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A Soul of Steel: Part 4
Posted By: The Scribe<nero@cinci.rr.com>
Date: 24 October 2003, 10:06 PM
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Note: So sorry about being gone long. Most of you probably don't even remeber me! Haha. Oh, well. You can find my other series, of The Wrath of Scar, just see a list of my previous stories. Okay, here you go... (Oh, and you should probably read the story before this: A Soul Of Steel: Part 3.
The grenade sat there for a moment, and seemed to stare me in the face. Then, by pure instinct, I jumped to my feet and I ran. I had never ran like that before. I carried myself far and fast. The grenade exploded behind me, throwing an unlucky Marine who was near it up into the air.
"Jesus, Wells!" Sergeant Chang shouted. He was standing next to me, his gun aimed out and into the wall of Covenant troops. "That was damned close. I saw that grenade."
"Yes, sir," I replied dully, still shaken.
The Sergeant ran off for an intercom station nearby. He picked up the mike and said, "All Marines take defensive positions at the entrance!"
Like magic, Chang's words moved everyone. We had gone over a defensive drill in the past for the outpost's entrance gate.
We all began to take form. In the end, one line of Marines stood up behind another line that crouched, who ducked behind another that laid on their bellies. Chang stood next to me in the back line. Our formation was planted directly in front of the gate's mouth, so enemy fire would sporadically pass us, not really ever accurate.
"Okay!" Chang shouted. "You know what to do! Line 1!"
I began to fire in the Covenant's direction along with everyone else in my line. Then after a few seconds, the ducking line opened up. And after a few more seconds, the lying line opened up. The Covenant didn't stand a chance. There was not a single pause in the firing. A constant wave of bullets sped at the hostile attack group. When ever Line 1 ran out of ammo, and would stop to reload, Line 2 would always be about 10 or 20 rounds behind us, so that gave us enough time to reload and then continue to keep on the firing, just as Line 2 ran out.
A few gung ho Elites charged into the Outpost. One began to fire its plasma rifle, which cut down three men in the line ahead of me. They fell to the ground and twitched a little. The Elite suddenly dropped to the ground as our oncoming bullets ripped it apart piece by piece. The other two of its partners were already on the ground.
While the Outpost's entrance was secure, the Snipers who were in the guard towers left their positions and took position on the other wall of the entrance that hadn't collapsed.
By now, most of the Covenant attackers were dead, lying in their own blood, under the Outpost's floodlights. It was when the last Covenant troop, who was a Jackal, was shot down while retreating, that everyone felt relieved. The sun then began to slowly rise, every once in awhile showing more and more dead Covenant troops.
"We've fought well," Chang said. "Pity we didn't get any sleep."
I let out a small grunt at Chang's comment, too tired to really laugh.
Chang cupped his hands to his mouth. "Everyone meet in the center of the outpost for a short announcement. We all scrambled to the center area and took position in a big, long straight line. Chang stepped in front of us, like we were toy soldiers of his.
"Tomorrow Polaris will be something of the past for some of you. A few of you, mainly those with good records stuck to your asses. You'll be heading off to some other planet named 114. It was discovered by the UNSC, so there's not much creativity in the name yet, but I'm sure some artistic bastard'll come up with something. I'm gonna list off the names now, so listen. If your name is called, report to the departure building near the entrance...or at least what used to be the entrance of the outpost."
We all kind of shifted and I swallowed, not sure to be happy if my name was called or not.
"Wells, Bradley, Bradford, Bailey, Damon, Roberts."
When the name "Wells" hit my eardrums, I immediately stepped forward and began walking towards the building. Above the buildings entrance, a sign read: YOU'RE NOW LEAVING THE OUTPOST, GOOD LUCK AND MAY HELL'S PERSUIT OF YOU FALL BEHIND.
I chuckled at the sign and stepped inside. An older man, apparently in his 50s sat at a desk and gave me what seemed to be a smile.
"How are you?" he asked.
"Fine."
"Didn't know if we was gonna' make it last night."
"Yeah, but we did."
"You one of those boys heading off to 114?"
"Yes sir."
"What's your name?"
"Wells."
The older man leaned over and handed me what seemed to be a small microchip device.
"When the guard at the ship asks you who the hell you are, you push the little button on that thing."
I nodded and stepped out. The sound of a ship warming up came over from behind one of the outpost's walls. I walked out of the gates and around to the outer-side of the back wall. There, on a small landing pad, sat a small transport. A portable set of stairs led up to the entrance. At the foot of the steps, stood a sharp looking guard in a jet black uniform, wearing a helmet with a visor that couldn't be seen through.
As I walked up to the ship, I couldn't tell if he was looking at me or not. So, when he asked rather loudly, "Identification", I was a bit startled. I held up the microchip device and pressed its small button. A spout of light shot from the piece and a small holographic image of me appeared. Along side my image was everything you'd ever want to know. He looked at for a minute, switched it off, handed it to me and motioned for me to get on.
On board were some familiar faces, but no one I really ever knew. The who went by Bradford grinned and looked at me. Taking it as a friendly gesture, I walked over and sat down by him.
"So..." I began. "What exactly are we leaving for?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," he answered as he eased back in his seat.
After about a half hour, I got to know Bradford pretty well. His whole name was Gary Harding Bradford. Pretty nice guy, really. I soon got tired of talking and just decided to go to sleep. I leaned back in my seat and dozed off. I had been making up for eight hours of lost rest when the intercom crackled.
"We're about ten minutes from the planet 114. The flight was fast because of it's neighbors with Polaris. Now, get your gear together and be ready to unload," the pilot said.
The ten minutes passed fast. The ship touched down and the doors flew open. The smell of fresh air filled the ship. We all got up and began to come down and step onto 114. It was an odd planet. The sky was a light green with pinkish clouds. We had landed in the center of what I could tell was a small colonist settlement. The dome-shaped homes of the colonists sat evenly spaced in a semicircle, and the streets were deserted.
Someone said, "Where the hell are all the colonists?"
A voice I had never heard before spoke out.
"They've been declared dead. Every woman, man and child."
A disciplined older man stepped in front of us all. He looked like he had seen some serious action. A large scar ran down the right side of his face and the area above his eyes was wrinkled and burnt-looking.
"My name is Captain Edward. You have all been sent here because of some of the seriously wacky shit going on on this planet. The reason there are no colonist here are because of a biological bomb the Covenant dropped on this place. Settlement survelience shows two Seraph fighters flying over the settlement and dropping two six-foot tall canisters. The canisters are still embedded in the ground."
He pointed over to where the canisters had slammed halfway into the ground. Like a can, their tops were popped open.
"When these things hit the ground, the impact knocked the tops open, releasing the gas. The virus released causes one of the worst known symptoms. Once the virus enters the human body, it triggers a mucus depletion. As you may know, mucus is what lines our stomachs. Well, once the mucus had depleted from the colonist's stomachs, the stomach acid rushed out and into their body, eating up organs, muscle and tissue. We estimated that after the acid had eaten its way out from their bodies, they remained alive for about an hour. That is why you are here."
We all just kind of stared silently at the settlement, imagining the screaming and crying that must've gone on.
Captain Edward continued.
"You will be transported to a nearby settlement with a military outpost there."
"Jesus," Bradford muttered. "We just got back from being at an outpost."
Edward closed his eyes as he spoke, "There, a plan will be constructed on how we are going to stop a large convoy that is moving as we speak. Scouts have spotted it. It is estimated to be at our location within two days. However, there is another problem. Coming from the opposite direction are two hundred Covenant soldiers. The convoy and the soldiers are supposed to meet up right at the outpost, but they don't know there is an outpost. So, some of you will lead a large group of Marines to the Covenant troops, and some of you will lead another group to stop the convoy. Now, let's go."
All I could do was swallow.
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