Chapter 4: Rigged to Blow

November 22nd 3238

Planet Vert, Lamonde continent

Under the Mountains

"No wonder all of these materials are coming here. It's being used to create an army, not to mention a navy. It may be why ol' Fat Boy was so protective about it." Martinez said. Billy wagged her arm around in the splint. "It this is true, why did the Doctor jump ship?" "Hell if I know. Maybe he thought we were outnumbered." Lucas nodded. "Well, he got that right."

Callard checked his watch in his HUD. '1745' it read. "OK, Helljumpers. The easy part's over. We're inside the facility. Now, we need to find the bleeding fuel distribution center." Martinez muttered to Lucas, "The one that nobody knows what it looks like." Callard heard the remark but didn't bite back. In truth, he shared Joe's point. What DID this thing look like? Did it have a big label that said 'HI THERE, BLOW ME UP!" taped on it? This job just didn't pay enough. He hoped he could get a promotion and send a whole bunch of other men to do the dirty work. Callard then heard heavy thumps. The entire cavern shook. Then he saw.

Three Berserkers were slowly pounding towards them. Berserkers were larger than your average Eggpawn. At around 15 feet high and armed with twin .50s, they were pretty intimidating. A single red eye glistened in their forehead. After designating the targets, mainly the ODSTs, they fired up their guns. The Sergeant Major ordered his team to hide behind some metal crates. Bullets pinged into the structure. Callard spied some more crates just a bit away from them.

"We can try to confuse them. Lucas, take Billy and hide behind the crates I'm marking. A blue upside-down triangle appeared at the crates. Wait for my orders. Lucas and Wilhelmina took sprinting position. "How are your legs?" Lucas asked. "Better then my arms." She solemnly replied. "GO, GO, GO!" Callard barked. The two sprinted into the open. The Berserkers followed them with a steady stream of lead. But a few rounds to their metal heads took their attention back to Sarge and Martinez.

"Made it!" Lucas said safely behind the crate. "What's the plan, Sarge?" Lucas said breathing quickly. "OK, Joe and I will distract the Berserkers using a couple of chaff grenades." "Won't they be expecting that, Sarge?" Maybell asked. "Hey, if it worked before, it'll work again. Berserkers are real dim blokes. No brains, all brawn. Lucas, once they're out of the way, I need you to climb up to the base of their necks and fire a small rebounding charge into them. It'll bounce around causing havoc until they drop dead." "Sir, are you sure Lucas can handle this?" Joe said with a doubting mood. The Mobian's ears twitched with anger. "He's the best climber here. I trust he can handle this. But you're on double deck, Martinez, just in case."

The giant robots thumped closer, their arm-cannons swiveling trying to track targets. "NOW!" Callard screamed. Two cylindrical grenades popped and the air filled with floating aluminum strips. The Berserkers stopped in their racks, unable to acquire targets. Lucas roared as he seized a special clip of ammunition Callard tossed to him. He slapped it into the pistol and leaped onto the first robot's leg. He climbed with the aid of the magnetic boots. Once on the neck, he fired two rounds into the robot's neck. The rounds pinged as they entered the brain. The robot had a slight series of spasms and began to fall. Tom leaped with the skill of an acrobat onto the second. The third tracked his progress and fired the machine guns. Unfortunately, the second Berserker's body absorbed most of the rounds meant for Tom. The dead robot just stood there. The third kept its eye on the carcass. Lucas was hiding behind its head. He was breathing so hard it was fogging up his faceplate.

"Give him some help!" Callard roared to his men. They all fired to make the robot do a double take. This was the opening that Lucas was looking for. He leaped with grace onto the third's head. He quickly unloaded all the rounds into its neck. The joint exploded and the head shot off, taking Lucas with it. The helpless soldier did cartwheels in the air and landed with a hard thud. The body crashed five inches beside him.

He was just happy to be alive and felt for his quickly beating heart. It thumped through the combat armor. He unhooked his helmet and smoothed rustled his brown hair. Small drops of sweat fell off his ears, nose and chin. He laughed slightly. Then he saw a hand. "Tom, you OK, kid?" It was Callard. "Yeah, Sarge. I'm fine."

"Jesus Tap-dancing Christ, you OWNED those suckers, Lucas!" Martinez said not unpleasantly. "Thanks Joe." Lucas said panting. "Not bad for a furry." Martinez added. "We better get moving." Callard said finally. "That noise may have attracted attention. We need to find that distribution center NOW." "Sarge, there's hundreds of tunnels. Should we just pick one, then?" Lucas suggested. It made sense. There were hundreds of tunnels. Callard looked around to find a suitable choice. They could be down here for hours, days, maybe even weeks if he was wrong. Then he found a winner. A small squad of movers were taking barrels marked 'Flammable' onto a waiting battleship. Numerous dollies with the same barrels stood at attention near the carge bay. Inside the bay itself were tanks and APCs.

A few unarmed Eggpawns swiveled their heads around to see the soldiers. They saw one make a call on its radio pack and klaxons sounded. The entire assembly/loading area was bathed in red light. Out of the ceiling dropped Egg Hawk VTOLs fully loaded with weaponry. Martinez yelled, "I found a jeep!" And there one was. Oddly enough, it was an M12 LRV Warthog with the turret removed. "Why would Eggman steal one of our jeeps?" Lucas wondered out loud. "Better gas mileage? Get your ass in the jeep, Marine!" Callard barked.

Lucas dropped into the driver seat and pressed the ignition button. The engine rumbled but no joy. He looked at the fuel gauge and saw that the car's H20 level was at 'E' "We have no gas!" He told the ODSTs. "Damn!" Callard cursed. Then, he got an idea. "The canteens! Gimme all the bloody water!" The marines did as they were told. Callard popped the lids and drained two gallons of water into the fuel tank. The diffusion process would separate the hydrogen molecules and burn those. The water would be flushed out the exhaust as vapor.

"Come on, baby! Give me something!" Lucas pleaded. He pressed the button again and the warthog rumbled to life. The headlights sparked and the motion tracker activated. And it currently showed two large blips heading towards them. "GUN IT, FURRY!" Martinez barked. Lucas slammed his boot on the accelerator. The warthog's nancarbon wheels squealed as they spun on the floor. Just as the Egg Hawks opened fire, the stolen jeep was already on the move.

"Can you drive a 'Hog?" Callard asked Tom. "Puh-lease, Sarge. I drove these babies long before I joined the Corps. I was a royal engineer at the palace. Test drives, weapon maintenance, and the whole nine yards." A few bullets to the windshield stopped the conversation. The Egg Hawks were getting bettering their aiming. The gunners sprayed lead in random directions and tiny brass casings pinged to the floor.

Maybell shot a few rounds at the VTOLs with her SMG. She actually hit one gunner. The robot tumbled out of its seat and fell a long way before smashing into a pile of crates. "Watch it, there's a tank." Martinez said pointing up ahead. "I know I see it. The jeep kept rumbling foreword. "The tank is right there just so you know." Martinez said now pointing to the moving vehicle. The robot tank's long barrel was pointed right at the front axel. Callard and Maybell saw what Lucas was planning to do, and said nothing. "THE FUCKING TANK, YOU FURRY!" Lucas roared, "YOU WANNA DRIVE, HUMAN?" Lucas hit a maintenance ramp. The LRV flew into the air and the tank fired. It missed.

The 109mm explosive slug from the tank flew right past the warthog. It was so close that Lucas' fur was made crispy by the heat of the slug. By the time the front wheels touched the ground, the slug had found its true target: one of the Egg Hawks.

The tank round pounded into the fuselage of the unfortunate VTOL blowing off one of the wings. Unable to control itself, the plane twisted in a downward spiral then exploded in a fireball. The squirrel barely had time to smirk at his handiwork before the tank and the surviving VTOL opened up at him.

The Warthog coasted at a nice 70 MPH and easily outran the tank. The Hawk however still wouldn't give up. It had finished fooling around and flew over the marines and settled over a trench. They were trapped. Or so the pilot thought. Martinez quickly primed a grenade and tossed it ahead of the warthog. Callard just had time to say, "Hey, what are you-" before it detonated under the chassis. The Light Recon Vehicle was thrown into a high arc. With the hood facing a 120 degree angle. The gunners of the VTOL tried to tag it, but the car was simply moving too fast. After an eight second airtime, it bounced on the metal with minimal damage. The marines crowed. "Nice work, you jackass." Callard said rapping Joe's helmet. "Look, we're here." Lucas said pulling the E-brake. The marines rushed into the tunnel and sealed the door. They all raised their guns in case of conflict but none came.

Shortly down the hall, there was a window that appeared to be a torture room. It was empty and the team could barely look inside. They expected mutilated bodies with organs strewn all over the room but what they did see was much worse than that. The bodies inside were that of Humans, Mobians and Sangheili. But they were all frozen in place. Each body was covered with a metallic surface. Limbs seemed to be made of paneling, wires and bolts. It was overwhelming.

Lucas looked with remorse at a young Mobian female, a lynx with her palms raised in defense. Her face had a frozen look of terror that would never leave her. "Damn." Matinez said. "What?" Callard said approaching Joe. Then he froze. What he saw appalled him: A small child barely six years old was clutching his mother's arm. The mother stared blankly into space. The soldiers averted their gaze and looked to the Elite warrior. He must've been highly ranked in his society, probably an Ultra since his hand was positioned in a way that there must have been an energy sword in his palm.

Maybell did a quick scan and read the results. "They're roboticized good. They can't move at all." Callard asked, "Can they hear us?" Maybell shook her head, "I don't know. I've never experienced it." "Well then unless we have the goddamned Sword of Acorns tucked in our back pockets we'd better well move on our bloody way! Fall out!" Maybell took one last glance at the child. She took her hand and placed it on his metal chest. Just for one second, she was sure she felt a faint, warm heartbeat. She shivered with fear and quickly exited the room.

"How long have we been walking, Jon?" Wilhelmina asked her CO. "Twenty minutes or so." Callard said checking his watch. "They shouldn't be able to break through that door for a little while longer." Lucas kept on taking quick glances over his shoulder every now and then, his ears twitching towards any sound that wasn't their boots hitting the ground. Apparently, the claustrophobic hallway made him even more cautious even when there were miles of tunnel separating him from the enemy robots.

"Hang on, boys. My PDA is picking up spiked thermals from the room ahead. And based on the sonar readings, this room is pretty big." Callard smiled widely. "Bingo." The heat attacked any part of exposed skin, mainly around the wrists. Lucas was most irritated by this and began to scratch his wrists furiously.

In the room, the fuel distribution device was well over five hundred meters long. Pipes were connected to various spaced points along the metallic cylinder and an omnipresent hum filled whatever air that wasn't occupied by pipes and catwalks. "Whoo!" Lucas said blinking his eyes both in the heat and in awe. "Can you believe that this was under the mountain the whole time? I wonder what type of fuel it pumps. Definitely isn't gas since he fuels starships with it." Tom tapped the device and the pings of his knuckles resonated in the room.

"I don't know but I bet it'll blow up good!" Martinez said pulling out a detpack. The remote C-9 detonator could be triggered with a coded frequency from a safe distance, or could it could activate a two-minute countdown upon Martinez's hypothetical death. "Amen to that, you crazy son of a bitch." Lucas said giving Joe a thumbs-up. "Set the detonator, Martinez. And don't you fucking detonate until we're clear of the blast radius." Lucas lifted his head in curiosity. "How far is that, Sarge?" The Sergeant Major scoffed. "By the looks of things, orbit." The Mobian's eyes grew wide and he tried to badly suppress a smile. "Holy shit!"

Martinez stuck the C-9 charge on the meal and connected the channel to the detonator. He did this all in two minutes. If anyone were judging, Joe Martinez would have broken the UNSC Explosive setup record. A green light appeared on the detonator. "Cake." He said.

Lucas' ears twitched: A sure sign of danger. He twisted on the spot. A few flashes in the darkness. "We've got company, guys!" He exclaimed. He raised the Beretta and activated the laser sight. A red dot appeared on a dark robotic figure. Lucas squeezed the trigger four times and four .450 rounds spun out of the barrel. Before the shells even hit the floor, the robot was dead. Tom then proceeded to his next target and fired twice. The rounds pinged off armor and a single red eye activated. "Oh no…" He said lowering the gun. The other ODSTs raised their assault weapons and fired. The twin BR55s fired by Martinez and Callard decimated the advancing robotic ranks. As the ammo counters steadily dwindled, Jon Callard watched Maybell curse as she released the tubular magazine and insert a new one with only one hand. "Martinez, cover Maybell you dumbshite!" "Right, Sarge." Joe said moving to protect Billy. A stray bullet meant for Joe grazed the detpacks. The devices didn't explode but Martinez expressed grief.

"Oh no, no, NO!" He yelled as he fended an approaching badnick off. "Pandejo!" "What is it?" Jon said taking cover and squeezing off random bursts. "Detpack trigger got fried!" "Is that bad, Joe?" "Is it bad?! Mio Dios, yes! It's fucking bad! It means the signal won't get transferred!" Callard's eyes darted. "So what happens now?" Martinez's glasses flashed. "I'm gonna have to manually rearm the bomb." This made Billy turn her head." "What?!" She exclaimed.

"Don't worry Sarges, I know what I'm doing. I've done plenty of tests on this." "How about an actual field rearming?" Lucas said over shots from the M39. "Fuck you!" He called back. "God help me." Callard said to the heavens above. "Do it. And for Christ's sake, do it FAST." Joe smiled. "You got it Sarge."

"Come on, you want a little of this?" Lucas taunted as bursts from the M39 silenced robots. "Kiss my furry ass, tinnies! Nothin's gonna stop me now!" Then, the slide of the pistol shot back. Lucas glanced as there were no more rounds to fire. He glanced at his belt. That was his last clip. "…Except that." He said. He holstered the empty gun and prayed as he saw an eggpawn run towards him. Suddenly, he saw its head torn apart as bullets sprayed the area. It dropped its gun a mere ten inches from Lucas' boots. "You owe me, Lucas!" Callard crowed. The squirrel picked up the rifle and quickly familiarized itself with it. "It may be Deus ex machina, but it's still a robot piece of shit." He cocked the gun.

"How's it going, Martinez?" Jon checked in. The explosive weapons expert was huddled near the bomb. "I'm working on it, Sarge! Just gotta connect a few more wires!"

Callard looked back and saw a Berserker pushing the eggpawns aside and even trodden over one. The chainguns on its hands began to pick up speed. "NOT GOOD ENOUGH! WORK FASTER!"

Flames of hot gas exploded from the arms of the Berserkers. Bullets peppered the floor as Callard and Maybell jumped out of the way. Joe only lowered his head. Bullets pinged on the device and streams of orange gas hissed out. "Careful, don't breathe that shit in!" The Sergeant Major advised. The others agreed and placed their helmets back on. Lucas fired a long burst from the captured weapon. Apparently the bullets had a good effect on the Berserkers since he was tearing the hell out of the cybernetic titan. He started at the legs. When those were immobile, he took out the head, and the behemoth fell. An unlucky squad of lesser badnicks were crushed by the dead weight.

A light winked on the detonator's signal. "I did it?" Martinez said surprised. "Holy shit, I did it! Guys! I rearmed the charge!" Lucas smiled. "Best. Fucking. Sentence. Ever, man." Martinez held up the detonator. It'll only go off it I press this button. The blast should destroy this facility, though it could also level this mountain as well. I guess natural scenery is the price to pay for galactic peace, you know?" "Fair enough." Callard nodded. "OK, marines. Fall back. We need to get topside and signal for Evac!" He spotted a red button marked 'EMERGENCIES' and hit it. Klaxons turned on and a hatch opened above a catwalk. The computer blared: 'WARNING, THERE HAS BEEN A CLASS-RED EMERGENCY. ALL ORGANIC PERSONNEL ARE TO EVACUATE IMMEDIETLY." A ladder descended from the hatch. "Get your asses up that ladder! GO, GO, GO!"