Oh wow guys, I honestly wasn't expecting this. Almost 10 reviews and ~200+ hits? Hmm, maybe I actually got something here.
Dragonman10: thanks!
Master of the Blood Wolves: I'm trying man, I'm trying. This is something new for me, so forgive me if I flop around a bit before I kick things off in earnest.
Me (sign your review next time dude!): Very nice review length, and you gave me some pointers on getting things done, and maybe it should work out. I would like to say though that the culture shock is more severe on the Neo-Covie forces as they don't have any concept of magic at all whereas the UNSC forces actually have fantasy novels and stuff. And hopefully the dialogue is better this chapter.
Undeaddade: thanks!
Wertmon505: once every 2-4 weeks is my target, I gotta fight with school first. Thank god I only got 1 quarter left, and then its graduation time!
Anon: sorry, didn't know I had misspelled the Commander's name. And the speech length has been dealt with, although (SPOILER!) some rather lengthy explanation is coming next chapter. Gotta have some bloodshed first.
ZeroDivisionCaptain: I know. I got the idea from the other major Xover between the Halo and Inheritance universes, and while I liked the idea, it needed a lot more work, so I decided to do it myself.
Hideout Writer: Want more? wish granted
Arandomreviewer: Maybe ;)
Anquietas: I know i know, i fucked it up. could have been worse. ALOT worse.
Now, on to the promised fragfest!
Turn of the Tides Chapter 2: …. And into the inferno.
"This is Cortana to Sierra-117 and the Arbiter." Everyone in the area immediately jumped at the unexpected sound of Cortana's voice coming from John's helmet.
John keyed his mic and replied, "Go ahead Cortana."
The AI composed herself before beginning. "I'm sending all of the intel the boy, Eragon, and his dragon, Saphira, told us, as well as visual and motion sensor data." John's HUD was promptly swamped with data, including everything from data on the dragon to what they were going up against. He quickly absorbed the information, and replied, "Very well. Requesting heavy armor and air support, as well as every man we have."
"Already one step ahead of you Chief. The Pelicans are already inbound with the Marines and weapons, and the only Longsword is getting geared up for bombing runs. At the enemy army's current pace, they will be at the wall of the city within ten minutes."
"Barzul! Damn filth wont even give us time to get ready for a fight." Orik cursed
His next words were drowned out by the roar of a dozen Pelicans cruising over the city, followed by the deep rumble of the ship itself. The Pelicans set down equidistantly around the city, and out of the back of them came a dozen Marines, each one weighed down by an enormous amount of equipment. "A dozen men?" Orik said weakly. "A dozen men is all you have to offer?" The Chief shook his head. "Each dropship has anywhere from four to twenty men on board, as well as the vehicles and weapons we will be using to defend this city. Adding the Arbiter and his forces, we have eighty soldiers willing to keep this city secure. Add in air support and vastly superior weaponry, and should we do this right, they will never reach the walls."
"How can so few kill so many?" Murtagh asked. "There has to be thousands of them out there."
"Actually the figure is three hundred ninety one thousand five hundred twenty two if the count is correct," Everyone's jaws dropped at this figure. "And you underestimate our weapons and combat experience. We have fought against overwhelming odds before and won." The Chief shook his head. "The problem now is not whether we can win this battle, its a matter of ammunition. With this many targets its going to be difficult to ensure each group has enough ammunition, which is where your forces come in, dwarf." Orik jumped before saying, "No mean to be rude, but I am not the commander of the Dwarvish forces within the city. You would have to speak to Hrothgar, king of the Dwarves and leader of mine clan." The Chief nodded, filing the thought away. "Even so, in the event they do get past us, it would be prudent to have anyone who is capable of fighting out and ready to defend the city. Set them around the gates, as they are the weakest point." Orik nodded, and then motioned for a messenger dwarf nearby to tell Hrothgar that the gods were about to take one mighty crap on them, before he began rapidly donning his armor.
A faint roar of an Urgal sounded from over the wall, and the Chief selected a large yellow weapon with huge green tubes of material sticking out of the top.
John crouched down and tilted back, angling the weapon high, before depressing the firing stud. With a loud thok! the weapon discharged a sizzling green bolt, arcing high over the wall and racing outwards. Quickly the Chief exhausted the weapon, reloading it with more tubes of the same green material, before standing up and listening. After several seconds, there were several large explosions and flashes of green light over the wall, quickly followed the by the screams of dying Urgals. The Chief saw their stunned faces and quickly said, "Fuel rod cannon. Turns the user into a mobile artillery unit."
A deafening roar sounded over the wall, the sound of nearly four hundred thousand throats baying for blood, before it was drowned out by a rolling rumble. Murtagh turned to the Chief. "Nice one. Instead of getting them to back off, you enraged them even more."
Johnson came in over the comm and said dryly, "Well, I was hoping to get some time to place some mines and maybe some fougasse. Turn the whole place into a barbecue and make short work of those ugly brutes. Guess its time for plan B."
His "Plan B" came rolling up on 4 tracked pods and weighed approximately seventy tons and was followed by a huge floating purple behemoth, both machines growling as their power-plants strained under their bulk. "What in the gods are these machinations?" Orik breathed. "The big gray one is a Scorpion tank, sixty-six tons of HE spewing de-vine intervention! And the ugly purple bastard is a Wraith tank, one of the meanest pieces of Covenant ground armor."
The machines came to a halt and opened up, revealing that the cockpits were empty. Cortana's voice came over both John and Vadam's headsets, "Hurry you two. The Urgals will reach the walls within a minute." The Chief didn't need a second opinion. Both him and the Arbiter jumped into their respective vehicles before moving towards the gate at the southern end of the city. As they drove by the place where one of the Pelicans landed, a Warthog and half a dozen Marines joined the Chief and Arbiter. Also joining them was a pair of Unngoy, each one clad in red armor and sitting astride a Ghost. One of them shouted at the dumbstruck dwarves at the gate, "Get out of the way! Arbiter and Demon on warpath!"
Inside his tank, the Arbiter was coordinating the defense of the city and the attack on the Urgal army. Another Wraith tank and 3 more Scorpion tanks had been deployed, as well as a small motorcade of vehicles ranging from Mongooses to a captured Seraph fighter. 'Vadam looked at the armor, and began delivering orders to his troops.
"'Rodam, take your Wraith to the eastern gate and defend it. Flupup, take your soldiers up to the wall and lay down suppressing fire around the tank. Do not let these beasts get to it."
"Acknowledged Arbiter, it will be done," was the reply from both of them, the Sangheili warrior a deep rich voice and the Unggoy a high pitched squeak.
Bringing out the tanks would be an effective way to scare and terrorize the enemy troops. The Arbiter knew the effect of psychological warfare on his enemies, having practiced it and been the victim of it many times. He located the Mgalekgolo pair and said to them, "Go to the west gate, and do what needs to be done. Keep collateral to a minimum." The deep rumble of the pair replied, "Very well Arbiter, we shall go to the west gate and defend it."
The Chief was doing the same, coordinating with Johnson on deploying the Marines, placing most up on the wall to give them a clean line of fire and the devastating advantage of height over the opposing troops. He also ordered that 8 fixed turrets, half plasma, half minigun, get placed equidistantly around the city, to provide massive overlapping fields of fire. What Marines werent on the wall were sent up to the dragon hold, using the height it offered for an excellent platform for sniping from. If Linda was here, she would most likely find the most convoluted spot she could, and find her prey from there. John shook his head. They were all gone, and there was nothing he could do about it, just keep to the mission at hand. After making sure that the Marines were in the best position from which they could defend the city, he then told them to load all of their grenade launchers with phosphorus shells, nasty explosive devices which, upon detonation, spray white hot burning phosphorus everywhere, embedding chips of the material in all exposed flesh within range and igniting anything even remotely flammable. One shell had an effective radius of thirty feet, and a constant rain of them would light a super-hot ring of fire around the city, creating a protective barrier of flame that would claim thousands of lives. As everyone reported in that they were ready, he issued the order: "Open fire."
The wall seemed to simply explode as all of the Marines on it opened up, phosphorus shells raining down in front of the army and unleashing their deadly cargo, closely followed by the turrets, each one spraying thousands of rounds downrange. One of the catapaults that was in Tronjheim was loaded with Asteroidea mines and fired, raining the 8-armed explosive devices down on the Urgal forces and shredding anything that was unfortunate to be near one. Burning pieces of phosphorus embedded themselves in their victims, the fragments causing the flesh around them to burn and melt, causing the unfortunate victim to scream in agony as they were burned alive from the inside out. And if one looked hard enough, they could see a bright red ball of angry metal raining powerful bolts of topaz energy down on the horde.
The two tanks had rolled up to the gate, manned by several dwarves, who just stared dumbstruck at the massive machines rumbling there, each one weighing over fifty tons and the biggest machines they had ever seen move. The hatch on the Scorpion opened up, revealing the Spartan inside, who looked at the dwarves and said, "Open it."
WHUMP!
With a loud crash, the surviving Urgals slammed into the other side of the massive oak doors, pounding into it and hacking away at the dense timber with gusto, baying for the blood of their brother's slayers. The dwarves looked at John and shook their head, who sighed and then closed the hatch on the tank. He switched from driving to gun control, and pointed the 15 foot long barrel at the door, and before anyone could even think of stopping him, he fired.
The enormous cannon let loose a loud boom! as the hypersonic depleted uranium round blew through the door like it was made of tissue paper, shattering it instantly and sending its broken remains flying outwards. The remains of the door soared over the army, impaling Urgals and crushing those who were unlucky enough to be caught under the falling pieces of the gate. The shell itself didn't stop, racing through the Urgal lines and simply vaporizing anything it hit. The shell was moving so fast it didn't need to hit its target to blast it to bits, the overpressure wave ensuring that the flesh of the Urgals never touched the slug from firing to impact ten miles away at the base of one of the petals of the volcano. Between the Chief and the end of the tank shell's flight path, hundreds of shattered corpses littered the ground. Blood and gore covered the battlefield, painting it a gruesome mix of crimson and brown. After a few seconds, the chunks of the Urgals that had been directly hit by the shell came splattering back down, showering the survivors with the blood of their brothers. The Urgals at the gate had been completely pulverized, victim of not only the passage of the shell, but also the shock-wave of the explosive charge that had slung the shell out of the barrel. Not giving any of the survivors respite, the Chief spun up the chain gun and opened fire, spraying thousands of rounds downrange and into the enraged horde. The leading edge seemed to melt under the hail of bullets, Urgals flying apart as the super-sonic depleted uranium slugs, normally meant for light anti-armor purposes, blew through them and carved a deep pocket into their ranks.
The Arbiter knew it was then time to bring the terror of the Wraith onto the battlefield, and charged past the Chief while priming the main mortar on the tank. The automated plasma cannons on the tank opened fire, and the result was as horrific as the opening shot.
The Urgals saw the much slower moving plasma coming, and foolishly moved their primitive metal bucklers into the path of the super-hot bolts. The next thing they knew, the metal was on fire and melting, as were they. The bolts of plasma didn't have the anti-materiel properties of the projectiles of the Humans, but they made up for it with sheer heat. Each Urgal hit by the stream of fire went up in flames, screaming as the ionized bolts mercilessly burned through them, boiling fluids and turning the blood in their veins into steam. Several Urgals simply exploded from the inside out from the amount of steam building up inside them, spraying blood and bone everywhere. The main mortar on the Arbiter's Wraith was primed and ready, and with a spoken command to the other Wraith pilot, he fired.
On both sides of the city, every spectator watched as the purple behemoths shuddered and spat a blazing sapphire comet into the sky, wondering what horror would be unleashed when they came back down in the army. After several seconds of flight, every Scorpion simultaneously fired their deadly cannons, synchronizing them with the impact of the mortars. The result was pure chaos.
Each mortar launched from a Wraith tank is a 6 foot ball of plasma contained by its own magnetic field and heated to roughly half a million degrees. They are fired on a semi-guided ballistic trajectory, making avoiding them somewhat easy, considering they fly slowly. When they hit, the magnetic bubble the plasma is in collapses, allowing thermal expansion to take over. In a microsecond, the ball exploded into a sheet of sapphire plasma, igniting everything. Metal, wood, flesh, hell, the very rock itself, all of it went up in flames. The Urgals found this out as their lines were incinerated, not even getting a chance to scream before the fire was upon them and annihilated them, leaving nothing more than ash and bone fragments. The metal from their weapons was turned into little more than molten slag, each pool glowing white hot and visibly burning.
The real terror on the battlefield though was the Mgalekgolo. Each one stood 8 feet tall in their combat state, and were almost completely covered in a near impenetrable armor. Attached to their right "arm" was their assault cannon, capable of firing either streams of radioactive goo or burning bolts, and attached to their left arm was the indestructible shield they were famous for. The reason there was no tank at the west gate was because it would be pointless with those two there. They knew that they were once again going up against an inferior enemy, and they intended to teach the Urgals a thing or two about fear.
The Urgals didn't know what to do about the behemoths, and the three seconds they stood there trying to figure out what to do, the Hunters were on them. The first of the pair ran at the nearest Urgal, who readied its axe in preparation for a fight. The next thing it knew, the four thousand pound shield slammed into its chest and proceeded to cave in its rib cage, killing it instantly. Before the creatures could even react to the presence of the Hunters, the second one opened fire with a sustained stream of green death, with results as devastating as the Wraith mortars.
In less than thirty seconds, a tenth of the army was either dead or dying, and the rest was in disarray from the sudden assault from weapons of incredible power. The phosphorus shells ran out, and those who were firing the shells switched to other weapons before continuing the stream of fire into the horde. Combat rifles, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, needlers, everything went thundering downrange, turning the outer wall into a light show as the woefully outnumbered UNSC and NC forces used everything they had to their advantage.
It wasn't enough. For every Urgal they felled another took its place. There were huge numbers of them, and despite the fact they were dying by the thousands, tens of thousands more were coming onto the battlefield through the tunnels. They were slowly but surely being overrun.
Eragon watched the battle on the holotank in shock. These weapons were beyond anything he thought should be possible. The vehicles alone caused a significant number of casualties, the weapons mounted on the vehicles bringing death every time they were fired. The soldiers up on the wall did a fraction of the effort that he or Murtagh or any normal soldier would do to take a life, and yet they brought death like a storm brought rain. Eragon shook his head, fighting the bile rising up his throat, and didn't notice that he was about to fall out his seat.
Johnson caught him and hauled him back up into the seat, noticing that Eragon was a pale shade of green. "You alright kid?" Johnson asked.
"How can you bring death on such a scale and be so numb to it?" Eragon asked weakly.
"Because it was once brought on us as well." Johnson growled. "I supposed we have gotten a little too used to the carnage."
"Ahem," Cortana did the closest approximation of clearing her throat. "The war stories can wait, Johnson. Right now we need to figure out what to do about the Urgals. More of those creatures are coming up through the tunnels, and despite our firepower, we need to close them or we will be overrun." Cortana's hologram dissolved back to the map again, this time seething with red. Several thick lines of it could be seen entering from all sides, indicating that there were many more reinforcements on the way.
"Could we use some Archer missiles?" Keyes asked. Cortana shook her head. "The Archers were meant only for ship to ship combat. Attempting to use them against ground targets, especially in an environment like this, would bring more collateral than I would like to mention."
Suddenly there was a bright spot on the map."What is that?" Eragon pointed to the swiftly moving bright spot as it moved in alongside the Urgal forces. "I don't know. Its emitting a large amount of EM radiation, similar to what we detected when you ignited your sword through magic. But the quality... its different. A high level magician maybe?" Cortana sounded unusually hesitant, not quite accepting the presence of magic. Something like that violated many laws of the universe. Maybe after the fight she could ask Eragon to tell her something about it.
Eragon watched the glowing patch, wondering what it was, praying it wasn't the worst thing possible. Cortana interrupted his thoughts when she said, "I got a visual on the being emitting the radiation. I think you might want to take a look at this."
The map switched to one of the exterior cameras that Cortana was using to watch the carnage, and zoomed in on the person.
As soon as it did Eragon turned pale, while Saphira let loose a vicious hiss. "Oh god... its Durza."
The map reappeared, and another flare was seen on the other side of the city, and soon enough, Cortana had it on visual. Another Shade stood there, crimson eyes and hair clearly visible, but was different than Durza. The new Shade stood seven feet tall, and instead of long hair like Durza, this Shade had cropped it short. He was clad in armor that was blacker than night, and seemed to shimmer, as if it wasn't quite on this plane of existence. In this Shade's hands was a wicked scythe, stained red with blood, and with a gigantic blade that was so massive no human could ever hope to hold it. What made it even more repulsive was that the handle was constructed entirely out of bone. Eragon turned even more pale. "Two Shades, hes got two of them!"
Johnson growled. "Whatever these 'Shades' are, they are going to last long. If we want something dead, we kill it, no ifs, ands or buts. And if we cant kill it, I think the Chief will have some fun fighting it."
Eragon shook his head. "The only way to kill a Shade is to stab it through the heart. Any other way will simply cause it to reform somewhere else and much more stronger than before. Your weapons wouldn't do anything to him except get him angry." Johnson's response was to pull out the handle of an Energy Sword and light it. "Think this would be more than enough to kill one of them?" Eragon backed away slightly from the white hot blade before nodding. "Alright, I'll make sure the Chief and Arbiter get one each. Boy are they going to have themselves some fun today!"
Fred, Linda, Dr Halsey, Linda, and the remaining Spartan-IIIs had been walking for days now. Water wasn't hard to come across inside the Dyson Sphere, nor was food. The sun had been ever present, regardless of what time it was, and it beat down on them. The Spartans were well protected inside their armor, but Mendez and Halsey were both beginning to suffer from heat exhaustion. The Spartan-IIs all were still alert, still on edge after loosing Kurt and William to the Covenant forces. Halsey couldn't blame them. She had raised them, comforted them, and she knew them more intimately than any other being alive other than one of their own. They may have be able to conceal their emotions from the younger Spartans, but Halsey could see it clear as day. Her Spartan-IIs were mourning, something they rarely did, and it was something which pained her.
Her thoughts wandered to how they were going to get out of here. The Dyson Sphere was encased in a compressed Slipspace bubble, and outside of it was the core room which was guaranteed to be seething with Covenant forces which kicked their asses the last time they engaged them. Halsey already had enough trouble fixing them up after the first fight, her portable Sterile Field Generator running out of power shortly after the second day they were here. And without the needed equipment to open another Slipspace portal, they were essentially trapped inside. The good news though was that they had managed to get Team Katana out of their Slipspace pods, which added to their forces somewhat.
Oh the irony, Halsey thought. We came here looking for weapons, and instead go ourselves locked inside what amounts to a cosmic vault. Her thoughts were interrupted when Linda, who used the scope on her sniper rifle to scout the featureless terrain ahead, said, "I see something, about 10 klicks distant. Something other than trees and flat grasslands." Mendez pulled out a ancient set of optical binoculars and examined it himself, while the Spartans opted for the scopes of their weapons or their faceplate magnification. What they saw was distinctly different from anything they had seen, and yet oddly familiar.
It was a massive pyramid. Instead of being constructed of sandstone and bleached white by endless days, it was constructed of solid metal, perfectly smooth sided, and almost blinding to look at from the wrong angle. In front of it were 2 towering obelisks, these also made of metal and covered from top to bottom in the hieroglyphics of the Forerunners. A small temple was in front of the pyramid, but this temple was constructed of stone, and looked like it had seen better days. It was covered in scorch marks and blast craters, clear evidence that a fierce battle had been fought here, yet strangely enough the rest of the area surrounding the temple didn't have so much as a burn mark.
After a few hours of walking, they made it to the pyramid and were walking across the threshold into the dark and thankfully cool interior. Fred and Kelly took point, rapidly sweeping through the small interior of the building, checking for threats before Halsey and Mendez came in deeper. They made it to the end of the temple, where a strange, ring like object stood upright against the wall at the end of a large chamber lined with thick stone columns. After a few moments, they lowered their weapons and said, "All clear."
A minute later, Halsey and the rest of them were standing in front of the object, examining it and trying to make sense of it. Spaced equidistantly around it were 9 triangular crystals, each one a deep orange-red color, and flanked by more of the same material the rest of the ring was made of, in a similar shape of the crystals. On an inner ring, 38 odd symbols were carved into it, each one partitioned off into their own section. The entire ring was a dull gray color, almost black, and had an inner diameter of 22 feet on the dot.
"So, any idea of what this thing is?" Mendez asked. Halsey shook her head. "These symbols are not of any language I have ever seen before, if it even is a language. The glyphs on the walls however are in Forerunner. Give me a moment to decipher them." She pulled out her laptop, and within moments both Halsey and her personal AI were deciphering the symbols on the wall.
Mendez shrugged, before moving to examine the pedestal like object standing in front of the ring. The pedestal was of the same near-black material as was the ring, and came up to about his waist. On its surface were 38 panels, each one with a raised symbol on its surface that matched one of the symbols on the ring. In the middle of the panels, there was a large red dome, some kind of giant button. Just on a whim, he pressed one of the symbols on the device.
With a groan and whirr of spinning motors, the inner track began to move. Like lightning, every Spartan turned towards the ring, their weapons leveled and ready to shoot. After a moment, the inner track came to a stop, the symbol which Mendez had pressed directly underneath the top triangle. It lit up, as well as another directly to its right, before turning off again. The other triangle remained lit, as well as the corresponding symbol on the panel.
Halsey jumped at the same time the Spartans turned towards the ring and shouted, "Damnit Mendez don't touch anything!"
He raised his hands defensively and backed away, not willing to risk the wrath of Halsey. She was already greatly displeased at him becoming involved in the S-III program, and having the woman jump down his throat is the last thing he needed.
The Spartans lowered their weapons and resumed their scans of the local area, keeping a keen eye on their motion trackers, seeing nothing but themselves on it.
"Well, I think I know what it is." Halsey said quietly. "If I am reading this correctly, its a description of this device." Halsey paused as she quickly examined the glyphs on the wall. "Its a gate to the stars... no that's not quite right. Stargate. That's what it is."
"And... this tells us what precisely?" Mendez was still standing next to the pedestal, wondering what this 'Stargate' was capable of.
"If I am reading these right, the gate is 'dialed' by entering 7 symbols into it; 6 for the destination, one to plot a course. After which, the gate activates, and you walk through to your destination, be it anywhere in the galaxy. Awfully convenient to have the basic instruction manual around." Halsey continued to examine the rows of symbols on the wall, and noticed that a lot of them had been filled in with red ink before getting struck through, indicating that those addresses were no longer useable. In fact all of them weren't useable, except for one. This one was placed next to a white triangle placed inside another triangle with the top cut off, and instead of 7 symbols there were nine of them.
"I thought you said it used only seven symbols?" Kelley asked, examining the wall herself. Halsey continued to read the script on the wall, and then said, her voice trembling slightly, "This last address goes to an entirely new universe. Apparently the Forerunners had gotten so well versed in the mechanics of Slipspace travel and control they had managed to go to other universes. Seven symbols go to local gates, eight go to extragalactic gates, and nine... nine leave the universe entirely."
Fred walked up and examined it himself, and said, "Well, it looks like we may have to use this 'Stargate' to go to this location. It would be better than staying trapped here for an eternity." "I agree," growled Mendez. "You told us that the core of this 'shield world' was many times the size of the earth. I for one don't want to spend the rest of my days walking across it. I say we go and hope there are people willing to help us get home." The Spartans nodded in agreement.
"Very well. Lets get out of here. Mendez, since you couldn't keep your hands off the device, mind continuing?" Mendez face-palmed at the comment, but nodded before turning back to the dialer. He checked he symbols he was supposed to dial, and after noting that the one he had put in was coincidentally the first one in the sequence, he began entering the other 8. The first 7 passed without incident, but at the entering of the 8th symbol, the area began to shake. "The hell?" Mendez was about to stop dialing, but Halsey shouted, "Enter the last one!". With a shrug, he put in the last one, a triangle with a circle over its peak. All 7 visible chevrons on the Gate were lit up, and as soon as that happened the center button glowed red. The gate quieted down, but otherwise nothing happened. Mendez looked at the others and asked, "Are you all OK?" They nodded, and Mendez, who prayed the gate wouldn't do anything drastic, pressed the big red button.
With a electronic groan, the gate activated, unleashing a huge whoosh of energy straight at Mendez, who ducked before it hit him. The energy fell back into the gate, and stabilized into a shimmering blue 'puddle', illuminating the room they were in with a shimmering blue/white glow.
Everyone gingerly stuck their heads out of cover, checking to make sure that the gate hadn't claimed anyone in its rather hectic activation. Mendez glared daggers at Halsey, "Was it supposed to do that?"
The woman nodded. "If I am reading this correct, activating the gate first unleashes a energy vortex of some sort before it stabilizes. Now, it doesn't say anything about what we will find on the other side."
A moment later, all of their radio's exploded into chatter, clearly coming through the gate from the other side. Both Covenant and UNSC bands were active, and they decided to listen to them.
"I need more grenades, MORE GRENADES!"
The telltale squeaky voice of a Grunt returned, "Take mine! Bad beasts everywhere!"
A rich, deep voice came next. "Spartan, we cannot hold off these beasts much longer. We must fall back to the city."
A voice they all instantly recognized and missed came back, "Very well. All forces, fall back to the city. Repeat, fall back and hit them from the wall."
Everyone turned to each other, knowing where to go next. Kelley turned to Fred. "Sir, requesting permission to go on recon through the gate." Fred nodded, and said, "Be careful." Kelley flashed the Spartan smile sigh before she prepared to walk through the vertical wall of energy that separated her from another universe. She held her breath, not quite sure what to expect, and then passed through the event horizon.
The next thing Kelley knew, her world was turned upside down. Her body fragmented into thousands of pieces before being shot forward in a rapidly swirling tunnel, racing towards a glowing ball of light. She reached this light, which went out with a flash. The next moment, millions of stars stretched and distorted themselves as Kelley suddenly and rapidly accelerated to incredible speed between two bands of energy, blowing past other stars at a speed incomprehensible to her mind. She blew forward through space, simply numb to the speed, the wormhole twisting and turning more and more violently before she saw another bright ball at the end of it all, and with a flash, she exited the wormhole and out the other side.
The moment she emerged from the end out of another gate, she heard the telltale roar of a battle was going off directly above her head. Her sensitive hearing detected the distinct sound of gunfire as well as plasma fire. All this was almost drowned out by a loud guttural bellowing, with occasional screaming as something died a brutal death. She keyed her mic and said, "This is Spartan-087. Its clear. Be advised, there is what sounds like a very one sided war going on upstairs."
Without warning, the light signals which the Spartans came on. Only one lit, and the number next to it was 117. 3 blue blinks before going out. A moment later, a comm channel opened between her and John, and a six note tone sounded, the surefire signal that it was without a doubt him.
With a dull schlup Fred and Linda came out of the Stargate, weapons raised, and asked, "Any contacts?" Kelley shook her head. "Look at your scopes though." They glanced at their motion trackers, and were rewarded with a near-solid blob of red covering the entire extent of the tracker's range. There was a lot of movement up there. Another schlup and the rest of the group came through the gate, each one shaking their head to get rid of the disorientation. Fred went over to the dialer and snapped an image of the glowing symbols on it, before he realized that this dialing device was different, as was the gate. Both, instead of being a dark gray with reddish crystals, this one was a silvery color with blue crystals, and overall looked sleeker, more refined.
With a snap, the gate shut down, and the entire area was plunged into darkness. Above them, the telltale boom of a Scorpion tank was heard, quickly followed by a hail of gunfire. Dust fell from the roof of the cavern from the force of the shot, pattering down onto their armor and causing the Spartan-II's shields to glow slightly.
Fred looked both ways down the tunnel, and saw that the tunnel leading away from the battle had caved in, leaving them no choice but to go towards the battle. With several quick hand signals, he motioned for the rest of them to spread out and move swiftly, with the Spartan-IIIs taking point. Another Scorpion shot sounded, followed by an explosion as something was destroyed. Almost as soon as the noise of this faded, their signal lights pulsed red five times, the signal calling for backup. The sender was labeled 117. They all looked at each other, and then bolted down the tunnel. As they ran, Cortana contacted them. "Welcome back Blue team. You came just as we were getting started." Another Scorpion shot sounded, the shock of the shot causing more rocks to fall from the ceiling. "You need to get topside as soon as possible and assist in the defense of the city. Your targets is the massive Urgal army attacking the city and our forces. You cant miss the Urgals, most of them stand eight feet tall and all of them have horns. There's one more thing you need to know about before you continue."
"What is that other thing, Cortana?" Halsey asked. Cortana was surprised to hear Halsey's voice again, but knew the time for explanations would be for later. "That other thing is that the Human-Covenant war is over. Long story short the Elites were betrayed by their leaders, and they joined up with us along with their underlings to exact their revenge, which they, as far as we know, managed to do. About thirty of the Arbiter's forces are currently with us, and I am adding their IFF tags to your 'good guy's' list, as well as placing a nav point. The closest way up is approximately 150 meters ahead and will deposit you near the North gate. Good hunting Spartans, and welcome back."
As John had predicted, the sheer amount of ammunition this battle would consume would rapidly become a problem. Most of the auto-cannons on the pelicans and on the wall had run dry, and the plasma turrets were getting close to running out of power. John had backed the Scorpion tank through the gate, and combined with the few marines in the area as well as four Sangheili warriors, held off the tide of Urgals from passing through the destroyed gate. They had deployed mobile shield emitters to slow the Urgal's advance, and as a direct consequence the shield emitters that they placed turned the area into a kill zone.
The Chief bailed out of the tank and ran over to the nearest Pelican, grabbing what little ammo remained as well as a captured Gravity Hammer, before returning to the fight and using the cudgel to devastating effect. The Gravity Hammer was a Brute weapon, immensely popular among their race due to the massive amount of power the heavy metal weapon had. One strike against any foe would pulverize their bones and pound their body into a bloody paste, and the shockwave from the hammer would send any others near the unfortunate victim flying. The Urgals attacking the gate learned this the hard way as John came thundering down in their midst, slamming the Hammer down and sending their broken bodies flying. Each impact shattered stone and mason work, turning the fragments of rock into high speed missiles, ripping through the endless tide of Urgals and leaving shattered corpses and rivers of blood behind. A Kull warrior bellowed his challenge to the green arbiter of death, and received his answer in the form of a bright blue ball stuck right between the eyes. The Urgal howled in agony as the plasma melted its face, shortly before the grenade beeped, surged in brightness, and exploded, vaporizing the Kull and the Urgals behind it.
Around him, the Dwarves and Varden had managed to get into their armor, and were dealing with any Kull which had gotten past the Spartan, quickly cutting the monsters down and avoiding the green god of war. Their forces were bolstered when more of the armored giants appeared almost out of nowhere, accompanied by what looked like smaller versions of them, as well as a grizzled man in combat fatigues, and a woman who had the air of intelligence and knowledge surrounding her. The two unarmored humans fled towards the nearest Pelican, which immediately took off, and the rest of the group charged into the fray, leaving the dwarves to do little more than stare and gag (yes, gag) at the carnage being wreaked before their eyes.
The Arbiter was also on a rampage, and was still out on the battlefield in his Wraith. His auto-turrets were doing an incredible job of keeping the enemy forces off his back, and they were supplemented by the small group of Unngoy and Sangheili warriors around him, as well as the occasional sniper bullet or rocket from the city itself. One of the Kull managed to get past the defenses and had gotten right in front of the tank, before bellowing a victorious roar and slamming its axe down on the hood of the tank. The blade bounced off the thick armor, which wasn't even scratched, and fell to the side. The Kull got a stupefied look on his face, wondering how the vehicle could withstand that blow, shortly before the Arbiter boosted forward and crushed him, as well as several of his buddies under the sheer bulk of the tank.
Overhead, several Pelicans flew by dropping Damage Packs, small bags crammed full of C-12 high explosive. One pack was capable of taking down a skyscraper if placed properly, and the amount that the Pelicans were dropping were quickly turning the area outside the city into a moonscape, except this particular moonscape was littered with bloody chunks and glowing piles of hot, twisted metal from the crude armor of the Urgals. Hornet attack craft streaked in low from the Dawn, firing rockets from their rocket pods and spraying thousands of depleted uranium slugs into the mass of bodies, turning them into yet more bloody fragments. And yet, the tide kept coming, almost as if the Urgals were under a spell.
'Vadam flexed his mandibles, wondering why they didn't stop and run when faced with the overwhelming firepower the UNSC/NC forces unleashed into their midst. It was different from what the Humans did during the Human-Covenant war, where the humans were fighting for their right to live. These creatures on the other hand threw themselves into their weapons without regard for their own lives. Maybe magic had something to do with it. He shook his head. Magic was impossible, and was little more than a human fantasy. That's when he got the call from Cortana.
"Arbiter, this is Cortana, come in please."
The Arbiter fired another mortar straight forward into the mass of flesh before replying, "What is it construct?"
Cortana sent him the data, before continuing, "We have data on two new enemies on the battlefield. They are of a race called Shades, and they look like humans only with very pale skin and crimson eyes and hair. Targets are reported to be extremely strong and proficient in all types of melee, arcane and mental combat. We need you and the Chief to take them out, and maybe that will break the morale of this army. The closest one is 300 meters directly in front of you. And be careful. This one is armed with a very large scythe, and the only way to kill them is to skewer their hearts on your Energy Sword."
The Arbiter checked his melee weapon of choice, noting that it was fully charged and ready. "Very well, I shall go and destroy this 'Shade'. Is there any method of which I can defend my mind from intrusion?"
Eragon's voice came over the link, saying, "Just concentrate on something, like a piece of poetry or your armor. As long as your concentration doesnt slip, you should be fine." Thel growled his acknowledgment.
He opened a comm channel to his troops covering him and shouted, "Fall back to the city and assist with the defense. I have new prey to deal with."
One of his troops nodded, "Good luck Arbiter." The group ran back to their borrowed Mongooses and Ghosts before streaking back to the city, firing behind them the entire time. With this lull in activity from the tank, several Kull rushed forward and were immediately mowed down by the auto-cannons, the plasma burning them and cooking their flesh from the inside out. One Kull managed to get behind the tank and took a swing at the vulnerable power core, severing the plasma line feeding the mortar and rendering it useless. He backed up and lowered the tank, crushing the beast under over fifty tons of metal, before he charged forward, flattening Urgals and splattering their remains all over the thick frontal armor.
With a roar, the captured Seraph fighter blew by overhead and released a plasma charge, the small ball of near ultraviolet fire expanding into a boiling sapphire lance before it plowed into the ground ahead of him, fanned out, and ignited every Urgal directly in his path. The Arbiter continued his charge forward, smashing his way through the carbonized remains, watching in a mix of fascination and slight disgust as the charred bodies disintegrated into blackened fragments. The Urgals noticed that he was coming and who he was going after, and opened a path for him to go meet his doom.
Within a few moments, the Shade was visible on his view screens, a large area around him clear of Urgals, indicating they did not like the crimson-haired individual. He chose this moment to land the tank, before shutting it down and putting in a lockout key so none of the creatures could use it.
The Urgals around him backed away after seeing precisely what the hellion that ravaged their forces so looked like. They did not want to fight the Arbiter, and this notion was increased exponentially as 'Vadam pulled out his energy sword and lit it, the blade glowing white hot.
The Shade didn't waste time getting his mouth going, speaking in a smooth voice that made 'Vadam's skin crawl. "So this is what the Varden sends out to fight me, a freak in a fancy vehicle. Have they seriously sunk that far? I mean, I thought they would send out their precious Dragon Rider to fight me or Durza. Seems their new pet is little more than a coward. You on the other hand, I think Galbatorix would pay a great deal to have you under his control. Do please tell me your name, I would love to hear it before I pound you into submission"
'Vadam leaped off the tank and came thundering down about ten meters from the Shade before answering, "I am Thel 'Vadam, also known as the Arbiter of Sanghelios, and leader of all Neo-Covenant. Now give me yours, creature, before I put an end to you."
The Shade flourished the monster scythe before replying, "I am Gurzag, Shade of the Spine and death of the Varden."
'Vadam gave a derisive snort. "Looks to me you are little more than a loud-mouthed human with a bad sense of fashion."
Gurzag came to a screeching halt, and snapped around. "On second thought, creature, I think I'll kill you anyways."
The Arbiter barely managed to get the sword up in time to block the scythe as it screamed towards him, staggering from the force of the blow. The scythe was unharmed, and the Shade grinned, baring razor sharp fangs for teeth. "Enchanted blade. Nothing can harm it, and yet it is as light as a feather. Makes it all the more easy for me to kill my prey."
The Arbiter used the opening that Gurzag running his mouth granted him and swung his left fist with all the strength at the Shade. Faster than any normal human and almost as fast as a Spartan, the creature whirled away, nimbly avoiding the blow. Not letting his missed attack throw him off balance, 'Vadam spun in the same direction of the punch, bringing his energy sword around to come smashing into the handle of the scythe. Gurzag stopped the energy blade, turning it to the side and bringing the super sharp point of the scythe around to hit the Arbiter on the side. The shields on his armor took the brunt of the hit, stopping it cold, the protective barrier glimmering silver as it absorbed the impact, and he used the opening to slash at the Shade. The superheated plasma eagerly ate into the armor of Gurzag, carving a deep line from shoulder to hip, revealing the Shade's dirty white skin. Gurzag looked down at his wrecked armor. "Impressive. Surely you can do better!" Both combatants quickly began trading blows at lightning speed, each blade a deadly arc seeking the flesh of the wielder's opponent, yet being denied. During the furious exchange, the Shade attempted to hijack Thel's mind, only to find a shimmering wall almost exactly like the protective barrier surrounding the Sangheili warrior. Thel laughed, a deep booming sound that caused nearby Urgals to scatter, laughing at the Shade's pitiful attempts to kill him. He paid for that almost immediately when the scythe came screeching up from below and smashed broadside into his skull, sending him flying and coming crashing down onto the tank. 'Vadam groaned as all the wind was knocked out of him from the force of the impact, and wasn't made any better by the fact his head felt like John had used it as a punching bag. By the Gods, this creature is as strong as the Spartan! The thought flashed through his mind as he struggled to recover from the blow. Next thing he knew, the Shade had grabbed him by the back of his armor and had hurled him nearly fifty feet away from the tank.
"You know," Gurzag contemplated. "I was beginning to enjoy this. If I had more time, I'd just love to torture you, and maybe learn something of that interesting armor of yours. Any normal person would have been killed by my scythe, but that armor seems to have some sort of protective qualities about it. Very interesting indeed."
The Arbiter pushed himself up and rocketed across the distance between him and the Shade within a second, grabbing the scythe and wrenching the weapon out of Gurzag's hands, hurling the repulsive weapon away and deep into the chest of an unfortunate Kull. Gurzag cursed and roared, "Garjzla!"
The huge ball of crimson light slammed into the Arbiter's shields, causing him to stagger backwards from the force of the strike. Another ball slammed into his shields again, and the alarm indicating the protective silver barrier was about to fail went off in his helmet. Another sphere raced towards him, but this time he dodged it, the ball instead striking the Wraith tank and causing it to explode in a fireball.
What the hell is that? The Arbiter chose the human phrase to appropriately voice his opinion at his first exposure to magic. The ability to throw light with just a word? That's impossible!
Gurzag noticed the stunned look on 'Vadam's face and grinned evilly. "I guess this is your first time seeing magic? Oh don't worry, it will be your last!"
Before he could do anything though, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Gurzag spun around to see a seven foot tall metal giant standing right behind him, an energy sword in hand and looking very intimidating, but failing to faze the Shade. Gurzag raised an eyebrow. "So, another person wishes to challenge me? And who might you be?" John simply thrust his fist forward with a certain digit raised.
"Shame, I'd really like to know who you are. Reisa knifr!" The monster scythe slammed back into Gurzag's hand, and not a moment too soon as John swung the plasma blade, only to have it get stopped by the handle of the scythe. Gurzag broke and then swung the blade towards John with superhuman strength, air singing as the blade passed, only to watch John back flip over the arc of metal. The Shade attempted to reverse the swing, but John wasn't about to let him get in another attempt, and thrust his blade towards the creature. Before he could impale the crimson-haired being, Gurzag extended his right hand and shouted, "Thrysta!". John was launched backwards, shields collapsing, into the seething mass of Urgals. The beasts immediately set upon the Spartan, only to die as the super soldier swung the energy sword and cut all of them in half. Gurzag gently clapped both hands together. "Very impressive. I wonder what else you can do." John simply walked up to the arrogant Shade and slugged him, putting all of his strength into the hammer blow. Gurzag's head snapped back, shortly before his entire body flew more than a hundred feet away from the area, crashing down on the Kull surrounding the combatants. The evil being shook the crushed object that once was his skull, groaning at the force of the punch. No normal human should be able to punch that hard. It had felt like Shruikan had used his head as a chew toy.
After a moment, his head had rebuilt itself back into its original shape. The crimson eyes glared daggers at John and Thel, wishing them many years of torment for that. Both Heroes lit their energy swords, and shifted into combat postures, waiting for him to make the next move.
Gurzag summoned the Scythe and charged, taking aim at the Spartan with a fast uppercut. John blocked the blade as 'Vadam moved in and slashed at the Shade. Gurzag blocked the blow with the handle, twisting the blade around and whipping it forward, only to meet that shimmering silver barrier once again. Within seconds all three combatants were at it, trading blows at speeds invisible to the normal eye and with a fury that made a hurricane look like a light drizzle. Every blow successfully landed either glanced off a shield or was rapidly regenerated, not giving each side an edge. The blades themselves transformed into blazing arcs of light, deadly in their intent, singing the song of death as the weapons sliced through the air.
Gurzag jumped up and away from the two, trying to get some distance between these two inhuman creatures. Nothing should be able to fight him like this, and yet both of them did it, moving as one and giving him no quarter. Their mental defenses were impossible to break, making an attack on that vector impossible as well. Gurzag frowned. This was getting annoying. Very annoying.
Before he could make his next move, something small, and very fast moving object blew a 6 inch hole through his left shoulder, taking his arm off and leaving the scythe in just one hand. Another one struck the blade of his weapon, ripping a hole through it as the wards finally failed. He turned around and saw, all the way up at the top of the city in the Dragon hold, more of the metal beings, each one pointing a long black weapon straight at him. Contrails traced the path of the bullets that hit him to these weapons, indicating that they were the ones that had shot him.
Gurzag cursed, and then began preparing a powerful spell, stupidly forgetting about the Spartan right behind him. John saw his opportunity, and he had no qualms taking it. With just a slight bit of venom, he rammed the blade right through Gurzag's back through the area where the heart would be on a normal human with enough force to lift the Shade up. John pulled Gurzag closer to him and growled, "My name is John-117, in case you were still wondering," before twisting the blade and wrenching it through the right side of Gurzag's rib cage before launching a brutal kick to the Shade's back.
Gurzag stumbled, a voiceless howl on his lips, and he stared at the green giant who had killed him. "How?" the dying Shade croaked. A moment later, he let loose an inhuman shriek as the spirits inside his body blew him apart and raced away.
The moment this happened, every Urgal on that side of the battlefield looked in that direction, watching as the spirits that once possessed Gurzag raced away. John pointed at the nearest one, before challenging it with a motion of his hand and raising the lit energy sword over his head not unlike a scorpion would raise its tail. Every Urgal shook their heads and then ran for it, not wanting to meet the two beings that had taken on their commander and won.
John walked over to 'Vadam and asked, "Are you alright?" The Sangheili warrior groaned, but nodded. "I have seen better days Spartan, but I am fine. Was that the other humans shooting at that creature?"
John nodded and added, "They were my teammates."
'Vadam's mandibles dropped. "More Spartans? How?"
John shook his head. "They didn't have time to explain, with this," he motioned to the mountains of bodies and shattered flesh littering the floor of the opened volcano, "and the fact they apparently had one hell of a ride getting here in the first place."
A Pelican dropship cruised up to them, and in their helmets they heard Cortana say, "Get on, you two still have to kill the other one."
Fred, Linda, Kelly, and the others that came with them listened as Cortana gave them the rundown on the situation, as well as the outcome of the Human-Covenant war, explaining that the Neo-Covenant forces in the city were allies, and that they should assist them. Naturally, the Spartan-IIIs had some trouble with this, as most of them hated the Covenant's guts, and would like to see nothing more than said guts splattered on the ground. So they were less than pleased to know that the very forces they were trained to fight against were now their allies. Keyes shot them down on the matter, stating that now was not the time and if they wanted their vengeance they were not going to get it. Their immediate job now was to defend the city from the attacking Urgals.
Knowing they had no choice but to obey Keyes, all of them had armed themselves with energy swords, and were making swift and deadly work of the seething horde of monsters, cutting them down with a speed and precision that defied all that the Dwarves knew. The Spartans seemed to move like water, flowing from one place to another, leaving nothing but dead bodies in their wake. What Dwarves were fighting suddenly found themselves without victims as the squad of Spartans streaked through, claiming all Urgals for themselves and leaving no survivors. The rumor that there were more of these hellions had already reached the main body of the army and their morale finally began breaking. Parts of the horde began fleeing back into the tunnels, only to find that the Dawn was not letting them get away easily, its 50mm point defense cannons serving to rain death down on them, slicing into their ranks and blowing them to pieces.
What Urgals did manage to get inside the city didn't last much longer as the group tore through them, their remains bursting into flame as the superhot plasma that formed the blades of the energy swords flash-heated their flesh.
Within thirty minutes most of the army was gone, either dead from the weapons of the UNSC or Varden, or having successfully fled away from the meat grinder through the tunnels.
Only about three thousand Urgals remained on the battlefield, all of them surrounding Durza. The Shade bared his pointed teeth at the carnage around him, seething inside. How had this perfect attack, with all of the Urgal flesh-golems and real ones at his disposal as well as the lesser Shade, been hammered back with such devastating results? A loud buzzing above him answered his question, as the front of his small group vanished under the hail of supersonic pieces of metal. He looked up to see what looked like some sort of gray flying machine, and farther up and behind it was a monstrous gray and black behemoth. Something on both vehicles buzzed angrily, and more of his Urgals flew apart.
Durza let loose a snarl of rage, before deciding to deal with this little problem himself. The smaller gray machine was going to be the first to go, and charging for the shot, Durza roared, " Garjzla!"
The ball of crimson death sledgehammered into the Pelican with more force than a train, ripping it in half and sending both flaming pieces crashing into the ground. All of the fuel inside went up in flames, and with a flash of fire the two wrecked halves of the dropship exploded, metal fragments scything their way through yet more of the Kull surrounding him. Durza smirked at the burning wreckage, and then began to contemplate the destruction of the larger machine now raining more of those fast metal pieces at him and his forces. A few muttered spells later, and the rain of metal that came from the larger machine stopped dead about ten feet above the Kull, shielding them from the attacks raining down from above and now from the city.
One of the gates in front of him slid open to reveal another large metal vehicle, this one looking vaguely like a scorpion. It moved swiftly on tracked pods, the upper half turning to point the barrel at the Kull. The barrel boomed, and what looked like a large mushroom of metal bounced off the barrier protecting his forces. Stopping it had its price, as Durza grunted from the energy drain it inflicted on him. Another boom followed, and another rapidly moving piece of metal struck the wards, glancing off them and racing away . Durza cursed the machine, before attacking it with another ball of energy, grinning evilly as it exploded, killing the driver and blasting his remains all over the wall.
He paused as the forces of the Varden and their unknown allies on the wall began shooting at him and his forces, noting that it was taking next to no effort to turn the tide of fireballs and metal flying his way. A thought pushed itself into his mind, and another evil grin split his face.
He moved away from his forces and got next to the largest pile of remains, nodding in approval of the destruction the newcomer's weapons had wreaked on the cretin. Maybe after he finished killing them he could examine these weapons and take a few for himself. But for now, he had to take that thing down and subdue that wench of a dragon. He raised a hand over the pulverized remains and said, voice shifting into multiple black tones, shouted, "Anori Draumr abr Sundablaka it ator Virliger!"
A thousand screams rended the air, howls of the vanquished and the damned as they were wrenched from their places of rest in the afterlife. All of them began to condense into the pile of bodies, which took on a black cast, darkening and disintegrating into dust. This black dust began to spiral slowly on the ground, forming a vast whirlpool of dark magic. A loud screeching came from the portal, followed closely by the wing beats of some massive creature. With a screech of victory, The Beast rocketed out of the portal, all black cloud and teeth, undefined wings pounding the air. The Shadow Wyrm landed in front of him as Durza cackled in glee. It had been a while since he had loosed this terror on the world, and he knew his pet was hungry. Durza pointed at the Dawn, and without further ado, the Beast charged towards its prey, black fire streaming from its maw.
well? What you think? reviews are welcome, and thanks to all the readers who have read this already.
And in case you guys were wondering, yes i did bring in Stargates. I needed a plot device and it was the first thing to pop into my head. And it may be a signal of things to come ;) Dunno, still havent decided on it yet.
Gurzag is OC, i thought the name fit nicely for a Shade, and since this is a "young" shade, I figured I'd make him one arrogant asshole.