Sako Tanimee stood on the elevated command platform of the command center, surveying the operations of his ship. He stared vacantly into the holographic readout that displayed the ship's operations. He was relieved that little had happened today, being assigned to patrol an outlying sector. His mind could not stop wandering back to had happened over the past day, he just couldn't return to his normal routine. The soft, ambient purple illumination that the lights around the bridge provided was little comfort to his shredded nerves. He kept going over what had happened less than a rotation ago, how his ship, the Righteous Divinity had been called in to contain a malignant outbreak of flood that had somehow made it's way to a mining colony. His ship and four others were all that remained of a fleet of twelve that had gone to combat the infestation, the rest of the vessels having been overrun by the nightmarish creatures as they attempted to rescue survivors from the planets surface. He had seen many things that day that disturbed him more deeply than anything had before. He went into the battle thinking that it would be an easy mission; rescue the survivors, and then glass the infestation. He was wrong. It was pure luck that he had been assigned along with the four surviving ships to orbit the planet while the other eight had been sent in to rescue the inhabitants. As soon as they had activated their gravity lifts, the parasite had come aboard. The crew of she ships had not prepared for such an infestation, and it didn't take long before they were overrun. Mere minutes after the parasites had made their way aboard, the ships were almost completely infested. He could remember the hellish screams and gurgles over the comm, how those whose minds still hadn't been ravaged by the infection were begging for death. The images of their bodies being mutilated by the infection that went over the comm link were burned into his thoughts. The four remaining ships were forced to destroy the infested ones to contain them, to stop them from leaving the planet's surface and infecting other worlds. He had been forced to fire upon his own kind, to destroy them. The few onboard who had managed to get away without being infected sabotaged the floods efforts to leave, overloading the shields and reactors. The ships had then been destroyed from the four in orbit, and the planet then sterilized. The worst part of all, was that one of the ships was commanded by his best, and really, his only close friend, N'tas. He had seen the parasite infect him over the comm link His familiar, friendly voice was twisted by the infection as he screamed for help, he begged for mercy, thrashing around, then he was gone, his mind ravaged by the parasite. He was forced to destroy the ship he was on, none of the other four were in range to be able to stop it. As if that wasn't enough, only an hour after the infestation was quelled, he and the commanders of the four other ships had to deal with the prophets. Dealing with them over the comm was almost as torturous as dealing with the infestation. He knew that others had been executed for 'allowing such an event to transpire'. They hadn't even decided on a punishment or course of action for him, they had simply assigned him to this current duty while they thought of what to do with him and the others. He sighed and looked at the ships chronometer. He only had a few minutes before the shift changed and he could go to his quarters and rest. He gave a tired sigh, and pressed the button to call his second in command onto deck. He felt that he couldn't hold it together for long. As soon as the second in command walked through the large doors, he left the bridge and made his way to his quarters. The doors to his quarters chimed as they opened, Sako turning around and locking them after they closed again. Up until yesterday, everything in his quarters was ordered and neat, all of his belongings put away and lined up, his bedsheets flat. But now, his clothes were over the floor, his sheets were as he had left them as he woke up. Shards of broken glass lay on the floor beneath a ledge from which he had knocked an ornament off earlier. He couldn't even find it within himself to clear it away. He pulled off his armour plates, and simply let them drop to the floor in a pile, stripped away his bodysuit and walked over to the shower. Stepping in, he waved his hand over the controls to turn it on, letting the water just wash over him. He wished desperately that he could just end it all, he hated having to even exist after all of this. He slumped against one of the walls, feeling like he was dying inside. It was two hours before he got out of the cubicle, he didn't bother drying himself off, instead he just walked out dripping wet, stumbled across his room and flopped onto the bed limply. He fell asleep thinking about how he was probably going to wind up executed by the prophets, or worse, having to live out the remainder of his life like this. Sako woke up early the next morning, and just lay in bed for what seemed like hours. He couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if things were different, if his ship had been assigned to rescue the survivors instead, if N'tas had survived. He wished that he hadn't lived through it, he wished that he was dead, or even infected so that he didn't have to be overwhelmed with the sense of loss, guilt, as well as impending doom thanks to the prophets. His alarm beeped softly, and he grunted before pushing his sheets back and swinging his legs over the bed. Burying his face in the palms of his hands, he gave a soft whimper, before standing up and stretching out his back and leg muscles. It was better to be on duty than remain here, perhaps his duties would help distract him from the bleak future that he was sure to face. Walking over to where he had dropped his bodysuit the previous day, he slipped into it before placing his armour plating on his body and magnetizing it, the golden metallic armour pieces clinging to his muscle bound form. He checked over himself in the highly polished metal plate in his wash room that served as a mirror. Ensuring that he was completely composed, he walked out of his quarters, and made his way to the command centre. Once he was on the bridge, standing at his command-platform, one of the majors clad in red armour walked up to him. ÒShipmaster.. you have received a communique from the high council. It is for your eyes only.Ó The younger officer handed him a datapad. Taking the pad, sake made sure to keep himself composed as he walked off to a corridor that ran alongside the bridge. His heart was throbbing in his chest, he knew what his message was about, and he hoped, prayed that it didn't mean his death. Gingerly, he pressed one of his thumbs to a small depression in the corner of the pad. A sharp, small needle pricked into it, taking a sample of his blood, and ensuring that it was him who was reading the message. The pad turned a cool shade of blue, before the fading away into lines of text. The prophets couldn't even be bothered to record a message to him, instead they had merely sent him a written message. He read on; ÒSako Tanimee, Shipmaster of the CCS-class cruiser Righteous Divinity; In light of your recent shortcomings in the incident with the parasite, your punishment shall be given with no further delay. It is assumed that you are aware of the full extent of your failure, therefore no accusations are required. You are to be assigned a supervisor from the ranks of the Ascetics who shall monitor your commanding of the ship to which you have been assigned, and ensure that mistakes such as you have recently made do not occur again. You shall be monitored until it is deemed that you are capable of commanding the ship by yourself once more.Ó After reading the message, Sako was not sure what to think. The first feeling that came to him was relief, he was not going to be executed, in comparison to what others had been punished with for similar mistakes, he had gotten off rather lightly. He then felt himself become quite unsettled at the thought of having another watching over him, an ascetic of all people. He knew that it would be humiliating as well as a severe dishonor. Sako had had some rather bad experiences with ascetics before. Every one of them that he had met was arrogant, prideful, and downright rude. They thought being given the status of an ascetic made them somehow better than any other Sangheili. Reading further down the message, he found that the supervisor was going to arrive the very next day. His ship was assigned to rendezvous with a supply station, where the ascetic would be brought aboard. Before this had all happened, Sako would have been deeply enraged at something like this, but now...he just felt nothing, he wasn't even sure if he wanted to command anymore, if he wanted to serve the Covenant. He let out a deep sigh, and pulled himself out of his slump before walking back onto the command centre, stepping up onto the command platform. He ordered one of his subordinates to set a course for the supply station. Acknowledging, he waited for the order to proceed. Sako gave a nod, and the younger office placed his hand over the control to engage the engines. The ship vibrated slightly as it went to slipspace. It would be at least fifteen hours before they arrived at the supply station.