EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For all of her power with manipulating the dead, Ahnasha was not much of a healer to the living. She could cast a few healing spells suitable to minor to moderate flesh wounds, but Kaleeth needed far more than that at the moment. Ahnasha quickly cast what she could, but it did not stop all of the bleeding.

Kaleeth herself was not particularly responsive. She still breathed, her eyes opened and she appeared to be looking around, but she said nothing and did not move on her own. It was all she could do just to stay awake. She could not help walk, and between her own weight and that of her armor, she was difficult to carry even for Fendros. Particularly considering the ordeal they had just been through. Still, it only took a few, difficult steps forward before Fendros would feel some of the weight being lifted off of him. Another had taken Kaleeth’s other arm over his shoulder to take half of the weight on himself. A glance over, and Fendros would see a werewolf, bloody and armored, but immediately recognizable as Lorag.

“My legs ain’t broken, so we’re getting her there, one way or another.” Lorag growled. He seemed to be struggling in more ways than one. His armor hid any injuries, though it seemed that he struggled more against his own mind than his own body. With the battle over, any beast spirit would be more than sated on bloodshed, and their natural tendency was to rest. Even a lycan as old and experienced as Lorag had to fight against his beast to keep himself in his lycan form, but he still pressed on, step-by-step.

Janius, as well as Sabine and her pack, had still not found one another, and the scents in the air were starting to become more mixed and hard to distinguish. The shout of Fendros’ orders might have been enough to draw them to him, but if not, they could find each other once again in their camp. Ahnasha felt she remembered the area well enough to guide them back, so she walked just ahead of them to lead the way.

The Cradle

Marae laughed, crossing her arms as she looked down on Freyr next to her. “But you are a conundrum, aren’t you Dr. Lang? Not but a moment ago, it didn’t seem like you were up for much of any kind of party, much less one of your own making. And here I was thinking we were about to have a quiet evening relaxing over drinks, sharing stories…”

Nirann walked around on Freyr’s other side, holding his arms out as wide has he could in the crowd as he took a few steps back. “Well I don’t know about you, but a party sounds worlds more exiting than…that. And I’ll tell you, I am wonderful at acting drunk. Always the life of the party.”

“But unlike everyone else, you get to cheat. No risks, and you can always just snap yourself out of it.” Marae grunted.

“Oh, you know well how I can handle risks.” Even if he hadn’t been masked, Nirann could not give expressions, but everything about the way he spoke gave the image of him speaking through a wide grin. “What’s something you’ve never done before, Freyr? Something exciting? Something frightening? Both? We’ve got freedom and we’ve got these masks, so no one will be getting on to us later.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Now that she had a chance to simply stop and catch her breath, the reality of the situation started to sink in for Ahnasha as well. Vile himself had been defeated, all of the souls he had stolen throughout this war had been freed to go to their rightful place in the Hunting Grounds, and the fighting was finally over. Not just this battle, but in the war as a whole. Now, the only planning they would need to do would be to transition into peace. She smiled with Fendros’ laughter and, for those few seconds, just let herself enjoy the moment. They had delved through Oblivion itself and come through beaten, but alive. At this point, no matter what else had happened, both of them had made it through alive.

Eventually, Ahnasha’s focus was brought back to more immediate concerns once Fendros asked about the others. There was no one else in view of them, but the forest was thick enough that they could not see far. Indeed, if they took a moment to listen, there were many more footsteps and voices becoming clear in the area around them. Far more than could just belong to their own pack. “Well, I imagine it brought us back near our Oblivion gate, so…we’re probably somewhere in the forest near our camp. We might be spread out a bit; I think there’s more than just our pack nearby. I didn’t find any of the others on the way here, but it was your scent I was looking for first.”

Ahnasha was slower to get up than she had been to approach him. Now that she had calmed somewhat, it was getting easier for her to feel the pain of her injuries. The ruinach had not killed her, but she had taken a few hits from it after Fendros had pressed forward. She groaned, stumbling somewhat as she pushed herself up to her feet. She winced when she put weight on her leg, though she did not think it was broken, at least. There was little doubt of how bruised and battered she must have been under her armor, but it was nothing a lycan could not recover from. With a quick look around, Ahnasha guessed that they might be nearby, as both Spellbreaker and the Rueful Axe had been brought back close by as well. She carefully helped Fendros up to his feet, then grabbed Spellbreaker to carry it for him.

The pair did not need to walk far to start finding others. It seemed like all of their soldiers, regardless of where they were on the battlefield, had been brought back somewhere in the vicinity of their now-dormant Great Oblivion Gate. Lycans, Imperials, and Dominion soldiers all looked around with varying degrees of confusion as they tried to get their bearings. It did not take long before they started to hear the shouts of Imperial and Dominion officers giving orders to try and regroup their scattered forces. Not all likely understood that the battle was over, though Ahnasha doubted it would be long before they had reorganized. Beyond that, it was the healers that were desperately trying to deal with the chaos around them. Wounded and dead both littered the forest, and it was going to be a task to sort between them. For the pair of them, it was the scents of their friends they were trying to find, and fortunately, they did not need to go to far to catch one on the wind.

Even laying on the ground, Kaleeth stood out easily in the forest. They found her on the ground as Fendros had been, but she was much worse off than being merely dazed. Blood was already starting to stain the grass underneath her, mostly from her mangled leg. She had spent so much of the fight at the very front that even her dragonbone armor was showing as much damage as Kaleeth herself. The blood flowing down from joints and gaps in her armor stained the plate red, and it was uncertain exactly how much she had lost by this point. Fortunately, she was still breathing, and still conscious by the way she looked up at them, but she was weak. Very weak.

A few other warriors had already found Kaleeth before the pair arrived, but there had not yet been enough time for anyone to meaningfully help her. “Kaleeth!” Ahnasha shouted. Pain shot through her leg with every step as she rushed over, but she was not concerned about herself at the moment. “We need to stop this bleeding, and…our camp. We need to get her back to the camp! They can treat her at the infirmary.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For a moment, Ahnasha appeared to ignore any of Fendros’ urgency. Instead, she put her arms around him, hugging his neck as tightly as she could. “Just calm down. Breathe. You already did. What do you think it was that knocked you on your tail? I saw it all myself. With what I know of Daedra, I think I can take a good guess on what happened. Vile, well…a Daedric Prince can’t die, but you put him through the closest he can get to death. It looked like the power left in the axe destabilized his essence, and probably the rest of his realm along with him. Our Oblivion gate closed, and when a gate closes, it sends everyone back to where they came from.”

Ahnasha pulled back away from him somewhat to allow him to look around more easily. As Fendros’ vision cleared, their surroundings came into view for him. They were now in quite a different forest from what they had seen in the Fields of Regret. “We’re back in the Hunting Grounds. I imagine Hircine took that chance after Vile was defeated to take as much of his stolen power as he could, like all the lycan souls he’s taken from us. We’re here, and...I wouldn’t be aching this much if I were dead, so…it’s over. The war is over.”

The Cradle

Marae swam up and climbed out of the water alongside Freyr. Despite the crowd, being underwater came with a silence that could make the area seem almost peaceful. Though, that illusion was easily shattered once they were back in open air. “Yes, I think maybe this isn’t the best sort of place for you right now. Maybe we should head back and have more of a quiet evening. We can have a few drinks, share some stories, relax.” She suggested before shooting another glance down towards the water. “Come on back up. We’re heading back inside.” She messaged to Nirann.

Nirann’s current body could not swim in any real way, but he would not have jumped in without a way out. His frame had thrusters built in, mostly intended for zero-G maneuvering, but they could provide enough force in water to get him back up to the surface. Or at least, he brought himself close enough to grab a hold of the edge of the pontoon, then hoisted himself up the rest of the way.

“Just based on my impressions of her, I’m thinking the odds are good that there is a full bar somewhere in this ship. Hopefully it’s somewhere not overrun by…tourists.” Marae remarked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The moment the axe’s edge made contact, the remainder of the power within was released. In an instant, everything went white and a wave of force struck him. For a few moments, Fendros would hardly be able to perceive much of anything. The light was blinding and his ears were left ringing, along with something of a fierce headache. It would be hard for him to tell if he was just regaining his senses, or if he had been knocked out entirely for a time. He would be able to feel again before he could see, but what he felt might not have been what he expected.

Fendros was lying flat on his back, not on hard, cold stone as he had been before, but in soft grass with the warmth of the sun shining down on his fur. Sounds started to filter in next, though many were still overpowered by the constant ringing. Some rustling leaves, followed by footsteps approached quickly from his left, though he had still not regained his senses enough to respond. Not a moment later and someone was knelt beside him. Hands armored in chainmail touched the side of his snout, moving his head slightly side to side. “-ndros ar-…-right?” A voice shouted, though everything still sounded muffled to him. “-Are you…can…-ear me?” It continued.

Finally, shapes started to become more clear in Fendros’ vision. At first it was a vague silhouette, a person’s head hovering just above his own. Then, details started to show. Sharp angles and rough edges characterized the armor. Dragonscale. Finally, the face came into view within the open helmet. Large, worried eyes. Small black stripes among brown fur.

Ahnasha.

“Can you move? Are you hurt? Please be alright…” She questioned again, looking into his eyes to search for a reaction.

The Cradle

“So…about that well, then.” Marae frowned and let out what would have been a long breath, had they not been underwater. For the moment, she ignored the music and chaos of the crowd around them and swam up beside Freyr. Soon enough, Freyr would feel two oversized hands resting gently upon her shoulders as Marae looked down at her with a certain, knowing sadness in her eyes. Though not Human, she could certainly be more expressive than Nirann at the moment.

Although they could not speak aloud presently, the messages Freyr could hear in her mind still carried Marae’s voice and the same tone with which she “spoke” them. “I know that feeling. It’s as persistent as it is insidious. It’s…fear, worry, all swelling up inside until it gets to the point of bursting. I know it can get bad, especially when the thing you’re worrying about isn’t sudden. Some days, you get up filled with hope. You can have all the confidence that everything is just going to work out.” Marae paused for just a moment to search for an appropriate expression. “…then at the drop of a hat, all of that hope can just vanish and you feel like someone is squeezing your heart out of your chest. It’s at its worst when you’re alone. When you can be trapped with just your own thoughts.”

With a few kicks and a swaying tail, Marae positioned herself directly in front of Freyr to make sure she could keep eye contact. “So you work. Occupy your mind with fixing it. With making it better. You love them, and you know you can do something, so you have to do everything you possibly can. And whenever you’re not doing something, even if you’re exhausted, muscles aching, and hardly able to stand, you still feel like you haven’t done enough. And that’s why these last few weeks have been torture for you. Because we’ve been sitting here waiting, and waiting, and we can’t do anything.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Marae wrapped her arms around Freyr and pulled her tightly into a hug. Even without military augmentations, Rothians still had a lot of muscle behind them that was easy to feel to the touch. “I’m sorry, Freyr. I’m sorry that you have to go through this, that we haven’t been able to do more. I’m sorry that you’re trapped here waiting for governments who don’t care about us and are just playing their political games over the damned Cradle. But…you’re not alone, Freyr. Okay? I just want you to know that. A lot of people involved in all this don’t care, but some of us do. I know how you feel, and I will help you.”

The Cradle

Ultimately, the waters surrounding the flotilla were nearly as much of a flurry of activity as on the vessels themselves. At least near the surface, there was little room to maneuver without inevitably running into another. It was very much by design that the party could continue as much below the surface as it could above.

Freyr was not left alone for long. As soon as dropped in below the waves, she would feel the wake of something large moving past just behind her. Marae wrapped around underneath her, then pushed upwards to stop just in front of her. She just managed to squeeze into the space between Freyr and another swimmer in front of her. Despite the fact that she had been under for as long as the conversation with Nirann, she did not seem to be struggling for breath. In fact, she was not holding her breath at all. A more careful look around them would reveal that the water was distinctly discolored, compared to the rest of the lake. Devices built into the barges were constantly dispersing a combination of highly oxygenated water and a selection of other chemicals into the surrounding water in order to render the water itself breathable. The specifics of the process and other safety features were mostly out-of-sight of the average concert goer, but from their perspective, it was easy enough to tell if it was safe to breathe by the color of the water around them. The concert itself was also being broadcast openly, so anyone with the right implants could simply tune in to hear the music as if they were still in open air.

“Glad to see you joining the party. Feeling better?” Marae asked, messaging Freyr’s implants directly.

Marae did seem to be a surprisingly strong swimmer. Large, wide feet coupled with a tail gave her decent options for propulsion. Nirann, however, was not nearly so elegant with his entrance. He dropped into the water right after Freyr, then continued on sinking like a rock, straight down to the bottom. A military droid, it seemed, was not buoyant in the slightest. Nevertheless, they could still hear him messaging them in their heads. “No, it’s fine, don’t worry about me. I’ll just be down here…walking with the crabs.”

Marae rolled her eyes, letting out what might have been a sigh. “He did that on purpose.”

Halo: Aegis Team

Shih and Vael 'Virisusai

---

It took only an instant from the others’ perspectives, but Shih ran as thorough of an analysis as she could on the practicality of sabotaging the platform from below. The others hardly had time to consider the suggestion before she started giving her report. ”The storm is giving too much interference to my sensors for me to give a definitive answer. Whether or not an explosion of that yield could sufficiently destabilize the platform would depend on how well it is anchored. It is possible, and would certainly deal significant damage to the platform in any case, but it is possible that the cannon may remain operational.”

”So we could not simply place an explosive and leave. We would need to remain to ensure the cannon is disabled, and to kill any survivors.” Vael remarked.

”Yes, and I can jam their communications if it comes to that. As long as you leave no survivors, the Keep will not be alerted.” Shih added.

It seemed they did have options. Attempting stealth could allow them to silently achieve their objective without a firefight, but it was risky. Discovery would place their infiltrators in an exposed position, and they would have to fight the enemy at full strength. Opening with an explosive, even if it did not destroy the platform entirely, would still likely kill some, and disorient the rest. But, they would be guaranteed to have to fight here.

”Spartan Ryker, your Forerunner sensors would make you the best suited to try to silently get close. Active camouflage will be useless in this storm, and the platform has little cover. I am not convinced that a silent approach would be best here; Grikgar’s plan may be more likely to work. But, I would hear your assessment first. Vael requested. Compared to any other Human, Ryker would know best what Vael was asking for here. Unlike many other Sangheili, Vael cared little for pride when it came to strategy. He wanted to know, objectively, if Ryker believed his infiltration in this situation would be more likely to succeed than the alternative.

The Cradle

Nirann turned his head, looking down at Freyr. “I don’t mean to be the skeptic, but those dreams are much more likely to just be…dreams. You are worried about your family, again, very understandably. Your minds create dreams, for the most part, just based on what you think about while you’re awake. And I’m sure you’re thinking about your family a lot. There is not likely to be any meaning behind them beyond that.”

Freyr’s hand was still gripped tightly onto Nirann’s, though given her state at the moment, she may not have even realized it. He lifted her hand up slightly, then rested his other hand over the top of hers. “And if we can find their consciousnesses, then it really will be that easy. Normally it wouldn’t be, since the prospect of digitizing a living mind is far from simple, but that won’t be an issue here. Digital beings like me, we don’t have to be too attached to particular hardware if we don’t want to be. I can move between any hardware with enough storage space at a snap of my fingers, and well…the point I was trying to make is that they can be happy like this. In my usual body, there is nothing you can experience that I can’t. Every touch, every taste, every scent, even digestion we can accomplish artificially. Now, granted, I don’t usually enable all the features of organics in my body. For instance, I don’t sleep and have never had the desire to, but they could have the choice to experience everything just like it used to be. Except…”

Nirann shifted slightly in place, his gaze moving back out over the water. There was one aspect of Humanity that Rothians would never have any desire to imitate. “Well…there is the immortality. They wouldn’t age. They would need to change bodies to move on to later stages of life, and the eventual death your species experiences would always be a choice.”