A/N: This is my first fanfic. The game is Killzone for the PS2 and my fic deals with the Vekta invasion. Instead of dealing with the ISA point-of-view (as in the game) I wanted to show more of the Helghast story. The main characters of the game (Templar, Luger, Rico, and Hakha) might or might not show up in future chapters. I appreciate feedback more then anything so naturally reviews are desirable. Please enjoy.
Grey-brown dirt flew through the air. Explosions shook the ground knocking over figures in the trenches below. The Helghast invasion of the planet Vekta was still in its infancy but the early successes gave hope to the troops that landed throughout the day.
The ISA (International Strategic Arms) engineers had previously set up defensive land mines in front of trenches lined with barbed wire that overlooked the large plains outside Vekta city. The impregnable SD defense platforms orbiting the planet should of made these obsolete having the ability to destroy any hostile force long before it reached the planet, but the SD platforms had failed, and the Third Helghan Army swarmed in. Already, many of the bravest Helghast soldiers had given their lives trying to break through these two defensive lines.
Sergeant Chrichton No'mante pressed his back against the wall of a deep grey trench. Dirt slammed down in a steady rain as consecutive artillery explosions lit the battlefield. Bullets grazed the area above his head and slammed into the dirt around him adding to the chaos that existed everywhere.
Sgt. No'mante's squad stood and crouched around him sending bursts of gunfire back at the ISA defenders. No'mante adjusted his mask to help the oxygen flow smoothly over his nose and mouth as he took quick glances above the edge of the trench. He aimed and shot his automatic assault rifle into the frontline ISA troops that hunkered in an identical trench fifty yards away. He thought he saw blood splatter against the far away trench wall, but the dust and smoke combined with the constant screams of dying men made the world of Vekta a confusing mess.
"Sir! Sgt. No'mante! What do we do now, sir?" Corporal Michali Kazlikove shouted over the roar of battle.
No'mante fired over the trench wall before turning towards his friend. He started to speak but an artillery shell landed at the far end of the trench he and his men defended. The explosion sent shrapnel ripping through flesh as black clad soldiers were hurled into the air. The shock wave knocked No'mante to his knees, but he soon recovered and pulled his friend close, shouting orders into his helmet covered ear.
"We have to keep this position! We can't fall back any farther! Pass the word to keep firing!" Even so close No'mante had to scream as loud as he could for his now second-in-command to understand him. "We must hold our ground!"
To No'mante's left, a young Helghast soldier fell back into the trench clutching his throat as bloody air bubbles formed and popped as the dying soldier fought desperately to keep living. No one had to see his face to know the pain wracked expression he wore underneath his ruined mask. Calls for a medic rang out along the line as the young soldier's body began to convulse. Medical treatment never arrived in time. No'mante looked at the shambles of his squad as he ejected and reloaded another cylinder magazine into his rifle, locking it into place.
The Helghast sergeant glanced over the trench wall to fire again, but stopped as something caught his eye. He tried to focus through the grit and smoke across the battlefield, his orange tinted goggles attached to his mask briefly making him visible to every entrenched ISA soldier across from him. Bullets began ricocheting around his position kicking dirt into his mask, clouding his vision further. Ducking, the Helghan soldier risked two more quick glances with the same result to confirm what he had seen, a plan formulating in his mind.
"Cease fire! Everyone cease-fire! Corporal Kazlikove, get these Helghast to cease fire!"
"Sir, you just ordered us to keep firing! It's not good to confu…"
"Damn it corporal, I just gave you an order! Get these men to cease fire Now!"
"Yes, sir!" Kazlikove yelled back. No'mante could hear his friend's booming voice over the noise of battle. It was in that moment when he realized the artillery barrage had stopped. He was right, and the thought fill him with dread.
The sounds of battle faded as No'mante surveyed the-his troops, though there weren't many left standing. A scant fourteen stood with him now out of the forty-eight assault soldiers that had landed directly within the city via dropships. They had been sent with specific mission objectives. The first was to set explosives to a large ammo and weapons cache. They had found the cache lightly defended, only yellow-jacketed workers were at the location unloading equipment with a few soldiers guarding them. The Helghast soldiers exterminated all resistance and any workers they could find before beginning to set the explosives. The factory, in which the cache had been stored, was destroyed without incident or casualties.
Then came the second and third objectives, to bring a segment of Vekta City's west wall down and hold that section of the city to be used as a foothold for the main force. All that was required was for the forty-eight soldiers to hold their ground until the main line troops could break through the ISA's preliminary defenses. In this, they had failed.
They had succeeded in blowing the factory, succeeded in breaching the western wall from within, but the overwhelming force of RRF Special Forces and ISA regulars had chipped away at their numbers until No'mante's squad commander ordered a retreat through the western wall breach. It had been his last act and order before grenade fragments ripped his legs from his torso, leaving No'mante in command as highest rank. He had led the remnants of the men through the breach under heavy fire and pursuit with minimal losses. They used the ISA dug trenches outside the city as a haven, at least until reinforcements could arrive.
But from what No'mante had seen, that might be coming to an end as well. Again No'mante called out to his hurt troops. "Wait for my command! They're going to charge! Get ready! Fire on my command only!" No'mante spoke as boldly as he could, mimicking his late commander that he and the others had respected so highly. Each remaining Helghast soldier stood in the trench, his rifle aimed at an enemy that had yet to show.
The western front lulled, bullets ceasing to cause death. Only the top of a head or the end of a rifle could be seen as troops shuffled and moved in the ISA controlled trench. Sweat ran as steady as the bullets had beneath No'mantes goggled mask. The heat cooked his skin turning the usual pale skin red. He took short, raspy breaths as he tried to stop shaking from fear and exertion. No'mante loaded a shell into the shotgun attachment underneath the barrel of his rifle. He was expecting close quarters fighting.
As the waiting Helghast stood in anticipation, a loud cry rang out across the open plain, a cry that sent fear running through every inch of No'mantes' body, stiffening his joints. It was a cry from the ISA that meant victory, a sound of hope. The hardships each ISA soldier had experienced were voiced in that one cry. It demanded a Helghast defeat.
Once again, all hell broke lose on the battlefield as a wave of ISA demons leaped from hiding and charged across the plain. ISA soldiers that did not charge opened covering fire for their fellow soldiers from the trench. No'mante hesitated as his mind threatened to freeze, bullets beginning to ricochet around him again.
"Sir! Your orders, sir!" No'mante heard Corporal Kazlikove scream out. A bullet flew past No'mantes' head in a flash. Thick red blood sprayed over his black mask and helmet as the soldier to his right fell motionless, a bullet wound in his upper forehead. The sudden terror jolted the stunned Helghan back to reality.
"Open fire!" No'mante screamed. At once, the remaining dozen Helghast warriors opened fire, each emptying their fifty round clips. Many valiant charging ISA troops stumbled and fell as a wall of lead slammed into them. Bodies shuddered as bullets tore through limbs and torsos, throwing some backwards violently while others died before their bodies ever hit the hard orange ground.
No'mantes hand shook from the constant fire and fear he felt as he reloaded yet another of his cylinder clips, locking it into place before slamming down the rear part of his rifle. "Fire at will! Fire at will," No'mante screamed before opening fire at a group of ISA regulars that dodged in and out of the dune shaped landscape. He saw one hit the ground and lay motionless but the others escaped behind a bare tree stump blacked by the battle.
A second passed in which No'mante saw the numerous ISA bodies that littered the battleground in front of him. In that moment, he felt hope, but it did not last. His hope vanished as the remaining ISA demons swarmed a meager fifteen feet from his position. In the span of a few seconds, four of the remaining thirteen Helghan warriors fell harshly into the bottom of the trench, wounds covering their upper bodies.
No'mante ducked down to reload. He had three clips left and could see Corporal Kazlikove and Private Rente, another dear comrade, pick rifles off the dead and dying to keep fighting. The forced commander braced himself for the carnage he was about to see and stood looking out over the edge of the trench.
A young, scared, wide-eyed, ISA soldier charging from only a ten foot distance directly in front of him was the first thing he saw. Both Helghast and ISA were surprised and both brought up their weapons to fire. The young ISA regular was the first to pull the trigger but his burst sailed to the right, ripping through the fabric of No'mante's uniform but causing no damage. No'mante's aim was better. Hit high on the chest, the youngster stumbled as a half dozen bullet burst tore through his abdomen and chest. The young ISA's momentum carried him straight for the Helghast line though life ebbed away. The moving carcass fell forward, sailing over No'mante's head and into the trench behind him adding to the bodies the Helghast soldiers had to step over. The charging troops were being slowed but not stopped as yet another scream erupted from across the plain. A second wave of ISA troops jumped from the opposite trench and began charging with their brethren.
This is the end, there isn't anyway we're going to survive this. These thoughts echoed in No'mante's mind as well as the mind of every soldier charging or not. For their credit, not a single Helghast soldier backed down, not a single warrior faltered. This thought filled No'mante with pride even as fear seized his heart. Scolar Visari's words, the hero of the Helghan nation, repeated in his mind. Strangely elated through the thought of his leader, No'mante once again stood and fired at the enemy. The second ISA wave had charged twenty yards when No'mante opened fire but a gigantic explosion rocketed the center of the charging ISA troops. Bodies were sent flying through the air as they landed in odd angles of death.
Orange flames leapt upwards topped by a plume of black smoke. The now defensive Helghast could feel the heat radiate from the blast as large clumps of Vekta dirt again showered around them. Both Helghast and ISA turned instinctively from the impact to the source of the explosion. Before all on a high-rise dune looking down at the battlefield stood a tank with the telltale three arrows tipped "Y" marking of the Helghan army, the smoking barrel pointed down at the ISA soldiers. No'mante had to crane his neck and eyes to the side to see the tank. Surging from around the tank came swarms of charging Helghast soldiers. Reinforcements had finally arrived.
The stunned ISA soldiers panicked and retreated from the new forces. The frontline Helghast troops looked intimidating, even to No'mante, with the hundreds of orange glowing eyed figures clad almost completely in black. The Helghast reinforcements crashed into the ISA ranks like wraiths of fallen warriors seeking their just revenge.
Joy and relief flooded through No'mante as his brothers ripped through the remaining ISA forces. Letting out a mighty cry of his own, No'mante climbed out the dark trench where he had resigned himself to death and yelled a great triumphant order.
"CHARGE!"
Elation as well as an increase sense of pride surged through No'mante as the remaining eight members of his squad screamed and charged with him. The adrenaline high of a near death experience ended abruptly. No'mante found himself face down on the cold orange ground. Though he wasn't sure how he had gotten there, he knew his lungs and chest burned and breathing was difficult.
He felt himself being rolled over to his back and gazed up at Kazlikove and Rente, their heads swiveling erratically as they called for a medic. Looking down at himself, No'mante realized what had happened. He also learned what was now inevitable. He was going to die.
The front of his uniform was blacker then normal as blood seeped slowly from open wounds. Pain surged through his shocked body as his comrades applied pressure to the wounds trying to stop the bleeding. It was inevitable; he was tired, so damn tired. He had fought so long and arduous that he needed a rest, even if he never awoke from it.
No'mante gripped a handful of the grey-orange Vekta soil that he had fought and died for. Dirt fell through the fingers of his black glove as pride surged through him. The realization hit him of the great sacrifice he had made for such a noble cause. Vision fading, his friend's screams getting fainter, No'mante saw a medic finally reach him, Too late, he thought as Earth, Vekta, and thoughts of Helghan vanished.
A/N for those that have played the game: I realize I've made a few things up (i.e. the ranking system for the Helghan army was never truly told so I went with my own)and if you see any inaccuracies then please leave a review or e-mail what needs to be changed. Thank you for reading.