- soulguard
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- Exalted Mythic Member
Palab’s orders needed to be respected, and through his rage Gridolee turned away; every ounce of him wanting to avenge his fallen kin. They had desereved their punishment, they deserved to die, but just as Simyaldee had told him it was hard watching a grunt kill his brothers. As he turned away he saw that Wesley was standing directly behind him.
“Wesley.” Rose stated from the distance. She watched as Gridolee looked down at him curiously.
Wesley smiled wickedly, “what’s wrong, tough guy? You can take out your frustration on a little human, but you’re scared of a grunt? Sounded like that elite knew you, because I thought for sure that I heard him say your name.”
Wesley’s words stirred within him, adding fuel to the already roaring fire within. Padwamee was about to ask for help, he was running, he was scared, and he died without honor; fleeing from battle.
“Come on, don’t tell me you’re not going to avenge your friend’s death?”
“Silence human.” Gridolee roared. He began to walk around Wesley, but Wesley stepped into his path.
“You don’t like the grunts anymore then the other elites, so take a chance. Kill him, avenge your friend and you won’t have take any more orders from him.”
Gridolee huffed, and turned. Palab’s gaze never left him. Swiftly, Gridolee pulled his blades from his hip holster and powered them. The twin blades flashed into existence. Palab lowered to all fours and snarled sharply as his spikes slowly extended from his elbows; the foreskin parting as the spikes slid outward.
“Me give you order!” Palab barked.
“No more orders, grunt.” Gridolee snarled. “Show me why you are considered King of the Grunts.” Gridolee lowered his posture, because he knew he had to be cautious, but he also knew he was going against everything the Second told him. Gridolee thought to himself, “How strong can he really be?” He dashed forward, passing the group of grunts and into the clearing; stepping over the fallen body of Padwamee. The watching grunts began to roar and growl as Palab patiently waited for a moment to strike.
Wesley stepped forward as Rose jogged to his side. The two of them found gaps between the grunts and watched as Palab and Gridolee faced off against each other.
“Yet another close call for you.” Wesley commented to Rose.
Rose then turned to Wesley, “He was leaving. What did you say to him?”
“I’d say anything I to get him to fight and see him die.” There was a heavy darkness within in his voice, and Rose understood his pain. He hated Gridolee with every fiber of his being, but what confused her was why he thought Gridolee would loose to Palab. To her knowledge Palab was simply the best of the grunts, and even though he easily defeated the seven watchmen, he was going to fight Gridolee, a Mirratord warrior.
- - - - - - - -
“Take me… take me to the battle… a new body, a new leader, there must be more, there must be knowledge. Mercy told us, Jogrennilee, Seed, Ark, Earth… the seed is close. We must have the seed. Take me to the seed, to a body. A new leader.”
Dozens of combat forms wrapped their tentacles around the massive brain form and began to carry it beyond the ruin of the Life and Sacrifice’s wreckage, and toward the dim lights of the Tram Station.
- - - - - - - -
Gridolee swung wildly and missed, his energy blade split the air around Palab’s head but he never came close. Palab was too elusive, too fast, and too cunning. It was easy for Gridolee to realize that the grunt was toying with him.
Gridolee stepped back and spun with his left blade extended. Palab ducked and found himself staring at Gridolee’s back. The elite left his rear unguarded. Palab quickly took advantage and lunged.
Gridolee smirked as he sensed Palab approaching and thought, “I have you.” Gridolee fully rotated with his right blade and prepared to kick with his left, but Palab was gone. “Where…” An explosion of pain rocketed up Gridolee’s leg as he fell to his knees. His shields overloaded and he knew that it was over and the death blow would come soon. Palab had found the weakness in his attack and Gridolee roared in frustration as he powered off his duel blade. The sound of ravenous grunts filled his ears as he opened his eyes. But instead of death greeting him, his eyes were filled with Palab’s face, and at the base of his neck rested the boney spike of his left forearm blade.
“You have earned your honor with me, Sergeant.” Gridolee mumbled. The little grunt had bested him easily, and Gridolee understood what Simyaldee meant; Palab was very skilled and unnaturally fast. “End my life.”
“Me kill you, weaken Mirratord more. You live, you respect me now, and we fight together until war is over.” Palab retracted his blades and backed away. “Me not like you, me not trust you, but Mirratord need you. Me not smell anger any longer, so me not think you a threat to grunts. But if you hurt grunts, me kill you. Me will report this to Simyaldee and Belmaeda later. Me gave you orders, now you go.”
Gridolee stood, broken, bested and humiliated by a grunt, and nodded his head. His orders were understood, and his respect for Palab was earned. He began to walk back to the tram station, knowing that he had nearly died twice in one day. He was not nearly as strong as he had once thought.
“Damn it.” Wesley snapped. “Come on Rose, we should check on Eric.” The grunts began to disperse and Rose followed Wesley back toward the Tram station.
- - - - - - - -
“We failed.”
“Once the elder get word of these events they will surely find us.”
“They will find us, but we will not surrender.”
“What do you mean?”
“If we can not kill the grunt then we must prove to the Prophets that we are no longer followers of the high council.”
“Brother, do you mean…”
“Yes. Gather the others, all of them, at the Dabdough ranches. We will force our way into the Inner Sanctum.”
“The Sacred Hall will flow with the blood of our sacrifice, and then the Prophets shall honor us with a place at their side during the Great Journey.”
- - - - - - - -
The shield powered down and Catherine sighed softly to herself. Blood pressure, brain waves, and all other vitals were slowly returning to normal. She had done it, but now she would need to use the forerunner systems to unlock exactly what she had done. All the information she needed was recorded and the missing link between the flood and beating them would be found.
The two medics slowly began to remove the IV from Kelly’s arms and covered her topless body with the blanket again. Catherine walked close and wiped the sweat from Kelly’s brow and Kelly slowly opened her eyes.
“Mom?” Kelly mumbled. The words tingled in Catherine’s ears, and her heart skipped a beat. It was obvious that Kelly was still partially unconscious, and her words were based on a mixture of her extremely high fever and Catherine’s actions. However formal and easy her scientifically accurate description was, it still brought a sense of joy to Catherine to finally hear those words. The option of having a child had long since passed Doctor Halsey, and she never had time for such a thing. Her life had been dedicated to the Spartan Program and to humanity.
For now, she relished with the idea that she was something of a mother, “yes, Kelly?” Her children were the Spartans, and now she was going to do for them what she couldn’t do before; make them perfect.
“Let’s not do that again.” Kelly sluggishly stated. A smiled glowed across Catherine’s face as she backed away from the table. Kelly had once again fallen asleep. She deserved the rest. Catherine reached up and dimmed the over hanging light enough that it would allow Kelly to sleep peacefully.
“Keep her under close surveillance. As soon as she is awake, make sure she gets plenty of fluids and something to eat; lots of calories, carbohydrates and protein. That should bring her energy level back to normal.”
“Sure thing doctor.” One of the medics stated. He then turned to the containment box and the twitching husk of the infection form. “What should we do with that?”
“Nothing. This is a two way study. I need to know the effect of the flood infection as well as the subject. I’ll take it with me to the other room. Transfer all the data and blood samples to that room as well.” The medics nodded and Catherine began to walk to elder Vornaldea and his elite honor guards.
“It was a success. This is great news.” Vornaldea voiced.
[Edited on 9/12/2005]