When Aimilios-727 reached the main ship he sent Havoc to the med bay and escorted Asaroth to the command deck.
"Sorry about this. More for your safety then mine." Aimilios-727 said placing cuffs on him, that seemed to work as people watched them pass.
"Is that a commander?" A few asked, they ignored him and continued walking to the bridge.
"Admiral!" Aimilios-727 yelled, the newly promoted Johnson turned and faced Aimilios-727, looked surprised at the Elite and walked forward.
"Aimilios-727, what do we have here?" he asked.
"This Elite is defecting Sir, he wants to help stop this war." Aimilios-727 said loud enough for everyone to hear. Johnson walked forward and knocked a hand against his forehead.
"You cant be serious... you are Aimilios, what the hell!"
"Its true!" Asaroth said.
"You dont speak!" A guard said walking up with a gun in his hands. Aimilios-727 disarmed the guard and pointed the gun at him.
"Dad, trust me on this... its true, he's working with us now.... and he saved my life from the flood." Aimilios-727 said quietly, Johnson nodded.
"Stand down, if he trusts him I trust it..... what do you want done with it?" Johnson asked looking from Aimilios-727 to the elite and back.
"His name is Asaroth, and I want him to work with my squad.... I know, but think about it, he knows codes that could unlock valuable intel!" Aimilios-727 urged, slowly Johnson nodded.
"He kills anyone, it's on your head son." he said, Aimilios-727 turned on his heel and broke the cuffs. Asaroth nodded to Aimilios-727, and together they turned and walked out of the Bridge.
"Thank you, now shall we check on your friend?" Asaroth asked, Aimilios-727 nodded and walked out hearing mumbles around him.
"Be advised, the elite accompanying Aimilios-727 is welcome here, do not engage unless you feel like you could kill Aimilios-727, that is all!" Johnson said through ship. Multiple people watched Aimilios-727 and Asaroth pass, one nearly ran into them turning a corner.
When he saw Aimilios-727 he jumped out of the way.
"Why do they fear you?" Asaroth asked.
"I'm considered an elite of the elite, think of me as your special forces commander." Aimilios-727 said, comparing the two.
"I would believe it, you would make an extremely impressive Zealot Aimilios-727." Asaroth said smiling.
"What did I say, you're my friend, call me Aimilios." Aimilios-727 said laughing.
They walked to the medical bay and the doctor motioned to Aimilios-727.
He followed the doctor into the room and shut the door.
Asaroth stood awkwardly at the door as Havoc sat equally as awkward.
Aimilios-727 exited and started back, his helmet back on his head as he ran off.
Asaroth nearly charged after him but a hand caught him, Boom shook his head.
"Trust me, I'll take care of him." Valkyrie said running after Aimilios-727.
~~
Valkyrie found Aimilos' door ajar he must have thought he closed it. She laid a hand on the door. "Ai-"
*BANG* The sound of something smashing into the metal wall reverberated down the hall and than... "SON OF A BITCH." Valkyrie stiffened, the amount of emotion in those words was more than any she had heard from him before.
Slowly, she opened the door, lightly knocking to alert him to her presence.
Aimilios-727 sat on his bed, his helmet against the metal wall under a good sized dent. He had a hand on his forehead, he was mumbling. "Stupid kid, Stupid Fucking kid." Over, and over, and over again.
"Aimilios? Are you alright?" Valkyrie asked quietly. Aimilios stopped mumbling, and shook his head lightly.
"What do you want Valkyrie?" He asked, his voice catching in his throat.
"He's not going to make it,is he?" Valkyrie asked as she sat beside him, Aimilios-727 shook his head sadly.
"Unless a miracle happens... we will be down to just one twin." Aimilios-727 said looking up for the first time, his eyes red from crying.
"He must have been crying into the helmet as he had been crying for at least 5 minutes that places it to about when he left the med bay." Valkyrie thought quietly.
She draped an arm around her friend, she was tearing up as well, but knew that Aimilios-727 would blame himself, that would be the only person he would blame. Not the covenant, not the flood, not command, no one but himself.
"I was reckless, undisciplined, I let my guard down and they knew it." He said shaking his head.
"HEY! It wasn't your fault! You know that! You did not control the jackal and if it weren't for you charging forward we wouldn't have been able get him this far!" Valkyrie said trying to cheer him up.
"Could have been better, maybe if I was faster you could have left earlier, if I was stronger, if I didn't miss that bullet." Aimilios-727 said continuing to blame himself.
"It wouldn't have mattered, you cant change the past, you can only hope for the future." She said trying to make him look at her, he refused looking away as she moved around.
"Aimilos Johnson!" She yelled, that did it, he glared at her.
"I am your CO, Angelica."Aimilios-727 growled, she looked straight ahead. "A Commanding Officer that has never backed away from a challenge, a CO, that led us to victory for the past 2 years! The doctors will take care of him... and maybe he can live to tell the tale of getting shot in the head." Valkyrie said, Aimilios-727 shook his head and looked away.
"Yeah maybe, look dont tell Caiden yet.... I'll tell him." Aimilios-727 said standing up walked over to his helmet and picked it up. He walked out of the room with it on.
"Aimilios-727 your vitals are extending beyond their normal standards, is everything alright?" Alpha asked appearing in his visor.
"Yeah, you wouldnt understand Alpha, just go silent for a minute." Aimilios-727 said ushering him away.
Aimilios-727 walked into the room, he found Caiden sitting watching his brother fight.
"Caiden theres something we need to talk about." Aimilios-727 said, he saw Alpha move onto the table and look to Corbin.
"When you left without briefing us, I knew, so just give it to me straight boss.... how much time does he have?" Caiden asked looking up red eyed.
"I dont" "I could fix him." Alpha suddenly said, Aimilios-727 turned stunned, he had never said anything like that.
"However, it would take all the A.I.s and weeks." Alpha continued. Aimilios-727 looked to Corbin, he nodded.
"You look at me like there is a alternative Aimilios, im only one half of the duo, so if you could do anything please do." He said squeezing Caidens hand and then walking out.
"Everyone, leave your A.I. in the the room, no buts do it!" Aimilios-727 commanded, they slowly took off their helmets and left them in the room.
"This will take a while, Aimilios, please keep all distractions away." Alpha said as Aimilios-727 shut the door.
"Understood, please, if you can help." Aimilios-727 said finally, he heard the machines start to move and silently prayed.
"Please god, let Caiden live." Aimilios-727 said quietly.
"Is there a chance in hell that he could make it?" Boom asked shifting his weight. Aimilios-727 shrugged.
"We know one thing, if he doesnt make it we are down one man, with him we are up one." Aimilios-727 said motioning to Asaroth, they all looked surprised but seemed to trust their CO.
"Now, I want you all running laps around the ship! 15!" Aimilios-727 yelled back to his normal self.
"AWWW come on sarge!" They all complained but started towards the track. Aimilios-727 waited for the doctors and explained the situation, they handed him the key and wished him the best of luck, then tended to the other injured units. Aimilios-727 heard footsteps behind him and turned to find Asaroth breathing only a little heavily. "I said 15?" Aimilios-727 said with a questioning look. "Were done!" Boom said running up, fully out of breath. Aimilios-727 looked to the clock, he hadnt realized he had been waiting for over 2 hours already.
Aimilios-727 lead them to the gym and made them spar.
He faced off with Asaroth.
"Hand to hand combat?" Asaroth asked, Aimilios-727 nodded and kicked forward. Asaroth dodged and moved to hit Aimilios-727 with his elbow, Aimilios-727 dodged and punched his gut then moved for the final kick. Asaroth dodged and attacked, this went on for a very long time.
Long enough that a huge crowd soon formed and everyone watched two of the finest fighters spar each other. Aimilios-727 swept underneath, Asaroth dodged but Aimilios-727 flipped and brought his other leg crashing down into Asaroth's shoulder, sending Asaroth to the ground with a solid *THUD*.
Aimilios-727 stood back up and extended a hand. A round of applause when Asaroth took his hand and was pulled to his feet.
"727 actaully found someone to rival him?" Boom asked sadly, he was the old sparring partner but had went to spar with Caiden. " Looks like if we group up we could beat him now!" Jumper laughed and jumped onto Aimilios-727's back. They all piled on top of Aimilios-727 and Asaroth laughed. "This is some form of training?" He asked, they all laughed. "This is called a dog pile, its where you try and crush the bottom person by piling people ontop of them... Come on! Its fun!" Valkyrie laughed, Asaroth laughed and jumped on, everyone laughed.
"Looks like you fit in just fine Asaroth!" Aimilios-727 laughed and he slowly pushed the people off of him and into the air.
"Damm thats over 800 pounds!" Someone yelled out, Aimilios-727 breathed heavily as he benched the people. "No it's more! Elites weigh almost 400lbs, that's about 1000 pounds right there!"
"And what the hell would be going on in here?" a voice asked. "Admiral on deck!" someone yelled, Asaroth stood and helped Aimilios-727 to his feet.
"Sorry Admiral, just a little bit of fun!' Aimilios-727 said embarrassed. Johnson looked at him and smiled. "First one to take down Aimilios-727 gets a thousand dollars from me!" He said suddenly.
"Holy shit!" Came a gasp, Aimilios-727 was caught like a deer in headlights as what looked like the entire crew moved to take him down, Aimilios-727 took on everyone at once, and finally he let his guard down as he kicked Asaroth back.
Aimilios-727 smiled, then fell onto his back, stood up and took the credit chip from Johnson and placed it into his.
"Damn bossman, not even a round for us?" Boom said, sounding hurt.
"Nothing to praise yet." Aimilios-727 shrugged.
"Actually, reports say that the Covenant's Arbiter is with us." Johnson said. "The arbiter is with us?" Asaroth asked, stunned.
"It appears so, these 'Brutes' however are refusing to listen to reason, and it appears the Elites are moving to work with us to destroy them." Johnson said. Everyone turned to Aimilios-727, he sighed and looked to Johnson.
"Permission for ground leave?" Aimilios-727 asked, they all looked to Johnson, he slowly nodded.
"The control team better move in a hurry if we want to get to a colony." Johnson hinted.
Aimilios-727 had never seen anyone move so fast as everyone ran to their stations.
He heard and felt the jump and when they stopped he walked to the colony. "New Liria, not too large of a colony, but they always have a party with the UNSC." Johnson said walking beside Aimilios-72, without his armor, he felt vulnerable, but oddly elated.
"You're coming ashore?" Aimilios-727 questioned with a raised brow.
"I ran out of my whisky, going to need some if this war ends like command is saying." Johnson said laughing with Aimilios-727.
"And you?" He asked, Aimilios-727 smiled. "I'll buy everyone a round, then I want to talk with Alice." Aimilios-727 said with a blush.
After a long night, Aimilios-727 had spent almost every penny of that thousand, he sat in the corner watching the busy crowd. Word had spread of the UNSC's arrival and the bar was packed.
"Boss! Come herwe!" Boom said slurring his words. Aimilios-727 sighed and walked over, Boom had his arm draped over a girl with blue and green highlights.
"Bossmann, I bet you, 50 dollars that you cant drink all these!" Cox slurred, taking another shot. He moved a platter of 15 shots to Aimilios-727.
"Ill add to that! another 50!" Patches said two girls on his sides. Soon everyone had added their bets and Aimilios-727 turned to the crowd.
"You want me to drink!" Aimilios-727 asked.
"OOORAH!" A drunk rally yelled back, Aimilios-727 laughed harder then before and grabbed the first shot, sniffed it, and took it, his assumptions were right, fireball whiskey, his personal favorite. He laughed.
"You poor fools!" Aimilios-727 said taking shot after shot, it hit him at 13, he shook his head and held both shot glasses in his hand, he took both at the same time and shook his head.
"WOOOOH!" Aimilios-727 cheered his smile not leaving his face. Boom watched for a minute then slowly handed you the chip, he held up his chip and the amount transferred, he repeated this process over and over, slowly moving from one end to the other.
"I gained about 500 credits from that, and I got 15 free shots!" Aimilios-727 laughed, everyone growled clearly underestimating him.
Aimilios-727 had blanked out from that point on, ensuring that his money was secure he walked back to his seat and blacked out. Waking up on the couch of the barracks.
His head felt like it was going to explode and stood up to nearly fall back down, he limped to his room and shut the door, he turned on the bath and nearly to remove his clothes. Giggling quietly he took off his clothes and fell into the bath falling asleep.
"Training can wait until my head doesn't want to break itself apart." Aimilios-727 complained sinking into the bath.
*2 months later*
Aimilios-727 pushed his squad faster as Asaroth chased them with a electric baton, he hit Patches and he jumped forward sprinting.
"Patches is dead! Keep it moving! You want to get caught by an Elite!" Aimilios-727 yelled, they all didnt have their armor on and the stuns hurt to a point that he would never want to be touched with it.
Aimilios-727 turned the training into sparing, and everyone turned on Asaroth first, he still had the baton and whipped them down.
This occurred over and over again, like clockwork.
"Focus! Watch for an opening then strike!" Aimilios-727 yelled watching them go again, they lasted longer this time and Boom even managed to knock the baton away before being thrown off.
"Good, again!" Aimilios-727 called, everyone was growing tired.
"Any ideas why the CO is going crazy with training today?" Jumped asked quietly.
They all shook their heads.
"Perhaps he is not feeling well, that green clay food seemed to be going bad." Asaroth suggested, everyone laughed , they had eaten sushi at a colony and Asaroth had tried it.
"Thats Wasabi! We told you a thousand times! Its supposed to be spicy!" Valkyrie laughed as she lunged forward.
"Your names for these foods confuses me, and why is the dish it is served with called Su-shil?" Asaroth asked, blocking her and sending Patches back. "Sushi! Not Sushil! And can we talk about how priceless the face of the waiter was to see an Elite sitting with UNSC ?" Jumped asked laughing, they all laughed as they moved forward attacking viciously. Asaroth threw Jumper into Boom and Valkyrie sending them down, they were down, Yin jumped onto his back and tried to flip the Elite.
Nothing happened and Asarothe laughed throwing him into the others, then Patches punched his jaw and Asaroth turned and roared back handing him into the others. Aimilios-727 broke into a laugh, watching his squad be obliterated in training was a good thing, it taught them their weaknesses without the armor, so that they never fell in real battle.
Aimilios didnt stop the training until they brought Asaroth to his knees by working together.
They looked to Aimilios-727, he looked back proudly. "Working together is the key, we face enemies that would destroy you if you try to work alone, working with your squad can turn the table of the battle and maybe even the war." Aimilios-727 said leaning against the guard rail. Suddenly a soldier ran up to Aimilios-727.
"727, theres something you have to see! C'mon follow me!" the soldier said and Aimilios-727 told his squad to follow, they ran and ran but Aimilios-727 didnt know where they were running or why, maybe he could find out soon.......To be continued!