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Infestation by Shadow hunter
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Infestation Chapter 1
Date: 28 October 2005, 12:12 am
Chapter 1
2585. The Covenant civil war rages as the 2 sides fight for supremacy. But a peace has settled in the new colonies. With the Elite Alliance (AKA. The Covenant of the Sword) and the Humans at peace, the lives of many go untouched by the war.
Proximal Prime was a colony far from the front. A bustling metropolis it was home not only to Humans, but also to Grunts, Elites, and Hunters who did not fight in the war. There were oppertuinites for all on this world. It was home to the United Development Agency, the UDA, one of the most powerful companies in space. This agency worked in the development of new weapons and the reasearch into the Forerunners. This was where most people worked. This company was helpful, but it shrowed in mystery when it came to its harmless research into the Forerunners. It was a peaceful dream colony that would soon become a nightmare for all who lived in it.
It was a Sunday. Charles Roten was headed home from his job at a computer design office. Riding on one of many modified Ghosts designed for civilian travel. Nicknamed the Civ. Ghost, it was cheap fast and easy to maintain. It had the basic shape of the Combat Ghost, but it was missing the plasma cannons and the boosters. It was one of many combat vehicles that were modified for civillian use. A he pulled onto the highway, he saw a slew of normal hover cars, hydrogen powered civhogs, civillian warthogs, and a slew of other vehicles. He was leaving another day at the office. He pulled up to his apartment without a care in the world. It was just an average day on Proximal Prime. He had his dinner and fell asleep. It was the last time he would ever get a good night sleep.
Monday. Charles woke to a peaceful morning. He sat up and did his morning routine. He showered and ate his breakfast. He then walked to his Ghost. He wondered why there was no one on the road. Then it came. At first it was a clicking, then a squeaking, then a large squid like glob flew at his head. He pulled out a M6D pistol and let loose a round. The thing or what ever it was exploded. Suddenly as if attracted by the sound, hundreds swarmed around him. He fired over and over again and emptied a clip into the mass of squids, but they just kept coming. He ran for his Ghost in a frantic rush.
Then He stumbled onto his Ghost and sped off with more Ranger forms and some combat forms in pursuit. Fireing his engines, he begain to pull away from the huge mass of flood approaching. Along the way he saw explosions and fires as vehicles crashed all around him. Thinking fast, he headed into the city in an effort to find help. As he sped into the city and turned on his holo radio to find out all that he could about the things attacking him. A frantic reporter screamed as loud as she could.
“ Still no explanation of where these flood came from but all reports state that they continue to spread.” She said. Military personnel both human and COS forces were firing at the mass of Flood attacking them. Weapons and grenades flashed and vehicles crashed and exploded.
“The flood are swarming all over the downtown area and police and military officials urge people to stay in their homes. It is- Oh god” The news report cut off as soldier forms attacked her and the cameraman. The screen cut out.
He turned the corner and headed into town. There were hundreds of flood there.They were everywhere. Mostly in the form of Elites or humans, they mostly fed and the wide streets meant that they paid little to no attention to him as long as there was flesh to feed on. Others wandered the streets looking for food.
As he turned the corner, a combat form lunged at him. He ducked as it flew over him. On that the flood turned and charged at him. He pushed both of his control sticks forward and fired his thrusters. They closed in around him. He fired his engines and flew into the mass at top speed, but with little effect. Then a flood knocked his Ghost sideways and he flew clean through a window and into a shop and all was black.
To Be Continued
Infestation Chapter 2
Date: 1 November 2005, 4:08 am
Chapter 2
He woke to the cocking sound of a M90 shotgun.
“ Say something or I’ll blow your head off.” The man with the gun said
“ I’m human I’m human” Charles responded stumbling to his feet. The Man relaxed, but didn’t lower his shotgun.
“ You hurt?” said The Man
“ No” responded Charles “ Could you point that thing at something else?” gesturing to the shotgun. The Man lower his shotgun “Who are you”
“ My name’s Chris. Yours?”
“ I’m Charlie.”
“ Your Ghost still work?”
“ Well let’s find out.”
They walked over to his Ghost and they flipped it over.
“ Well try and start her up.” Said Chris
Charlie hit the activation switch and turned it access key. The Ghost started up.
“ Well the anti-grav system seems to be ok.” Said Charlie “ And the Power core alright and its still got some power left in her. You got a car?”
“ Yea its outside”
Outside there was a civilian model Specter. Known as a Screech, it sat 5 comfortably and it did not have a turret or a booster. There were 3 other people on the Screech. Chris introduced them as Steven, Spencer, and Tim.
“ You armed” the one called Tim said
“ Just with this.” Said Charles pulling out his pistol
“ It’ll have to do,” said Tim. “ We don’t have that many guns.”
They were armed with shotguns, a battle rifle, and an SMG.
“ So where exactly did you guys come from?” Said Charles
“ West side of the city.” Said Spencer “ We were headed towards the military base up north. There were about fifteen of us then and a couple of more vehicles.”
“ Did the flood overrun the base?” asked Charles
“ We didn’t get close enough to see. The Flood attacked us about a mile from the base. They killed the guys on most of the cars. It was brutal.”
“ So where do we go from here?” Said Charles
“ We were planning to head south towards the suburbs when we saw your ghost. We thought we could use it.” Said Tim
“ Don’t head there.” Said Charles
“ Why?” Said Tim
“ It’s overrun. I barley made it out alive.”
“ Alright then where do we go?” said Chris
“ How about the East side?” said Spencer “ Lots of buildings we can hide in, plenty of places we can get some more guns and ammo.”
“ Alright.” Said Chris
Then there was a loud high-pitched roar.
“ We better hurry,” said Steven “ Flood can smell fresh meat from miles away. Lets get going while there still trying to find us.”
Chris started up the Screech. Charles got on his Ghost. The group moved back onto the street searching for any other survivors. They saw none, none alive anyways. After about two hours of searching, they came across a Hydrogen and energy station. Low on energy for their vehicles they pulled in. The station was deserted. The glass for the windows was broken and the door stood ajar. It was clear that there had been someone inside because there were Flood corpses everywhere. As they entered the station, a deranged man with a shotgun jumped out from behind the counter.
“ Who are you people?” he yelled
“ Whoa hey were not one of those things.” Said Spencer
“ Oh thank goodness. Why are you here?” He said out of breathe but not lowering the shotgun.
“ We need power for our vehicles.” Said Chris
“ Right, right, power.” Said the station attendant “ I’m Dan by the way.”
“ I’m Chris. This is Steven, Charlie, and Tim. You here alone”
“ Well I am now. The Flood took everyone else.”
“ Well can you activate the station so we can fuel up.”
“ Uh sure.”
Dan started up the station and went out to help them charge the screech and the Ghost.
“ So where did you get the Battle Rifle and the SMG.” He asked
“ We found a case or two in a Warthog.” Said Chris
“ Just lying there?” Said Dan
“ Yea the Marines were dead. We killed the flood around it.”
“ So where are the guns?”
“ In the Screech. I’ll give you one if you want one.”
“ No thanks. I’ll stick with Old Betty here.” Said Dan gesturing to his shotgun “ Well your charged up and ready, you going to leave?”
“ Can we pick up some supplies first?” said spencer
“ Sure just let me go…” started Dan when suddenly a loud scream was heard “ Damn it Flood! Into the station quick.”
“ Wait grab the guns and ammo first!” said Chris
Steven grabbed the case of Battle Rifles and the case of SMGs while Charles grabbed the ammunition. They raced into the station and knelt by the broken windows and doors.
“ Charlie here.” Said Steven tossing Charlie a Battle Rifle “ You know how to use it?”
“ I’m a fast learner” Said Charlie cocking the rifle and staring down the sight
“ Here they come.” Said Tim
The first wave consisted of infectious forms. They group fired over and over again into the mass. The fragile forms exploded. Then combat forms attacked. Most were unarmed but several had pistols both Human and Covenant. After the combat forms came more infectious and after them more combat forms attacking the station over and over again and they continued through out the night.
To be continued
Infestation Chapter 3
Date: 9 November 2005, 3:47 am
Chapter 3
It was midnight on Proximal Prime. Charles, Spencer, Chris, Steven, and Tim were still trapped inside the Station. The Flood attacks had died down and were decreasing in their ferocity. It had been over ten hours since they hand entered the station. In that time the Flood had attacked countless times. Their corpses littered the ground outside the station and inside when they broke the lock on the back door. Steven, Chris, and Spencer had knocked over some shelves and set up a primitive barricade in the back, while Dan, Charles, and Tim had taken positions up near the windows and the door.
“ Maybe they’ve moved on. Maybe they’re going to leave us alone,” said Dan
“ No. They’re out there.” said Chris “ They’re waiting. They’re building up for another assault. They’re planning. Did you ever notice that they never attack the same place twice in a row?”
“ What are you saying?” said Charles “ The Flood are getting smart? They’re just mindless globs of stuff. How can they be that smart?”
“ Well if they can shoot at us, then I think that they can plan an attack,” said Chris
“ Don’t you think that if they were smart, they would have killed us by now?” said Dan
“ I didn’t say how smart they were getting, I only said that they were learning what our weak points were,” said Chris
“ And how do you figure that?” said Dan
“ Well about an hour ago they only attacked us with carrier forms. That almost killed us,” said Chris
“ I still don’t see why we couldn’t just run for it,” said Tim
“ If we tried they would have overrun the vehicles like they did when we made a run for the military base,” said Chris “ and since they trashed our vehicles, we can’t leave now.”
There hadn’t been an attack in several hours. It was a bitter comfort, but the group knew that if the flood launched another massive attack, then they would run out of ammunition before the attack was finished. Through out the night the Flood had repeatedly attacked from different areas with a slew of different weapons.
Although the group had managed to collect ammunition from the dead Flood, their supply was still dangerously low. They had also collected an ample supply of Covenant weapons. Most of these were Plasma rifles and pistols and a few grenades.
Charles began to clean the barrel of his Battle Rifle in order to keep it from jamming. He scraped soot and dust from the 2x optical sight and loaded a fresh thirty-six round clip into his gun.
“ Charlie here,” said Steven from the back tossing him a Plasma Rifle.
“ What’s this for?” asked Charlie
“ If you run out of ammunition, you’ll need this. It doesn’t run out of ammo, but it does over heat, so don’t fire full auto for to long. It’s got a pretty full battery. Oh you might want to take a look at your scope. It sometimes gets out of focus.”
“ Thanks,” said Charlie “ How does he know so much about military hardware?” He asked Tim.
“ Steven? He was a Marine, so was I.” said Tim “He was a radio op, but he was pretty good at fixing weapons. After we both left the service, he went into auto repair and I went into writing. What about you what do you do for a living?”
“ I’m a computer programmer for the UDA,” said Charles
“ So your one of those computer techs,” said Dan
“ Yea,” said Charles
“ So what’s a computer programmer doing with an M6D?” said Dan
“ Tell me something Dan, you trust those Covenant?” asked Charles
“ Kind of.” said Dan “ They buy gas. That’s all I really care about. More gas I sell, the more my boss pays me. That’s all I really care about. Why you got something against them?”
“ I lost two brothers and a father to them,” Charles said “ My father died when I was five years old. They killed him when Cole tried to retake Harvest. My older brother died when they tried to invade Earth. He died in New Mombassa. That Scarab blew up his tank when he tried to kill it. My younger brother died when they blew up the Athens, but other than that I have nothing against them,”
“ Where were you when this occurred?” said Dan
“ I was a UNSC computer analyst, I was working in another battle cluster, on the station, the Berlin, on the other side of the planet when they attacked,” said Charlie
“ That still doesn’t explain why you have that pistol,” said Dan
“ The Covenant start a civil war and now were supposed to be friends with them?” said Charles “ They spend over twenty years trying to kill us, and now we’re supposed to trust them? They’re going to turn on us one day, and when they do I’m going to be ready.”
“ I think your being paranoid,” said Dan “ I mean…” but before he could say anything else, a loud scream was heard.
“ Here they come again,” said Chris “hold your positions and conserve your ammo.”
Charles looked down his scope and waited for the Flood to come. One appeared in his 2x sight. He pulled the trigger and fired a three round burst into the Flood. He must have hit something vital, because the Flood fell instantly. He spotted another and another and fired over and over again. The attack ended quickly. It was just another probe to see how powerful they were. Tim and Chris quickly put their weapons down and ran out to the flood corpses to see if there were any supplies they could get. They came back with some Marine gear bags and belts full of supplies and ammunition and some Covenant weapons.
The Flood were quiet for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon. At around 3:00 that afternoon, the group caught a lucky break. They had just finished their lunch (some canned soup and some chocolate) when they heard a humming coming from outside.
“ What’s that?” asked Tim
Suddenly a Shadow and a Warthog armed with a M41 LAAG Gatling gun appeared. They were being pursued by a large amount of Flood. The Shadow seemed to have eight people attached on a troop carrying platform plus a gunner and a driver. The soldiers on the side seemed to be opening up with small arms fire. The Warthog was firing its turret and its passenger was also opening fire with an M7 SMG. The Shadow began to circle the station as Dan, Charlie, and Steven ran to open the gates that lead to the loading dock. They then signaled for the Shadow and the Warthog to enter the loading dock. The shadow skidded in with the Warthog close behind. The troops disembarked as the Flood rushed the door.
Six Marines and two Elites jumped off of the Shadow along with the human driver, the gunner, an Elite, continued to fire from the plasma turret. The passenger of the Warthog and the driver, both Elites, jumped off and the Human gunner continued to fire. Charles, Chris, and Steven joined and killed the remaining Flood who were attacking. They then shut the gates.
“ Thanks,” said the commander, an Elite “ I am Elite Major Kesserling of the 32nd combined division.”
“ My name is Chris, this is Charlie, and Steven. I have three more men in the back.”
“ I thank you for letting my men take refuge in your encampment,” said the Major
“ What are you doing here?” asked Steven “ I thought all of the military forces were still at the base up north.”
“ The base has fallen,” replied the Major “ My men were in the city attempting to slaughter the parasite, when we got word. We were on our way to rendezvous point to be airlifted out to a defensive position in the southeast when we were attacked.”
“ Can you call for an airlift now and get us all out of here?” asked Chris
“ I wish we could, but our radio was damaged,” said the Major
“ I think we can help you there,” said Chris “ Steven can you fix that radio” he asked
“ Show me it and I’ll try,” replied Steven
“ Private Sanderson will assist you,” said the Major
Sanderson walked up. She had the radio strapped on her back. The radio wasn’t badly damaged, but it still would take time to repair. As the squad of soldiers marched into the station’s store, there was a Flood scream. The Flood were attacking again.
To be continued
Infestation Chapter 4
Date: 23 November 2005, 11:40 pm
Chapter 4
The sun was setting on another day on Proximal Prime. Only four hours had passed since the troops form the 32nd combined division had ran into the station. Since then the Flood had sent wave after wave of troops at the station. As the sun set however, the Flood attacks seemed to relax. The soldiers and the civilians seemed to know that this would be short lived.
Charles was still at the front window with Dan and Tim. They had been joined by a machine gunner named Cpl Roberts, his assistant gunner Pvt. Dale, and his ammo carrier, Pvt. Smith. There was a two-man sniper team there as well. The lead Sniper was Cpl. Davis and his spotter was Sgt. Carlson. They were armed with a variety of weapons. Roberts was manning the machine gun, Dale had a M7 SMG, and Smith had a M9 shotgun. Roberts was manning the M247 50-caliber machine gun. This model did not have the 25mm grenade launcher.
The rest of the squad was placed in the back and along the sides near windows to protect the flanks and the rear. They were armed with an assortment of weapons ranging from M7s to BR55s to a few MA5Cs. MA5Cs were modified MA5Bs. These versions of the assault rifle were less complex. They used the 9.5mm rounds that the battle rifles used. Their rate of fire was lower than that of the MA5B to increase accuracy. They also had a simplified ammo display and a red dot sight for people without an eyepiece HUD. Police, SWAT, and, ODSTs, used this weapon to great effect. Mostly everyone was asleep. Dan, Davis, and Carlson were on guard at the front of the station, while Chris, Kesserling, and an Elite minor named Corish stood watch at the back.
“ See anything Carlson?” said Dan
“ They’re out there,” he said, “ Trust me.”
“ There’s about six walking the perimeter of the station,” said Cpl Davis looking out through the scope of his S2AM sniper rifle.
“ How do you know?” asked Dan
“ This thing has a night vision scope,” answered Davis without looking up “ I can see six of them walking the perimeter.”
“ Well then shoot them,” said Dan “ before they attack us.”
“ It’s not going to stop them,” said Davis
“ What?” said Dan “ I thought those rounds could kill at several thousand feet?”
“ Yea, but these rounds will go through flood,” said Davis “ It won’t do anything but attract their attention. If we don’t provoke them, they won’t attack us.”
As Dan opened his mouth to respond, Spencer, Steven, and a soldier named Private Shepard walked up.
“You guys are relieved,” said Spencer
“ Thanks,” said Charles
Charles walked over to the center of the store where most of the group had gathered to sleep. They had pulled out some blankets and had found some inflatable mattresses in the store and were now sleeping on them. Steven was still in the back fiddling with the radio.
“ How’s it going Steven?” said Charles
“ Well its fixed, but no one’s answering,” he replied “ Either we’re out of range, or there’s no one left alive to pick up.”
Charles settled down on one of the unoccupied mattresses. He laid his rifle down on to the floor and fell asleep.
Three hours later he got a loud wakeup call. There was an explosion just outside the station. He awoke instantly and fumbled for his rifle. Racing to the front he looked out. Dozens of Flood armed with M19 SSM Rocket Launchers were firing at the station. It was mostly inaccurate, but several had hit the ground near the station. Large masses of Flood were advancing on the station. The group raced to their stations and began to fire at the mass.
Roberts had begun firing his machinegun. Charles raised his battle rifle and fired into the group. One of the soldiers, Pvt Jones, had an M19 and was returning fire. The 102mm rockets impacted the huge mass of advancing Flood ripping them apart. The group of soldiers and civilians fired a slew of different weapons into the mass cutting them down in huge waves. The flood returned fire from a huge amount of weapons ranging from magnums to S2s, but this fire was often inaccurate and often the flood ran out of ammunition and resorted to attacking with their bare hands. These Flood failed to get close.
But the flood kept coming. As the battle progressed, the Flood advanced ever closer and the group was running out of ammunition. Several soldiers had been wounded by enemy fire. The Flood seemed to know this and pressed their attack even harder. Soon many of the soldiers resorted to firing ineffective plasma weapons into the flood. They needed help.
“ This is Charlie 4-3 calling any UNSC or COS forces does anybody read me?” yelled Pvt. Sanderson into the radio “ Again this is Charlie 4-3 calling any UNSC or COS forces does anybody read me.”
“ Try changing to emergency frequencies,” yelled Major Kesserling from the back
“ This is Charlie 4-3 calling any UNSC or COS forces does anybody read me?” Sanderson yelled into the mike. Then a faint response came in.
“ Barely reading you Charlie 4-3. This is Papa 2-9 what is your situation,” said the voice
“ Our position is being overrun by the Flood, we need immediate evac,” she yelled, “ I repeat this is Charlie 4-3 requesting immediate pickup.”
“ Roger what is your location?” said the voice
“ Come down near this transmission,” she said
“ Roger,” said the voice
Then a dark shape appeared in the sky over the station. It was a Phantom. Its three turrets opened up and rained a stream of hot plasma on to the Flood who returned with some inaccurate rocket rounds. But the shear amount of Flood firing caused the Phantom to take evasive maneuvers.
“ LZs to hot,” radioed the pilot “ I’m calling in some gunship support.”
“This is Papa 2-9 calling in gunship support, I got a hot LZ that needs to be cooled down,” said the pilot over the radio
“ Roger 2-9,” said another voice over the radio “ This is Foxtrot 3-7 were coming in with some ordinance where do you want it?”
“I need you to level the area around a gas station at Bravo Echo 2-2-3-4-7,” said the Phantom pilot
“ Roger,” said the gunship pilot
Suddenly four gun ships appeared in the sky. These were modified Pelicans that had their crew compartments replaced by gun mounts and ammunition storage. Pelicans normally had two turrets. One was mounted below the cockpit, and the other was mounted in the crew compartment facing out to give covering fire to the marines exiting the back.
However in the gunship, the lower turret was replaced with two M41 LAAG Gatling guns and two pods each containing twenty 90mm rockets. The wings were enlarged in order to allow for more ordinances. These gun ships had on them two more M41s as well as two pods on the wings each containing five 102mm rockets. Jutting out from the belly on each side was a pylon capable of holding three different types of weapons. These gun ships had a fuel rod cannon on each side along with a plasma cannon and an M70 30mm rapid-fire gauss cannon on each side.
The four gun ships flew down and began to strafe the area around the gas station. Each made several passes around the station firing their guns and rockets. The Flood returned an ineffective fire. The group in the station let out a cheer and ran out to meet the Phantom. It hovered and activated its grav lift. The wounded were rushed in and were levitated in. Charlie and the rest entered in ones and twos. Inside he saw a huge row of seats large enough for a small platoon. He sat down on a seat and breathed a sigh of relief that he was now out of station and now headed towards a safe haven. Yet there was a feeling on the back of his neck that it wasn’t over yet. That this horror was just starting.
To be continued
infestation chapter 5
Date: 11 December 2005, 7:48 pm
Chapter 5
Charles felt the Phantom lurch as it went in for a touch down. He felt it stop and he saw the grav lift activate. He walked towards it and step out. The blue light slowed his decent as he fell. He walked out and saw a huge amount of people and buildings. There were Pelicans and Phantoms landing all around him. They were letting people off, taking soldiers in, or loading ammunition.
“ Where are we?” he asked Cpl Davis
“ Were at Proximal intergalactic airport,” said Davis
“ Why are we here,” said Charlie
“ When the base fell,” said Davis “ the surviving forces came to the airport. It’s now where we’re the command and control is for the defense.”
“ But why here?”
“ Well the river is behind us and the Flood can’t cross it, in front of us is open plain great for mines and defensive positions, and they’ve started a defensive line in the city.”
They continued into the base. There was a soldier with a megaphone talking to the crowd.
“ Attention,” he said “ If you just exited a transport and you are not military or law enforcement, we ask that you go over to that table and surrender any and all weapons. If they are yours, we will return them when you leave the base. If you are military or law enforcement, please see Captain Brooks over at hanger 12.”
Charlie, Chris, Spencer, Tim, Steven, and Dan all headed for the table while the members of the 32nd combined and a large number of other military and police forces went to a large hanger marked 12.
“ Please place all weapons and ammunition on the table,” said the soldier at the table
Charlie took the battle rifle off of his shoulder and put it on the table. He then took the Plasma Rifle off of his belt and set it down as well. He then pulled his pistol out of his waistband (he had lost his holster when he was fighting in the station) and set it down as well. He then deposited the ammunition and grenades on an ammunition belt he had salvaged from a dead Flood Marine.
“ Any of these yours?” asked the soldier
“ Just the pistol,” said Charles
“ Name,” said the soldier
“ Charles Roten,”
“ Can I see your ID,” he asked
Charles dug out his wallet and handed the soldier his ID. The soldier wrote his name on a card and attached it to the pistol. He then punched his name into a computer system.
“ You can pick this up when you leave the base,” said the soldier
“ When are we leaving the base?” asked Charles
“ When pickup comes,” said the soldier
“ When’s that?” asked Charles
“ Don’t know,” the soldier replied
Charles turned and walked down the flight line. He met up with Tim and the rest and they toured the base. They soon began to smell something cooking. They hadn’t eaten all day and hunger gnawed at them. They followed it and found a large hanger that had been renovated and turned into a kitchen. They got into the huge line. When they reached the front they were handed a tray, a bowl, a small knife, a fork, and a spoon. The soldier said that this was theirs and that they should not lose it because they were not getting a new one. They walked towards the food. There a soldier filled their bowls with a gray soup that smelled of chicken. Charles put the bowl onto one of the five sections of the tray. Another soldier handed him a soda. A large cook placed a slab of what appeared to be beef onto his tray and another dumped on some vegetables. At least he thought they were vegetables (they were green and slightly blue). At the end of the hanger, a soldier was handing out a packaged brownie. Or at least it looked like a brownie (it had a shade of green in it). They then waked over and sat down on the cold floor and ate. Everything tasted like it should, even if it looked weird. When they were finished, they cleaned their trays and walked towards the inner areas of the airport. They then collapsed on several unoccupied cots and slept since they had been awake since almost four in the morning firing at the Flood.
The next morning, they woke up and continued to tour the base. They stopped for breakfast at the mess hanger. As they sat down to eat, they saw a transport land and several troops rush on. Charles saw that they were a mix of UNSC Special Forces, Covenant special operations, and several humans with a weird design on their backs. The logo was a shield, two crossed swords and a skull that was half human, and half elite. It was strange and somewhat alien to Charles.
“ Hey Steven,” said Charles
“ Yea,”
“ Whom are those troops getting on to the transport?”
“ What the ones with the weird logo?” said Chris
“ Yea those,” said Charles
“ Those are UDA mercenaries,”
“ What?” said Charles?
“ The UDA has its own private defense force,” explained Chris “ I guess they must have deployed them in order to help stem the flood,”
“ I still don’t get why the UDA is helping the Covenant,” said Charles
“ Well its kind of an even trade between the two sides,” said Chris
“ And what kind of a trade is that,” said Charles
“ We needed ship technology and they needed a place to build ships,” explained Chris “ so we traded AIs for their ship technology and we helped build their ships,”
“ So is that why the UNSC is so friendly with the COS,” asked Charles
“ Yea. The UDA helped organize this alliance and the only reason its been holding up is because of them,”
“ Well…” as Charles started to speak, a soldier with a megaphone appeared.
“ Attention,” he said, “ We are asking for any volunteers to help defend the city against the Flood. We need more people to help if we are to keep the Flood from taking the city. If you are interested in volunteering, than head over to hanger 12 and speak to captain brooks.”
Charles and the rest stood and headed over there with a group of people. They arrived at hanger twelve and were told to stand in a line. They were handed weapons. They were then told to go to a table to pick up ammunition and any other supplies. Chris managed to get his shotgun back and Charles got his pistol and a weird alien-human hybrid weapon. It was shaped like an assault rifle, but the handgrips and the triggers were at the front. There were also several attachments he recognized as a flashlight and a scope, but there were others that he didn’t. To top it all off, it was only a few inches longer than an SMG. He walked over to the table where he was supposed to get ammunition.
“ What is this?” he asked the soldier at the table showing him his weapon
“ That is a S.T.A.R,” he replied
“ What,” asked Charles
“ A S.T.A.R, a Special operations Tactical Assault Rifle it’s a new weapon,”
“ How do you load it?”
“ You load it from the side like an SMG,” he said demonstrating “ It’ll use any clip that has 9.5 mm rounds,”
“ Ok,” said Charles
“ This weapon has six rails on it,” said the soldier
“ Rails?” said Charlie
“ Those are places where you can attach devices,” said the soldier “ This one has a flashlight on the left, a 1-5 power scope on top, a grappling line on the bottom, data jack on the right, and a plasma cannon on the second weapons mount,”
“ Plasma cannon, data jack, what are those,”
“ The plasma cannon is controlled with the forward trigger and the rifle is controlled with the other. The plasma gun is used for neutralizing shields; it’s an automatic plasma pistol. The data jack is used for tapping in to certain systems. It has a keyboard attached to it. You can use it to hack into computers. It also acts as a neural interface for vehicles. Your helmet will scan your brain and function as a neural lace,”
“ Ok” said Charles
“ Here’s your ammunition now get to a transport,”
Charlie went out with the others and picked up some plasma armor and a helmet. The plasma armor was an armor system similar to the Mark 5 armor system. It did not cover the entire body, but it created a pretty strong energy shield that protected the soldier fairly well from bullets. It also had armor beneath the shield designed to protect the soldier from energy weapons.
Spencer had gotten a Covenant Carbine for his weapon. Tim managed to get his hands on two SMGs and two holsters. Steven and Dan both got MA5C assault rifles. The group boarded a Shadow transport and headed out into the city.
Charles tensed himself. It had only been two days since he had left the city, which had become hell, and now he was going back.
To be continued.
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