Chapter 6: The Flickering Streetlamp
October 23rd, 2552, 2245 (Military Calendar)
Mbaraki Distict, New Mombasa
Kenya
The Rookie slowly set down the optics package. He could hardly believe that after six hours there would still be some juice left in it. He dropped it and heard the large crash. He gritted his teeth as he heard the noise.
Probably not the smartest idea.
He started to turn, but then he saw something, only it wasn't really a thing at all. Looking near the base of the Uplift Reserve statue, he saw a shimmer, something like a heat blur. Curiously, he looked it over.
The he remembered Cygnus. He remembered seeing many of these blurs before they uncloaked and revealed alien warriors. Stunned, he dropped his nearly empty pistol magazine and slapped in another. Just as he racked the slide, he heard a snap and a hiss.
The blur drew an Energy Sword. It decloaked to reveal a gold-armored Sangheili warrior.
"Oh shit!" The Rookie swore. He fired off every single round he had. The bullets glanced off the Elite's shield. It laughed as it shrugged off the .50 caliber rounds.
"AH! Human!" The alien roared. "Heretic! Worm, scum of the galaxy! Come to me!"
The Rookie dropped the empty magazine and switched to the M7. The rounds splashed against the shield. He got lucky. It flickered and died. The Elite clutched its side and roared.
The ODST tripped over the optics package and fell to the ground. He had nowhere to go. The alien sensed this as he placed its hoove on the Rookie.
"Taste the fury of my Forefathers, you pitiful creature." It raised the blade o stab but it seems that its dogmatic ritual would be its downfall. He saw a beam cut through its head. The alien gasped and fell on him.
The Rookie could barely breathe with the Elite lying over him. He wanted to find out who had taken the shot, but a second later, he didn't need to ask.
"A fair shot, Kig-Yar." came a growl.
"His shield was depleated brother. He was an easy target." Another growl countered.
Brutes! Not now! I'm trapped. They just shot their own ally! Something's wrong here.
The hiss of the Jackal was audible but no direct translation could be made.
"There cannot be much more in this city. I have killed many of the Sangheili this day."
"I would not chance it, brother. Are you not familiar with Sangheili lore? They are survivors as we are."
"Must I repeat this to you? Do not compare us to those...those..." It sighed.
"I digress, I do not have words to describe them.
The Rookie heard a small tinkle. He saw that the hilt for the Energy Sword rolled away. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem but he accidently knocked it off while adjusting the Sangheili's body to cover his own.
"What was that?" A Brute asked. "Don't just stand there, figure out what that was!"
Out of the corner of his helmet, he could see the feet of the Jackal approaching. He inhaled and held his breath.
Please don't see me, please don't see me, there's nothing here, just leave!
The Kig-Yar stood there for a moment, but chattered and turned.
"The scout says that the sword fell from its dead hands."
"Secure it! I want a trophy!"
The Jackal then bent down to pick up the sword hilt, and as it reached for it, he thought that it looked straight at him...
Down the street, a police siren started up. It wailed loudly, as if it was close.
"Come! Those damned creatures have snuck from behind us!" The senior Brute barked.
The Jackal thought then that it heard nothing at all and sprinted after its commanding officers.
The Rookie waited for ten whole seconds and then kicked the body off with all his might.
"Augh! Thank you!"
The Superintendant gave a happy fanfare.
"Did you start that siren? Very nice."
Another chirp came from the city.
"So where to now?"
Across the courtyard, he saw a light appear.
"Please Cross-Walk. Share the Road!"
Yeah, I'll do that.
The next blip appeared Rather close by.
Augh, look at this stuff. he thought feeling his chestplate. It was covered with sticky purple blood of the Elite that fell on him. he let the blood stay though. No need to take unneccessary moves to wash it off.
It was darker than before. Even the VISR had limited range. He followed the Super's advice and went across the far street. It looked like a bomb hit this street. There were various pieces of the Space Elevator which littered the street. the Rookie glanced behind him, noticing the buring portion of the Earth anchor.
How did that thing fall?
He pushed that thought out of his mind and carefully made his way through this ally. A single, flickering streetlamp stood near the road. It was the only source of light. It made the Rookie slightly nervous. What really did it was in the flickering light, he could have sworn he saw some enemy movement farther back. Otherwise, it was completely silent.
He gripped his M7. He reloaded it once he remembered that his magazine was dangerously low. He hid behind a car and accessed his TACMAP. The Courtyard was hexagonal, with his position near one of the lower edges. He saw three diamonds.
Now, despite the spooks putting some valuable time and effort into his armor's systems, he still couldn't differentiate between whether a diamond represented a squad or an individual alien.
It was time to find out. The Rookie saw a rock on the ground. Picking it up, he found that it was fairly heavy. He noticed a ground-level window. Hefting the rock, he tossed it into the window and it shattered with a loud crash.
He saw the diamonds move. The Rookie blended into the shadows, even depolarizing his helmet slightly so that whatever light there was wouldn't reflect off it. To his great relief, the diamond was revealed to be a lone Grunt. The Rookie snuck up behind the small alien as it investigated the crash and gave a bark as it inspected the glass.
Training took over. He slipped behind the alien and broke its neck. He dragged the body into the shadows and looked at his other targets. He saw out of the corner of his eye that there were just a few Kig-Yar looking for Humans. He targeted the one up high on the rooftop. He aimed his pistol at the alien and blew its head off. The second Jackal whipped around, scared, confused.
This was when the Rookie presented himself for a split second and then hid back in the darkness.
The Jackal shook. It was thuroughly freaked now. The Rookie timed the next flicker of the streetlight. It seemed to be erratic.
"Can you do something about the lights?" He whispered.
Before he finished the sentence, the light itself went out.
"Please Remain Calm."
The Jackal spun around, looking for a target, but even at this distance, the Rookie could see the alien sweat. Before it could react, he was on the move.
The Jackal saw him, but by then it was far too late.
The Human clotheslined the buzzard-like alien with his arm. He was on it then. Taking his combat knife, he stabbed it dead center in the chest.
If you don't know where the heart is, always through the center. Common UNSC advice.
The alien tried to scream, but the Rookie punched it in the face. It lay still. When he was convinced that it was dead, he pulled his knife from the body and wiped it.
"I'm done here." The Rookie said. "I don't need to hide the body."
The light came back on, and the Rookie left the alien he slaughtered behind, illuminated by this single, flickering streetlight.
"Proceed with caution."
The street up ahead was clear. Looking on his belt, he saw that he was dangerously low on Magnum rounds. He looked at the gun longingly, It was a powerful weapon. He couldn't afford to let it go. Making his choice, he stowed the weapon inside his backpack (after flipping the safety of course). and looked on the ground for something that could cause some damage.
The Rookie spotted an MA5C on the pavement. Checking the dead Marine that still clutched the gun, he found more than two hundred rounds of ammunition. He cocked the gun and brought it to hip height. The Rookie made a quick sweep of the street and satisfied that he could see no enemy, ditched his nearly wasted SMG for a blue tinged plasma rifle.
Plasma weapons were great at burning targets and ripping through energy shields. If he ran into any more of the Elites. He also took care to strip the Marine of his grenades. He wouldn't be needing them any more.
The Superintendant chimed in. The prompt the AI placed in the Rookie's helmet advised him to look at a viewscreen. The screen flashed on showing hundreds of people running, screaming, and knocking over anything in their way.
Police officers tried to get everyone to move in an orderly fashion, shouting out commands in Swahili. One officer brandished a riot shotgun but was knocked over by the wave of people.
The camera changed. This time it showed a harbor. Hundreds of boats were leaving the port bound for the safety of the sea. The camera panned and showed the gigantic Assault Carrier that was present when he dropped from the Say My Name.
Now the city was empty, dark. Barely anything was left inside and for all he knew, he was the last human left alive in this place.
This made him scared and twitchy, so he thought of something else.
"Was that the evacuation?"
"Affirmative."
"Why did you show this to me."
"Prior Inquiry made at...2210...hours Local Time."
Oh right, I asked.
"How many made it out?"
"Total Metopolitan population: 57 million. Confirmed Civilian Casualties: 3,713,916."
It was a relatively low ammount of deaths. 3 million was still a lot though.
"Where are all the bodies?"
"Keep it clean."
The ODST gave a nearby garbage truck a nervous glance.
Don't think about it, man.
He crossed a threshold into an identical section of the city, although the ambiance was much more profesional. He passed more luxury cars, saw shops that offered more higher quality goods, and there were some tall buildings here .
"Where am I?"
"Location: Currently on Kwonala Avenue, nearing Kizingo Boulevard and Shashami Plaza."
The beacon was strong now. He was right next to a gigantic wall that looked thirty stories high.
"What's that?"
"Attention! The Office of Naval Intelliegnce keeps a a presence in New Mombasa. Respect Private Property! Don't trespass!"
ONI...should have figured...wait a second...
"We're way off course!" Mickey had said
"We're heading right where I need to go" Dare responded
There was a building, a cube more like it, surrounded by a giant security wall, clearly made to keep people out...
...and now he was standing right outside the damn thing. The Rookie quickly went for the beacon. If this was the case, his teammates, or their corpses might be inside this wall. The beacon could hold the clue.
He passed a landed SOEIV, the pod still smoking from the impact. It was on top of a building, but he needed to get past a Covenant patrol. He had no intention to fight this time and waited for the Brute to turn his back.
When the alien looked away, the Rookie sprinted for the open doorway, hoping the cracking of a blazing fire would mask his footsteps. He ran up a flight of stairs and came to a balcony. He saw a Gauss Turret perched on the ledge, broken, inoperable.
Just as well, he had no intention of using it. He came up to the mounted weapon and looked at it. Wires were cut, dents pocked the body of the Gauss cannon. Looking over the balcony and down the street, he saw broken and destroyed Scorpion tanks and Warthogs. The Rookie cocked his head curiously.
Wow, must have been some push.