Freddie's War: Chapter Seven
Posted By: Jason Nash<rjnash@optusnet.com.au>
Date: 12 June 2005, 6:37 AM
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Captain Bob Harris stood by the shuttle as the scientific research team walked towards him.
The hangar was small and could only hold two shuttles. Bob looked at the scientific research team as the hurried over to him. They were all dressed in safari gear while a plump man with a cigar in his mouth was dragging along a large crate full of scientific equipment.
The head of the team walked over to Bob.
"Captain?"
"Yes?" Bob said, spitting out a piece of cashew which had been stuck between his teeth since his last meal which was an half an hour ago. The piece of saliva soaked cashew landed next to the scientist's boot. The scientist flinched.
"I'd like to introduce me to my team," the scientist said, turning around. There were five of them in total, six if you included Bob.
The scientist pointed to the plump man pulling along the equipment.
"That's equipment manager Ramon Steldered," the head scientist said. Ramon nodded. The scientist then pointed to a tall man with who was looking at a clipboard that was in his hands.
"Henry McGillian."
Henry looked from the clipboard at Bob. The head scientist then pointed at a woman with long black hair who was reading an electronic book about Physics.
"Lisa Turner."
The head scientist then pointed to an old man wearing glasses.
"That's Sir Hughes."
Hughes was busy looking out the hangar's entrance and out at the amazing display of stars and nearby planets.
The head scientist turned back to Bob. He said, "I'm Joe Garland. I'm head of the scientific unit of the team, obviously." He put out his right hand to shake hands with Bob. Instead of shaking hands, Bob turned to the shuttle and told the pilot to open the shuttle's cargo compartment.
"Load your stuff in there," Bob told the scientific team, and then walked away.
Freddie was sweeping up a pile of ash which was all that was left of a young Private when he felt somebody tap him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw John Flecker standing behind him.
"Fred, you may want to see this," John said.
"See what?"
"Just follow me."
Freddie put down his broom and followed John through the wreckage of the camp, over a slight rise of the ground, past the wreckage of a burnt out Scorpion tank and onto a grassy part of ground near a ridge. Two Marines were standing near a pile of large rocks, looks of surprise and shock on their faces.
"These guy's found it when they went out to collect water from the spring over there," John said, pointing over to a small pool of water twenty meters away.
They walked over to the pile of rocks. A rock had fallen out of place to reveal half buried human skeletons, their skulls smashed open from the inside and a mucus-like substance hanging off them. Freddie saw them ad felt his heart leap forward in shock.
"What the?" He said, staring at the skeletons.
The skeletons had their bones strewn over the sand under the rocks, and Freddie counted five smashed skulls, but knew there were more, but they were hidden under the rocks.
"What happened to them?" Freddie asked John.
"We don't know. When that scientific team arrives we'll get them to take a look at one of the skeletons and analyze a sample of that mucus-like substance. But they look like they've been there a while," John answered.
Freddie stared at the skeletons and his heart beating heavily and quickly, he stepped away from them. He then pushed a rock off the pile, revealing more bones and smashed skulls covered in the gooey substance. He didn't remove anymore rocks, just in case whatever had smashed the skulls of those deceased people could jump out at him.
"Could this be what Captain Bob Harris was talking about?" One of the Marines asked.
"Possibly," Freddie said, walking away.
The shuttle containing the scientific team and Bob took off out of the hangar, zooming through space at very high speeds.
Inside, Bob was sitting with the team, drinking out of a bottle of Coke and not taking any part in the team's conversations. He only spoke when Henry McGillian asked him a question.
"What exactly are we supposed to be looking for on PT-569, Captain?" He asked.
"I don't know. All I know is that it's probably lurking about somewhere in the hand-built network of caves running underneath the planet's surface," Bob answered, finishing his answer by belching loudly.
Henry turned away from Bob and started speaking to Lisa. Bob took another swig from his bottle of Coke and looked around. He noticed that Ramon was looking in the box of equipment, as if checking something was in there. He watched as Ramon moved a box-like object with buttons on it over and pulled out an M6D pistol.
"What's that for?" Bob asked.
"Insurance."
"For what?"
"I heard what we are supposed to be looking for was dangerous," Ramon said, loading the pistol. He pulled back the slider on top of the gun, the bullets now ready to be fired.
"You'll have protection from four highly experienced Marines, and me also," Bob said.
"I do not care. I can do what I want." And with that, Ramon slided the pistol into a waist holster.
(Note: I know this may be straying away from Halo a bit, but this story was inspired by Halo, so technically it's still a Halo story).
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