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Project RAVEN Chapter 1
Posted By: Jerry<jhughart@halcyonsoftworks.com>
Date: 26 February 2003, 6:51 am
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The effluvium of the dead wafted in nauseating pulses. I would’ve vomited, but there was nothing left in my system to excrete. I was cold, hungry, and drained of energy. I surveyed the glassed corpses of the brave troops that once compiled my squad, inhaled, and dry heaved. The Covenant were—of course—responsible for this brutal attack. I hated them.
I had no idea how long it had been that I sat here, against this slab of concrete that belonged to a pile of debris, which once constructed barracks. The Covenant had hit us hard, and as far as I knew, I was the only survivor. And I had no means of communication. Most of everything was destroyed.
My eyes reflected the emission of red light produced by my last emergency flare. I gripped my assault rifle tightly, as visions of the Covenant slaughtering a mass of human forces filled my thoughts. The thought chilled me to the core, stabbing through a numbness produced by remaining in the same position for so long.
The reflection of light in my eyes flickered and faded away as I memorized the positions of the weapons I had compiled from my dead comrades. I held only enmity for the Covenant.
And, I believe, it was this malignity burning inside of me that kept me alive as my eyes closed and I drifted into a slumber filled with vague nightmares.
“Wake up,” a deep, penetrating voice said.
My eyes opened, and the sight of a SPARTAN-II in MJOLNIR armor reminded me very much of the Elites that had ravaged me of my friends and allies. Adrenalin ripped through my body, and I felt my blood boil; however, I was too shocked to move. I felt a sheet of perspiration as I shifted my body slightly and I finally realized what was before me.
“My God—”
“—There’s no time. Let’s move. It isn’t safe here,” the Master Chief informed me.
“Approximately seven minutes and forty-three seconds before the Covenant reach this position,” Cortana tacked on.
I was blown away. I struggled to my feet, still holding my assault rifle.
“Sir! Are we being extracted?” I asked hopefully.
“We have to go,” he said, before taking off. His movements were so swift, so precise, and so fast that I had to push my shattered hopes aside and raced after him. My body ached as I did so, and I felt my stomach tremble with disappointment, excitement, and adrenalin. We ran for some time, and I could tell he was moving way slower than he had to—for me. If we were going into combat, I would do nothing more than get in the way. I hoped we weren’t going into combat.
Finally, we came to a stop in the thick of a jungle. The rising sun peered through cracks in leaves and branches, and I wondered how long I had slept. I was panting hard and coughing, and the Master Chief looked like he had been power walking at best. When I finally caught my breath, the Master Chief assessed the situation.
“We have to recover an artificial intelligence memory processing cube from the Covenant. We have little time,” The Master Chief informed me.
The Covenant had captured human intelligence? That was bad. I felt the fear of raw evil sweep over me. How did the Covenant capture it? Were they headed to Earth? I had so many questions.
“They’ve just taken over a nuclear testing facility here, and our records indicate that one A.I. has gone undestroyed,” Cortana said, answering my questions before I could ask them.
“Sir, I can’t keep up with you...”
“My orders were to retrieve you and destroy the A.I. memory processing matrix.”
Me? Me, specifically? Why me?
“And there is no place safer for you than with me. Extraction is unavailable due to conflict outside of the planet’s atmosphere. We have no time. Keep up with me, kill the enemy, and do exactly as Cortana and I say at all times. Move!”
We continued through the jungle—slowly, because of me—for quite some time. The Master Chief came to an abrupt and shocking halt. I stopped just six inches behind him, fighting to regain my balance. He was focused on something ahead of us. Orange and blue lights illuminated the jungle some distance away.
“Jackals,” the Master Chief said at the same time that the thought crossed my mind.
“Six of them,” Cortana informed us. I moved left, made sure I had a clear shot, lifted my rifle, and waited for the Master Chief’s signal. His rifle was already raised by the time I glanced at him. I looked back to the Jackals, and they were getting terrifyingly close. However, facing the enemy side-by-side with the Master Chief did something to fill me with confidence and pride.
“Now!”
Two Jackals had dropped by the time I squeezed the trigger. One bullet from a three-round burst caught a Jackal in its shoulder; one bullet missed completely and one pinged off of its shield. Another three-round burst, and he fell. Examining the rest of the troops, only one Jackal remained standing. The Master Chief and I opened fire, and I watched my foe fall to the ground riddled with bullet holes.
The Master Chief continued through the jungle as if nothing had happened. After a moment of thought, I calculated the Master Chief must’ve killed thousands of Covenant soldiers and realized why taking out a patrol of Jackals meant nothing to him.
We met no more enemy forces in our long run through the jungle. I thought of how odd it was that the Master Chief didn’t even ask me what had happened—in specifics—during my encounter with the Covenant. This didn’t feel, at all, like a military operation. Perhaps we were shorter on time than I thought.
I was getting tired, and I held a high regard for the Master Chief. He was machine, killing and moving with precision unfathomable. I felt sick. Our jog came to a slow as we crept into the darkness of night, emerging from the jungle. I couldn’t believe how long we had been in there, and I was even more surprised how good it felt to get out. I felt free of encompassment.
I shuddered when I spotted the massive complex in the distance.
“That’s it,” the Master Chief said, stating the terrifying obvious.
He and Cortana informed me that the A.I.’s memory processing matrix had no information regarding Earth, but did contain all current nuclear technology. Apparently, the Covenant were impressed and surprised by our nuclear warfare, and wanted to absorb our technology.
“So,” I braved, “you were ordered to retrieve me, specifically?”
“I have my orders,” was the Master Chief’s cryptic reply.
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