Human calendar 2560
[Ahhh… I remember those bugs…heard their story… their queen was unworthy of her hive's loyalty….]
{that she was… but at the same time I can't blame her… the brutes, after all, kept all her male consorts, leaving her with only a few children to do her work.}
[ha! By 'work,' you mean a hostile takeover of Sangheili space? But you… Raised an interesting point, I always wonder how the prophets kept them in check, and here I thought it was out of loyalty… that the Yanme'e stayed on their side during the great schism. Ha! Such fools]
{Well, couldn't it have been both?}
[both?]
{hmm… I mean to say that their kind has too many queens… some may not have exactly seen eye to eye, so maybe it was also a political move of shorts on both parties… a collusion… if you will.}
[hmm…. It's not that I doubt your words, Faze, but did the Yanme'e really have to go that far? They have colonies as far-reaching as we do, maybe even more. I wouldn't be surprised if the human worlds we conquered have a few hives of their own now.]
{true, but maybe they didn't want to rule a world… but a part of high charity!}
[I see, then what happened would make sense… I could see those old broads not wanting to share…]
{Yes, their rigidness led to these events…}
Human calendar year 2552
Within foul waters, just below a sulfurous smell, visible and nasty brown nesting hung on pristine walls, on columns, and on a bridge not made of light! Sleeping, sounding, tired of their work, the drones, the bugs, the engineers of the Covenant, enjoyed their peaceful rest in silence…
Only buzzing between twitchs, between their dreams… dreams for a future, A queen scarred, in blood and rage, missing an eye, and wingless… A mute queen! Destined to never talk to her brood again in the languages of the Yanme'e! With a crowned halo broken, and a torn jaw, left to rot with her children, who worry for their future…
Plans for revenge swarm her nightmares! Seeing their queen in pain, sensing it… feeling it… But knowing he can't do anything about it… pained the hiveward, but this was the price for failure… his failure… had he been a better leader, if he could have only convinced his queen of her foolish actions… then maybe… things could have been different, but that was his nightmare to deal with, and Major Faze could care less!
Pushing past the sleeping drones one at a time, just praying none of the younglings does something stupid, between the steps of crushing excrement mixed with dirt, Ykan faced a sleeping drone… staring at its green shell, defenseless…
[Were it so easy…] thought Ykan to himself as he made his way between the bugs. Between thoughts of gutting them with his bayonet.
But while his blade dripped in old blood, Faze looked around and spotted a wingless drone! One who has been marked a slave, a mute! Confused why he saw a consort of the queen out here in the open… away from her grace. Curious and having no choice, he silently, carefully got closer to the drone… observing the difference in its skin, Faze figured it out…
{This.. This isn't a consort drone… It's just a worker drone… but if it's not a domestic one, why then… is it living like one?}
Defeated and bleeding, a mouth in a bloody mess, missing his wings, the slave drone turned in for the rest, but with heaviness about to overtake his eyes, he noticed in the reflection of the exposed floor, a blue hue... Curiously moving his head to get a better view, in the shadows behind him, A silent red blade hovered at his back!
Seeing the red mix with the blue, but brighter in its nature, the drone stopped dead in its tracks! With primal "fear", that he felt was like being hunted, the drone just kept facing forward, as he laughed inwardly… as if accepting it… to happy even dare to look behind him…
But when the second turned to minutes, and the blue hue began to overtake the red hue, in his eyes, the drone stared dead center at a blue elite! But mute and weaponless, he could not warn those sleeping next to him! Though he didn't even try….He only stared at the elite in the eyes, watching his bayonet, which dripped with the blood of his species!
Seeing it fall, drip by drip, the drone felt slight joy… as a red blade coursed through his back! Unable to scream, to vibrate his wings, the drone looked up to where his queen slept, and smiled as he died!
Silently placing the drone body down, the elites carefully continued on, moving past the sleeping, carefully nudging through the tight capsules like drones, but one child… one youngling, who was slightly inflexible compared to the rest, clumsy with his walk, he stepped on a spot the other avoided, as it was filled with a squishy mess… a sound that awake a drowsy drone…
Blinking but seeing nothing but bending light, the drone thought nothing of it and went back to sleep. Thanking the prophets for his luck, the clumsy elite did a "phew" gesture, as he bumped his head against another drone! Stirring it and awakening it from its dream….Staring into the drone's eyes, the youngling slowly raised his weapon.
But much to his luck, the drone acted like the other, and went back to sleep. Cursing or thanking his luck, the youngling caught up to his group, but above the ceiling, in the muck that hung, a drone with sharp eyes that could see through special colors, a warrior spotted the oddness, and so, with a smirk the drone scurried up the vines to make a report to his queen!
Woken from his slumber, the hiveward received a queenly slap to his face! Accepting it and not daring to look his queen in her eye for yet another failure, he then lowered himself to the lowest point, with a needler in hand, he just waited for his queen's command, and he would gladly take his own life!
Unable to talk in their language, the queen could only look down at her hiveward in disgust, but at the same time couldn't bring herself to give him the order to die, at least not like this, no! If he were to die, it would be at the very least in battle, though she blamed him for their situation, he still had a use… unlike the others, this hiveward was at least an experienced commander, and the only one she had left… the others… left her long ago... Either through death or disloyalty… only he remained… her first hiveward….
[you… are ordered… to fight! You… who has stayed with me… all the while… will not die by your own hand! I forbid it!] screamed the queen in a robotic tune through a transmitter implant that hid inside her vocal cords, which replaced her wings' ability to talk. As she kicked the needler gun away from the hiveward.
[then…. what is my queen will… what will you have me do… what use can a failure like me give…for even in death I can not recompense…]
[your right… Even death… You can not… but while you're alive, you can try! Now make right your wrongs yourself! Take up your weapon and kill these elite intruders… and don't come back without their heads…] replied the queen with such harsh and unremorseful eyes.
Staring into them, the hiveward felt great shame, but great sadness evermore…not because this may be the last time he sees his queen, nor for the harsh words she said, but because behind her eyes, behind his mother's eyes, he could see the tears hiding behind her anger… her hate…. Though he took the blame for her decision, he gladly accepted it.
Leaving the queen chamber, and surrounded with his best men, the hivewards looked back… Only once… and thought to himself…
[I hope… mother… that even when I die… You can forgive yourself… the hive lives through you… If my death is what it takes for you… Then so be it!]
With such thoughts behind him, the hiveward turned his face forward, with a glare that sealed his determination! As he looked over the open balcony, he spotted his enemy, as he could see them even in their stealth! Even in the darkness, as the light kept rotating… nothing hid from his eyes!
With an arm raised and a weapon swaped to a brute plasma rifle, the hiveward fluttered his wings! In a loud screeching pulse! With plasma firing in the air! Looking down smugly at the elites, the ground, the walls, the very air… vibrated! As a hundred wings sang as one!
[kill….KILL….KILL!] like a never-ending drum beat, the words sung in the language of the Yanme'e!
[shit!} said both Ykan and Faze simultaneously!
{Run!} Faze continued to yell as he cut down the waking drone by his feet, as Ykan did the same.
But like a rising tide, the drone swarmed at their foes! Covering for them, the younglings by the door, fired their weapons! Killing drone after drone that made an attempt on Faze and Ykan's lives! To lift them up to feast on their flesh! Others with weapons of all kinds flew in between their dying brothers to get their shots off! Annoyed by the bothersome youngling but unable to see them, the regular soldier drones emptied a blanket of fire in the youngling's direction!
Forced to take cover, to hide behind what little remained of the tunnel system, or what few nesting columns stood… seizing their chance, Faze and Ykan made a run for it! While firing into the horde of drones, creating holes in their firing line…
However, feeling the needlers hit his shield, and knowing their danger, Faze's armor locked while Ykan took the blows of the pistol fire! Firing his brute shot into the crowd, raining blood and guts, that soaked Faze in them, turning off his lock and running, it was Ykan's turn to lock his armor, as Faze made his way past him and covered for him!
Together and in turn, the pair slowly made their way to the younglings, the younglings, in turn, provided what cover fire they could. Their aim was not the best, but against a swarm of bugs, they didn't need to be; any shot would maim a dorne, melting hands, faces, chest cavities as their exoskeleton absorbed plasma rounds….
Drones were weak creatures whose only saving grace was that they did not fear death... At least not their deaths…
Hearing the anxiety-filled foot tapping by their mother, the hivewards sighed, as he prepared to give chase with what little ultras and majors remained of his hive. But as they took flight, Ykan was almost to the younglings, when they shouted to him that the door was blocked... Covered in some substance that drones have coated it with.
Hearing their pleas, as they could not break it with their plasma rifles, Ykan fired what remained of his brute shots into the door! As it burst open in flames, the youngling took safety inside as they took turns covering for the Major and Ykan.
Seeing such a scene caused Ykan to smile even as he ran out of ammo, and even as his armor shimmered through fire, and about to pop, Ykan turned at the right time as an overly zealous drone got too close! Turning his burte shot into a blade and a bat, Ykan cut the drone down from the waist! While tossing it at another! Splitting its skull in two!
Weaponless, Ykan took out his energy sword with a quick snap and, with a sangheili war cry, killed all who approached him! But sword play could only take you so far, amongst a swarm of bugs! And between shield lock, Ykan was running out of time!
Lucky for him, Faze, whose shield was much stronger and could a test to the beating it could absorb, ran through a field of fire, not stopping, and with a plasma grenade in hand… saved Ykan! Tossing it and bouncing it right off Ykan armour lock…sending it right into the drone's faces! The resulting blooming pulse of the grenade frees Ykan with just enough time to escape through the door! Counting his stars, Ykan turned around to see his Major running and yelling:
{Close the door! Close it now!}
Understanding his major plans, Ykan turned to the younglings and commanded:
[Cut the plasma circuits now!]
With the explosions of the yellow cords, the door came sliding closed just as Faze slid inside!
Arriving at the door and seeing it close with his own eyes, and knowing his queen was watching... Judging him… The hiveward at first didn't say anything... He just stared at the door… think what… none of the drones knew… it was only after a moment did the hiveward cracked his neck and signaled to his small team to follow him into the drainage system!