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Teridan, Part I
Date: 7 September 2005, 1:57 pm
The sun was rising. The white dwarf of the Teridan System barely provided any light. Or heat. The planet, after several million years without a bright star in its system, had become barren and empty. The only reason the UNSC were on this planet was because of the vast nuclear resources present. And the fact that the planet had previously held host to some form of life. Excavations were omnipresent over the surface, but they were all empty now, the troops and ships being sent to defend which human colonies that had not been taken by the Covenant. Only a small group of soldiers had been left as a rear guard. D company, 512th Regiment, had been left to defend an entire planet (albeit only the size of earths moon).
All seemed well, until the fall of reach. After the covenant defeated the garrison, they sent scouts around the local area, apparently to destroy the remaining human presence. Teridan, Being the largest of the two planets in the system, was considered the namesake of the cold, battered system. The Covenant landed on the planet in force, sending approximately 10,000 troops down to the surface. At first, however, the covenant did not appear to be aware of the human presence on the planet, which allowed the 124 men of D company to prepare a guerrilla war against the covenant.
Due to the standard sub-zero temperatures prevalent on the planet, however, the marines were limited to fighting in spacesuits, or in the bases, of which there were four. The senior officer in the base, Commander Jackson, chose the latter option, and formed a plan…
_____________________________________________________________
19/7
0823h
Jacobs, Lieutenant Commander
The Operation starts at 0900. The Commander set off the radio beacon in the tower above this facility. Medical, or so they tell me. I get the feeling that we might need it later. The plan is that we lure about forty or so covenant into the facilities, and ambush them with booby traps that my demo guys fixed up yesterday. I have a bad feeling. Never having lost a man in combat, I get the feeling someone's going to catch a mouthful of plasma today. Better dismiss it though. Nothing like tempting fate.
19/7
1712h
Jacobs, Lieutenant Commander
Ensign Jones, next to me, slapped a mag into his rifle, and cocked it with a flourish, sending the sound throughout the building. A young Corporal glared at him, then noted his officer's slips and bit his lip. Ignoring the Corporal, Jones looked up at me.
"Your pistol, sir"
I looked down at my side, and my hand traced the outline of the thigh holster. I lifted it up, the slid the slide back to examine the chamber, and to my surprise, a round from the magazine slid smoothly in as a closed it. If I had realised this any later, I would probably be sleeping on the floor of the medical facility, a hole for my face. Cold, I know, but true.
Jones has a thing for weapons. He knows what's wrong with them, without even looking. How he could tell my pistol was unloaded I will never know. 'Cause he's dead now. A plasma shot to the stomach doesn't exactly do wonders to your intestines, ill tell you that. Sad. Another life lost to the covenant.
Back to the battle though. It was 0852 when the signal went out, and by 0858, the covenant had arrived, eager to investigate the signal. I was in the main lobby, with Third platoon. The airlock cycled, then around five elites stepped forward. We had counted on this. If the covenant had blown their way through, we would not be able to stay alive long enough to put up any fight. Waiting until the airlock closed on our side, and began to cycle again, we then opened fire on the unfortunate aliens.
Silenced guns clattered all around me, brass casings falling to the floor behind the sparse cover that we were behind. The rounds bounced off the elites armour for a while, but the sheer amount of lead aimed at them eventually had its way, and the unusual alien blood began to splatter against the walls and floor. The bodies were quickly checked and cleared away: we needed to clear the room before the next group appeared, or they would send word back to the troops outside.
The next group appeared in a flurry, a dozen grunts, and a couple of elites stood there, suspiciously eying the scene: an empty room. Which is what killed them. Another flurry of bullets cut them down while they were clumped together, the grunts squealing as the bullets hit their methane gear. A yellow armoured elite, however, let out a long howl, with a very quiet silence after it. Nothing talked. It took almost thirty seconds for the airlock to begin to cycle again. A quick thinking private near the door took out a hand grenade, and with surprising guts, pulled the pin, and let the handle spring free when the airlock cycled. The other men around him sprinted away to more cover, while the private spun round, and rolled the grenade into the airlock as it opened, and slammed the emergency shut button. The door closed, and there was a massive thump as it exploded in the airlock. Another silence followed.
There was a massive roar, and, I have to be honest, I let it go. The constipation that had been with me for almost two weeks now disappeared and my body just did what is natural. Yes, I shat my pants. And so did many of the others, judging by the smell. Because everyone knows that roar. The walking tanks of the covenant. Hunters.
A slam was heard, and the airlock door bent inwards. This time the roar was louder. The private who had thrown the grenade went completely white. He had killed the hunter's mate, and had probably sentenced everyone in the room to certain death. Another roar. Another slam. The door, three inches of solid titanium, buckled like tinfoil. Silence for a moment. Another roar. And finally, A massive explosion by the door. People close to the door were thrown across the fifteen yards of the lobby, and the remains of the door flew past my head, slamming Sergeant Cochlen into the wall, his legs flying in the other direction. The wash of heat went over my head, burning my inch long hair down to a slaphead appearance. From then on, I wore my helmet. The hunter slammed its way through the hole that was the airlock, leaving its blood covered mate in the airlock.
Roaring yet again, the hunter blasted at the closest marine with its fuel rod cannon. It incinerated him, not even a fingernail was left. Without a command, the silenced room quickly became filled by the clattering sound of the rifles. The machine gun over head, a minigun fixed to the security system, opened fire, but the hunters armour stood up to the barrage. Oblivious, almost, it span round, embedding an unfortunate marine in its weapon arm. Letting off another blast, the green glowing crap flew into the reception desk, leaving nothing but a few charred bodies in its place.
I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was a PFC Yu, a guy who had been in the marines for around five years, but had refused promotion to corporal or sergeant, despite being asked almost every month. He looked into my eyes, looked right into me. He took my hand into his and said to remember him. I asked what he was talking about, but he ignored me. After grabbing a grenade from my belt, he smiled.
"ashes to ashes."
"WHAT?"
Shouting above the noise of the minigun, and the screams of the wounded, I could barely hear what he said. He responded with a smile, and turned around. About to comment about his theft of the grenade, I opened my mouth. Yu sprang up, and sprinted across the room. The hunter, busy venting his anger on some screaming marines, didn't notice the sound of the pin being pulled, nor the handle clattering on the floor. Echoes to echoes. It rang a bell. Yu held the grenade in his hand, and proceeded to hold a fist. The five seconds from the time that the handle sprang free and the time exploded was more like five hours. Slamming his hand forward, he plunged his hand into the soft backside of the creature. Then it noticed. Whirling around, it clipped Yu with its armoured arm, smashing his jaw up into his skull. Laughing in its own way, an odd throaty cough, it seemed quite triumphant. For around a second. Then there was an incredible thump. Parts of the hunter were found in the ventilation system. The nearest vent was over a hundred meters away. Straight up. All that was left of the Hunter was bloody parts of armour.
Dust to dust.
Silence filled the room. A few shell-shocked marines peered over their cover, staring at the mess. Then there was a rattling in the air vents. They had found a new way in.
Teridan, Part II: Death of a soldier.
Date: 12 September 2005, 4:26 pm
19/7
0911h
Jones, Ensign
There were a few fragments still flying when I looked. Dust swarmed around my head, my goggles blocking out the various eye-damaging elements in the air. The hunter was gone. That was good. Just a few metal fragments on the floor. Turns out a young marine named Yu became a martyr for us. Touching. I knew Dr. Hasley from my post at reach – I was the guy outside her room. She talked to me on the radio. Sick of the sacrificing one to save them all. Rings true with this situation I guess. But I'm alive. Doesn't matter.
The clattering minigun finally fell silent, the lucky guy in the control room realising the hunter was gone. Peering over the table in the corner, his face a brilliant white, Lieutenant Jacobs flipped his HUD down. We still had the old green kit, a tactical display, but it did wonders when it comes to guerrilla warfare. His voice crackled through my headset.
"Jones, get your men formed up. We need to move up, now."
"May I ask why?"
"Listen."
Reaching up to my helmet, I flicked up the amplification control. Static roared for a split second, then silence. No, not silence. A rasping sound. Sounded like it came from above, so I gazed towards the ceiling. An air vent. It was vibrating. A small fragment of hunter fell down, landing on a charred marine's body. Sighing silently, I flicked my own HUD down, and checked the marine's life signs. Just over half were dead. Looking back up towards the ceiling, I saw a vibration again. More clearly this time.
I tapped the magazine release, and slid the loose mag into my hand. Without my eyes leaving the vent, I tapped it lightly against my helmet, and the marines still sane enough to realise what was about to happen followed suit, following my movement, and raising their rifles to the ceiling. With a crash, the grate fell down in slow motion, and landed with a crash on the floor.
Following the vent, screaming as it went, came a Grunt. With a squeal, it landed on the ground, bouncing a little. It pulled itself up, and gazed across the room. The Marines weapons were still swinging down from the roof. It let out a squeal of surprise, and raised its plasma pistol to aim at the nearest soot-blackened face. Too late, however. The marines opened fire on the unfortunate alien, shredding its fragile body. A bullet must have clipped one of its plasma grenades, as an explosion ripped through the room. The covenant knew exactly where we were.
Three Elites dropped from the roof, plasma splattering on the surrounding furniture. I raised my rifle and let off a burst of about five rounds, before the weapon clicked, signalling an empty magazine. Cursing myself, I swung my arm upwards, simultaneously picking up a magazine from my side, and clipping the magazine release, sending the magazine clattering to the floor. The three elites shields were just failing, lead pattering against their weak armour. The security minigun was just beginning to spin up, and a few marines were writhing on the floor, plasma burns on their body. Covenant then began to drop from the roof. I could see Elites, Grunts, Jackals, Drones, everything. Swearing under my breath, I began to let loose upon the mass that was gathering in the centre of the room.
The minigun was having a field day. Covenant bodies began to build up in a pile in the centre of the room, still spurting blood from where the minigun rounds hit them. The commander gave the order to retreat, so I turned round to pass on the order to my squad. All three of them. Two marines were on the floor as well, writhing in their death throes. Looking into the eyes of Sergeant Thorne, his face disfigured by a piece of shrapnel embedded in his face, blood streaming down his face. I asked him to do the same for me, and before he could comprehend this, I issued a mercy round to each of the mortally wounded marines, knowing that the covenant would love to see them suffer if we left them behind. The Sergeant stared at me for a moment, then understood, and his expression returned to what we like to call 'the marine face' – i.e. no emotion.
The minigun was dealing with the covenant – barely. More and more were throwing their lives down before us, the pile of dead mounting. The surviving marines dodged from cover to cover, attempting to evade the thick covenant fire. The door at the back, close to an inch thick, opened, but only enough to allow us to dodge through. I was second to last through, Corporal Patel was behind me, and he too saw the end of the minigun. A brave Grunt jumped to his feet, and let loose a plasma grenade, which landed directly on the barrels of the gun. It spun along with the barrels comically for a split second, and then detonated, sending small parts of minigun around the room.
It appeared that we had underestimated the numbers of covenant dropping into the room. As soon as the minigun ceased its wall of fire, the mass began to build up in the room, Elites taking the initiative, and ordering the other species to move up, leading them from the front. The corporal turned around, snapped me a salute, and moved his lips in what looked like the old marine motto. He slammed me through the door, and then hit the door close button, a weak smile on his face as it slid shut.
A few moments later, I heard a massive explosion. The security cameras reported that the Corporal had dived into the oncoming mass, and then detonated the explosives around his body, ripping his body apart, but taking most of the Covenant in the room with him. There was no time to mourn him and his sacrifice, so I pulled myself up with the help of the sergeant, and sprinted down the hallway. I counted only twelve marines running down, including Jacobs. Two left from my squad, the rest, I have no idea.
To our left, an empty corridor. To our right, another empty corridor. Jacobs seemed to know where we were going, however, so everyone followed his lead. Ahead, another empty corridor. I risked a look behind. Nothing. It looked like we would be able to make it. As I turned my head to look forward again, time seemed to slow. A single Jackal rounded the corner, and froze, glued to the spot. We quickly crouched to one knee, but it was too late. The alien's plasma pistol let out a supercharged glob of glowing plasma, and it arced towards our group. In the half second or so it took to fly towards us, I did not realise that it would hit me. The classic denial of a soldier in battle. It won't be me. It cant be me. However, I realised too late what was happening, and flung myself to the side too late. It hit me full on below the ribcage, and I collapsed on the floor. Eerie. No pain at all.
I woke up on a stretcher. Lights swam from below to above, fuzzy. I snapped to awareness in a second. Pain flooded me. An older corporal leaned over me, his stubble clearly visible, the rest of the scene, however, was blank. He said something into my ear, but I couldn't hear it. A buzzing sound again began to permeate. Black filled my eyes, as if being poured from a jug. All of a sudden, it stopped. Everything stopped. I was just still. I was dead.
Postscript: This one ended a bit surreal, ill try and keep it in the norm next time ^_^
Teridan, Part III : Command and Control
Date: 14 September 2005, 9:34 pm
19/7
2305h
Jennings, Corporal.
Well, we made it out of there. Some of us, at least. We managed to get to the exit, and escape into the labyrinth of tunnels in the planet. All the radioactive material had been removed, so it was safe to traverse the system unprotected. We lost a few privates in the last run for it – some Drones caught up with us. I carried the Ensign on his stretcher with Sergeant Dougherty. He was in a bad way. Hit by a charged plasma bolt in the chest. Past third degree burns on most of his body – most of his intestines blown away too. We reached the safe point, and put him down. Medics ran over immediately, and began to treat him. We could see they thought the worst from their faces.
I crouched over him, and he opened his eyes, his pupils focussing lazily on me, and then rolling around. I told him to hang on, that he would be alright, but he simply smiled in response. I shook him, but he refused to move. A medic moved over, and put two fingers on his neck. He grimaced, and announced his time of death. Silence washed over the cavern. Every single man in the area snapped to attention. Facing the body, they flung up a salute, and then took off their helmets as a sign of respect.
23/7
0744h
Jennings, Corporal
Orders had filtered down the chain of command. Due to the lack of an AI, even with the carelessness of the covenant battlenet, it had taken several days for higher command to find out what had happened to the covenant. Apparently, we had killed two hunters, and about five dropships worth of lower ranking troops. Not bad for a platoon or so of ours. However, the brass decided that we couldn't take that many casualties, not with our numbers. They gave a staff sergeant a battlefield commission, a bad decision in my opinion. Naïve and ignorant, he was prone to becoming uncontrollable in combat, the adrenalin causing him to send troops into suicidal positions. Ah well. Not my place to intervene. Just as long as he doesn't send me into my death, I'm happy.
We were to send a commando force into what appeared to be the covenant command and control centre. Just over half a click long and around a hundred or so yards across, it was strangely lightly defended for a critical centre – what we would say was a "platoon" of covenant troops – around thirty or so assorted troops, a couple of plasma guns, no heavy artillery like wraiths or hunters. That's what they said in the brief, anyway. We had a tunnel leading close to the centre, and it looked like a short sprint to one of the many doors dotting its perimeter. Get in, blow shit up, and get out. That was the plan. Once we had used all our charges and explosives, extraction would be by warthog.
Eight of us were chosen for the honour, including yours truly, kitted up, and sent along to walk into the wall of fire that was the covenant.
23/7
1723h
Jennings, Corporal
"Five…Four…"
We were in the tunnel. The hole in the dry, freezing cold earth broke away from your fingers, so no equipment was needed. I checked my rifle one last time, and flicked the catch away from safety, and made sure there was a bullet in the chamber.
"Three…two…"
I clutched at my medallion – my lucky charm. Raised it up to my lips, and gave it a soft kiss. Reminds me of my wife. She gave it to me before she left for Reach on administrational duty, and I left for basic. I got her death letter about two weeks ago.
"One…GO!"
We sprang up from our hole, and four of us ran for the door, the rest of us covering. The Sergeant at the front signalled, and I led my fireteam towards the door. Private Higson grabbed his affectionately named 'hackpack' from his side, and clamped it to the door. It made a few bleeping sounds, and glowed a bright green. He removed it, and the door opened silently. We entered the door in single file and took up a position inside. Staring inside, we could not believe what we saw.
There was not a maze of corridors, as we had anticipated. A single room encompassed the entire structure, completely devoid of any other detail, only in the centre lay what looked like a deep, smoothly bored hole in the floor. Wide enough to accept a hunter, the hole in the floor was deep enough for us not to be able to see to the bottom. Before we could do anything more, we heard a hair-prickling laugh from behind us. We turned around to see…nothing. Empty space.
All of a sudden, an energy blade sparked up in front of us. And another. And another. Soon, we were surrounded by glowing energy swords. An Elite decloaked, its active camouflage flickering and disappearing. Its armour was different. Older, more ceremonial armour appeared to be worn by this Elite. It raised its head, moving its mandibles in what must be imagined to be an Elite grin. It chuckled again, and raised its sword, ready to strike.
We were too petrified to move. I could count at least a dozen glowing swords, the remaining elites choosing to keep their camouflage activated. However, as the front Elite raised his sword, as one, we opened fire. Rifles clattered, and the brass cartridges spun to the floor. Moving quickly into a semi-circle, we fired into the crowd, bullets clearly making impacts on the cloaked Elites shields. Another corporal tossed a captured plasma grenade onto a flashing sword, sticking comically in the air for a moment, before it detonated, sending small alien pieces flying around the room. Another Elite fell from the barrage fired, but it was too late. All too soon, our magazines ran dry, and the hammer clacked onto the empty chamber. One by one we pulled out our pistols, and emptied them into a nearby sword. However, the pistols also ran dry. It was too late. The Elites finally caught up with us, hacking and slashing through the front few marines. The Sergeant screamed as one Elite sheared his arm off, but was silenced when another beheaded him. The marine next to him landed a punch on the lead elites face, but its shields flared, and the Elite quickly responded with a punch in kind, which crumpled his face in. A private jumped in front of me, wielding a ceremonial knife. He stabbed it into the nearest Elites ribcage, its shields flaring under the impact. The knife penetrated the shield, and sunk deep into the Elite, the alien roaring its anguish. Another Elite stepped in, and quickly slashed the marine down. Only me and the other corporal were left. Alone.
I glanced to my side. The Corporal nodded, knowing what I was thinking. Every muscle in my body tensed, knowing what I had to do. No less than four Elite bodies littered the floor, each one with the energy sword still flickering and sparking on the floor. The remaining Elites closed in slowly, eager to finish us off, but still savouring our death. Eyeing the lead Elite, I squared up to him, his eyes meeting mine. The tension was palpable. As the Elite raised his sword to strike again, I dodged left. With an anguished roar, he slashed at the space in which I had occupied milliseconds beforehand. I rolled to the right, his sword again missing. Now I was close. I reached out my right hand, and felt the remains of an Elite clutching his sword. I yanked it out, and held it in my hand. The Elite struck, and I blocked it, the swords crackling as they touched. He swiped again, and I parried the blow, my sword causing his shields to go crazy, static sparking across the floor. I took a second to look around the room. The other corporal was in bits on the floor, a dead Elite next to him. The other Elites, their active camo disabled now, crowded round in a circle, watching the battle. Recovering from the blow, the lead Elite slashed vertically. I managed to block it, but I felt the heat against my face. I then spun round, delivering a crashing blow to the Elites midriff. It screamed in agony as the sword cut through its shields. Falling to its knees, It began to moan. I stood and stared for a moment, in awe that I had hit the beast. Realizing where I was, I pulled the blade back up, and stood ready. The remaining Elites simply stood there and watched me. As one, they raised their own blades in salute, and brought them down in a diagonal slashing motion. Again following each other, they engaged their active camo and disabled their energy swords, rendering them invisible once again. I looked down at the first Elite, but he was also gone. Just…disappeared.
I sank down onto the floor, and waited for the Warthogs to arrive and pick me up.
To be continued…
postscript: extra surprise for you next time :)
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