An Elite's Tale

The Plague rushed in with his finger glued to the trigger. He didn't really care who he hit, Brute or Human, but had to dive sideways into cover behind a crate to evade a volley of grenades. Zuvo and the Arbiter were moving in with their energy swords when he popped back out of cover and took aim at one of the Brutes, who seemed to be losing in a fight against one of the squirrelly Humans. Spikes riddled the Minor's upper torso a second later and nailed him to the wall he was taking cover behind. Then Ludo took aim at the Human.

Next thing he knew, Joha was standing next to him with his hand on top of the Spiker, pointing it at the ground. Angered, Ludo glared at him, computing.

Friend or foe? Defend or destroy? Destroy.

Joha explained himself a second before losing his life. He would never know how close he'd come. "Look, they ally themselves with us. Allow them to fight for as long as they can."

Ludo absently played the words in his head over and over until they gained meaning. He felt his rage receding like smoke in the breeze, but as it left him it was replaced with a deep shame and self guilt for what he'd nearly just done. This was the part Ludo hated the most: realizing the extent of his callousness and the possible consequences stemming from actions based on it.

Ludo nodded in agreement and holstered his weapon.

Combat mode disengaged.

"All clear?" The Arbiter asked once the battle was over.

Zuvo walked over and rested a hand on Xepo's shoulder. The green armored Elite was on top of the last Brute, smashing its face in with the butt of his beam rifle. At Zuvo's intervention, Xepo huffed and gave one final smash for good measure before climbing to his feet.

"All clear," the Zealot confirmed.

Just then the Scarab came to life and aimed its main cannon, an enormous Plasma Beam, at the Elites and the Hunters behind them. Ludo and Joha stood frozen. They exchanged glances, but this time there was no nod, although Ludo was sure they were thinking the same thing: Wait, are they on our side?

The Scarab shifted closer and pointed its cannon at the Arbiter, and a Human voice came from its public addressal system, "Listen, you don't like me, and I sure as hell don't like you. But if we don't do somethin', Mr. Mohawk's gonna activate that ring. And we're all gonna die."

"Tartarus has locked himself inside the control room," The Arbiter informed him.

"Well I just happen to have a key," the Human in the Scarab responded. "C'mon, grab a Banshee and give me some cover. They're gonna know we're comin'."