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The Other Ones: Ch. 2: Autumns Fall
Posted By: The hand of Bob
Date: 1 June 2004, 8:29 PM
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The Other Ones: Autumns Fall
They had escaped the cryostorage with two new members. Basil a scarred tough looking soldier, who was on point with Cutter's Assault rifle. Behind Basil was Cutter carrying an unconscious Drew. Then came himself being used as a crutch by the other new member. He didn't know the other soldiers name, but he wasn't half as threatening as Basil, since he only stood about 5' 6. He was carrying the same energy pistol that had given him the leg wound (The previous owner; some sort of barking alien midget in red armor, was now lying at the bottom of an elevator shaft). And in the very back of the group was a completely recovered Richard. Basil had given him another scrounged energy pistol and forced him to watch their backs. Which was a bad idea in his opinion.
But who listened to a...he didn't even know his age. He had caught a reflection in his coffin (he still thought of them as coffins) glass lid, and figured he was around sixteen or eighteen. Richard interrupted his thoughts with another stupid question directed at Basil.
"Hey man, any chance we can get some clothes any time soon?"
"Stow the belly aching soldier." Basil answered.
"But I'm not a soldier, I'm an engineer."
"Fine, since your not a soldier." he paused and muttered "Thank God." under his breath. "Shut the hell up."
He didn't like the idea of walking around in his birthday suit during a firefight either. But he was an outsider and a civilian, so he didn't think he'd get a better response out of Basil. But luckily the other soldier was thinking along the same lines he was.
"Hey, L T"
"What is it Marine?" Basil responded. ( So they were Marines)
"I like to show it off as much as the next man, but I'd prefer not to give the Covies such a big target."
"You've got a point. Alright, let's head to the crews quarters."
They'd walked on for some time without incident when they heard a woman's scream coming from an intersecting hallway. Basil took up position on the left side of the hallway. Using his help the other Marine took cover on the opposite side of the hallway behind an over turned barrier. Green bolts of energy began to hammer into wall. The woman screamed again, this time in pain. A woman wearing a yellow jumpsuit similar to Cutter's turned down the hallway, and ran towards the Marines. She was followed by three midgets in black armor firing near misses, clearly enjoying tormenting the woman. Seeing the Marines the aliens ended their game by shooting the woman in the back of the head. Before the dead woman had even hit the ground, Basil and the other Marine opened fire. The lead midget went down from an energy shot to the head. The other two were ripped apart by Basil's Assault rifle.
"Come on we need to keep moving," Basil said.
When he came to the woman the Marine bent down with a wince, and closed her eyes and began to say a prayer. While the Marine prayed he walked over to the dead midgets and retrieved two of the fallen energy weapons. One of the midgets wasn't completely dead, and was trying to put its intestines back in. He shot it in the head. It spasmed and died. Basil looked back, and looked like he was going to say some thing but saw the other Marine praying. He closed his mouth then opened it again.
"Don't waste ammo son."
They went down two more corridors before finding. the crews quarters. They split up to find some thing to wear
He had checked three rooms before he found a with clothes that would fit him. He moved aside some military uniforms, a dress uniform, and found a outfit more to his liking. It was a pair of black cargo pants, a gray shirt, and a brown jacket. There was a pair of sneakers in the bottom of the closet. But he decided to go with the steeled towed combat boots instead. He also found a shoulder holster and some pistol clips. He looked around but found no pistol, and the energy pistol wouldn't fit. He put it on anyway, it had a place to store the clips and he could always find a pistol somewere else. He tucked one of the energy weapons behind his back and kept the other one in his left hand (he was right handed, but the Marine was on his right side).
After getting dressed he went out into the hallway and found the Marines in camouflage and body armor, Richard had found a badly fitting red jumpsuit, and Cutter had dressed Drew in a black flight suit.
"Alright ladies lets get the hell outta here," Basil ordered.
They had went down several floors and about a dozen hallways before they found something that stopped them dead in their tracks. It was a window with a view of space and a planet (it looked like a large gas giant). That by itself amazed him but there was something even stranger. Orbiting the planet was a ring at least several thousand miles in diameter. The ring looked like it had grasslands, deserts and even several seas and lakes.
"What the Hell is that thing?" Richard asked Basil.
"I don't know but were getting ready to find out." Basil answered.
He was right, it looked like the ship was headed in the direction of the ring. He could see what looked like lifeboats leaving the ship. A giant electric blue beam stabbed into one of the fleeing ships, vaporizing it.
"We should hurry up," Cutter said impatiently.
The others started moving. But he still stood there staring at the ring.
"Come on we should catch up," the Marine he was supporting said.
"Well Toto I guess were not in Kansas anymore," He said to himself.
He took a step forward but the Marine just stood there staring at him.
"How did you know my name." The Marine asked.
"What?"
"My name. It's Toto," He stated.
"Toto..."
"Yeah, but I'm from New York, never been to Kansas."
"Okay... Uh, nice to meet you... Toto."
"Come on were falling behind," Toto said taking a step forward.
"Hurry up, the doors' closing!" Cutter shouted.
They ran in a shuffling fashion, and turned the corner to find the door closing. One part of the door was rising out of the floor and the other descending from the ceiling. The door was clear and he could see both Basil and Cutter urging them to move faster. Richard had aperantly taken off. They couldn't both make it, he could leave Toto and jump through the rapidly closing gap, or...
Toto wasn't a big man, not that heavy either so when they where about three feet away he shoved Toto with all his might. Toto landed on his stomach half way through the door. Basil grabbed one arm, Cutter the other, and jerked him through. As soon as Toto's legs were through they let go. Toto skidded a good six feet before he hit a dead midget and came to a stop.
There was only and a half foot of space left and no way he could squeeze through. Basil's arm reached for him, he grabbed it shook it once and shoved it back.
"Nice knowing you," he said.
The Door closed. Basil slammed the Assault rifle's butt against the door once, then he stood back and saluted him. Some other Marine stepped out of a door way shouted some thing he couldn't here and went back inside. Cutter started beating on the door to get his attention, then started to point at a nearby service entrance, then motioned to the hallway on the other side of the door. He understood, nodded once and headed that way. He stopped near the entrance to pick up an Assault rifle from a dead Marine, he checked the ammo counter (empty), activated the flashlight and went through the door.
He had a gone about a hundred feet when he found an exit. He turned the corner and found a large humanoid alien in bulky green armor (he'd seen a couple of taller ones with blue or red less bulky armor and figured this was just a different type). He dropped the Assault rifle and fired two shots at the alien with the energy pistol; one hit him in the back of the head and the other hit him square in the back. Or they would have, except they hit some type of energy shield. The thing was turning around and looked pissed (actually it had some type of gold visor and he couldn't see it's face, but he knew he'd be pissed if some one shot him in the back of the head). He fled back down the service tunnel and wasn't followed. In his haste he had made a wrong turn and ended up in a completely different corridor littered with bodies.
He had know idea where he was, the ship was getting ready to crash, and he had know idea how to get off the ship. He was getting ready to head back through the tunnel when he heard gunfire and the sound of an energy weapon. He headed in that direction and found a Marine and one of those tall guys fighting over a larger bluish purple energy weapon. An energy grenade fell off the Marine and was activated. He tried to shout a warning, but the thing detonated. The explosion touched off more grenades leaving no trace of the Marine or the alien.
He wondered the halls for a while, looking for some type of map or sign. He passed through a mess hall where there had been heavy fighting. He left the mess hall and found another corridor. It looked the same as most of the others had; bullet ridden walls, blood stains, and dead bodies (three midgets, each having died from a single shot to the head). There was one difference though; a blue triangle on the floor was pointing through a doorway. He couldn't read it (florescent blue blood and gray matter from the midgets had been splashed onto it). But he'd been looking for a sign, so he went trough the doorway.
He gone about twenty feet when he emerged into a room filled with computers. He walked around an entire wall showing various readouts and views of the ring. And found out where he was; it was the bridge. There was a large screen showing the position of the ship (it was called the Pillar of Autumn), the ring, and what looked like the Covenant ships. But what caught his attention was the large domed viewport showing the ring backlit by the gas giant.
He watched as the ring got closer and closer. The ship vibrated from another hit from one of the Covenant ships. It looked like he was screwed either way; the ship was going to crash into the ring or the Covenant were going to blow it out of the sky.
"What the hell," he said setting down in one of the pilots chairs.
"I'm gonna die one way or another might as well have a good view."
He sat back, and waited for the world to end.
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