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Underdog-The Beginning
Date: 21 December 2006, 6:56 am
Pvt. David Bloggins was just a 16-year-old reserve mechanic sent to do a repair evaluation on the archaic abandoned command station in orbit of his colony. The only reason he was on the station was because the military forces on his planet were stretched so thin because of the war against the Covenant that was raging hundreds of light-years away.
Like him, most of his friends had joined the Marines to help humanity fight the Covenant. He thought his friends had the exciting job and his job sucked, he was sent to repair the old command station while his friends were taking the fight to the enemy.
On normal circumstances someone of his age would not be sent alone for a week to repair an old piece of junk like the construct he was in, but these were not normal circumstances, and the higher-ups thought he could handle it. At least his current assignment gave him some peace and quiet, four whole decks of nothing on the whole satellite, which is the size of a small office building.
"God damn it!" He yelled as sparks flew out of the console he had been working on for the last five hours.
He pulled out his handheld computer and ran a diagnostic on the console. "Is there some=-thing I can help you with?" asked the AI inside of the miniature computer
"Depends, can you get out of the computer and help me fix this damn station, or maybe give me some useful information?" He asked the AI angrily. The primitive AI he had in his handheld being nothing more than an annoying database search engine.
"No" answered the AI calmly.
"Lazy." David mumbled.
Frustrated, David threw down his tools, collected his PDA, and went back to his cot. He contemplated why he joined the military and whether being a mechanic was really the best choice. He hated and despised this station and it was only his first day. He still had six days left on the station and he had a plan, fix only the systems essential to his survival and when he got back to the planets surface say that the station was irreparable.
His English teacher had loaded a book onto his PDA for the time he would be away. The book was called Fifth Business, a couple hundred-page sleeping pill. He got to his cot and started reading when a window popped-up on his PDA "Warning: Airlock No. 2 on deck 1 cycling." It read. "Goddamn sensor glitches" he said to himself.
The private tucked his handheld into his back pocket and walked down the hallway to the ladder leading to the lower level, he slid down it, turned around, and his eyes immediately made contact with a blue armored elite just barely 40 feet down the rusted metallic hallway.
Adrenaline surged into his blood stream, and the words of his drill sergeant immediately sprang into his head "The Covenant Elite is an average eight foot tall monster with a mean temper and an extreme hatred towards humans. If you ever have to face one in combat, you better hope you're sitting in a Scorpion." The Elite charged towards him running in spite of the plasma pistol in his hand, each footfall making a loud boom that reverberated through throughout the corridor. The Private had to think fast, and reached for the pistol at his side only to realize that he had never been issued one. The alien was 30 feet away now he realized that he wouldn't be able to make it up the ladder in time without getting caught. The Elite 15 feet away now Bloggins bolted for the corridor to his right, he ran as fast as he could and he could hear the impact of the footsteps behind him as he ran.
He looked back as he ran to see the beast was gaining, still fixating his eyes on the Elite like a deer caught in the head lights of an oncoming car, he turned left to run down another corridor when he ran into a solid object. Pain shot through his upper body as he fell to the floor, he looked up to see the air distorted and shimmering. Before he could even try to run away something wrapped around his neck and held him high in the air.
The Elite turned off it's active camouflage and revealed it self to the human. By this time Pvt. Bloggins had a look of fear and terror in his eyes, the Elite held him off the ground close to his face to look directly into his eyes.
"How many others like you are on this station human?" The red armored Elite asked. Pvt. Bloggins could barely breathe; the words struggle to escape his throat.
"N…None" He said faintly. The Elites grip tightened, the human's eyes bulged and everything faded black. The Elite dropped Private Bloggins limp body to the ground.
"Search this installation for anything useful, then take the body of the infidel back to the ship so the doctor may have something to dissect." Ordered the red armored Elite. Immediately the blue armored Elite that Bloggins had first seen grabbed his ankle and dragged him the short twenty feet back to the airlock. "Poor human, didn't have a chance." Thought the Elite.
End of chapter 1
Authors note: This is my first piece so it probably isn't very good, but it will get alot better. As for inconsistensies (such as an elite feeling pity for a human) and general strangeness, it will all be explained in time (lol, plot developments!) other than that please give much constuctive criticism on the comment page and I will respond. Oh, and THANKS FOR READING!
Underdog-Wake up call
Date: 19 April 2007, 4:07 am
The Elites searched the station collecting supplies and examining thing as they went. After a short time of scrounging around the squad of Elites made their way back onto the boarding craft and lined up along the narrow walls that comprised the personnel bay of the small ship, Bloggins body lay still on the floor. They arrived back at their ship, a small military cargo vessel. The blue elite loaded the Private's body onto an anti-gravity cart and pushed him to the medical bay while the other Elites were being de-briefed. The Elite strode into the med-bay and deposited the human on the floor. A Jackal walked over and stood over Bloggins body
"Finally, something to examine!" The Jackal said triumphantly.
"Commander Umammee killed this one on the station we raided" stated the blue Elite. The Jackal bent over and pressed a cylindrical device into Bloggins temple. "You didn't do a very good job of killing him." The Jackal stated, the blue Elite looked at the Jackal and then the human.
How the hell could he have survived? He asked himself in thought. The Jackal continued,
"His breathing is shallow and he's in a coma, I could inject him with meds and get him out of it, or I could kill him the right way." The Elite paused in thought.
"How long will it take him to wake?" The Elite asked. "It won't take too long, but he won't be conscious anytime soon." He replied.
"Do it, and give him the speech implant, I want him to know what I'm saying." The Elite ordered. The Jackal went about the surgery on the human and signaled the Elite to take him to the brig. The still unconscious Bloggins was loaded onto an anti-gravity cart and the Blue Armored Elite pushed him down the halls and passageways of the Covenant ship, the whole time Grunts, Jackals, and other Elites stopping and staring at the Human in curiosity. He brought the anti-gravity cart into the brig, which consisted of only about five cells, two side by side and one at the end of the rectangular shaped room opposite of the door. The Elite deposited the Human soldier in the cell at the far end of the room. He took one last look at the teenager before he left to retrieve his meal. Covenant soldiers, mostly grunts and a Jackal or two, started piling up outside the prison cell to take a curious look at the newest trophy of the Covenant campaign.
"I thought humans were a lot bigger than this." Stated one of the Grunts,
"I thought humans would look more threatening." said another. Bloggins body lay still on the metal floor as it was being verbally dissected by the aliens outside the force field, the only sign that he was alive was the slow ascending and descending of his chest as he breathed.
As the crowed of lookers continued gawking at the individual inside the cell, the blue Elite told his commander the news. "What?!" said the red armored Elite in sheer surprise,
" You only put him in a coma your excellency, the doctor gave him some meds and he should be conscious soon." Replied the blue Elite.
"Good, I want to see the fear in his eyes when I finish him off for good." He said quietly.
"Commander with all due respect don't you think that a living human would me more useful to us than a dead one? There is no honor in killing an unarmed prisoner." Said the blue Elite.
"Good point Sammamee, but remember, if he has no useful information for us, kill him." Said the red Elite.
"Understood commander."
Black. All that Private Bloggins could see was black. He could not feel or hear anything. He only perceived minutes as hours passed outside his body. Then like the snap of a finger, he regained consciousness. He opened his eyes only to see blinding white light and a shade of purple. He grabbed his neck and moaned in pain, it hurt like hell. It was then that he heard a high-pitched squeaky voice say "The Human is awake!". It hit him like a ton of bricks, he had finally come to come to the horrible realization of what had happened to him, he had been taken prisoner by the Covenant.
His heart jumped and he rolled onto his back, he crawled On his hands and feet until he hit his head on the violet metal wall behind him.
There was a crowd of several Covenant Grunts and Jackals outside the eleven by eleven foot cell. They stared at the human with unwavering attention, talking amongst themselves. By this time Bloggins had curled up into a ball in the corner of the cell, he was sitting in the corner of the cell with his knees up and his arms atop them, he buried his face in his arms; sobbing quietly. He didn't understand, he was always told the Covenant don't take prisoners, so why him? Why would they go to all this trouble to capture a lowly sixteen-year-old reserve mechanic? He just didn't understand. The aliens outside the cell taunted and insulted him, calling him 'primitive' and 'inferior'. "Your race will soon be exterminated" one of them yelled. Bloggins tried to pay no heed to their words. He did a self-inventory: All he had on was a civilian T-shirt (If he was going to be alone on the station he might as well be comfortable), a pair of work jeans, and his steel-toed combat boots. He felt something in his back pocket, it was his PDA! He couldn't believe that they didn't take it from him while he was unconscious. He wouldn't risk taking it out at the moment because he didn't want the aliens outside the cell to see it. He calmed down and tried to assess the situation he was in.
Sammamee walked down the hallway towards the brig, he had heard that the human was awake, and he had questions, many questions. He arrived at the brig to see many grunts and jackals outside the cell taunting the human. He motioned for the Grunts and Jackals to move away. Sammamee turned off the force field and saw that the human was sitting in the corner of the cell curled up in a ball with his head down. Sammamee walked over and stood towering over the human.
The light around Bloggins darkened; he kept his head down, afraid of what might happen or what he would see if he looked up. The Elite lifted its two-toed hoof out and prodded Bloggins in the side of the chest, not to hurt him but to get his attention. Bloggins finally gathered the courage to look up, he saw a huge Elite with blue armor standing over him. He didn't know what to do, in fear he tried to sink even farther into the corner he was in. The Elite spoke
"Get up human", it said in a calm voice. The Elite backed off a little and gave Bloggins enough room to stand up. Private Bloggins being 16 was only about 5'7", the Elite towered over him at the height of about 7'11". There was something about this Elite that Bloggins recognized, then he realized it, this was the one that chased him down the corridor of the command station.
"Follow me human", it said. The Elite turned around and walked out of the cell, Bloggins stayed close behind it. As he walked through the corridors, the Covenant species inspected him. One Jackal licked its teeth as he passed by, this horrified Bloggins. Bloggins looked down most of the way while following the Elite, he didn't want t see anything else that could scare him. The Elite arrived at a door and motioned for Bloggins to go through. It was a room no bigger than the cell he had been in. There was a table in the middle with two large chairs. The walls were metallic gray and not the regular Covenant violet, the room was also very well lit.
"Sit." The Elite ordered. Bloggins sat down and sunk into a chair obviously not made for humans. The Elite sat down in the chair across from Bloggins. He tried to look away from the Elite, but he couldn't, the alien just looked so strange to him.
"State your rank, name, and position." Said the Elite calmly. Bloggins was so nervous he was trembling. He struggled to find his voice.
"Private David Bloggins, UNSC reserve mechanic." David answered back.
"Why were you on the station alone Private?" Questioned the Elite.
"I was sent to assess the condition of the command station for repair purposes. The higher ups probably thought that I could handle the responsibility and be fine by myself, I guess they were wrong." He answered back. Bloggins looked away from the creature and tears fell from his eyes.
"Why are you crying, human?" asked the Elite tone of false compassion.
"I've read the reports on captives of the Covenant. If you want information from them you first interrogate them. If they don't give you the information you want then you start beating them. If they still don't give you the information you want then you torture them to the brink of death. By then if they're not dead you feed them to the Jackals, or you release them, and hunt them down for sport. That is why I'm crying, because now that's what is going to happen to me." said Bloggins. He wiped the tears from his face. He felt like he was going to throw up. "Do you really think that we though you had information we would need to torture out of you? It is obvious from your rank that you have little information that you would need to hide from us." The Elite stated. The Elite got up and started walking around Bloggins is a circle. Bloggins followed the alien with his eyes but not his head, and he looked forward whenever the Elite went behind him. The Elite went behind Bloggins and lowered his head to the human's head level. Bloggins shuddered as the Elites warm, moist breath hit his ear as it spoke.
"I know you will answer me truthfully if I ask you a question. I know this because you fear me, and you know the consequence if you lie to me." It whispered to him threateningly. The Elite lifted its head and sat back down at the table.
"Do you know where you are human?" The Elite asked.
"It would seem that I am on a large Covenant warship." Bloggins replied cautiously.
"Not quite, you are currently on Justice and Revenge, a lower-class medium size supply ship. This ship is part of a large battle group that is on a search and destroy mission against any human colonies." The Elite stated matter-of-factly. Bloggins detected something in the Elites voice, something wasn't right, something was off, he just couldn't figure out what it was. "It is time for you to go back to your cell human, do you have any questions?" The Elite asked.
"I don't get it. Why me? Why capture me if you already know I don't have any valuable information?" He pleaded to the alien across the table from him.
"Our objective wasn't to take you prisoner, my commanders intention was to kill you, but you just didn't want to die. You were in a coma and I decided to bring you out of it." The Elite answered.
"But why let me live? Your species have no problem slaughtering billions of humans on the outer colonies, so why let me live?" Bloggins questioned. The Elite seemed slightly angered by this question. He leaned forward and drew closer to Bloggins; the Elite stared deep into the human's eyes.
"Because not every member of my species is a cruel, bloodthirsty slaughterer. I believe there is more to another species than to slay it. But I needed to know, and that is why you are still alive." The Elite said in a soft, quiet tone. The Elite stood and walked towards the door.
"It is time for you to go back to your cell, follow me human." The Elite said. The Elite started walking and Bloggins followed, momentarily the Elite would look back to make sure Bloggins was following him. On the way back to his cell Bloggins started to notice things, things that just didn't fit in. For instance; hoses and wiring were hanging out of the ceiling, metal panels would be missing off of walls, UNSC supply crates would line the sides of some hallways. But the thing that was the strangest was the fact that every time he looked out a view port as he passed he would see no other Covenant ships. 'Some battle group' he thought. By far the strangest thing he had saw was a couple grunts and Jackals carrying magnums, something seemed horribly wrong about this. The Elite walked back into the brig, Bloggins followed obediently.
"Get in." Ordered the Elite. Bloggins walked into the cell. There was an electric crackle as the force field cut through the air. Bloggins stared into the Elites eyes, the Elite stared back, their eyes locked for a moment.
"My name is Sammamee, human. I am responsible for you while you are on this ship." Sammamee said softly. The Elite broke the gaze between them and walked out of the brig.
Bloggins knew some thing wasn't right, all the things that he had seen, they contradicted almost everything he knew about the Covenant. He had read in reports that the Covies had cleaner ships than any other human ships you could find: and yet the floors were dirty, wires and hoses were sticking out of walls, and panels were missing from bulkheads. Why would they have UNSC crates and weapons? He knew that the Covenant hated human technology and weapons almost as much as they hated humans themselves, so why would they seem so pressed to use them? Maybe they were low on supplies. But how the hell does a supply ship become low on supplies? Another thing that didn't make sense was the fact that he couldn't see any other Covenant ships outside the view ports. Was the ship in a stacked formation? He just didn't know. Bloggins didn't want to think about it any more, he was too tired. He put his hands behind his head and laid on his back on the metal floor. He shut his eyes and went to sleep, temporarily escaping the awful reality of his situation.
Authors note: I'm Back! Sorry to leave you guys hanging for so long, I will try to update frequently. oh, and my gamer tag is "Mitch McNee" By the way..... :)
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