The Book of Zar, Part 3

The doors opened and I stepped out quickly, lifting the Erdellian shotgun into the air and firing, the loud blast thundering across the meeting hall. Startled shouts led to the turning of heads, turning to the source of the sound. To me. Here I saw primarily Human faces, but some non-Humans were present: Sangheili, Kig-Yar, and Unggoy were towards the far side of the hall, seating at a table, with other Humans who appeared to be dressed in official garments. These were my targets. Protecting them were handfuls of armed guards. Most were of the familiar races of the former Covenant and the Humans, but there were also a small number of aliens from more distant worlds: the Erdellians of Krett, the Zarids of Zamzared, and the Ukhno of Yash, who had delegates at this conference.
Our people shot down the guards and seized the building, while the noncombatants mostly dropped to the floor. Some attempted to flee, but were blocked by members of our team. Curiously, I noticed one of the Erdellian officials speak to their own guards. “Stop, stop! Stand down, stand down!” the Erdellian fellow yelled out. His guards looked upon him in confusion, but complied, keeping their hands aloft, their weapons untouched. We disarmed them and made them prisoner, same as the others. The Sangheili delegates to this meeting took up arms and charged us, but here we set several of our own swordsmen upon them.
“We need them alive!” I said. Our targets quickly closed the distance in the meeting hall, this large, cavernous room with windows on the western wall, facing a mid-afternoon sun. A clash of swords ensued, and our warriors prevailed. Unfortunately, three of the Sangheili were killed, but the rest we managed to detain, and cordoned the prisoners off to one section of the room, away from the doors.
“Alright, we’ve secured the building,” Verth said as he walked up to me. “Inform our new friends of what we would like.” I nodded and walked to the large table the officials sat at, and I stood before it. Here I took a better appraisal of our situation.
Delegates from eight sovereign polities populated the room, along with ourselves. Humans represented the government of Earth, although I suspected some of them present to be from various independent proto-states fighting the central Human government. There were also Sangheili from the Swords of Sanghelios and the Army of Light, one of those groups who still believe in the Covenant somehow, while the Kig-Yar and Unggoy represented their own people. From what we gathered, the Army of Light was more conciliatory towards the Swords of Sanghelios than most other factions that hold true to the Covenant. Curiously, more distant alien races made their presences known at this conference. Erdellians, Zarids, and Ukhno were also in the room, and they grouped together among themselves.
I went to them and squatted in front of them, going down to their level as they sat on the floor, looked over by two Sangheili Banished warriors brandishing J’Khannas (a common colloquial term for assault rifles from the Erdellian Empire). I looked at the Ukhno, the fungoid being bare naked, for their culture has no notion of clothing, and indeed they find it a foreign, exotic thing. His translator, attached to a space near his four visual organs on his “face,” was shaded by his substantial purple cap. His tentacle appendages quivered.
“My friend, I take it you listen to money?” he asked nervously, the translator spewing out a shaky voice. “Come now, let’s negotiate! Surely there is a price for our freedom!”
“Indeed, mushroom, but we shall discuss that later,” I responded.
“We shouldn’t negotiate with terrorists,” the Zarid said in a low voice to the Ukhno, also from a translator. Like the Ukhno, the Zarids simply do not have clothing in their culture, and so the Zarid had no garments, and was bare rock and crystal.
“I think you should,” said I. “No longer is it in your hands that your destiny lies.”
Then, the Erdellian. I recognized his face. On certain occasions he would be among the Erdellians who would supply us covertly with materiel in our early days. We would fly a single nondescript vessel, perhaps a corvette or cargo ship, to the border. Sometimes it was space, sometimes it was a world. And the exchange would occur there, away from prying eyes. We gave them intelligence, they gave us weapons. And now, here this fellow was. From all those exchanges on asteroids, on moons, in the middle of nowhere, to here. Oh, how fate weaves a complicated web that brings us all together.
Even though he said nothing, the Erdellian’s glare of deep irritation sprinkled with genuine confusion pierced my soul, filling the newly-created wound with uncertainty, doubt, and worst of all, contempt. For me, all I could hear from this man’s stare was the phrase, “Have you taken leave of your senses?”
I was genuinely taken aback by this being’s attitude towards me. The temerity. The effrontery! I was preparing to strike this man as if he was an insolent childling, but then I recalled their people’s aid and contribution to our host for several years now, especially in the times of the Covenant, in our early days. Their support was vital in certain moments, one must admit. After all, those explosives used in the prison breakout which liberated me came not from Covenant arms factories, but Erdellian ones.
I gripped the collar of the Erdellian and led him away to a separate room. There we spoke.
“What is going on here?” he said.
“Your aid over these years has been much appreciated, but we are an independent organization, and we do not have to disclose any of our operations to you,” I explained succinctly.
The Erdellian was not moved. “Why are you attacking a conference that I know that you’d know that we’d be here?”
“I do not have to explain that,” I responded. “Admittedly I pulled you aside to speak with you out of courtesy, but please do not test my generosity.”
The Erdellian fell silent. “Very well.”
“Do not fear. We are not targeting you specifically. We simply intend to hold everyone hostage until a ransom is paid.”
“What’s the ransom?”
“It’s equivalent to two trillion Standard Imperial Currency Units.”
“You could buy a lot of antimatter missiles from any arms manufacturer in the Empire with that kind of coin.”
“Indeed.”
“And the hostages?”
“We intend to release you all once the ransom is paid. Firstly, we must demand that our own ships be allowed unfettered access to retrieve us all and take us back to our own space. Secondly, we will arrange for a final exchange: the actual ‘release’ if you will. We will land you all on a habitable world, the planet of Thosas in the Setru system. It is near the territory of the Humans, so they will retrieve you once all of this is over. We do not anticipate killing anyone other than the guards or any potential security forces that might wish to defeat us.”
“Alright. Just get it done quick. Oh, and beat me. Appearances must be kept: you must act with hostility to me.”
“Of course.” I quickly struck the Erdellian in the stomach, where he dropped to one knee. Then, I struck him hard in the face with my fist, and then a few more times. He was bloodied good enough.
Before I dragged him out and sat him down, he asked, “One more thing: why did you attack this conference? It’s primarily an economic meeting to discuss future trade relations.”
“I don’t know, nor do I care. I was ordered to lead the strike team, so here I am.”
“Atriox need to know that there’s certain lines that –“
I struck the Erdellian in the stomach. “I find it amusing you think he was your man this whole time,” I said.
I sat the fellow down beside the Zarid. He did not speak much after that.
Some time passed after I relayed our demands to the outside world. A negotiator soon appeared, and it was one I was not expecting. “Zar? Zar ‘Yorin, is that you?” said the voice.
Verth handed me the communicator as we stood behind cover beside the interior doors leading into the main lobby of the building. We did not dare expose ourselves to any possible snipers. As I peeked out briefly into the lobby to attempt to see what was happening outside, I took quick note of the perimeter the Humans had formed around the building. As it was a planet under Earth control, it was the Humans in nominal command of the response. “Who is this?” I asked.
“Kai ‘Kalar,” the voice inevitably said. “Zar. I never expected you to have joined the Banished.”
“Did you also never expect that I would leave prison?” I asked.
There was a pause. “Zar,” he then continued, “let us meet face-to-face, as proper men of honor.”
“Honor has killed an uncounted multitude of people across all ages, and has yet to save a single one of them,” I responded brusquely. “Keep your honor, for we await the ransom. We will shoot one hostage every hour until it is delivered and our ships are allowed to arrive and depart unmolested. Starting now.” I gave the communicator back to Verth and walked away from Kai’s voice, still attempting to speak to me in vain.
I went to one of the Humans, brought him up to his feet, took out my plasma pistol, and shot him in the head. Screams from some Humans, Unggoy, Zarids, and Ukhno echoed in the room. The Erdellian official looked at me, staring in bewilderment. I glared back at him, almost to say, “Yes. We are willing to shoot you all. What are you going to do about it?” But no. I said nothing.
“Brother, over here!” Verth yelled. I grumbled as I went back to him. “Maybe you should hear what the fellow is saying.”
“Zar, wait!” said Kai. “You need not kill the hostages. We will permit passage for your ships.”
“Very good,” I responded. “But of course we still await the ransom.”
“Such a sum of money takes time to gather together.”
“I suggest you redouble your efforts, then,” I advised.
Then, Thon came up to me, saying, “Two of our vessels are coming into the atmosphere.”
“They are on schedule, excellent.”
“Zar, this is En’Geddon,” a voice said over comms. “We are inbound on your position, thirty seconds out.”
“En’Geddon, this is Zar. We hear and understand you. Human security forces have the building surrounding, and I am anticipating them to move against us soon.”
“Understood. We will evacuate you promptly.”
I turned to Thon. “Get the hostages to the roof,” I said. He nodded and walked away.
Several minutes passed, but soon all of our hostages were exposed to the open, where a media frenzy accompanied the security response, although it was clear they were far away from any possible danger. We used the hostages, their wrists bound with metal cuffs, as shields while boarding our Phantoms.
As some of the last hostages were ferried into the Phantoms, I could not help but notice a team of marksmen deployed to the rooftop opposite the building we were in, used as a venue for this conference. I could make out the shape of a Sangheili wielding a beam rifle, looking through its scope right at me. His face had a familiar face, a face I had not seen since the time of the Covenant. Since I was arrested for looting and blasphemy. Since I crossed paths with Kai for the last time before today. And now here he stood, knowing that shooting me down would only inspire my comrades to execute the hostages, making his whole struggle a wasted one. He refrained from firing on me, and so we departed the planet.
The Phantoms took us into the atmosphere, where a small Banished destroyer awaited to receive us. Here En’Geddon received us and detained the prisoners in the brig.
“A significant victory for our cause, my friend,” said the Jiralhanae chieftain. “We have just received word that the Humans and UkhnoCorp are willing to pay for the ransom in its entirety. As soon as we receive the money in the accounts specified, we will deposit the prisoners accordingly.” I said nothing, my mind eaten by thoughts of Kai, that memory from the past come back to haunt me. His face… I could not expel it from my mind. I wanted to erase it but I could not. Every moment I saw it I just filled with hatred and resentment. And all this while, En’Geddon eyed me inquisitively, and leaned in slightly closer. “Are you wounded, Zar?”
“No,” I responded. “But we should get this done and over with, yes?”
Out of all the Sangheili in all creation, why? Why did it have to be him? Why was Kai the one to appear?
Category:The Weekly