Man's True Best Friend
Rate M (Language, etc)
By Casey Riffel (Bearmaster)
Chapter 6
Combat, Love it or Hate it ~ Part 2
Date: Unknown
Location: Unknown
"Ship Mistress, we have detected odd signatures on the planet's surface."
A large creature, adorned with fur and armor kneeled with his head hung low. The beast had gray skin that reflected the incandescent light coming from the center of the room and its armor covered a half of its body. The creature had a large black sledgehammer on its back, which disturbed the space around it, like a water drop falling into a pond. On its side was a small metallic object that glowed in the dark a florescent green. The creatures face looked oddly like a primate, large features like an elongated snout and sharp canine teeth that protruded past the upper and lower lips. But the most noticeable feature was its eyes, small yet intense. They radiated a dark blue, with a rim of purple around the edges.
"Do we know what it is, Ollupo?"
A higher voice broke the silence that filled the room. This creature was evidently the leader, since the other one was kneeling to its command. This other creature sat in a chair that had no similarities to human seats, seeing that it levitated off the ground. It had its back turned and didn't bother to turn around, keeping its identity a clandestine knowledge. The window the creature sat in front of had a magnificent view, a cluster of purple and blue and pink vessels traveled at high speeds, back and forth past a larger superstructure that seemed to be the hub of the ships.
"We don't know yet."
The large creature got off the floor and patted his chest, sending loose hair out into the room. The creature stood at eight feet tall and its muscular structure was massive.
"Shall I send an investigation party, Ship Mistress?"
"No, we must tell this to the High Council and Hierarchs. They will have better judgment and wisdom to handle this situation."
The furry creature bowed his head and began to walk towards the door.
"As you wish."
The door slid open in front of the beast and it disappeared as the door glided back to a shut position. The chair that the leader was sitting on turned slowly around and revealed another large creature. But this one was hairless and had a golden shimmering armor. Its body structure was odd. It had two reversed knees that made a horse-like leg structure. Its arms were long and the hands were even stranger, as they had four fingers, two of them on each end being thumbs. The body of the creature was without a doubt a woman's physique, slender yet muscular. On her thigh, was a nub that had etchings of some ancient language on it. She held her head up on her hands, thinking of what was to come next. She didn't like the Hierarchs but didn't want to become a Heretic, so she had to cooperate with them and it almost made her vomit thinking of the Hierarchs as wise. It made her stomach turn thinking about what they had done to her people, threatening and forcing them into some sort of covenant many lifetimes before. But she sore to herself that she would make it right.
"My people deserve better. I will provide them with they need."
The woman told herself as she took the nub off her hip. She looked at it for a moment before flicking her wrist. A loud clash sound came from the nub as blue curved blades rose from its base. She held it up to her face and looked through the vacant area between the two blades, her mandibles tight in a form of anger. Her vivacious white eyes reflected the blue glow of the sword as she glared angrily at the doorway. Just waiting for some unfortunate Kig-yar or Unggoy to wander into the room, where she then plotted out a sequence in her mind on how she would kill the creature in cold blood, slicing its skin like paper. But as she contemplated those thoughts, she knew that the Hierarchs were already questioning her authority. So, for now, she would watch her steps. Plan everything accordingly. Waiting for the right time to pounce.
Location: New Jerusalem ~ approaching plane's surface at terminal velocity
Operation In Progress: The New Crusade Campaign
Link felt the air rushing past his head and it was only a matter of time before him and his marine package would smash into the ground. Falling was a sensation Link had gotten used to. But it was different now that there wasn't a pod to be falling in.
Link looked down and saw that the ground was only seconds away, and the impact was going to be huge. So Link turned himself onto his back, with the marine gripping to his chest. He wasn't going to let anyone else die under his command. He braced himself.
"Okay! Here we go!"
Link squeezed his eyes shut, wrapping his arms around the marine like a child and repeated the two words that he hoped to save him and the marine from dying a dismembering death. ARMOR LOCK!
The two smashed into the ground, sending bits of trees and rocks and dirt everywhere. The impact was so large, that it made a small crater as the flesh and metal comet shredded the forest floor. After the dust cleared, it was visible that the impact ravaged the area, trees were broken in two, rocks were disturbed from their resting places, and the large divot in the ground looked as if a fire had raged through.
Link slowly opened his eyes. Did it work? He though. A loud beeping sound was going off in his ear, and he could see on his hub that his shields were completely diminished, but his armor was only at four percent damage level. He took a deep breath in relief, knowing that he had made it and that the Armor Lock and gel layer of the suit had done their job perfectly. But what about the marine? Link lifted his upper body off the ground, propping his chest up with his arms and looked at his chest. The marine was gone.
"Shit."
Link said as his mind went for the worst possible outcome. But he knew that there was defiantly a chance that he could still be alive. After resting for a couple of minutes, Link got to his feet, brushing off the twigs and small rocks that had attached themselves to the suit on impact. He investigated the area, seeing the damage he had done.
"Wow."
There wasn't much to say than that. Link had no idea that the suit had those kinds of capabilities, but he sure was glad they did. The red and yellow flashes still filled the sky and the outline of the Definer could be seen as it was still taking massive fire from the anti-air cannons, but where was the invasion party? And what happened to the others? Link thought to himself with a deep rooted fear in his mind. The comms were down because of the jamming device so trying to contact them was not going to work. Link patted his body to see if he lost any supplies on impact, maybe a container of bio-foam came out when skidding across the forest floor, but it was all there.
"Marines! Sound off!"
Link yelled into the forest as tried to catch his breath; suddenly remembering his training that he must keep quiet in hostile territory. If he was going to find anyone, he would need to do silently and stealthy. So Link began to backtrack his fall until he would find the marine, and from there he would try to ran-de-vu with the other agents at the chemical plant. He knew that if he was in the others position, the mission would take priority so they would be going to the ran-de-vu point. It was his best bet in finding the others. But it wasn't looking to good, as he found pieces of metal from the pelican scattered among the broken forest debris. Link picked up a piece of the armor that had landed and it still smoldered from getting pounded by flack rounds. Link was anything but religious, but he found himself praying for the first time in that dark and dank forest.
20 minutes after jumping
"Dear fucking god!"
Gem rolled on the ground with the wind knocked out of her. Unlike Link, she and the others landed in a clearing in the forest. But it was remarkable; Derrick, Kenny, Johan, and the marines were fine! Gem thought to herself. The marine she took was clinging to her chest plate and quivering franticly. His eyes were stuck open wide. Gem grabbed his hand which seemed too had almost fused with her armor.
"Hey, you okay marine?"
The marine on her chest darted his focus to her visor, and with the best of his efforts nodded his head.
"Good. Now you can get off me."
Gem rolled him off of her and stood, stretching from the initial impact. She looked around, trying to see if she could spot Link. Kenny was on the ground, about to vomit from the tremendous action they had just done. Derrick was already up and trying to reestablish communications with Link, but found that the jammer was too strong. In this case, Derrick was thinking that the mission must be done and Link was a secondary objective. Johan had his helmet off, smoking a cigarette and had a look of anguish on his face. He didn't like to see marines die, and he was disturbed by the pilots death, burned slowly by molten glass and metal then roasted by the pelican's destruction. It made him sick to his stomach. Not to mention the other marines on the other pelicans. At least they died instantly, he thought.
Derrick saw that everyone was somewhat physically fine, which was a relief, but he needed to find everyone. Link was somewhere and he needed to find him before it was too late, but the mission was to come first.
"Alright, we need to move out!"
Derrick gave his command, but no one responded.
"Agents, I didn't stutter!"
Gem retracted her visor and looked at him with sheer disbelief.
"Damn man, can you tell that we aren't in fighting shape?"
"We need to move now, Gem. We need to ran-de-vu with the other agents."
Kenny worked himself off the ground and wiped his lips.
"What about Link? We're not going to leave him, are we?"
Derrick rubbed his forehead in frustration.
"We have to think of the mission at hand, if we can find him we will. But he knows just like any of us that the mission comes first."
Gem tightened her fist and gritted her teeth, but she knew that Derrick was right. It distressed her that she had to leave Link behind, but it had to be done. The thought of loosing Link to her was unbearable and for that reason, she despised Derrick.
"Can we at least rest for the night; these marines aren't in a good mental status and need to rest. We can go after we get some sleep."
The stare down between Gem and Derrick was intense and the others could feel its powerful force. Derrick eventually let up.
"Fine, we can rest. But we need to get to that ran-de-vu by tomorrow. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir."
The group responded with little energy as they started to make a camp with what they could find. Johan said nothing as he pondered the situation. Derrick was more than pissed by the events of the attempted invasion and he wanted answers.
"Johan, how did the Innies get weapons like that?"
Johan took a deep breath of cigarette smoke and slowly let it escape his mouth.
"I have no idea. They must have some sort of supplier. But we weren't expecting this much resistance."
"Oh really?"
Derrick raised his voice at Johan. Johan turned his head and looked confused.
"Yeah, kid. What else is there to tell you?"
Johan flicked his cigarette to the ground and stomped on its blazing remains.
"How come the recon didn't pick up any of these new weapons? That was falsie work that just got twenty-plus marines killed!"
"What, do you think I like letting marines die? I most certainly don't!"
Johan loomed over Derrick and his size overshadowed Derricks small frame.
"I just want to know the truth."
"Well kid, you know what I know."
Johan crossed his arms and stood on a slant. He didn't know anything else and Derrick knew it.
"Okay, I apologize for yelling at you. I'm just…"
Derrick started to breath heavily and pace back and forth.
"Hey-hey-hey, don't worry about this. You had no idea that those cannons were waiting for us. Its not your fault for what happened and I'm sure that Lincoln will be fine as well, I mean, the guy has balls for jumping out of the pelican first. But right now, our men are hurt, tired, and need to rest."
Derrick stopped pacing and tired to hold back his building anxiety from showing on his face. Derrick contemplated what happened, what was going to happen. The thoughts of him not being ready crept back into his head in his frail mental state. He needed to rest just as much as the others. So he sat down, putting his back against a broken tree. Its soft mossy cushion helped relieve some of his tension. Although the helmet was comfortable, derrick didn't feel like wearing it anymore for the night, so he took it off and placed it gently next to him, looking at its yellow details. Derrick then placed his unprotected head on the mossy tree and let himself slowly drift into the realm of sleep. He didn't want to admit it, but he was exhausted.
Time: 0700, Sunrise
Link spent the entire night looking for his marine package. But to no avail, he couldn't find him. Link searched everywhere, under trees that had fallen, under rocks, and he even sent out an IFF signal locator, but it didn't work either. It was hopeless, Link thought. No matter what he tried to do, people he helped would die anyway. What was his worth if a medic killed everyone who he helped?
Right as Link said that, he sat down on the soft forest floor. Letting the strong morning sun hit his back. He retracted his visor and took a deep breath of the unfiltered pure air that the forest provided. It helped slightly, but it wouldn't fix the issues at hand. Link just sat there for an hour, staring emptily at the ground as the shadows of the trees made their shapes known. Link's eye was caught by a moving tree's shadow. Its gentle swaying calmed Link. He investigated the shadow, and decided to see what he could make out of the shadow. The tree was tall, at least forty feet. It was a bushy tree, large and round at the top, but the green leafs were spaced out sparsely. The inner area of the tree was made up of many thin trunks and branches that seemed to make on massive labyrinth of wood and growth. Then, something caught Links eye again. A figure within the tree, its shadow blended into the shadow of the tree and Link looked it over until then.
Feeling like he had just got a grace from god, Link sprang up off the ground and turned toward the tree. Link investigated the tree and found the source of the shadow. A weight felt like it was pulled off his shoulders when he saw the marine, caught in many vines and branches, dangling safely from falling to his death. Link put it all together now. The marine must have slipped out of his arms during the fall and landed in the tree, and smacked his head making him go unconscious. A trickle of blood was running off his forehead to prove his theory. But he was still alive, from what the IFF said. But he was injured, so Link would have to help him.
After about two hours of climbing the tree, cutting the man out of the vines, and lowering him onto the forest floor, Link felt like he was blessed. The marine went in and out of consciousness, only to say mumbled things or to groan in pain before drifting off again. Link laid the injured fighter on the soft ground and put him in a sleeping position. The only way to save him was to provide medical attention ASAP. So Link decided to take the procedure step by step.
First, the man's head was bleeding under his helmet and it needed to be dealt with. Link pulled his helmet off to reveal a gash that had pierced his helmet and gouged a deep cut in his head. It wasn't fatal, but it must have hurt. There were also many large bruises and swollen lumps on his scalp, indicating a rough fall. If it wasn't for his helmet, Link would have a pulpy mess to clean up. So Link got out his field operating kit which was attached to his lower back. He unzipped it and searched the many items that were inside until he found a anti-septic kit and gauze. Link also pulled out a medi-grade sewing kit. The laceration on his scalp would be first to be taken care of. Link wiped the cut that was filled with dirt and wood chips out with rubbing alcohol before wiping it with the medical gauze to remove any debris. When it was clean, Link took out a small vial of bio-foam and put a small line going all the way across the length of the wound. After spreading the bio-foam with the gauze, he started to sew the gash.
As Link patched the marine up like a used toy with the stuffing falling out of it, he recalled the thoughts he had from before. Maybe he was worth something. Maybe he would be worth something.
The patch job was simple and it only took five stitches to close the wound. Link then placed some gauze around the marines head to cover the opening from airborne bacteria. That finished the job without any problems. A simple operation. But as Link finished the marines busted up head, he realized his work was going to get much more intense as he saw the marines left femur had broke during the fall. The bon had cracked in two and the lower part of the cracked bone had ripped through the skin and pants to reveal a harsh wound, blood and torn muscle exposed to the air. Link felt lie vomiting from the sight. He had never dealt with an injury like that before, although he was trained to fix them.
Link swallowed his fear and decided to deal with the leg next. He took the marines pants and tore a bigger hole in them to gain access to the wound. Lucky, it had not gotten infected yet, so it would be somewhat easier to take care of. Link searched his kit again and pulled out the IIRK, Intensive Injury Repair Kit. It had supplies to fix the bone, and Link slowly began the operation in the middle of the day as the bright sunlight warmed his back.
Time: 1300, Day
Gem was working on her rifle, which had broken on initial drop. She was also fixing the other tech that had broken on the drop. Derrick was back to working on his SCCD, trying to call the UNSC for back-up, but to no success. Kenny was helping the marines get ready to move as they were in a bad mental state even after sleeping. Johan was watching the group as they went about their business. But he wanted to finish the training the agents missed, so Johan walked into the center of the camp and whistled to the group.
"Okay noobs. I know we have had a rough time so far, but we need to focus on what we need to do. Got it?"
The agents walked to Johan, nodding their heads.
"I want to train you a little more before we dive in head first into Innie territory. First. Your shields."
Johan pointed to Kenny, signaling to walk up to him. Reluctantly, Kenny walk next to Johan.
"Your shields are your life. The metal of your armor is tough, but your shields protect you at all times. Watch."
Johan pulled his pistol from the magnetic holster on his hip. It was a default UNSC marine's pistol, and put it next to Kenny's head. Kenny threw up his arms as he saw the gun now on eye level with him. Johan then pulled the trigger and the bullet bounced off Kenny's shields, making the shields light up bright yellow with the bullet lodging itself in the ground. Kenny stood with his arms still up, freaked out.
"See. Your shields protect you. But eventually if hit enough times, they will diminish and need time to recharge."
Kenny started to run away, thinking that Johan wanted to lower his shield all the way.
"Don't worry kid; I wasn't going to show that."
Gem and Derrick laughed to themselves.
"Okay. So this is the next thing about your shields. You can make an actual shield on your left arm. See that pad?"
The group looked at the smooth and curved plate on their arms. It didn't look like much, and it only looked like supplemental forearm guards. They weren't big, but they covered much of the forearm. They weren't thick either. Extremely light weight.
"Now what you can do, is that pad will take the shields on you armor and project it like a riot shield. That is what Halsey was going for when making the armor. You activate it by placing your arm out like this."
Johan put his left arm out in front of his chest. As if he was holding an invisible coat.
"Since I don't have that feature on my armor, I need one of you to come up here. Derrick, come up please."
Derrick walked up to Johan, his arm still stuck out in the air. Johan pointed to a small button on the palm of the hand. No one noticed it because of its size. It looked as if a circular flat battery was imbedded in the under suit.
"Now, what you want to do is curl your middle finger around and push it. It will only activate with a finger, so don't worry about holding something in your hand and it suddenly activating. Okay?"
The group nodded. Gem raised her hand.
"Yes sweetheart?"
Gem pressed the button and held it down.
"What happens if you hold down the button?"
"You can generate a shield blast. It charges your shield and then fires it foreword. It can knock someone down to lighting him or her on fire. It's pretty awesome."
Gem realized she had been holding the button down for a little more than five seconds, the shield on her arm shacking with overcharged power. She then aimed her arm at a rock and released the button. With a force that knocked her on her back, the shield leapt from her arm and slammed into the rock. The noise it produced was loud enough to shack the trees, making the birds flee in response.
"I should mention you need to brace yourself if you're going to do that. It packs quiet a punch."
Gem rolled on the ground and held her stomach. The force of the push was enough to knock the wind out of her.
"I got that sir."
Derrick began to get restless and stepped in front of Johan, violating his personal space bubble.
"Sir, we are all ready to move out. You have shown us some valuable things our suits can do, but now we must continue on our mission."
Johan looked directly into Derrick's eyes. He wasn't going to budge this time.
"Fine. Lets move out!"
The marines, who were rested completely, were already in their armor. Ready to fight.
"Sir, wherever you want us. We wont be a burden on you anymore."
The three marines saluted Derrick and pulled their weapons from their backs. They loaded them with lightening speed and cracked the guns over their shoulders. One of them was holding a heavy machine gun and he was almost as tall as the agents. His face was old, older than most marines and defiantly old than the other two he accompanied.
"We're prepared to fight, sir."
Gem got off the ground with a grunt and brushed the dust off her arms.
"Lets go."
Gem despised Derrick for the decision to leave Link behind, and brushed past Derrick and grabbed her Javelin Rifle off the soft mossy floor. Then slapped it to the magnetic pad on her back with a fluid motion. She stood with her back to the group and turned her head to the side, her blonde hair flowing out the back of her helmet.
"Lets get to the fucking ran-de-vu point."
She said under her breath, before her visor slammed shut concealing her anger.
END
A/N: Hello my lil bear cubs. I'm glad I got this one out somewhat earlier than last time. April 1st was my b-day so I was up in the mountains snowboarding. I thought to my self on like Monday, I know I wont get it done if I leave it for Sunday. So I just wrote almost all of it on Monday, and finished it this afternoon. So yeah, don't hate on me. . But anyway. Next chapter will be even better. So as usual, COMMENT and SUSCRIBE. Oh! I have a question to ask ya'll. I suck at drawing, so I was wondering if someone could draw some stuff for me. If someone has those skillz, don't be shy. It would be sooooo awesome. I will give you credit for the drawing and I will put it up on Deviant Art, where I am going to try to upload all of my chapters to it. Welp, that's all. See ya next Sunday! :D
Casey (Bearmaster)
