Shattered
So far, in Heller's day, his day could have been described as a waking nightmare. If he was anything less than an ODST he would have broken by now. But like his ma and pa said, quitting just wasn't in their family. Of course, that didn't help so much now. Try as he might, he couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel through this one. He was alone now, drifting through the endless purple corridors of a shattered Covenant cruiser. He couldn't even tell which way was up at this point. But, sticking to his ma and pa's old sayings, he trudged through the broken ship, pressing on in some defiance of oncoming death.
The day had started normally, wake up, stop by the gym, make a stop by the firing range, talk to squad mates, rinse and repeat until he was ready to get some boots in the mud. Thing was, he hadn't dropped in a little over a month. The boredom was starting to get to him by this point, but that changed shortly later on in the day. See, the ship he was on, the UNSC Triumphant, was on rendezvous to another fleet far out on the outer colonies, attempting to hold back another Covenant siege while evacuating the planetary population. But this was where the day went from boring and monotone to something he would have preferred only in his wildest dreams.
Apparently the Covenant were monitoring Slipspace in the area, and then caught the Triumphant with it's pants down while in flight. The ship initiated an emergency shift from Slipspace unless they wanted to get torn to pieces without fighting back. But the attempt was in vain, as the cruiser that had ambushed them was one step ahead of them, and was already firing as they came through. Heller wasn't on the bridge when it all went down, but he had a pretty good idea of what went down. Knowing they were doomed, the captain ordered a head on charge towards their ambusher, and by the time the Triumphant was disabled it's trajectory was unavoidable.
The Triumphant crashed headlong into the middle of the Cruiser, smashing through it's shields, and discharging a MAC round at point blank before succumbing to it's wounds and going silent. The force of the blow from the Triumphant obliterated a huge chunk of the cruiser, sending the debris of both ships hurtling along into space. Heller caught a part of this from inside the Pelican he was in, attempting to board the Cruiser. The original plan was, the Triumphant was going to take the heavy hits for as long as it could while boarding parties attempted to take the ship or at least distract it. But the plan went south and before any warnings hit them, the Triumphant was headed on a one way ticket to hell.
So, this was why Heller was now wandering the hell blasted halls of a silent Covenant Cruiser, trying in vain to escape death. Luckily, or unluckily, his suit was undamaged in the collision of the two starships. He had about 90 minutes of air before he ran out. That was plenty of time to hopefully get lucky and find something, anything that could get him off this wreck and as far away as possible from here. But Covenant ships were big, damn big, and all their purple hallways helped make things real easy for tourists trying to find out where exactly they were at.
But, he had more problems than just air, shitty interiors and trying to find out what was up and down. Like him, some of the bastards on the ship survived the collision, and they had spacesuits just like he did. He'd never been one for zero-G combat, but the Covenant were. In fact, it was their ball court in anything involving gravity or lack of it. Luckily, he had only stumbled across a few panicked Grunts which he easily dispatched. But as he wandered through the corridors, he was becoming paranoid. What if some of the floating bodies were those of unconscious troopers? What if they just so happened to wake up as he passed by?
Paranoia slowly crept over Heller as he aimlessly drifted through the alien corridors, passing by floating corpses of many of the races in the Covenant. Sometimes he though he heard something or saw something move, but dismissed that as there couldn't be any sound in the vacuum. The ship was eerily haunting, the damaged, flickering lights, malfunctioning doors opening and closing, the sections of hull blown apart revealing the cold vastness of space, and the corpses. As much as hate for the Covenant had driven him along these few years, he had to admit, waking up in this would have been a nightmare, for anyone, or anything.
As he came across a mangled section of corridors, it turned out to be another dead end, with one door being crushed, and the other two on his left and right having red lights flickering dimly. He was about to turn back, when the door on his right flickered back to it's usual blue for a moment. Raising his assault rifle, he slowly plodded over to the door. He was thankful for the vacuum right about now, as the clunking of his mag boots on the floor would have made quite a bit of noise. Something in the back of his mind told him to just leave the door be and turn around, but he approached it instead, keeping his rifle level at the door. His motion tracker wasn't much for any help right about now. There were too many floating parts of the ship setting it off, so he couldn't get a good reading.
The lights flickered and dimmed, shutting off completely on the door now. Heller backed away from the door, keeping his sights on it until he was just about to round the corner and go elsewhere, when bright plasma streaked past him, missing him by a hair. Instinctively, Heller rolled, or tried to, awkwardly scrambling on the floor and coming back up in a low crouch as his boots kept him from spinning wildly in the void of gravity. More streaks of plasma passed him, and as he brought his rifle to bear on the target, he hesitated briefly. His target was an Elite, completely encased in white armour, a ranger, by the looks of it.
Fear suddenly consumed him, as he was suddenly aware of just how alone he was now, and facing something that could slaughter a whole squad of marines with it's bare hands if it wanted to. No, he was going to survive this, whatever it took. Even if it meant running away, disgracing all that had died here today. Fire burned in his eyes, as he unloaded into the Elite, the hulking alien flattening itself back behind the door frame as it's shields flared. This was his chance! Deactivating his boots, he pushed off the floor towards the corridor he had come through, crashing against the walls, scrambling to regain his direction. It burned him, running like this. But he wouldn't be the Triumphant. He wouldn't charge headlong into death even if it was coming for him anyway. No, he would run, and he would run to live another day, maybe even a few minutes, for as long as he could!
Scrambling for whatever he could get a hold of along the wall, he pulled himself along, watching his back as the Elite turned the corner, firing it's plasma pistol at him down the hallway, the shots searing past him and melting the locked door in front of him where they hit. Bringing his assault rifle to bear in both hands, he fired down the hallway, sending a spray of lead in the general direction of the Elite, sending it into cover as it's shields flared again. Heller was sent flying back violently into the locked door from the kick of his rifle, pain and realization coming over him at the same time. He was trapped. The door that opened behind him had likely used all the power in this area, closing the door he came through.... the only way through this was through the Elite at the end of the hallway.
Recovering from the blow to his back from the collision with the door, he made himself as small as possible a target by fitting into a section of nearby damaged wall, shoving the broken purple panel aside, only peeking out briefly to see if the Elite was coming for him. Silence filled the hallway, as scraps of the ship and corpses floated about, but no more plasma came his way. He peeked out a little farther now, and spotted the Elite, or it's shoulder sticking out of the cover it had taken. If only the bastard would just turn around and leave....
He was stuck here, in this corner, until he went through the Elite, which seemed an impossible task. One well placed shot anywhere on him and he was finished. At least people had a slim chance of survival on dry land if they took some plasma. But if even one got him, no, even passed too close, his suit would be depressurized. No. He wouldn't be the Triumphant. He wouldn't go down like this. Someone had to survive. Someone had to remember the fallen, to exact revenge and retribution for them. He was going to survive this.
Checking his HUD briefly, he counted half an hour of oxygen left. A little less than one clip left in his rifle. And one grenade. That grenade could be useful to him, if he was on land. Last time he checked, he wasn't so good at zero gravity basketball. Half a clip wouldn't do much to the Elite if it had it's shields up. Then, some words he'd heard long ago from a friend surfaced in his addled mind.
"It'd be nice if people could talk things out you know? I bet we could solve a lot more problems with the Innies if we all just sat down and talked, without bombs and civilians involved."
She was dead now. Back in the hanger they just barely made it into when everything fell apart. Would it be an insult to her now, if he tried? Just this once, it was worth a try. There wasn't anything left to do at this point He couldn't see any other way. Maybe, just this once.... He changed channels on his Comms, opening up the signal to anyone that would listen. Still keeping an eye on the end of the hallway, he spoke, nervously into the mic.
"Hey you. Down at the end of the hallway here. It's me, the filthy human at the other end. Don't switch your channels or comms off. I know damn well you can hear me. Don't try anything funny either, I've still got enough here to turn you inside out if you try."
Heller waited anxiously. No reply, but then he wasn't expecting one in the form of words. But, the one he was expecting never showed up either. He spoke up again.
"Okay listen carefully. All this right here, right now, is pointless. There's no fight here. There's nothing left here! I'm just trying to get out of here, and if I know you right, or even slightly, you were too before you found me."
Still more silence.
"I've listened to ONI spooks. I know about your beliefs. And I know, that if you were really so eager to go on this great journey of yours, you probably would have sat where you were in this ship and waited for death. But you didn't. And even if you think you could go on your journey by killing me, think again, for both of us. I've got nothing left. But you do. Kids, family, promotions, whatever it is, you've got more than me. Most of all you have a better shot of living than I do if you play your cards right."
He could see the helmet of the Elite now, peering out from out of it's cover, watching him.
"You've got one life, and so do I. Do you really want to take such a big leap of faith on this? I mean, what could possibly be better on your journey than what you already have? And for only one human? I've seen your kind. You can kill packs of us, easily. Why waste your life on this lone human? I'll give you a minute. Scratch that, you probably don't know what that is. Basically, just walk away. I won't follow, I won't shoot. That's why I'm sitting here talking to you for fucks sake! Now choose!"
Heller readied his rifle, just in case. The passing silence was almost unbearable, but he waited. He peered from out of his cover to check, just as the Elite broke from it's cover and came barreling towards him down the hallway. He noted that it no longer had it's pistol with it. Heller yelled into his comms before firing.
"You stupid son of a bitch!"
He unloaded what was left of his rifle into the oncoming Elite, throwing the emptied rifle at it for good measure, it's shield flaring slightly as it brushed the rifle aside like a toy. Reaching for his grenade, he pulled it out, pulling the pin but keeping it in his hands, holding it up towards the Elite. It stopped mid stride, desperately trying to stop from crashing into him.
"Hold it right there you son of a bitch! You know damn well what this does, and you know damn well even with full shields you can't survive a blast from this close!"
The Elite stopped dead in it's tracks, having slowed down enough not to crash into him.
"And now you're fucked! You could've walked away, but instead you tried your luck, and it went south, and now, you've just shown me you're not that eager to die! So, you're going to take me to your god damn escape pods, or spacecraft, or whatever the fuck is still left around here, and let me get the fuck out of here! Start walking you piece of shit! And I swear to god if I see you reaching for a weapon...."
The Elite turned around, very reluctantly, and began making it's way slowly back down the hall it had just charged down, Heller keeping close in case it tried something funny. His thoughts returned to how it had charged down the hallway at him after he was done talking. The thought angered him. He spoke freely into his mic.
"How could you be so fucking dense!?"
The Elite turned around, leering at him from behind its foggy helmet. It wasn't in a combat stance, but it was intimidating as the creature towered over him. He could barely make out the ugly features of it's face as it looked down on him, when his comms picked up the signal. A sneering, angry, feminine voice cut through his ears like a knife. The word was said with some effort, but clearly the Elite knew it's way around English.
"Coward."
Heller held the grenade closer to the Elite, now spurred on by its insult.
"Says the big strong alien that stops for one human with a grenade! I don't think you even know the god damn meaning of the word! Keep walking!"
The Elite continued onward in silence, with Heller staying close buy. He would have put the pin back in the grenade, but in a tight situation, with the Elite so close, he doubted he could pull the pin out in time, so he held on to it tightly. Were it any other day, the revelation of the Elite's gender would have disgustingly shocked him, prompting him to kill it as soon as possible. But not today. There was too much bloodshed today, too much of everything, and all he wanted to do was just leave, everything behind.
The two continued on in silence, passing more of the same, corpses, shattered hallways, devoid of the life that once lived in these walls. The silence was getting to Heller. Nervously, he checked his HUD. 12 minutes of air left. If he didn't find a way out soon, the Elite would simply have what she had tried earlier. That wasn't going to happen. He spoke up.
"How far are we from any of your smaller craft?"
The Elite stalked on, but after some delay, she answered back. She had the same sneer as last time, the hate and venom poured forth into her words just as before.
"Why, eager to flee, like the rest of your cowardly species?"
Heller had had enough. It was bad enough being in this wretched shithole of a graveyard, but having such a companion to accompany him through it was an insult.
"Tell you what lady, I'll let you in on a secret. I've got 11, maybe 10 minutes of air left. Again, if you don't know much about us, that's a short time for both of us. If I'm not in a ship and out of here by the time I'm out, I'm letting go of this fucking grenade, and bringing you with me."
He prodded the back of her for good measure. She snorted in response.
"Your filth of a species will never survive, even if you run all the way back to your lair, we will find you!"
Heller shoved her harder to get moving. Reluctantly, she continued forward, but kept up the attack.
"You flee from this, because you are not worthy! Your kind will never be worthy of the Great Journey!"
Heller really had it now. He kicked the Elite in the back, sending her sprawling forward. Before she could completely recover, he was on top of her, trying to place one hand over her neck while holding the grenade up to her faceplate.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't just end it all now! If you were so eager to go on your journey, you would have kept on fighting me in that hallway! GIVE ME ONE GOOD FUCKING REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T PASTE OUR INSIDES ALL OVER THIS SHIP, AND COMPLETE THIS GRAVEYARD!"
He could just make out the Elite's eyes through her tinted foggy faceplate, a sharp green. They were moving all over the place, analyzing the situation. He could tell she was choosing what came next carefully. And then, without venom, without hate, and just barely audible through his comms,
"You don't want to die. And most of all you don't want to die alone here. You want to run away from everything, leave it all behind."
The subtle delicateness to her voice threw Heller off guard, and in his moment of confusion, she caught him. Placing a hand on his that was much larger than his, she crushed his hand, keeping him from letting go of the grenade, while effortlessly prying him from off of her. She slammed him against the bulkhead, keeping him there. The usual venom was back in her voice now.
"You don't have much air left, and I can keep you here as long as I wish. I'll watch as you suffocate and die like the rest of your kind!"
Heller was pinned, and his one tool, his last option was out of the question. He was down to just 6 minutes of air, plus for however long he could hold his breath. If he didn't try now, he'd never make it. Even If he did break free, he didn't know where he was going, or how far away he was from his destination. He had one free hand, and his legs. Better than nothing. He was laughing now.
"You think you've won haven't you! But I won't give up! I won't die here today! NOT IN THIS GRAVE!"
Heller placed his boots on the chest of the Elite, pressing down as hard as he could, while using his other hand to lash out at her faceplate. He struck, again and again, causing her shields to flare up, smashing and breaking his hand a little more with each blow. He hit as hard as he could, while pressing with his legs as hard as he could to get her away from him. She was losing her grip, but trying to keep his hand with the grenade held closed tight.
"YOU HEAR ME! I. WILL. NOT. DIE. HERE!"
With his last punch, he cracked her faceplate, causing her to reel back from the blow, and finally, he launched her away from him. As she floated helplessly away into the opposite wall, Heller threw his grenade at her, turning to flee as fast as he could away from the scene, bolting down the hallway as fast as his mag boots would let him.
There was a reverberating thump that could be felt as he passed through another sliding door, and he was so focused on it that he went went hurling right off the ship, floating off into space. The hanger bay was right there! But it was blown to pieces, barely anything left. Heller floated onwards, reaching the end of the chasm in the floor he just floated by, smashing into a wall with bone breaking force. He tried to recover, but found that his dislocated shoulder was slowing him down. Moving with agony, he searched, frantically, for anything that could get him out of this hell, and spotted a glimmer of hope, floating amongst the wreckage. A small, flattened out oval shape. It looked almost like what one of the Covenant bombers would be, a Seraph, but it lacked weapons, and seemed larger and bulkier. At this point, he didn't give a shit what it was, but he prayed it was his way out of here.
Setting himself up right, he pushed off his wall towards the craft, and landed against it, less forcefully this time. Clutching his arm, he searched frantically for anything that looked like it could open the craft. Going over to the underside of it, he found a simple panel in the shape of an Elite's hand. He smashed his one good hand into it, and was rewarded, as the craft opened. The rear of the craft slid apart, revealing a large interior. Heller wasn't religious, but as he clambered into the ship, he thanked god, twice over, for his one fortune today. He was about to start hammering on the other control panel to hopefully shut the doors, when something smashed into his back, hurling him against the other end of the interior of the craft. Everything started to go black, as stars filled his vision and things got darker. He hurt bad. He had fought so hard to get this far. And to get killed now, after it all.
Heller knew it was her. But he knew the grenade had hurt her too. Even if he died now, what he had done here today was enough. He had probably left her with scars of her own now, and if that was all he could do, then so be it. For once today, he stopped fighting, and let the darkness consume him, as he drifted off into unconsciousness, either from the fact that his oxygen was all used up, or that he hurt in a million ways, or maybe both. He didn't care. He could sleep now, for eternity.
He was floating now, somewhere. Everything was white, like some fog, and he was floating through it, peacefully. He lay there, content with just coasting along. The fog was warm, and cool at the same time. It felt like a cold river on a hot summer day, and the warmest hot spring in the middle of winter. In the distance, he could make out shapes, like people, blurry at first, but as they came closer, he recognized them. His squad mates. Diana, Jessie, Lee, Bryan. And there were others, from the Triumphant. The captain, training officers, doctors, techies, everybody he had ever met were all here. They looked happy, satisfied. Heller was relaxed, but anger and despair washed over him, as he gazed upon all the people he had come to know, now all snuffed out. Suddenly, the river was burning hot, and freezing. He cried out to them.
"I'm sorry! I couldn't save any of you! I couldn't even help any of you that were with me! I tried! I TRIED GOD DAMMIT!"
All of a sudden, everything faded, as Heller's eyes shot open, as he tried to rise, screaming in agony, he was pinned down, as his dislocated arm was forced back into place. He tried clawing up for whatever he could, as pain shot up his arm and his broken hand. He reached out, and stopped when he came in contact with skin. It was warm and smooth, but had grooves and bumps to it, like scales, but not as hard, more like tougher human skin.
As the pain in his arm subsided just a fraction, and he was able to stop screaming, his eyes looked up, into the deepest green eye he had ever seen, staring back at him. When he looked for the other one to match, things came back to him, and with sudden realization, he knew why he couldn't find the emerald beauty to match the other. He was gazing into the face of of his would be killer, now scarred and burned from his grenade. He was still in a state of shock, and recovering his wits. Instinctively, and weakly, he made a move for a gun with his other working arm, but was gently pushed back by a firm hand. And just as suddenly as the Elite was there, she was gone, having moved elsewhere inside the ship.
This was Heller's chance. Shaking off the weariness, Heller found that he was floating again. His eyes fell upon the back of a chair, shaped for Elites, as she was sitting in it, working over holographic displays and controls with her back to him. Gazing about the small ship, Heller found something, a piece of purple metal, floating about. Grabbing it with his good arm, trying to keep a grip on it as his hand slipped on purple blood, he launched over to to back of the chair, quickly bringing the jagged piece up to the Elites throat, pressing it tightly against it for emphasis. He growled out, his voice ragged,
"Give me a really damn good reason not to kill you right now."
The Elite turned, showing the part of her face that wasn't scarred, her predatory emerald eye gazing at him unwaveringly. She talked with some effort, clicking her mandibles together.
"I can give you two. For one, you were right. There is no fight left here. And two, I'm the only one here who can pilot this craft."
Heller thought about it for a moment, his mind coming out from it's haze completely. He withdrew, tossing the piece of metal away, and gently drifted back over to where he woke up. He watched, as the Elite turned her attention away back to her controls. He wouldn't try anything, for now.
He continued to watch, for some time, as her hands danced across the controls. Today was just too much. He was less angry about her now, and actually felt kind of sorry whenever he caught sight of her scarred face. He was impressed even, at how reasonable she was, for one such as her kind especially. He hadn't expected her to come around after their last fight. Hell, he hadn't expected her to be alive at all. But there she was, straight out of hell, with not even a hint of the bile and anger displayed before. The panels dimmed as she rose up from her chair, turning her attention to him as she floated over.
"We're going to have to slingshot around this systems star. It's all automated at this point, so I can continue what I was doing before you woke up."
Heller simply watched.
"And that was?"
As best as he could tell, her mandibles formed what could pass as a smile for an Elite.
"Mending your arm."
Heller snorted.
"I didn't know you cared."
The Elite was quick to reply.
"I don't. But you have earned my respect. As heretical as your words sound, they herald truth, and as cowardly as your actions were previously, you redeemed yourself in our last fight, in doing so shaming me more than once on this day."
As she talked, Heller took the time to look her over. One whole side of her white armour was blackened from the blast from his grenade. He could make out shrapnel and other things embedded in her armour, and sealed up holes in various areas.
"Never mind me, do you mind if I return the favor?"
Her face was that of being puzzled, as best as he could tell.
"What, you mean tend to my wounds? Never. It would bring more than enough shame to me today."
Heller was puzzled now as well.
"What, you don't want those patched up? There's shrapnel in your suit, and from the looks of it, some embedded in you. That can be a real pain to get out by yourself."
Her mandibles tightened up, her one working eye narrowing.
"To have my enemy act as a wretched doctor, would be the greatest insult."
Heller had to laugh at that.
"Lady, if you hadn't noticed, me just being alive right now probably breaks every known code of yours. Hell, even me sitting here not trying to kill you breaks everything I stand against and what those men and women died for today. We're both going to hell either way."
The Elite was silent for a time, before she spoke again.
"Your words are true, again. Very well, if you insist."
The Elite began the process of removing the rest of her armour shamelessly, starting with her gauntlets, up to her shoulders, and then the large torso covering. Luckily for Heller, her jumpsuit was still intact, but he was surprised when her chest piece was removed, her form clinging jumpsuit hiding little, as his eyes trailed down to two distinct mounds on her chest. He was lucky, as his battered helmet was still left on, and she was staring right at him. He was thankful his visor was reflective on the outside. As he watched her, he noted, that by all accounts, for an Elite, she was, in some odd way, good looking.
Feeling somewhat guilty again, he decided it was best to take his helmet off, which would hopefully prevent him from staring anymore. Unsealing the latches on his neck, he tugged it off and tossed into the growing pile of floating armour sitting at the other end of the ship. His grim face was revealed to her, with short dirty red hair and piercing blue eyes. The two stared briefly at each other, when Heller snapped out of it, tugging off his rucksack, finding the first aid kit attached to it. He opened up the little box, going through the contents of it. There was a canister of biofoam, but that stuff was only really good in tight spots when it could cost a life to put stitches in and go through the whole medical procedure. But, he guessed, that he had more time than that.
Grabbing his spool of thread, a needle, some tweezers, and some disinfectant, he floated over to the Elite slowly, coming to rest not far from her. He took a quick glance at her again, marking what looked like the worst wounds in his head. He wanted to make sure she was ready for this before he started.
"Okay, I've got all my things here. Are you sure about this? No take backs halfway through, we either do this, or don't. I'll need you stay very still even if it hurts. I've only got one good hand for this."
She simply nodded, propping herself up against the back of the chair. Heller took his cue, floating over to her even closer, coming to rest off her side. He zoned out, as he began his work, as if she was just a normal everyday human being, as he performed work he had done a hundred times over at this point. Pulling out what he could find, using his damaged hand to just barely hold the needle while he put thread through it, and began sewing wounds and cleaning them up as he found them, rinse and repeat. There were mostly a few bruises and small almost sliver like ones, then larger ones were shrapnel had gone completely through. He could tell, she was watching him the whole time through, keeping completely still as he worked. To break the silence, he asked a question.
"So, your kind don't take kindly to doctors then?"
He wasn't watching her face, but could tell she spoke with difficulty as he pulled stitches through a larger wound.
"No. We believe that a true warrior can fight and overcome mortal wounds. To have assistance from another to help the wound along is a sign of weakness. Having a wound in the first place is a weakness. If we can overcome our mistake, then our honour is restored."
Heller had to admit, the belief's of Elites so far as he knew them were, outright silly and stubborn, to say the least. But he kept quiet about that.
"So, if what you just said applies to you, then why are letting me do all this?"
"I have already shamed myself numerous times today, and all of what you have said today has been true. It would be best if I took your advice from this point on. I would be considered a heretic and put to death on sight if any of this was ever known by anyone but you and me."
Heller chuckled.
So, what does that mean? You don't know where we're going?"
She gasped as he poked the needle through to start closing another wound.
"Simply put, yes. I believe it would be best that we stay out of Covenant territory, as well as your territory."
Heller had to admit, that didn't seem like a bad idea. It was technically running away from it all.
"Okay then, I'm going out on a limb here and gonna say we might be stuck with each other for a while. You've got a name?"
"T'soona Dasumee."
Heller finished closing up the last wound, watching as small purple globules of blood floated near them. He backed off a bit, catching her eye.
"Name's Heller. You uh, want me to take a look at your eye?"
Her mandibles tightened up some.
"No, I will carry this scar of my failure with me."
Heller sighed as he put his things away. She was a fighter, he could give her that. And she was intelligent to a degree for sure. But she was stubborn. And beautiful. Heller backtracked on his last train of thought, pushing it back into a dark corner. He too had done his fare share of shameful things today. He was going to try and not cross anymore lines if he could help it.
T'soona spoke up as he finished packing things away.
"I am sorry, for all that I said earlier. I misjudged you, and your kind. For what it is worth, the crew of your ship, had more honour and bravery than I have shown here today. I hope, that they too can partake in the Great Journey."
Heller was caught off guard. He didn't know how to reply to that.
"Yeah. I am too."
Heller floated back into his corner of the ship, trying to mend his broken hand while T'soona returned to her chair, going to work on the controls again. As he finished wrapping his hand up and hoping for the best, he laid his head back against the wall, closing his eyes for a bit. He still wasn't sure about her. But he doubted she would do anything to him now. In no time at all Heller was fast asleep.
His eyes fluttered open slowly, as he rubbed sweat off his forehead. Why was it so hot? He looked around the ship, and found T'soona still at her chair, minus the rest of her armour. Now that he was awake he was suddenly very uncomfortable in his armour. He needed to get out of it, now.
"Hey, T'soona, I need some help here."
She turned, leaving the controls behind as she floated over.
"I need to get all my armour off, and I can't do it with one hand. All you gotta do is find the straps and buckles and undo them, I'll do the rest."
T'soona came closer, running her hands over his armour, looking for the things he mentioned. She was uncomfortably close to him as she searched, and to turn his attention away from how closely she was pressed against him, he asked a question.
"Why is it so damn hot in here anyway?"
She looked up briefly into his eyes, returning to her task.
"We've just started our slingshot around the star of this system. We're passing very close by it now."
As she fumbled with the last strap, she unlatched it and brought her head back up, her warm breath passing over Heller's face. He was made even more uncomfortable, but was lured ever closer to her face, that one, dark green eye staring at him, as she paused to look at him. He leaned in close, his lips pressing against her mandibles, before he pulled back, muttering as he went.
"Uh, thanks, I can take it from here."
He was screaming at himself inside his head, and was beginning to panic as she watched him silently, her sharp eye gauging him. She turned around, and floated off back to her chair. She was impossible read for him, and it made him all the more uneasy. Just what he needed today. He began removing his armour, sending it slowly floating along into the pile of T'soona's stuff. There. He was out of his armour and down to normal clothes. But he was still hot, and his clothes were drenched in sweat. He didn't like this at all.
Deciding he would feel better if he just took his shirt off, he sent that floating into the pile of stuff in the other corner, pressing his back against the cold metal wall, closing his eyes at the sudden change, he shivered briefly, before relaxing. He was on the verge of sleep again when T'soona gently tapped on his good hand, snapping him out it. She was directly in front of him, and by the looks of it, she was feeling just as bad as he was. She had partially opened up her suit, so that part of her chest was tantalizingly revealed. Not on purpose, he hoped, but he could see, she was covered in sweat too. He quickly looked up to her face instead. He asked uneasily.
"Something I can do for you?"
She simply watched him, thinking of what to say.
"What did you do back there, after I loosened your armour?"
Oh shit. Heller scratched his head, running his hand through his sweaty hair.
"Do what?"
Her eye narrowed.
"You touched your face against mine. You opened you mouth briefly. Why?"
He was in shit now. He continued ruffling through his hair.
"Uh, it's a human thing. We do that sometimes. I just got caught up is all. I didn't mean anything by it if you took offense."
Her eye widened, as her mandibles parted slightly.
"No, no! I didn't take offense. It was just, unusual."
Phew. Maybe he could avoid this one.
"Uh, okay then. Like I said, just a mistake I made, got caught up in things."
T'soona's eye narrowed, having an almost childish smirk on her mandibles, or what Heller guessed was one, as she leaned in closer to him, pressing her mandibles against his lips, giving him a long passionate kiss. When they parted, T'soona still had the same smirk on.
"Don't play coy with me Heller! I know more about your kind than I let on."
Heller was stunned. He stared at T'soona for a while, before he groggily tried to change the subject as his brain recovered from what he just experienced. He didn't want to start anything more today that would send him any deeper into hell.
"So, uh, you got any plans on where we're headed?"
T'soona was quick to adjust to his tune, the childlike amusement vanishing from her eyes.
"This craft is one of luxury, but not meant to travel on it's own for long. It is capable of traversing the void, but we may not have enough power or fuel to travel far. There's a system, several stars out from this one, that's remote. It's a mining colony, far out of the way of the middle of Covenant space. We can refuel and repair, but we'll have to take precautions with you around. But as it stands, it's our only chance."
Heller nodded, remaining in his corner as T'soona clambered back into her chair. He hoped their slingshot around the star would be over soon. It was too damn hot in here. And distracting too. With any luck, their time on the mining colony would be brief. He didn't want any more trouble, and this seemed to be openly inviting it, but it was the only way they could survive.
The only way he could survive.