle, hiding, as this Unggoy has the other Unggoy load up our shuttle with tanks of methane.”Thel watched the remains of a large Kig-Yar merchant s.h.i.+p appear over the lip, and Zhar arced over it into a large landing area marked out in plasma-melted rock.As soon as the shuttle touched rock, the three Sangheili activated their camouflage and flickered and vanished. Zhar sat across from the Unggoy who was supposedly piloting the shuttle, and Thel and Saal jumped out the back of the shuttle.The Unggoy pilot had not lied-the land here was bitterly cold to Thel, but it was tolerable. Like an arctic waste. Not nearly as cold as the rest of the moon.Silent ghosts moving through the orange murk that hung in the air, they maneuvered across the field, keeping well clear of the Unggoy who waddled out across the landing pad toward the shuttle, barking and shouting in their language.Thel kept an easy lope going, covering the ground so fast that any Unggoy who noticed a wavering in the air would surely shake their heads and dismiss it as a trick of the light.They slipped in through a series of giant airlocks, where Unggoy still had to wear their harnesses and tanks.Thel looked around. ”This is Kig-Yar territory,” he whispered to Saal. It made sense that the lesser aliens were here in a re-purposed old s.h.i.+p, mounted near the lip of the falls. It made for a commanding view, because although the Unggoy felt like this was their world, Thel would imagine that the Kig-Yar saw it differently.Saal found a lone Unggoy, and an empty room in the back of what had once been the large hangar bays of the Kig-Yar s.h.i.+p.It didn't take long to get the Unggoy to give up the location of Reth.”The c.o.c.kpit room, at the very top.”Saal snapped the Unggoy's neck and they took the emergency maintenance tubes up through the s.h.i.+p. Thel panted heavily and his mandibles were wide open, his tongue flicking the air, by the time they arrived at the top.Four Kig-Yar guarded the c.o.c.kpit's doors, but two of them were looking out the windows down to the launch pad, bored, their plasma rifles slung over their backs.They never had a chance to turn and see what attacked them. The two Sangheili were in their midst in a split second, firing point-blank into their faces with their own plasma rifles.The other two Kig-Yar had a second to squall loudly before they met the same fate, and Thel blew the c.o.c.kpit doors apart with a grenade.Inside the carpeted, lavishly furnished room sat a single Kig-Yar, his large eyes staring at the s.h.i.+mmering flaws in the air before him. Thel shut his invisibility off.”Sangheili,” the Kig-Yar hissed. ”d.a.m.n you, what have you done? Do you know who you cross?””You are Reth?” Thel asked.”Yes,” the Kig-Yar said.”You let Unggoy breed without control. You pretend to be a voice of the Prophets here. You are a heretic.” Thel raised his plasma rifle and struck Reth in the head with it.”Pick him up,” Thel ordered Saal. ”Let us return to the shuttle.”A loud warble echoed across the corridors. Thel looked around. ”That sounded like an alarm.”Saal walked over to the front of the c.o.c.kpit, Reth slung casually over a shoulder. ”It is. We should call Zhar, have him fly up here. We can get outside onto the top and get him to pick us up there.”Thel stepped forward to stand next to Saal and looked down. Saal murmured into the air, talking to Zhar.”Zhar needs just a minute. Too many Unggoy inside the shuttle.”Hundreds of feet below in a courtyard formed from the superstructures of three or four mothballed s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps, thousands of Unggoy streamed out. The crowds ran to surround the building they were in.”They cannot enter,” Saal said. ”Almost all of them have no harnesses or air. The methane mists out there let them breathe. Where are their harnesses?”Thel looked at the unconscious Kig-Yar on Saal's shoulder.”The Kig-Yar either have not made them many, or are keeping them under lock and key.””But why?” Saal asked.”Because they cannot leave Metisette, or even attack this Kig-Yar structure in the center of their own keep, if they have no tanks.””Doesn't help us right now,” Saal said, looking at the quadrangle fill with Unggoy. ”Enough Unggoy seem to have harnesses to cause us us trouble.” trouble.”Thel turned and looked back down the corridor, hearing the sound of Unggoy screeches. ”It tells us who's really in charge of all this.””The Kig-Yar.”Thel looked back at Reth's limp form. ”Yes. That one in particular. Wake him up. We may have to put a gun to his head. What is Zhar's progress?”Saal c.o.c.ked his head, listening to an update from down below. ”Zhar is closing the ramp and warming the shuttle up.””The timing will be tight,” Thel said. He walked over to the doors with his plasma rifle up and ready. ”Be ready to blow the windows out when he gets airborne.””My honor,” Saal grunted. He set Reth down and slapped the Kig-Yar's face. ”Wake up,” the Sangheili zealot growled.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

ASUNCION HABITAT, INNER RUBBLE, 23 LIBRAE.

Keyes watched his people being herded toward gates. They huddled together and stared down at their feet as they moved forward. Men in gray uniforms, rifles slung at the ready, moved about the edges, pus.h.i.+ng the crew back into line toward the five checkpoints the rails led everyone toward.The Midsummer Night Midsummer Night had been docked with an asteroid. From the cargo bay they'd all been herded out at gunpoint, down a long corridor in the endcap of the habitat, and walked out into the interior. had been docked with an asteroid. From the cargo bay they'd all been herded out at gunpoint, down a long corridor in the endcap of the habitat, and walked out into the interior.But the tall rails, all enclosed in chicken wire with razor wire wrapped around that, effectively prevented them from walking out into the habitat until they'd pa.s.sed through five stations. Humorless-looking officials stood by small podiums in the stations with computer pads.”Stay single single file,” a guard shouted. file,” a guard shouted.The lines formed up, people jammed against each other, wondering what came next. They were face-to-face with the enemy: Insurrectionists.Captured.A woman in a black uniform with yellow trim walked up to a dais mounted over the gates. She brushed back a long lock of black hair, then folded her arms at the small of her back in a sort of parade rest.When she spoke her voice was amplified so that the entire crowd could hear her. ”Welcome to the habitat Asuncion,” the woman said.Keyes leaned back and looked up at the far side of the asteroid's interior, far on the other side from where he stood. Patches of gardens and trees could be seen. It was odd, seeing something almost pastoral in a megastructure like this.”And welcome to the Rubble,” the woman continued. ”My name is Maria Esquival. I am here to help orient you to your new situation.”Keyes was surrounded by his remaining bridge crew. Lt. Dante Kirtley had folded his arms and was watching the woman, but Junior Grade Rai Li checked out the crowded crew, looking worried.Behind Keyes loitered a handful of ODSTs, with Faison standing in their midst. He raised an eyebrow at Keyes.Maria Esquival continued her speech. ”After the destruction of Madrigal, as we escaped into the asteroids and rocks here, we had some very tough decisions to make about who we would become: refugees struggling to exist, fighting over sc.r.a.ps? Or a civilization?”We chose civilization. We worked hard to build the Rubble. We worked hard because we knew we had something to build. A world like nothing the UNSC has ever known, with its strict hierarchies and militaristic command.”Keyes looked over at Dante, who rolled his eyes. ”More Insurrectionist bulls.h.i.+t,” the comms specialist muttered.”Free of the trappings of being a colony, we reinvented ourselves from the ground up. The Rubble is a technocracy. All of its munic.i.p.al functions, all its laws, are voted on by our members. Some of us are Insurrectionist, some of us are refugees from Madrigal. Others are miners who were here from the beginning. Some are smugglers who made it here from the Inner Colonies. All are welcome.”We mean that. All are welcome to have the right to vote. This includes you, crew of the Midsummer Night Midsummer Night.”Esquival paused to let that sink in. In the crowd, Kirtley leaned back toward Keyes. ”They all vote on everything. Like even security? That'd be insane.””Because we believe in freedom, the Rubble invites you to join our democracy. You have a choice in what happens next to you. You can choose to turn your back on the imperialist nature of the UNSC. Many of you may have come from Outer Colonies. Colonies that fell to the alien Covenant while the UNSC took their time to enact methods of dealing with the aliens. Colonies that you know were not as well protected as they could have been, because the UNSC's loyalties are to Earth first, the Inner Colonies next, and the Outer Colonies last. Here in the Rubble, you are equal among all.”Rai Li sniffed. ”How many crew you think are going to buy that c.r.a.p?”Keyes looked out over the crowd of heads. How many crew were survivors of border colonies, or had family in the Outer Colonies?He thought of his sister for a second, a twinge of pain at the thought of her dying without UNSC protection, out there alone in the Outer Colonies.Or maybe, Keyes suddenly thought, maybe they'd survived. Just like the Rubble had.The idea captured him for a second, and then Keyes shook himself. No, he had to remember what the Covenant was really about. The Rubble was some strange anomaly...”Too many.” Keyes rubbed his jaw, thoughtfully. ”And can you blame them? We have no options. We're stuck out here. Behind the lines. They might as well start trying to find allies, figure out what the new game is. We're refugees, now.”His eyes burned. He hadn't slept since they'd been boarded, running from place to place to make sure things went smoothly.Now it was over.Everything was over.He'd read about POWs in past wars, unlucky b.a.s.t.a.r.ds who'd been the first shot out of the air and stuck in a camp for the length of a war.If he lived, he'd be one of those footnotes.Maria Esquival cleared her throat. ”But, as you are UNSC, and have a checkered background, there are some concessions that have to be made when integrating you into the population of the Rubble.”You will have to swallow a motion tracker, in the form of a pill. This will let the Rubble's AI monitor and track your location. You will have to report for counseling and you will be a.s.signed a case officer who will review the integration process. However these things are a small price to pay for your freedom.”Keyes wished he had his pipe to fiddle with. He had to leave it aboard the s.h.i.+p, along with any other personal effects or objects as they were moved to Asuncion.”Those of you who wish to become citizens, have only to ask when you reach Processing. You will be split off to a separate location. Those of you still loyal to the UNSC, who refuse the pill, we will, of course, be forced to jail you.”With that, Esquival turned around and left her perch. The large lines staggered forward.”A lot of them are asking for citizens.h.i.+p,” Faison said from behind Keyes.”Can't blame them,” Keyes said. ”One can understand what's going through their minds.””You're not going to do anything about it?” Faison asked.”We're trapped. We have nothing. What do you want me to do? They're doing the rational thing.”Faison grabbed Keyes by the shoulder. ”Either we're soldiers or we're not. Defeat or not, we should never forget that, Keyes.Give them a speech. Say something something to counteract all that, because whatever this is you're doing right now, this isn't leaders.h.i.+p. Where's the man who had us all jump out of that freighter?” to counteract all that, because whatever this is you're doing right now, this isn't leaders.h.i.+p. Where's the man who had us all jump out of that freighter?”Say something.Keyes cleared his throat, then jumped up onto the railing. He wobbled for a second. ”Crew of the Midsummer Night,” Midsummer Night,” he shouted. he shouted.The snaking line paused. And Keyes suddenly felt like a blank sheet of paper. Nothing came to him.Faison punched his s.h.i.+n, and Keyes sucked his breath in. ”Crew of the Midsummer Night, Midsummer Night, we have had a hard blow, I know. Some of you, after hearing all this, will have a hard choice to make. we have had a hard blow, I know. Some of you, after hearing all this, will have a hard choice to make.”Just know this. No matter who we are, or why we give our service, we all joined to fight a common enemy. The people here, although they fled the destruction of their own world, think that the Covenant can be allies. The same creatures that destroyed their world. I think this is an illusion. So I hope that you will, if the time ever comes, stand by my side again if the need calls for it. With no hard feelings. I will not be joining their citizenry. I remain ready to fight the Covenant and protect humanity, as I swore to do when I joined the fight. As did you all.”Keyes got back down.There was only silence. Rai Li finally shook her head. ”That was an awkward speech.””Doesn't matter,” Faison said. ”What mattered was that he gave it.” And Keyes knew he was right; he was stumbling toward being the leader they all wanted . . . and needed.Keyes grabbed Faison by the shoulder. ”By the way, why are so many ODSTs at the front of the line? They look like they're going to be citizens.”Faison nodded and looked Keyes in the eye. ”Well, of course.You know the h.e.l.ljumpers: first in and all that.” that.” He gave the last word in emphasis. He gave the last word in emphasis.Then he winked.Keyes got it. He could still trust h.e.l.ljumpers to be h.e.l.ljumpers. Faison was just making sure he got men out into the general populace in case they needed them out there.”You've got company,” Lt. Kirtley said.Maria Esquival and several black-clad men pushed through the crowd of crew toward Keyes.”Lieutenant Jacob Keyes, I gather?” Esquival said.”Yes ma'am,” Keyes replied.”No more speeches.”Keyes laughed. ”I thought we were all equals here.”Esquival tilted her head. ”You just announced you gave up the right to citizenry, right?””Yes...”One of the black-uniformed men punched Keyes in the stomach. Faison stepped forward, but Keyes waved him back as he coughed.”Then I'm pleased to report I'm under no obligation to treat you as a citizen, Lieutenant Keyes.” Esquival smiled. ”The problem is, you have a position of power over your men. Such speeches, while admirable, are given from that position of power. Many possible citizens might feel compelled to go to jail who wouldn't otherwise.””It'll all end,” Keyes said. ”When the Covenant gets bored of whatever game it's playing here.”Esquival sighed. ”You're so sure of yourself. The war with the Covenant is something the UNSC somehow started back on Harvest, we're sure of it. This is not our war, we just got caught up in it. It's your your war. While you all fight to the last man with your brotherhood of arms, we've built something here. I don't know if the UNSC has noticed, but the Covenant is comprised of a number of varying races. Many of these were allowed into the Covenant. We here in the Rubble are looking for ways humanity can war. While you all fight to the last man with your brotherhood of arms, we've built something here. I don't know if the UNSC has noticed, but the Covenant is comprised of a number of varying races. Many of these were allowed into the Covenant. We here in the Rubble are looking for ways humanity can join join their ranks. As a junior race, perhaps. But we're adept, Lieutenant Keyes, we'll work our way up.” their ranks. As a junior race, perhaps. But we're adept, Lieutenant Keyes, we'll work our way up.”Keyes shook his head. ”You conspire with the enemy.” Esquival sighed. ”Take him and his bridge crew to the jails. Get them out of here.”They zip-tied his hands, and then led him off. Several junior officers started applauding, but it died out nervously after a few seconds.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE.

SOMEWHERE NEAR HABITAT CARIBO INNER RUBBLE, 23 LIBRAE.

Jai eyeballed the Insurrectionist smuggler in the distance. They'd been tagging along far behind it until it had docked.Now he flew in the weightless vacuum toward it.He struck the surface, absorbing the impact with his knees. Even as he rebounded, he threw a magnetic grapple at the hull to stay attached.Adriana hit the hull next to him. She grabbed his leg with one hand to stop him from bouncing back off. She had a large plastic case tucked underneath the other arm.Jai looked at her helmet. ”What does Mike have for us today?””Electromagnetic pulse bomb. Mostly harmless-except to anything electronic aboard the Kestrel. Kestrel. It'll wipe it all clean,” Adriana said. She opened the case and pulled out a large, disc-shaped device that looked like a landmine. ”He's been saving this one.” It'll wipe it all clean,” Adriana said. She opened the case and pulled out a large, disc-shaped device that looked like a landmine. ”He's been saving this one.”With a thud the EMP attached itself to the hull. Adriana leaned over it and tapped out a code. ”It talking to you, Mike?””We're live,” Mike reported. ”Now get well clear of that thing. The EMP pulse is strong enough to fry a whole s.h.i.+p. Usually our armor can recover from those bursts pretty quickly, but it will still knock out your MJOLNIR briefly if you're too close. I want to wait until we're all back aboard and well clear before-”Jai spotted movement. ”We have company. They're coming from the airlock.”Two black s.p.a.ce suits, hardened-looking affairs, coasted quickly at them. A burst of flame from their backs jetted them down the hull even faster.”Hostile or curious?” Mike asked.Muzzle flash answered that; the two suits had machine guns in either hand.Adriana bent down and leapt at them, pulling out her battle rifle and firing. Her rounds sparked and pinged off well-hardened material and the two suits curled up in a ball.”They were expecting us,” Jai said.”We've been here a while, it's obvious something's something's happening,” Mike replied. ”Not too surprising they've rustled up a response of some sort. I'm jockeying happening,” Mike replied. ”Not too surprising they've rustled up a response of some sort. I'm jockeying Petya Petya in closer.” in closer.””No,” Adriana said. ”Get ready to hit the EMP; we don't want to give these goons a chance with it. They've probably raised the alarm. We also don't want to give them time to get the data off the s.h.i.+p somehow.”She grunted as she smacked into one of the suits.Jai leapt at the second one while paying out the rope on his grapple with one hand. He didn't bother shooting at the man until they collided. He ripped the rocket pack off the back of the combat s.p.a.ce suit and threw it away, did the same with the man's two guns, then yanked himself back toward the smuggler with the line.The black suit hung still, unable to move anywhere.Adriana had smashed in the faceplate of their other opponent. The man's dying breath hung in the air between the two, a crystalline and fading cloud.She threw the suit away, the motion pus.h.i.+ng her toward the hull.”Four more of them,” she said. The glare of their packs marked them, flying right at them from the asteroid.”Let's get out of here.”With all the strength available to them from the combination of their physique and the MJOLNIR powered armor, they crouched and leapt for the Petya, Petya, over a mile away. over a mile away.Halfway across, Mike triggered the EMP bomb with a dramatic electric fireshow that crackled across the Kestrel's Kestrel's hull. hull.It also left their chasers immobile, their electronics burnt out by the invisible wave of electrical energy the bomb had released.Jai's heads-up display flickered slightly. ”Cutting it close, Mike?””A little,” came the response.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO.

THE REDOUBT, METISETTE, 23 LIBRAE.

The first trio of Unggoy to turn the corridor walked right into Thel's line of fire. Short bursts of plasma struck them in the center of their torsos.Footsteps pattered behind Thel. He turned around and saw Reth trying to run away from Saal. Saal grabbed the Kig-Yar leader and dragged him back toward the windows and out of the direct line of fire.”Do you two realize what you are doing?” the Kig-Yar asked.Saal c.o.c.ked his head. ”We are kidnapping you.”Reth did not find it as amusing as Saal seemed to. ”There are hundreds of thousands of Unggoy out there, all who are at my command.””They are out there,” Saal said. ”But you and I know they cannot all get in here.” And Saal chuckled.”So you plan on doing what then?” Reth hissed. ”You are meddling in extraordinarily important affairs.”Thel ducked behind the doorframe as more Unggoy spilled out into the far side of the corridor. One stumbled when he saw Thel duck back around with his plasma rifle. ”Sangheili! Defend the Redoubt!” it screamed, and the back of its methane tank exploded from another accurate shot. Flaming debris struck other Unggoy, who lost their cohesive charge down the corridor and scattered, trying to pat the flames away before they got burned.”That should hold them for a bit,” Thel muttered. But then to his surprise, the Unggoy turned back toward him again.These were some very determined Unggoy.”They have something to fight for,” Reth shouted. ”Sangheili, you don't understand what's going on. You must free me. I can save your lives. I swear it.”Thel watched the Unggoy charge. There was little love between the Kig-Yar and Sangheili-Reth's kind resented the position Sangheili held in the Covenant. And the Sangheili regarded the Kig-Yar as little more than scavengers.Thel suspected Reth was lying and would happily have them killed the moment they set their weapons down.But Reth pressed on nonetheless. ”You are the Sangheili from Retribution's Thunder, Retribution's Thunder, am I right?” am I right?”Why was Zhar taking so long? Thel shot another handful of Unggoy.”Yes.”More came up the elevators and stairs and ran forward.”It was a mistake. We should not have betrayed you to those Jiralhanae,” Reth said in as soothing a voice as a Kig-Yar could. ”But we needed you to not interfere! Not after all the work we've done so far.”Thel shook his head. ”What is done is done. You have made your choices. Now we are making ours.” Way too many Unggoy were rus.h.i.+ng up to the top floor, flooding over dead bodies in the hall. Thel knew they were going to continue until he ran out of the charge in his plasma rifle.”You go against the Hierarchs!” Reth shouted.Saal backhanded the Kig-Yar. ”We are on a direct mission for for the Hierarchs. Do not dare blaspheme like that. As if you speak for the Hierarchs...” he muttered. the Hierarchs. Do not dare blaspheme like that. As if you speak for the Hierarchs...” he muttered.Thel saw out of the corner of his eye that the Kig-Yar looked stunned. ”Which Hierarch?””The Prophet of Regret himself,” Saal proclaimed proudly.Reth shook his head. ”Wrong Prophet,” he muttered, the feathered spines on his head wavering in confusion.Wrong Prophet? Saal and Thel looked at each other, and then Saal shouted, ”Zhar is up!”Sure enough a column of disturbed air rippled just outside the windows.”Blow the windows out!” Thel ordered. He shut the doors and locked them against the Unggoy.Saal used a sticky grenade on the thick windows. The blue light pulsed, and then Thel grabbed Reth to s.h.i.+eld him as the explosion shook the room.Gla.s.s shards flew out, and the thunder of engines filled the room, bringing the acrid clouds of methane mist with it.Thel hoisted Reth onto his back. ”You scream, struggle, or move about, you will regret it dearly. Now take a deep breath while there's still some air!”He followed Saal out onto the lip of the window, looking at the slope of the repurposed s.h.i.+p stretching out before him. They didn't want to go that way. Slide off the edge, they'd have a very long fall.Thel pulled himself and the weight of the Kig-Yar up, using his hands and legs to crawl up onto the slope of metal above the windows. Saal scrambled up ahead, unenc.u.mbered, to the top of the s.h.i.+p, where the shuttle hovered, waiting for them.They needed one last tactic to gain them some time. Thel pulled out a pair of grenades and let them roll down toward the slope of the hull. As they dropped by his feet he kicked them in through the window.He scrambled up after Saal as fast he could, the grenades' explosions blowing red flame and debris out of the windows underneath him as he ran.The Unggoy pilot stood in the back of the shuttle, eyes wide in stunned surprise as he watched them run toward him. Zhar gently touched the top of the old Kig-Yar wreck with the shuttle and Saal and Thel leapt aboard. The tips of other grounded s.h.i.+ps poked out of the thick, ruddy mists all around them like towers.”Take it up!” Saal shouted forward, and they accelerated away, the structure dwindling at the top of the falls, the crater lake falling into the distance.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE.