Mentioned in Dispatches

“Let’s go, rally to me!” yelled out our Major, Shun ‘Tomurkai. With his energy sword activated, he swung it down on a gate’s lock, completely destroying it, and he kicked the gate open. As he stepped out of the cover of the stone wall and into the open, he was gunned down by an enemy sniper, the clang of the rifle echoing across the farmland. The bullet’s white stream in the air traced a neat line from the shooter’s barrel all the way to the heart of our Major: he was dead before he hit the ground.
“Man down! Man down!” cried out my comrade, Mik. I leaped to Major ‘Tomurkai, grabbing him by the shoulders and swiftly dragging him behind the wall. A streak of purple blood smeared on the grass, and as I stopped and I cradled his head, I had noticed that he had already died.
“Major ‘Tomurkai is dead!” I yelled out.
“You bastards!!!” roared Mik, who promptly stood up and took the Major’s plasma rifle, which was holstered on his body. He used both the Major’s and his own rifle and fired towards the Humans. However, I was well aware of the danger he placed himself in: that Human sniper was assuredly still stocked with munitions.
“Mik, no!” I said. I grabbed him and swiftly pulled him down back into cover. A sniper’s bullet whizzed perilously close to our heads, the white streak appearing right above us. Then came the crack of the rifle.
“Gods! We need support!” said Basab the Unggoy, wildly firing his plasma pistol in the direction of the Humans.
“Where are the Banshees?! Don’t we have Banshees?!” spat out our Kig-Yar markswoman, Tes. She tried peaking her head over to get a shot off with her beam rifle, but was quickly forced down by Human fire.
Three very loud and echoing bangs shot throughout the landscape. They came from the small mound not terribly far in front of us: our target. Human artillery in this area has been harrying our host for some time now, and with the Banshees hoarded by one of the generals many leagues away, we were bereft of meaningful air support.
As I looked down at Major ‘Tomurkai’s lifeless body, I noticed the shimmering blade of his energy sword, laying on the ground, the edge scorching the grass it touched. In that moment, that brief, ephemeral moment that seemed to in fact last an age, all things appeared to melt away. The echoing of the firefight between us and the Humans was muffled into nothing. Screams echoed into muteness. Basab’s wild pleas towards Mik and me, begging us for direction, dissipated. Tes’s movements to try and get a shot off, only to be stymied by Human suppressing fire, blurred. Even Mik’s incessant cursing slowly faded into the background. Another lance approached, fording the small stream behind us, although most of their Unggoys and Kig-Yars, as well as their major, were cut down by heavy Human fire. Their few remaining Sangheili minors were shaken, and when one of their number leaped over the stone wall to charge at the Humans, he was shot dead by the Human sniper, the bullet cracking his shields, helmet, and skull in but a single second.
I must confess a certain apprehension in this moment. Perhaps a certain fear. Fear of death. Fear of failure. Fear of cowardice. Fear of dishonor. But I took a deep breath and picked up ‘Tomurkai’s sword. It was light, the handle still warm from the Major’s time using it. I felt its power pack hum in my grasp. The power and the illumination of the blade sparked something inside me to life. In that moment that I first grasped the blade, the fear was dispelled. It was replaced by resolve, determination, and above all else, a sense of courage and duty-bound honor. I would not fail my fallen Major. I would not fail my fallen comrades. I would not fail those who remained with me. With bravery, I would honor them. I would greet the Human bullets with a fiery demeanor, shrug aside explosions. They would not fell me, arrest me from the task at hand. And above all else, I would not go home as a coward, or in a coffin.
But I would not be stupid about this either.
I looked up, taking a brief scan of our forces: my lance, Lance 7, was largely intact, save for our Major of course. In fact, out of three lances in total that were present, none had their majors left. Lance 8 had two Sangheili, three Unggoy, and a Kig-Yar. Unggoy. One Sangheili from that lance was Quso ‘Thurikee, a longtime friend of both myself and Mik. Lance 6, the one that forded the stream, had only two Sagheili left.
“Quso!” I suddenly said. “How many grenades do you have left?!”
“Two!” he replied.
“Lance 6! How many grenades do you have?!”
“We’ve got three!” cried out one of the Sangheili.
“Mik, grenades?!”
“I’ve got just one!”
“Ugh, me too…!”
My vision darted between our warriors, and I thought fast. “Everyone, give me your plasma grenades! Now! Quso, on my mark, suppressing fire!”
“What are you planning, ‘Kalaree?!” questioned Quso.
“Just trust me! Unless you have a better idea!”
“Alright, fine!”
Everyone contributed their grenades, either throwing them to me in inactive states, or simply handing them to me personally. I gathered them onto the ground before my feet, then, one at a time, I activated and threw them the short distance away into the Human positions. I heard them clamor and panic.
“Quso, now!”
“Lay down suppressing fire, brothers!” yelled Quso. He and his lance did so, their blue and green plasma bolts, as well as the blamite from a needler, screamed towards the Humans.
“Tes, cover us!”
“Yes sir!” she said. She popped out of cover and took a quick lay of the situation. She aimed with her beam rifle and fired. “That sniper’s gone!” She continued pointing her weapon at the Humans, firing whenever an opportunity presented itself.
“Alright! Everyone else!” I stepped out of cover and raised the Major’s sword, the tip of the blade pointed straight at them. In my other hand was my plasma rifle. “Follow me!”
I rushed forward, letting out a war cry. Other voices joined me. I rushed across a small field with some sort of vegetation planted in the ploughed soil, towards the small mound containing three Human artillery pieces. The suppressing fire was effective, and the grenades exploded, causing great distress, disorder, confusion, and casualties amongst the Humans. Tes picked off the more alert Humans, which meant that all of us were largely unmolested in our charge, although here or there a Human bullet smacked against my shields. I leaped across a diminutive ditch and onto the mound and quickly scaled it to the rushed defensive constructions, where I was greeted by a Human soldier reloading some sort of shotgun. I thrust my sword forward, impaling his face with the blade. Then I kicked the Human down, pulling the blade out of his skull. I raked the position with fire from my plasma rifle as I continued up the mound, cutting my way through Human after Human, cleaving one clean in two at the stomach, while another’s head was separated. My brothers in arms followed behind me, firing at the Humans, shooting more of them down.
As I reached the summit of the mound, one final Human, perhaps their leader, fired wildly at me with a pistol. To my surprise, my shields broke, but as that happened, the Human ran out of bullets, the clicking of his weapon quite apparent. In frustration, he hurled his pistol at my face, which I blocked by raising my left arm. He then took out a knife, a puny little blade of metal, but a blade nevertheless, and held by a hand filled with fury and resolve. I put aside my plasma rifle, welcoming a chance at single combat. The Human lunged forth, screaming, his blade’s tip pointed towards my neck. With a backhanded swipe, I swiftly and forcefully pushed aside his thrusting attack and, with a single swift motion effortlessly blending into my parry, I stabbed the Human in his midsection, lifted him up with the blade, and threw him onto the ground, where I felled the sword yet again onto his face, killing him outright. As I turned around to face the rest of the warriors, I raised the energy sword in my hand, letting out a victorious war cry. Afterwards, we destroyed the Human artillery with what little explosives we had left.
About ten minutes later, we were finally relieved by several fresh lances brought in on Phantoms. Our commander, one Jodun ‘Vorusee, disembarked one of these crafts and took stock of the situation.
“Where are the Majors? Who is in charge here?”
One of the Sangheili from Lance 6 – Rarek ‘Bussoree – approached Commander ‘Vorusee. “Well, sir,” he began, speaking with a long provincial drawl, “what happened was there were three lances engaged with the Humans here, and so there were three Majors, but they were all killed in action.”
“All of them?” questioned ‘Vorusee.
“Yes sir,” quickly answered Rarek, shaking his head once.
“So nobody is in charge here?”
“Well, sir, umm…” Rarek gestured to me, “that warrior over there, he led the charge. He had an energy sword and directed combat against the Humans and well, he’s the one who’s responsible for all of this. We followed what he said to do.”
I silently observed the exchange, leaning against a destroyed Human artillery piece. I stood up straight as their gazes turned to me.
“Warrior! Come here,” beckoned ‘Vorusee. I complied moving to my commander and standing at attention. “Who are you?”
“Sir, Kai ‘Kalaree, Minor, Lance 7, Red Cohort, sir!”
“At ease, warrior,” said ‘Vorusee. I complied. He took a good, long look at me. “I will remember your name. General ‘Asavee shall see it in my dispatches.”
His statement filled me with great pride. Little did I know that on the next day, I would be awarded the right to wear the blood armor of a Major. Apparently I was of sufficient prowess in combat to be afforded the opportunity.
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