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The Shadows - Part 10: Only One Place to Go
Posted By: Glenny<CalKid07@aol.com>
Date: 30 October 2002, 5:44 am
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The group of black Elites walked down the street along the buildings, keeping out of site while they moved towards an area where more humans were trapped inside buildings. They saw the building about 50 yards ahead, and the leader could make out the upper body of a human standing watch near the front door. The leader smiled, and he turned to tell his Elites to charge...but he caught a glimpse of several out of place objects across the street, sticking out of some windows. He turned back to look at them, and then he narrowed his eyes to put them into focus out. His eyes widened as he realized what it was and just before he yelled to his troops to take cover, MGs tore apart the group of Elites in a matter of seconds. About 20 seconds after the massacre, the leader of the group opened his eyes and realized he was barely alive. Looking up, he saw about six humans walking amongst the carnage that they made. He saw their leader walk up to him and point the pistol at his head, and the last thing he noticed was a distinctive patch on his shoulder that looked like the shadow of a human...
The Shadows had been on Porrodso for a month. All of the Marines that were trapped and isolated inside the main city had been retrieved and taken to the Army base. The Shadows had not gone back to the facility more than twice: One to resupply themselves, and another to get Willie out of the hospital. With Josh and Willie back with them, Castor felt like he could do his job better. They had a perfect record for the month they spent there: all of their attacks and ambushes had been successful without any casualties. Earlier that day they had retrieved the last of the isolated Marines, and in doing so they ambushed a squad of black Elites that were going to attack the same Marines. Castor almost felt bad: every time he shot a helpless Covenant he felt a bit of sorrow. Especially that day. The Elite was the leader of the group, and he looked at Castor as if he didn't even want to fight and as if he just wanted to go home. Castor felt like he wanted to go home occasionally, but the problem was that he didn't have a home. The only place that would count is his childhood home...but that wasn't even a memory to him. He was thinking of actually using Havok to find his old home and his parents, and actually meet them and such. He never got around to it though.
Now that the Covenant attack on the planet had been pushed back, the Shadows didn't know what they were going to do. There wasn't anywhere for them to go, except for one last bit of unfinished business. Havok brought up the information on the tracker they placed on the Covenant ship all that time ago at Reach. The coordinates they received were far off the ship's navigational systems. Havok readied the ship to go, and waited for Castor's order. Castor stood there thinking for a moment, then nodded at Havok. Havok activated the slip stream, and off they went to what could be the Covenant home world.
When they arrived, nobody said a thing as they looked at the area. They couldn't even see the planet at first: There were too many ships orbiting to see. Castor almost laughed...it was a good thing they hadn't listened to him, because if they sent a strike force here they would have been slaughtered in seconds. The silence continued until Josh broke it.
"What is the biggest thing we have on this ship?"
Havok's hologram turned towards him. "What do you mean?"
"The biggest weapon. What would make the biggest boom?"
Havok analyzed the weapons on the ship. "We have several nukes. Those are the biggest."
Josh thought for a moment, and then continued. "I say we get on their planet, plant a nuke in each of their largest facilities, and then blow it. We can get away clean, and it would be like putting a needle in their heart."
Havok seemed like he wasn't paying attention, but he was and at the same time he was analyzing the Covenant's systems. "That is a good idea, Josh, but not good enough. If I'm reading this correctly, they have a HUGE tunnel going into their planet. This tunnel is used for mining certain diamonds and crystals. These crystals are what powers their ships, their plasma, etc.. It goes all the way to the core of their planet, where the most powerful of the crystals lay. If I'm right, a nuclear explosion down there would send that planet to hell...and possibly all of these ships around it."
Everyone was thinking about it. Castor looked at Havok. "Do you think we can do it?"
Havok glanced at him. "Under normal circumstances it would be easy, but these aren't normal circumstances. Our 'invisibility' on radars and such won't mean shit when we are flying down that shaft. I'm talking about auto-defenses and everything that will shoot at any movement not of their own. Plus, you are going to actually have to land down there to plant the nuke. Remember, these nukes aren't in our missile pods: They are sitting in our armory cabinets. Someone is going to have to get out and arm it. Then to get out would be even more dangerous...after they have sent out notices that you are there, there is gonna be a hell of a lot of resistance on your way back up."
Lucky laughed. "Not exactly a hit-and-run, is it?"
Josh glanced at him. "Shut up."
Lucky stopped laughing. "Yes, sir."
Castor thought for a moment. He then looked at Cameron, then back to Havok. "Which do you think would be able to pilot it better: you or Cameron?"
Havok thought about it, and replied, "Cameron can maneuver much faster, but I know when we're being shot at...Cameron should do it."
Castor glanced at Cameron. "Think you can handle it?"
Cameron smiled. "Piece of cake."
Their conversation paused for a moment as the actual planet comes into view for the first time. It would almost look like Earth, but it contained darker colors all with a sort of purple fade. The first thought that came to their heads were the purple color of their ships, which is the result of the purplish color of their planet. They all sat, looking at the planet, until Havok interrupted them. "Ok boys, about time you got ready."
The nuke would take about one minute to arm once they jumped off the ship to plant it. They could start to arm it on the ship, but it would still take that final minute for it to grasp the surface and lock itself up once the timer starts. The nukes were made to grasp the surface once they are set so they can't be moved, which in most situations would give them the advantage. But because of this time delay they had to suit up in their combat gear: Covenant troops would be all over them seconds after they begin to set it.
Each person began to prepare in their own way, since each had their own style and specialty. As the Shadows prepared, Lucky already was set with his issued equipment. He went to a computer on the ship with a keyboard and began typing an E-mail to his wife back on Earth...Lucky was the only one on this ship that had something to lose.
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