Chapter 2

All around me rifles were being emptied, and bullet shells were flying around like a blizzard. We however were not the only ones shooting to kill, the enemy soldiers that came through the now broken door were firing what looked like liquid electricity at us. It was hard to see through the blinding flashes of light at first, but after a while, I could make out the shapes of the hostiles. There were a few creatures the size of a smaller human, but oddly rounded and disproportionate. These were the ones making squeaking sounds, and were the front line soldiers of this new foe. The creature I had my eye on within a fraction of a second was the one I was hoping did not exist; not after seeing for myself the giant metal door being pummeled down by brute strength. The creature that did this was the only one of his kind standing in the passage, yet was the tallest and most menacing thing I had ever seen. Standing no shorter than eight feet, the creature moved quickly side-to-side, avoiding our fire with ease and blasting us with blue plasma-like material that vaporized everything it touched. The creature's jaw was split in four and aligned with rows of teeth, and the eyes behind its armored helmet was that which resembled a lizard's. The rest of his body was heavily armored with an unfamiliar metal, but it looked very similar to the hostile ship's hull. A yell of pain to the left indicated a hurt member of my squad, and the yell was followed immediately by the smell of burning flesh.

"Lance Corporal! Elnor was hit in the chest, her blasting armor is completely melted through and it reached her skin- she's bleeding and unconscious"

"Seal her up with biofoam, hopefully it stops the bleeding. Drag her behind the second barricade and have Tanada take point- Loche! Take the sniper and start putting rounds in the big freak! It's their leader by the looks of it. Everyone suppressive fire! I want three rifles always firing at them do you understand?"

"OORAH!"

The squawks and growls of the alien hostiles grew more panicked, as the fire increased in persistency. Suppressive fire was a military tactic that increased efficiency in a firefight scenario- it made it possible to have a weapon always firing at the enemy without cease, due to rotations in loading. It was a tactic I learned at Reach Military Academy during a history lesson about the United States Revolutionary War.

I aimed down my rifle's scope and two careful aim; I shot thrice into one of the smaller beings' heads, and blue matter squirted outward, followed by the creature collapsing onto the floor.

"Got one boys! These things ain't invincible, give 'em hell!"

A continuous exchange of orange and blue light shown through the passage, but it seemed at last, that the orange light was overcoming the blue; we were killing them off, one by one.

"Grenades out- finish them off!" I shouted.

Four fragmentation grenades were lobbed over the barricades toward the remaining enemy, which included the big one, and because none of them responded, I knew we had won.

"DUCK AND COVER!"

A giant explosion followed my order, and the remaining alien rabble screamed in their squeaky dialects. I hopped back up with my eye down the scope, scanning the room for any more hostiles.

"All hostiles neutralized," Loche said from behind me, eye still glued to the scope of the sniper I assigned him, "Wait where's the-"

A giant white sword made of hot light sprung from midair, and cut through the barrier in front of me. As I leapt backwards, I felt the inside of my helmet get really hot, due to whatever energy was emitting from the sword.

"What the hell is holding it?" I heard Polma exclaim. I saw a shimmering behind the sword, like a distorted picture painted in the air.

"The big one didn't die! It's invisible! Take it down now!"

Fire came from all directions as everyone concentrated fire on the shimmering area behind the sword, from which came a loud roar akin to a war cry. The sword charged at me, but the pace of the heavily armored brute did not slow. Instead, the bullets seemed to simply bounce off its armor, and it was just getting angrier. The sword cut down at me, and I rolled to the side just in time to dodge the slice. I looked up to see the brute dislodge the sword from the floor, no longer invisible. However, the bullets that were hitting it made a different kind of shimmering, a sort of electrical surge around the beast's protection.

"ODST, this thing must have some sort of shield around its armor, making for a second layer of protection- if we can take the shield down, we'll be able to kill it."

I was expecting the continuous fire to simply resume, but instead, three or four mini-EMP blasts were shot at the brute, and the shimmering died. I took the chance of its momentary stun to charge at it, rip out my knife from my tactical belt, and jammed it up its throat. Clawing at the knife, the monstrosity keeled backwards and twitched for a second, then laid still.

"EMP blasts seemed like an obvious answer from the get-go sir. I hope you didn't mind."

"Not at all Private… You all did fantastically."

I was ordering maintenance when suddenly, the entire ship shook for a fourth time, this time, the most violent of all- there was also an earsplitting screech of ripping metal, and a distant echo of explosions. The bridge door opened not a moment later, and Delrio, sweaty and shell shocked, looked at all of us in turn.

"The ship… It was split in half, and we're sitting ducks now…"