After the battle at the rebel base, Tar was extracted separately from Aegis Team. Once the Repentant Proselyte learned she was alive after her ship went down, they’d insisted on sending another team to retrieve her and Prax Vol’s body.
Despite losing a comrade, Tar rejoiced in the morbid thrill of a proper mission. It obliterated a dry season of inaction, where her father’s trail seemed to get a bit colder with every day that passed.
She didn’t get a chance to talk to Aegis Team after the mission, as all hell broke loose with the formidable defense systems built into Sarcophagus. But she couldn’t help but wonder if there was some way to join them more formally. They might be the stepping stone she needed to leave this forsaken installation for good.
Tar pushed the prospect to the back of her mind on the flight back to base though. Once adrenaline had started to wear off, she realised again that her entire body felt weary and in pain. Despite the urge to fall straight into a deep, meditative sleep, Tar forced herself to assess the damage while sitting down in one of the jump seats.
Her specialised armour had deflected two Human bullets late in the battle. The overhanging plate at the top of her left shin and the elbow of her right arm had sustained deep scratches from close-range pistol fire. The muscle underneath her armour in these places was bruised, but otherwise intact.
However, her right thigh had not got off so fortunately. On close inspection, she could see a bullet hole in the crevice to one side of the front plate. Gritting her mandibles against the pain, Tar pulled off her leg armour and checked again. There was indeed a bleeding hole in the front, and unfortunately no similar hole in the back. Tar swore, and motioned for the medic to come over. They would never have approached otherwise, as a fair percentage of Sangheili would still take that as a personal slight.
The slim male medic inspected the leg while crouching on the floor, then looked up at her. “The bullet is still inside. I can get it and stop the bleeding, if you’ll permit me?” Tar hummed softly, glancing around her. The other Sangheili soldiers watched on intently, with a mixture of concern and disgust on their faces.
“Get it out.” Tar sighed.
As soon as they got back to the Repentant Proselyte, Tar immediately limped back to her quarters and passed out in a deep slumber, exhausted.
She awoke half a cycle later with a summons from Commander Skell beeping on her interface. Quickly re-armouring, Tar emerged from her small cabin into the SpecOpCon common space. Some of her colleagues greeted her heartily, while fixing her with stares that asked what’d happened. She’d disappeared on a secret assignment while they were left to attack the Forerunner structure. Tar didn’t give anything away, not sure quite *how* classified this maneuver was.
She joined Skell in the same room as before. He sat at the head of his table, staring at the holo unit that had just been turned off.
Skell looked up from the table at Tar. Compared to the last time they spoke, he seemed calm, perhaps even in a
good mood. Granted, they had been mere minutes from a combat deployment last time, so he likely was not in near as much of a rush as before.
“It is good to see you have recovered well, Specialist. The attack was a decisive success. It was not lossless, but I understand Prax ‘Vol died honorably.”
Tar saluted before replying. “Yes, Commander. He died while helping me execute an emergency landing. He was a good co-pilot.”
Skell pursed his mandibles and nodded, lightly rapping his knuckles on the table in front of him. After a moment, he looked up at Tar again, a tinge of sadness on his face this time.
“Indeed, he brought honor to his brothers…and sisters.” Skell said, bowing his head slightly. “It is not why I called you here, though. I just received a request from a high-ranking Swords Commander, one Vael ‘Virisusai, for you, specifically, to meet with him aboard the Human vessel on which he is stationed. Most of that statement is unusual.”
Tar remembered the name from yesterday. He was the old hand, likely ex-Zealot, who led Aegis team. She wondered what he could possibly want from her. “Do you know why, Commander?” Tar eventually asked. One potential scenario that sprung into her head was that Aegis needed a field report from her about the cargo bay. But she hadn’t seen anything particularly interesting in there; mainly food, weapons and medical supplies. It was also unlikely they’d need her presence in person for something so mundane.
“No, he did not say.” Skell answered. “It’s not an order, either. He was specific on that. He simply requested to speak with you in person. But Vael ‘Virisusai, I do know that name. I never met him personally, but I do know of him. He commanded several difficult invasions as a Field Marshall during the war. I have to imagine his business with you involves whatever happened during the battle on the surface. You do not have to agree to his request…but I would.”
Tar considered her options for a few moments. She yearned to get off Sarcophagus as soon as possible. She’d listened for any scrap of rumour on base for months now; If her father was here, she’d have heard by now. Even the flicker of hope she’d felt upon learning of Brute ships in-atmosphere had been roundly quashed. The ship that captured her father had been a pristine RCS class; she hadn’t seen its distinctive shape hanging over the rebel base. They couldn’t have been part of the same fleet.
Tar was still planning on asking about any prisoners and combing the wreckage at the earliest convenience, however this summons from Aegis changed things somewhat.
Even if this team presented no opportunity to move on from Paxopolis, she had to know for sure.
“Ok, i’ll hear what he has to say. Permission to leave the deck on a Phantom?”
Skell nodded his scarred head. “Go in grace, Tar ‘Mdalak.”
Tar saluted again, her head slightly bowed. "My thanks, Commander." She left the meeting room and quickly strode for the SpecOpsCon exit. Glancing around, she saw the same comrades who had heartily greeted her minutes before eying her suspiciously. They could tell she was embarking down a different path, and Tar felt a chasm opening between her and them.
For a moment, she stopped, turned and considered going over. Then, the thought of her father locked up as a prize captive on a Brute cruiser or in some underground prison surfaced in her mind, as it did every night before she slept. Turning back again, she exited the barracks and headed for the hangar bays.
Tar watched the Chorus of Thunder’s flank come closer as her Phantom powered across the void. She’d always thought the Human ships to be ugly, and this one was no exception. However, this Autumn class did have some redeeming features, like the slight curvature of it’s massive aft section.
She was jolted from her reverie when her Phantom was gripped by docking clamps inside the Chorus of Thunder. "We'll await your instructions, Specialist." The flight lead called back from the cockpit. Tar grunted, got up from her seat and exited via the grav lift. She found a young Human Male waiting for her at the bottom.
The marine, while armed, was not carrying his weapon in-hand. He was quite young, likely a private, and saluted as if Tar were one of his direct superiors. “Right this way, sir!” He said with a strange enthusiasm.
Tar didn't quite know how to react. Human soldiers had never had to treat her in this way before. She decided to nod and partly extend her arm, asking him to lead on. "I'm here to see Commander Virususai." She mentioned as they started walking. She wanted to double check this soldier was going to take her to the right place.
“Um, yes, just follow me. He’s waiting for you in a briefing room, one deck up.” The marine answered, turning on his heel as he guided her towards the hanger’s exit.
It did not take long for Tar to be escorted up to her destination, and compared to when Aegis first arrived, she would receive less strange looks and curious stares from the crew. By this point, they were all aware of their ship’s non-Human passengers, and most of them had seen them at least in passing. Tar’s presence was less strange than it might have been before.
Vael had chosen one of the smaller briefing rooms, as he only needed it for himself and Tar. He was alone, eyes focused on his data pad when Tar was led into the room. Though, he quickly deactivated it and stood to his feet when he saw her. The marine stood awkwardly for just a few moments before remembering to take his leave and close the door behind him.
“I see you accepted my request, specialist. Have your injuries healed?”Tar stood up straight and saluted upon seeing the Commander. He was roughly as she remembered from the frenetic activity on Sarcophagus yesterday. His armour still bore the marks of battle, and Tar wondered if he had slept at all.
“They are nothing serious, Commander. I spilled only a little Blood.” Despite herself, she felt nervous. It was quite a small room for two Sangheili in full battle dress.
“Good. For this, I would not likely be able to wait for a lengthy recovery.” Vael replied.
“You performed well in battle, much moreso than I would have expected from a pilot. From what I have been reading of your service to the Swords of Sanghelios, piloting is only a part of your skills. It seems you accompanied a team of former Silent Shadow, hunting Jiralhanae survivors of the war for years. But, the document I have read does not give the reasons for this. I do not doubt that your time with them would have grown your skills, but I am curious why they allowed you to accompany them to begin with? Only since the rule of our Arbiter have females been allowed to serve in our military. So soon after the end of the war, you would have been untrained, lacking battlefield experience. What brought them to accept you?”Tar involuntarily bristled at the question. There was no convincing way to answer it without delving into the most vulnerable part of her psyche. She breathed deeply through her nostrils and looked quickly at the floor to calm herself. She’d already admitted to having a captive father to the lowly Major, and that had shaken her. Telling this supposedly legendary commander could be even harder. But she didn’t see any honourable option but to be truthful. After a few long moments, she replied.
“My father, he…” Tar began, shoulders & mandibles flexing uncomfortably. “He was an honourable swordsman. When Brutes...attacked our home, he wanted to settle it the old way. A duel with the enemy chieftain.” Her fists clenched as the scene unfolded in her mind; broken, poisoned fragments.
“They tricked him, captured him, and took him away from us. I...I think he’s still alive as some... trophy.” Tar practically spat the last words; her mouth was dry apart from flecks of foam gathering under her mandibles.
“Silent Shadow was on the rescue ship. They heard I'd invoked the Right of Release, and what i’d done. I told them I would never stop until I'd slaughtered the Brutes who did it and released my father. So they took me with them. I…” Tar tailed off, utterly exhausted. The last part had washed over her like a giant wave. She looked at Vael, and closed her mandibles tight shut again.
Vael’s mandibles flared as he hummed at the revelation. “And so you invoked the Right of Release. You seek to save your father’s honor. I can see why they would be willing to give you the chance, though…I still would not expect them to willingly take on a liability. Honorable or not. You must have proven something to them.”
"My lieutenants say I fought like I was possessed by demons." Tar chuckled through a whirlwind of emotions, her voice nearly cracking. "I can scarcely remember the battle now. It was like a mist descended over my mind. When it lifted, they'd left in their cruiser and taken my father with them.”
After a moment of thought, Vael stepped forward while Tar stood at attention, inspecting her as he would a recruit. “From what I have seen, I find that believable. But I did not call you here to question your past. You are here because you proved something to me as well. You showed initiative and skill, but most of all, you fought with a fire in your hearts that most warriors do not possess. It is a fire that may need to be tamed, but one that could be harnessed to serve your kin well.”
Tar followed Vael with her eyes as best she could from her motionless stance. It finally dawned on her why she was here.
“I did not originally choose who would be selected for Aegis Team, but now that we have been established, I have the authority to determine who will be a part of my team.I could request warriors from any part of Swords’ territory, but I prefer to see my men in combat with my own eyes rather than to read of their exploits in documents.” Vael explained, his eyes briefly shifting to the marks and burns on the surface of her armor.
“You were in the right place, at the right time, to do just that. You are not a conventional warrior, but this is not a conventional team. I believe you would thrive on Aegis, and more importantly, your skill would not be wasted protecting scientists from animals or the occasional Forerunner machine. I do not know where your father is, but you will not find him here.” Vael was right, Tar thought. She was stuck here, and it had become clear her father's trail had gone cold. Transfers off Paxopolis moved at a glacial pace; this sounded like an opportunity to at least move forward. Besides, from what she could tell, Aegis contained a concentrated group of prolific warfighters. It was a great honour to be selected.
"I am honoured, Commander. But, what is Aegis' purpose? Will I be trading one Sarcophagus station for another?"
Vael let out a huff. Her question was one with several answers. Their “purpose” for existing, in his mind, felt more political than anything, but that did not mean that their missions were not genuine, nor the stakes for failure any less severe. In any case, Vael decided to answer in a literal sense. “The objective of Aegis team is to destroy any threat to peace, primarily in joint occupation zones. It is why UNSC soldiers and Swords alike are among its members. We fight Covenant, rebels, Jiralhanae warlords, anything that would threaten our path forward. It is…not a normal team. We must be prepared to investigate and plan against our enemy as much as we are to fight them.”
Tar’s hearts were racing hard now. She’d managed to figure out from chatter around the base that these ‘join occupation zones’ extended outside Sarcophagus. Humans and ex-Covenant lived together in various locations throughout the galaxy. This meant that Aegis team wasn't trapped here like she was. The fact that they may face up against Tar’s sworn enemies made the proposition even more enticing. Tar was happy to destroy the enemies of Sanghelios while searching for her father.
“In that case...I humbly accept your proposal, with one condition.” Tar began, hearts still racing. It was not usual to ask for conditions in the military, but as Vael had just admitted, Aegis was not a regular unit. “If i find out where my father is being kept, will you permit me to go after him? I do not expect support from Aegis, but this is something I am honour-bound to do, with or without permission.”
It took some time for Vael to answer. He turned towards the table beside him, leaning forward onto it with his hands as he took the time to consider her request. For what she desired, there was no way he could truly make guarantees, but he could promise how
he would react, at the very least.
“The Humans may not understand it, but you have the right to preserve your father’s honor. I would not stand in your way, but only if you respect the importance of our missions as well. Should you find the information you seek, I will still expect you to fulfill your obligations to us. Should you abandon a mission, I shall treat you as a deserter, but wait until the appropriate time, and you may even have my assistance.”This struck Tar as quite a reasonable position for an ex-Zealot. She could already feel how tough it would be to keep her thoughts on the mission if she discovered intel leading to her father. However, her years as a soldier had instilled a type of stoic discipline which she could call on to finish whatever task was at hand first.
“Thank you, Commander. On my honour, I will not put the team in danger to pursue my own vendetta. I gratefully accept.” A tingle of excitement crossed her shoulders as she realised this was actually happening.
“Then I will order your transfer to this vessel.” Vael remarked.
”You will be given officer’s quarters on this ship, just the same as the rest of the team. We have not yet been given our next orders, but I expect this ship will not remain at Sarcophagus forever. If there is anything you still need to do here, deal with it before then. Otherwise, I do want to test you myself. I saw a portion of your capabilities down on the battlefield, and it was enough to convince me of your competence, but I still want to see where your limits lie.”“Commander Skell will need to be informed of my transfer, but apart from that I am ready to get started. What kind of...test did you have in mind?” Tar replied.
”A test of combat. I want to know your strengths, and your flaws. You will fight me. There is a simulator on this ship, so I may test you on any weapon or situation needed. We will also spar traditionally, without armor or advanced weapons. Only hands, claw, and staff. We will do all of these things eventually, but as for what we do first…I will let you decide.”
Sydney, Australia, Earth
Tar stalked through the Royal Botanic Gardens with the autumn sun beating down on her face. She listened intently to the sounds of wildlife while her handler reeled off facts from a holo-pad. “Created all the way back in the 19th Century, this was the first scientific institution in Australia and for a long time was one of the most important gardens in the world. It was damaged by the Covenant during the war, but has been regrowing over the last few years to more or less the original specification."
Tar hummed, studying the colourful mix of green, red and orange plants around them. The carefully arranged gardens seemed in stark contrast to the dangerous wildernesses of Sanghelios. “No wonder Humans are soft, if you have no predators waiting to eat you.”
“Well actually, there are still some species of snake and spider in Australia which pose a threat to Humans.” The handler explained. Tar scoffed, picking a leaf from one of the bushes. “I hope you are not expecting me to protect you from these ‘spiders’ you speak of out here. I did not bring a weapon, at your request.”
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