Sanghelios Frontlines Act I Pt 1

Attacks

Almo's team held the ball in their goal for a few more seconds, and their defenders slammed Amero away with their stick. A horn blared and Almo scored another point. Ryau sighed and finished off his glass of beer. “I think we'll be headed back. Its a long drive back to Varo. Ready Nik'a?”

Nik`a nodded and Thel set down his drink. “Very well, I shall see you next time,” Thel said.

“Yeah, see you later.” Ryau and Nik`a headed out the door and into the night. He started up his truck and merged onto the trans-state highway. They had to stop for security in the large undersea tunnel that linked Moram and Zelso beneath the Kalo Straight. Ryau showed his identification card and the security detail scanned him and the twenty other vehicles in the batch.

Driving through the brightly lit tunnel, Ryau and Nik`a talked about what was happening at the military academy they both instructed at. The drive was completely average until they came out of the tunnel on the other side of the straight. A flash of light appeared from the Almo side, causing a brief reflection in the window.

Nik`a glanced back towards Almo. “What was that?”

“I don't know, maybe it was a lighthouse or laser pointer.” Ryau said.

“Could not have been a lighthouse, but what is a laser pointer?”

“A device that emits a concentrated beam of light. Sometimes used for targeting, but not on any of our weaponry,” Ryau explained. “At least not in these times.”

She nodded and started to fall asleep in the passenger seat. Ryau drove along the coast, enjoying the night air. By the time he arrived back in Varo, the moons were low on the horizon. He took the last exit before the bridge over the bay, and drove by the truly massive Arica Armories compound dominated nearly six hundred and twenty five square kilometers of the southern Varo area.

He and Naki had some contracts with them. Operating under the name Cimutee Industries, they designed weapons, components and ship ideas for the Armory to manufacture. Naki employed some of her former students to help her assemble the prototypes. He exited the the smaller regional highway and drove down the side of the tall cliffs.

If anyone had seen him drive down, it would appear that he was driving to the Zelso State Forest. A seemingly untouched part of the old Varo area. It was large patch of land between the two forks of the Beai River at sea level, filled with trees and the occasional trail. However, he and Naki lived on an island off the coast of the park. During the Jiralhanae invasion a few months ago, the other families abandoned their homes and left Ryau and Naki the only residents.

Ryau parked in front of their home and shook Nik`a awake. “We're here, Nik`a. I'll drive you to the base tomorrow.”

Nik`a yawned and stretched in her seat. “Okay, thank you for the ride, Ryau. I will see you in the morning.” She got out of his truck and walked over to her room in the separate housing unit.

Ryau waved goodnight and quietly walked into his own house. He snuck across the floor and peeked into his childrens room. Naki was sitting in a chair between the two cribs reading a new article in the Sangheili Scientific Journal. The two little ones, Ryki and Na`au, were fast asleep in their beds.

“I'm home.” Ryau whispered.

Naki smiled and stood out of her seat. She took him out of the kids room and gave him a hug. “How are Thel and Osala?”

Ryau sighed, “They seem to be doing fine, better than they were last time we heard.” Ryau picked her up and carried her to their bedroom.

“That is good to hear,” Naki said. “The children really enjoy scribbling on the drawing pads you got them.” Naki and Ryau changed into their night clothes and slipped into bed.

“Great, maybe I can get them to avoid the military.” Ryau said. “I've also been doing some work, sketched up another ship design yesterday.”

“Oh, remind me to take a look at it in the morning. I am too tired now.” Naki nodded off slowly.

“Will do...” He too fell asleep. In the morning, Ryau awoke to an empty bed. Naki had already gotten up and started breakfast before he could beat her too it. Though what he smelled in the air was burning meat. Worried, he launched himself out of bed and dashed for the kitchen.

A pan was sitting in the water basin with some singed sausage remains inside. Ryau could hear the screen in the other room turned to a news network. "-Exploded in the final quarter of the game, absolutely devastating the entire east side of Almo stadium..."

Ryau hurried over into the other room, Naki was watching the screen on the couch. The smoldering frame of Almos Stadium was surrounded by emergency vehicles and debris “The total amount of attendees at the stadium is not fully known, but the confirmed casualties number well into the hundreds. The Moram State Security Office has no leads on where the explosives were sourced.”

“Gods... I can not believe this happened. You were there last night, were you not?” She asked him, not looking away from the screen. It was showing footage of the game. Almo was celebrating another score when a massive explosion bloomed out from the stands.

The comm unit rang, Thel 'Moram displayed on its screen. Ryau hurried over and placed the headset on his head. “Thel? Are you alright?!”

“Fortunately yes...gods. It is horrible what happened. I was down the road when the explosion went off..” Thel replied.

“Its good to hear that you're alright” Ryau said.

"Indeed. I am so glad Osala wouldn't let, Xavi and I go to that game last night.. I had tickets to the seats that got hit."

“Damn.. I'm glad that we went to the tavern instead.” Ryau said, sitting in a chair in the kitchen. He had had hoped that after the war ended, the universe would give everyone a bit of peace. Unfortunately the universe decided to go the other way.

“Yes, exactly. She saved our lives,” Thel sighed.

There was silence between them, enough for them each to take a few breaths. “Do they know who is responsible?” Thel, being a descendant of the original Moram bloodline, had some contacts in the Moram government, they might know something the news stations haven't been told.

“No, my friends there say they have not had enough time to find out where the bomb was manufactured,” Thel said. “Though they say that would be useless because it was probably war surplus.”

“Fuck, it was probably one of those Loyalist states.” Ryau was talking about the few states that still followed the old Covenant traditions and refused to join the new Sangheili High Council. “The Council won't think so, they trust the Loyalists honor “

“If it was, then what are they pulling?” Thel went quiet again.

“Only they know right now... let me know if any information comes up. I have to go.” Ryau stood back up from the chair and walked back over to the comm unit.

“Stay safe.”

“You too, Thel. You need to more than me.” Ryau took the headset off and placed it on the console.

A few days passed and life in the region remained shaky. Emergency operations in Almo continued on, Thel had told Ryau he had been called in for security measures but that was all he was allowed to say. Training at the academy had been suspended temporarily, so he and Nik`a weren't going to their work. For the first time since the Kalo Straight tunnel was completed, access was restricted to authorized vehicles only. Security across both Moram and Zelso was being tightened, mainly to outside states.

Ryau was watching their twins while Naki cooked Muka fish in the other room. The small Sangheili were just banging old blocks together, toys that Naki had said she played with when she was little. Suddenly a loud explosion shook the house. The children, rather unaware that the sound was something to fear, continued to bang the blocks around.

In the kitchen Naki gasped. “Oh no...”

Ryau quickly rushed to Naki. “What happen-” She was looking out a window, across the bay. A huge black cloud rose out of the Downtown Varo.

“It happened here....” Naki muttered.

In the other room, the news changed from about Almo to what was happening in Varo now. “We are now receiving a live video from Downtown Varo. There appears to have been another explosion. The smoke is too thick to see what has happened, but the drone is picking up emergency services responding.... we are being ordered by the local military to ground our camera drone... we will continue to report once a team arrives on site...”

The news continued to report on the explosion for half an hour, Ryau had already suited in his old armor standard in anticipation of the order to deploy from the State Home Guard.