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Dark Halo (04): The Megg
Posted By: Wado<wyamauchi@msn.com>
Date: 26 April 2003, 1:44 PM
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Note: This story is dedicated to the Megg forum participants, subnova.com and company, HBO, Louis Wu, Pallor, Shishka, and all the others that participated in the quest. This story is just a fictional account of what the Megg is all about, it has no bearing on the real reasons behind it all.
The Megg
Stellar debris seldom had the luster of a combat capable vessel, but as John peered deep into the arcing light and flaming remains of a damaged Covenant vessel, it reminded him of a dying beast -- A beast fighting to live, expending all of its energies in one brilliant attempt to defy death. A hopeless struggle, and in the end the natural order prevailed. Chalk up one more kill for the Pillar of Autumn. With the destruction of this last ship, the way was cleared and the Pillar of Autumn would soon be departing, making its escape from the Epsilon Eridani System and off to parts unknown; following the Cole Protocol the escape must be made in a random vector away from here and not towards Earth.
Familiar words blasted across the Com channels, "Master Chief, report to Cryo." John was expecting this; however, he had one more task to complete before he could go.
John stared at the small chip in his hand. It had come in a plain package, delivered almost like a piece of junk mail, but it was of the highest confidence and it was for John's eyes only. The orders had come directly from ONI High Command, a subgroup called "hh", even Captain Keyes did not know of their existence. Strangely, John did because of a man called "Swed" that seemed to know the story behind many secrets. Swed had beat them all and knew that something important was on the Pillar of Autumn.
John placed the chip into his neural input socket and headed to Cryo.
Once arriving at Cryo 2, it was standard procedure - John followed directions and entered into deep sleep under the care of the Cryo tech. Nothing seemed unusual, but John expected that. The orders would be encoded and only in his deep subconscious memories will they be deciphered during Cryo sleep. He would remember nothing until the time was right, then it would ring like an alarm clock and the sleeper within himself would awaken with the knowledge.
Implanted memories were still a risky technology and for High Command to risk it, it must have been of vital importance to keep it secret. John would take the risks; he would do anything for the Corp. He was born and bred a super-soldier, a Spartan.
A bright but soft light blinded John. Although his vision was blurred, his hearing was intensified. The quiet words of the technician blared like thunder in John's ears, "Sorry for the quick thaw, Master Chief. Things are a little hectic right now. The disorientation should pass quickly."
John did not listen; instead he skipped the whole scene and made his way up to the top walkways. An unnecessary action and John knew it but he had to get away and find the yellow barrel. What was so special about this barrel? Something, something important, the suppressed information in his subconscious was beckoning him to it.
How long had John been asleep? Did it matter, the ship shook and sounds of explosions could be heard. The Pillar of Autumn was engaged in combat and it didn't sound like the explosions were all on the outer hull.
A tiny voice in his head told him what to do. John stood on top of the strange banana-colored barrel that rested on two other barrels. Quiet clicking sounds ran through the chip and into his neural implant. It took several seconds he figured before all the data could be uploaded into his brain.
It was now time to hull ass to the bridge, by the vibrations from various nearby explosions, some heavy weapons were being used. Not even the reinforced blast doors designed to stop boarding party actions would hold up forever against such weapons.
Heading out of the Cryo room, as explosions rocked the ship, John could see that the Carnage before him was near and brutal. The technician that helped John laid dead in pieces from an explosion that had blasted the doors ahead partly open but not enough to get through. John quickly rerouted his course; he didn't need the ship schematics, because the way was clear in his mind. Over some power conduits and into the corridor by the other Cryo chamber and through a door, he ran.
The way was dark and throughout the journey to the bridge, crewman fought with whatever weapons they could against the Covenant invaders. Brutal plasma seared the flesh down to the bone on the lightly armored crewmen. Only the closing of blast doors gave them a temporary safe haven from the gore.
It was an impossible battle. If not for the sobering reality of the situation, one could describe the fight as only something of legends -- of legendary proportions and difficulty. John thought to stop and help, but they all were as good as dead already. He had to make it to the bridge and fulfill his mission. A secret mission whose purpose and objectives still eluded John. Only his own devotion to duty kept his mind sharp and his heart cold to the cries and horror that surrounded him.
John crossed a long room with rows of heavy metal barricades and dying Marines and crewmen. This room was where the wounded were left to fend for themselves. Soon it would be a morgue; the specter of death already hovered above one wounded Marine who weakly gestured and cried in pain, others faired no better. However, the sight of John, seemed to inspire them to fight on, briefly a hue of life colored their otherwise pallor skin. John could do nothing for these breathing corpses except to move on quickly.
It was not long after that when John entered the bridge and made his way to meet up with Captain Keyes. As Keyes talked to John, hidden messages implanted deep into John's subconscious during Cryo sleep began to surface. The message was becoming clear. There was a traitor aboard the Pillar of Autumn and it could be anyone.
The plot was diabolic -- thoughts surged through his head, but too quickly for John to realize just how evil the whole concept was. To find the traitor in the time remaining meant that many innocents would have to die. It was an exercise of mathematical proportions. The mathematics birthed gore.
Cortana would be able to help, if John could trust her. Cortana was already being uploaded into his suit. Destruction or capture of a shipboard AI was absolutely unacceptable, and that meant that John had to get her off this ship.
Cortana completed uploading, a quick process. "Your architecture isn't much different from the Autumn's..." she remarked and John could sense she was already browsing though his mind via his neural interface.
"Don't get any funny ideas," John teasingly warned her in an attempt to ward off her insatiable curiosity. John knew better than to upset her. Cortana was very, very dangerous when angered. For some reason, though, he had always been her favorite, perhaps she would help him. John tried to cloak his thoughts and turned more intently towards Captain Keyes.
Keyes handed John a pistol saying, "I don't keep it loaded, so you'll have to find ammo as you go."
"Aye sir," gestured John. He requisitioned some ammo for the pistol on his way out of the bridge. John hesitated; he could leave the bridge -- that was a viable option. However three Grunts had already reached the door to the bridge.
"What's wrong Chief?" asked Cortana over the neural interface.
"There's a traitor aboard the Autumn," replied John. "We have to eliminate the traitor before the Covenant can retrieve him.
"What makes you think it is a him?" questioned Cortana.
John wondered where Cortana was going with that comment. "I don't know. I need your help."
Cortana silently calculated for a moment then she replied saying, "Devotion Chief, do you know what devotion means? Devotion to a loved one is beautiful to experience. You have devotion Chief -- devotion to duty."
"Yes, get to the point."
"Devotion beyond reason become obsession, Chief," stated Cortana, "and only one group aboard this ship fits that description: Lieutenant Masters and his boys."
"The security officer..."
"Yes, he and his whole core group are traitors. All of them Chief and they are waiting just outside the bridge for the opportunity to take it over," said Cortana. "It all makes sense now, the encrypted messages I picked up during the trip and the room that no one was allowed access to. We have to stop them."
"Any ideas of how to go about that?"
"Yes, we need to get to Masters," exclaimed Cortana, "and he is in the security room, the room I have no access to. If you could do something to draw his men out of the room, I might be able to intercept the unlock codes and get the doors back open. You just have to buy some time and then get by them when I open the doors."
"No problem," thought John and he turned and hit the closest crewman seated next to where he was.
Cortana blasted a message across the com, "Security, the Chief has gone rampant...gun him down."
"Gun him down? You don't need to encourage them."
"Come on big boy, you can handle this. Oh, did I forget to mention that these aren't ordinary Marines. They are hybrid clones most likely under the influence of an experimental substance that blocks their pain receptors and gives them superhuman abilities -- Of course all at the cost of a much shortened natural lifespan."
"Nice of you to let me know. I've heard of these guys. I should have grabbed an assault rifle and some frag grenades when I had chance. Better that we lay low for now." John headed behind cover, an adjacent corridor would do for now.
John could see the Marines enter into the bridge area on his motion tracker. One was getting very close. "Has anyone seen him?" asked one Marine just before another rounded the corner saying, "There's another one." A strange statement for the situation but John was not phased because it was common philosophy to say crazy things when facing an armed opponent to throw off their mental state.
A firefight erupted and John attempted to make his way to the door that led into the security room. John's pistol rounds did nothing more than temporarily distract the enemy. These Marines were inhuman. The irony of it all, they shouted out, "Traitor!" while shooting at John.
Shields down and bloodied, John reached the corridor that led to the door. The door was open, Cortana had done it. He headed through and turned to the right into the long and winding room.
There was no one here. Fresh blood dripped from the ceiling, John looked up to see a large patch of blood in a heart shape with the letter "M" spelled out by bullet holes. What could this mean?
"Chief, we are too late," whispered Cortana. "Masters must have gotten out somehow. Look around."
There was no way out except for the door they came in. The Marines must have known this too because they did not come in, instead they waited out there; probably they already had control of the bridge. John looked around a bit more finding signs of where small cubes could be stored.
"Cortana," said John. "We need to take out those Marines, I'm sure Masters is long gone, there are signs that Covenant technology was once stored here."
"Yes, I agree, Masters could have escaped at his leisure using active camouflage." The ship shook violently, the Covenant were close. "Chief, we are no good in here. I'm ready when you are."
John took a deep breath, he was born ready. Letting out a mighty battle scream, he leaped into the fray to meet his maker...
The End.
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