If there was one thing that could surmise the events immediately following that of kesanâs departure, it could possibly be one word - anxiety. Anxiety over the auditors going through her every word, her every action or inaction. Command going over little speck and detail, ensuring that her actions were within reason and due protocol or could at least be interpreted as such.
Her peers were called up to testify her loyalty and her character profile, relatives, family, even her parents were called up to ensure that any irregularities relevant to the case were properly tagged and lodged. She made no mistake in her postulations, her hypotheses, the directorate did indeed take her acts as a brazen slap to the face. Not only for the distinguished and prestigious ranger corps, but to the military as a whole.
Tensions were high within the higher ranks, within the board of directors and the networking ai consciousness that monitored them all. With each passing day they knew time was quickly running out, soon enough some civilization would manage to find their hands on intergalactic travel, and at that point, theyâd be sitting ducks. This common sentiment within the minds of the leadership made it so that almost every action, every policy was tailored or curtailed to suit the ends of security and defense through this paranoid state of mind.
Even Vai wasnât spared the harsh and overbearing investigation, having been personally analyzed by the networkâs own specially programmed investigative runtimes, the AIâs entire mind having been more or less read and analyzed by the systems that be. To ensure that not a single corruptive line was present. Which, if there was, the consequences could entail decompilation.
The first day back had been nothing short of a convictâs welcome. Taken from the ship in chains after having her preliminary reports read and filed. She was quarantined for the few weeks after, for a good portion of a month in fact, to ensure that any foreign biological or chemical agents werenât being carried through her as a host. She shouldâve known better most said, but those were the rants of people who hadnât gone through the trials and tribulations sheâd been inadvertently subjected to⊠that first month was nothing short of exhausting, medical test after medical test, intermittently interrupted by unannounced interrogations and âvisitsâ from her friends, peers, colleagues, and family. She knew what this was, a rough gauge to ensure that her personality, her state of mind, her conscious (and to an extent her subconscious) wasnât compromised in any way shape or form. A test to see if she was in any way compromised, mentally, or otherwise.
By the end of that month sheâd had scars running up her form from head to toe, a full invasive set of procedures to ensure that she was truly clean from any and all possible biological or chemical agents. But she understood the necessity for suchâŠ. harsh procedures. After all, one single carrier could potentially take out their entire civilization given the right virulence and the right environmental factorsâŠ.
The true test came when she was taken through the legal system. The muddled area that lay between military judicial and directorate judiciary branches. The hearing was both for her acts as a military officer, her conducts, her decisions in the face of extraneous circumstances and likewise, the litany of violations sheâd gone through just by associating and making contact with an alien. Not to mention, allowing the alien access to directorate technology, explaining said technology to the alien, and furthermore allowing it to get away with a highly advanced piece of directorate communications tech.
The situation seemed starkly grim at first, she could see the conviction and subsequent execution already.
But when the evidence began to stack up in her favor, with extraneous circumstance stacked up upon similarly extraneous circumstances, there was a clear shift in the attitude in the court. Whilst the spirit of paranoia and the content omnipresent ambiance of doom and gloom remained more or less unchanged, the fact of the matter was the facts were simply contradict the spirit of the incoming verdict.
The trial became almost akin to a true test of the directorateâs legal systems, and its restraint in the face of cold hard facts. Itâs ability to adapt accordingly to extraneous circumstances and itâs flexibility in going through with decisions that seemingly contradict the status quo. No matter how difficult wasâŠ. they had to go through with it. They werenât politicians, werenât legislators out for blood to appease the masses. They were scientists and bureaucrats, technocrats that followed circumstance and reason. They adapted, they grew. Lest they fall like the countless other empires that came before them. Even if their gut, their instincts told them otherwise, logic and reason must always reign.
The decisions set forth by the joint ruling was simple. After a month of trial and deliberation, with input from the networking ai itself, there was little question as to what should be done with the ârogue rangerâ as she was taken to be called by the investigative teams and the higher ups that knew of this incident. The ranger, lieutenant commander Ellen Caldwell, would be acquitted of all charges due to the necessity of the situation and the pressing necessity for intel gathering of possible intergalactic threats within said galaxy, threats that would be classified as a type 5 if not a type 7 should it gain intergalactic travel capabilities. The Rangerâs quick thinking and prompt actions allowed for a direct liaison within said hostile galaxy, reducing the risk of their own losses whilst simultaneously providing a wholly new insight into this galaxy.
Though most of her charges were acquitted for, there was still the apparent slip-up in vital intelâŠ.. Something that she simply couldnât wiggle out of. A compromise was set forth, Ellen being entirely too important to send to the gallows or to be rehabilitated, the Ranger instead, had her rank and tier privileges removed temporarily. This meant two major things, one, the woman practically had to stay in base throughout the period of said revocation, since she practically couldnât afford anything herself with her tier and rank removed from the system. And two, this meant she had to make amends with her parents seeing that that was the only place she could reasonably lay low during this period that wasnât the dullness of the base.
This week long interlude back on Braxia wasâŠ.. Interesting. She didnât touch the topic of the prerecorded message until the final day before she was due to leave on another mission. But as she did so, her parentsâ cold and seemingly aloof attitude shifted. There was something of a revelation between the pair as they soon realized what had happened. It was strange, how the pairâs attitude shifted within those few seconds. They soon realized the rumors and declassified records of this ârogue rangerâ, the very ranger that had gone through hell and back with but the directorateâs defense against this newfound enemy, was none other than their own daughter.
For a moment, they continued as they always did, shouting at her, lecturing her about her lack of care for her own well beingâŠ. But after the fact, they did what Ellen had never thought before possible. They embraced her, a proper hugâŠ. An honest to god actual proper embraceâŠ. She hadnât felt this, this warm, this comforted, this safeâŠ. Since perhaps her childhood.
This soon evolved into a full blown tear jerker, the Ranger letting out half a decadeâs worth of stress and anxieties, anger and frustration, all at once. The complicated emotions that once stirred within her heart finally poured outâŠ. And it feltâŠ. Good. Far better than any petty one upping she could think of, far better than the cold shoulder treatment sheâd been giving to her family. It wasâŠ. A relief above all else.
It didnât take long for her to collate Kesanâs reports into proper reports filed to the military council itself. The revelation of there being an overmind was far more than concerning. It meant the enemy could potentially figure out more advanced means of travel and tactics. But there was relief when Kesan updated her on the status of the alien plague, that these installations somehow had gotten rid of them.
It was just after sheâd filed these reports when she received a new set of missions from Command, and a surprising revelation that gave her pause for thought. It was a quiet affair, a simple sealed envelope entailing a small shift in her statusâŠ.. She was to be promoted for this operation, decorated accordingly for risking it all just to bring this data back to the Directorate. But the promotion ceremony was to be in private. Politically speaking it wasnât the best of times to do so, with the public on edge and middle tiers sharing equal anxiety. But her newfound responsibilities, her new clearance necessitated a promotion. This was not to mention the need for more experienced and seasoned officers within the rank structure. A small ceremony was set for select individuals only, and soon after, she was off yet again, her newly refitted vessel and VAIâs newly updated platforms. They were ready to explore the Milky Way once more, to confirm that the threat had been properly neutralized.
Ellen never wouldâve guessed that by the end of the few months she was to be grounded for, that sheâd end up far better than she was coming in. Fate worked in mysterious ways it would seemâŠ. Ways that somehow turned out to propagate positively in her favorâŠ..
It wasnât before long that she received that distressing signalâŠ. Just before the initiation of the QE drive, she heard what caused her blood to freeze over. Caused her entire body to seize up, and her mind to ramp up to a thousand fold in speed. What couldâve happened? Did the flood get to him? Or was it the enemy heâd mentioned previously, the âhumansââŠ. Did this âcovenantâ win? Had he been assassinated? Murdered? Did he die in the line of duty or on some backwards planet? Was he even dead? WhatâŠ. She immediately snapped out of her daze at VAIâs sudden tap, as the Ranger initiated a return call, the first one sheâd ever attemptedâŠ. There was no response. Either the device was damaged beyond all repair, or destroyedâŠ..
Which narrowed down the possibility to the Sangheili having been injured or dead in the line of dutyâŠ.
Without a secondâs hesitation, and upon finishing an algorithmic process, locating the whereabouts of the last transmission, Ellen activated the QE drive, intent on finding out the fate of one of her alien comradeâŠ.
VAI had anticipated this, having relocated the coordinates right outside of Sangheliosâ system. They had to play it safe, these people were probably on high alert given the shaky political situation they last saw them inâŠ. As a result, and with much debate, Ellen relented. Taking to what she did best for the day or so she had brokered with VAI: Standby and intercept. Analyze any and all transmissions to ensure that this was indeed safe for her to approach, land, and find out Kesanâs whereabouts.
After a few days of utter anxiety and concern, a plan was finally formulated. From what she could gather, these âhumansâ Kesan spoke of seemed to have formed an alliance with the defectors of the former covenant. And judging from what Kesan had stated previously, they were physically similar to her own peopleâŠ.
It probably wouldnât be difficult to forge an ID from the human government, this âUNSCâ, as she continued to bide her time, analyzing any and all data streams she could garner, having VAI transcribe and print the relevant documents, ID, and clothing that would be worn by members of this race.
By the end of it, sheâd managed to garner a new (albeit shaky and temporary) ID. Samantha Townes, a reporter granted license to Sanghelios under a larger newcast company within the UNSC, independent from the human diplomatic forces on the planet, giving her more or less free reign without attracting too much attentionâŠ. Her outfit matched the new identity, khaki pants, with a thick, matching khaki jacket (complete with the news outletâs logo) atop of a blue dress shirt, complete with a cap. The Ranger made sure to cover her markings as much as possible, understandably so given how records indicate the humans wouldnât have similar physical characteristics.
Landing on the planet on a small unassuming shuttle, one that she had hastily modified from her own shuttles within the Endeavor, the woman quickly made her way through the immigration officers and towards the local keepâŠ.
It took quite a bit of finagling, one or two, or possibly an innumerable number of argumentsâŠ. Before she was finally able to locate itâŠ. Kesanâs whereabouts, and her heart raced as she discovered the condition she was in.
Practically incapable of holding her emotional leakage as she made her way towards the medical center in question, and towards a familiar Sangheili faceâŠ.
Grabbing a chair, she promptly sat down next to him, but not before one of the medical attendants began questioning the purpose as to her visit. A small argument erupted between the pair most likely still heating up as Kesan would gain consciousnessâŠâŠ
The days that passed since his arrival were often spent unconscious. Sometimes Kesan would wake, halfway between a daze and dreaming state before his body couldnât maintain the energy to keep him up. He spent the better part of three days laying in the room, the medical staff having long since amputated his leg just below the second hinge. Of course, his leg wasnât the only wound he suffered, as many bandages and gauze donated by their human allies were plastered over a majority of his right side. Underneath were heavy burn wounds that were the worst on his side and arm, and got lighter as they neared his neck and face. In short: he was a mess. And some of the nurses were not expecting him to survive the endeavor.
This was what the current nurse was trying to explain to this⊠odd human that came in for a visit, claiming to know the wounded SpecOps soldier. She didnât believe a word of it, honestly, and was attempting to get the being to leave, fearful that it would cause him harm in the long run, end his life before he was ready. Special Operations were among some of the most distrusted among the humans, and Kesan was certainly no exception.
However, before she could usher the human out, or call security, there was a deep groan from the bed and both looked up as Kesan raised his left arm, covering his eyes with it. At that moment, the Nurse filed out of the room quickly to find the head of staff, ready to alert them of their patientâs coming to. She did offer one last glare at the visitor, though, on her way out.
It wasnât long before Kesanâs arm came down, his eyes still squeezed shut, and his mandibles twitched. His head was pounding, and it felt like his eyes would come from their sockets at any wrong move. Eventually, he began to squint against the light of the room, eventually opening his eyes. His world was blurry at first, getting used to the light and from being asleep for all this time but eventually he blinked away the blurriness and turned his head to the presence in the room.
For a second, he thought he might have been dreaming. He had it in his mind that Ellen wasnât going to return, or if she did it wouldnât have been for a very long time. His second thought was that maybe it was some kind of dream, but one that took place after heâd died. But still, heâd indulge himself. And so he sat up slowly, groaning a bit. Surely if he was dead, he wouldnât be feeling like heâd been hit by a wraith. He propped himself up on an elbow, narrowing his eyes at Ellen cautiously before his mandibles clicked.
ââŠEllenâŠ? What are you.. doing hereâŠ?â
