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An Unggoy Life: Chapter 17: Uninvited Guests
Posted By: CrazyGrunt<thomas-hoskins@comcast.net>
Date: 25 August 2005, 7:42 pm
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Aboard Pillar of Autumn II, ODST Barracks
Major Thomas Dalton walked into the ODST barracks. 5th Platoon saw him enter, and stood at attention.
"At ease," Thomas said.
His platoon relaxed,and returned to their activities.
"Whats up?" Krystal asked after they had reached his bunk,"Is the fleet recall command worrying you?"
"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Thomas answered.
Suddenly the ship rocked. Thomas grabbed hold of the nearest bunker, and grabbed Krystal around the waist before she hit the ground. He glanced out the viewport and saw something that made his stomach turn over.
An enormous Ork hulk made of UNSC vintage ships came alongside the Pillar of Autumn II. It dwarfed the Pillar of Autumn II in comparison. Thomas looked on in horror as the huge hulk turned perpendicular to thePillar of Autumn II.Thomas saw that a quarter of the guns on it were MAC cannons. The of the weapons were either plasma turrets or Archer missile pods.
Suddenly, Thomas realized that the turrets was aimed at the location of the ODST barracks, even if it was meant to hit the engine.
"EVERYBODY OUT!" Thomas yelled.
He didn't need to tell his platoon that. They had apparently seen it too, and were sprinting for the exit, all of them wearing their gear. Thomas grabbed his own helmet from his bunk and ran out the door behind Krystal, then hit the emergency blast doors switch.
Just in time. He fell to the deck as one of the rounds connected with the barracks, demolishing it, continued through the ship's engines, and out the other side.
"5th Platoon, sound off by squad numbers," Thomas said into the Comm, "Omega One."
"Omega Two."
"OmegaThree."
"Omega Four."
"Omega Five."
"Omega Six."
"Omega Nine."
Damn, Thomas thought, Omega Seven, Omega Eight, and Omega Ten were MIA.
"Zeta Squad, sound off by squad numbers," Thomas ordered.
Thomas prayed Krystal wasn't dead. If she was, he'd kill himself.
"Zeta One." Thomas relaxed at the sound of Krystal's voice.
"Zeta Two."
"Zeta Four."
"Zeta Five."
"Zeta Six."
"Zeta Seven."
"Zeta Eight."
"Zeta Ten."
"Be advised Major Dalton," Cortana said over the Comm, "Nine hundred Ork boarding craft have attached to the hull, and Orks are pouring out of them. I suggest you head to the armoury to get Energy Swords and Shotguns."
"Roger that, Cortana," Thomas said as he acknowledged the advice, "Alright, 5th Platoon, everybody head for the armoury. The Orks want to take this ship, but we ain't gonna let them have it. So lets move!"
The armoury was located one deck below where the ODST barracks had been. Ever since the UWSC had learned how to replace a depeleted plasma battery in a Plasma weapons, every ship had been given plasma weapons for there armoury.
The armoury was rectangular-shaped, and was about twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide, with a blast door that was 4 feet wide and 7 feet high at each end, and two parallel titanium walls where the weapons One wall of the armoury contained a assortment Energy Swords, Plasma Pistols, Plasma Rifles, Needlers, Carbines, Beam Rifles, Fuel rod guns, Plasma grenades, and a few portable plasma turrets.
The other wall contained the human weaponry such as M6C Pistols, Battle Rifles, SMGs, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, two Gattling guns, Frag grenades, and three Rocket Lauchers.
"Alright, I want every body to take a Energy Sword, and then take your pick for the secondary weapon," Thomas ordered, "Zeta One and Zeta Two, take a Shotgun and a Rocket Laucher as your weapons, but be sure to take extra ammo. We don't know what kind of Orks we're up against. I don't want to be caught up against Mega Armour Orks without the firepower to kill them."
Thomas turned to the Energy Sword rack, grabbed a Energy Sword, walked over to the Human arsenal and selected a Shotgun, Plasma grenades, and some Frag grenades.
The door of the armoury opened, and every ODST put the intruder in their gunsights.
"Relax," The figure said, and walk into the light.
The ODSTs lowered their weapons at the sight of the Master Chief and his companion, the Arbiter.
The Master Chief walked over to the Covenant weaponry, and picked a Energy Sword, Then walked over to the human weapons and selected a Battle Rifle. The Arbiter took a Shotgun and a pair of Plasma Rifles as his weapons.
After everyone was armed and ready, the group prepared to head for the bridge, which any tactician with half a brain would try to take control of first.
Suddenly, the armoury door exploded inward, and twenty Orks opened fire from the other side of the doorway. Thomas recognized the staccato of Ork Shoota fire. Those guns fired rounds so big it blow your arm off.
"Fire in the hole!" Thomas yelled as he tossed a Frag grenade through the doorway. The grenade exploded, and Shoota fire stopped.
Thomas stood up and looked at the dust cloud. Acting on impulse, he reached for the Energy Sword clipped to his belt. Then he saw it.
A Ork rose out of the dust. This particular was 1 foot taller than the average Ork, which normally stood at 8-9 ft. The Ork's arms were huge with slabs of muscle that Orks grow after a few battles. That meant the Orks that were assaulting the ship were veterans.
Thomas saw the Bosspole on his back and realized that this Ork was a Warboss. The Ork pointed a strange gun at Thomas, which he guessed was a twin-linked Shoota.
Ruzgob couldn't believe his good fortune. His old rival, Grubnatz, had been killed by a human soldier wearing black armor.
Ruzgob took aim at the exact same soldier, to return the favor. Suddenly, two figures rose from the dust, carrying what Ruzgob realized were Rockets. The two humans fired simultaneously, and the rockets hit him with full force exploding on contact, effectively killing him.
Thomas slowly turned around and saw Krystal and her American friend, Vicky Kobbels, standing behind him. somehow Krystal had lost her helmet, and was standing there, her tan face was beaming, sweating shining off her black hair.
"Excellent work, you two," The Master Chief said as he got to his feet, then tossed Krystal her helmet, saying, "Try not to lose it."
Krystal blushed, and slid the helmet back on her head. the helmet's airtight seal secured around her neck.
Slowly, the rest of the platoon got up from the floor, followed by the Arbiter. They all looked slightly shaken.
"5th Platoon, head for the bridge," Thomas ordered, "We must not let the Orks capture the bridge!"
Commander Nugga crouched behind the Weapons Stations One, Carbine in hand. He, Lovu, and the other four Unngoy of the newly reinstated Imperial Unggoy Protectors waited on the bridge of the Pillar of Autumn II, while Spec Ops Commander Half-Jaw and the URSC Honor Guards confronted the mob of Orks on the other side of the blast door. Nugga could hear the sound of of Ork Shoota fire that was quickly answered by Battle Rifle fire through the 3 ft thick Titanium-A blast door.
Nugga had checked the schematics of the bridge before the mission to Vor'Anoth. It was two stories high and a hundred yards in diameter, with maintenance walkways along the ceiling and attached to the wall halfway up the side of it. The walkways were perfect places to snipe from, so Nugga had ordered Lovu to set up a sniper post on a walkway attached to the wall.
Nugga turned to the other occupants on the bridge. Lovu lay prone at her sniper post on the other side of the circular bridge. The bridge crew, which was made of five Humans, one Unggoy, and two Sangheili, was gathered on the other side of the room, SMGs and Plasma Rifles taken from their weapons lockers along the wall. Admiral Keyes was crouched behind Weapons Station Two, holding two SMGs. Sergeant Johnson was perched on one of the walkways along the ceiling, a portable machinegun turret set up and was aimed at the blast door. Two of the other Imperial Unggoy Protectors, Glor and Huka, were manning a portable plasma turret each of them had set up on opposite sides of the bridge. The other two females in the squad, Yanna and Holi, were postioned behind Navigation One and Two, their Carbines loaded and ready to fire on a moments notice.
Nugga thought about why Glor, Huka, Yanna, and Holi were chosen for the Imperial Unggoy Protectors. It was probably because they were affected by the Flood Spores like Lovu and I, Nugga thought. After all, it had made their bodies grow by 1ft, became thicker, and was stronger than the average Unggoy.
He looked down at his body. Ever since the destruction of Unggo, their bodies had never changed back to its orginal form. The scientists said that they would all have to live with the mutation, because no one could discover a cure for it.
When they were selected for the program, they were given new methane packs that had a image of their home planet, Unggo. They were also given body armor that covered their entire body, minus the head, but they were given helmets to protect their heads. The body armor was extremely flexible and could take repeated blasts from any Covenant or Human arsenal, apart from a naval ships' guns. Nugga was hoping it could withstand an Ork arsenal.
Suddenly, the sound firing stopped. Nugga made a hand signal to Glor and Huka, giving them the order to prepare to fire.
"Holi," Nugga said over the Comm, "I want you to investigate the silence on the other side of blast door. Use extreme caution."
"Why me?" Holi complained over the Comm, but crept toward the door. As she reached the blast door, she whispered, "Very quiet now…"
The blast door exploded. Nugga looked away from the blast and shouted, "Casualty! Open fire!"
Glor and Renam were happy to comply. The fire from their plasma turrets made the entrance look as if twenty plasma grenades had exploded in front of it.
Nugga heard Holi scream, "NO! PLEASE, NO!"
"Hold your fire!" Nugga yelled over the sound of the plasma turrets ceased.
Glor and Huka stopped firing, and Nugga squinted through the thick steam, looking for Holi, but couldn't see a thing with all the thick steam blocking his vision.
"Lovu," Nugga said over the Comm, "Is your Beam Rifle equipped with thermal imaging?"
"Yes, but it wouldn't do me any good because that steam is hot from the Plasma salvo," Lovu said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Why?"
"I want to know if Holi is dead," Nugga answered, "Her body would probably be cold, so there would be a dark patch in that steam."
Suddenly the steam vanished, as if swept away by a giant hand. Nugga saw Holi lying by to the doorway wher the blast door had been moments before The ten Orks that up till then, had been creeping toward his position unnoticed. The Orks blinked in surprise for a few seconds, then pulled out their weapons and charged.
"Open fire!" Nugga shouted and began firing at the Ork leader. The first shot hit it squarely between the eyes, killing it where it was standing.
Nugga, Yanna, Glor, Huka, and Lovu kept a supressing fire, while the Johnson mowed the Orks down with the machinegun turret. In about two minutes, the other nine Orks were dead, compliments of Johnson's machinegun.
Ten minutes later, the Master Chief and the Arbiter walked in, followed by Major Thomas and 5th platoon.
"Damn," Thomas muttered, shouldering his Shotgun as he stepped over a dead Ork, "Looks like we missed the party."
No one heard him, because they were paying attention to the holoboard, and what was happening on the battlefield outside the ship.
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