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The Meeting

Farst Isalamee was hurrying to deliver a document, for my superior, to someone else important. My leg wasn’t too bad, but I was limping. The stairs were going to be tricky with my bad leg and if I didn’t look at them all the way down they’d be impossible. It hurt as I carefully went down the stairs, not paying attention to anything but the steps.

Rayla Ralkamee happened to be meandering after getting a vacation. She had been practicing sounding like a guy and she thought she finally had it. Looking up at the sky as she went up some stairs, trying to decide what name would work. She didn’t notice the Sangheili coming down the stairs and walked into him. They tumbled down the steps and landed next to each other.

“What just happened? That hurt.” Rayla sat up and saw Farst. “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“Ow. It’s my fault for not paying attention. I’m very sorry.” Farst got up slowly. “Oh man, how am I going to get there now?” His limp was worse than before thanks to the fall.

Rayla noticed his limp and put his arm on her shoulder. “You had an excuse for not looking at what was in front of you. I didn’t. This is my fault. I’ll help you get to where you need to go as my apology.”

“Thanks. My name is Farst Isalamee. Who are you, ma’am?” He waited patiently for her response.

“The name’s Rayla Ralkamee. Please don’t tell anyone that I’m a girl.” She wanted everyone to think she was a boy. How did he know I was a girl, she wondered.

“No problem.” He said while trying to decide if he should ask her if she wanted to meet his friends and join the group. She noticed he was staring at her.

“What?” She looked impatient, if he was going to say something stupid or worse, a cheesy pick up line, she’d kill him.

“I was just wondering if you’d like to meet my friends. You would probably get along great with everyone.” He tried to comprehend why she had looked so impatient.

“Why not, I have nothing to do and could use some real friends.” She nodded and smiled.

“I’ll introduce you to them once I’ve finished delivering this document.” He said. They arrived and she took him as far as she could go and then waited for him to come out. He was genuinely friendly and had no ulterior motives so she didn’t see why she shouldn’t.

Farst approached the officer he was supposed to give the document to, handing it over as soon as he stopped. “I’m sorry it’s so late sir.” He wanted to hurry up and get this over with and leave but the look on the officer’s face told him it would take a while.

The officer looked over the document and scowled. “This is it? Pathetic, I can’t count on anyone to do their job.” He looked at Farst. “You came all the way here just to hand me this garbage?! I don’t believe this.”

Farst didn’t understand, their commanding officer had put as much as he knew into that document. Why was this officer so angry? “Sir, I don’t understand. We put everything we could find out into that document. Why are you calling it garbage?” He asked politely.

The officer looked like he was going to ring Farst’s neck. “THIS IS ALL THE INFORMATION YOU COULD COLLECT?!! IT IS COMPLETELY USELESS! YOU AND YOUR SQUAD ARE PATHETIC! IF I WANTED THIS I WOULD HAVE ASKED A UNGGOY TO WRITE A REPORT ON IT WITHOUT DOING ANY RESEARCH!”

Farst looked at the floor. This guy is an a*****e. “Sir, with all due respect, this is more information than most could provide you with. Why are you so angry? We did our best, isn’t that enough?”

“DON’T TALK BACK TO ME! HOW AM I GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS LACK OF INFORMATION?! WORTHLESS CURR! YOUR SQUAD WILL GO BACK AND GET MORE INFORMATION!” This officer was on the edge of killing Farst by this point. “NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!”

Farst didn’t wait for a second warning. He left as fast as his injured leg would allow. “Man, he’s going to be pissed when he hears how it was received.” He mumbled to himself as he left. His commanding officer didn’t take to well to stuff like that, especially when he’d done better than anyone else could do.

Rayla had heard the screaming. She went over to Farst and threw his arm over her shoulder. “Sounds like someone’s having a bad day. I take it he didn’t like the contents of the document.” She looked at him sympathetically. “Why can’t they ever just be happy that they got it?”

Farst sighed. “I don’t know, but I wish they would.” He had to go tell his superior how it was received. “My superior’s going to love this. I think the guy I talked to was a lower rank than him, which will make it even better. Man, this sucks.” Farst couldn’t wait to hang with his friends and forget about his troubles.

“Oooh greeeaaat. That sounds like fun. I hope your superior’s not too hard on you.” Rayla was worried about how this was going to turn out. These situations never ended well for one of the ones involved. You could never tell who was going to get hurt until it was too late.

Farst directed Rayla to his superior, who was waiting patiently reading something. When he heard them approach he put his reading material away. He knew it hadn’t gone well by the look on Farst’s face but he waited to find out exactly how it went.

“Sir, he called the report garbage.” Farst watched the anger appear on his superiors face. “He also said an Unggoy, with no information on the subject, could have put more into it. He wants us to go back and get more information, sir.”

His superior’s rage showed on his face but he wasn’t going to take it out on Farst. “I’ll handle this from here Farst. Thank you for delivering the document.” He had much more to do and he had to finish reading that report but dealing with this would come first. “You’re free to go. Tell the others to relax. We won’t be going anywhere for a while.” His superior walked away, in the direction of the other officer.

Rayla hadn’t expected it to go that well for him. “Wow. You have a nice superior. I was worried that was going to end badly for you.” She looked around.

“My friends should be this way.” Farst directed her to where his friends would be hanging around. They were almost all there, waiting for Farst so they could all go find something fun to do.

Darce Faralamee waved to Farst. “Come on. We’re in a hurry.” He didn’t even notice Rayla Ralkamee.

Fifi looked at Rayla. “Who’s that Farst?” She asked with curiosity.

“Yeah.” Hikaru looked suspiciously at Farst. He was going to enjoy this if he was right. “Are you going to tell us or not?”

Farst knew Hikaru was scheming something but didn’t know what. He looked at the Legkolo, pondering if he wanted to answer.

“My name is Rayla Ralkamee. I was helping Farst deliver the report. Is there a problem?’ Rayla was wondering what the Legkolo was implying.

Hikaru laughed evilly, his question answered. This was going to give at least five minutes of entertainment. “Oooh, there’s noooo prooooobleeeem.” He looked at Farst and got this huge grin. “I didn’t know it was so easy for you to pick up women. What method did you use?”

Farst was ready to kill Hikaru. “WHAT? Are you insane? I just thought…” He knew what Hikaru was thinking NOW. “What, I can’t make new friends without you teasing me?”

“Nice pick. She’s quite a catch.” Darce joined in on the teasing. “How did you find her? It’s nearly impossible to find a girl as pretty as her.”

Fifi giggled and piped in. “You look so cute together!” She smiled. “It’s amazing what a perfect couple you’ll make!”

Kloni nodded, laughing his a** off. “AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Yeah! You guys are perfect!” He rolled on the ground laughing.

Rayla thought that it was funny and reassuring that they could joke like this. “Hey. It’s nothing like that! I was trying to help him!” It was irritating too because it had to do with her.

Farst grumbled and then thought of a way to get back at Darce for helping Hikaru. “At least I stick with the same race! Not like YOU, Darce Faralamee. You seem to have a thing for Unggoy!” He was referring to when Darce had introduced Fifi to them.

Darce looked insulted or at least tried. “That was a completely different situation. We knew each other from training, we worked together.” He argued.

Shacra laughed. “I had no idea you and Fifi were together for so long. How sweet.” She turned to Farst. “I’m going to agree with Fifi. You two are sooo cute together.” She said with a playful tone.

Kloni laughed even harder. “HAHAHAHAHA! You both sure do know how to charm the ladies. Though I’m not sure how that’s possible in Darce’s case, he’s a klutz.” He couldn’t say anymore because he was laughing too hard.

“That’s why he picked an Unggoy.” Hikaru got a bigger grin. “Farst, who have you been getting tips from, our commander perhaps?”

Vivi decided to stay out of this one. He was busy thinking about what they could do for the moment. “Hmm… maybe.” He thought aloud but no one noticed.

Loosha looked at all of them who were teasing the two. “How does this accomplish anything? I’m sure we can find something better to do.” She frowned at them. She would rather do something else.

Hikaru pouted, while trying to look dejected. “It was just a little teasing. We’ll stop now.” He had a small smile now. “What’s our commander want us to do?”

“He gave us a break but I don’t know how long it’s going to last. The report wasn’t taken very well.” Farst smiled, relieved that the teasing was over. “What shall we do for the moment?”

“Don’t you mean ‘What kind of trouble should we accidentally get into’ while having fun?” Kloni corrected Farst. “I have no idea. We were waiting for you to show up before deciding on what to do. Hey, we could steal some Banshees and go joy riding!”

Shacra shook her head. “Can we try to stay OUT of trouble for once? Our commander will have a fit if we do that.” She looked at Rayla. “If you want to be in good standing with anyone, don’t hang around with us.”

“I don’t care about how I stand with others.” Rayla smiled. “I like your attitudes actually, they’re refreshing. You guys are a lot better than most I’ve met.”

“We could always wander around until we find something interesting.” Hikaru shrugged. “I agree that we shouldn’t go with Kloni’s idea.” He started thinking.

“That sounds okay.” Fifi piped in. “If we went with Kloni’s we wouldn’t live to see tomorrow.” She looked at the ones who hadn’t said anything yet. “What do you guys think? It affects you so give your opinion.”

Vivi was still thinking. “I don’t know. Hikaru’s idea isn’t half bad.” He continued to try to come up with something. “Nope…”

Loosha shrugged. “As long as it’s NOT joy riding, or something else to get us in trouble, I’m game.”

“I don’t care. I just want it to be fun and interesting. I’m not sure we can do anything fun here though.” Darce said looking at the sky. Without warning, he fell over. “WAAH!”

“Oh, I know. We could ask to be sent to be sent in to battle the Flood and goof off there! It’s always fun to do that!” Kloni looked at the others. “We could even try and talk our commander into transferring you to our squad, Rayla.”

“Sure. I wouldn’t mind. I’m tired of my old team anyway.” Rayla responded. “You guys just can’t let anyone else know I’m a girl.”

“No problem. I’ll go talk to him now.” Shacra said and wandered off.

Their commander had just finished arguing. It had nearly turned to blows before he won the argument. He saw Shacra coming and knew that meant his soldiers wanted something. “What is it Shacra?” He kept his voice calm in spite of his anger.

“Sir, I came here to see if you’d be willing to transfer another soldier into our ranks. Their name is Rayla Ralkamee.” Shacra stood at attention as she asked. “Please sir.”

He looked at her a moment before responding. “Fine, what else?” Her superior inquired, knowing that they wanted something else.

“We would also like to request to be put on the battle field after a day of rest, sir.” Shacra promptly responded. “That’s all, sir. Would you mind? We don’t have much to do here. You know what happens when Kloni has nothing to do.”

“Yes I’m all too aware of what happens when he gets bored. I’ll see what I can do. Tell everyone to get some rest. We’ll leave as soon as the transfer clears.” Their superior told Shacra and then walked away.

Shacra returned to the others, pleased. “Okay he’s going to transfer her and we’ll probably be moving out once the transfer is complete. We should try and get some rest so we’ll be ready.” She watched the others for reactions. This was going to be interesting.

“SWEET! Another lunatic in the crew!” Kloni leaped into the air screaming. “Enjoy your stay.”

“Alright, until then. See ya.” Farst waved as he limped off. It was going to be a long walk to his quarters. What was there commander up to? The next battle was probably going to be a long one.

“Yeah, we better. It’ll be a while before we’ll get a good rest. Bye.” Vivi left his friends to pack his stuff and get some rest. No one was going to argue about the transfer with their commander.

They had all dispersed to their quarters and turned on their mikes so they could all talk while they packed. It was going to be difficult to prepare since they didn’t know what they would be preparing for. Each one worked to ensure they covered the other’s weaknesses. This was most likely going to be their toughest battle they’d had yet.

“You think we’re ready for whatever it is we’re going to be doing?” Farst packed his personal stuff first, once finished he moved on to his weapons. He packed a plasma rifle, a plasma pistol, an energy sword, and a carbine rifle. It was best to be prepared for anything. No telling what kind of battle their commander had in mind for them.

“We always are. I wouldn’t worry about it.” Fifi politely responded as she finished packing her stuff and making sure it was all in the proper order. “Our commander wouldn’t send us into the battle if he didn’t think we could handle it.”

“Fifi’s got a point. We should have faith in our commander. We’ll be ready for the mission we get.” Shacra finished packing, only caring if it all fit. “Night everyone.”

“I hope we get a mission that we can do something completely insane! This will be so much fun I can’t wait!” Kloni was closing his bags. He hopped onto the bed and was moving to turn off his radio. “Night guys!” He fell asleep as soon as his radio was off.

Rayla carefully packed everything, trying to make sure she didn’t forget anything. “This should be an interesting experience. Sleep well.” She removed her armor and lay down. Will I really be accepted for who I am with these lunatics? She turned off her radio and set it aside, laughing at herself. “Of course I will, I mean come on look at them. I guess I’m paranoid.” She rolled over, fast asleep.

The next day their commander made double sure they were ready to go. Knowing them they would probably forget something anyway. He watched all of them get into the Phantom. None of them needed to be told a thing, they knew what he wanted. Were they ready for this mission? After all they were only rookies, not that he doubted them. He considered the mission they were going on. It would be difficult for most soldiers and it was his job to worry. He entered the Phantom last. “Alright we’re off to a dangerous and insane battle. Are you all ready for it? If you’re not, then simply get off now. No ones going to call you a coward. If you wish to go then stay where you are. I’ll give you a little time to think about it before I give the pilot permission to leave. You all had better know what you’re doing.”

No one moved, they weren’t going to back down. They trusted their commander completely. There was no question that their loyalty and devotion to there superior was phenomenal. Most soldiers didn’t have any where near that much loyalty. Even if they were all rookies, their skills were quite impressive, especially their team work.

The only one who didn’t work well on a team was Sync Alchamee. He's antisocial. None of his skills seemed to stand out in any way. He wasn’t liked by most, except these guys. Most just thought he was a foolish rookie but their commander suspected he was hiding great talent. The trouble was proving it.

“Let’s go no one’s leaving and you know it. Why do you ask anymore? I want to do something already, sir.” Kloni tried to be as polite as possible. It was ridiculous, their commander knew better than to think they’d back down. His impatient and irritation, for being asked that stupid question, showed more than he would have liked.

“At least he added sir. He has a point there, none of us are leaving. We may go whenever you’re ready sir.” Darce looked at their commander, praying the little loon hadn’t angered him. He sighed with relief when he saw that their commander wasn’t angry.

Hikaru snickered. “Trying to gain his favor Darce? Do you think you’re better than us? Or perhaps you’re practicing the art of butt kissing?” He wanted to annoy Darce with the teasing. “It’s going to be difficult to improve your standing if you continue being a klutz. Knock yourself out with the butt kissing though. I mean come on it might work someday.”

“Hikaru leave me alone. You don’t want our commander angry any more than me.” Darce countered, fully aware that the legkolo was just messing with him.

“Will you two just be quiet? I would like to keep my sanity through the whole trip there, thank you.” Loosha looked miffed. She was trying to come up with possible strategies for the upcoming battle and they were distracting her.

“You guys are cruel. It’s sometimes hard to believe you’re all close friends.” Rayla couldn’t believe them. Didn’t their commander care about their behavior? This was definitely going to be interesting.

Their commander gave the pilot the okay to take off. It was going to be a long trip, as usual. These guys could make the shortest trip seem like an eternity when they had been bored until then. “Can you guys keep your antics to a minimum? I need to figure out some stuff.” At least they would listen when he asked so he wouldn’t need to yell at them.

Shacra contemplated the possibilities for the mission. What were they going to be up against? Were they ready for it? What were the odds that something would go wrong? She sat quietly concentrating on her thoughts. The noise had died down since the commander’s request. What kind of terrain were they going to run into? She had so many questions but had complete faith in her commander. He wouldn’t let anything happen to them and he’d ensure victory.

Kloni fidgeted in place, he hated long rides like this. When were they going to get there? This is boring. I want to be doing something crazy, not sitting in a Phantom doing nothing. “This better not be too long. I’m ready to go.” He wanted to ask the commander how long they were going to be in here but thought better of it when he looked at his commander’s face.

Fifi began trying to find something to do. I wish I had a mirror. Maybe there will be pretty flowers to pick on the planet. What’s Human food taste like? I wonder if it’s fun to style Human hair. Maybe I’ll get a chance here.

Farst sat perfectly still and was quiet. I’m going to have to use a vehicle most of the time. What kinds will we be equipped with? “Oh Kloni quit complaining. We’ll be there before you know it.” He was in no hurry to get there. His hurt leg was going to make this mission a pain in the a**. There had better not be any terrain that a vehicle couldn’t traverse. What kind of enemies will we face?

Sync was in the corner. Why do I have to be here? I don’t want to die because of these idiots. What kind of insanity were they going to pull this time? Nearly committing suicide by crashing a Phantom into a giant cluster of Flood again? Or maybe taking a shot at a superior officer for yelling at them? Of course there is always the try to blow the enemy AND THEMSELVES up with grenades option. He didn’t like any of the possibilities. They always managed to do something crazy and frequently suicidal.

Vivi never liked long Phantom rides, everyone became so antsy. Where are we going and what are are we facing? I wish we’d get there already. Why are we supposed to be quiet? Are we going to be okay? Silly me, we’ll be fine, our commander will make sure of that.

Loosha wished she had some data to go over. We have nothing to do. Do they expect us to be happy about not knowing where we’re going? She watched the goof balls fidget and try to keep quiet. Their bored stiff, they need something to do besides sitting.

Hikaru messed with his shield. “Why does it have to take so long? I hate waiting around doing nothing.” Why did they have to sit here? It didn’t seem right, waiting in a Phantom always made him nervous. Sitting quietly always gave him time to think about what could go wrong.

Rayla didn’t understand why they all seemed so fidgety. Isn’t this what they wanted? They were heading of on a mission just like they had requested. Why were they acting like this? I don’t understand these guys.

They had finally arrived on the planet. They had landed in a grassy field. There were flowers of every color of the rainbow. The occasional tree dotted this area. It was like a paradise.

Their commander began to lead them to the area. They couldn’t have dropped us any farther away could they? He glanced at his troops, they were all happy to be off the Phantom. “Come on you guys we have a long way to go. Thanks to the wonderful pilot of the Phantom, we are about as far as away as we can possibly be without being half way across the PLANET! He left us in the middle of NOWHERE!”

Shacra was carrying Farst for the moment. “Alright then, so we move quickly. Lead the way sir.” Why couldn’t they drop us closer? I hope we’re not too tired to battle by the time we get there.

Fifi picked flowers as she walked. “What are we fighting here, sir?” She watched there commander intently. Flood were no fun, you couldn’t do anything with them. I could play with a Human’s hair if I snuck up on them.

Their commander didn’t bother to turn around, he knew his soldiers well enough to know who asked. “Humans and Flood, any other questions, Fifi?” Questions usually came in pairs when she asked. He had a pretty good idea of what the next question was going to be already. “No we don’t have specific orders kill all the Humans; we’re just supposed to kill all of the Flood.”

“Okay!” Fifi smiled, she would get her chance. She skipped along in the grass. This would be an interesting mission. She was going to have fun.

Darce walked calmly along, trying to look cool. “This’ll be a piece of cake. Nothing to it.” He grinned and poked Hikaru. “You’ll even be fine. I mean come on you haven’t fallen over yet…” As soon as he finished the statement, he tripped. “AAH!”

Hikaru laughed at the clumsy Elite. “Yeah too bad you’re the one that trips on invisible rocks! HAHAHAHAHA!” I wonder how many Humans I’ll get to scare half to death? He always seemed to scare them, no matter what his real intentions were.

Their commander shook his head. “We’re running the whole way if you have enough energy to hassle each other! Start running!” He could feel his troops’ disappointment at the running. I know guys, but I want to get to the base as fast as possible. You’ll get a long break after our first battle.

They all adjusted their pace to keep up with their commander. None of them complained. They knew their commander just wanted to get there, he wasn’t picking on them. It was starting to become hard to tell that they were rookies. They could act like hardened soldiers when they wanted to.

The first building they came to was one of the ones they were supposed to clear of Flood. They enter guns ready. The mission this time was to partially clear it of Flood and then come back later to finish the job. It was dark; almost all the lights were off.

Kloni looked around, squinting. “We’re never going to see them until there right on top of us. How are we supposed to fight like this?” He watched a shadow for a moment and then shot it.

Flood started coming from every direction. All of them who saw the Flood started shooting. Fifi was looking at something else and didn’t see the Flood attacking. Hikaru charged the Flood going after Fifi. Due to the darkness, he didn’t see the strange shaft and fell in after killing the Flood. After landing at the bottom he looked up but couldn’t see anything. He noticed a hall and proceeded down it.