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The Return of the Archons (part 5) - Blood in the Watcher's Eye
Posted By: Wado<wyamauchi@msn.com>
Date: 30 July 2002, 8:36 pm
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As our heroes make their escape through the Sauran tunnels, the world of Medusa comes alive.
It's a new day for the 103rd Legionnaires; formed from the remnants of the 4th, 6th, and 12th Imperial Guard -- Proud Elites of the Covenant Chosen. Combining with the 31st Jackal Battalion, they march over ten thousand strong.
Just two days before, they skirmished with the 7th Imperial Guard who remained loyal to the High Priest and the God Emperor. Those battles were cat and mouse, today's battle will not be, nor will they likely ever see another Covenant again. After today, even the thick-headed Elites of 7th would be welcome sight.
Today they march on Bala-dun, the once great Covenant fortress. It has fallen to the flood and now serves as a main communication center to the skies above.
It would be tactically unwise to attack such a fortress without assault weaponry and sky superiority; however, times are desperate. Their standing orders are to fight to the last Covenant -- no surrender, no retreat. Every moment that they fight, even if they fail to take the fortress, gives the Chosen time to complete their objective - to reach the 3rd moon and escape the flood.
Along with this mighty 103rd fly two dozen Banshee ground assault aircraft. They won't be used in the assault; they bear the emblem of internal security forces. Their role today is to gun down any Covenant that retreat from battle.
On a hill looking down to the fortress, the combined 103rd and 31st form a battle line three rows deep with shielded Jackals and two rows deep with Elites -- An unorthodox Covenant tactic to put the lightly armored Jackals in front, but the effect is a wondrous sight to behold. With the Jackal greenish energy shields locked together they form a solid wall, behind them the taller Elites peer over the wall just enough to fire their weapons, their own full-body energy shielding blending into the shield wall making it hard to tell where the wall ends and Elites begin.
"For the Chosen! Long Live the Chosen!"
Da, na, na. Da, na, na. They charge toward Bala-dun to battle music.
[Pan to lights flashing in the sky.]
Far above a battle of a thousand ships ensues. The 81st Elite Hornets and any other combat capable ships engage the orbital defense system that is now controlled by the flood. Point defense mass drivers fire explosive rounds at one-fifth the speed of light, the small and agile Hornet interceptors making very hard to hit targets.
Da, na, na. Da, na, na. The music goes. The music jams every communication channel across the system.
[Fade to black.]
With all that is going on, our heroes encountered few guards on their way to the "Big Vault" where they discovered that John's MJOLNIR battle suit and Cortana are being kept. They quickly gain access to the vault thanks to Croaker's incredible ability to crack codes.
Max, the mighty Covenant Elite, gathers his equipment and eyes some other interesting things.
Croaker, the now frail Sauran slowly speaks in a low voice, "Here is where the wonders of the ages are kept."
Many wonders are beheld in this place, but John quickly homes in on three MJOLNIR battle suits kept on stands as if on display. John approaches not his battle suit but the first one to the left. He sees a small device to the front of the stand that resembles a Covenant recording device. John hesitates with his hand above the device controls.
"Chief, you really don't want to do that," Cortana's voice comes from John's battle suit.
"But I have to," John replies, pressing the controls.
There appears a holographic image of Jen, one of the few female Spartan prototypes. Stripped of her armor, she lies in some hideous device. A voice in the background similar to Alainas, the Covenant priestess, can be heard, "Human Spartan, we made a slight mistake with the last one of you. It died too quickly. We won't make the same mistake twice..."
Max, Croaker, and Cortana all stand by, not knowing what to do as John watches Jen undergo tortures too terrible to be thought of. In all she only lasted ten minutes, but before she died, she revealed the unspeakable. She revealed the location of Earth, the Terran home world.
John mutters, "I remember the last time I saw her on Reach..." John looks at the ground. If you ever wondered if Spartans could cry, you need not wonder anymore.
Cortana speaks as best an AI can in a situation like now, "Chief, John... these Covenant records show that only Jen and Josh were captured because they were undergoing augmentation at the time of the assault on the Reach colony. They escaped and took over the prison ship that was transporting them. However, the ship got trapped in the web of Medusa. They made it here in life pods only to be captured again."
Max speaks out, "John, I grieve for your loss. You must be strong. Cortana won't say it, at least not in front of me, but I know that if the Chosen escape the web of Medusa, they will bargain the location of your home world to the rest of the Covenant forces. Your world will be lost; all human kind will be annihilated. I cannot help you with what you must do, but I will not stop you either. The time has come for our paths to part."
John replies, "I could not have asked for a better friend Max. I understand that if our paths cross again, you may be honor bound to be my enemy. For now though, we part as friends. Live long my friend with honor."
Max gives John a big hug and then turns to leave. "Coming Croaker?"
Croaker turns to John, "Croaker miss you John and even miss girly AI."
John inquires, "are you scared Croaker?"
"No, Croaker also talk like this when sad." Croaker then heads out the door.
As Max leaves, he says, "Cortana, monitor the music, when you hear Blood in the Watcher's Eye, that is when the Chosen will make their move to the ark."
Cortana replies, "Thanks, goodbye Max. Goodbye Croaker, I will miss you too."
Cortana looks a John, "Chief, gather what we need, I've located our Long Sword fighter in a launch bay not too far from here."
[Da, na, na. The music goes on.]
The assault on Bala-dun has not gone well. What's left of the Covenant forces are now in a circle formation in total defensive mode -- tens of thousands more of the enemy pour out of the gates of Bala-dun.
Suddenly, just when all seemed lost, the skies above darken. "In the name of the fallen, we go to doom!" The demons have arrived.
Bolts of fire rain down on the flood from the flying demons while underground, demon spawn enter the fortress through cracks and holes.
The Covenant forces, seeing that the demons are only attacking the flood, cheer in delight. Then, moving in a spearhead formation, they charge through the gates of Bala-dun.
Far above the battle still rages, the Covenant hornet interceptors are agile and quick but they do not have the weapons to hurt the larger satellites in the orbital defense system. All the Covenant strike craft are destroyed. There is not much else that can be done.
Again, hope becomes renewed.
From the surface of Medusa come thousands of ships. Sauran ships, designed from the technology of the old ones, they are small, fast and powerful. Where have they hid these ships all these years, no Covenant knows, but neither do they care at this moment.
The tides of battle turn and at last the music blares, "Blood in the Watcher's Eye!" The path to the ark has been cleared.
Priestess Alainas and the other Chosen, in a thousand transports, launch from Medusa - Destination Bella, the 3rd moon, a.k.a. the Ark of the Covenant.
Now at this time, a certain discovery has been made by 2nd class science officer grunt, Og. He says, "priestess, we're not alone up here."
The priestess replies, "Of course we are not alone, look around at the greatness of the Chosen."
Og, in a timid voice, "I mean, the Chosen aren't alone."
Yes a very astute observation Og has made. Heading toward the 3rd moon is not one but three distinct groups of ships. We know one group is the Covenant Chosen. The second are strange vessels resembling squids in space - these are demon transports. The last are wedge-shaped stone like vessels - these are Sauran transports.
The priestess in a very frustrated voice, "destroy them."
Maybe Og should keep his trap shut, but he is duty bound, "we can't, we have no weapons. Not that transports have many weapons, but even those weapons we did have were removed to make room for more critical items. We have nothing to attack with, all of our fighter support is still engaged against the orbital defense satellites."
"Alright then, 3rd class science officer Og, we still do have engines don't we? We have to get to Bella before they do."
[Pan to the ships outside. Thousands and thousands of them all heading towards a single bluish-white orb.]
-- Next chapter, Queen Cortana --
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