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Biomass
Posted By: Nicholas POwell<T.nick.powell@gmail.com>
Date: 7 July 2008, 6:19 pm
Read/Post Comments
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BIOMASS
Lieutenant Michal Anderson hid behind his best concealment option while thin ion beams arced through the cold atmosphere. Anderson grabbed a grenade strapped in his armored breast pocket and pressed the two buttons on the explosive. He threw the grenade over his head and waited for the vibration of the boom. Once the explosion rattled the ground he got up quickly shooting every alien standing up with burst fire. Purple glowing blood spilled out of the bodies like a hose and collected itself in the dirt. Remnants and bits of flesh littered the floor. He stared at the decapitated alien bodies around him. He looked at his G856B Assault Rifle. His indicator read five rounds left. He hit the button on the side of his gun and the magazine slid out with ease. He then quickly reloaded the empty gun. The gun made a satisfying click as it accepted the new magazine.
"Good" he said "I'll need it later." A voice emitted through his radio on his left shoulder.
"Sir." Corporal Wallace said over the COM. "Permission to bring Warthog to load cargo at your location?"
"Permission granted, Bring Foley and Avery with you."
"Yes sir." The radio transmission ended. The three men in a warthog came over the hill and the Vehicle's massive tires slowly hit the ground and skidded to a halt. The men came out and saluted the Lieutenant. They then quickly went over to the precious cargo. But before they started to haul the equipment, Automatic gunfire was heard and explosions rattled the ground in the distance. Shortly after, Anderson's radio followed by the marines' radio clicked on and a marine that sounded injured began to speak.
"Sir
Enemy approaching base, Not Covanant. Repeat not...ma...a
needs...Imed
re— A crude high pitched snarl was heard and the radio clicked, ending the transmission. The Gun and Ion fire did not cease.
"Get in the back of the warthog Foley, Avery you drive, and Wallace grab a belt of ammo for the turret and load it."
The marines responded immediately, reloading there weapons and side arms, grabbing ammo and jumping into the warthog. He followed suite by grabbing a jackhammer missile launcher and got onto the side seat of the armored car.
"Start driving" The Lieutenant said.
"Yes sir." Avery said enthusiastically. The wheels grinded into the soil soaked in purple blood and began to move.
The warthog roared over the hills and stopped about 400 meters away from the base. Anderson hopped out and grabbed his binoculars. He magnified the vision to the fifteenth power. He spotted only three marines on the top of a hill surrounded by
creatures. He hopped back on, telling Avery to go top speed towards the base. He shouldered his jackhammer and took a rather unreliable aim towards the bottom of the hill where the creatures were. He fired.
The rocket soared through the air and right over the tower where the marines were. The marines had ducked to the ground in instinct, but had returned to there stationary machine guns and fired once more into the crowd of the threat they were being faced with. The lieutenant cursed at himself for missing, and unshouldered the rocket launcher. He reached for his assault rifle and turned the safety off. The warthog wheeled inside the base and the Marines began firing. It cut through the mob of the creatures and Flesh was thrown in the air. The Vehicle slammed into a mob, and they scudded through the dirt, seemingly unharmed getting up after they grinded into the soil.
Anderson studied one of the creatures closely, one resembled one of the marines, another looked similar to one of the Covanant, but, pale dead and changed, with a gaping crater in some of there chests. The armored car swerved and hit another group of the ugly creatures. One hooked onto the bar over the windshield and roared into the commander's face. Slime landed on his face and neck. The commander drew up his weapon, closed his eyes and fired. Brain matter and globs of black slime fell on his face. He looked and the remnant of the face was splattered all over the half part of the windshield. The body was no longer there. He fired blindly into the Crowd of nasty creatures. The bullets penetrated the creatures Pale Green skin. They snarled and chased after the vehicle that wounded them. Avery steered the car straight through the Creatures hitting them harmlessly as they slipped under the vehicle. Hitting three more of the monsters, they had made it through to the hill. The four quickly got out of the vehicle.
"We need to get the hell out of here!"
"Yes sir
but if we don't hold hem back, they'll overwhelm us in a heartbeat!" The commander got in the driver position and placed his assault rifle on his lap. Avery and Wallace both took up there positions as gunners. Foley hopped on the passenger seat and reloaded his M22A1 Shotgun. The three marines that occupied themselves with the turrets hurtled grenades and had hurriedly hopped on the seats in-between the turrets and the front seats, facing toward each side of the Warthog. Anderson stepped on the pedal till it reached the bottom of the panel. The warthog accelerated instantly. They fired into the mob and hit a group of the monsters. The Lieutenant Continued to drive even when they were far from the base until they no longer saw the base.
"Wait, where the hell is Meyer and Asimov?" Avery choked.
"Don't know sir, I saw them disappear going over a hill before the things attacked us."
"What were those things?" One of the marines had asked
"None of us know, they just came from nowhere and attacked us, I swear, one of them looked just like my friend, except, he was next to me...I don't know, it's
strange
" his voice drifted off. Wallace looked at his HUD and it confirmed that the marine he was talking to was named Private Daniel Mendoza. He checked the other two. Private Charles Mauler and Corporal Jason Peterson.
"Wallace, Call for EVAC Now" Said the Lieutenant
Wallace did what he was told and grabbed his Proximity Distortion Antennae (PDA). (The device makes isolated signals that no one can hear except for the person or persons you're transmitting to, Thus not giving away your position) Wallace pressed a series of buttons and the PDA sent the transmission to any nearby pelican . Shortly after the signal for evac was sent back to the PDA, confirming a transmission.
"This is Pelican Bravo 414, we are inbound over"
"Sir" Wallace yelled "The Pelican is inbound were ready to be picked up, Stop right here."
"Roger that" The lieutenant said, trying to yell over the engine. The vehicle came to a sudden stop. The Pelican was about three miles out.
"This is bravo 414, sir, what the hell are those
things down there at the base, I read all the transponders in the area, but its saying there all confirmed KIA at the same time, but there-"
The lieutenant answered in a harsh voice.
"We'll explain what we saw once we are aboard your ship"
The engines of the Ship roared and the marines jumped in the rear of the ship where it held up to thirty men. The warthog was magnetized onto the midsection of the ship and it pivoted up and out of the atmosphere.
CHAPTER 2
Location: Aboard Vicon Class Destroyer "Rectified"
Orbit: Around Covanant Covenant Home world
Date: Nov. /25/ 2678
Time: 0100 hours
Michal Occupied himself with an MRE, eating crackers and peanut butter. He set aside his food and thought. How come the infirmary couldn't find any type of infectious disease anywhere where gore splattered on him? He lay down (tired after his debriefing, and disease check up) on his bunk and felt tired, so tired. He closed his eyes and ---- a loud alarm noise interrupted Michal's slumber and he jumped from his bunk.
"Attention Crew we are on Combat Alert Alpha! Squads Alpha through sierra, standby to repel borders, this is not a drill, repeat this is not a drill. Towel through Zebra, Hit the landing decks immediately for extraction.
Michal was already done locking his armor into place, finished the rest of his cracker on his desk and grabbed his side arm, holstered it and walked out of his quarters.
Michal quickly went into the armory, grabbed a Ma76b battle rifle and an MlR12 Shotgun (Bigger gauge than M22a1 Slugs) and hooked them onto his back. He grabbed two grenades, one satchel charge, and ammo can full of 7.62 and 6 gauge projectiles for his weapons. He quickly walked out of the area into the busy hall full of engineers and Marines. He jogged for twenty meters and took a left into the hanger bay where they loaded the marines and cargo into Pelicans to be transported to any given location. The cargo bay was about as big as a super bowl, and as hollow as one too for the ships to maneuver easily in. Anderson met the other Marines (Foley, Wallace, Mendez, Avery, Peterson and Mauler) near the parked Pelican and told them to load up. They listened and quickly sat down in the seats. The Lieutenant followed suit. The Air locks on the Pelican sealed with a hiss. The Ship was detached from the locks that held it up and its Jets (with two Degrees of Freedom each) (Eight jets in all) Flared to life and supported itself in a hover. It moved forward into an empty room and the door shut behind it.
The Ship was in the vacuum of space. Anderson opened the sliding door that entered the small pilot's cockpit and looked through the reinforced windshield. The Planet they were near was the size of Jupiter, had over 40 moons, small belt of asteroids and two suns that were approximately 10 minutes away at the speed of light. The Whole planet literally consisted of Mechanical parts that created the gravity much like the Earth's moon and Earth itself. But the gravity's pull increased the further you went out of the atmosphere and once again decreased so the moons wouldn't be pulled to close to the planet. As we discovered this planet, it denied the facts of Einstein's theory of relativity, in a sense. The planet had a generator inside the mechanical core that warped the gravity to shift, like an electromagnet. Each Moon was a base and had at least one deadly anti-capital weapon placed on it. Unfortunately the Covanant did not expect so many small ships would attack there deadly ion satellites one by one. The huge planet they were in orbit with was a Covanant Covenant Home World (a Place where all types of Species that Joined the Covanant Lived and worked
) The Place was of high importance for the Aliens, it was the central core to keep all the races tied together. If the Humans captured this vital planet, they would be able to crush the Covanant, ending the thirty year war. Nuke half the planet, take over the rest. Plasma Bomb the rest Anderson was being Dropped off at a continent (the size of Earth) called Amok' N' Gait. (This stood for Life or Death.) The captain had given the whole crew orders of the new threat, If possible, under the circumstances; it is a priority that you avoid all exposure to the new threat, and if confronted by one, to stay as far away from it as you can/ Soon after the captain had said that, all Marines who had seen this new threat up close, you must report to the infirmary right away for exam---.
"Shit! The Thrusters blew! We've been hit! Shit! Shit!" The Pilot exclaimed. The pilot's controls flashed a constant red and blue.
"Holy Shit! Prepare for impact!" Anderson didn't notice how close they were towards the planet. He quickly went over to the small door and went through to the room where his squad was
"Were gonna hit hard! Brace yourself!" he screamed to all of them through the COM. The ship jerked forward, the lieutenant hit the back of his head against the Weapons locker and his helmet fell free from his head. Blackness fell over him.
CHAPTER 3
Location: Amok' N' Gait
Date: Nov 25 2678
Time: 1200 hours
Long: 34 Lat: 76
Michal awoke from blackness and slowly rose up moaning in pain. Blood oozed from the top of his forehead and across his cheek. He grabbed a small aid kit and reached a cloth from it, dabbing the blood from his eyes, he then put on his helmet and looked at the others. A small screen protruding out of his helmet reached over and was placed in front of one of his eyes. The screen in front of his eye had Pinged three KIA. The Pilot, Mendez and Mauler. Death cause: Concussion of impact. The rest breathing. He pressed a keypad next to the air locked door, the Door creaked open and fell to the ground. He raised his assault rifle and looked around the area. Clear, for now. Foley and Wallace shivered as they lay there unable to grasp consciousness. Anderson just noticed how cold it actually was. The environment around him was thick with oak trees that had pine needles instead of leaves upon there branches. The ground was covered with massive amounts orange, blue ferns that littered the floor and the small amounts of fog that was icy cold. And mold. The two suns barely made there light shine through the needles making the atmosphere semi-dark. Avery had Woke sitting upright.
"Jesus Christ
" He looked at Mauler and Mendoza.
He got up walked toward them and shut there eyes that looked in horror and pain. He grabbed both their dog tags and went into the small room where the pilot was. Anderson heard the faint noises of animals in the dense primitive forest. Wallace coughed up blood that was from his nose. He slowly rose and grabbed his rifle next to the lieutenant
"I'll take point
sir." He said in a hesitant voice.
Avery came out of the room where the cockpit was with three dog tags in hand
"Poor sons of bitches" he said in a whisper. He grabbed Foley and put him over his shoulder.
"Don't worry sir" he said "ill give him the wake up stiff." Avery Gently placed him against one of the trees near the ship and grabbed an epinephrine Pen. He injected it into Foley Thigh.
Within seconds Foley was active and alert
and moaning in pain. The men had turned around when they heard Peterson crying silently as to try not to attract attention; he was next to the two lifeless bodies, Mendez and Mauler. His head in his arms.
"Why god? Why?" he said over his congested nose. Those words were repeated over and over until he finally broke into crying again. Anderson suppressed his feelings for the two men, and told Foley to hush him and to help him up. He didn't say "before our cover is blown" because a Pelican falling out from the sky more than 450 miles per hour was already cover blown. Foley and Anderson both gently went out of the Pelican. Anderson walked over to the pilot room and sent a signal to the Rectified confirming three KIA's and one Pelican out of commission. He walked out, Went to the keypad and sealed the door shut, just in case if any animals were to try and consume them. The five men quietly jogged up against trees. They heard a small soothing sound, but they all new what it was. An A' java (nicknamed: Phantom.) It was a hovering mechanism armed with a deadly small ion cannon made just to take out infantry and lightly armored vehicles. It was only half the size of an average human, and could be easily killed, Just not with any high rate projectiles, (the shields would deflect all high rate projectiles. you had to use grenades, or
rocks. Foley reached into his armor pocket and pulled out a magnetic grenade. He pressed the detonation button and threw it. The grenade clung to the rear of the mechanism and exploded into shards of heaping heated metal. It had come to investigate the crash. They had to move quickly, or be captured.
"Sir" Wallace whispered through the COM.
"Enemy search parties, they must be searching for us."
"Once they get close to the Pelican. Set the self destruct sequence to Two minutes. By then we'll be long gone before it erupts."
"Yes sir."
"Pelican's rear camera is still working. Im setting it on my HUD
got it"
They jogged through the forest, heading towards there objective, destroy all Mobile com links and fuel harnessers and wait for pick up six miles north east of the factory. Unfortunately, the pick up zone was where the Pelican crashed; they needed to use one of the Com Links to move the LZ to a new location.
They heard the faint noise of the harnessers. It was a constant pounding noise, one that was loud enough to feel.
Coming over a hill was the faint site of their objective "holy shit, sir that's a lot of alien Bastards" Avery said harshly.
"My HUD confirms 63 hostiles guarding the area." Peterson exclaimed.
"Sir, Covanant are near the ship, setting the timer now.
"Scratch what I said Wallace, detonate it now."
"Sir, with all due respect, that will--"
"Just do it."
"Yes sir" There was a distant thud. There was a cloud of smoke and fire rising in the distance, and soon, more than half of the Covanant left to go investigate.
"That should even the odds a little" Anderson said under his breath.
"Sir, I'll pick 'em off with my Rifle, Keep you cover if you need any. Now which tree?" Avery said in an enthusiastic tone.
"Roger that Private, the rest of you, with me"
"yes sir" they said simultaneously." Three silenced shots came from a tree; the lieutenant looked ahead and saw one of the guards falling out off his post hitting the ground hard. Avery grunted in satisfaction over The COM. Peterson chuckled, seemingly to forget his two companions. But his feelings again pressed onto him and a tear formed under his eye. He held back his feelings, hoping, that they
no longer have to suffer. He continued to keep up with the others and kept up behind Foley. Foley looked at Peterson and patted him on the shoulder, which was all he could think of to comfort a man that just lost two of his comrades. He turned around and kept jogging. Wallace raised his hand and stopped. The others followed suit. He leaned against the wall and switched his rifle to three shot burst. He aimed with ease and fired. A squeal came from the alien he fired at and was silenced with another burst of rifle fire. He signaled to the ones behind him to continue forward. Alarms Buzzed. The men dove into the tall bland ferns and waited. They all held their breath, afraid the aliens might see the steam from there breathe. A Large door, opened, and Floating tanks called Fo' shee (Nicknamed: Wraiths) Came through. Anderson took his chances and got up slowly, they needed to get inside for multiple reasons: one, to call the ship Rectified and to relocate the LZ, and two, to destroy everything to living hell. He signaled them to get up with him and run inside. He sent Avery a message: Hold your position, Hold fire, unless if being fired upon or if it will interfere with objective. The four Ran Through the door, quickly shutting behind them.
"Oh shit." Foley said in an unenthusiastically
"Damn aliens in science coats?"
"Don't worry, they aren't armed, the most they could do is press the alarm button, there to physically weak to do anything."
The aliens were up to the human's midsection
"Get rid of the alarm button, and then casually walk through." Anderson said in a smirk. Wallace grabbed his Gun in a striking position, and smashed the button on the top, ripping holographic parts to pieces..
"All done" They did as the lietenant said the walked right in the middle of the alien's research lab. Patted one on the head. Tricked some of them with the pat on the shoulder. The aliens reacted with confusion and two of them ran to the button, but noticed it was broken. They showed a gesture that was seemingly like a shrug and went back to work.
Most of them ignored the humans and continued testing there experiments.
"Wait a sec sir" Peterson said to Anderson as he squatted down towards one of the aliens. Peterson pulled out a small device from his pocket.
He whispered something into it. The device then said something in gibberish. The alien turned around and squabbled back. Peterson whispered into the device which transmitted his voice so the alien could hear. The alien seemed to answer back to Peterson's question. The creature turned around and continued working on his project.
Peterson walked over to the rest of the group waiting in the corner of the large room.
"What did you ask it?" Foley asked
"I asked what you think of Humans."
"Peterson, you wasted time for that?" Anderson growled.
"No sir, absolutely not, I asked what level we have to go to see the harnesser generator."
"Well
" Wallace asked "what did it say?"
"Well, he said that we are a very unusual race, and the group often debates that if we are formidable type of race, or primitive. He is the group that says we are formidable.
"He probably said that since he was scared." Foley said flatly Peterson shot hima a glare.
"The majority think that we are, well, stupid. Anyways I asked where the generator was and he said the fourth level, and to check the map at the other side of the room, where we are.
"Humph, sounds reasonable, and look, the alien was right, it is on the fourth level. Well, let's go." It seemed that the only way down was the elevator, so they all walked in the cramped space and pressed the holopad.
CHAPTER FOUR
Location: Covanant Underground facility
Date: Nov 26 2678
Time: 0232 hours AM
"Take point Foley." Anderson said in a whisper.
"Yes sir" And as he said so, he swiftly slipped into the darkness. The men standing near the elevators light could only hear the loud generators producing finishing products and other materials.
"Sir I don't think we have enough explosive—maybe if we collapse the place
"
"That wouldn't work; we need to evenly disperse the explosives in the factory to cause something cataclysmic"
"Avery
Avery"
"He can't hear us sir, the aliens use some sort of metal that block our transmissions
so were pretty much cut off."
"Don't worry sir; he can take care of himself."
"Well, in the mean time, set up the link so we can signal the rectified."
Avery continued to sit on the top of the tree and observed his surroundings. He turned
screeches.
"Oh
damnit, they need to hurry." He turned around and quickly readied his rifle. He switched on his thermal vision and looked.
"That's weird, nobodies showing up on thermals
" He whispered.
He switched to his Bio life indicator. Nothing either. Alarms sounded from the base his team was in. Have they been caught? Why didn't they send anything? He looked down from the tree hearing rustles of feet. Aliens were running on there winded breath trying to run
from something
"Shit." The base's perimeter rose slowly rose with walls surrounding the base. He knew what was going to happen. He slowly rose and balanced himself on the branches. He hooked all of his equipment on and jumped down as his reaction was slow. He rolled to his feet and began sprinting with the other aliens. The wall was raising and was about 6 feet high, raising 3 inches a second. He ran even faster passing the Covanant. He made it to the wall. He quickly opened his pocket and pulled out a grappling hook. He tossed it over and began to climb the rope. The Covanant that were behind him began pounding on the walls, not excepting there fate of brutality. Avery's head turned as he saw, thousands upon thousands of the creatures oozing out of the dense forest in the brisk cold air. He had reached the top of the raising wall and rolled over it, falling once more and hitting the ground. He leaned up against the moving wall and lay there for a second. Still hearing the aliens pounding on the thick thing that lay between him, and the danger on the other side. The banging ceased and he heard Ion beam fire. The aliens were out of options, and the only thing they could do was shoot until every single one of them were dead.
Avery slowly rose and looked around for a way inside. He had to tell the others.
"Timers set?"
"Yes sir, seven minutes sir."
"Flick the switch; we'll be long gone before this happens"
"Terminate the computer capsule? It'll be impossible for the aliens to fix the bomb and decode it before it explodes."
"Do it." A shudder came from the elevator. The men quickly took cover and aimed there rifles at the elevator. It stopped and the doors opened.
"Avery?" Foley asked in astonishment
"What the hell are you doing here? I gave you a direct order!"
Anderson yelled
"Sir," Avery said in a hoarse voice "permission to speak"
"Whatever the hell you say, it ain't gonna matter any more" Foley said in a smirk.
"We need to get outta here now."
"We can't" Avery said weakly. "Those things
thousands of them."
"THERE INSIDE!?" Peterson said in fear.
"No
.wall, was raised, around base were
fine for now."
"Sir, timer is at six minutes and thirty seconds" Wallace said, repressing his emotions.
"You set the god damn timer? Now what?"
"Letting our emotions interfere with our objective is not a very bright option, marines...Were getting out of here, or at least try, get in the elevator now, second level."
"Yes sir
" They said and crammed themselves into the shaft and waited for the lieutenant. He walked inside turned around and pressed the button.
"Sir, is this the vehicle bay?" Wallace asked the Lieutenant
"I think so, I used my Computer to translate the language on the wall, I saw a glimpse of vehicle bay second floor
"
"Timer is at 5 minutes thirty two seconds" Foley said uneasily.
"These look like
there all ground vehicles." Wallace said feeling depressed. They looked around the area
one flying vehicle that held two. But it was damaged far from repair. They noticed that there were captured weapons cache in the next room and proceeded into the area. One warthog and two heavily armored Scorpion
"Sir the keys are in the ignition."
"Get her started, Get ammo for the two machine guns."
Anderson remembered what he said two days ago when they first encountered the nasty animals. He followed suit, and instead of grabbing a jackhammer missile launcher, He picked up a belt of 30. Caliber rounds and placed it over his neck. The men loaded there weapons and quickly jumped in the vehicle. Anderson jumped into the gunner position and swiftly loaded the 30 caliber machine gun. Avery turned the ignition and it roared to life. Foley, pressed buttons on a terminal to switch open the gate. A tunnel opened leading to the surface. Foley quickly got into the side seat and lead them out into the tunnel.
"Sir 3 minutes and 45 seconds left
we need to hurry!" Foley objected to the Lieutenant.
The tunnel climbed 40 degrees upward, allowing the warthog to soar over the Wall... The warthog traveled through it with little effort, as it slowly reached the ground because of the semi-weak gravity. The team was now exposed to the nasty pale skinned creatures. The creatures came out of the forest, and it seemingly, it would never run out of them. The warthog rushed in. And landed on a pile of them, Snarls came from under the vehicle as Avery Pushed on the petal, grinding them into the dirt with the wheels. The warthog accelerated and ran into the heaving multitude of monsters, flying over the vehicle, and under. Anderson and Wallace fired there thirty calibers into the vast sea of animals. They looked into was once a valley, but now, a lost sea of monsters, Avery headed into one direction, straight into the forest and started swerving, and dodging trees. Monsters jumped onto the vehicle and Foley fired onto each one that clung to it.
The vehicle flipped, revving as they quickly stumbled out, cornering themselves against a tree and fired into the passing crowds.
"Sir, 1 minute 15 seconds left! We need to hurry!" Foley said over the projectiles.
"Anderson grabbed a grenade and logged it into the crowd.
A faint thud was heard and there was a space in between the monsters. The gap sealed four seconds later. Anderson threw another.
"Follow My lead!" The explosion created another gap
Anderson sprinted through and continued to run through the gap, The others followed closely behind. The gap closed once again. Anderson took a breath when he kept running; he armed his C12 and threw it into the crowd.
"Keep running!" he said.
"Sir 35 seconds!" He pressed the detonation button.
Dirt drifted through the air, and nothing was left but globs of flesh and bone, more monsters came, unaware of the humans. They dashed through the thick brush that opened up revealing a stream. Wallace looked up and saw a Pelican about four hundred meters ahead..
"Sir twenty five seconds!" Foley yelled. Peterson set up his PDA. The Pelican came down instantly and opened its hatch to let the soldiers in. The soldiers jumped into the Pelican and the hatch closed.
"Hurry the hell up, Punch it NOW!!" Anderson yelled.
"14 Seconds!"
"Sir if we don't get out of here now, the EMP will strike leaving us stranded here! with no communication!"
"We have a temporary base not that far from here! Don't worry about getting stranded!" the pilot said trying to yell over the roar of his engine.
"Five seconds!"
The Pelican accelerated to eight hundred miles per hour.
The Bomb detonated and the EMP blast reached the Pelican. It accelerated to 1200 miles per hour with an altitude of 4,000 feet.
The ship began going down in a slow slope, accelerating even faster.
"Ah Hell! Not all over again! Brace your selves!" Anderson went into a fetal position and put his back against his wall. He turned on his suits shock resisters to maximum, to sustain the fall, and impact. The ship scrapped the ground and started to slow its speed.
"Ha ha! Yeah! One ace and a Queen!"
"Shit dude, I know your cheating, and I'll find out---"
"What the hell? What's that noise?"
"Jesus Christ! Run, a freaking Pelican is blasting through!"
The Pelican ran into a barbed wire fence, smashed three tents and came through the general's sleeping quarters, right to his desk, skidding to a halt. The general sitting at his desk fell over from his chair.
CHAPTER 5
Location: Continent Amok' N' Gait.
Facility: Mobile camp
Date: Nov 27 2668 00324 hours AM
"Don't worry about it, he's ok."
"The general had a heart attack." Peterson said objectively
"Ain't that big a deal with what we have now." Michal said faintly
"Well, I hope he's ok." The two walked into a conference room, bland light green walls and a table, Communication equipment and computers sitting on top, neatly arranged to make quick use of them.
A man at the table was wearing a black uniform colored with medals and bands came and sat down on one of many chairs in the room.
Michal and Peterson wore the regular marine uniforms and sat across from the Master Chief Petty Officer.
Wallace lay on his bunk and tossed a ball towards the ceiling, the ball would cling to the top of the tent and fall back down. Foley paced back and forth thinking of what the new recruits would be to replace Mendez and Mauler. He looked outside. A volunteer team of Marines were outside hauling a crane to remove the Pelican from where it was. Avery was part of the volunteer team. Other teams were repairing the damage that was done from the path of the Pelican. People say that from our location, we fell from over 70 miles. Hard to believe in just a short period of time, But that's what they said. He went to his bunk and opened an MRE. Spaghetti, Gum, vitamins, crackers, and a muffin.
Wallace walked over and grabbed the crackers, since Foley Didn't like them. Two marines walked into the tent a looked at the two eating from an MRE. Bags at hand, they looked eager.
"Who are you?" Foley asked with curiosity
"Gunnery Sergeant Stanly Parker"
"I'm Corporal Matthew Berge"
Foley and Wallace got up, and both saluted to the sergeant, and then to the Corporal. The all sat down, while the two new members unpacked there equipment.
"Corporal, you must leave." The man they had been speaking to said. Peterson briefly left the room closing the door quietly behind him. After a few moments The Master Chief rose from his seat and dialed in a code on the wall. A crack in the wall opened and he signaled for the lieutenant to step inside. He did not want to step into the room feeling something unnerving, but he did as he was told.
Before he walked in the Master Chief stopped him and said"
What is said in this room is classified, you will not "know" anything after what is said in this room, Clear?"
"Yes Sir" and as he said he walked through.
The Navy officer did not follow him, but closed the door. The room was pitch black, even though there was light coming through the small window, it didn't seem to do anything to help see the room any better. The small window closed by a little flap, and a dim light turned on. It showed nothing but a tall figure in silhouette standing there
"Please sit." The light turned to a table, and chair that looked quite comfortable. Anderson tried to make out the face but couldn't, and could only make out his voice. It was deep, and sounded aged and tired, but in a broad sense.
"You have the permission to speak freely now, and I'm going to be straight out flat with this briefing." Anderson thought of the man smiling when he said that and asked
"Sir, why am I here?"
"I'm Colonel Folly, and that's all I'm authorized to tell you. You seem to be the only one, with the exception of your squad that has been in combat with what we call Y-ZAM1 or the "Flood". We do not know how these animals form but we did find information pertaining to Y-ZAM1: Sierra squad found information on their previous objective and gave it to intelligence to look through.
"How was this evidence found? Did the Covanant make it?" The Colonel Ignored the Lieutenant's question.
"The Flood was supposed to be some sort of Gimmick clone, But the Biomass of the creature was unstable, and formed into what it is now, an outbreak. We need more Intel on these creatures and find some sort of way to kill these things more efficiently, because so far projectiles, and Ion isn't working so effectively, And that's gonna be your next objective, and your new set of orders.
"Oh, and Lieutenant, your gonna' be reported MIA once this mission is over." Michal silently left the dark room quickly and silently pondering in thoughts and questions to what the Colonel just said to him.
What did he mean missing in action? He put his thoughts to the side and thought of what was at hand. He met Peterson outside of the door sitting on a stool. Looking at his small handheld translator device. Anderson signaled for him to follow, and he did so quickly.
"Isn't that your team Avery?"
"Sure hell it is."
"Why aren't they helping to get this ship outta here?"
"Hell I don't know, probably spending there leisure time." Avery replied hastily while removing dirt. Avery and some other volunteers were helping get the Pelican from its own crater that it formed, along with the reconstruction of the path from the Pelican too.
"Well it's a good way to make these Privates work, ain't it?"
"Well uh sir, I am a Private" Avery said in a small voice.
"Oh, uh, well
" the Sergeant's voice trailed off, partially embarrassed of what he just said. An officer walked up to Avery and opened up a letter.
"Congratulations, Private first class Andre Avery. You have distinguished yourself bravely and honorably during combat and have been promoted to Corporal. Your Ceremony will be held in three weeks prior to today."
"Woo, yeah!" Avery said happily, a better pay check and a bonus! Now, what were you saying sergeant?
"Congratulations soldier!" and he patted him on the shoulder and continued shoveling.
Anderson walked into the tent and the four men immediately got up and saluted.
"At you were men." He said stiffly "We have been given orders to infiltrate a Covanant base. From there
" Anderson paused and sat down at a table a put his sheets on the table next to him. The others quickly found themselves seats and sat at the table.
"-We have to split up. You four, Wallace, Foley, Peterson, and Avery will destroy a weapons cache and a vehicle bay at the far side of the base. Parker, Berge, you will get documents in a laboratory in the center of the base, and I, will go solo, and find battle plans inside the far bottom right hand corner of the base. We are being dropped off during the dark, so everyone, bring night vision gear. The way we are going to infiltrate the compound is to come to the North wall. We'll hide in the shadows and wait for the patrols to pass by. That's where we split up. Now, you make your plans, and ill revise them to see if there any good. Questions?" They all sat in silence for a few moments.
"Oh and also, this is a high priority mission, if something were to go wrong, you must carry on with only your objective, got it?"
"Yes sir." Everyone said simultaneously.
Everyone continued what they were doing.
"Flood, is a fast deadly force, the only good thing is, there stupid dumb and have only one thought. Kill anything that doesn't look like them." Said the lieutenant
Without a recognizable tone.
"The men chuckled. Peterson stomach squelched. He had a very bad feeling something was going to go terribly wrong during their mission.
CHAPTER 6
4 miles due North of Covanant Meting center
Date: Nov: 28 2678
Time: 0400 hours AM
Location: Long: 17 Lat: 14/Amok' N' Gait
"This is as far as we can take you!" Said the Co-pilot.
"Roger that
move out men, keep your eyes clear!"
Anderson watched as his men got out of the vehicle and formed up making a perimeter around the Pelican. He gently fell to the ground and looked around. Frost covered the trees bark sprinkling mist amongst the cold baron ground. Fog littered the earthy ground and Fern sprouted out from the gray degree. Anderson turned on his thermal imaging camera in one of his eyes. Nothing but cold blue. They spread apart and watched each others backs. Movement. Anderson pressed a button on his wrist and warning lights flashed on everyone's HUD. They kneeled in the fog, weapons raised. A creature the size of a Tyrannosaurus Rex screamed in there faces. 2 legs, 2 arms on its side, and a head that looked like a werewolf, these were known to be very hostile intelligent creatures.
Avery walked up to the creature
"Avery, what the hell are you doing?"
"Don't worry sir, I got this, they have to be very irritated to do something crazy."
"I can do that too." Avery said laughing. Avery screamed at the top of his lungs at the creature, it became ferocious. Avery screamed again. And was followed suit by the animal. Anderson and Berge couldn't help but laugh at what Avery was doing. Avery was picked up by the animal and it roared into his face. He put him back down gently. It grunted in satisfaction while walking away slowly. Avery was stunned and couldn't move. Wallace came up to Avery and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"Let's go man."
"Wow, it beat me."
"There are some things you just can't do Avery."
"Man, shut the hell up." Avery said laughing. The humor died down and they continued on there three mile journey. As the time slipped by, His team made it closer and closer to the base. As they made it close to there objective the looked cautiously towards it. The center was in close proximity around the forest, two or three yards away from it. The men sprinted across and hit the metallic wall that surrounded the compound. Foley pulled out a Cylinder the size of a small cup and put it against the wall, placing his eye up to it. Looking through it, he saw the other side of the wall.
"Three enemies, ninety degrees left, forty degrees left and 25 degrees to the right. There all grunts. And, I see one on the second story, can't make out what it is, it's either a grunt, or a Elite."
"Sound suppressers on"
"Roger, sound suppressers on"
"Wallace, use your clippers, we'll cover you."
Wallace grabbed the grappling devices from his armored chest and clipped them on the wall.
Foley continued to look through the scope. They waited.
"Your clear, go!" Avery went first jumping over the wall and landing in the tall grass. He moved, so the other on to jump over wouldn't hit him.
"Small patrol, walking by, same ones." Foley said in a whisper.
"I got em" Two thuds were heard distinctively hitting the ground
Avery reached out and grabbed the two bodies he just shot at, and put them into the grass. He cursed in his breath, the blood glowed in the dark. He scooted dirt onto the blood, and as it mixed, it had a cake like batter mixture.
"Another patrol. One of the grunts looked down and stopped, and tapped the other, they seemed to laugh. Avery had a sighed a relief.
Peterson had his voice communicator and looked puzzled. He turned to Michal and said "They think it's a leak."
The others held back there laughter, afraid of being caught.
One at a time, they climbed over and waited for the other to head over.
As they all landed into the grass they slowly moved to there objectives splitting up. Anderson got into a crouching position, with his 6 inch knife held ready to strike. One alien was checking his beam rifle. He jabbed the knife through its neck and put the body slowly down into the grass, one alien walked around the corner and saw Anderson, before it squawked, Anderson's knife was wedged in its throat. Anderson felt a small amount of sympathy for the alien still in pain. He grabbed his silenced pistol and shot it twice in the head. The body didn't strain anymore. He grabbed the body and placed it into an empty container next to him. He continued onto a doorway and looked inside. Four Elites were sitting near the door way, looking at a holopad.
"Bingo" Anderson quickly got a flash bang grenade and tossed it inside the room, he closed the door quickly. No noise. He quickly opened the door again and shot each of the crouching aliens twice in the chest and once in the head. They all fell to the floor, unmoving. He grabbed the holopad and slipped it into his pack with ease. He quickly reloaded his gun and rolled over the wall running into the forest.
"Berge, there's our objective, come on, lets go." The two men looked cautiously before crossing a path. Parker turned on his Thermal imaging camera and read nothing.
"Nobodies inside Berge, I'm going in, cover me." He quickly looked from left to right, up and down and sprinted inside. The room was empty except for what seemed to be like a computer. Parker went up to it and looked. No circuitry, looked carbon based. A holopad was next to it, but it was guarded by a Flesh field. Parker was curious and poked his gun at his objective. The computer inside the field didn't move. He pushed hard. Still didn't budge. He looked around the table and a button, covered by a metal box with a flesh scanner. The field needed to be bypassed by a password. Parker sent him a color yellow to Berge's HUD to tell him, it's going to be a while.
"Okay, you got the explosives set?"
"Yeah"
"Machine gun?"
"Yep."
"Okay."
"Blow it." The rattle shook the ground and raised the alarm immediately. There was no fighting for the first twenty seconds after the explosion.
Ion beams arched through the fog and smoke as the two men dove into cover while Peterson Shot the Machine gun blindly at the oncoming aliens.
The ground shook and Parker Jumped as he noticed the field was down. He quickly tried to grab the panel. It wouldn't move.
"Damnit!" Parker yelled in frustration. He looked to the flesh scanner.
"Duh" he said happily. He opened the scanner and put his finger on it. The latches unlocked and he grabbed the panel. He slid it into his backpacks inner pocket. He ran out of the room, let's go Berge!" And they tossed themselves over the wall into the forest.
"Holy shit! Too many of them!" Foley yelled as he hurtled a grenade.
Bits of flesh flew as it detonated, but the gunfire did not cease. Peterson continued firing into the aliens that were out in the open.
"We need to get the hell out of here!" A white grenade popped near Foley. He instinctively picked it up and threw it back; it blew in mid air, showering Peterson in shrapnel. Peterson was hit in his arm, and warm dark blood oozed from the wound, the machine gun stopped firing as it had run out of ammo. He grabbed his assault rifle with his good arm and fired into the open units as he ran behind a metal box. Wallace was finding an exit door to get out of to reach there next objective. When he found one a few moments later, he sent his teammates a status light that he was going to their next objective. He opened a small personnel door. The Road arched underground and looked
At large cargo bay and saw the hundreds of vehicles. He only had four bricks of explosive left. He looked to his right and saw Fuel canisters. Heavy fuel canisters.
And a crate full of ammo. All Wallace could say was
"Shit."
Anderson felt a thud through the ground and heard distant gun fire. He hoped they would make it out alive. He ran to his LZ and waited for pickup. He looked at the battle plans. He couldn't decipher the language, and he didn't bring his translator. A Pelican came quickly and its doors opened.
"Hurry Sir, we need to go." Said the Co-pilot through his radio. He hopped on and unloaded his gun letting the round in the chamber to drop to the earthy ground. The door locks closed, and a hiss came from them pressurizing the inside. He was sure as hell he would never see his squad again.
"Where the hell is that Pelican?" Parker said in frustration.
"I don't know sir."
"Sir, Covanant!"
"Get cover now!" The two rushed behind trees, hoping not to be spotted.
"They must be a patrol!" Berge said in frustration. The two threw grenades at them, when they detonated; half of them were killed in the explosion. The rest went to cover. The wounded on the ground remained on the ground shaking and twitching, as some of there limbs were broken or bleeding, arms snapped and limp and they screeched loudly in pain.
"Kill them Berge, there going to attract more enemies." Berge shot each one of them in the head, except for one, he was throbbing. Parker switched to his armor piercing round and shot at the edges of the trees. The ones hiding hit the ground, unmoving. Berge went over to the wounded alien and helped him up. Sir, should we bring him?
"Yeah, we'll interrogate him. Clean his wound, he won't be alive if he's bleeding that much. Yes sir. He grabbed a medic pack and put him down. All Berge did was simply placed a band aide on it, rapping it in cloth to tighten it. The elite winced in pain but said nothing. Berge was worried if he put any antibiotics that it might kill him. They hoisted the large alien up and let him rest against a tree trunk and stripped him of his gear. They put his items in a folded duffel bag. Parker kept his gun ready to shoot if it had any ideas. It whispered something.
"What was that?" Parker said
"The one time when we actually need Peterson's Device, he isn't here." Berge said in a mad tone. The Elite pointed to Parker's Canteen.
"He wants some water." Berge said. Parker unstrapped his canteen and sloshed it around. "You want this?" Parker handed it over. The Elite grabbed it in hast and gargled it down instantaneously.
"Damn, he's thirsty." Said Berge. The alien placed the canteen down gently and rested his head against the tree.
"Sir the Pelican!" Parker got up and helped the alien up too, the doors of the Pelican opened and the three walked inside it.
Wallace evenly put all of the Canisters in-between the vehicles, and placed the four blocks of explosives on four of the vehicles filled with fuel. He pressed the detonator. The explosion was so big; Wallace fell in shell shock for a few moments.
Regaining his breath he got up and grabbed his Shotgun. Mission accomplished. He quickly got out of the burning building and sneakily made his way back to where his team was without being seen. No one. Wallace checked his corners. Nobody, except for the dead bodies around him. He looked on his HUD. Foley was 854 meters due east of Wallace along with the rest of his team.
"God damnit, why didn't they tell me about this?" He looked down. His radio was shot, and half of the radio was missing. He chuckled. He climbed over the Metallic wall while activating his transponder, and sprinted into the forest. While he was running, the two suns rose from the surface of the trees and gleamed like angels. Wallace smiled.
"What a beautiful sight, too bad this place is gonna get nuked." He sighed.
He met up with the others.
"God damn Wallace
"Foley exclaimed "We all thought you were dead." Peterson yelled in pain.
"What the hell happened to Peter?"
"The shrapnel shattered some bone; I'm giving him some pain killer. The Pelican came down from the atmosphere, into the patchy trees. And waited for the team to enter the ship. They climbed aboard, praying to something that everyone had made it through.
CHAPTER 7
Aboard Vicon Class Ship "Rectified"
Date: November 29 2678
Location: Ionic System
Time: 0753 hours
They all looked at the piece of paper in Peterson's hands, exhausted after picking up alien bodies attacking the ship before they had left. UNSC casualties were low. Foley
Wallace
Berge
Parker
Peterson
Avery, It was an informant letter explaining to them that Lieutenant Michal Anderson is Reported Missing in Action, and they would be receiving a new Commanding officer. Lieutenant Margaret Wayne.
"I wonder if she looks good, eh?" They laughed.
"Ahem." They all turned. It was their new Lieutenant. They all rose and gave her an abrupt salute. She saluted back. Her skin was a Hispanic color; her short hair was shiny and brown. She had a duffel bag in her left arm and a File in the other. Margaret Threw a closed file like a Frisbee landing softly onto the table spinning to a stop.
Foley grabbed the file and opened it.
"You're shittin' me." They all turned to Foley
"What's it say?" Peterson asked
"Were going to an all out invasion. In a damn city." Foley exclaimed
"I'm sorry boys" She said in a light voice "those are our orders."
They all looked pitiful. They've been to a city raid before and the casualties were numerous reaching in the thousands for both Covanant and the UNSC. It was a dreadful moment for the members and seeing everyone's flesh and blood mixed together with ash, dirt and building materials. They all pushed that memory to the dark pits of their minds.
"Come on Berge," Parker said "Let's go see how the elite is doing."
The two walked out of the sleeping quarters to the hallway. The others sat at there chairs and looked at the assignment, as if they were waiting for something to pop out of it.
"There he is." Said Parker. The elite had a bed and a chair, which it was sitting on, seemingly to look uncomfterable. A doctor was examining his wound, giving him antibiotics that would usually make humans sick and weak. A man in an engineer suit walked in and set down a trey of food. A Hamburger, water, and cold pasta. The alien gestured to the Man a show of thanks.
"Wow, he's being treated quite fairly." Berge said.
"Sure as hell is." Parker said.
"That's because of the rules that we agreed on by the Covanant and us."
The two turned.
"Sir." They saluted to the captain that just spoke to them.
"As you were." They looked back into the room. The elite was eating the burger. The alien ate some of the burger, but it didn't find it very appetizing and put it down. It grabbed the fork on the wrong end and stabbed the pasta in a line and ate it. The alien disliked it and scooted it away from the table.
"I think it's trying to imitate human etiquette." The elite dug through his pocket of his coat and grabbed a handheld rectangle. It pressed the button on the top. The top of the box levitated into the air, and floating eating utensils exited out of the box and were placed neatly on the table. The Elite pressed another button inside the rectangle and a smaller box came out of the side. It opened it up. The box was full of crumbs and it gently picked up three of them. He grabbed the cup of water and put a drop over each of them. The crumbs became larger, and mutated into a large course of food. A purplish brown meat, along with some kind of silver slate striped with something black and bubbly. The elite grabbed one of the utensils. A small heated light laser protruded out of the utensil about 4 inches away.
It began to eat. The Doctor was finished with the wound and he packed up his stuff, and walked out of the room. Locking it behind him. The alien noticed Parker staring at him. He swallowed his food and gestured for Parker to come inside.
"Sir, Can I?"
"Sure." Parker walked around to the corner and opened the cell door, walking inside.
"So, uh" Parker stuttered. "What are you eating?" The elite looked at his food.
He pointed at it with its two fingers. Parker nodded. Peterson walked into the cell. He handed Parker the small translating device. "Here." He said "take this, I think you need it." Parker gladly accepted the offer and reached for it. Peterson left the room.
"So what are you eating?" Parker asked with curiosity.
"Well" the alien replied "I'm eating one of my favorite foods, here try some."
The Elite handed him the Human fork, Parker reached for the meat and ripped a chunk off and put it in his mouth. A spicy, but satisfying taste.
"I'm glad you think that's good." The alien laughed softly.
"I did not tell you my name. My name is Ortak'yatee. You may call me Ortak.
"My name Is Gunnery Sergeant Stanly Parker."
"What a peculiar name."
"Well you're not the only one to think that." They sat in silence for a few minutes acting as if the other wasn't even there.
"So uh
Ortak
You got a wife?"
"What is
.oh a mate? No she was killed during a battle in a major city."
"I'm so sorry to hear."
"No, don't be
what do you humans say
she was
.a bitch." Parker laughed and it died down quickly.
"What about you Sergeant Stanly? Do you have a wife?"
"Unfortunately no, but in a good way, if I die, no one will be heartbroken or sad as much as a family can get to."
"I understand." Ortak continued to eat the last remaining pieces of meat. The alien sighed.
"What's wrong?" Parker asked.
"You and your partner killed my whole squad. It leaves me saddened to lie to those members that they would all pull through, to
boost morale. But there all dead and rotting, or to have been eaten by animals."
"Well war is war, it was them or us. Look Ortak, I'm sorry I killed your squad and wounded you, but
" Parker's voice stopped abruptly giving up use to give out the point.
The cell door opened. It was Berge.
"The Lieutenant needs you."
"Okay Berge, I'll be right there." Parker said unenthusiastically.
"I see you have to go." Ortak murmured
"I'll see you soon, ok?" Parker waited for an answer as he got up but didn't get one. He waited for a moment and looked back. He sighed. He walked out of the room and closed the cell door.
CHAPTER 8
Date: Nov 29 2678
Time: 0945 hours
Location: Planet Rehesus
Coordinates Horse Head Nebula Long: 45 deg Lat: 56 deg
Anderson climbed out of the Pelican and looked outside. Good old fashioned Human colonized dirt. He kept walking, his Rifle clipped onto his back. He smelled the fresh morning air; it sure did beat breathing Pelican filtered air. He walked through the door hatch. The filtered air filled the inside air. Anderson sighed. An occasional person or two walked by holding clipboards or personal handheld computers.
The commanding officer of the building walked by and glanced at Anderson. She stopped and walked toward him
"Welcome to JITC Lieutenant, the man that needs you in on the third story room 342."
"Thank you ma'am." He said bluntly. He walked toward the elevator and waited for it. He pressed the button and waited for it to come down. He paused for all the people that came out and slowly proceeded in. He listened to the comforting music in the elevator, than he realized he always hated elevator music. When he reached the third story he walked through two hallways into the room 342. A man sitting at his desk was typing. Anderson stood there motionless, waiting for a gesture or something to tell him to come in, but was presented with nothing. The man looked up.
"Michal. Please sit." Anderson sat uncomfortably in his armor.
"You and your previous team seem to be the only ones who have encountered these
beings, and has survived. We must find information pertaining to these
creatures. And find an effective way to
decimate them." The man had an unusual voice, and spoke in a slow, raspy yet commanding manner, with a certain accentuated low-key moroseness to his tone, sometimes placing unusual stress on syllables, stressing the wrong parts of words, making unneeded pauses, and awkwardly changing the pitch of his voice, sometimes in the middle of a word.
"I understand that very clearly sir." Anderson said in a straight tone.
The Man pressed a small button on the edge of his desk. A Pad exited the front left side of the table and turned to face Anderson. He stared closely.
The pad was semi transparent square about a foot in a half in Length. The Man typed a console of commands and looked at Michal. The pad wasn't transparent anymore. It flickered twice and came on. "This was an image camera
on your teammate's helmet two years ago."
CHAPTER 9
Date: March 23 2676
Time: 1232 hours PM
Location: Ascension Galaxy/Planet Zeta
Coordinates: Lon: 12 Lat: 14
Video Description verified
Reading formatted drive(s)
Verification completed
Drives c and d Damaged. Unable to decipher Recording images 0004543de which has cross referenced at 0045864AwedDre. The memory could not be 'Read'. Termination of C:/drive and D:/drive successful. Recording beginning at point of reference closest to unknown MIA/KIA
Sergeant Marcus Swagner Turned. Screeches. He raised his Sidearm and leveled it up with his eyes. He was separated from his team 0200 hours ago. Swagner carefully unloaded his gun and looked at his magazine.
9 rounds left. He quickly turned left. To dark to see. He turned on his night vision in his eye. Nothing. His thermal imaging camera broken. Distant gun sounds miles away, and the sound of his loud breathing. Swagner followed the gun sounds quickly but quietly, not to attract attention. He stopped and became paralyzed in fear, and listened. Soft scuffing feet coming closer with every step. He turned around and pointed the gun with precision to where he heard the sound. Nothing. He took in a deep breath and continued forward. He hit something hard and cold. He screamed with fear and glimpsed at what he hit. It was just a broken wall.
He sighed with relief but cursed at himself for yelling. The cool breeze from the outside touched him softly, and he felt peace. Something called him. He subsided his thoughts and turned to the voice. A Screechy voice, with a terrible echo. It brought chills on his back. He pressurized his suit to withstand a blow of 30 PSI. He turned around toward the end of the corner. He looked steadily through his night vision. Piercing bright eyes showed on his camera. He froze. It whispered again. He blinked, and the piercing eyes weren't there. He started sweating percussively. He rewound the HUD's camera to that moment. Piercing eyes came back and he looked closely.
He couldn't make out what the figure was. The edge of his HUD screen stated that the record stopped and it focused back onto the present imaging. The eyes didn't disappear. He didn't fear it the second time. He approached closer, and the eyes disappeared once more. Swagner felt relief. Just blinking lights. He looked at what he was looking at, and found out it was a warthog parked and ready to use.
"Thank the heavenly Lord." He jumped in and turned it on. It growled to life."
He backed the car up and turned on the headlights. He looked up and saw the hundreds of YZAM-1. He panicked and looked at the passenger seat. One assault rifle with two clips on its side. He picked it up and held it at ready, clipping the gun on the front of his armored jacket, He pressed down on the throttle very hard and the warthog accelerated, jerking Swagner back into the seat. He turned left quickly and drifted, grinding the side of a brick wall before making it to the next turn. He looked behind him they were chasing him! He turned on auto turrets and then glimpsed at the road ahead.
He saw a clear pathway. The sergeant looked down on the panel. It reported back not seeing any enemy present. He pushed on the throttle faster. The wind was unbearably cold. He ordered the turrets to cover fire their field of view. The panel flashed red and blue. The panel did not accept the order since it detected friendly indicators behind it. Swagner became frustrated. He took a sharp turn left. Dead end. He stepped on the brake but they didn't work. He ran right into the wall and it blasted through. The vehicle was overwhelmed by its immediate unbalance in weight and it tipped over. Swagner Staggered out of the totaled vehicle. He unstrapped his Rifle and aimed it at the hole. They came in like ants at an incredible speed. He fired blindly into the oncoming crowd as he stepped backward. As his clip was about to finish off, he grabbed the other magazine and waited for the one in the gun to pop out. As soon as it did, he slammed another one in. He fired again. One of the creatures jumped on him. He tumbled over and quickly grabbed his knife, and stabbed the creature twice in the head and chest. It fell over limp. He got back up and continued firing. Adrenaline rushed into him. He threw a grenade as he fired and it exploded. The clip in the gun emptied and he grabbed the last magazine and slammed it in. He shot the rifle with one hand as he pressurized his armor to maximum withstand. He sprinted through the hole and threw a grenade down on the ground. Stabbing pain shot up his leg, and he felt dizzy. He kept running, and the grenade exploded. Tumbling the rubble onto the Animals. He looked at his leg. Oozing bluish liquid and blood came from the calf muscle. He would manage. He turned his head. A creature as large as a Pick up truck picked him up
Drives C and D damaged
No detection of recording present. Verify y/n?
CHAPTER 10
Date: Nov 29 2678
Time: 1000 hours
Location: Planet Rhesus
Coordinates Long: 45 deg Lat: 56 deg
Michal shed a tear in his left eye. He knew the fate of his best buddy.
"I'm sorry you had to see this
Anderson
but I thought it was right that I show you. We found his helmet
just a month ago. He looked under his desk and he grabbed Swagner's Helmet. Brown dead blood was smeared on the left HUD piece where a crack was. Anderson realized something
"Sir, it showed that rubble tumbled on all those creatures. Did you not see any Dead Flood? Anything?"
"Yes we did, but we
did not search this part of the area. We searched only a few months ago. The planet now, as I'm sure you know, is
just now a barren waste land.
Archeologists
decided to study the area and find
information on what happened here.
Luckily, our own personnel found
this before any one else did, and ironically no other evidence was found pertaining to the YZAM-1."
"At the time, the Sergeant had no Idea what he was confronting. As you could see in the video
the turrets would not fire upon the enemy; it had said they were Friendlies. They must turn into something for our machines
to think they are friendly transponders. That is where you come in. It's a very simple
task. Collect multiple samples of the Y-ZAM1 Gore, as much as you can
and bring it back to us ASAP. Your team is waiting on the other side
of the planet.
"Great, when will I leave?"
"Tomorrow morning."
"Good" he whispered. "I need one hell of a break."
CHAPTER 11
Date: March 24 2676
Time: 1256 hours PM
Location: Ascension Galaxy/Planet Zeta
Coordinates: Lon: 12 Lat: 14
Swagner felt the massive amounts of pressure on his chest and screamed in pain.
He managed to grab his pistol and shoot the empty the whole clip at the animal. Blood splattered across his helmet's HUD. The animal dropped him, roaring. His helmet fell free from his head. He got up quickly and felt pain in his chest. A cracked rib. His suit injected painkiller and he didn't feel it anymore, but that still didn't mean he shouldn't be careful.
He stopped and took a nice slow breath, keeping in mind that his rib cracked. He looked around his environment, still noticing the animal Moaning and screaming in pain. He looked up into the black sky, Stars different to earth's constellations
it felt, unnerving. He had no weapon now, besides his fists, and a combat knife. He pressed forward continuing to walk on the street. He had an attentive sense that there would be more monsters coming soon. He viewed his options. Find a way out of here, or barricade a place or room, and sleep till morning to get a better view of things, and to rest. He chose his second option. He went to the closest building near him and looked inside. Plenty of stuff to barricade the whole building. He began moving large objects and tables to the doors and windows. He pounded nails on a sheet of thin metal and placed it outside with the nail ends poking outwards. He nailed in three hooks on each side of the door and hooked three thick metal bars on them, to stop anything from trying to come through. He did the same with the windows. Swagner picked a small room to go into and once again, placed hooks on his door and metal bars to block anything from trying to get through. Swagner felt a sigh of relief. He felt tired, hungry, scared, and eager all at the same time. Swagner fell into a deep sleep.
Swagner woke. He looked around, seeing his surroundings quite clearly now.
He unhooked his door and looked around. He smiled very brightly. He was in an armory filled with the latest human technology in the Solar system and the oldest. He punched through the glass and picked his choice of guns. He took an SMG and a High caliber battle rifle. He looked around. Right above one of the doors he read: Historical Weapons. He went through and looked at all the different weapons. He broke the glass of one container and picked up an XD45 pistol, and a
.357 magazine fed sidearm. He looked around again for a weapons locker room. It was right next to the room he was in. As he entered the room he took off his beat up dirty armor plating along with his dirty smelly clothes and picked up new Pitch black fighting uniform, and new armor plating. Once he was done refitting himself with new clothes armor and boots, Swagner picked up one flash bang, two incendiary grenades, and 3 three fragmentation grenades. He saw magazines placed neatly in a row ready to be used. He grabbed 10 clips for his battle rifle, and 10 clips for his SMG. He put all the magazines around his waist and magazine holders on his chest. He grabbed seven clips for each of his Sidearms and placed them around his waist. He picked up a first aid kit and put the strap over his shoulder. Over half an hour later, with one battle rifle and SMG clipped to his back, along with two sidearms holstered at his legs, six grenades, refreshed clothes and armor, He felt ready as ever to take on this new threat. He removed his barricade and opened the door slowly. Nothing but torn down buildings, rubble and dirt. He opened the door and unhooked his battle rifle. The sun poured down upon Swagner's face, and he shivered. He never noticed how cold he was until he felt the heat of the sun. He walked outside, he looked around for a vehicle, but he could find none. He was Cautious with his steps and looked at the heights of the buildings. He turned back and raised his battle rifle in the firing position. He felt uncomfortable with his surroundings. He looked, and his black military Cap blocked the sun's rays. Swagner turned at the sound of Rubble and an arm protruded out of the pile, pushing concrete off its body, and a soldier slowly raised himself up. Swagner immediately lowered his weapon. The soldier had no weapon, and was smeared in mud. He saw Swagner and was startled. He froze.
"Name and rank soldier" Swagner said lightly.
"Corporal Wilcox, 42nd armored battalion."
"Sergeant Swagner 455th O.E.T.(Orbital Entry Trooper)"
Swagner looked at the building he came out of.
"Soldier, you're weaponless, let's get you suited up."
CHAPTER 12
Date: Nov. 30 2678
Time: 1422 hours PM
Location: Galaxy Recollection/ Planet Rehesus
Coordinates: Lon: 30 Lat: 8
"Here is your team that you were assigned to Lieutenant." The man with borderless Reading glasses handed him a clipboard. Sergeant Lila Dillard, Corporal Marcus Swagner, and Private Nichole Mendel.
"Swagner's Brother is working with me?" Michal Said surprisingly.
"Yes sir" The man said, "He wanted to work with you after his brother's death.
There waiting in the armory room picking there choice of weapon, I suggest you do the same." The skinny Asian man left quickly due to his other prearranged assignments. Michal walked down the corridor and turned right into a hallway. He walked into his quarters and was almost impressed with his room. A cot with a small desk and table, with two books and a disassembled radio. He unpacked his Uniforms and hung them in his small closet. He then changed from his civilian clothes into a regular everyday dress marine uniform. He walked out and headed to the armory. The intercom speakers echoed through the hall.
"Tonight for dinner we are serving bratwursts and hamburgers with an option of cheese and pickles." Something good for once Michal thought. "We have also installed our new soft drink dispenser, but have in mind we are having problems with the diet soda." So much for having a soda for dinner Michal said out loud. A woman passing by replied
"I know what you mean." Michal was comforted by the woman's remark and felt very welcome here, and to feel normal, felt fantastic. As he walked, he brushed his hand through his hair and noticed it was getting long. He turned left to see a barber shop and took a note to get a haircut soon. Michal took a left into another hallway and walked into the armory. The three soldiers he was assigned to having were sitting on benches and looking and loading there magazines and guns. Michal was shocked at what he saw. The weapons were not standard issue assault rifle and shotguns, they were fitted with the most state of the art computerized weaponry, and all he could do was grin.
The three noticed the Lieutenant and got up immediately saluting him. He gestured to them that they could go along with there business. In silence he quickly went to one of the weapons held by a hook, and was rifle that was not fitted with anything except for an iron sight. He turned and asked
"Any of you gonna use this?"
"No sir, you can go ahead and use that one, it just got shipped from earth a week ago, it's been sitting here since. I think you're the first one to actually touch that thing ever since it got here. All of the special equipment is right next door sir, you can start fitting all of the stuff you want on the gun right now, all of it is either zeroed in or has an auto zeroing feature." She said in a mouthful. Michal examined her closely. She was attractive and had light brown hair, her semi-dark whitish colored skin, and had Pale olive green eyes. Michal asked-"and you are?"
"Nichole Mendel sir. I'm sure you can figure the rest of us out, since there are only three of us." She looked back down and continued to work on her weapon.
Michal exited out of the room and went right next door. Michal stood in awe and smiled at all the equipment he could use to his potential.
Michal was finished working on his rifle and was very pleased at what he put on there. Acog scope, Blockhead grenade launcher, Side laser mount, three pronged barrel muzzle, a tough metal rubber butt stock that fit perfectly into Michal's shoulder and gun parts to shoot caseless ammo. He grabbed a Double drum shaped magazine(C-mags) and gently placed it into the slot of where the gun fed itself of bullets. He grabbed two full C-mags full of caseless ammo and put them in his duffle bag. He kept the empty one in the gun. Time had elapsed four hours when he was finally done refitting his new gun. He would refit the ones he brought from his previous mission later.
He walked in his quarters and leaned his gun against the wall across from the door. He sat down on his desk and looked at the books. One title said Reunion of Time; the other was A treasury of great science fiction. He placed them in the shelf and glanced inside. He looked at the object and pulled it out. It was a screwdriver. He then looked at the disassembled radio. He began putting it back together.
CHAPTER 13
Date: Nov. 31 2678
Time: 0947 hours
Location: Amok N' Gait
Coordinates: Lon: 14 Lat: 8
Avery was dumping his whole clip at the oncoming aliens. Foley was in a three story building, using a sniper rifle to cover his teammates. The rest of the team was hiding behind alloy blockades shooting there battle rifles periodically. "Damnit" Foley said to himself. He looked through his binoculars. He spotted to Wraiths closing in on his team mates' positions.
"Be advised, you got two Wraiths coming through on you ma'am." Foley said through his COM.
"Roger" Margaret said plainly. She grabbed a chunk of plastic explosive and threw it. The glob landed against the wall sticking to its surface. The First Wraith came through an intersection closing in on the C12.
"I'm gonna blow it!" The Lieutenant yelled to the others. She pressed the detonator and the C12 exploded, creating an uneven balance in the building. The building began to tip over.
"Come on, come on, come on!" She said, waving her hands, as if she were controlling which way it would fall. The building regained its balance and began to tumble straight down.
"Damnit!" She yelled.
"At least you got the guys in the building" Peterson said, trying to support her in her failure.
"Just grab me a jackhammer" She said in a sigh. Ion beams pierced through the air.
"Yes ma'am" and as he said so, he grabbed the missile launcher next to him. She fired the four barreled launcher towards the Wraith, and the Wraith imploded, creating a flash of light, blinding the team. They staggered and fired blindly in the direction of where the enemies were. Foley laughed as he looked at their reaction, through his scope. The alien laughed too.
"What the fuck? Shit!" The alien brought down his weapon towards Foley. Foley waited to the last second before swerving to the left. The alien waited for Foley to do this, and tripped him with his foot. As Foley fell, the alien grabbed an Ion knife and thrusted it towards Foley. Foley clutched the fist with the knife, pressing the button. The ion knife turned off. Foley Grinned. Wow he thought. That's why you don't use knife's that can turn on and off. The alien smirked at what Foley did. Foley alligator rolled out of the alien's grasp, ad rolled to his feet. He jumped and preformed a round house kick, hitting the aliens jaw. It spun and landed against the wall. The alien sighed and began puling out his sidearm. Fatal mistake, Foley thought. He grabbed his 12 inch black knife blade and charged against the alien. It panicked as it pulled his weapon to draw. Too late. Foley wedged the knife through its stomach, up under its rib cage. The alien whispered something in his ear, and patted him on the shoulder. Remorse and guilt fell upon Foley as he let go. The alien slumped on the floor, Unmoving. Foley whispered in his breath.
"The only thing you should feel killing your enemy is reWraith." And said it over and over again to himself. He picked up his rifle and looked at his teammates.
"What the hell were you doing up there?" Margaret said angrily towards Foley on the COM.
"You know that Black blade of mine, well yeah, I used it, and I gotta clean it when we get back" Margaret Rolled her eyes at Foley's answer.
"Keep moving!" She yelled to her Squad. Other marines were moving up already taking up there positions for the next assault.
"What happened to the other Wraith?" Foley asked through the COM as he walked out of the building.
"You never seem to keep up with what's happening do you?" Avery said sarcastically. "You made a mistake ass; there never was a second Wraith."
CHAPTER 14
Date: Dec. 1 2678
Time: 1000 hours
Location: Galaxy Recollection/ Planet Rehesus
Coordinates: Lon: 30 Lat: 8
Anderson woke from his slumber. Sirens filled the air.
"Alert! We Are on Combat alert Alpha! This is a Drill! Repeat, this is a drill!"
Anderson sighed and got up. He strapped his armor and grabbed his gear and got out of his quarters. The gray halls were busy with engineers and soldiers. Anderson kept his empty magazine in the weapon. He ran down the hallway to his teammates.
He met his team in the cafeteria. He was shocked to see them sitting down eating.
"What are you doing?" Anderson said shocked to how his team was reacting.
"Sir, we don't have to participate in drills anymore. This is a training facility for non ranking officers.
"Oh" Anderson said, partially embarrassed. He sat down with the others.
"So
what are you eating?" Anderson said, trying to change the subject.
"Clam chowder." Lila said, keeping quite.
"Sir, you worked with my brother right?" Marcus said, having a bit of shakiness to his voice.
"Yes I did" Anderson said, unstrapping his helmet. "He was one hell of a fighter." Anderson didn't know what to say, except for what he said
and it wasn't too unique either. Anderson looked back up at Marcus.
"He was more than just a fighter; he was something that was more than what just words can explain. I fought with him, and He fought with me. He was awarded with many medals and a medal of honor at his funeral. And as his empty capsule floated through space, we all stared, even after it was long out of site." Agony seemed to be getting the better of Marcus.
"I'm sorry sir, but I have to go
I have
business to take care of." And he left silently. Anderson turned to his other teammates.
"How long have you guys known each other?" Anderson said lightly.
"Four years sir." Nichole said. Anderson left. He needed to get things straight.
CHAPTER 15
Date: Dec. 1 2678
Time: 1030 hours PM
Location: Galaxy Recollection/ Planet Rehesus
Coordinates: Lon: 30 Lat: 8
Anderson created a file on his laptop.
File Size: 20.5 KB (20,992 bytes)
Title: YZAM-1
First sight of YZAM-1:
March 24 2676
Time Relative: 1256 hours PM
Ascension Galaxy/Planet Zeta
To see witnesses press enter_
YZAM-1 was discovered two years ago during a confrontation in major battle on a human colony. The discovery fell into secrecy as every witness was KIA.
The Colony planet has unstable atmosphere and can not support human life due to War action. YZAM-1 had not been confronted by UNSC for two years. Campaign lead By Captain Jenkins, leader of the ship Rectified, discovered YZAM-1 as a threat and entity, as a Base was assaulted with devastating effects by YZAM-1. The Only survivors during the assault were Lieutenant Michal Anderson, and his team, suffering two losses. Private Wilson Meyer and Private first class Jackson Asimov.
Anderson reviewed his paragraph and saw an anomaly. When did they discover this from Swagner's helmet? He typed the question down in a different directory, with all the other questions left unanswered. He went back to his file. He began typing again.
During later missions, Anderson's team had caught a glimpse of a massive force of YZAM-1. They had later escaped, barely coming out with their lives. The question of where they are coming from is unknown and is to still be figured out.
Anderson sighed. Too many unknowns. The intercom squawked.
"The diet soda dispensing machine has been repaired by Gregg Dixon. Give him show of thanks if you see him." The intercom clicked off. Anderson got up from his desk and decided to get some fresh air, after sitting two days underground.
Existing ideas exhausted...I have other updates to attend to in this story and must get started...I put on the same story with add ons...as this information is a little outdated...and may have some unwanted outcomes.
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