Gathering Darkness✔️

Chapter 16: Collapse

Noxa refrained from growling in mounting frustration as he stalked through his failing base. He had stumbled upon a minor mystery. It had merely pecked at his mind at first, hardly noticed. But as time passed and he discovered that running, or even maintaining, this operation was getting more difficult, the mystery grew. Eventually, he decided that he needed a break, even a small one. His tasks were tantamount to trying to squeeze blood from a stone. So he marched towards the command center, intent on information.

The picture of the strange being he had seen, Noxa did not know its origin. He'd checked out the information that was tagged with the photo. Typically, it was stamped with a date/time index, basic location, and the name of the operative who had taken it. But when he'd gone looking for this information, he had found it strangely blank. He'd dug through the database inasmuch as he could from his own private terminal, and finally decided to go see what the operatives in the control center had to say about it.

He could have called them, done this remotely, but he wanted to walk.

There was a lot going wrong just now, and Noxa had to clear his head. He stepped into the command center and saw the three operatives there hard at work. He'd had to send the other into the field, as many of his teams were missing. He walked over to one of them and, once he had time, explained the situation to the operative. Noxa watched the warrior work, sorting through information. He glanced around the command center and suddenly wondered if he was going to be able to salvage this operation.

"The only relevant piece of information I can pull from the database is the time with which it appeared in the database. And the fact that it did indeed appear, it was not transmitted, should be impossible, and yet, there it is," the operative explained.

He had called up the image.

Noxa stared at it intently. A mystery indeed.

"You may resume your work," he said, and left the command center.

* * * * *

Zek stopped as he and his squad cleared the treeline. Dark purple blood spattered his black armor, almost blending in, though it was already being washed away. They had finally found Zuka. He had been insane, his eyes like pools of deep space, driven to madness in whatever method it had been done to the humans.

His former ally had come after them with a feral intensity, a relentless determination that spoke of singular focus.

He had been exceptionally difficult to put down.

He looked back at the body that Grez and one of the other scouts were dragging. They were bringing their dead ally to a drop-off point so that another team could retrieve him. He wondered what they were going to do with the body. He was also deeply curious as to what had happened to Zuka, how he had been transformed into this abomination. It had been a long night so far, and he had an idea it was only going to get longer.

Zek activated his comms. "This is Squad Leader 'Nosolee to Base Command."

The response took several seconds. "This is Base Command." The operator sounded harried and irritable.

"We've brought the body to the appropriate coordinates and are ready for our next task," Zek replied.

There was a longer pause. "Understood. Attempt contact with the personnel at the human military station. We have not been able to raise them. If you as well fail to raise them, head directly for the station and investigate."

"Understood," Zek responded, but Base Command had already cut the link. Sighing, Zek attempted to raise the Sangheili stationed at the human outpost, as he had memorized all of the various squads' frequency numbers. He tried three times and each time was mocked with the silence of an open channel.