Just Cannon Fodder
Two Birds with One Stone
Poli landed with a soft 'thud' at the bottom of the gravity lift. From his belt, he unhooked a brute plasma rifle that he had acquired in the last battle. There had been more than enough weapons for everybody on the dead brutes, but there were even more weapons in the captured seraphs, meaning everybody, including grunts, had more than enough supplied to last the entire battle.
Poli looked around and saw that a few elites that had landed before him were rallying troops to their positions. Poli stepped out of the gravity field and headed over to the warriors, who were semi-concealed in a treeline. By the time he reached them, several other grunts had begun to scurry over to them. Within minutes, the entire attack force had regrouped at the treeline.
The fieldmaster stepped up and addressed his troops, "The brutes are still unaware of our presence, and we shall make them pay for their lack of security." He began, then he began to speak again, "You will split into two groups, one will attack the brutes from behind, and split their forces between fighting the humans and us. The second will use the beam rifles we found in the seraphs to kill the brutes from afar." He ordered as the two elites next to him began separating the troops into two groups. Poli had been placed in the group that would attack from behind. With him were seven grunts and two elites. In the sniping group, there were two elites along with three grunts to guard them.
The fieldmaster had taken command of Poli's group. He led them through the thick forest that would lead them directly to the brutes' base of operations, as the Spec Ops. Elite led the sniping group deeper into the forest to find a decent position. The fieldmaster stopped walking, and everyone that as following him stopped in unison.
"We have reached the brutes' camp." He said as he pushed a large shrub to the side, revealing the brutes' camp. He then let the shrub move back to where it had been, not wanting to give away their position. He then pointed to one elite and said, "You take those two grunts width the fuel rod cannons and move behind those rocks over there. Draw their attention long enough for us to sneak behind them." The elite immediately took the two grunts and began to make his way over to the rock formation the fieldmaster had pointed out.
"Once they open fire, we will move along the treeline and attack them from behind." The fieldmaster ordered, as he waited for the group to attack.
A minute passed as the group waited for the attack, but it felt like hours. Finally, the hum of plasma filled the air as the two grunts fired their massive cannons at the brute camp. The twin blasts killed eight brutes, wounded several others, and rendered a plasma turret inoperable. Every brute in the area charged at the three ex-covenants. The grunts' fuel rod cannons recharged and they fired yet again, holding the brutes at bay, for now at least.
"Now." The fieldmaster whispered as he darted along the treeline. The others quickly followed, stopping only when a brute got too close. A good seven minutes later, they were directly behind the brute camp and had positioned themselves in a small trench the brutes had left unguarded. Poli looked up to check on the others. They group of three were barely holding their own. The elite had charged out from the rocks and was slashing away at brutes with his plasma sword, and the two grunts were providing cover fire, being careful not to shoot too close to the elite. However, the brutes were slowly overwhelming them, as more and more emerged from the camp.
The fieldmaster turned and told the them, "Most of their forces are pre-occupied, so we should be able to charge directly into their camp." he said, unclipping the hilt of his plasma sword from his belt, as did the other elites. As he began to charge, the sword flashed to life, and the other elites followed closely behind him. Poli, while unable to keep up with the elites, was far ahead of the grunts. Ahead, the elites broke off from the group and went to different parts of the camp, slicing through any brute that came in their way.
Poli unhooked his plasma rifle as a brute came into his vision. The brute had not noticed Poli's presence even as he came within ten feet of him. Poli raised his rifle and squeezed the trigger sending a volley of red plasma directly into the oblivious brute's head. The stronger red plasma vaporized the brute's head, sending his torso falling limply to the ground below.
Poli looked again to the group of three by the rocks. The brute's numbers had overwhelmed the elite, and the grunts' cannons had run out of ammo, forcing them to use their plasma pistols to little effect. Poli ran over to assist them, but was knocked off his feet as a brute shot grenade exploded mere feet away from him. Poli forced himself to his feet, his wounded shoulders hurting now more than ever, and picked us his rifle. He looked over to see where the grenade had come from, and saw a lone brute staring down at him, snarling. The brute raised his brute shot again and fired another grenade at Poli, who had not yet fully recovered his balance. Poli staggered to his left, the grenade missing him by inches. Poli raised his rifle and fired at the brute, but the distance was too great for the plasma to have any serious effect. The brute fired two more time, but both of the grenades went wide and missed Poli completely. The brute began to reload his weapon and momentarily took his eyes off Poli. When the brute finished reloading and looked up, he was greeting by a plasma grenade soaring towards his face. The brute only had time to scream as the grenade struck his face and fused with his skin. A second later, the grenade detonated, sending chunks of steamed flesh flying all over.
The threat dealt with, Poli turned his attention again to the two grunts, and saw that they had been overrun and the brutes were busy tearing off their limbs and fighting over who got to eat them. Two brutes began shouting at each other, both holding a grunt's severed arm, and eventually began exchanging blows as they fought over the arm. The rest of the brutes turned and cheered them on. Poli had turned to run away, but stopped as he heard the fight start. He turned and saw the eight brutes grouped together watching the fight. Poli chuckled to himself as he took two grenades from his pouch. He threw the first one and it landed on the head of one of the brutes. The brutes were taken off guard completely, turning to see who had thrown it, only to see yet another grenade fly towards them. The two grenades exploded almost simultaneously, killing five off the brutes, and burning the arm off another. Poli took out his last grenade and tossed it at the three remaining brutes. The explosion only killed the brute with one arm, as it was in too much pain to notice the grenade, but the others rolled out of the way, and charged at the Poli with heir weapons drawn. Poli fired his plasma rifle, but the brutes ignored the fact that their skin burned under the immense heat of the plasma. The brutes were about ten meters away when Poli's rifle overheated, dumping plasma on Poli's hand. Poli backpedaled, trying to buy himself some time, but the brutes quickened their pace, intent on crushing the grunt. Poli tripped over a rock and stumbled backwards, falling onto his back as the brutes came closer and closer.
Poli tried to stand, but exhaustion finally set in, and he collapsed back on the ground. Poli knew it was over as he closed his eyes and waited for death. His eyes opened again when the sound of hooves caught his ears. When he opened his eyes he saw a bloody elite with a plasma sword kill the two brutes with ease. Poli expected the elite to walk away, leaving Poli to die. Instead, the elite walked over to Poli and extended his hand. Poli was shocked, but quickly grabbed the hand, lest the elite change his mind. When Poli got to his feet, the elite looked down at him, and handed him back his weapon.
"You are skilled for a grunt." The elite said, the bass in his voice causing Poli to tremble.
"T-Thank you your Excellency." Poli stammered, never having received praise from anyone before, especially and elite. The elite then turned and spoke once more to Poli.
"We have taken this base, and our brothers have sent word that they have begun the attack on the human camp." He said, as he began walking away. Poli started to walk with him, hoping he would say more, but the walk was in silence. The elite stopped when the fieldmaster stepped out from the shadows.
"Are you all that's left?" the fieldmaster questioned, breathing heavily. Poli noticed his hand was clutching a deep wound on his chest, and he was limping.
"Yes" the elite said. "Everyone else has been killed by the brutes, but no brutes remain, mostly because of the efforts of the grunt that stands beside me, he is quite skilled." He finished. The fieldmaster paused for a moment, but quickly spoke again.
"I see." He began, pausing to take another raspy breath. "We are too far away from the human camp to walk, so I have radioed one of our seraphs to pick us up." As he spoke, Poli could smell the scent of brutes approaching. He sniffed more rapidly, trying to pinpoint their location.
"Brutes come!" Poli yelled to the two elites, and they stiffened, and their eyes darted from side to side, trying to see what the grunt saw."
"I don't see them." The fieldmaster said. "Where are they?"
Poli pointed and replied, "I smell them." As if on cue, several brutes emerged from the treeline at the opposite side of the base. One of them spotted the group and said something to the brutes with him, pointing at Poli. Soon, every brute knew where they were and they began to charge at them. The two elites by Poli's side ignited their swords and stood ready to fight. Poli lifted his rifle and was ready to assist in battle. Everyone knew that they stood no chance in deafeatnig the brutes, but they stood their ground as the brutes came closer. However, as the brutes lifted their brute shots to fire, a stream of plasma came towards them, tearing through the brutes' as they scattered and tried to find cover, but they were all cut down as the plasma kept firing at them.
Poli looked up and saw the seraph the fieldmaster had mentioned hover above them, and activate its gravity lift. A roar could be heard from behind the group and the fieldmaster shouted, "We must go now!"
Poli wasted no time in running into the gravity lift. He felt himself being pulled up and felt a sense of vertigo, and soon he found himself standing inside the ship. The pilot called out to the group of three, "Are there any more?"
"We are all that's left." The fieldmaster called back.
The pilot paused for a moment before speaking again, "The other group has set up explosives in the human base. The other seraph went to retrieve them, but they haven't radioed back yet, so we are going to see if they still live."
The fieldmaster stood to object, "We will not risk our live to save them. The bomb has been planted, and that's all that matters."
The pilot quickly shot back, "With all due respect, if we leave them there, we won't stand much of a chance if we get attacked." The fieldmaster started to speak again, but stopped himself, realizing the pilot was right.
The majority of the trip was in silence, the only noise coming from the fieldmaster, who was patching up his wound. Suddenly, the radio broke through the silence, "Is anyone out there?" an elites voice came through the speakers.
"Yes we are coming to get you." The pilot said into the radio, as he pushed on the accelerator.
"No." the elite said again. "The bomb is ready to explode; you won't get here in time."
"We are closer than you think." The pilot said again. "Look up."
The gravity life activated once again, and within seconds, a battered elite body came through the opening. Following him were two equally wounded grunts.
"The bomb will explode any second go now!" the elite shouted to the pilot, and the seraph accelerated and sped away form the camp.
Poli heard a 'thud' come from the direction of the base, and the seraphs shook violently, as the shockwave of the bomb hit the ship. Poli grabbed on to a nearby railing and held on for dear life as the lights flickered on and off and supplied became scattered all over the seraph's floor. As if it never happened, the shaking stopped, and the seraph returned to normal.
"Our engines have overheated." The pilot said from the cockpit. "I'm going to land in the forest below; the treetops will provide decent camouflage." The sound of the seraph landing filled the ship, and the hum of the engine stopped as the pilot cut power to them.
"It will take sometime for the engine to cool down, I suggest you get some rest." The pilot said stepping out of the cockpit.
Poli like the sound of that idea, and for the first time in what felt like years, Poli closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
