Halo: Indelible Past/Chapter Twenty-Nine

The landing platform hummed with activity. Everywhere Autel looked, warriors were checking their weapons and gear as they waited for their turn to embark. Phantom after Phantom swooped in to take on their assigned lances, who filed on in terse silence. They were about to have their revenge for the thousands murdered these past few days. The helplessness they had all felt was gone. There would be no more surprise attacks, no more dropships shot down by Phantoms or Spirits they thought were friendly.

The human vermin who plagued Sanghelios were finally within their reach.

It had been a long time since Autel had felt so eager to launch an assault. The days when he would dream of glory on the battlefield were long gone, burned away by a lifetime filled with endless wars and betrayals. There was no joy to be had in violence, only the peace that followed. It felt good to foresee some real victory in what they were about to accomplish here.

Beside him, Fira shifted anxiously. Some of Autel's advisors had called for the army officer to be left out of the operation after his disastrous efforts to take Mordred, but Autel would hear nothing of it. There was no one he would rather take with him into a battle like this.

"None of this would have been possible without Mordred," Fira muttered, uncharacteristically anxious. "I never thought I would actually owe that miserable human anything."

"I wonder if he knows just how many lives he saved by bargaining with us," Autel replied, but he wasn't as certain about their new informant as he let on. Does any of this make up for bringing us into war with the Path Walkers?

"I gave him my word," Fira said for what seemed like the thousandth time.

"The arrangements have already been made," Autel said as another Phantom lifted off to join the circling assault team in the skies overhead. "Mordred will be taken into our protection after we have defeated these rebels."

"He isn't the only one we need to find there," Fira reminded him. "Tuka is still missing. I refuse to believe he is among the dead."

Autel rested a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Then we will get him out."

He heard a small cough behind him and turned to find Deno standing at a respectful distance. The aged spymaster rested his weight on a cane in one hand and held a holo-tranceiver in the other. "Best of luck in the assault," he said. "If you can, try to save any technology you find for me. My agents might be able to glean some useful data from it."

"You can have whatever's left after we've burnt those rats' hideout down around them," Fira growled. "We won't soften our approach just to save a few human computers."

Deno parted his mandibles in a wan smile. "As I said, only if you can." He turned to Autel. "Some rather urgent news for you, Autel. A human intelligence vessel just arrived in orbit. They put in a call for you specifically."

Autel frowned. "For me?" What did the humans want with him?

"The human on the other end told me he was an old friend." Deno offered Autel the transceiver. "When he identified himself, I came directly to you."