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Stepping off the ship into a thick jungle environment, John observed quickly for any immediate danger before giving a short turn of his head towards the Arbiter, “And you're certain the signal came from this planet?”
The Sangheili grunted low as he reaffirmed, coming down the ramp to fall in next to John. “It's an old distress signal, by at least six months, but I'm certain.”
Rolling his shoulders back, John took his rifle into his arms as he began to forge on ahead through the dense forest. “Doesn't make much sense, for a distress signal to be this far out.”
“This planet holds ancient temples of my people, and it's known to have been inhabited by a particularly fanatical faction.” Thel informed him, “Though, that faction has died back since the ceasefire.”
“What made them so different from the other fanatics?” John questioned, using the nose of his gun to move aside some large foliage.
“The belief in the Great Destroyer was to be born here.” Thel explained, “Wielding the Great Key, they would bring glory and triumph to our people.”
He replied dryly, “A lot of greats there.”
A grumbling huff that signified a laugh came from the Elite, “It is why not many of them survived, too prideful and arrogant in their beliefs, it was even radical to most of my people.”
Humming thoughtfully, John continued on towards were signal was on his hub display. They fell into a silence, not exactly relaxed as they had to be on their guard, but comfortable. After having worked along side the Elite for over a year now, John had grown accustomed to his presence, knowing that the other had his back. At this point, he was a part of Blue Team practically, someone John would only admit to himself as a good friend, and Thel had participated frequently in their missions lately. And being such a successful pair in general, they were sent off on their own missions together as well. It was also a way to demonstrate to their individual governments and leaders, 'look, humans and aliens can co-exist just fine'.
It worked a good six times out of ten, with the other four ending in some sort of blood shed. But it was a work in progress. Lately, it's been about finding and recovering, or destroying, artifacts after assessing how much danger they were. However, neither of them were much good at peace talks and easing trigger happy soldiers to stand down, which explained why not all their missions ended well.
'You're coming up to the signal now, John.' Cortana stated softly, ringing in his helm and dragging him from his thoughts. Nodding to himself, John slowed down just as they came to the edge of the forest. A towering stone structure was before them in a clearing, with grass weakly sprouting from dry dirt surrounding it. The building looked close to collapse, and the dead and rotting bodies of aliens did not make a positive image. John had seen enough dead over his life time that he didn't even falter in his observation at the sight of them.
Thel rumbled next to him, also just as unaffected, “It was to be expected. I deemed it unlikely anyone would be alive after all this time.”
Gazing around the area, assessing the five bodies and their placements, John replied, “We'll take a look around, see if we can find out the cause of their deaths.”
“Very well.”
Cautiously, the two approached, weapons at the ready as they inspected the bodies. From what he could see, four had been facing towards the fifth body, which was closer to the sealed entrance of the structure. A fight between them all was his assumption from the shots to their bodies, with the fifth one putting up most of the fight. Four against one. The fifth one must have bled out, no critical wound on it's corpse. He turned to Thel to state his theory.
The Elite nodded slowly, tail lightly twitching from side to side. Agitated. Grimacing, John then added, “Think we can get inside? See if there's anything there to tell us why they killed one another.”
“That would be best.” And Thel took point, striding past the bodies to press his hand against the scanner by the door. It flashed red. Access denied. John frowned further. Thel tried once more, and it flashed red again. Cortana appeared by his shoulder, “Might I try? It could be that this particular scanner does not work, but the rest of the system could be overridden.”
John stepped up beside Thel, who stepped back a little to give him room as he brought Cortana closer. “Be my guest.”
After a few seconds of waiting, Cortana appeared once more, her face filled with confusion, “I'm detecting two life signs within. A human and...something else.”
Caution filled John, straightening up as Thel demanded, “What do you mean by something else?”
“It's not exactly human, but nor is it fully Sangheili.” The AI explained, “I'm getting readings of both, but I don't have a lot to work with in this system. It's nearly drained of any power at this point, but I can get the door open for you.”
“Thanks, Cortana.” John offered with a nod, tensing as the door trembled before the stone slowly ground open, sliding to the side. Standing at the entrance and gazing into the short, dark corridor ahead of them, him and his partner shared a glance, Thel looking particularly tense as he scented the air.
“I smell blood. Not completely fresh, but it's there. As well as...” He cut himself off, reptilian eyes widening as he entered without finishing his observations, starting with a quick pace, tense and ready with an underlining of frantic.
Following and guarding their flank, John softly asked, “What else is there, Thel?” They checked an open door way on the right as saw what was the control center, empty of any life forms. For now, they left it alone, heading deeper in.
A deep rumble was his response as they turned a sharp corner to be met with a small open room. There was two thick tables on their sides creating a barrier in the furthest corner from the door way, and he caught the glimpse of thin blankets and a tarp over the top before the sound of a gun cocking had him pausing in his steps.
In the fort, just between the crack of the tables was someone aiming their weapon in their direction. John brought up his own rifle as he commanded, “State your name and purpose here.”
“How about you two assholes do it first!” Barked a feminine voice, “You're the one who came into my base.” John picked up on a wavering in their tone. Pain. They were wounded.
And Thel took a step forward, snarling, “Why do you have a child of my kind with you?”
John blinked, shocked, but did not let it linger for long, taking his own cautious step forward. The gun fired over their shoulder. A warning shot as the woman prepared again, “Back off! I'm not letting you come any closer, you got it?”
Not just in pain, John observed, but scared as well.
He held out an arm, catching Thel's to stop him in his tracks. They shared a short glance, and Thel reluctantly nodded. John would try to handle the situation first. This was a human female, injured and terrified, and with the Sangheili out front, she probably had a bad experience with them. Not to mention, she was a human far from any UNSC space, deep into the Convent territory. They could also easily take her in a fight if need be, but that shouldn't be needed unless absolutely necessary, so John tried to sound soothing as he asked, “Are you the one who sent out the signal for help?” It came out more curt than he would like, but comfort was never his specialty.
A pause. Then a huge sighed and he caught the sound of rustling as the tarp over the fort was pulled back. Standing up, weapon still raised, was a dark skinned woman, face ashen and glaring at them. “You sure took your fucking time.” She was young, somewhere in her twenties, he assessed.
There was the sight of some armour within the fort, and John asked next, “What's your name and rank soldier?”
The calm order had something snapping within her, the instinct ingrained in boot camp to follow orders of a superior officer, “Private Lavernia Tucker First Class, sir. You?”
“Master Chief, and this is the Arbiter.” He waved at his partner, whose eyes were boring holes into the fort, no doubt searching for the child.
Her eyes widened at his response, and then a wheezing laugh escaped her, weapon lowering, “No shit! Just my fucking luck.”
Then, she wavered where she stood, having to let go of the gun with one hand to brace herself on the table ledge, face screwing up in pain. Dressed in a pair of dirtied fatigues, John spotted blood staining the neck of her shirt. John took a single step closer, “Where are you injured, private?”
After closing her eyes, breathing deeply and face twisted into a steady grimace, the woman looked back up at them, “Not injured, unless you count the bites from Junior snacking on my blood. But I did just give birth a few days ago.” Both of them sucked in a sharp breath of genuine surprise.
'Oh my.' Cortana whispered with realisation. 'The other life sign, John. It's her child.'
Thel, unable to stay silent any longer, took a few steps closer, his height easily towering over the fort to look in. The Private immediately raised her weapon, “Hey! Back the fuck up, asshole. I've had enough shit from your kind. They got me into this situation in the first place, and if you think I'm not going to-”
“I am sorry.” Thel then intoned, and it caught both humans off guard, the Elite lowering his head down to stare at her solemnly, “I am sorry for what my people have put you through. The signal was from six months ago, but a child of my kind should not have taken that long to have been born. You have been greatly dishonored.”
Pursing her lips, tense, the Private glanced between Thel and John, before replying curtly, “Yeah well, human females carry for nine months and they would consider this a premature birth with it being seven months. Besides, Junior is not completely alien now is he.”
“I suppose he is not. And the wounds on your neck,” The Sangheili gestured to, “He has been feeding?”
Though continuing to watch them with caution, the woman lowered her gun once more. “Yeah. Scared the shit out of me when he latched onto my neck not long after he crawled his way out of me.” Even for John that placed a disturbing image into his head and he shoved it away to focus on the conversation, “At least I had rations here so I wouldn't pass out from blood loss.”
Thel rumbled low and asked, “May I see your child?”
She tensed. A long pause, then she nodded. “Fine. Don't you hurt him though, or I'm going to stab you.”
John filed that away. She had a knife on her somewhere.
The Private bent down and went further into the fort, coming back with a swaddled bundle. He noted that even with her awkward hold on the child, she was protective, eyes watching every single move of Thel as she passed the child over.
Holding it close for inspection, Thel hovered a thick finger over the bundle, where a tiny grey hand reached back, a little warble following along with it.
“What this group has done to you was not what most of my kind would choose.” Thel spoke up, “They were fanatical, and believed a child of a prophecy would be birthed here.”
The woman snorted, crossing her arms tightly, “Yeah, they explained that. Right after the asshole forced a child in me. Not like I'm some Virgin Mary though, they were way too late for that.”
John decided to come closer, and the Private's green eyes darted to him for a short moment before looking back at Thel, registering the one holding the child as her most immediate threat. Now that he could view her better, he noted some strange facial tattoos, before deciding that observation unimportant for now.
“Can you explain exactly what happened here?” John inquired, “There was five Sangheili bodies outside-”
“Oh shit they killed each other?” The woman cut in, perking up, “Thank God for that. The one that knocked me up took me from my team once I found the sword before him, and stuffed me here. He was around for the first month or so, getting more dickish because Junior was meant to be some parasite, not to actually be in my body for more than three weeks.”
“Parasitic embryo.” Thel clarified for John, “Implanted into the host, no matter the gender or species, where once it's born, it's meant to eat the host.” That statement was pointed to the Private.
Placing her hands on her hips, the woman sent them a cocky smile despite the growing sweat on her brow. Exertion. “I'm just that fucking awesome. Little dude liked me too much to fully eat me, and instead drinks my blood. Though what am I meant to do with this breast milk...?”
They both ignored that side comment. “But now, it's not fully Sangheili.” The Elite pointed out, “A hybrid.”
“Which is why that asshole got slowly more angry.” She explained further, smirk disappearing and glancing over their shoulder towards the entrance as if the Sangheili was going to appear, “He couldn't kill me, cause then the child would die, but he wasn't happy about it either. He had called some of his friends but they got into a massive argument over it outside and I took that as a chance to seal the door behind them. Didn't have much of a long term plan, but I had some good amount of rations, so I could send the distress signal and plan.” It was a solid plan to John, though he would find it somewhat lacking in proper strategy. However, the soldier did the best that she could with her situation, assessed that she could not fight one Elite, let alone five, and decided to barricade herself until reinforcement came. He could admire the guts it took to lock yourself in an unknown building with no actual knowledge of hope coming.
The child then got fussy, squirming in Thel's arms. The woman immediately stretched her arms to him, a silent demand to which the Elite complied. Once back in her arms, the child settled down. John still couldn't get a complete view of the child, covered in ratty cloth.
“I can only offer my deepest apologies for the liberties my kind have taken upon your person.” Thel quietly stated, “You and the child will be protected and cared for.”
Eyeing him, she then turned her gaze to John, “Do you mean that?”
John didn't break promises, however he couldn't guarantee the safety of the child. The solider, yes. She was under his jurisdiction for now, but the child was neither a Sangheili or human. And with the child being born due to an alien cult, it may be unlikely the alien's would accept it. And the humans were also out of the question. But, looking at this woman, small and weakened by an unwanted birth, alone on an unfamiliar planet, John gave her a deep nod. “We'll keep you two safe.”
A shudder of relief escaped her, closing her eyes as she replied hoarsely, “Good. Because I'm about to pass out now I think.”
And both of them were quick to lunge forward, bracing her slumping body between them, quick to hold her arms so the child did not tumble out of them. After a silent exchange, John scooped up the woman as Thel took the child once more. “She's got armour under there.” John instructed, “Best we grab that for her, as well as anything of hers if we can.”
Nodding, the Elite turned to set the child down on the ground, off to the side where it wouldn't be stepped on, and pulled off the tarp. It was a sad looking nest of thin blankets and two flattened pillows. He spotted a wad of blankets shoved into the corner, stained with blood, as well as a pile of aqua armour next to it. Nothing else caught his eye beside that. However, Thel took in a short inhale as he dug through the blankets, picking up what John knew to be a plasma blade handle, powered down.
“The Great Key.” He murmured, turning towards John. Or, more specifically, Private Tucker.
“She did say she found one.” John pointed out, thinking back on the briefly mentioned prophecy for this cult.
Thel sighed heavily, “I think this is going to become a very complicated situation, Chief.”
“Like the hybrid child doesn't already make it complicated?” John replied wryly, finding some modicum of humour within his dead personality. Not many appreciated it, but Cortana, Blue Team, and Thel did at least.
The Elite rolled his eyes, mandibles opening to no doubt retort, however the child then let out a displeased honk noise, and the taller of the pair turned his gaze back down to the bundle. “Hush, young one. You will be back with your mother soon.”
And after tying a blanket around the armour and shouldering it, the Sangheili stooped down to collect the child. Then, Thel began to let out a low, consistent rumble-
“Are you purring?” John couldn't help but ask, disbelieving. New information on Sangheili was filed away in his brain. Eight foot tall Elites could purr.
Thel did not reply, making his way out of the building. John followed behind, taking a short glance back down at the woman. This close he could see the gauntness in her cheeks, skin on her lips ripped and the bloody bite marks on her neck, some weakly leaking. Along with the basic signs of dehydration and malnutrition, John eyed the green marks on her face. They were no ordinary tattoos, seeing as he was pretty sure that tattoos didn't glow. There were two crescent lines under her eyes, along with a line on either side of her face that traced from the top of her brow, down the curve of her jaw, and dipping under her chin. They were perfectly symmetrical and John concluded that there was more under her clothes, then frowned.
“These marks...”
The alien glanced behind him for a brief moment before facing forward again. “How many females of my kind do you think you've seen on the field, Chief?”
At the question, John tilted his head to the side thoughtfully, “An equal amount to the males?” Sangheili were fierce warriors, and from his own conversations with Thel on his culture and world, he knew the females to be terrifying opponents in a fight, actually tending to be taller than the males. He quickened his pace.
Now walking side by side, he was able to see his partner shake his head in response. “Females do not leave our home planet unless necessary, as they are to be the last line of defense for the planet and to protect the brood. And you'll know a female, by the markings on her body. They only start to glow if they've entered mother-hood.”
It clicked into place, what Thel was insinuating. “She is no longer fully human.”
“Correct. I'm of the assumption that with the child in her for so long, the genetics merged, and her body changed to cope with carrying a child that was not of her species.”
Grimacing, John realised that this entire situation was becoming FUBAR quickly. And he had no positive thoughts on how the UNSC would deal with this. Scientists would be salivating to get a single look at the Private.
His mind decided to drag up the memory of the woman's expression when she asked on his sincerity of keeping her safe. Her eyes were pleading, a tentative hope in them. Frowning harder, John realised that keeping her safe, and making sure to not break his promise, was going to be a lot harder than he first assumed.