by Matt Forbeck
People milled about the Repository, which meant Dural could not simply track down and secure the Huragok at will. Most of them were human researchers and even soldiers in uniforms of the human government, but shockingly, some disloyal Unggoy were present as well. And beyond all reason, he also spied a number of Sangheili working alongside the Servants’ foes.
At first Dural thought perhaps the Sangheili had been captured, much like his father, and then simply forced into labor on this world. That would be utterly shameful but at least not treasonous. The dishonor would have been forced upon them rather than suffered as the result of their own willful perversion.
After watching them in secret though, it became clear they were not prisoners. For one, they wore no variety of shackles, but what revealed the truth was when Dural spied one of them issuing requests to some of the humans. The humans obeyed, and not in the fearful way a warrior might respond to an officer’s orders, but in the manner of colleagues. They were allies.
Dural knew that the Arbiter had sent his own people here and that they were working closely with the humans, but to see it firsthand . . .
He cursed those traitorous Sangheili under his breath, but he could do little to take vengeance on them and their Unggoy servants then. Not without giving away his presence and missing the opportunity to procure the Engineer.
Avu Med ‘Telcam had once worked directly with humans as a means to an end. He sought to dethrone the Arbiter and all unbelievers on Sanghelios, no matter the cost. But ‘Telcam had seen clearly that Sangheili rule could only be realized through Sangheili power alone. Dural knew that ‘Telcam’s plan—once the Servants had finally defeated the Arbiter—would be to turn the blade on the human vermin they had worked with and ultimately finish what the Prophets had started.
This, though, felt different. The Arbiter’s people and his human compatriots worked together here to propagate their own vile agenda of compromise. It was so infuriating for Dural that he had to satisfy his indignation by swearing to himself that all the Sangheili traitors he saw on this world would die at his hands soon enough.
After a long while stalking about the shadows of the Repository, Dural spotted a Huragok working there as well, confirming the claims that Even Keel had made. This Engineer had a number of people escorting it however, and it never seemed to be alone. To be able to safely take the creature, Dural would need a distraction.
He already had an excellent one at hand.
Returning to the Cathedral, the Pale Blade set his plan into motion, gathering a strike team of his best warriors about him, the same who had accompanied him in the vanguard when they first entered Onyx. With these chosen few at his side, Dural had Keel open the portal to the location where they knew the rafakrit roamed.
Buran had been the first to identify the creatures that had attacked the humans on the Servants’ first night in Onyx. It was an ancient fledgling storybeast that his mother had warned him about—or at least something that looked like one.
Dural’s mother had not been much for retelling sad fables. Perhaps she had noticed that he did not care for such things, but such stories were certainly kept on scrolls in the archives of Bekan keep. They had been more to Asum’s liking than Dural’s.
“To think that such a monster from an old tale could be brought to life,” Ruk had said. “This must truly be the playground of the gods.”
“Do you really think the Forerunners somehow conjured up creatures from Sangheili fables?” Buran said. “It is far more likely that they discovered such creatures and simply brought them here, much as we might keep specimens for observation or entertainment. Doubtless, the stories had originated on another Sangheili world where these creatures once lived.”
“How then do you explain their presence here? Why would the gods bring such creatures to this world?” Ruk huffed at this. “You can cling to your outlandish beliefs, Buran, and I will cling to mine.”
Dural let them bicker with each other over meaningless distinctions while he got to work. Using the bravest of his warriors as bait, he eventually drew one of the creatures off from its fellows and lured it back toward the portal. This proved simple, as the creatures hadn’t moved that far off from where they had attacked the humans. Having tasted blood there already, they seemed to consider the place to be a fine hunting ground.
All the warriors had to do was drive the monster through the portal and into the Repository. Fortuitously, both portals were large enough for this creature, a clear indicator that the gods had foreseen and blessed Dural’s plan.
Unfortunately, convincing the creature to pass through the portal proved a challenge.
As the rafakrit lumbered toward the portal, the warrior it had been following disappeared before its eyes. Mystified, the beast did not charge forward after its vanished prey. Instead, it spun about and took out its frustration on the rest of the warriors who had gathered nearby to speed into the Repository soon after the creature emerged there.
The beast snapped out with its jaws faster than Dural would have thought possible, and its teeth closed around one of his brethren. Its jaws shaking back and forth, the beast tore the hapless Sangheili to shreds. Another of Dural’s warriors, perhaps thinking to display his honor, leaped forward to try to save what remained of the first, but it was already far too late.
When the second warrior lunged forward, the rafakrit dropped its first victim and struck out at the would-be rescuer with its foreclaw. This fell blow was even more decisive, killing that warrior instantly by snapping his spine. The beast savaged the fallen Sangheili while two of Dural’s other warriors darted behind it in an effort to snatch their first wounded compatriot from the fray.
Dural could see the injured warrior had lost a tremendous amount of blood and would soon succumb to his wounds. One of his saviors had clamped a hand over his mandibles so that his groans of agony—which were shameful from the mouth of any Sangheili—would not draw the beast toward them.
Despite that, the rafakrit would soon be done with its current meal, and Dural had to make a quick decision. He got the attention of the two warriors holding down their dying fellow, whose thrashing had already begun to weaken.
“Throw him at the foot of the portal!” the Pale Blade ordered.
They both gaped at him, their mandibles hanging loose in surprise.
“Are you mad?!” Buran said. “He is an honored warrior and should be dispatched with the dignity he deserves!”
Dural snarled at the older Sangheili, daring Buran to get into his teeth about this. He did not have the time to debate this. “He was a fool, but his death may still prove useful!”
Dural glared at the two warriors holding the dying Sangheili down. “What are you waiting for? Throw him at the foot of the portal! And keep his mouth uncovered as you do!”
This warrior had certainly failed the gods by allowing the beast to have its way with him. Despite that fatal mistake, perhaps he could now atone for his sin.
The two warriors dashed toward the portal, towing their dying brethren between them. As they moved, the rafakrit raised its bloodied face and stared after them, evidently trying to decide whether it should abandon its current dinner for an even fresher one.
As ordered, the two warriors stopped just before the portal and uncovered the mouth of their mortally wounded compatriot. The dying warrior released a howl of agony, which drew the beast’s interest. Acting in tandem, the two threw the Sangheili at the portal’s very edge, where he lay on the verge of being drawn into the swirl of energy.
The rafakrit had already begun charging toward the trio, and the two who had carried the Sangheili dove to the sides, attempting to remove themselves from the creature’s sight. The beast bore down directly toward the dying Sangheili. It collided with its prey so fast that its inertia carried them both into the portal, and they vanished from sight.
Dural held up a hand to signal the others to wait. “It will not be long. The creature should wreak havoc quickly.” He retrieved his carbine from its mount
on his back. “Let the weaklings there mount a defense against it. Then, while the beast has their attention, we strike!”
After several long moments, the Pale Blade made for the portal, motioning for the others to follow him. The entire band of warriors fell right in line with no griping, not even from Ruk or Buran.
On the other side of the portal, they emerged on the edge of chaos.
The team of Servants quickly found the remains of their fallen warrior abandoned just past the portal’s mouth. From the blood splattered everywhere, it seemed he had acquitted himself well in his final moments.
The trail of blood continued on into the vast interior of the Repository, and now Dural could hear weapons firing—both human and Sangheili.
He spotted the creature deep inside the hangar, its back to them as it hurled its bulk into a Phantom, causing the dropship to crumple under its assault. His strike team moved toward it, keeping out of sight as best they could.
Dural scanned the carnage the creature had left in its wake. The beast had quickly slaughtered several personnel, including two of the Sangheili traitors. While Dural relished their deaths, they felt unsatisfying, as he had not personally brought justice to them with his own hands.
The Servants moved along the hangar’s back wall, doing their best to keep low and out of sight. They did not want the monster to somehow spot them and bring undue attention to them or, worse, decide that they would make an easier kill than whomever it was trying to reach behind the Phantom.
Dural ran his eyes across the interior of the structure, looking for the one Huragok he knew worked in the Repository, but it was nowhere to be seen. He then signaled the others to be silent, and they slipped deeper into the hangar, keeping to the shadows, far out of sight of the fracas the monster was causing. If they needed to reveal themselves, it would be to grab the Huragok, not because they were forced to confront the monster.
The rafakrit kept bashing into the Phantom and even tried to sink its teeth into the dropship’s armor. If the craft had been small enough for it to wrap its jaws around the front end, Dural had little doubt the monster would have succeeded.
As his team neared the far end of the hangar and lost the mythical animal behind the array of seemingly endless vehicles, a high-pitched whistle sounded from somewhere outside the hangar, and the rafakrit suddenly bolted off after it.
A gray-haired human appeared from behind a Wraith roughly a hundred meters away. The vehicle had been violently mauled by the rafakrit only moments before. Dural doubted its operability.
Rather than use the Wraith, however, the human raced over to an all-terrain vehicle his species called a Warthog—a graceless wheeled machine that looked equal parts crude and vulgar—and he struggled to get it started. The human was far too concerned with the rafakrit to see the Servants skulking in the shadows so far behind him.
Dural momentarily considered shooting him with his carbine, but they were there to find the Huragok, not to kill humans. There would be plenty of time for that later.
With a few silent hand motions, Dural told Ruk and the others to fan out and search for the Huragok. “Take it, and run for the portal,” Dural whispered to them, not daring to be misunderstood. “At any cost. Nothing else matters!”
As they moved to execute his orders, he kept one eye on the man in the Warthog and another on the rafakrit, which remained outside. If the man dealt with the beast’s rampage soon, they would have to retreat before he discovered them as well.
Dural peered over the nose of a nearby Banshee. In the far distance, the creature was chasing someone down in the rolling field just outside the hangar. He shaded his eyes to peer closer and saw that it was barreling toward a Sangheili. A female, no less!
He had to fight the immediate urge to commandeer one of the nearby craft and rush to save her, the way any honorable Sangheili warrior had been taught to do. Yet, if she was here with the humans, she was likely as much a traitor as the others he had seen working in the hangar—no doubt a deceived thrall of the Arbiter’s, sent to promulgate his compromised view of Sangheili sovereignty.
Dural had no desire to risk his life for such treason. Still, he winced as the beast ran her to ground. She reminded him of the fate of his mother: a female inexplicably drawn out of her keep and murdered by forces far beyond her control. Dural offered a quick prayer to the Forerunners that this other female might at least suffer a quick death.
Then he heard a squeal from beyond the Warthog and moved to his left to get a better view. From there, Dural spotted a large human transport parked just outside one of the hangar’s open doors, but he couldn’t see the source of the sound. There was some commotion about the vehicle, but his vantage was so obscured that he returned his attention to the creature’s pursuit.
The rafakrit launched itself at the Sangheili female. She dove out of its path at the last possible instant, and the creature’s jaws crashed into the turf instead, sending up a spray of dirt. As she limped away from the monster, something near the transport squealed yet again—even louder this time, like a stuck colo beast.
Dural turned to see three figures race away from the transport, and the rafakrit went after them. Two of them were human, and they had an Unggoy with them. They appeared to be mere children, which shocked him.
Then he saw a young Sangheili male chase close behind.
At first, Dural thought the Sangheili was attempting to attack the others, but that proved to be only wishful thinking. Instead, the young Sangheili scooped up the Unggoy and carried it as the four tried to evade the monster, which was quickly gaining on their position.
Dural realized something stunning as his gaze hung on the Sangheili. At first, he thought that he recognized the Sangheili from some indeterminate time in the past. It wasn’t just the peculiar shade of the Sangheili’s skin but also the way he moved. It was all too familiar.
And then Dural realized who it was. How can that possibly be . . . ?
Just as it seemed as if the rafakrit might catch the four racing away from it, the Sangheili female blasted out yet another whistle and drew the creature back toward her. Dural saw their plan now, and he admired it for its simplicity if not its wisdom. They would tire the creature out by calling it back and forth between their two positions. That would only last for so long, however. Once it got bored of playing games, it would simply finish them off.
But then the struggling engine of the Warthog finally came to life. The wheeled machine lurched forward, with the gray-haired human operating it. The vehicle accelerated quickly until it reached the end of the pavement that surrounded the Repository, and then it came to a dead stop. The human jumped out of his seat and took up the position of the rear gunner, taking control of some kind of magnetic device mounted there. Dural had seen this powerful but primitive weapon in operation once before.
The cannon barked metal death at the monster until it stopped moving.
Dural found himself unconcerned by the rafakrit’s death, though he knew it affected his plan. Seeing that traitorous Sangheili save those two young humans—along with the Unggoy in his arms—drove Dural into a righteous fury. For a moment, he lost sight of his objective, so desperate was he to vindicate the honor of his people.
That scum had betrayed Dural, his keep, and his entire species. Dural wanted nothing more than to race out onto the field and take him down with one fell swoop.
Perhaps he would allow the traitor to explain first what could have possibly led him down such a shameful path. Then Dural would kill him—regardless of any explanation—if only to restore honor to Bekan keep.
As Dural glared at the betrayer, he heard something off to his left, in the far corner of the hangar. It was the telltale sound of plasma bursts, followed by an agonized scream.
Have my warriors finally found their prey?
Dural hesitated, struggling against his rage so as to move, his eyes fixed on the pale Sangheili in the distance. But the sounds of the battle so increased that he could no longe
r ignore them.
Dural spun to his left, but before he could advance more than a few paces, he spotted Buran backing toward him from that direction. “We found the Huragok!” the old warrior shouted. “A group of cowards barricaded themselves and it inside a room, and we are attempting to blast through the door!”
Dural’s heart pounded in triumph, but his sense of victory proved short-lived. He could now hear the sound of a human aircraft overhead and knew that the Servants had run out of time. Part of him seethed at his own preoccupation with the events that had played out in the hangar, while another remained furious at the incompetence of those in his charge.
“Fools!” he shouted at Buran. “They have called in reinforcements. We cannot stand against them!”
Buran stared up at the roof of the hangar as if the human craft might smash right through it and begin pouring fire on them. “What shall we do?”
“We fall back. Issue the order to the rest of the Servants! Fall back to the portal! Now!”
The others came running at the sound of his voice, and he stood his ground, waving each of them past as they came. Once Dural accounted for them all, he sprinted after the last one—Ruk—cursing at them to move faster.
As the Servants reached the portal, a human gunship they called a Pelican appeared at the side of the hangar, dropping low to the ground.
Then it spun up its guns.
“Run!” Dural shouted.
Bullets tore through the Repository’s interior, piercing the air and blistering the walls around them as they dashed through the doorway of light. Dural felt rounds narrowly scrape the shoulders of his armor as he left the Repository behind.
“Close it!” he shouted at Even Keel, who hovered next to a pair of warriors Dural had left to guard it. “Seal the portal shut! Now!”
The Huragok reached toward a small terminal at its side and touched a glowing symbol carved into its stony surface. With a ghostly whirl of energy, the portal immediately ceased to be.
An unimaginable rage filled Dural as he stared back at the empty doorway.