Shadows
by UNSCShadow-105
AUTHOR'S NOTE: You know (or should) what belongs to the official Halo peeps (that's 343 these days, right?). The Shadows and at least the names of the 21 Gamma Company Spartan-III's belong to me, as do the Shadows. I write until the Muses release me from their headlock. Sometimes that means one thousand words, and sometimes it means a hundred thousand words. I am but the Muses mouthpiece. If you think having Cortana in your head can be interesting … that's nothing compared to my reality!
September 26, 2556
Everyone was on the bridge when they exited slipspace, stealthed, and arrived at Emerald Cove. Frank ordered Erebus-7 to scan the space around the planet, and when the AI did, he had no good news to report.
"There is a ..." Erebus-7 paused, and Fred didn't like it. "Small Jiralhanae cruiser on the ground on the opposite side of the planet from New Barbados."
No one said anything for almost a solid minute. "What is the estimated compliment?" Frank spoke in a soft voice.
"Based on its size and shape I would estimate that it would be capable of carrying a hundred Jiralhanae." the AI reported. "More or less."
"And if you added a hundred human beings?" Frank asked, her eyes locked on the monitor.
"Then perhaps fifty Jiralhanae." Came the reply.
Fred considered. "Now add to that another ..." he paused. "Ten or twelve human beings, a dozen Kig-yar."
"Perhaps forty." Erebus-7 nodded to himself. "By my calculations, still too many Jiralhanae for your team."
Ralf placed his hand over his heart. "Erebus. I'm hurt!" he exclaimed. "And insulted on behalf of my Spartan cousins. Forty Jiralhanae against two Spartans and three Shadows?"
Kelly was nodding. "Sounds like even odds to me." she proclaimed.
Frank grinned. "What could possibly go wrong?"
The AI folded his arms and ignored Frank's hypothetical question. "Was part of your genetic screening as candidates for your programs looking for suicidal behavior?" he asked, and paused. "Well it seems they did not, although from your behavior, one would think differently."
"What big weapons do we have aboard, Erebus.-7?" Frank asked, ignoring the AI's psychological evaluation. "You know missiles, and all. Surely we put some aboard, considering we were expecting Spartans."
Erebus seemed to consider for half a second. "We do have a couple of Scorpion missiles. Not standard on UNSC Prowlers, but it seems that General Fleay was thinking ahead. They arr stored in something like an archer pod below the ship."
Fred felt the beginnings of hope. Bravado aside, they were outmatched and he knew it. "Define 'a couple' please, Erebus."
"Twenty-five." the AI reported. "You can't be thinking..."
"We certainly can be thinking." Frank was nodding. "Thinking that we could get close to the enemy ship, fire the missiles, and fly away." she paused. "How close is the ship to any humans?"
After a short pause Erebus-7 replied. "One kilometer."
Fred saw the nods all around him. "That's plenty of room."
"Provided there are no humans on the ship." Erebus argued.
"Only one way to find out." Frank replied and without another word turned and left the bridge, her team at her heels. In the bay, the Shadows buckled a belt of four plasma grenades to their waists. For them, heavy weaponry.
In the Pelican, everyone buckled up and Alexander got himself in the pilots seat. When the bay doors opened, they shot out into space and, almost immediately both of the ships had again stealthed. Alexander announced that he was heading to a part of the planet between New Barbados and the place where the Jiralhanae ship was because once they were in the atmosphere of Emerald Cove, the Pelican could not remain cloaked.
Soon trees were flying by as the Pelican flew low enough to brush the top of the jungle canopy. Alexander did not glance back as he gave them a weather report. "Rain ahead. Looks like we were smart to bring Spartans. Their luck is rubbing off on us, Major!" he announced over their internal COM.
Frank gave the thumbs up. "Good. We'll need the cover. Can you land us a kilometer away?"
"Roger Wilco, Noir-One." Alexander replied, and an hour later, he landed them as bet he could in the jungle.
They got out, and immediately they all took cover. Fred watched as Frank, who had left the Pelican ahead of the rest, jumped straight up and vanished, presumably into the tree tops. He and Kelly took cover at the base of the large trees. Noir Team began to head in what was arbitrarily west, towards the ship and, with luck, the prison camp.
Sheet rain made hearing very interesting inside of Fred's MJOLNIR helmet. After forty-five minutes of movement, he had to stop and turn up the volume. "Say again, Noir-One." he requested, as he was sure it had been Frank that he had heard.
"I've got a single contact at extreme range." Frank seemed to be screaming, although the rain easily made it a whisper. "Anyone else?"
"Negative." came four acknowledgment lights. Followed by Alexander asking. "What's your position, Noir-One? Over."
"Twenty meters up a tree. Looks like I'm fifteen meters to the west of Noir-Three." came the reply.
Fred realized that he and Kelly were actually further behind than he thought, and he began to move a bit faster, seeing Kelly moving as well.
"Copy. Give me two to get to your location." came Ralf's voice.
In two minutes, during which the rain slackened only slightly, Ralf spoke again. "I'm eighteen meters up, and ten meters from you Noir-One." he reported. "Noir-Two, you're coming in at extreme range. Same with Noir-Four and Five. Your location, Noir-Two?"
Alexander responded. "I'm ten meters north of Noir-One. Twenty from you, Noir-Three."
Fred nodded to himself and turned. He could see Kelly moving as well. On the ground they caught up to the Shadows. "I'm five from Noir-One and Noir-Three." he reported. "Noir-Five?"
Kelly replied immediately. "I'm between Noir-One and Two." she reported.
"Outstanding." Frank's voice came through. "Lets move forward, slowly."
They did. Five minutes later Frank's voice again came over the COM. "Hold, Noir Team."
Fred stopped moving, and peered out into the rain. He could see clearly for five meters, and then it got hazy through the rain. He increased his magnification and realized that he could see a large figure about fifteen meters in front of him.
"I see single contacts at Twelve, two, four, six, eight and ten o'clock. Closest to me is fifteen meters ahead. In the middle and down maybe five meters is a bunch of contacts. Not sure how many. Confirm." Frank reported.
Fred clicked his acknowledgment light and so did the others. "Looks like the outside contacts are Brutes." he spoke low. Being this close to Jiralhanae made him anxious. The beasts were not easy to fight.
Acknowledgment lights greeted his statement, which means he wasn't the only one to identify the threat as Jiralhanae.
"Gloaming, come in." Frank called their ship.
"This is Erebus-7. Go ahead, Major." came the unflappable voice of the ship board AI.
"Have you detected any more ships in range?" she asked.
"Negative. The ship at your position is the only one in my range." Erebus-7 replied.
"Come on down and engage, Erebus. Give 'em all you can on the first pass." Frank ordered.
"Roger Wilco. Standby." came the immediate reply.
They waited, maintaining their position and staying out of sight. Five minutes clicked off of Fred's mission clock. Six. Then seven. A nav point appeared on Fred's heads up display where he knew the brute in front of him to be standing. It was marked N-1-4.
"I've marked your targets." Frank explained over the COM. She'd apparently picked more than one, assigning teams. "Shadows, plasma grenades to the head. Spartans, short bursts. Get their attention. They are not armored. When they turn around and come towards you, retreat. We'll take it from there, if needed. On my mark."
Two acknowledgment lights greeted her immediately. Fred and Kelly hesitated, but complied. Glancing at his mission clock, he noted nine minute since the Gloaming began its descent.
Suddenly a series of explosions sounded even through the pounding rain. Fred did not make a move, but the Jiralhanae guards began to move towards the sound.
"Mark!" Frank yelled and a second later Fred could see the blue-white glow of a plasma grenade sticking to the head of the Jiralhanae that she had hit.
It turned around, screaming and looking for whoever had thrown the grenade. He saw Fred and began to charge. Two seconds later the grenade detonated. While the grenade successfully blew away the back of the Jiralhanae's head, the impulse did not seem to reach the rest of the beast. Fred fired three short, controlled bursts, backing up a meter after each one. Six second later, the Jiralhanae fell face first, his body finally catching up with the fact that it had been killed.
"Three down, three to go." Frank's voice came over the com.
Before she could say anther word, Erebus-7's voice came calmly over the COM. "Enemy ship disabled. No movement detected. It was empty."
Frank's voice was terse. "Roger. Out." and Fred suddenly saw two Jiralhanae coming out of the rain, both with plasma grenades glowing on them. The first one detonated, taking a large hairy arm with it. Then the second, doing the same damage to the other Jiralhanae.
Backing up, Fred began to shoot, and saw something flash out of his periphery vision. Still firing at the center of the mass, he realized that each Jiralhanae now had a Shadow riding on its back. Both of the Brutes suddenly began spraying blood from their necks, and turned to attack the first thing they could see. Fortunately for Fred and the Shadows, that turned out to be each other. As they pushed off the backs of the bohemeths with their legs, the Jiralhanae reached with their remaining arm ripping out the others throat.
"Two." Frank panted just as another detonation reached their ears. She turned and ran with Fred and Ralf to Kelly's position. She was standing with Alexander looking down at a headless Jiralhanae.
"I. Hate. Brutes." Alexander panted.
"We got all of them, I think." Frank blew out a breath. "Great job, Noir Team, but we're not done."
Fred noted six more contacts break away from the blob, and head in their direction.
Suddenly the Shadows were gone, back up into the trees, leaving Fred and Kelly on the ground. But they knew they were not alone and they separated themselves, blending into the trees. A few seconds later, Fred could visually see five of the six contacts as the rain began to slack off even more and visibility improved. They were human, and running fast towards them. His heads up display told him that the sixth was hanging back.
After decades of fighting creatures like Sangheili, Mgalekgolo and Jiralhanae during the Covenant War, going up against human beings struck him as a very easy thing to do. He could see that the Shadows had returned to their original positions, which is what he and Kelly had done. It only took a second for a nav point to peg one of the five humans approaching. His assigned target. But Frank did not speak a word.
"Points for flair." Ralf's voice sounded slightly amused.
It was all over in about five seconds. Fred and Kelly stood with one each dead at their feet, while all three Shadows were squatting beside their own.
"That was almost boring." Alexander spoke dryly.
"So who is that sixth one?" Kelly asked, taking a step forward. "And what about the group of contacts that was the center?"
"Let's find out." Fred suggested, and began walking towards the contact.
"Be careful." Frank cautioned. "In The Most Dangerous Game, the General used traps in the jungle. Pits and snares. Use caution."
Kelly paused. "Like large leaves to camouflage a pit?"
"Yup." Ralf confirmed.
They quickly found two, and uncovered the holes. At the bottom of the pits were large spikes that appeared to be made of Titanium-A. Once they were uncovered, they moved cautiously along.
"I got a trip-line here." Alexander's voice sounded calm.
Fred looked down, and saw one barely two meters in front of him. "Got one here, too."
"Alright. Hold position." Frank ordered, and in a moment Fred saw her approaching. She stood between him and the line, and they both followed the line. He saw a large log that, had he tripped the line, would have swung down and cracked him in the middle of his back. By the looks of the log, it may have drained his shields by maybe a quarter, but it would have made him stumble into the large man-pit just beyond the trip line.
"Trap neutralized." Alexander reported as Frank motioned Fred to take cover on the far side of the larger tree supporting the trip-line. Frank sliced through the line, which looked like plain rope. The log came flying between the two trees.
"And here, too. Trap neutralized." Frank reported. "Keep your eyes peeled, Noir Team. It looks like that contact is waiting for us to come to them." and Fred watched her shimmer and vanish. She'd activated her suits camouflage.
Their caution slowed them down, but in five minutes they reached the edge of a clearing. A man stood waiting for him, an assault rifle in his hand, but the barrel was pointing towards the ground. He was short and stocky. Well muscled, but the gray in his hair betrayed his age to, most likely, be in his fifties. A smile appeared on his face as Alexander and Ralf approached him, clearly visible, with Fred and Kelly on either side of them. Fred could see a pit behind the man. A lattice work of energy beams criss-crossed the top of the ten meter diameter pit.
"Splendid! I always like watching you, especially when you hunt aliens." he commended, as if the team was a group of students he had been teaching. "But why did you bring Spartans?" he obviously knew Alexander and Ralf, if not individually, then as Shadows.
Alexander stood with his arms at his sides. "Colonel Sirko, where are the Spartan-III's." he demanded.
The Colonel shrugged. "Those that are still alive are in the pit." he told them. "The Brutes that I hired to help us aren't a very disciplined bunch. A lot of the game was killed in route. More after we got here." he shook his head. "They eat us, you know. Must have driven some of those kids insane. But they are no match for Brutes that are going berserk." He suddenly smiled. "You'll be taking me back now." he sounded as if he were ready to be taken into custody and back to serve his term.
"Not just yet, Colonel." Ralf replied, matching the casual tone. "We want to make sure the Spartan-III's are alright."
"They are perfect." he replied. "I was going to hunt the first one just as the ship blew up and all of my men were killed. The Brutes didn't eat all of them." he sounded more annoyed than anything. "And now .. what do you have planned for me?"
Alexander took a cautious step forward, and hesitated only slightly as the Colonel pulled out a pistol. "Relax, Colonel Sirko." he used a calming tone of voice.
"Take me back? To the doctors, and their medications?" The Colonel asked. "Or will you hunt me yourself? No … I wouldn't make near as challenging game as your kind makes to me. But one of us is to furnish a repast for the hounds."
Fred did not believe that an unaugmented human being could move so fast. Before any of them could move, Colonel Sirko raised his pistol to his left eye, and pulled the trigger. The round took the back of his head off. Blood and bits of brain matter flew backwards, some of it stopping suddenly as it hit the camouflaged Frank.
She turned off her active camouflage, leaning slightly to the right, as she had dodged the bullet. "Well, that was easy." she murmured. Turning around, she looked at the energy grid. "Fred, you and I will walk the perimeter, and look for a way to turn off this grid. The rest of you look around just in case we missed some of the Colonel's men."
Three acknowledgment lights winked on and Kelly, Alexander and Rolf moved off. Fred began to move clockwise around the perimeter while Frank went counter-clockwise. As walked, he looked down into the pit. The light from the energy rods made it impossible to see inside and there had been no sound from inside since they had arrived. His heads up display indicated that there were several contacts in the center, but he couldn't tell if they were human or otherwise.
Opening a private channel to Frank, he murmured. "Are we assuming there are humans in here?"
"Not really." she replied. "Sirko likes hunting big game. For all we know there antelopes down there. But it's a good bet."
They continued their walk, and met at the other side. A control panel stood three meters distant, glowing a soft green in the light of the now rising sun. Looking at it, Fred noticed many controls. He knew better than to just randomly start pressing buttons. It could easily be booby trapped and, if the erratic behavior of the Colonel was any indication, it probably was.
Frank looked at the panel with interest. "The first time we encountered the Colonel, there was a pit like this, full of his men. Twenty of them died when the incorrect password caused twenty spears around the perimeter to launch through their bodies." her voice was neutral. "The second time it was ODST's and some native local insect that burrowed into the skin and sought a direct path to the victims brain." she raised her head, and looked out over the pit.
"Disturbed." Fred whispered. "So, no matter what we do, we're going to lose some of them?"
"One hundred meter sweep complete." Alexander's voice suddenly spoke over the COM. "Plenty of traps, but no contacts."
"Roger. Find us. The colonel left us another puzzle to solve." Frank commanded, softly.
Ten minutes later, they were all gathered around the control panel. "Another of these things?" Ralf growled softly. "What's waiting this time?"
Frank shrugged. "Doesn't matter. We have to break it." she inhaled very slowly. "The first time." and she allowed her hand to flutter over the control panels keyboard.
Kelly watched her. "Couldn't you have your AI figure it out?"
Erebus-7 replied himself. "What do you think triggered the second trap, Spartan?"
Fred winced inside of his helmet. Alexander turned his head towards Frank. "Let me do it."
"Negative." Frank replied, simply. "Mine is the most senior neck to put on the chopping block." she flexed her fingers. "Last time we tried a password." she flexed them again. "Maybe its not a word."
"A passphrase?" Fred offered.
Frank didnt answer him. "First word out of his mouth was splendid." she whispered. "Last word out of his mouth was hounds." her fingers flexed again, and then she stabbed the screen. A box popped out with the word 'password' and a box below it to type it out. Below that was a ten second countdown.
"We are dust and shadows." Frank whispered as her fingers flew over the keyboard. But that isn't what he typed. Fred watched her fingers, tensing in case he had to move quickly to save the occupants of the pit. What she typed made no sense to him.
The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. On guard, Rainsford.
On the screen everything vanished, and was replaced with more text.
Rest In Peace Vladimir Sirko
And the energy screen vanished.
Frank's head dropped while the others gave an audible sigh of relief. "Never had a doubt, Major." Ralf patted her on the back, and they moved towards the edge of the pit.
The sun had risen even more, and the sunlight was more than adequate to see into the pit. It was twenty meters deep. At the bottom, faces looked up at them, blinking in the light.
Of the one hundred missing Spartan-III's, Fred counted only twenty-one remaining. More than two-thirds lost. But what made his heart leap for a moment in some combination of joy and relief was the face that moved ahead of the group.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez.