The Secret Story of Dustin Echoes

Chapter 8 - Brother Against Brother

             Rebas Noiproks walked slowly down the corridor, holding his two deactivated blades in his hands. The eerie lights shone on his armor, making reflections on the strange purple walls as he passed. His tiny yet keen red eyes scanned each connecting hallway, each door, and every shadow, for an enemy. He paused. Small feet were shuffling in the corridor ahead on his right. As he drew closer, the Covenant emerged. It was a group of mixed aliens: Grunts, Jackals, and two Elites. Rebas activated his blades.

            He moved in on the Jackals first, since they posed the most threat besides the Elites, but he could take them down quickly. He took the first two down in two slashes; one to knock aside the shield, and another to stab its owner. The next two Jackals and the Grunts then opened fire while the Elites looked on. Still Rebas advanced down the hallway, expertly dodging the plasma blasts, and the few shots that hit him not getting past his shields. In a flash, he was on top of them. He leaped with his powerful legs and landed atop a Grunt, stabbing him as well as crushing him. Dodging another blast, he began cutting apart the Grunts. The Jackals were behind him, charging up their pistols. Rebas twirled about and rolled straight between them, so that their blasts hit each other’s shields. They stared at one another in confusion for a moment before Rebas removed both their heads.

            With all the Jackals dead and only a few Grunts remaining, the Elites moved in. Their plasma rifles were harder to dodge, and Rebas’s shields took several hits. With a roar, he lunged at one Elite, stabbing him through the chest, piercing shield, armor, and flesh in a single great blow. The second Elite, seeing his companion’s demise, activated an energy sword. He took a heavy downward slash at Rebas’s head, but the traitor looked up and grabbed his assailant’s descending arm in his jaws. His teeth did not pierce the Elite’s armor, but he was able to shove the arm aside so that the blade did not hit him. Then he swung at his opponent’s chest and spilled his guts. Taking out two of the remaining three grunts with ease, he advanced on the third. This Grunt fumbled with a plasma grenade, but Rebas sliced off his hand before he could activate it. Then he proceeded to slice off the ends of the Grunt’s gas mask and breathing apparatus, in quick, precise cuts. The creature gagged and gasped, dropping to his knees and clutching his throat. Then he died.

            Rebas moved on. It did not take him long to find his way to the ship’s bridge, and he met little resistance on the way. Cautiously, he moved toward the door that led to the Relentless Inquisitor’s main control room. He had to think carefully about his next course of action. Should he enter the bridge and attack, or try to find a more subtle way to disable the ship? It was then that he recognized his brother, Urgas Konoproksee, in the captain’s chair, seated high atop the rest of the crew. No, he decided, there was no need for subtlety.

            “Urgas!” he shouted boldly, striding into the room, right in front of the platform on which Urgas sat, walking between him and the Grunts at the control panels, “You wanted me to come find you! Well, here I am!”

            The aliens in the room moved for their weapons, but Rebas did not budge. He knew his brother would not let them cut him down, and he was right.

            “Stop!” Urgas shouted, rising, “Put away your weapons! This is a personal fight between Rebas and myself. We will settle this honorably.”

            Rebas deactivated his energy swords and tossed one away, sending it clattering across the floor under the platform, “Then clear the bridge, brother, and let us settle this once and for all.”

            Urgas nodded and gave the order. The Grunts scampered out as quickly as their feet could carry them, but the other Elites twitched their mouthparts and looked nervously at each other, reluctant to follow the command.

            “But… Commander,” said a red-armored Elite on Urgas’s right, “No one will be piloting the ship. And what of Thanatos the Brute? If he is still loose in the ship…”

            “I gave you an order,” Urgas said simply, in a low and threatening voice.

            The Elites nodded. One by one, they left the room. The hum and beeping of the control panels were now the only sounds in the room. Urgas Konoproksee looked down upon his heretic brother below. Then he leapt down off his platform and activated his energy sword. Rebas did likewise.

            “On you guard!” Urgas shouted, and then he attacked.

            The two blades made a faint, deep humming sound as they swung through the air and clashed in a display of light. The two Elites fought in a fencing style, far apart, arms extended, moving in slow circles. This method of fighting was far different from the mad frenzy that most Elites flew into when using their energy blades against the humans. When facing another Elite in single combat, training and discipline took the place of rage. Still, as the fight intensified, emotions began to rise.

            The fight was turning to Urgas’s advantage. Rebas was unused to fighting with only a single energy blade, and it had been a long time since he had faced an opponent similarly armed. His brother’s jaws remained shut tight as he skillfully dodged and deflected Rebas’s blows. Rebas, on the other hand, was starting to pant, and his mandibles opened and closed with his breathing. Moving in for another offensive, he attempted to push Urgas’s defenses aside, get in close, and risk a kick or other physical attack to knock his brother off-balance. But Urgas anticipated this, so he dodged wide when his brother slashed, and came at Rebas’s exposed side. Rebas saw the maneuver just in time to escape getting cut, but his shields flickered as the very tip of the energy blade grazed them.

            “You are slowing, Rebas,” Urgas taunted him, “Perhaps you tired yourself out slaughtering your kin to save your human friends?”

            Rebas deflected a few more of Urgas’s half-hearted attacks before the action paused long enough for him to reply, “The Elites I killed… are the ones that the Prophets… and commanders like you… sent to their deaths.”

            “Still as set in your ways as the day you declared your heresy, I see,” Urgas snarled.

            With that, the gold-armored Elite leapt in for a fast offensive. Rebas ducked under his slash and came up behind him, but as his blade swung for Urgas’s back, the Elite turned around in a blink and deflected it. For a moment the fight reached its highest climax, with blades flying in a flurry of lights and combatants growling in a frenzy to finish the duel quickly. But then they again parted and began to circle each other, breathing hard.

            “You are growing desperate, brother,” Rebas said, “You wish to finish this. I have to wonder, why?”

            “I have a mission,” Urgas replied, “I cannot be delayed here for long, or that Brute might find the Index before I do.”

            “Fighting for personal glory as usual,” Rebas said with a mirthless laugh, “So much for the greater goals of the Prophets.”

            “You know nothing of my goals!” Urgas snarled.

            Again the gold-armored Elite made a series of fast attacks at his red-armored opponent, and again Rebas dodged and deflected them all. Now the tides were turning; Urgas was beginning to tire. In a moment, Rebas thought, it would be all over. But he was wrong. It happened in an instant: their blades became tangled. The gap running down the middle of each sword caused the problem. As Rebas attempted to deflect another of Urgas’s blows, half of his sword’s blade ran down the gap in the middle of Rebas’s blade. For a moment the two struggled, pulling left and right, trying to disarm each other. But Urgas was stronger. Putting all his weight behind him, he gave a great twist that jerked Rebas’s blade out of his grasp, sending the sword flying.

            Urgas laughed, and then he proceeded to madly slash at his disarmed opponent. Rebas ducked and dodged three swings, then leaped backwards. His back struck the captain’s platform of the ship. Urgas growled and gave a great downward slash, but Rebas quickly slipped under the platform. As he did so, he grabbed his second sword, the one he had kicked there before the fight began. Urgas leaned down to peer under the edge of the platform just as Rebas came sliding out. His foot struck his brother’s face and sent him sprawling. Rising quickly, Rebas activated his sword. Urgas shook his head and growled, advancing once again. Coiling his muscles for a spring, Rebas leaped just as his brother took another slash at him. He jumped up onto the platform above. Urgas jumped to follow him, but landed precariously on the edge of the platform. Rebas saw his opportunity. For a second the two of them fought, but Urgas was off-balance and unable to deflect his brother’s last attack. As he slipped and fell backwards off the platform, Rebas’s sword cut into his side. Rebas stepped slowly up to the edge and looked down. Below him, his brother lay in a pool of purple blood, a terrible gash running across his gut. Urgas coughed up blood as he deactivated his blade. Urgas’s head swiveled down to inspect his mortal wound. He looked surprised, Rebas thought. He waited for his brother to speak. When Urgas finally was able to form the words, they were not what Rebas had expected.

            “Thank you,” he said. And then he died.

            Rebas stared at his dead brother. Why had he thanked him? Because he had won, Rebas thought to himself. Who had won was not important to Urgas. Honor, as Rebas had told Dustin Echoes, was strong in his bloodline. Urgas did not care who won, so long as it was an honorable victory. And perhaps, Rebas thought, just perhaps, his words had made Urgas regret his zealous loyalty to the Prophets. Rebas shook his head and jumped down off the platform, taking his brother’s sword. There was no time to waste. Then he paused. There was still one thing he needed to do here on the bridge. He had to alter the ship’s shield settings.

            When the Covenant re-entered the bridge, the red-armored Elite commander, Urgas Konoproksee’s subordinate officer, was the first to step through the doors.

“Urgas Konoproksee is dead,” he said as his eyes landed on the body at the foot of the Captain’s platform.

He ordered everyone to return to their posts, even as he walked past Urgas’s dead body. He was the leader now, and he had a job to do. He stepped up onto the platform and looked around the room, issuing orders for the removal of Urgas’s body and to begin searches for the killer, Rebas Noiproks no doubt. Then he received a message on the commlink.

            A deep voice rumbled over the speakers: “Inquisitor, this is Thanatos. Fire on the human vessels on the surface. Now!”

            For a second, the two Elite’s on the platform looked at each other. Then the red-armored commander nodded.

            “Do as he says. Begin charging the plasma cannons.”

            Rebas ran back down the halls of the ship. He had to escape quickly. If his assumption was correct, the Covenant would be firing at Dustin soon, if they had not done so already. And due to his “modification” of the shield settings, that would mean the end of the Relentless Inquisitor. Finally, he reached the hangar. Making his way toward one of the Seraph fighters, he saw a Grunt opening the hatch.

            The Grunt turned and squealed, “Please don’t kill me!!!”

            “Why shouldn’t I?” Rebas asked, “Speak quickly!”

            “Dordap,” the Grunt said, “I am Dordap, slave of the honorable Urgas Konoproksee. But now he is dead, so Dordap is your slave! And he wants to get out of here, just like you!”

            Rebas saw no reason to argue, so he nodded, “Get in the ship.”

            The two of them climbed in the large, teardrop-shaped purple fighter and closed the hatch. The engines began to glow as Rebas turned the ship about. As he exited the hangar doors, he heard the Grunt behind him squealing.

            “The guns – they’re charging!”

            The Inquisitor then fired its plasma cannons. Rebas gunned the engines as the first explosion ripped through the cruiser behind him. At last, the renegade Elite thought as he watched the ship tear itself apart … at last, he was free.