ZERO HOUR
Nos' Calos, Vruvian, Main Commercial District
Simon "Gorgon" Lewinski
August 17, 2602, UNSC Standard Military Calendar
The roaring deluge of rain battered the central streets of the once densely populated urban community, now, a barren, war-torn, shelled-out husk of its previous glory. The once proud housing complexes, easily several stories tall, were now but bitter reminders of the many firefights and skirmishes that ravaged the area. Whole sections of buildings and street were literally gone, with holes large and small, some able to fit the entire armored bulk of a Basilisk, urban siege machine within them, littered the devastated landscape. The bodies of men and women of several species dotted the battlefield, all with varying forms of injury, and some already in various states of decay. The entire scene overlooked the rest of the city, having been built on a hill-top on the outskirts of Nos' Calos, and gave a grand view of the total destruction that used to be one of Vruvian's largest metropolises.
The Turian city was a burning, depressing, completely ravaged landscape, with entire sections, easily several blocks wide nothing but craters. Many of the once fearsome spire-like skyscrapers that once defied gravity and stretched to the heavens, now strained to support their own weight; some stayed upright, leaning against other still-standing skyscrapers, others lay sprawled across the ground, having crushed anything and everything that was unfortunate enough to be in the behemoths' paths as they succumbed to the laws of nature.
Every now and then, explosions, tracer fire and the screams of soldiers escaped the city, displaying the fact that there was still fighting going on in the ruined cityscape.
It was a fact that was mostly ignored by a one sergeant Lewinski, who was preoccupied with his task at hand: escaping from his pursuers.
Back in the commercial district, a large metallic appendage peeked from behind one of the many piles of debris, a lone camera and advanced sensory equipment quickly and quietly examining the environment around them. After a few seconds, the appendage eased itself back into cover, and ever so slowly, a smaller than average mech took the appendages place and observed it's surrounding for itself. The machine had obviously seen better days, with dents, craters, holes, slashes, and worst of all, a nearly destroyed left "arm" being the first thing one would be attracted to in the face of the armored war-machine.
The nine foot tall, UNSC STRSgWkr VII "RERIR" was one of the newest of the UNSC's line of siege walkers. Designed to be the ultimate urban fighting machine, the walker boasted an impressive 110mm "Royal Fire" smooth-bore cannon on each arm which fired high velocity depleted uranium-tipped thermobaric shells, protruding out of the slot right above the walker's 3-fingered "gripping" claws, which were capable of reducing slabs of concrete to so much fine powder. Concealed in the "palms" of the claws was a tri-barreled M219A flamethrower, which could retract and be replaced with the walker's smaller compliment of a tri-barreled 25mm auto cannon. Completing its arm arsenal was the UNSC's own brand of plasma sword, the type-1HV energy saber, courtesy of the Sangheili. The three foot long blades of energy extended out from the space where the claws would go, only able to be activated once the claws had completely been retracted. On the RERIR's right shoulder was an experimental railgun, capable of firing a fifteen pound high explosive or armor piercing shell at speeds exceeding mach 8. Behind its left shoulder was a MAULR, 8-barreled area supremacy rocket launcher.
The sixty-some ton beast was protected mainly by its MKIV-P personal energy shield, which was accompanied by the 50cm of titanium reinforced armored plating, both working together to protect their single-occupant from the outside world.
It was a fearsome monster, able to clear most if not all enemy resistance single-handedly, and if that didn't work, then just send more mechs. It was a monster of the battlefield…
…And now, it was on the run.
Sergeant Lewinski surveyed his surrounding one last time, before he heaved a mighty sigh that soon turned into a pained groan as his Rerir abruptly fell on its back, unable to support the titan's weight on its damaged leg anymore. Simon popped out of the hatch that appeared between the two sections of the chest plate which split to reveal the cockpit of the walker. Smoke and sparks escaped the consoles as Simon staggered onto the top of the downed mech to survey the extent of the damage.
As he slid down the side of his machine, he noted the many claw and slash marks that crisscrossed over entire sections of the titan, and he winced at the angled remains of his left arm, the result of his 110mm cannon being forced to fire pointblank while malfunctioning, a dire consequence of a necessary risk turned disappointing loss.
Simon's hardened grey eyes finally fell on the damage on the rear of his mech's left leg, where, to his relief, he found that the damage was already under repair, the result of some spare emergency micro bots that he had luckily saved. Once he was sure the servos and hydraulics that allowed the leg to properly move were set properly in place, the sergeant and, so far, only survivor of the previous firefight, hopped back into his controls, booting the Rerir's systems back up, however, just as he was about to continue towards the city towards his next objective, a horrible sense of dread filled his very being. It was awful, it was repulsive.
It was wrong.
As he struggled to turn his Rerir to face his assailant, and most likely his executor, he heard a whisper in his mind, a voice that penetrated deep into his very soul. Simon could only watch in mute horror as an abomination slithered from the shadows, his body too enraptured in absolute, primal fear to move. His eyes trembled, struggling to look away from the perversion of organic and technological fusion. His very being wept and trembled from the thing before him.
I am the reaper of your existence; I am the harbinger of the end.
I am eternal, I am all encompassing,
I am the monument to your sins.
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