The Secret Story of Dustin Echoes

Chapter 6 - have My People Kill Your People

            In the dark void of space, a still darker, pointed dagger shot down like a spear, only visible by the stars it hid as it passed. Even though it was not cloaked, the Blackdagger was still hard to spot with the naked eye. The ship sliced its way through the thin, cloudless atmosphere of the desolate planet below, and then its nose curved upward as it maneuvered into a landing position. The dark, grayish sands of the place flew away beneath its shining hull as the landing gear dug into the desert. Beside this new arrival sat what appeared to be an old resident of the wasteland: a Longsword fighter. It was covered in dust on the underside from the blowing of the sand, and the windshield was completely obscured. Dustin wondered if the humans were still inside the craft.

            “Stay behind me,” said Dustin Echoes to his alien companion, “and keep your hands together. Act like I’m leading you by some cuffs. I don’t know why you wouldn’t wear the cuffs…”

            “I will never again be a prisoner of anyone,” said Rebas Noiproks, the Covenant Elite, “I will never again bow to anyone.”

            “All right,” Dustin said, “Your funeral. Let’s just hope the other humans fall for the prisoner bit.”

            Together the strange pair walked across the sand, the wind blowing in their faces. The area was dark and deathly cold. It was night on the great space rock right now, and the stars glittered overhead. Dustin had detected that the air was breathable on his way down, but he was wearing his Orbital Drop Shock Trooper suit and helmet just to make sure. He approached the Longsword fighter, “leading” Rebas behind him, and carefully knocked on the closed boarding ramp. There was no response.

            “You think they would have left their communicators running…” Diana’s voice commented inside Dustin’s helmet, “But I couldn’t contact them.”

            “They must be trying to conserve power,” Dustin said.

            “Or they want to make sure no one else finds them,” Rebas added.

            “Hello!” Dustin shouted, “Is anybody in there?!”

            “I detect the ship’s power coming online now,” Diana said.

            Dustin took a step back as the Longsword’s boarding ramp lowered. Standing there in the doorway was a miserable Marine wearing a grey standard camouflage uniform with armor plating on his chest, shoulders, arms, and legs. He had his helmet off, and he had obviously done nothing to improve his hygiene for days. He had black hair and a stubble of a beard coming. A long white scar ran across one of his eyes. But he was still a Marine, so he clapped his heels together and saluted.

            Then the Marine dropped back into a relaxed position and said in a gruff, dry voice, “I don’t know who the hell you are, but it’s sure nice to see another human. I just gotta ask one thing. Why in God’s name are you dragging that monster around behind you.”

            Dustin turned his head slightly to regard Rebas, and then he turned back, “My name’s Dustin Echoes. This Rebas Noiproks, a traitor Elite. I’ve spared his life because he is at war with the Covenant just like us.”

            The Marine raised his battle rifle a little bit and grasped it more firmly, “Come again?”

            “I said he’s a traitor,” Dustin replied.

            “Why don’t you just take off that shiny helmet o’ yours, Helljumper, and we’ll see what you really are…”

            Dustin reached up and removed his ODST helmet. He shook his head to free his ever-lengthening brown hair. It was nearly shoulder-length now. He wondered what the Marine thought of that. Though he hadn’t shaved in days himself, apparently.

            “I told you, I’m Dustin Echoes,” Dustin said, squinting at the man with his keen grey eyes, “I’m an agent of the Office of Naval Intelligence.”

            “You’re an ONI spook?” the Marine said with a laugh, “I never would’a figured that. All right, come on in. But I’m watching the alien.”

            “I will do nothing to harm you,” Rebas said, “Unless you try to harm me.”

            The Marine seemed to jump at the sound of the Elite’s deep voice reverberating inside the Longsword fighter. As he walked up the ramp, Dustin noticed three other Marines in the front of the ship start as well. All were armed and ready; they had been waiting for the older man’s signal to attack, obviously.

            “There’s four of you here?” Dustin asked.

            “There’s three more on the planet’s surface too,” the Marine said, extending his hand, “I’m Sergeant Tom Harris. The others here are Harry, Matt, and Beth.”

            The Marines all nodded, but their eyes were still on the Elite.

            “How long have you all been here?” Dustin asked, “and where is Sarah Morrison?”

            “Oh, we’ve been here a few weeks now, I reckon,” Sgt. Harris replied, “And I don’t know how ya knew about Miss Morrison, but she’s out there. We found some strange alien bunker here on the surface, so that was what we headed for when we landed. She’s inside there now.”

            “Does she have the Index?”

            Harris eyed the Elite warily, and the wrinkles around his eyes suddenly increased in number, “You sure you wanna be talkin’ about this around him?”

            “We’ve been fighting for the Index together this long,” Dustin replied, letting go of Rebas’s arms to show that the Elite was not actually restrained, “I trust him.”

            All of the Marines were holding their guns tightly now, ready to fire at a moment’s notice. Harris had not moved. He just nodded.

            “Well, I haven’t yet seen anything to beat that,” he said, “Don’t you guess he plans to turn on you?”

            “If you could see the way the Covenant are hounding this guy,” Dustin replied with a laugh, “then you wouldn’t ask me that.”

            The female marine near the front of the ship exclaimed, “The Covenant?!”

            “What’s this about the Covenant?” Harris asked, “Are they here?”

            “They have not attacked you?” Rebas Noiproks said.

            The man blinked and looked up at the tall Elite, “You’re the first one we’ve seen in nearly a month. All’s been dark and quiet and cold as death down here on this mis’rable excuse for a planet.”

            “They were waiting for me to get here,” Rebas said, nodding, “That must be it.”

            “But why would they do that?” Dustin asked.

            Rebas shrugged, or seemed to shrug, and replied, “Perhaps they feared we would learn of it if they killed these humans, and then we would flee.”

            “If they’re out there, why didn’t they just shoot you down?” asked a Marine.

            Rebas looked them all over one by one, his thin head nodding on his long neck, “If there is one thing that Urgas will not do, it is shoot me down in space. He will hunt me to the day I die, but he will not kill me in that way. He will face me in single combat, and single combat alone. And only one of us will walk away.”

            “Well, I guess havin’ this alien here did work to our advantage then,” Harris said, “But we’d better move fast now. They won’t be waitin’ any longer, I guess.”

            “I doubt it,” Dustin replied, “Take me to Sarah Morrison.”

            “This way.”

            Sergeant Harris walked down the boarding ramp, the others trailing in his wake. They strode quickly across the blowing sand until the reached what appeared to be huge, low, flat grey rock. But as they drew closer, Dustin realized that it was metal. The door in the front was open, and another Marine was posted there on guard duty. He saluted as Sgt. Harris approached, and stepped aside, but all the time his eyes were on the red-armored Elite towering in the midst of the humans. One by one they filed in. The room was a bare, blank metal box. Dustin saw two more Marines sitting against the wall, loading their guns. They had obviously been asleep. There was also a computer on the far side of the room, and in front of it stood a woman in a navy uniform. She had short-cropped blond hair and attractive, aquiline features, though her mouth looked a bit thin and stern. Dustin took in the curve of her chin and her nose, her blue eyes and her eyebrows, and tried to compare her to Diana. No, he decided, they did not look alike. Diana was a goddess. Morrison was just a human. He actually laughed out loud at the thought.

            “What’s so funny?” Morrison asked in an imperial tone, “Wait… Do I know you?”

            Dustin straightened up and saluted. He was afraid it seemed half-hearted. It had been a while since he had practiced his salute.

            “Dustin Echoes, ma’am,” he said, “agent of the Office of Naval Intelligence. I’m…”

            “The Watcher,” she said, nodding, “What are you doing out here? You are risking your mission by coming here. You shouldn’t have done so. You should have contacted someone else.” Something in her tone softened when she added, “You’re too valuable to waste.”

            “That’s good to know,” Dustin replied, “But it wasn’t really my choice, coming here. It’s all his fault.”

            He nodded in the direction of his Elite companion.

            Rebas Noiproks nodded, “I am called Rebas Noiproks. I betrayed the Covenant many of what you call months ago. I have been running from them ever since, trying to throw them off my trail and come here.”

            “You could say we sort of ran into each other,” Dustin said, “And then he gave me the coordinates of this ring and told me his story, and here we are.”

            “So what is his story?” asked Sarah Morrison, “That’s not much information.”

            Rebas stood up straight and spoke quickly, “I am being hunted. I am hunted by my brother for betraying the Covenant. I am being hunted by the Covenant because I know too much. I know something that they do not wish me to know. I know that the holy rings are not so holy, and that this one malfunctioned. I know that it killed all of the Flood on its inner surface in a great blast. And I know that the information, the records taken of the malfunction, the way that we can defeat the Flood, is hidden in the Index. And finally, I know that you have it.”

            Sarah Morrison stared at him and blinked for a moment before replying, “Yes… Yes, it’s true. I find it so hard to believe.”

            “I believe him,” Dustin said with confidence, “He’s proven himself so far. But now you know why we’re here, so I have to ask you something… What are you doing here?”

“That’s classified information,” Morrison responded immediately.

“Oh really? Well, maybe I can get Diana to hack it out of your files somehow.”

“Diana? Well, it’s good to hear you still have her,” Morrison smiled, “I suppose you’ve been enjoying my company?”

“Yes, I heard she was created from your flash-clone,” Dustin replied, though he thought about touching on the fact that the two of them still somehow seemed quite different.

“You didn’t answer the question,” Morrison said with a short laugh, yet still in a commanding tone.
            “Tell her whose company you’ve enjoyed…” Diana’s voice said in Dustin’s ear, “Tell her the truth, Dustin. She is not me.”

“Are you so sure, Diana?” Dustin asked.

“What?” Morrison said, surprised.

“Dustin… Does she seem like me? Tell me the truth…”

“No,” Dustin answered.

“You aren’t talking to me…” Morrison said.

“Oh, right…” Dustin replied, “Well, I’ve enjoyed Diana’s company, yes.”

Morrison smiled, “I see… Well, I suppose it would not hurt to tell you the truth. The reason I came here to this Halo ring is because we received a distress call from a Covenant cruiser…”

            “You… heard the Covenant communications? But how?” slowly a thought dawned on Dustin, and another question burst out of him before he could stop it, “Is that how you knew about Troy?”

            “What are you talking about?” Morrison asked, showing no sign of being taken aback.

            “You know what I’m talking about!” Dustin retorted, “Troy! ONI sent me there for no apparent reason, just to wait and watch, and then along comes a Covenant armada and blasts the colony all to hell! That’s the only reason ONI could have had for sending me there. Somehow, they knew it was going to happen…”

            “Sometimes,” Morrison said, looking down, “Sacrifices must be made in war. I’m sorry it had to happen that way, Dustin Echoes.”

            He blew out a sigh, “So… I guess I was right then. You’re decoding Covenant transmissions…”

            Rebas Noiproks interrupted, “And you sacrificed the human colony on this Troy… to make sure that the Covenant did not know you were intercepting their transmissions.”

            Morrison’s eyes narrowed as she turned to face the Elite, “I do not like the way you say that, Covenant…”

            “I am not Covenant,” Rebas responded calmly.

            “We can’t be sure of that, can we?” Morrison said, standing up straight with her hands behind her back, trying very unsuccessfully to match the Elite’s height, or so it seemed to Dustin.

            “Enough of this,” Dustin said, “Look, you said you have the Index, right? So we know how to kill the Flood. Then let’s get out of here!”

            “Tell her to give it to you,” came Diana’s voice in Dustin’s ear once again, like the voice of some little angel standing on his shoulder, giving him good advice, “You can take care of it better than she can. You stay hidden, evade enemy forces… It’s your job. Your chances of escaping with the information successfully are much higher than hers. In fact, I calculate the probability as being…”

            “Okay, Diana, okay,” Dusin said, “But first we need to get out of here. We’ll worry about that later.”

            Morrison rolled her eyes, “I don’t like how easily you are distracted. But you have a point. Let’s go, men!”

            In single file, Dustin, Morrison, Rebas, and the Marines made their way out of the bunker. The sand and wind blew in their faces, and Sarah Morrison squinted and covered her eyes. Suddenly Sergeant Harris, who was leading, stopped dead in his tracks.

            “Look!” he exclaimed.

            One by one, they each looked straight up at the sky above. There was the Covenant cruiser… the Relentless Inquisitor. As they watched, a gaping hole opened in the belly of the beast, and a beam of purple light flowed out. It spread over them like a waterfall, bathing them in its eerie glow. Dustin felt his feet leave the ground…

            “Uh-oh…” he groaned.

            “You have a talent,” said Rebas Noiproks beside him as they both rose into the air, “for extreme understatement, Dustin Echoes.”

            Dustin looked up. The gaping black hole yawned wider and wider as they rose into the air. He could see the gleaming purple hull of the gargantuan ship now, see every detail on its surface. Then, suddenly, darkness enveloped them. The whale had swallowed them whole. Dustin felt himself stop rising. Lights flicked on all around him, revealing that he and the others were floating suspended in the air in the interior of a Covenant vessel, with its strangely organic-looking amethyst walls.

            And they were surrounded by Covenant troops.

            “Close the doors,” said the deep voice of an Elite, echoing through the room.

            Like the lens of a giant eyeball, the doors under Dustin’s feet slid closed, and he and the other humans, and Rebas, dropped to their feet. Dustin looked around the room. On every side, between the stacked crates and parked Covenant ground vehicles, stood aliens in shining, multicolored armor. He looked up. Above them was a ramp extending across the length of the room. In the center of the ramp was a rounded area with a transparent circle in the center. In the center of this circle stood an Elite in golden armor, with a red-armored Grunt and a hairy monster that Dustin had never seen the like of before, standing beside him.

            “Jackals, Elites, Hunters…” muttered Sarah Morrison.

            “This will not be an easy fight,” said Rebas Noiproks, though there was no fear in his deep voice, “Stay beside me, Dustin Echoes.”

            “I appreciate the concern…” Dustin muttered, “But what makes you think we can fight them at all?”

            Rebas lowered his head and dropped into a fighting stance, “Because we have no other choice, except to die a coward’s death. The Covenant do not take prisoners. And they would never, ever spare me after what I have done.”

            “Why ain’t they movin’?!” shouted Sgt. Harris nervously, “W-what do they want? If they’re gonna kill us, why don’t they do it?”

            “Brother!” came a deep voice, very similar to Rebas’s own, echoing from the platform above, “I’ve been waiting for this!”

            Rebas looked up, and his red eyes widened, and then narrowed, “Urgas Konoproks.”

            “Konoprok-SEE,” replied the gold-armored Elite, staring down at them through the clear flooring of the platform, “Or you have you forgotten the title that you forfeited?”

            “I have not forgotten,” Rebas replied, “I simply do not acknowledge titles any longer! I bow to no one!”

            “You will bow!” Urgas shouted, “Dead or alive, you will bow! Surrender, brother!”

            “I know what happens to those who do,” Rebas replied calmly, “Where the will of the Prophets is concerned, there is no surrender. There is only obey… or die.”

            “You broke your oaths, Heretic,” Urgas said, “You denied the will of the Prophets! And for that… you will die. Come, make your way up here and fight me honorably!”

            Dustin looked at the Covenant all around them. He knew what would happen if Rebas left… they would die. The Elite was their best hope for survival. He was stronger, faster, tougher, more experienced, and more agile than any of them… and he had two swords and an energy shield. Dustin had seen how he could fight.

            “Rebas,” Dustin said with a hopeless smile, giving a short laugh, “You do know something, don’t you? You’re our only hope.”

            Rebas slowly turned to look at him. Dustin recognized then a look in the alien’s eyes that was almost… human.

            “I will stay,” Rebas said, “I will not abandon those whom I have sworn to protect, Urgas! And unlike the Prophets, these humans have not lied to me!”

            “So you would forsake your own kind for these weak, pitiful creatures?!” Urgas shouted, hissing, “You are farther gone than I thought, Rebas Noiproks. Very well. Soldiers, attack them, but leave Rebas alive!”

            The aliens began to move. Their weapons began to glow as they activated.

            “Holy…!” Sgt. Harris cried.

The fight was on.