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Avalon, Part Four; Chapter Twelve: The Escape
Posted By: Triad<m.eelkema@student.tudelft.nl>
Date: 10 May 2006, 9:15 am
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Avalon; Part four: Semper supernumerus, numquam superarmatus
Chapter Twelve: The Escape
0600 hours, September 23 2502 (military calendar), Below Ring-surface, Avalon nebula
The motley-coloured gang of Elites and Jackals, accompanied by a single Human sped their way through the hallway running parallel to the wall, which comprised one side of the prison-void. Walking, or rather running point was the silver-clad Elite Steven had come to know as Osso Innemee.
The corridor differed from the passages he had seen before. These hallways were narrower and darker. It almost appeared as if the floors were made out of anthracite, as black as the night, but still glimmering like polished diamonds.
Suddenly Innemee stopped, giving the rest of the team a signal to take cover. Slowly Osso moved backwards in a crouching position, without lowering his rifle. "Ship Master, I can hear two or more Forerunners standing behind the corner. I also sense something else, but I don't know what."
Ameklee lifted his carbine. "Circumvent will take too long. Osso,you and I will take them down."
Osso nodded and moved into position at the corner. Enno carefully peeked around the bend to gauche the opposition they were facing. Two Forerunners were walking patrol, holding their rifles to their chests with both hands, barrels pointed at the floor. Behind the soldiers hovered two eagle-like machines, roughly a meter long and a meter wide. They were made of the same shiny metal the Forerunners seemed to use for all kinds of things. Enno noticed a protruding part underneath the 'body' of the things, and judging by the way it looked he concluded these metal birds-of-prey could only be some kind of mechanical sentry.
On Enno's signal both he and his Field Master swung themselves around the corner and opened fire on the enemies. Osso immediately ran towards the other side of the corridor to create a wider field of fire. Meanwhile two other Elites joined Ameklee and sprayed the hallway with the odd-looking projectiles coming out of the carbines. Both the Forerunner-soldiers went down quickly with several shots in their head and torso before they even knew what hit them, but the hovering metallic vultures were not conquered as easy as their flesh-and-blood allies. Every time a shot from the Elites came near, it ricocheted of a flickering energy-shield surrounding the robots.
The mechanical sentries fired back with bright orange energy beams, coming from the very pods Enno had identified as weaponry. As the Elites hid back behind the corner, Steven saw Enno grab a peculiar looking hilt from his belt. When he flicked it on, a shiny silver bipartite sword a meter long was projected from the hilt. Unlike Human swords, which were held like baseball-bats, this sword was configured more like a shovel or a hacksaw, with the handle perpendicular to the axis of the sword itself. Steven was surprised at how beautiful the weapon looked, how the hilt encompasses the translucent plasma in an invisible force-field.
Enno lunged himself from his place of hiding and attacked the robots head-on. Within the blink of an eye he had enclosed the distance and slashed at the first flyer. The energy-shield took the brunt of the blow, shimmered brightly, and then disappeared. Noticing the droid's guard was down Enno quickly charged a grenade, slammed it into the sentry's optical sensor and ducked for cover. The doomed robot exploded into a million particles, the spray of which made his personal energy shield light up.
The second sentry had miraculously survived the blast, and was now moving in for a shot at Enno. Seeing that his brother in arms was in distress, Osso emerged from his corner and tried to distract the winged assailant. With the respite created by his subordinate, Enno got up to his feet and planted his plasma-sword in the back-end of the robot. Its energy-shield was already critically weakened, and could pose no defence against the force of Enno's strike. The exploding sentry threw the Ship Master back into the corridor like a cannonball.
Osso quickly kneeled beside him and looked for signs of life. "Enno, by the Prophets, don't tell me you've departed on your Great Journey! I need you here!"
Slowly Ameklee opened his eyes. He whispered: "Don't worry, Field Master, the only journey I'm going to make is with you. I wouldn't have it any other way."
After ten more minutes of darkened hallways the team reached the entrance of another 'cell' of the immense prison-complex. Osso tinkered with the cryptic holographic controls and managed to open the doors that parted the corridor from the void. Steven and Enno stepped onto the gondola and started to drift in the direction of the green platform holding the prisoners. From afar Steven could already recognize the distinct shape and posture of Major Morris. It wasn't late before he also noticed his executive officer. Standing besides them were five more Marines and two more Navy-men.
All his men were standing at the edge of the platform and were cheering. However, this stopped as soon as they saw what creatures were accompanying their Commander. Some of the men already took a couple of steps backward.
Noticing their frightened faces, Steven wanted to put their minds at ease and shouted: "Ahoy, crewmen of the Flying Dutchman! It's me, your Commander; Steven Fisher. I have made some new friends and have come to get you out of here!"
"Commander! So good to see you here!" his XO yelled as the gondola was still fifty meters away from the platform. "What on Earth's name are those things with you?"
"Don't worry about them; they're friendly! They are helping us to bust out of here."
After the gondola had reached the floating island, Steven introduced his crew to his newfound allies. "Enno, Ossa; these are Lieutenant-Commander Christine Smith and Major Frank Morris. Christine, Frank; these are Ship Master Enno Ameklee and Field Master Ossa Innemee. Now we should get the hell out of here. People, get on the barge on the double!"
"What happened to the rest of the crew, Commander? And where exactly did these guys come from?" Christine asked, still standing on the platform and pointing to the Elites.
"Now is not the time, Smith. Get your ass on the gondola immediately! We don't have a lot of time. I'll tell you everything you want to know on the way to the Dutchman." Steven was already worrying about how to tell Christine about the Flood and the numerous dead crewmembers. He wasn't sure how she would take it, her being a woman and all. Steven had never been good at gauging women for emotional responses, which accounted for the fact that he was a thirty-five year old virgin. Sure, she was an officer in the UNSC and should act accordingly. But this kind of horrific carnage was more than enough to take the heart even of men carved out of concrete. Steven would have to be careful bringing the news.
Meanwhile the team spearheaded by Osso and his troops were making good way towards the surface. Suddenly the Elite walking point gave the sign to halt, and signalled his superior that there were hostiles behind the next corner. Osso and Enno had dealt with this kind of problem before, and were quick to move into position to solve this one as well.
Yet, peering around the corner they noticed this Forerunner-detail was slightly different. It was almost of the same composition as the other patrols, but between the two flying guard-dogs floated another, smaller robot. This thing was nothing more than a spherical outer shell which housed a single shining green eye.
The two battle-hardened Elites were by now down-right experts in mopping up Forerunner soldiers and their tougher flying friends. It didn't take them much time or ammunition to take them down.
After he was done Osso turned to Steven. "We are getting close to the entrance. You better pray to your Gods those dropships of yours are there, or I'll make you eat a plasma-grenade, Grunt-mother."
"Good that you mention it, Innemee. I've forgotten to ask my men if anyone still has their radio with him."
"Don't worry, Commander," Chrisine said, overhearing their conversation. "They were very sloppy when they captured us. They took our weapons, but that's about all. I still have my radio, and will try to contact one of the Petrels as soon as we're topside."
Meanwhile the Elites and the Marines scoured through the remains of the destroyed sentries looking for the carbines wielded by the Forerunner-soldiers. One of the Sangheili noticed a strange object amongst the wreckage and picked it up. It was the odd spherical green eye they had seen before the skirmish. "By the Forerunner," another Elite said, "is it deceased?"
The Sangheili had even finished his sentence, or the orb came to life and floated into the air. The startled Elites immediately levelled their carbines. "No, wait!" Enno shouted, "Lower your weapons, brothers! If it wanted to attack us, it would have done so by now."
Suddenly the orb spoke in a strange soft, cheerful, almost effeminate voice. "Excuse me! I am Audacious Echo Two-Three-Four. I believe we have not yet been acquainted with eachother. Who are you?"
Enno was slightly dumbstruck by the orb's good-humouredness. "What…what are you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I am the monitor of installation zero-seven. It's my task to assist the inhabitants on this Ring with information and cerebral support." The Monitor turned his eye and noticed Steven and the leftovers of his crew. "Aha! I see you have already met some inhabitants. The transportation-grid has gone off-line and I was actually on my way to the Library. Can you escort me there? The Sentinels escorting me seem to have malfunctioned."
Christine tucked Steven's arm and whispered: "I guess this is a Forerunner AI, sort of like their version of Pellerin."
"Yeah, and it seems to think we're one of them. Might come in handy." Steven rose to his feet and stepped towards Echo. "Monitor, there has been a change of plans. We need your assistance and you must come with us."
"Splendid! But may I remark on your strange clothing? I haven't seen this kind of combat-skin before. And your alien companions still haven't answered my question."
"They are friends of us, which means they are also friends of you. Now let's go."
To be continued
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