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The Entar Chronicles Part 2
Posted By: Locke<Locke1588@aol.com>
Date: 5 April 2003, 8:08 PM
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It is a mater of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry, which can on no account be neglected.
-From "The Art of War" by commander Sun Tzu
The airlock entry door swished shut behind Genter and Aegeus. "Depressurizing" the word flashed on the control panel as the air was sucked out of the hangar they had just left. Air hissed into the airlock and Genter and Aegeus removed their masks. The control panel beeped and the next-door swished open, revealing a huge command bridge. Balconies lined the walls of the metallic room, as marines scurried everywhere. Two marines approached Jason and Genter, saluting Genter.
"Captain Genter!" The marines said after they saluted. "Welcome aboard the Cleopatra's Barge! Captain Antony awaits you now, please follow me". The Marines lead them through a blast door in the side of the huge control room. They walked through a door on the left, which lead to Captain Antony's office, where several generals were gathered around the captain's desk. To one side of his desk was an AI of beautiful woman scantily clad in Egyptian clothes and relaxing on a couch. Genter and Aegeus stood before Antony's desk.
"Captain Genter! I have awaited your arrival! I have summoned you to discuss our plans for the… uhh-ominous metal object floating above us threateningly". Genter nodded.
"I have brought private Jason Aegeus here for that exact reason, Antony. He claims to have interesting information about this thing". Antony turned to Jason.
"What do you know about this thing, private?" Antony asked.
"I had an old friend in the military that often told me of his uncle who told strange tales of a giant metallic spacecraft called the 'Leviathan' that possessed immeasurable destructive power".
"Do you know this guy's name?" Antony grumbled, obviously convinced the information was useless.
"His name was uh… Captain Hector" Jason replied confidently. "He went by his first name, don't know his last".
"This drunk idiot was in the military?" Antony demanded.
"Yes sir! He had an entire team of Spartans go missing on a clandestine assignment. Don't know anything else about his military carrier, though". Antony turned to the AI.
"Cleopatra, get me as much information about this former captain as possible".
"Already done," said Cleopatra in a voice that sounded like it should belong to a body too beautiful to exist. Cleopatra's hologram disappeared, revealing another not-so-pretty hologram of a man with terrible posture. Black stains all over his body and torn uniform made it look he had gotten stuck in an active plasma reactor core. His hair was matted and messy, mostly just sticking strait up in the air.
"Captain Hector was the former commander of an elite team of Spartans who owned a base in the solar system next to the Colchian system" Cleopatra began. "After his team of Spartans went missing on a clandestine assignment, he bombarded the military with strange tales of a powerful spacecraft called the 'Leviathan'. He told of two species: Forerunner and Entar, who fought violently over control of the Leviathan. The military believed him to be a crazed idiot, and discharged him immediately, and he later settled down on Colchis and became a doomsayer and private mercenary. He's likely still on the planet now!" Cleopatra finished. Antony was shocked.
"I don't now what I'd do without you" Antony mumbled. Genter turned to Jason.
"Private Aegeus, I will give you command of one pelican to take down to Colchis and retrieve this former captain, so that we may interrogate him. If you succeed, I will see that you a promoted".
"But you said…" Jason began, objecting. Genter stopped him.
"You will do as ordered! Go back to the hangar we entered through where a pelican will await your orders!" Jason scratched his chin.
"I wonder where this guy is now…"
Where this guy is now…
"DEAD OR ALIVE!" The audience chanted. "Dead or alive! Dead or alive!" The metal cage gate at one side of the battle pit started to slide open. Hector could see two glowing red eyes in the darkness. Steam hissed out of the cage bars as the creature breathed. Hector spun his pistols around in his hands and cracked his head to one side. The audience usually went wild when he did that. They did. They stopped chanting and erupted in screams and cheers, rising to their feet so that they could see as much gore and bloodshed as possible.
"Scum of Colchis, welcome to the 'DEAD OR ALIVE, BATTLE PIT!' the announcer bellowed across the intercom system. Hector backed up across the battle pit. The audience was packed into a ring of bleachers above the pit, an electric fence separating them from the chaos below. The cage door finished sliding open. Spotlights flicked on all over the room, pointing at him or the beast, which had not yet shown itself. The audience cheered even louder. Tired of waiting, Hector fired a single shot into the darkness with one of his pistols, aiming at the beast's eye. Hector knew he had missed because he could still see the glow, but he had obviously hit near the eye because the creature was roaring in pain. It stepped out of the darkness of its lair, denting the metal floor with six spider-like legs. Each leg came too point at its end, and they could cut through almost anything. The whole creature was red, which was funny because it had two large lobster-like claws, which it held above its waist. Hector had fought many beasts from many worlds and recognized this one at once, despite the fact he had never fought one before.
It was a Nahn-Kahn from the Chinese planet of Jia. It's abilities were an ironic combination, as it had the intelligence of a Grunt and the strength of ten Brutes. He knew that many rich merchants kept them as pets, from a safe distance at least. When he first joined the army, he had a Japanese captain who kept a pet Nahn-Kahn aboard his battle cruiser. He would capture Grunts and bring them back to feed to the Nahn-Kahn. All the soldiers would look forward to watching the feedings, which took place after lunch. However, one day a Grunt accidentally pushed the captain into the Nahn-Kahn's feeding pit, while trying to escape. The soldiers had shot the creature in a failed attempt to save the captain, and had lost heart in battle, as during every battle they would do their best, as they looked forward to watching the Nahn-Kahn feedings afterward.
Hector suddenly awakened from his flashback as the beast snapped it's huge claws in the air, raising his front set of legs in a "bring it on" gesture. It let out another roar and a series of aggressive clicking sounds. Without warning, Hector shot it about five times in the exposed belly. The creature roared and slammed its legs back down on the ground, creating a large dent in the floor of the battle pit. It snapped one of its huge claws forward in a blur of red; it's reflexes two fast to actually see the claw. Hector was five feet out of the way before the creature had withdrawn its claw. Hector rolled backward and hopped back up to his feet, dodging another blow from the claw. This time however, he shot the inside of the claw, as it was open. The creature creamed in pain and it's damaged claw detached from its arm and dropped to the ground. Skin grew instantly over the wound were the claw had once been. Of course! The Nahn-Kahn could willingly drop disabled body parts to make it more efficient in combat! Then it suddenly occurred to Hector!
I know how to beat this creature! He thought. He dodged another blow from the remaining claw and opened fired on three of the creatures legs, as it had three on each side of it's body. The legs fell off, and only three remained on the other side, making it impossible for the Nahn-Kahn to move. The creature roared and it's body collapsed on one side. Hector raised his hands in the air in victory. In a blur of motion, the remaining claw darted out from the fallen beast and struck Hector in the exposed torso. Luckily the claw was closed. Hector's rib cage cracked and he was tossed like a rag doll against the steel wall of the beast pit, breaking his back. It all happened in about a millisecond.
"Oooh! That's gotta hurt!" bellowed the announcer. Suddenly, the remarkable beast rose back to its feet on six legs. The three fallen legs had grown back under the creature's massive body. It let out a cry of victory: a series of aggressive clicks. It moved forward towards Hector, taking its time and denting the floor with each massive stride.
"Finish him! Finish him!" The audience cheered. They just wanted to see blood, they didn't care whose!
The creature raised its one claw and prepared to slam it down on Hector's limp body. Suddenly, the blast of MAC guns echoed across the walls of the open-air battle pit. The Nahn-Kahn exploded, and the audience was splattered with guts. A Pelican swooped out of nowhere and landed in the center of the battle pit. 5 Marines ran out and gently lifted Hector up over their shoulders, then ran back into the Pelican. As the Pelican started to take off, someone in the audience pulled out a gun and opened fire on the Pelican, angry that it had interrupted the bloodbath. The Pelican hovered above the battle pit and more people joined in shooting the Pelican. There was an echoing hum as the Pelican recharged its MAC guns, and then bombarded the audience. It blasted them all and then left the battle pit in ruins as it hummed away.
Bridge of the Covenant cruiser
High orbit above the planet Colchis
Admiral Guntu stood patiently, rotating a small gleaming sphere in his hand. Meanwhile, Grunts and Jackals were scurrying around the bridge. All could clearly see through the force field window of the bridge, at the giant metal spacecraft that made the covenant cruiser look like a grain of sand. The main section of the huge metal craft was a giant metallic hull, shinning blue lines dotting its surface. At what Guntu assumed was the "front" of the giant craft was a giant fin-like structure, sticking up from the main hull. Blue searchlights shinned out of a series of slits directly under the fin. The searchlights swept across the sleek surface of the covenant cruiser, and almost the entire covenant army on the cruiser was in panic. Despite this, Guntu stood there calm, and confident. Guntu was wise, the type who thought before attacking, and therefore, a bad example of an Elite.
A covenant pig slowed to a stop near Guntu's control station. 2 Jackals hopped out and scurried to a stop in front of Guntu. A large cargo freighter accompanied by several banshees flew out of the hangar and hovered in plain sight near the top of the bridge. Are we evacuating? Guntu wondered, but quickly fixed his attention on the Jackals. They stood straight and official before him, yet they were nervous and fidgety. One started to scratch the back of his head. Guntu laughed to himself.
"Have you the information I requested?"
"Yes Admiral" said one of the Jackals. "The council of high priests has concluded that the umm… the…. Big metal thing… is indeed Dannook, who has returned to shine his glory on the covenant and enlighten us once more".
"Which high council?" Guntu asked.
"The Red order, great admiral" replied a Jackal. Guntu laughed to himself.
"I suppose that there is risk in their decision". He told the Jackals"… But there is also a chance of a positive outcome as well! Their decision was based on evidence after all! The second scroll of Dannook does say that he will return in the form of a metal giant!" He laughed again. "But then again, prophet Akaisia believes it to be a stolen space craft, infested by deadly parasites far worse than the Flood!"
"They have their opinions, great admiral". "Yes…" said Guntu. "Now deliver my orders to the fleet! As the council of priests has spoken that thing is actually Dannook, we must prepare a warm welcome for him if he is to shine our long await glory upon us! Load up all troops and retreat from Colchis. I want the entire Covenant fleet within range of Colchis to line up in front of Dannook!"
"What about our cruiser?" a Jackal asked.
"We will stay in our current position, and will not line up with the fleet. You will not question that order. Now go deliver my orders I have instructed!"
"Yes, great admiral" the Jackals said in unison.
Location: Unknown
The creature gazed upon Colchis through a hologram. It hovered inches above the ground, and resembled a shapeless blob that was stretched out vertically, about five feet tall and only 1 and half feet wide. It was entirely blue and transparent, and had only two distinct features other than the fact it was a shapeless blob. Near the top of the blob, two transparent, solid blue fangs protruded from the creature, where a face might be. It also had two sagging blue tentacles that hung from either side of it's floating body. It turned and another of the creatures approached it.
"Issssssssss it rrrrccccc time?" It hissed in a language no sentient race could possibly understand.
"Yesssssss, it isssssssss time rrrrrrrrrc! Rrrrrrrrrrrrc hisssssssssss awaken the rrrrrrrrrc Mantassssssssssssssss!"
"They hisssssssss are rrrrrrrrrrc not grrrrrrrrown!" The hologram switched to show the Covenant fleet preparing to line up in front of the Leviathan.
"Then rrrrrrrrrrrc grrrrrrrrrrow them! We must strrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrike sssssssssssssoooooooooooooon hiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssssss!" It motioned to the hologram of the covenant fleet. "Our sssssssssssssingnal has rrrrrrrc come!"
TO BE CONTINUED
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