Halo: Indelible Past/Chapter Thirty-Four

Felix awoke to a world of pain. Every muscle in his body ached, and spasms of pain shot through his limbs when he tried to shift himself on the hard surface he found himself lying on. His throat was dryer than he'd ever felt before; all he could taste in his mouth was gunpowder and the copper tang of blood. It hurt to swallow.

He could feel the paneled folds of a wilderness survival blanket draped over his body. He tried to push it off with his left arm; a huge mistake. The mere attempt to move it sent a hideous pain jolting through him, and as Felix suppressed a scream he realized that someone had set the arm in a sling.

A dim light illuminated purple-tinged walls as he opened his eyes. It took him several moments to realize that he was in a room of Covenant design. From the gentle humming reverberating around him, he guessed he was on a warship of some kind.

It hurt to sit up even a little, but Felix eased himself up and gingerly pushed the blanket up with his prosthetic arm. He'd been stripped of his armor and his bare chest was covered with bandages. He could feel even more of them on his face and back and for a moment he wondered what had happened to leave him in this condition.

Kahn.

As the memory of the fight poured back into him, he was suddenly incredibly grateful for the arm sling. The memory of the bullet ripping through his hand and forearm was almost too much to bear.

"Don't move too much."

Felix jerked his head around--another painful mistake--to see Cassandra watching him from the corner. The former Spartan was out of her armor and clad in only the body-glove worn underneath. Her chestnut hair was pulled back behind her head and Felix couldn't help but notice the blood stains on her arm and face.

"You," he wheezed, struggling to rise. "Where are we?"

"Don't move," she insisted. There was an authoritative edge to her voice that Felix had never heard before and he decided not to press the issue.

He settled back down onto the cot, resting his back against the cold wall. "Fine. What happened back in that mine?"

"That commander, Rosch, left me on my own when he went to help you," she explained. "I followed him and found him with you and Kahn. All three of you were unconscious, so I did what I could on the scene."

She paused, then shook her head and fixed Felix with a curious stare. "You should be dead. I thought I was going to lose you back there. If the Sangheili hadn't found us when they did and given me access to better equipment, you would have died."

Felix knew instantly what she was talking about. "My blood."

"It doesn't coagulate, at least not on its own. I've seen a few cases like it, but they were all lifelong conditions. I'm guessing you're different."

"Yes," Felix admitted, not sure how much he should tell someone facing desertion charges. "I wasn't born with it."

"I injected you with some blood-cell enhancers, but you were bleeding from so many different places..." She grimaced, as if the memory of it still frightened her. "You're just lucky there were two humans with your blood type on hand to give transfusions."

"Transfusions? Who were they?"

Cassandra looked away. "Myself... and David Kahn."

"Kahn?" Felix sat up a little straighter. "He's here?"

She nodded. "He's in a holding cell, if that's what you're worried about. The Sangheili took him into custody. Technically, all of you are in custody."

"All of us?" Felix demanded. His head was starting to hurt. "Jian, too?"

"The Sangheili weren't happy when they learned what happened to Tuka, the one Jake shot. They told me they wouldn't hold you accountable, but right now they've revoked all of your authority on Sanghelios."

"Oh." Felix shook his head. "I bet that made Rosch happy."

"He doesn't know," Cassandra told him. "He's in a coma. Kahn gave him a serious concussion and there wasn't much I could do besides stabilize him. Right now, you're in charge of the entire operation."

Felix raised an eyebrow, which hurt only marginally less than moving anything else. "And why are you the one telling me this and not Jake?"

Cassandra motioned at the room's door. "He and Ralph are on this ship, but the Sangheili have them confined until you can meet with Autel 'Vadam and get this sorted out."

"Ah. So they let you free to treat me?"

"Actually," she said, glancing back over at the medical tools she had been working with. "I'm not in custody. One of Autel's friends, Fira 'Demal, knows me personally. He's assured me that I'll be under the Sangheili's protection for as long as I need it."

Anyone else in her position would have felt entitled to some degree of smugness over the complete reversal of fortune, but if anything Cassandra seemed embarrassed, even worried. Felix ran a metal finger through his hair and sighed. "So Kahn's captured. What about the girl who was with him?"

"Her name is Nimue." Cassandra's voice tightened. "She's in a holding cell, too. I tried to get her released, but there's only so much they can do for me."

"So you know her." Felix remembered that the girl had been defending the hospital where Cassandra had been working back on New Madrigal. He was surprised he hadn't made the connection sooner.

"She's my friend," Cassandra replied with a hint of defiance.

"You meet the strangest people out on the frontier," Felix said ruefully. "What else should I know?"

"The rebels are all dead." Even Cassandra didn't seem too sorry about that bit of intel. "The Sangheili recovered a lot of prisoners they'd taken as well. They took us into orbit to keep things within the military. Otherwise the civilian government on Sanghelios might have stepped in."

"How long have I been out?" He was in charge of Jian now. It was best to take full stock of the situation before he talked to Autel. He'd need to get Kahn into UNSC custody for starters. And now there was this business with the girl, Nimue, to handle as well.

"Almost a day. You have your augmentations to thank for most of that. Someone else with your injuries would still be out."

"Sangheili aren't all that great when it comes to treating us humans," Felix mused. "Do you mean to tell me you treated Kahn, Rosch, and myself in under twenty-four hours? By yourself?"

She shrugged. "It's what I do."

If he hadn't known it would hurt like hell, Felix would have laughed. "Jake and Ralph weren't lying. You really are something else."

The compliment actually made her blush, though she tried to hide it by glancing back at the door. "I had another patient as well," she said quietly.

Felix's hands tightened, even the one that had taken a bullet. So this was it. The moment he had been dreading had finally arrived. "I think I've got an idea of who we're talking about."