Chapter 17

The Rookie – ONI Orbital Facility, one month after drop.

The Rookie opened his eyes as Alba nudged him with her elbow, raising his head from her lap as the door to the interrogation room slid open. Alba was sitting on the deck beside him, her legs crossed, while the rest of his squad waited around nearby. The Huragok was floating beside a table in the middle of the small room, toying with the optics package of an F-99 UAV, fascinated by its intricate machinery and electronics. When presented with the opportunity, all the alien wanted to do was take things apart, and then put them back together again. The spooky part was how they tended to work better than they did before...

Dare entered the room with a man at her side that the Rookie had never seen before. He had a dark complexion, and he was wearing the battle dress of the Marine corps, along with their signature cap. His insignia identified him as a Sergeant Major. The two appeared to be in the middle of a conversation, the Rookie catching the tail end of it as the door slid shut behind them.

“Lord Hood may have given you clearance,” Dare said. “But it was my op, and this is my interrogation. We only captured one Huragok, and it’s very delicate.”

“Don’t worry,” the Marine replied, “I know what the aliens like...”

They approached the Huragok, the alien abandoning its project to greet them.

“It has access to the Covenant BattleNet?” the Marine asked, appraising the hovering creature as it blinked its three pairs of dark eyes at them.

“Limited, but yes,” Dare replied. “We’re not entirely sure how it manages a remote connection to the w-”

The Marine tossed something at the Huragok, a Zippo lighter, the ODSTs jumping to attention and aiming their weapons as the alien caught it deftly with one of its glowing tentacles. Alba snarled, her hand reaching for the hammer that was slung across her broad back.

“Whoa, stand down! Stand down!” Buck exclaimed.

“Sergeant Major, please!” Dare gasped. “It’s extremely flammable!”

The Marine seemed nonplussed, sauntering over to the Huragok and taking a seat on one of the two unoccupied chairs beside the table. He pulled a cigar from his pocket, glancing up at the creature as it cocked its head at him curiously.

“The Covenant,” the Marine began, bringing the cigar to his mouth. “The bastards who enslaved your friends, who killed millions of my people ... they’re digging a mighty big hole. You’re gonna tell me exactly what they’re looking for, and then you’re gonna help me stop ‘em.”

The Huragok flipped the lighter open, igniting the flame, everyone in the room holding their breath as the alien brought it towards the cigar. It held it beside the tip, the Marine taking a puff and exhaling a cloud of grey smoke.

“I take it we have a deal, then? Good. And you,” he added, turning to face Alba as he took another long draw. “You’ve been into the lion’s den. You’ve served with the Covenant, you know how they think, how they operate. You’re trained in their battlefield tactics, the operation of their equipment, you know ‘em better than our experts ever could.”

Alba huffed in agreement, sinking back into her sitting position beside the Rookie and crossing her arms as she watched the man warily.

“You tell us everything that we wanna know, and I can guarantee your safety. Now, you ain’t a prisoner. You came here of your own free will, and the UNSC appreciates that. As far as I see it, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but we can’t have Brutes runnin’ around unsupervised. I’m sure you can understand.”

“Alba will tell green man what he wants to know,” she replied.

“That’s what I like to hear. And you, man of few words,” he continued as he pointed to the Rookie with his lit cigar. “Since we can’t seem to separate you two, you’re gonna have to stick around for a while. Call it guard duty, call it babysitting, I don’t give a damn. But seen as how you’re the only one that she’ll listen to, I’m holdin’ you responsible if she goes on a hammer spree.”

The Rookie nodded his head in reply, the Marine smiling as he chewed on his cigar.

“Alright then, looks like we’ve all come to an understanding. If only every interrogation went this smoothly. Now, if you’ve gotten enough beauty sleep, we can begin the debriefing. Miss Dare, if you would...”