Deep into Rage: The Story of Eris

She had never felt as vulnerable as she did right now, right at this moment. She was not disused to cells; she'd spent her fair share of time in colony prisons, Insurrectionist camps, and even recently UNSC stockades, but nothing rivalled the fear she had right now, surrounded by purple walls with blue lights, with the flickering energy of the shield door before her. She was alone, in a cell in the CAS-class assault carrier Forlorn Requital.

The Covenant had her.

---

Eris wasn't someone who would be called an honourable figure of the human race; born inside a Halcyon-class light cruiser, the UNSC Veris, she was part of what had become a drifter colony, their home planet long gone now thanks to the work of the Covenant. The Veris, along with two other Halcyon-class ships, were the only remaining numbers of the colony left, and by the time they'd made contact with the UNSC, they were already considered to be a liability - Outer Colony ships with nothing to offer but everything to lose if they were being followed.

Scared and lost the colony drifted on, and eventually Eris, along with a number of her friends and some family, made a break for it, grabbing one of the few Pelicans the Veris had left and bailing for the nearby Colony world of Jester. While there, Eris and her compatriots stole, fought, and were in general nothing more than criminals, finding themselves behind bars and behind ambulance doors more often than they ought to admit. It didn't take long before Eris found her way crossing that of a soldier of the UNSC.

When she met the soldier, armed in what seemed to be fairly old gear at the time, he wasn't threatening. But after she threw the first punch, he wasn't as reluctant, and after beating her raw along with her friends, he told them to either scram and keep living like lost souls, or arrive at the nearest UNSC boot camp on the planet and report for duty. Eris was the only one who accepted.

By the time she was twenty, she'd seen enough action against Insurrectionists and rebellions to know what it meant to kill, and what it really meant to survive. Before long she was stationed alongside Sangheili, to quell nearby uprisings led by Jiralhanae. Though she, and many of the other soldiers, were reluctant, they proved to work well together and Eris began to wonder if the war really had lead to a newfound peace, and perhaps more. The Sangheili were wise and powerful, and training with the UNSC proved beneficial for both sides. But everything that goes up must come down, and the peace time found after the war was one such thing.

Jester suffered a catastrophic terrorist act as Cuaid, it's capital city, was annihilated by what was only described as a 'unified Covenant front'. Though the Sangheili swore against this, the humans and alien races were bitter and soon all Hell broke lose. Humans, Sangheili, even Unggoy and Kig-Yar that tried to hide from the foulness of the war in these outer skirts were subject to death and agony, and soon the humans resorted to threats, offering the ex-Covenant races either leave the planet, or feel the devastation of a NOVA bomb. Though the Sangheili felt the humans were bluffing, there was no time for anyone to find out, when a CAS-class assault carrier appeared overhead, and from it spewed more support for the Sangheili than could be counted. The humans were forced to surrender, and offer again the peace that had been.

Eris wasn't one to settle for such a thing, and when the chance came, she attacked the Shipmaster of the carrier, trying to assassinate him on his way to the peace conference. The Sangheili was unharmed and ordered her be captured and locked away on his ship. Eris showed no restraint as she was taken away.

---

It had been nearly four weeks, and Eris hadn't seen a single Sangheili. She'd not seen any humans in the other cells. The brig was silent, as it had been. She felt like she was going insane. She'd fall asleep, and then she'd wake up to see a few of chunks of seemingly rotten meat presented to her. She wondered if perhaps those watching her were cloaked, as the Sangheili sometimes were. She thought she heard footsteps, maybe even speaking, but in the end she never could confirm it. She was waiting for the Shipmaster to come to her and discuss whatever reason he had for taking her. She knew they were long gone from Jester now.

She only hoped it was still a colony, and not a glass ball.

"Get up whore! It is time to move!"

Eris looked at the man standing above her, and kicked him hard in the knee. He reeled, and another walked over and smashed the butt of his gun into her face. The woman was pulled to her feet, and escorted with the last of the women out of the cold Insurrectionist cell. She grunted as blood slowly dripped down her face. She'd been stuck in this camp for over 48 hours, and she knew that if the UNSC was coming, they'd be coming now. She just waited.

Eris and the others were loaded into a large shipping container, and she took place at the front, watching as the doors closed before them. She looked to the people behind her and held her finger up to her lips, before pulling out a pocket pistol, and began to slam up against the doors hard, yelling as if in pain. The prisoners in the back of the crate huddled together, in silence, scared and worried. And then the sound of metal scraping on metal came in, and Eris stood back, pinning herself against the side of the container.

"What in the fuck is going -"

Two shots to the head and the Insurrectionist fell to the ground, blood pooling around his cranium. Yells rang outside, and Eris moved forward to grab the rifle the dead rebel had been carrying; loaded and ready. She began to spray, forcing anyone outside to take cover. The Insurrectionists were already scattered, planning to move from this camp to a new one to keep the UNSC out of the loop. With this new problem, they were only further damned, and already some of them were falling as the Marine shot at anyone and everyone that moved in the opening. A blind fury had overcome her, as the metal around flared up as bullets and shells pinged off of the surfaces, and the only thing she could hear was gunfire.

---

Eris held her legs close to her, curled up int he furthest corner of the alien prison cell. She was alone, scared, and now she was hearing things, the scuttling of feet and claws in the brig and beyond. She never saw anyone, but she heard it, and she couldn't do anything about it. She just had to wait, and then, suddenly, she heard a clang. Food.

She got up and ran over to the energy field, looking around the brig with sharp eyes. She saw nothing, and began to scream. She needed to see something, see anything, and she'd be happy. Right now she wasn't even sure if she was a prisoner anymore. She wasn't sure what was and what wasn't. She was only sure that she was terrified, and angry, and above all else, insane.

Eris looked angrily at the dark figure before her, his scarred face and scaly skin clear evidence of the rank he must've held. Around here a number of Sangheili stood, bearing little more than torso and leg armour, and carrying little more than common plasma rifles. It was clear that on this ship, combat was not the first thing on peoples minds. In a guttural tone, the dark figure before her spoke, his mandibles flexed to show her his array of sharp teeth.

"Aue oog rioka hapa kwa?"

Eris looked to her captors and shrugged, acting as if she didn't know what he was saying. They knew better. One hard hit to her head and Eris stumbled, knocked against the Sangheili before her. She stepped back, clearing her throat.

"I am Eris Perro."

The Sangheili frowned and all slowly made their way out. As Eris thought she was in the clear, she felt the cold hand of a Sangheili grip her neck and she was pulled along with the rest of them. She didn't know where she was going, but if she wasn't dead, she was valuable. That meant she had at least a slim chance of getting off of this ship, and ending the torment that she wasn't even sure had been planned. She only knew she hated this stupid place.

"You were captured as a means of ensuring that peace on that planet is maintained, human. The Arbiter, as you know him, is doing all in his power to keep our races bonded, as they had been during the war. With the threats we both face, of racial and cultural division, we can not let something as petty as this divide us. If we must take a captive to keep a planet happy, so be it."

Eris would have stormed over to the Shipmaster, if she had the choice. Two energy shackles stopped her feet from moving, or her arms from lifting. She was essentially stuck in place, and even then, she had guards around her.

"I am Rha' Taydum, Shipmaster of the Forlorn Requital. I have called you here so that we may speak as equals."

She was set loose of her bonds, and slowly she walked over to the Sangheili in large golden armour. He was tall, even for a Sangheili, but not the tallest Eris had seen. He was, however, one of the most muscular; wide shoulders, a huge torso, and legs and arms capable of ripping through steel, she imagined. Rha' had dark black skin, scarred and bruised, and he was surprisingly smooth aside from the marks of war. She waited, silently, for the Sangheili to speak.

"You are a strange looking human. You have only half a head of hair, and for a female you seem quite muscular. Are these traits unique?"

Eris was caught by surprise; he was trying to make small talk. She chuckled, and decided to humour him.

"Unique enough. What about you, Shipmaster? Those scars are a sign of disgrace, aren't they?"

The Sangheili was silent, before laughing with the human. Eris knew her stuff, and it seemed Rha' knew his.

"I expect this to be an enjoyable interaction, human."

The tea of the Sangheili, or to be more accurate, the San'Shyuum, was not too dissimilar from that of Earth. It was a little more pungent, and the aroma was stronger, but in most every other sense it was the same. Eris looked at Rha' and smiled at him, as he regaled her with some tales of the Great Schism; putting down Jiralhanae rebellions, uniting feuding Unggoy forces, and even his efforts in the containment of High Charity. She noticed he was very specific about not mentioning any contacts he'd had with humans. She was thankful.

"For all these things I may say, I cannot help but notice your silence human. Are you scared? Have you rarely been in the presence of a Sangheili?"

Eris was expecting a question like this. She'd seen her fair share of Covenant races up close and personal, it wasn't that that had her in shock.

"I've never been on a Covenant ship. It's different... cold... I don't understand anyone nor do I recognise anything around me. It's just, something hard to get used to."

The Shipmaster seemed to nod. He was quite hospitable it seemed - kind enough, and clearly aware of the difficulties a human could face in such a situation. But he also knew well enough that he couldn't let the human go. He sat silently, wondering what was going to happen next.

"Tell me, human, why did you try to kill me when we first met? Surely you did not think that you would have been able to kill me. And surely you did not expect it to bring about peace."

Eris sighed and rubbed her head, looking at the Shipmaster and trying to think of what to say.

"I wasn't thinking. The more I consider that attack, the more I realise it could never have gone well... I'm sorry about it. If I'd killed you, there would have been an ever bigger conflict, I'm sure."

Rha' looked over at the screen that displayed the outside - the emptiness of space, dotted with lights. He groaned and look back to the human, standing up quickly.

"We're here."

Eris remembered thinking the Shipmaster was playing with her, when they'd first arrived. He'd looked out in space, with nothing special before them, and acted as if they were at the very base of holiness itself. She had been totally convinced he was as insane as she feared she was. And then, in a flash, she'd seen it. Hundreds of Covenant ships, from Banshees to Cruisers, filled the emptiness before them though the perfectly cut portal, massive and horrifying. From it, after a short time, came the final ship amongst them all, the final and greatest - Multifarious Despondency, the flagship of the Fleet of Venerated Contrition. A CSO-class supercarrier.

She shook on the spot. She'd had the pleasure of being redressed, though had only been given back her most basic clothes; her belt, armour and weapons were still withheld from her. Thankfully she still had her boots, and so had something to quiver in.

"Do not fear, human. This is no consortium of angered fools, blinded by faith. Not anymore. This is a fleet I am stationed within. I simply have to report recent events, and then I shall be given the right to continue my duties. I would like it if you remained here; I trust there will no longer be need to have you locked away."

She didn't respond, as Rha' Taydum made his way out of the bridge, and she was left alone again, with only the view of the smooth and cold interior, or of the massive fleet before her. She hadn't seen a fleet like this in a long time, and the last time she had, she'd been unfortunate enough to be stationed on the planet they were attacking. She knew so little of the Great Schism, or of the end of the war, and she still didn't know how to trust any of the ex-Covenant races. She knew many of them lacked the honour of the Sangheili, but surely not the brains required to stay alive. If this many ships were still operating, she was certain that at least the Unggoy and Kig-Yar had maintained a degree of forethought. She waited, watching as ships moved around, some small and carrying people around as transports, and others moving up to the supercarrier, to refuel most likely, assuming these ships even used any type of fuel.

Eris walked around the bridge, looking at some of the other screens. Some showed the docking bay, where ships came in slowly, and a number of new Seraphs were amongst them. Another screen showed her what must have been the 'captains' quarters, where Rha' was speaking on a holographic communicator to the rest of the fleet. Whatever he was talking about, he seemed a little... deflated. As if he'd been denied something. Eris caught a glimpse of something on one of the other cameras - a few Sangheili were communicating with other ships, and it looked as if something was wrong. Whatever it was, she knew she'd never get to know about it. The Sangheili were smart, and chances were they'd maintained the very same secrecy the Covenant had used so well. She sighed and sat down, looking at her food and prodding it slowly. She simply waited for her company to return.

The doors slid open many times later, and Eris stood to welcome the Shipmaster back. But he did not look like someone who wanted to be welcomed back.

"It seems the Fleet Master wishes for us to remain here for now. There is fear of a spy within the fleet, and he is going to through each ship until any spy is found or is put down. You must stay here when they arrive on board, human."

Eris simply nodded, as she and the Shipmaster returned to their food. He did not eat. He seemed to be thinking. Eris watched him, reminded of the images she'd seen of people on Earth, some minks praying for peace, and others politicians trying to figure out how to bring it. It must have been hard for the Covenant races, especially the Sangheili, when so many of them fell under both classifications. She simply ate, in silence, letting him think whatever he was thinking.

"They know you are on board. They threatened to have you killed. I was only able to dissuade them by claiming you were one of the humans attempting to intervene with political stability... and that you were offering to direct me to a planet of your rebel compatriots."

Eris was wide eyed. She had been in this room for what felt like days, and now she was being told that it had been for naught, that the lords of this fleet knew all too well she was here, and that they would have her dead if it was up to them. It was a Covenant rule to execute all human prisoners, except for those truly valuable. She was fortunate that Rha' trusted she was.

"I cannot do that, Shipmaster. I cannot direct you to a planet meant for... for, what, obliteration? Will you kill them, enslave them? Or worse, will you glass them, leave them doomed to extinction?! I cannot do that!"

Rha' stormed over to his human prisoner, grunting and breathing hard, his large body towering over her easily. He was a threatening visage, not like any of the Sangheili she'd seen in her fights. She'd heard of great beasts like him, Zealots, Honour Guards, Generals. She thought she was fortunate enough not to meet them, but perhaps it would have been better to meet one in combat, than alone in his own ship. She wasn't sure what to do, fall to her knees and beg for life? Or fight back and demand freedom? She didn't know. The two stared at each other for some time, before Rha' snarled and turned away.

"They will think me or one of my crew a spy, if I am simply carrying a human with me. It is the life of those you do not know, your life, or all our lives. It is your choice, human."

Eris looked at the floor, her hands on her head. She knew not what to do - she didn't want to lead a possibly blood thirsty horde of ex-Covenant to a human planet, but for all she knew it was the only way to keep herself alive. She didn't want to die, not here on a Covenant ship. She fell to her knees, sweating, her eyes wide and darting around, as she strained her already tired, worn out, scared mind. Rha' watched her, and sighed. He contacted the Fleet Master, and said to him that the human had submitted; she was going to give them all she knew.

"Stand up, human. The deed is done."

She wasn't sure where she was standing when it first happened. She remembered Rha' pulling her away from the screens, and the sound of Sangheili entering the bridge in a loud huff of fury and confusion. She looked around, huddled up in a ball. Back in the brig.

---

When the Multifarious Despondency lit up into an explosion, the entire fleet was put on standstill. Rha' Taydum stood, motionless and in shock, as the CSO-class supercarrier was vaporised in a single blast. Half the fleet was around that ship, and now it was gone.

"How... how could..."

The silence that ran across the comms maintained itself for a long time. Each Shipmaster had to take it upon himself now, and Rha' chose to do the only thing that made sense. Another leap into slipspace, and the Forlorn Requital was gone, into the void. Eris was in the brig, Rha' was one the bridge, and all manner of folk rushed across the ship to ensure it was well furbished. When it came out again, it wouldn't be anywhere Eris knew, and that scared her, yet she wasn't even aware of it.

She sat, silent, thinking. She'd seen the explosion. She'd seen ships explode in the war, of course she had. But there was something... wrong, about what she had seen. Such a vast ship, an impenetrable planet destroyer, simply knocked out of existence. It wasn't right. It made her feel ill. She couldn't imagine how many had been gone, and what was worst of all is she knew exactly the weapon that had done it. She was certain.

It was no Covenant tool.

"Human. You must speak to me."

Eris sat in a cold chair, made similarly to some human chairs, though more contorted for the shape of a Sangheili than of a human. She looked up at the Shipmaster before her, his helm off, his dark eyes and scarred face on show for her. He meant to intimidate her, as he had when they first spoke. It seemed all the kindness of their dinner was gone now.

"That which destroyed the* Multifarious Despondency * was no weapon in any of our arsenals. It was instant - and that is a tactic you humans attempted to use on us so much. Was it one of your nuclear weapons? How could it have arrived on the ship? Human! Speak!"

She stood and lashed out at the Shipmaster, trying to claw at his face. He grabbed her by the neck and with a swift motion slammed her up against the wall, and then threw her down onto the ground. Eris cried out in pain, feeling her arm break. She clutched at it, but not before the hand was on her head, hoisting her up and pushing her into the seat again.

"I know it was one of your damned weapons, human. How could it have made it to the* Multifarious Despondency *? I know you know."

Eris looked up at the Shipmaster, breathing heavily, and spitting on the ground, seeing some blood. She shuddered, and her voice came out in a low wheeze, broken and distorted.

"I know it was a nuke. Judging by the fact that we're alive it wasn't a NOVA... probably a HAVOK. I don't know how your Fleet Master got it on the ship, and if a spy detonated it, it would've been a human, not a Sangheili. I don't know anything more, Shipmaster. I've been here for days."

Rha' growled and snarled, before turning away and thinking. He didn't want to risk anything, not now. Looking out at the slipspace passing by, he nodded, and turned back to Eris.

"You're going to the brig again. No food. Nothing. You will starve, and then you will give me coordinates to the nearest human planet. Until then, you will have time to think."

Eris was grabbed, and dragged to the brig. She sat in the cell, her head back, her body limp, her arm aching. She wanted to scream, to fight, to do something. She couldn't do anything. She curled up in the corner, just as she'd done before, and clung to the last strands of her will.

Eris wasn't sure how long she'd been alone anymore. A few days? A few weeks? Months? A year? She'd forgotten the feeling of grass and the taste of fruit, the sight of humans face, the smile of ones mouth. All she knew now was the Sangheili, the Unggoy, the Kig-Yar, the aliens of the Covenant. She looked at the small plate at her feet, with nothing left on it. She covered her face in her hands, and wanted to cry. She couldn't.

"Human. Get up."

Slowly she raised her head, to see a trio of Sangheili standing before her, two in dark black or purple armour, and one in thick golden armour, his helmet gone. Rha'.
Eris clambered to her feet, before she was grabbed and escorted over to the Shipmaster. She noted a few new scars, especially on the side of his face. He looked at her, still, and silent.

"You will come with us. We have found a planet of Covenant sympathisers. We are finishing off what is left of their base as we speak. I want you to convince the last of the fighters to surrender."

Eris nodded, and followed behind the Shipmaster, looking at the ground as they walked. She heard many noises, some familiar, some not. It wasn't long before she was on the bridge, where she saw all manner of things, fighters and troop transports and everything in between, making way out onto the battlefield. The soldiers were being battered by the power of the superior army and tech of Rha' and his ship.

"You will be on my personal transport. When we arrive, I want you to speak alone. Do you understand?"

Eris nodded, silently, as she climbed into the Lich alongside Rha', and made way down to the surface of the planet.

Rha' was surprised. Once the human had seen others, she seemed to change entirely. He'd expected her to, but not in this way. She laughed, she mocked them, called them weak. She saw some on their knees, guns to their heads. Others she saw as a pile of corpses. Whatever had triggered in her mind, it seemed to not turn off.

"Who do you need me to speak to, Shipmaster?"

She looked up at the Sangheili, who simply pointed at one man surrounded by Sangheili, standing with his arms crossed. Clearly the head of these rebels. She walked up to him proud, her head high, and kicked him hard in the gut. The Sangheili guards weren't really sure how to respond.

"You're the one commanding these men, huh? And you got captured? Isn't that a little pathetic? Is that why they're still fighting, to get you back? If we sent back your head do you think they would surrender?"

He looked at her for a long while, in stubborn silence. Eventually, Eris grabbed a gun off one of the nearby rebel corpses, holding it up to his head. She pulled the trigger, disappointed to find it was empty. The man looked at her, wide eyed.

"Y-you side with these people?! What are you, some UNSC toy, lapping at the waters of the Arbiter?! He was the same man who lead the destruction of Reach! And the UNSC is the reason we lost nearly everything! How can you be so w-"

It had taken her a while, but she'd found a gun with a full magazine. Three shots to his chest, and he was dead. She looked back at Rha', who was more than a little surprised. She smiled happily, gesturing to his corpse.

"Put that on show for the fighters. They'll either surrender, or they'll die."

The Shipmaster nodded, and soon his men were back to work. It took less than half an hour for the entire planets defenders to fall to their knees, at the hands of the Sangheili force. Eris looked down at the planter from the bridge, sighing.

"You were harsh, human. I had not expected it."

She looked back to him, smiling again.

"I don't know why, but seeing them... all of them, dead... it made me aware, I guess."

It had been nearly three months now since Eris was taken from her home planet, and onto the Forlorn Requital. She'd been taken in as a captive, but now she worked around like an admiral, commanding Sangheili and Mgalekgolo alike, though the Kig-Yar seemed to take no heed in her words, instead operating on their own wits, and the Unggoy simply disobeyed her entirely. If she was the Shipmaster, it would be in disarray. Thankfully, she was only one of his lieutenants.

"Ooyama! Wort! Kooei!"

She had to admit, she knew only little of the language, and she wasn't the best at pronunciation, but as the Kig-Yar hobbled over carrying one of the many crates and set it down on the side of the bay, she was glad to know it at least got through to people. She looked over the hangar slowly, sighing and rubbing her head. What was she thinking, essentially joining a ship owned by the Arbiters Covenant? She wasn't some UNSC dog, she was her own person. Then again, if they were taking out insurrections, perhaps it wasn't all bad... Perhaps.

"Domo. Come here. We have received word of the insurrectionists on the other side of the planet. Your intelligence agency seems to think they have their hands on a nuclear weapon. They also seem to think this was where the nuke in the Fleet of Venerated Contrition came from. They want all but the head of the rebels dead. I trust you can do to them what you did to our last targets."

Rha' Taydum had become very different. Left with less than half a fleet, he'd been forced to lead them around doing whatever they could; a return to Sanghelios without the thousands of Sangheili in the fleet wouldn't be good for already shaky opinion on Thel 'Vadam and his ruling party. He'd been forced to operate alongside the UNSC, and now felt more like a mercenary than a shipmaster. He looked almost sickly.

"Of course, Shipmaster. I'll have my intoyuko land on the planet with me, and we'll clear out anything we find in our path."

The Shipmaster nodded, and made way back to his bridge. The human let out a low sigh, as she went to the comms, and called her bodyguards and loyal soldiers. Seven Sangheili, two Mgalekgolo, and file of the only Unggoy on the whole ship that seemed to like her. A decent bunch. They rallied in the bay not long after, and she made her way down to them.

"We have a mission on the other side of the planet. Rebels are holed up somewhere there, with a powerful domo weapon. We must eliminate them."

Simple, short sentences worked best with these boys. They didn't understand human languages as well as they'd like, but with her own sprinkling of Sangheili words, it seemed to work. They loaded up onto a Type-52 Phantom, and made their way down to the surface of the planet, speeding along around the small globe. It wouldn't be long now.

Eris held the carbine in her hand, sighing. She sucked at plasma weapons, didn't understand how they worked. At least the carbines had magazines. Sort of.

The Type-52 Phantom hovered overhead as Eris and her team deployed, carrying their weapons low as they skulked through the overgrowth, their eyes scanning everything around them. Any movement could be a rebel guerrilla group, and good as the Sangheili are, they'd always struggled with that tactic. It seemed anyone who faced it struggled, really. The human leader of the group stopped a few minutes later, near a large oaken tree. She pointed two fingers out, and the Sangheili with her spotted concrete. The Unggoy and Mgalekgolo had a less impressive time of deciphering her motion, but the Sangheili understood entirely.

Splitting into three groups, the party moved in on the fort, and in silence the Sangheili turned to their camouflage, as they began the infiltration. Eris, the leader of the third group composed of Unggoy and Mgalekgolo, waited for the sound. It took a while, and then a familiar call came out.

"Wruq!"

Dead.

She and her team moved in, and watched as a few rebels rushed out of the facility, only to be blasted back by heated bolts of plasma, melting away their armour and bodies. A few needles flew through the air, as well as the fuel rods of the gun held by Eris. It didn't take long before the exterior was under complete control.

"Alright. Druk 'Fatham, you, the Unggoy, and the Mgalekgolo will go in and head east. The rest of us will go west, and we will clear the place out."

Simple commands, and simply followed. The group split, and Eris lead her men through the facility. She found much of it too similar; green, warning signs over the place, crates, just, all UNSC stuff. She sighed as she heard footsteps and held her hand up. Her Sangheili stood in the hall, arms out, and as the rebels ran into their view, they were put down like rushing boar. Eris waited and moved on, leading her team deeper into the facility.

"Commander. The other team says they have found something, a weapons store. Rebels are holed up and are fighting back fiercely. They think it is important."

Eris simply nodded. She wanted to find the leader of this group first - he'd tell her about the nuke, and then they could move on.

"Commander, there is no one here! We should return to the others!"

Eris frowned, looking down at the Unggoy. He and the rest of the team all seemed to agree, and judging by how barren the area was, it seemed too true to pass up. She nodded and sighed, looking over her shoulder and gesturing to a nearby service hall. Moving through that should bring them around sooner or later.

"Tell the team we're heading to support them. We -"

One of the Unggoy yelped, as the yells of a Sangheili came through. He hammered his head, trying to break his helmet, before Eris was able to cut in, confused by whatever was happening.

"Do not let her get to us! We have found what the Shipmaster sent us here for! Tell her to continue her hunt!"

Before she could say anything, the channel was shut, and she looked at the Unggoy and Mgalekgolo, all of whom seemed to just stare at her, waiting for a command. They didn't seem to either comprehend the issue, or perhaps simply didn't care. Either way, she knew what she had to do.

"Idando Massu Ghura, Edegi Massu Hafin, you two go back the way we came. Make sure no one followed us, and make sure nothing weird is going on."

The hulking figures simply made way back where they'd come from, down the long, large halls. The Unggoy would come with her through the service alleys, and they'd find the Sangheili, and try to figure out what all that on the chatter had been about. She was worried; she'd trusted her team more than anyone in the ship. If they were working for Taydum secretly, then she wasn't sure if she'd be able to trust anyone. She still had trouble trusting herself sometimes. This whole issue was just getting worse the more she thought about it.

"Come, little Unggoy. The sooner we find the way out of here, the sooner you can get back to the food nipples."

She'd always had a way with Unggoy, and though most didn't like her, they all liked feeding nipples. The little team of trusting Unggoy let out a comically choreographed cheer, and followed close behind her, watching any dark spot a human could be hiding in. She was always reminded on missions like these just how large Unggoy were, nothing like the little things she'd seen in propaganda posters. They were rather scary in their own right.

But still not at scary as Sangheili, and she hoped that if a firefight broke out, they'd be brave enough tos stand by her. They'd certainly not all walk away if they did.

Eris and her team leapt out of the door, into the wide hallway, their guns ready. No one seemed to be there, and the lights were broken. She stood up and looked for the Unggoy, and felt a few of them brush by her. She nodded, and turned on the light to her armour.

"Ahh!!"

The Unggoy at the head of the group fell back in shock, as he looked face to face with the melted upper torso of the human rebel. Eris looked around, and saw dozens of them, with far more than a few killing shots. They'd been destroyed, and she could barely recognise some of them. The plasma was still bubbling away at their carcasses.

"What the Hell... Why did they do this..."

She and her team walked on, the Unggoy wincing each time they saw the melted remains of the soldiers that had died defending the base. If the Sangheili had killed the commander, she had no way of knowing. Every men and woman, old and young, all that was left was chunks and goo. It was horrific. As she moved on, she started to hear the sounds of Sangheili talking. The Mgalekgolo stood behind her, ready to fight if need be.

"These scum will learn what it means to strike at us. The shipmaster wants this nuke back on the ship, but that is not how we are doing it. Detonate the bomb now. Take everyone in this base out with us."

Eris looked wide eyed, as she ran forward into the room. The Sangheili looked at her and her team, as they all raised their guns, ready to kill.

Bolts of plasma and shards of needle flew through the short room between the Sangheili and the human, her allies either behind the large shields of the Mgalekgolo or cover. Two Unggoy lay dead nearby, taken down in the first few seconds of the battle, and Eris' armour had started to melt after it had been hit in by the very first bolt. She fired over her cover, watching as the Sangheili fought on, all still standing. The Mgalekgolo knew if they fired and hit the nuke, it could set off a chain reaction, and the whole place could go up in flames.

"Why are you doing this?! What's going on?!"

The Sangheili aimed hard on her cover, attempting to destroy the steel entirely and expose her. She was their target, after all; the Unggoy and Mgalekgolo were poor bystanders in this encounter.

"You are a liability! You are a flame that must be extinguished before we lose control! You must be put down! As must the human forces in this region, that deny the authority of the Arbiter or his allies!"

Eris leapt up and fired off three shots, glad that the Sangheili were stealthy; their shields weren't on, and so two shots to the head brought them down. The remainder tightened up, and fired hard, taking down another Unggoy, as one of the Sangheili moved back to something - a large metal bomb, with warning symbols all over it, and the corpse of an officer, his head replaced by a melting heap. The rebel leader, and the nuke. The Sangheili began to tap away at the buttons, and soon Eris realised what he was doing.

"Once this bomb goes off, all humans within this system will be questioned, and we will be able to remove them with the authority of your UNSC! This area will be part of the Sangheili holds, and shall become new colonies! With them we will be able to push back what is left of the Covenant, and your pathetic people will halt in their attempts at destroying us from within! This will prove the Arbiter's right!"

Eris stood, and ran. She grabbed her Unggoy, and looked at her Mgalekgolo guards. They looked back, and remained. They held off the Sangheili as they shot, attempting to bring down the human, and then her great beasts. As Eris ran, she felt her heart pounding. If they knew what they were doing, she'd never be able to escape. The blast would wipe them all out. She tried to remember the way out, and finally saw a light, and she led the remnant of her team out into the open courtyard.

That's when she saw it; a fleet of ships flying overhead, a mixture of Type-52 Phantoms and Type-56 Lichs. They came in, and began to fire upon the courtyard, trying to kill the human. She ran with her team, and they managed to make way back they had come, through the open wall and into the dense woodland. The ships flew overhead, hunting for them, but they'd never get the chance; Eris knew one thing above all else, and it was how to hide.

The team moved fast through the forest. They'd been walking for near two minutes, when they finally made it back to their landing zone, and Eris was glad to see their escapes hadn't been a ruse; a trio of Type-42 Spectres, waiting to be boarded. Eris nudged one of the Unggoy to the drivers seat, as she and the others took up seats around it. She looked back, as they burst off through the woods, and she waited to see a spark and hear a bang. She waited to experience death.

"Human! There she is!"

A Type-52 Phantom swooped down fast, its light suddenly on them, as it moved down. Soon its gravity beam shot up, and it hooked onto the light transport. Eris wanted to leap off, to escape. But for all she knew, this would be her best option.

Eris woke up, panting, gasping. Her chest was rising and falling, and she felt a sudden bolt of pain through her body. It was that which had woken her. She screamed, holding onto her side, feeling a chunk of metal in her abdomen. She grabbed it, and slowly pulled out. She had a number of Covenant medicines, and she applied a balm to her wound quickly, feeling it heal her slowly. She wept, and got to her feet, looking around her.

She saw nothing. She saw whiteness and blackness. She saw nothing. She raised her hand to her face, and didn't see it. She gasped and stammered, as she realised and remembered all that had just happened. She'd been in that dropship, the one that was nearby and now nothing more than a pile of wreckage. 'Taydum had been on it, and he'd been here to escort her to safety. She'd looked back to the facility, and she'd seen it. The flash of the explosion, and felt the wave over her.

She was blind.

"Hello?! Anyone! Help!! Please!"

She took three steps forward, and fell to the ground instantly, sobbing as she did so. She didn't know what was going on anymore. If everyone on that dropship had died, she was doomed out here in the wild. She crawled forward, feeling around her, hoping to find something. It took nearly three minutes before she found her way to a tree, and climbed up, leaning against it, her heart pounding away inside of her. She'd never felt so... Helpless. Even in a cell, she knew where she was. Now...

"Ah! Human! It's the human!"

The sound of an Unggoy. Eris moved to her belt, feeling for her pistol. Nothing. She didn't know where to look, so she simply held out her hands, attempting to be intimidating. Instead, she looked like a fool. Quietly, the Unggoy walked to her, and one placed his hand on hers, pulling it down softly.

"Human! We're alive!"

She froze, before realising this was her team. This was what was left of her team. She fell to her knees and hugged the Unggoy, sobbing and trying to speak. She had too much to ask. Too much to say.

"I-is ev-everyone oka-ay... Is everyone... al-alright?"

She felt him nod. She smiled and stood up, holding onto the Unggoy near her. The others seemed to move in, and she imagined that if they were all here, she was at least decently safe. Slowly they lead her away from the opening, and she felt the undergrowth thicken with each step. She stumbled, but they kept her upright.

She'd learnt on that ship that the Unggoy, the Kig-Yar, the Sangheili, even the Mgalekgolo, they were different to humans, but they were still cognitive thinkers, and still fathers and mothers and carers. They still understood fear and joy. She was glad to know they'd waited for her.

As they walked, Eris began to see faint outlines. Trees, bushes, Unggoy. She couldn't decipher more than that, but she knew now she wasn't permanently blinded. She thought of what she knew, and assumed it had been flash blindness, perhaps caused by the glass on the ship, or her only quick sight of the explosion. She didn't know, all she knew was she was thankful.

That's when she felt hot blurs fly past her, and her Unggoy pulled her to the ground, and began to shoot off in some direction. They were under attack, but by Sangheili? How?

"Kill the whore helping these fuckin' aliens! Put that bitch down and these Grunts'll scatter! Fuck you!!"

That was no Sangheili. Humans. She stood, blinking. She could see a few of them, and she knew they were outnumbered. She looked at the blurs of her Unggoy and spoke to them. She was going to run. They nodded, and let her. Holding off the humans, the Unggoy made a great sacrifice, as she broke off back the way they'd came, turning around trees and through shrubs, heading wherever she could. She was slow, she was hurt, but she had a will. She ran and ran, and soon hear bullets slamming into the trees around her. She was being chased.

Eris panted and heaved, pulling herself on. She didn't know where she was going. She was so confused. This whole thing was...

"Elite! Get dow- AGH!!"

She didn't look back. She heard it, and soon the bullets around her stopped. The sounds remained back, and she ran on forward. She didn't know if she was being saved, or if a Sangheili wanted her head personally. She just had to move on. Slowly, more and more was coming back to her vision. She could faintly see the greens, and she saw a light ahead. She ran for it. A clearing.

She fell forward, and felt the stone and dirt beneath her hands and feet. She gasped, and got to her hands and knees, her eyes closed. She looked up and opened them, and everything before her came into light.

There was nothing where she looked. It was a vast opening, where once trees had likely stood, but now it was a crater, festering and cracked, burnt and charred, and of the trees that remained, most were blown back, some where crackling with flames. Almost none had leaves on them. Eris got to her feet, looking around. She couldn't see too clearly, but she saw enough. She looked at her hands, and saw they had been burnt by the earth.

Slowly, she moved forward, down into the crater. She felt drawn to it all. She felt sick, woozy and nauseous, but still drawn to the area. It wasn't a glassing. It wasn't anything a Covenant weapon could have done. She held her head as she reached the centre of the crater, trying to think of what was going on. In a flash, she saw and remembered what she'd been doing before the ship went down. She remembered fleeing from a rebel base, where Sangheili were preparing to set off a nuclear bomb. She fell to her knees, as she tried to trace her steps. Tears pooled in her eyes, her mind buzzed with all sorts of things, and her body shook and trembled. She didn't hear the loud thuds that came up behind her.

A large, scaly black hand grabbed at her hair and pulled her to her feet, and then off the ground, before tossing her onto her back. Rha' Taydum, Shipmaster of the CAS-class assault carrier Forlorn Requital, looked down from the edge of the crater. All around it, Sangheili and Kig-Yar and Unggoy stood, their guns ready. In the crater itself, a team of Special Operations Sangheili towered over the human.

"What is the meaning of this?! Where are the rebels!? What have you done!?"

Eris didn't hear them. Her hands were still on her head, her eyes were shut tight, and she was gritting her teeth hard. All she could hear was her own thoughts, and a slowly increasing ringing noise. Two Sangheili grabbed her and pulled her over, before Rha' moved down into the crater.

"Drop the human. We have picked up signals all over the system. UNSC and rebel groups noticed the explosion. The longer she and we are here, the higher the chance that they will piece together what has happened. Get her onto a transport. I must remain to speak to any who arrive, in hopes of discussing what has happened."

Eris didn't hear any of it. She wasn't in a plane of consciousness anymore. All she could hear was her own screaming.

---

The human sat in her cell, in the corner, her arms wrapped around herself, her eyes wide, bags heavy under them. Her hair was falling out, and she was sick. Puddles of vomit and feces decorated the cell. She was feeling the repercussions of sickness now, all brought on by the radiation from that crater. She'd remembered it all, and she'd gone silent. No one could get a sound out of her. Her eyes had gone white again, and it seemed that whatever had caused her blindness to dissipate had moved on.

Eris heard a noise behind her, as the energy barrier went down. She didn't go to see what it was. She felt the hand on her shoulder, and it pulled her up, and made way with her, out of the cell block. Wherever she was going she didn't care and she'd likely not remember. Her knees were weak, and already she wanted to be sick again. They'd starved her in hopes it would pull back her illness, and though she wasn't excreting as much, she was just as sick.

She felt like she was going to die, and she wished her body would just give up, and let her.