Halo: Xenomorphs Rising

Chapter 3 - The Covenant

Carbine. Just out of her reach. Energy sword? Useless, the blood will melt her skin like butter. She rolled away from the sharp tail, leaping swiftly and gracefully to her feet. The creature before her hissed in annoyance.

“Go find a human to feed upon, wretched beast! I refuse to be anyone’s meal!” The beast obviously did not speak English. She wondered if the forerunners had seen fit to punish her and her crew for something. Though it didn’t really matter why the beast was here, she was more concerned about how to kill it. The tail came at her again, this time managing to slice the skin of her shoulder open. She grunted in pain. If she had been able to keep all of her armour, her energy shielding could have taken care of that. As it were, she had been forced to ditch some of it after her first encounter with the creatures; it was either that or have her arm melted off by acid. She grabbed the thing’s tail and tried to overbalance the creature, but only succeeded in being flung halfway across the room. Even the strength of a Sangheili was no match for that of the beast. She growled and picked herself up woozily. She stumbled in the general direction of her dropped weapon, but was cut short by a tail around her throat. She gasped slightly as the hold tightened and the Alien brought its face right next to hers, a small set of jaws sliding out of the main set. I’m dead if I don’t... She fumbled around with her belt, trying to locate her final weapon as the creature prepared to gorge itself. “Eat this,” she howled as her energy sword flared to life and came down in a burning arc to slice off the creature’s... tongue? Second mouth? It did not matter, because whatever it was, it was dissolving in a puddle of acid, along with the floor. The creature screeched in pain and released her, allowing her to scramble over to her Carbine and finish it off with twenty shots to the head. Panting and clutching her wound, she growled again. “I hope the rest of your species can put up a better fight!” She knew she had just gotten lucky. Most of her crew had fallen to these creatures, and there was a vast number of them. One she could handle. Two? Pushing it. Ten? She would make a fine snack. She sighed and placed her Carbine on her back, then she scooped up her still-active energy sword, deactivated it, and slipped it back into her belt.

She had been walking for hours now. The Divine Intervention was far behind her now. She hoped that the creatures would stay there. She paused. What was that? She strained her ears. She picked up a faint buzzing sound in the distance. She searched her mind for what it could possibly be. It didn’t sound like one of the creatures, but she wasn’t exactly an expert. It was a lot easier to hear now. Did the forest just quieten, or... The buzzing was slowly changing in pitch as it got closer to her. Soon it was an almost unbearably loud roaring. She looked up and saw a flaming human airship whizz past her head. She judged it would crash not too far away from where she was now. Perhaps there would be survivors... Wait, what? What do I care if they survive or not? They are but humans. She heard a boom as it connected with the ground. She looked away, out towards the horizon. The sun was setting. It would be nice to have someone watching her back while she slept... She grimaced, then glanced over to the Divine Intervention. There was no one left there... besides, she had left the wrecked ship for a reason. The Aliens were everywhere. What she really needed was some kind of cave to spend the night in. She turned back to the direction of the human ship guiltily. I am about to betray all my people, all my beliefs... all my gods. She shook her head.

“If there were gods, they would not doom me to a fate such as this, alone and hunted by creatures that live to kill. The least I can do is check the crash site for others such as I. Perhaps... perhaps this is a sign from the gods. Perhaps they wish to provide me with no alternative but to unite with the humans,” she wondered aloud. She nodded to herself and began moving again. She was at the crash site within minutes.

She stepped over a tree that had been knocked down by the momentous vehicle. The Pelera, as she believed it was called, lay in a mini crater in the middle of a clearing it had created. It was in terrible condition. She navigated around a ground vehicle that was laying on its side not so far away from the Pelera. She snorted in distaste. I wonder why they still use wheels. It is so primitive, and they are obviously capable of more advanced transportation. She stopped just short of the cargo bay, which was missing its hatch. In fact, that said hatch was embedded in the ground a few feet away from its owner. She ducked into the small space and glared at the empty seats. No one? How can this be? She walked back out again and realised she had forgotten to check the pilot seat. Instead of going back inside the cramped space again, she wandered around to the front of the vehicle. There was one human, lying slumped in his seat, held up only by the straps of his chair. She hated the thought of it, taking human weaponry was heresy, but she had already established that the gods were no longer watching over her. She spotted a small sidearm strapped to the human’s belt. Lacking a sidearm of her own, she reached over to grab it. She felt hot breath on the back of her neck. She froze. No no! Not again! Nothing happened. She turned around to search for the Alien that had been behind her. Still nothing. More confused than frighten... concerned, her eyes darted around the clearing. She rolled her eyes at her foolishness and held a hand in front of the human’s mouth. She felt the warmth of his breath.

“You... are not dead?” she asked, then mentally slapped herself. Just because it is alive, does not mean it is awake. She pulled back and studied the human. He had short brown fur on his head and a moderately broad build. It would probably be quite tall standing. Obviously, his physique couldn’t match hers, but it was still impressive. For a human, that is. She grabbed the strap holding him down and tugged it. It didn’t move. She tugged harder. Soon she was shaking it, pulling it at every possible angle she could think of. “Begone you infernal device,” she grunted to the inanimate object. Furious, she drew her energy sword and slashed the thing to hell. She let out a victorious “aha” before the human, now missing its only support, flopped onto the ground. She glanced around embarrassedly, as if she fearing someone had seen her slip-up, then hauled the human over her shoulder. “So heavy... and yet so weak. Not very... balanced are they?” she commented. Hisssss she dropped the human and spun around, her Carbine at the ready in seconds. She looked back at the human that was lying face-down in the dirt. I have to stop dropping him like that, she chided herself, I could break him. For some reason she started giggling at the thought. She slung her Carbine onto her back and picked up what used to be her greatest foe.

She set the human down – gently this time – onto the floor of the cave she had found. It was quite shallow, so no nasty surprises could hide themselves in the back, and yet big enough to be comfortable for five Sangheili. She stared at the human again. She didn’t know why, but she felt... sympathy for him. Just seeing him lying there, pathetic and defenceless. She smiled to herself. At least she didn’t have a soft spot for the thing. She leaned against the cave wall and waited for it to wake up.