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The child squirmed in Thel's arms, but he held it close, so it wouldn't fall from his arms. He could tell that the child wanted his mother, however the woman was currently resting on the floor of the plane, head softened by an emergency blanket that was in the human medical box. Thel himself had to sit on the ground to keep her body stable, braced by his legs and one arm on her shoulder whilst cradling the child with his other arm as John flew them back to Forward Unto Dawn. Once they entered slipspace it would take only some hours before they reached the ship.
Keeping the child soothed with the deep rumble from his chest, what the Demon had called a 'purr', Thel contemplated the pair. The woman, Lavernia Tucker she had introduced herself as, was small. All humans were small to him and his race, but she was far shorter than most of the humans he had come across. He couldn't say if it was due to her gender, as he had come across some female humans that were taller than this one, so he was assuming it must be due to genetics. Strange that they did not have similar heights across their species. However, she had the ferocious protective instincts over her child that his people would approve of. She earned the warning marks of a mother well.
Thel felt the ship shudder a little, signifying they had entered slipspace, and after a few moments, the heavy foot steps sounded, John entering the back of the ship where Thel currently was. Head tilting to the side, the human asked, “Is that a safe position for her?”
“Most likely not.” Thel replied, shrugging lightly, “However there isn't anywhere to lay her down beside the floor, but I will keep her from injury.”
The Spartan stayed silent, coming closer to crouch down by the woman's head. Quiet, both of them observed the unconscious human before the child decided to make his unhappiness known again. A squawking honk escaped, arms flailing some more and breaking free from it's blanket confines. The eyes that blinked open were a colour he hadn't seen on any of his kind.
John peered closer. “How different is he to other Sangheili children?”
“His eyes are different.” Thel immediately stated, the most noticeable divergence from any of his kind's features.
“How so?”
“Brown.” Reaching up, he settled on of his fingers on the child's chest, where he immediately latched on with chubby fingers, cries dimming as he stared curiously up at Thel. “Sangheili eyes are never brown. And the skin, there is no typical layer of scale protection over the stomach and chest like there is when a child is born. We can only hope it grows as he gets older.” Tiny mandibles began to gnaw on his finger – he couldn't stop the pleased rumble from his chest at the optimistic sign of future ruthlessness – as he glanced back up at John.
“His teeth are softer.” His finger lightly prodded at said teeth, “Children are typically born with already sharp teeth, but these are too dull to make their way into Sangheili flesh, though they work fine on a human's.” He added.
John sighed. “How the hell are we going to hide this from command?” Because it was no question that the higher ups could not know of her or the child. At least until she could defend herself and the child had protection.
Cortana flickered into view, arms tucked behind her back and smiling sweetly on John's shoulder at the child. “I've taken the liberty to go through what files I have of medical and science officers we have on board the main ship, flagging the ones that I deem partial to Sangheili as well as more opened minded to such a situation.”
The Spartan nodded, “Thanks, Cortana. Any idea on how we're going to sneak them in? Private Tucker's body is mostly covered but those markings are too obvious on her face. And then the child, Thel will draw attraction if he is seen carrying a child when we return.”
“Private Tucker's armour would be best for concealing her marks.” The AI suggested, and John gave a slow nod in response, a show of thinking that Thel had noted over time.
Thel then suggested, “The bag over there could hold the child.” And he pointed to said object, shoved in a corner. John turned to it, and when he looked back to Thel, the Arbiter did not need to see his face to know he was giving him an unimpressed expression. “You want to stuff the kid into a bag?”
“It's fabric.” Thel argued lightly, “The child can breathe fine, and as long as we don't knock the bag about, then all will be well.”
Reaching up, John rubbed at the juncture between his neck and shoulder, a gesture that Thel knew to be one of irritation or exhaustion. He let the human think, going back to watching the child. No longer fussing, he blinked up at Thel, eyes knowledgeable in the way that all Sangheili children were the moment they were born. It was relieving to know that the child maintained that part of his non-human genetics.
“I don't think Private Tucker will appreciate us having to undress her to put her into her armour.” John then commented. Thel glanced up to tilt his head to express his confusion. The human elaborated, “I'm not that familiar with social norms, but even I know stripping an unconscious woman without her consent is not something usually done.”
“I see.” Thel did not, but nodded anyways. From what he had slowly gathered after his year alongside John and other humans, was that they were particular when it came to privacy and appearances. To his kind, nudity was not much of a concept, and to undress one was a task given to the closest of clan if the recipient could not do it themselves. Maybe it was something along those lines, and neither him or John were clan to the woman.
“You could cover her with the blanket when you carry her through.” Cortana suggested again, and John's shoulders seemed to slightly lose their tension. “Yeah, that will work, I guess.”
Standing up, John proceeded to head back to the cockpit, Thel hearing him ask the AI, “About those files...”
Left alone once more, Thel looked down at the child. Eyes starting to droop, the child blinked slowly and Thel approved of the second clear eyelid that followed a half second after the thicker eye lids. Even with human-brown eyes, it still maintained that Sangheili feature. “You will be much trouble, I fear, as well as your mother.” Thel softly murmured to the child, switching from English.
At his words in their language, the child's eyes came back into focus, latching onto the born in language. It made a little growl in it's throat, not quite words but the message got across to him: Don't touch my mother.
Snorting at the protectiveness from one so young, Thel rolled his eyes, grudgingly impressed with it's audacity. He then tilted the child a little so that he could catch a glimpse at his slumbering parent. One arm reached out to her, but it was too far for his short limbs, whining softly. “She is well, young one.” Thel assured, nudging the child back into the blankets. “Just tired from keeping you safe.”
That settled him some what, a grumpy glance sent Thel's way before it's eyes closed and stayed that way. Now, with two sleeping passengers to watch over, the Arbiter made some mental plans on which Sangheili and clans did he know of that were neutral if not leaning towards partial for the truce with the humans. He knew that both woman and child would need other protectors beside him and John, as well as trainers. Training the woman with her sword he could do, however the Arbiter was no parent, nor did he have the desire to be one. Even with the war there was still a large number of his kind. Besides, he had a chosen mate in mind and children would not be on John's mind.
They received strange looks after stepping out of the ship into the loading bay, soldiers and workers bustling about with their duties and tasks. With a sack of armour over his shoulder and the child shoved into the bag, Thel didn't receive as many glances. John, on the other hand, attracted stares with the woman in his arms and a bright red blanket tossed over her form, including her head.
However, no one stopped them on their march to the medical wing, where Doctor Emily Grey was waiting near the entrance, in scrubs and foot tapping impatiently. At the sight of them, the woman perked up, “Well, doesn't this look suspicious, gentlemen!” The woman called out cheerily, a bounce in her step as she fearlessly came up to them. “Did you bring me a dead body to dissect?”
He was not used to humans sounding so...enthusiastic, about such topics, and even John seemed hesitant as the doctor peeked under the blanket at Private Tucker's face. “Oooo!” She sang out excitedly, “Fascinating! I have a private room ready for her, follow me.”
And with a sharp turn, the tail of her hair whipping around with the motion, the doctor strode through the medical wing halls, steps purposeful that Thel realised after a moment that it was her all the other medical officers were diving and scrambling out of the way from, not him or John. Interesting.
Into a private room, she flapped her hand at the bed, where John gingerly set the soldier down. With a n excited flourish, Doctor Grey flung off the blanket and peered in close, taking some glasses out of her scrubs pocket. Humming under her breath, but not like the sound when a human was thinking, more musical to his ears, the doctor shone a tiny light into the unconscious woman's eyes, peeling back eye lids and then tilting the head back to peer into her mouth.
“Absolutely fascinating.” She breathed out in awe, “I think her teeth have grown! You can see the redness in her gums from where the bone structure has shifted and pushed through.”
Clicking off the light and straightening up, the doctor's face was flushed with delight, eyes sparkling as she stated them, “Cortana did not give me as much information due to the lack of full privacy on the comm channel, so you must give me a run down on the exact circumstances that you found her as well as what she has told you.”
John's shoulders rolled back, spine straightening as he went into briefing mode. “At 0725 by this ship's time, we received a distress signal. With our position currently, near the edge between human and Sangheili space, we must have been close enough to pick it up. Cortana calculated that the signal was at least six months old. After tracking where the signal was coming from, we assessed it to be deep into Covenant space, and decided the two of us would be best for this mission. Upon arriving at 1040 ship's time, we approached on foot and came across a religious structure.”
Thel decided to take over from there, explaining, “The planet we arrived on has history of housing a fanatical religious faction of my people, and their prophecy that they believed in stems into how Private Tucker came to be in her circumstance.”
“The bodies were not fresh, months old, and the structure was closed off.” John supplied next, “After Cortana accessed the network, found two life signs, and opened the sealed entrance, the Arbiter smelt both blood and a child. After arriving at the room, we were met at gunpoint by a UNSC soldier, Private Tucker First Class.” He nodded at the woman. At this point the doctor was beginning to disinfect and apply bandaging onto the wounds on the woman's neck. Thel decided to not point out it would be a waste of time, as the child would just bite there again anyways.
“And this is where you learnt of her interesting markings?”
Thel nodded at the doctor's question, “Yes. Private Tucker informed us with the barest amount of information that one of the cult members found her to be in possession of a special plasma blade, the Great Key. There is still more information missing on how and why, but the cult member had implanted a parasitic embryo, which should last up to three weeks within the host's body. However, the human's body adjusted and it became a full pregnancy. The cult member took her from where ever she was stationed and brought her to the temple.”
“From what we've gathered, she was there with the cult member for around a month before more showed up.” The Spartan surmised, “A disagreement occurred outside of the temple and the Private took that as her chance to lock herself in and send the distress call out. The five members got into a fight and disposed of one another during it. Six months later, we arrived to Private Tucker having given birth three days ago.”
“And where is the child?” The doctor asked, and Thel raised up the bag in his hand in prompt response. She stared at it, and then them for a long moment. “You placed a child inside a bag?” There was a sickly sweetness to her tone of voice and he felt his hackles raise.
Unzipping the bag to remove the child, who was still slumbering calmly, Thel held the child out as a peace offering. Coming around to the other side of the bed, Doctor Grey took the child gently. She stared down at it with utter amazement. “You must give me all the information on the biology of your species.” The woman demanded, “I need to assess the differences with this hybrid, along with the changes that may occur within Private Tucker. We must be prepared for any mutations that could harm either of them.”
“It drinks blood.” John then stated. The doctor turned to him, eyebrow raised in silent encouragement to continue. “The Private mentioned that the child fed on her blood soon after it was born. The marks on her neck are where it has fed.”
“I see.” A pause. Then her expression brightened, “Well, gentlemen! You're free to leave, I will make sure Private Tucker is looked after and healed up.”
“It's of utmost importance that this child's existence is not documented.” Thel stressed, looming over her to make it known that it was a threat if necessary. “I am looking for trust worthy Elites that can be a guard for the child, but until then, he and the mother must be kept out of harm.”
A sharpness in the doctor's eyes had him tensing. “Are you implying that I can not keep patient confidentiality as well as bring harm to someone under my care?”
Thel had felt a shiver creep up his scales, knowing he mis-stepped somewhere. John cut in, hand raising in a peaceful gesture, “No, Doctor Grey. We're just making you aware of how dangerous the situation is.”
“Oh, I am quite aware.” The woman chirped, smiling in away that to Sangheili it would be a baring of teeth. “Such biological anomalies would cause such excitement within the scientific community! All sorts of experimentation testing, as I am partial to, in fact. However, you're lucky that I don't experiment on unwilling participants like others, and that I highly value the lives of those that are under my jurisdiction. So when I say that no harm will come of her, nor any information on her condition will be spread, best believe that I'm telling the truth, Master Chief. Arbiter.”
The intensity of her bright tone and menacing smile was enough for the two of them to nod and depart swiftly, after Thel quickly dumped the sack of armour by the door. With the metal sliding shut behind them, Thel caught the small sound of John breathing out as if he had been holding his breath. He could relate.
A pause. Then, he muttered to the man in his own language. “Are doctors usually like that, for humans?”
John shrugged, a helpless and baffled motion, replying in English as human's struggled to sound out Sangehili, “I've interacted with scientists and soldiers my entire life, so I can't say whether or not she was normal.”
Another thoughtful pause, Thel considering the Spartan's words before solemnly concluding, “I feel as if she was not of the norm for your people.”
Starting back down the hall way, the human rolled his shoulders as he wryly admitted, “I don't think you'd be wrong to feel that way, Thel.”