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Blood and Ashes - 2
Posted By: BlackValkyire<BlackValkyire@aol.com>
Date: 7 December 2005, 11:34 pm
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Space was cold. To cold for a Spartan, which was exactly why the Chief preferred fighting on the ground rather than in orbital or extra-orbital battles. But today, just this once, he was 100 percent sure that he'd much rather be in a nice, safe, heavy destroyer. He could deal with covenant, he could deal with the flood. But this...situation...was by far the most horrifying he'd ever encountered. He was not afraid, but he was nervous, and it took a lot to make the Chief nervous. Fortunately, the marines following him through the ruined complex couldn't see his face, or make out the tenseness in his rock like muscles. The last report regarding this highly remote medical research facility had come from a light cruiser in orbit that had discovered a crashed covenant ship, the occupants of which apparently had taken over the facility...but something killed them to. And when the marines were sent to secure the AI and scuttle the facility, something killed them too. This time, a much more serious response was sent in, a heavy destroyer, two cruisers, and one corvette. There was no beacon from the surface, there was no signals, but there were life signs. All of them were like nothing either human or covenant scanners had ever recorded before.
But it didn't matter about the history of this disaster, because in the end, the planet would end up glassed. It always ended up that way when they sent the Spartans, the powered armor donning super soldiers were like plasma torpedo magnets. The chief almost thought of it as poetic justice when they rounded the corner and saw an elite, his body ripped in half and a half eaten plasma rifle near his body. His purple blood was everywhere on the walls, and his face was contorted into what even a human would recognize as a face of agony. The chief paused and inspected his wounds. "Heavy lacerations, bite marks...whatever killed this one decided to eat him afterwards." Cortana told the Chief. They kept moving. The closer they got to the control room, the more corpses of both covenant and marines they found, and the more brutal the injuries were. Hits from assault and battle rifles pockmarked the bulkheads, which shimmered dimly in the low lighting. Plasma burns and needler hits were soon spotted as well. It was twenty meters from the control room that they saw the first one. It was massive, black shiny carapace, nasty teeth, almost humanoid, but it looked like it was more of a quadruped than a bipedal organism. Either way, the Chief could only think of it as a monster, or maybe a demon. This particular one had been killed by an MA-5B assault rifle, but he also had a battle rifle wound. The chief felt a shiver go up his spine. He didn't like any of it.
"Jesus Christ, what kinda monster takes this much ammo before going down?" the marine behind him said, looking at the doors to the control room ahead, where shell casings from all sorts of weapons were everywhere. The chief tracked his gaze up, and zoomed in on the door. What he saw worried him even further, blood was sprayed across the door and its operating panel, and on the hard steel floor, but no bodies or parts of bodies were anywhere to be seen, and there were no drag marks of any kind. "Objective in sight", Cortana chimed in. "Station still has power, but the internal panel seems to be damaged, you'll have to kick it in Chief."
The Chief slung stepped up to the door, and two marines crouched behind him, taking aim dead ahead. "On three." the Chief ordered. He raised his hand, holding up three fingers. Dropped one. Dropped another, heard the marines cycle their rifle bolts. Dropped the last finger, and bringing his massive amplified strength into play, kick the door full force. It was torn out of the bulkhead and thrown across the entire control room, slamming against a control panel and causing it to explode. He spun around as soon as he had hit the door and took cover behind the wall. The marines held their fire, there was nothing there. "Go" , the chief whispered, spinning around the shattered door frame and entering the room.
Even for a battle ravaged command center, it was in tatters. Consoles were smashed and some had exploded. A few seem to have been melted by something, but the Chief had no idea what they were up against, all the reports had been lost when the UNSC lost contact with the ships originally sent in. At the moment, he had a constant live video uplink to the heavy destroyer in orbit - Lightscream. The Chief again saw many spent shell casings, and even the rifle that had fired them. An older MA-5B rifle, completely out of ammo. Hundreds of shell casings were everywhere, but again, no bodies. "Must have been one hell of a battle, look at all the rounds...but where are all the bodies?" one of the Marines mused to himself, thinking out loud. "It doesn't matter. Find the AI, secure it." the Chief ordered. The Marines split up, looking. It took only a minute to find it. The chief picked up the small disc and stuck it into a special slot on his helmet. He felt a chill run down his spine as the AI entered the MJOLINR armor's system. "Cortana, work your magic." he said. "Analyzing now" , she responded. "Chief, this is bizarre. There is no personality within this AI, its just a computer system used to open doors and run scans and routine tasks like that. I thought it was supposed to be a star ship capable AI named 'Streak'?" she finished.
The Chief reviewed his briefing documents quickly. "It was. That means this is a plant to throw us off, or else there's another AI in the complex somewhere that we need to locate. Cortana, download anything useful from this AI, I'm going to destroy it. I've got a bad feeling about this, like it's a plant to throw us off." the Chief said. Cortana only hesitated an instant before giving him the go ahead. The Chief handed the small disc to the nearest marine. "Soldier, dispose of this." he said. The soldier nodded, and stamped on it with his foot. "Ah, Chief, found the main AI. Its in the sub levels below the complex...but there's something wrong, I can't seem to clear us a direct path there, something about emergency containment protocols. There is, however, a maintenance shaft that leads from a hanger bay on the south side of the complex down to an abandoned warehouse that appears to have been used during the construction of this complex. I'm marking it with a nav-point." she said. A small red blip appeared on the Chief's HUD. "Marines, follow me" he ordered quietly. They fell in, leaving the room quickly, growing more uneasy by the minute.
***
The elite roared in defiance as the creatures came again. His plasma rifle spewed streams of blue death, the burning plasma rounds incinerating black carapace, melting chunks of flesh, and vaporizing limbs. But there were far to many. The few grunts with him were firing nervously, plasma pistols spitting shots into the swarm of black that hammered at the lower barricades made out of pieces of the hull from the now ruined cruiser Eye of Justice. The creatures were horrible, even the flood were nowhere near as intimidating as the aliens they slew now. He had dealt with flood, he had dealt with humans. Both races had, at some point in time, given him a good scare with the viciousness of their fight, but nothing compared to these giant black serpents. His plasma rifle kept spitting blue fire, the shots punching into aliens and blowing them apart. A grunt with a needler fired his precious ammo at a well chosen target. The entire magazine connected with the creature, who was obviously oblivious to its function. Seconds later, a large explosion of pink and purple engulfed it and the others around it. But, as the Elite quickly learned, even in death, the creatures still managed to strike. Their blood was acidic, and every beast they killed sprayed its blood onto the barricades, which grew weaker by the day. They had been slowly retreating back through the ship, loosing more and more soliders with each engagement.
However, it had quickly become apparent that the creatures were not just animals, they were quite intelligent, and had proven it by sneaking into the ship through maintenance shafts and sneaking up behind an entire platoon of Jackals, none of which survived. Fortunately, the Elites left to the ship managed to seal that bay and flood it with neuro-toxins. Wether anything survived, no one cared to know. Until a drop ship or communication array was repaired, they would have to hold the ship. Most of the crew had died in the crash, an accident caused by two hunters who got into a disagreement, in the end turning their fuel-rod cannons on each other in the engine room. The detonation blew half the cruiser off, and sent the rest falling down to the planet's surface.
The lower barricade was beginning to buckle as a swarm of endless aliens came at it. The elite swore as his plasma rifle ran dry, and he tossed it backwards, where a grunt would catch it and run it off to be placed on a charger. The Elite drew his secondary weapon, a plasma pistol, and held down the firing stud. A large bolt of green plasma grew on the end as he overcharged it, then he watched it fly down towards the crowd. The shot was dead on, and the blast vaporized the creature, leaving only a cloud of its blood in the air. He felt the vibrations through the hull plating as the lower barricade began to give way, and heard so much as felt it snap. The aliens charged up to level two, and still the Elite and the grunts fired, hopelessly pouring plasma into an onrushing river of black carapace, a river of impending doom. The surviving covenant had made a small stronghold in a large cargo bay, completely sealed all possible entrances except one, which they would most likely soon be retreating through in a short amount of time. The upper barricade was a bit tougher, and the aliens slamming into were dazed. The elite took this moment in time to do big damage. His claws found a plasma grenade, and with a click, he ignited it, and tossed it into the crowd.
His aim was flawless, as it should have been, especially considering his black armor. The device attached itself to an alien's head area. The creature hissed in confusion, and began scratching at it, trying in vain to make it come off. Just as another alien approached him, it detonated in a cloud of blue flame. The creature that had the grenade attached to it was vaporized, the ones nearest it were killed by the explosion, and a few more were launched like missiles over the edge and down to the very bottom of the landing bay they were struggling to consume. The ones that fell died instantly as they hit the floor. Overall, an effective use of his second to last grenade. There were plenty of weapons in the cargo bay, but there was no time to go back for more. The elite kept on firing his plasma pistol, every shot finding the dull shine on the black carapace, melting into it, and vaporizing what was inside. Bodies piled high as the covenant fought on.
But just as the Elite thought it was going to be a full retreat into the cargo bay, help arrived in the form of a hunter. He charged out of the cargo bay, his fuel rod cannon glowing. He skidded to a halt, and fired. The blast punched into flesh, and blew the aliens into gory pieces, their blood spraying onto the deck, the bulkheads, and part of the barricades, all of which began to melt. That shot changed the battle, and the aliens began to retreat. Even as the charged away, the covenant kept firing, previously skittish grunts now shouting taunts as they fired into the alien backs. A few went down, but despite their massive size, they were extremely fast and agile. The battle was over. "Return to the stronghold, recharge your weapons." the Elite ordered. The grunts and hunter turned and started moving wearily back into the cargo bay. It was over for now, but soon they would attack again.
The elite entered the stronghold, and frustration boiled inside him. A few ghosts, one wraith, and the cannons from a banshee were all forming a defensive line to the ship's commander, an Elite in Gold armor. He was brave, he was wise, but he was too lazy, and to self centered to bother. He sent his warriors to die, and hadn't even so much as ignited his sword since the battle against the black beasts began. It angered the black Elite, who was called 'Phantom' by other warriors, that a commander could be so...ignorant to their circumstances. But he looked different as Phantom approached him. "Sir, the lower barricades are breeched, but we turned them away. The jackals are attempting to repair them now." he said simply. "They are frustrating, these creatures. But we have far more interesting news. According to what's left of our sensors, a human battle group is in orbit, and they have sent landing parties to the human complex we detected...but they also sent 'him'." the commander said.
Phantom blinked in surprise. The human's had only a few truly elite warriors, called them 'Spartans' apparently. However, Phantom believed 'Elite' was an understatement for these warriors. They were fearless, cunning, physically powerful, and impossibly fast. Super soldiers, as it were. Phantom made up his mind instantly. "Then the prophets demand that we slay these infidels. I shall go, and I shall meet this human in battle. Then, when I am done with him, I shall bring you his helmet " Phantom boasted. The commander looked interested.
"A very bold statement. How might you plant to get past the creatures? Surely they are holding the forward levels of the ship?" he asked. Phantom moved to a crate, and opened it, revealing active camouflage cells. "I will do what I must to kill this human. And when I have his head, we will call his earth ships to us, and take them for our own use." he said, boasting again.
The commander nodded slowly, obviously believeing that continuos battle with such hellish enemies had driven the black armored soldier insane. But, there was nothing to loose now. "Very well. Take what weapons you will, and go." he said simply. Phantom turned, collected two plasma rifles, a plasma pistol, and put a beam rifle into his claws before moving swiftly out of the room.
***
"Chief...I've got movement " someone shouted. The Chief turned to look at the marine and new it was too late when a beam rifle fired from thin air, and blew the solider's face all over the nearest wall...
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