Halo: Xenomorphs Rising

Chapter 4 - A Rude Awakening, an Unexpected Ally

Quinn groaned and placed a hand on his aching head. His eyes drifted open, and he found himself staring into a pair of bright, emerald green eyes, slitted much like a lizard’s.

“Aaaaaah!” he cried as he tried to roll away. A hand gripped him firmly on the shoulder.

“Be calm human.” He put an end to his struggles and the hand released him. He propped himself up on an elbow and stared at the early morning light drifting onto the rocky floor. Am I in a cave? I don’t remember that.

“What’s... going on?” he rasped. His throat was incredibly dry. He could see a fresh water lake nearby, but decided to scope out his ‘friend’ first. He turned back to face the creature, and was surprised to see a Sangheili. Elites usually have deeper voices, don’t they? It was missing the shoulder piece of its sapphire blue armour, thus enabling him to see a rather large scar that ran right around the top of its shoulder and partway down its back. It seemed to have a Carbine on its back and an energy sword by its side. This could be the only non-Xenomorph alive on the whole planet.

“I brought you here. Your Pelera crashed,” she added with a grin. She had decided to throw that in to show off her knowledge of his culture. The human just gave her a blank look. She had noticed by now how much it glanced at her eyes, not trying to make eye-contact, but it had probably never seen one of her kind without their helmet polarised. Normally, all they saw was the red or blue glow that was a product of the helmet’s HUD. She currently had her HUD switched off because it was going to keep alerting her of the human’s presence, which would get annoying quickly. She met the human’s gaze and held it, daring it to look away. She stared right into its blue orbs, awaiting any kind of response. Finally the human spoke up in a confused tone.

“Pelera...?” She glared at it. Of course, she tried to be nice and all it did was make fun of her.

“Your ship. Your vehicle. The giant piece of flying metal. Do you now understand?” she growled, this wasn’t a surprise, yet she had expected it to go differently. Can it not understand that we have bigger problems here? Can it not put aside the hate it has for my kind for the sake of survival?

“Oh! The Pelican,” it laughed. She clenched her fists and almost went for her sword. She gritted her mandibles. The human shuffled into a more comfortable position. “I suppose I would sound even more stupid trying to pronounce your words though.”

“That’s righ... what was that?” she inquired, tilting her head.

“I said I would sound stupid trying to pronounce words from your language.” She frowned. But... it was just laughing at her a few seconds ago... do humans change moods that quickly? The human mirrored her action, a look of bemusement on his face. “Something wrong?”

“Err... no. All is well human.” She couldn’t believe she had just stammered! She had never said ‘err’ in her life, yet this human had somehow caught her off guard. Was it genuinely concerned about her well-being? He offered a hand to her.

“Apart from the giant-ass things with the huge spikes on their backs and knives on their tail. Name’s Quinn.” She stared at the extended limb before her. Handshake. He wants to shake your hand... that is... that is the symbol of friendship? Or was it a greeting? No, it is the sealing of a business deal... but we are not... She realised she was still staring dumbly at his arm and hurriedly brought hers up to clasp his hand and shake it awkwardly. She had never done this before, but she had seen it happen enough to know the general idea.

“I am Relu, female Sangheili Minor of the Holy Ship ‘Divine Intervention’.” She searched her mind for some kind of human saying that would apply to this situation to seem friendlier. “It is... a pleasure to meet you.”

Relu. Has a nice ring to it. Quinn studied the Elite’s face again, and he realised she was looking at him expectantly. His heart skipped a beat as he realised she was waiting to see if he would offer some kind of Sangheili greeting to her.

“Uh... May the forerunners bless our sacred journey?” he tried. Relu smiled at him. He blushed slightly as he wondered if she found his pathetic attempt funny or if she was pleased by what he had said. Relu released his hand and stared quizzically at his face.

“Quinn, your colouration is alarming!” she exclaimed, causing him to blush even more. She narrowed her eyes at him accusingly. “Are you... blushing?”

“N-no! I... It’s just... damn it’s hot in this cave! I-I need to get a drink,” he remembered. Relu nodded and watched him run over to the lake and splash some water onto his face, before drinking some. Are all humans like this, she wondered, or is this just an effect I have on him? Maybe he is still afraid of me. He soon returned, flicking drops of water off his hands. “We should probably go find some food, I’m starving.” Relu nodded and smiled embarrassedly as her own stomach growled at the thought of a meal.

“Then let us go search for something to eat.” Quinn grinned, thankfully not passing a comment about her un-ladylike reaction to her empty belly. He slid his weapon off his back and stepped out into the sunlight. Relu stepped up next to him. “You should acquire a more efficient weapon, yours is most primitive,” she sniffed. Quinn glanced back at her and started walking.

“No offence, but I’ve killed bigger things than grunts with this ‘primitive weapon’ of mine.” Relu noted the sly way he hinted at the fact he had killed Sangheili before without directly stating it. This could be seen as a cowardly tactic, or an attempt to avoid hurting her specie’s pride. She decided, based on what she knew of the human so far, that it was the latter. She respected him for that. She started to follow him.