Highlander's War ch2 pt1 - Stranded
Posted By: sam_fisha<sam_fisha@yahoo.com>
Date: 19 January 2005, 8:43 PM
Read/Post Comments
|
The Captain walked into the barracks of the ODSTs given to him by Admiral Jike. The doors slipped open and the metallic smell of gunpowder wafted into the Captain's nose. Around the room several weapons were displayed on tables with their parts lying around, being experimented with by the soldiers clad in dark army fatigues. "Captain on deck!" One of them yelled as they stood at attention and snapped a crisp salute.
Lieutenant Stat walked over to the Captain as his boots made a loud clack on the metal floor. "Is there anything I can help you with sir?" He asked as he stared forewords, as if he were looking beyond the Captain.
"Yes Lieutenant, the men I've sent to the Covenant installation haven't responded to my hails. I want to see your men on Pelican three in two minutes." The Captain said slowly as the skin hanging from his chin wobbled slightly as he spoke, distracting Lieutenant Stat.
"Yes sir, they'll be ready." The Lieutenant replied as he continued to stand stiff as a board, as if there were more to be said. "That's all Lieutenant." The Captain said as he sensed the Lieutenant wanted to be dismissed. With that the soldier turned and spoke to the rest of his squad. "Henson, Cordon, Hues, Jorgen, suit up and move out."
Seeing that the soldiers were preparing to leave the Captain turned and left that barracks. When he arrived at the bridge he asked his crew if there was any response from the team but got none. He sat slowly in his chair which squeaked slightly as it absorbed his weight. "Lok, get two Pelicans ready for a hot drop, full combat load." He instructed his idle engineer. Then he turned to Ensign Vew, who was running system diagnostics. "Call for ten Marines to get vac suits and equipment to be on Pelican two." The Ensign nodded as the Captain climbed out of his chair and left the room to go back to his quarters.
He sighed as he stared into the reflection of his scarred and wrinkled face in the small mirror above his sink. He rubbed the coarse stubble of a beard which had grown on his face as he muttered softly about never getting a good razor. He ran his hand through his dark graying hair and tried to remember how many times Corporal Hayes had saved his life. Without knowing why his eyes snapped to the left as he thought he had saw movement.
He dismissed it as a reflection of the mirror when he heard his door activate. He turned to see who it was but saw nothing save for an empty door leading into an empty hallway. He peered out into the hallway to see it was deserted as all personnel were repairing the ship or sleeping. He reached into his quarters and removed his service pistol from a drawer next to his bed. He promptly loaded it and turned to his intercom to call security when he noticed the area where the intercom should have been was now a large plasma burn. Shit, Covenant. The Captain thought as he turned and walked out of his quarters and towards the bridge.
The Grunt dropped to the floor of the station, several wounds bleeding profusely with shotgun pellets embedded in them. "Thanks." Hicks said while he struggled from the ground as the Corporal offered him a hand. The Corporal helped him up. "Anytime soldier..." The Corporal replied as he trailed off and stared blankly at the thick Grunt that had adhered to the locked door. The Corporal was brought back to the real world as a burst of static came through his comm unit.
The Corporal spoke into his mic. "I can't hear you, go to channel three." A few seconds after giving his instructions the Corporal heard a voice come through. "This is Base one, under attack, they came in through a hidden grav lift, need assistance, repeat need assistance." The voice was fast and panicked and machinegun fire could be heard in the background.
The Corporal spoke into his mic as he held his shotgun loosely in his hand. "This is Corporal Hayes; I have wounded but will help as soon as I can." He said as calmly as he could.
"Roger that, hurry!" The voice cut out and the Corporal turned to the injured Hicks. His stomach was eaten away and burned, his kneecap burned away into a hole in his leg where melted ballistic plate had settled in a total mess of armor and blood creating a gray mix of gore.
Hicks looked down at his leg. His face flushed to a pale white and his eyes seemed to sink. "Fuck." He said quietly like a schoolchild not wanting to be heard. The Corporal kneeled beside him and looked at his wounds.
"I think I can patch this up." He said. Hicks laid down from his crouch and gritted his teeth as the Corporal sprayed biofoam into his wounds and quickly wrapped them with an elastic bandage.
"Can you walk soldier?" The Corporal asked as he finished dressing the soldier's wounds. "I'll try sir." With the Corporals help he managed a teetering stand and put his leg forward to take a step but fell to the ground and winced as his injured knee collided with the cold metal. The Corporal dragged Hicks to a wall and handed him a shotgun.
"Stay here and keep out of the way, I'm going to help Base one." The Corporal instructed as he started to walk for the door into the dark prison room which led to Base one. As he entered the prison room he checked and saw that the Jackals were still sitting in their cell watching him hungrily. Wart wart wart . Was heard somewhere down the hallway. The Corporal readied his shotgun and continued towards Base One when he heard one of the Jackal yelp. He turned to look at the Jackals but instead saw an Elite's forearm collide with his face and grip his neck. Were it not for his armor his windpipe would have been crushed.
The Elite raised the Corporal so his feet were hovering above the ground and his face was even with the Elite, who parted his mandibles in an alien grin. The Elite's blue armor glow luminously in the red light and made his face seem like a strange apparition.
It laughed as it batted away the Corporals shotgun out of his hand and gripped his neck tightly, choking him. The Corporal scrambled and tugged at the Elites strong fingers but couldn't loosen their grip on his throat He grew lightheaded and began flailing back and forth in the Elite's grip.
"Drop him split chin" The Corporal looked to where he had come from to see the injured Hicks dragging himself across the floor with his shotgun leveled at the Elites side. Hicks fired, the pellets leaped from the barrel like synchronized divers and jumped into the blue of the Elites shields, which flickered and dyed. The large monster turned the plasma rifle in its idle hand to Hicks and fired. The blue streaks of heat colliding with Hicks' face as he screamed. He slumped over as the plasma bolts caught him and grew silent, still clutching his weapon.
In the small time the Elites attention was elsewhere the Corporal drew his pistol from its holster and stuck it to the Elites chest in between the two main armor plates. The Elite looked down to see the pistol and yelped as five explosive rounds ripped into its body and sent shards into its organs. It growled weakly as it fell to its side, releasing the Corporal as its eyes unfocused and its muscled relaxed in surrender to the most natural of things, death.
The Corporal struggled up and walked to Hicks who was lying face down after he had saved the Corporal's life. He bent down and flipped him over, a second later wishing he hadn't. Hicks' face was melted into his brain cavity and the smell of burnt flesh lingered strongly. All that was left of Hicks' face was his lower jaw, which was burned and its teeth blacked to small stones. The Corporal retrieved the shiny dog tags and turned to walk through the door into Base One, and another struggle.
|
