Killzone
Hakha's Betrayal
By
Kodie Kershner
Years ago, people from Earth and the colonized planet Vetka, migrated to Helgan. Helgan was a planet with highly toxic, unbearthable air. It's vast wastland terrain supporting no life whatsoever. It was a miracle for people to have lived there so long, but the colonists adapted to the planet and soon grew to be a stronger and faster race. They had advanced to the point that they no longer called themselves human.
Many years later, the people of Helgan were growing increasingly upset of the Earth and ISA control over them. They were always in fear of an Imperial attack on their planet. Helgan settlements were just small villages and cities that supported each other. Helgan was more of a City-State then anything. The mounting fear fueled the excuse for the army leader of the Helgan people, Saum Visari and his brother General Scolar Visari, to unify the Helgan Colonies.
Hakha lived in the largest city. He grew up like any Helgan. Receiving a good education for later use, also training in hand to hand combat during his teen years. He did well in school, graduating with high honors. Since his body had adapted to Helgan living, he was forced to enlisted in the service, becoming a citizen of the Grand Helgan Army. It was known that nearly 80 of Helgan males joined the service. Most joined because it was what their fathers did before them, but some joined just to get somewhere in life. In some rare cases men were forced to join against their will, Hakha was one of those.
He studied not only Helghast history, but Earth History as well. His favorite subject was literature. However, like most Helghast, when he reached the age to join battle, he did so like it was second nature. He joined the field fighting his own. Where regular soldiers, called grunts, shined in the field of battle, Hakha shined in espionage. Being half Helghast and half human, he could easily integrate with Vetka and Helgan populations.
It was a dispute with an ISA ship trying to enter Helgan airspace that started the first Helghast war. The ISA ship was monitoring the planet's agenda, but when a Helgan ship discovered them, the ISA crew demanded clearence to land on another part of Helgan. The crew on the Helgan ship refused to take orders from the human space captain and opened fire, destroying the ship completely. Some of the crew made it off the doomed ISA ship before it blew up, but the Helgans fired upon the rest of the ships trying to escape back to Vetka. The base in Vetka heard of the incident and thus started the war against the Helghast.
Hakha was called up to join in the battle by General Lente, head of the Third Army of Helgan. Scolar Visari, not yet ruler, led the army into battle against Earth and ISA forces. They launched a large missile attack that crippled half of the Earth Fleet that were docking at Vetka Space station. Although the planets defences were down, the remainder of the Earth Fleet and the Whole ISA force were already on the ground anticipating the Helghast Attack. The Helghast were greatly out numbered because only half of the Helgan city-state could agree to wage war, making it so that they didn't have the required troops to wage the war they had planned.
Before Scolar Visari could move his troops too Vekta in a ground attack, the ISA and a newly regrouped Earth fleet brought the war to Helgan themselves. Their assault contained waves of missiles and jets, destorying major citys and towns, bringing down the Helgan war machine for good.
During the war, Major Hakha completed several underground missions, one being blocking communications from Earth the Vetka. It was there that he met General Bradley Vaughton. Specks of the mission had Hakha sneak into a fortified ISA base to get some files on where the ISA were going to move to next.
Silent in the shadows, Hakha snuck in; dispensing several guards and working through several ISA traps. 'The ISA wouldn't have went through this much trouble if there wasn't somthing important here.' Hakha thought to himself. Since the ISA base was on Helgan, all of the human troops wore masks that covered there mouth and nose, to prevent breathing in the toxic air. Hakha managed to get to a room that was sealed unusually tight. 'An air tight office' he noted, but only one gaurd guarding it. 'Why such loose security for the main office?' Hakha thought has he pulled out his knife, readying for conflict.
Using the shadows, he crept along anticipating the strike. He pick up a small object and chucked it in the direction of the guard. The guard looked toward the incoming path,but it was too late. Hakha quickily moved from his conceilment and threw the knife, burying it right into the guards throat. He caught the dying man and lowered his body slowly to the ground, careful to draw no further attention to himself. He stood in front of the guarded rooms door. He has never liked taking the front door, but this room was sealed tight, and he could only find this one way in. He used the inferred on his computer to scan the room for people inside, but found no one around.
He quietly opened the door, his weapon drawn. Just as he thought, no one. With a second look he realized, there was nothing in here. No papers of where the ISA were going to go, no secret plot, nothing. Hakha looked around further, but found nothing but a chair and a empty table. He turned to leave. However, before he could leave the room, several ISA men with gas masks rushed in, guns pointed right at him.
"Don't move, or we will fire!" One of the men said out loud. Hakha heard a man outside the door say, "Hold your fire."
The man slowly walked in and looked at all that were in the room. Having summed up the situation, he told everyone to leave. As they left, they shut the door behind them. Fresh air rushed in to fill the room once again. The man took off his mask to show his face. He was short of stature, Hakha thought to himself, maybe 5'4". He looked older the Hakha, but definatly not past his prime. He had a salt and pepper look to his hair and he was unarmed. 'What does this guy want? He doesn't even have a weapon.' Hakha thought, looking intently on the man.
"You're General Vaughton. What do you want with me?" Hakha said sturnly.
"I wanted to talk with you." Vaughton said in a scruffy voice. "Your human father told me that you could help me when the time was right."
"My father! How can that be? He is dead."
"I know. He spoke about you once. About what a great son you were when you were just a small child."
"I'm a Helgan. I don't befriend the enemy." Hahka said with a firm tone in his voice.
"No, but you don't like seeing your own people get slaughtered by your own command." Vaughton shouted back with equal authority. "I would guess that you came here too see what our next move is. I'll tell you, we are going to leave Helgan for good." Vaughton said lowering his voice.
"Leave? You have our city surrounded. You can take us at any time." Hakha said in question.
"Your leader of the Helgan army signed a treaty in secret, stating that he fully surrenders his troops. It seems like he doesn't allow his brother to get well informed." Vaghton continued.
"What will the ISA forces do then?"
"The ISA and Earth airborne forces are leaving the planet, and the ground forces are returning to base for immediate departure. We will leave this place, with the condition that your people seize all major nuclear missile production."
"What about our ships and our other smaller missles?" Hakha asked.
"We will be building something to counter that if any Helgan ship dares come within 1,00 meters of Vetka."
A short pause grew between the two men. Hakha gave some thought to what Vaughton had said, and what this war was about. His people had started the war, and the result was the killing of men and women to get what they wanted from this loosing battle.
"What do you say Hakha? We need an experienced, well skilled man inside Helgan intelligence." Vaughton coaxed, knowing his words had hit home with Hakha.
"I accept, but know this. I am doing this for my family, so they can be safe. Not for any human. A human of my own blood left me when I was a child, I would never trust one again."
"Good. This will be the last time we will meet face to face." Vaughton concluded.
With that Vaughton left, the ISA guards rushing in, weapons drawn to Hakha. Not sure of what he had gotten into, Hakha walked out the door, and was given the documents he had come in for.
He left the base from the front entrance and began walking the trek back to his base camp. He paused and looked up at the dimming evening sky. For the first time in a long time he had seen clear sky. For weeks it was filled with the ISA and Earth force skyships, routinly flying over, dropping bombs on the Helgan landscape. In the distance, Hakha did see ships taking off over Helgan city, departing the planet apparently for good. Vaughton was right. Although most of the fighting took place in the sky, the ISA ground troops that had landed found a tough opponent of the Helgan ground troops. He realized that he could have heard gunshots where he stood only days earlier.
As he arrived at camp, he was saluted by what remained of the 3rd Army. The 3rd Army contained the top elite of the Helgan armies, but was greatly outnumbered by the ISA and Earth troops. He walked straight to Colonol Lentes' quarters and gave him the papers that he was looking for, never mentioning his meeting with General Vaughton.
"It seems like our leader was making plans without the knowledge of the rest of us." Hakha said.
"I guess Visari had to release is plan earlier then expected."
Lente then filled Hakha in on Visaris' and his plan to overthrow the current leader, but was holding off until they had won the war. However, since the war had ended suddenly, and they lost; Visari had to start from scratch.
They met up with Scolar Visari that same day and told him of the new found information. He was furious, but somewhat glad of the turn of events. Visari told the two men that he would go ahead with his original plan and told now, newly appointed General Lente, what he had to do.
One night later, Saum Visari went to his front door, waking up from a knock by Lente himself. Lente walked in casually like always, but this time he had two guards with him.
"What is the meaning of this Lente?" He demanded.
"The meaning of this is that your brother, that you betrayed, is now the ruler of Helgan and the leader of your army."
Lente then pulled out his Machine Pistol and emptied a three round burst into the late ruler of Helgan. The plan was complete. Scolar Visari, the new leader of Helgan, General Lente heading the army. The now Colonol Hakha was chief of staff of the Helgan army, the position immeditaly under General Lente.
The next day, the new appointed leader, Scolar Visari, held a speech of what was to come of Helgan. Looking around to the crumbling landscape and the smoke rising from recently bombed buildings, Visari gathered what was left of his army, and spoke.
"Our late leader was tragically killed last night. He had always spoken of a grand army, that from the past and here in the present. As I now assume his role, I now see that he had not yet acheived this great vision. Our great army was not what an army should of been. My brother didn't have the strength in one arm to go forth into battle and make known what the Helgan people are about." He gave a short pause.
"Give me ten years! Ten years! And Helgan will be strong again. Helgan will be what our Fore Fathers would have wanted it to be. Ten Years! And your children's children will live in peace. They will live in a great world safe from evil. Safe from Earth and how they tell us to be, not how we should be! This war was a disappointment. Under my brother the Helgan people couldn't stand up and show what being Helgan really is. I will change that, and show what we are made of. We must take control of our lives and rid the problems amungst ourselves! I need you! I need you to help me. Help me win over our people, make them see Helgans' new, bright tomorrow."
He quickly left the stage as the crowd went wild. He knew he would have the army he had always dreamed of.