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Author Topic: Precious Cargo - Chapter 7 - Hello, I'm...  (Read 1969 times)

Offline jokerman

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Precious Cargo - Chapter 7 - Hello, I'm...
« on: November 21, 2009, 08:33:36 PM »
<boring stuff>
The following story is copyrighted material and all rights belong solely to the author.  Any reproduction or republication of any or all of this publication without the explicit and expressed written consent from the author is strictly forbidden.
</boring stuff>



Chapter 7 - Hello, I'm...


The Elite walked to the Spartan’s left and looked down to the Grunt.  Looking at the Spartan he said, “Foolish… but effective, Spartan.”

The two humans began to relax somewhat but did not drop their guard.  “Hey, you’re one of the old Spartans.  I didn’t think there were anymore.  How many more are you?” the blue clad human asked.

“Just us”, the Spartan replied as the Elite looked at the weapons pointed at him.

“Why are you here?” the green and black armored human asked.

The Spartan looked at the matching armbands of the two humans in front of him.  The black armbands had a distinct design but that was not what caught the Spartan’s eye.  The Spartan focused on the letters of the armbands.  He had seen the letters in a message he received when on the deserted moon.  The letters were ‘BFM’.

“We are here to help with your armored transport mission”, the Spartan said.  The Elite turned and looked at the Spartan and then slowly back to the humans.

The two humans looked at each other and then lowered their weapons more.  “Why didn’t you respond to the message?” the human in green and black asked.

The Spartan looked at the Grunt and said, “The faction you are fighting is using Forerunner technology that may have intercepted the transmission.  They are also using devices like the one that’s around this Grunt’s neck.  If you had any other prisoners with collars and the faction received our transmission, they would have detonated the collars and attacked.  We couldn’t take that chance.”

The Elite slowly turned his head slightly and looked at the Spartan out of the corner of his eye.  The humans looked at the Grunt’s collar and took a step back.  The Elite turned back to the humans and said, “The Brute was using the Grunt as bait.  You were almost caught in his trap.”

“Then why did you walk out like that if you knew it was a trap?” the blue armored BFM asked.  “Why didn’t you turn and face the attacking Brute?”

“I didn’t have to”, the Spartan replied.  “I have complete faith and trust in my partner.”  The two humans looked at each other and then to the Elite.  The Spartan continued, “There is a Elite tradition, a ritual in which one intentionally places himself in danger and relies completely on another for his own safety.  I didn't need to see him to know that he would indeed be there.  It’s a show of trust.”

“Like the falling backward and trusting someone to catch you exercise?” asked the black and green BFM.

“In a way, yes”, replied the Spartan.  “But in this case, if your partner is not there for you, you die.”

The Elite turned to the Spartan and said quietly for only the Spartan to hear, “Surprise indeed, Spartan.  We are now one in our direction.  Of that, I am certain.”

The Spartan turned his head slightly to the Elite and nodded.  Then crouching down to the whimpering Grunt, the Spartan said, “Hey, we’re not going to hurt you.”  The Grunt unshielded his left eye for a moment to look at the Spartan and then covered it again.  “You are a youngling, aren’t you?  You haven’t even grown your nubs yet.”  

The Grunt uncovered his eyes and looked at his elbows.  “They grow soon”, he said as he sniffled.

The two humans looked at each other.  The green and black armored human said, “It’s a kid?”

The Spartan looked up at the humans and then back to the Grunt.  “We can remove the collar, if you promise to help us”, the Spartan continued.

The Grunt looked at the Spartan through the corner of his eye and said in a high-pitched voice, “You no kill I?”

“Not unless you give us a reason”, the Elite said.

“I be good”, the Grunt said as he sniffled and slowly looked up.  Still shaking, he turned to look at the Elite and flinched when he saw the silver armor.  Recovering and again looking at the Elite, the Grunt saw the two missing left mandibles and reached his neck upward.

“I know you!  You good Elite!  You take care of others in my brood.  You treat us good.  Let us sleep and eat.  You good Elite!” the Grunt said with a mix of joyous appreciation and relief.

The Elite looked down and said, “I take care of those under my charge.  Any that fight and serve under me get anything they need for battle that I can offer.  If those that I command give me their best on and off the field of battle, then I give them my best.”

“Me hear that you have best Food Nipples, yum yum”, the Grunt continued.

A stifled snort came from one of the two humans.  The Spartan sighed and thought that since the Elite was not mammalian, he would not understand that he was the unintended target of the inside joke.

The Elite walked up to the two humans and looked down at their armor.  The humans began to step backward and hold their weapons closer.  Peering down to the green and black armored human, the Elite read the nametag on his chest aloud. “M-a-ee-ll, Mail”, the Elite said slowly.  “Left to right”, the Spartan said as the Elite turned his long neck toward him.  Turning back the Elite said, “L-ee-u-m, Liam”.  Stepping to his left, the Elite looked at the blue armored human’s name tag and said, “S-oo-pr-m-a-n-ya, Supermanya”.  The blue clad human looked down to his nametag and said, “No, it’s just pronounced, ‘Superman’.”

“I am familiar with the last character.  It has a wave over the letter.  It is pronounced as ‘en-ya’”, the Elite replied.

“It’s just spelled that way because I had an imposter.  You know…  Look, never mind, it’s just pronounced, ‘Superman’, ok?” the human said.

“Well Liam and SüprM@ñ, I can show you how to have even better Food Nipples than I have ever had”, the Elite said as he straightened his stance and looked sternly at the two.  The Spartan giggled to himself as the Grunt said, “Ooo, thanky thanky!  Me hungry!”

SüprM@ñ looked at the Elite and said firmly, “Ok, you know who we are, so who are you?”

The Spartan stood up and said, “This is not a social visit.  We’re here to do a job, not become pen-pals.”  The Elite and humans continued to size each other up as the Grunt clambered to his feet and looked up at them.

The Spartan watched the group eye each other carefully.  Finally the Spartan said, “Just… take us to your leader”.

The Elite, humans, and Grunt turned and looked at the Spartan for a while and said nothing.

Looking at each and then back to the Elite, the Spartan said, “...What?”


« Last Edit: November 22, 2009, 08:29:29 PM by jokerman »

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