Of Guns and Gore

Oh Captain My Captain

(I can already hear what you're gonna say, "But you promised to stop being a lazy cunt, so why did it take so long?" That's where you're wrong, because this chapter is about double the size of every other chapter. I must first address that I had to bench Six for this Chapter for plot reasons, but he will be back in action during the next chapter.

Some people may not like that Sisze 'Drazumee (The Shipmaster) has become an actual character now, but my grand plan for this story has begun to evolve and that is an important step to get to the end. Sorry if it seems like the ending is shit, I wanted to end it a different way at first, but I'd have ended up with about 10,000 words, and I just really can't do that with my current schedule. I also just finished writing a new story that I am going to be keeping running alongside this one.

Anyways, Thank you to my new followers and commenters and I won't keep you any longer. Rip and Tear.)

The atmosphere of the Prowler was tense, furthered by the lack of commentary from the hyper-intelligent A.I. that were supposedly spearheading this mission. The marines, save for Johnson, all looked toward the Chief or Slayer for some form of reassurance, of which they did not find. The Chief was lost in thought, processing recent events heavily while consulting with Cortana in private and the Slayer was sitting awkwardly amongst the marines feeling their eyes upon him. Six was still going nuclear in the sickbay, but it had been the Slayers decision to allow him to fight whatever he faced alone. He couldn't step-in every time the Spartan faced adversity, and medicine certainly wouldn't fix the changes he was undergoing.

"Alright, what's going on with you?" The silence was broken by the all too prevalent voice that seemed to plague him. "You haven't broken anything in a few minutes, and you left your boyfriend's side. Something has to be eating at you."

Surprising even himself, the Slayer just snorted in response, keeping his anger out of the equation. Perhaps he was becoming too complacent among all of these people, or maybe he simply wasn't feeling up to arguing with her today. I allowed for his needs to cloud my better judgement, focusing on only him. Six himself told me he wished to stop losing people, so I must take on the greater responsibility of keeping these men alive. The Slayer looked up at the marines around him. Each one of these men had to undertake the same missions as their Spartan counterparts, except their chances of survival were far lower, dying in droves to try and push back the far superior Covenant forces. A single of the Covenants warrior class measured up to an entire squad of marines, and they themselves appeared to at least travel in pairs. It was unfair to ask anyone to fight against such impossible odds, yet here were three dozen or so marines that fought that fight every day.

Coming from a planet that had been lost far before he could stop it, the Slayer hadn't been able to see the willful resistance of the humans until this point. To have as much power as he did made the elimination of a few Covenant a trivial matter. To them however, it was a sign of their defiance, a sign of their unwillingness to lay down and be slaughtered. The death of even a single Covenant dreg was massive to them, a small step on the path to liberation. To a civilian it must seem foolish, to expend one's life for a gain so insignificant. To a warrior though, it was the greatest possible way to end one's journey.

"You really have changed. I was unsure you had it in you to be selfless." D.O.T. laughed warmly. "But these men need you. I don't have to have talked to them to see that they have little hope of succeeding. It's hard to blame them when facing an enemy so all-encompassing. Its about time you came to your senses."

The Slayer felt his lips curl up slightly, hinting at a smile. He then stood from his seat, raising his head and discontinuing his private channel. The heads of everyone in the room refocused on him, the nervous energy causing them to tune in to the sudden movement. Even Chief snapped out of his own little world to greet the Slayer with his gaze.