State of Talam Border, Eudemon
September 14, 2558
Far on the human side of the borders of the UEG and Talam state, a quartet of dark clothed men rapidly moved to the border zone. All carrying equipment that probably came out of an anarchist website, save for the civilian grade Misriah pistols, they halted at the border, likely to check their gear before performing their acts of sabotage.
The border zone was something straight out of a prison. A massive thirty foot deep trench was centered right before the official line between human and elite territory spanning four hundred feet. The low area was all in the line of fire from both sides' turrets that were placed along the vantage points. No landmines were inside, but the trench was watched extremely carefully. On the human side, there were seismographs to monitor the ground movement. Any noticeable disturbance would automatically cause one of the machine gun sentries to pivot over to the location. Until the target was identified as harmful to either side, the turret would hold its fire.
In designated spots, there were two large concrete bridges that spanned across the two sides for anyone wanting to cross the border, if at all. Since the desert heat made the view very blurry from heat waves shimmering, sunroofs were put on the buildings alongside the bridges. Most marines standing out in the open wouldn't last thirty seconds before his/her shirt already soaked in sweat. Heat was something that was quite intense, especially in the August/September range.
From his perch atop one of the sangheili sniper towers, Spartan Vasili Suvorov had to hand it to the extremist insurgents. Completely covered in dark clothing, they seemed to not even be slightly affected by the heat. Then again, the sun was now beginning to sink on the horizon, casting a dull reddish glow in the sky.
The four marauders now were making their way just below where the bridge spanned across. Especially in September, no human outside would be standing guard, rather operating in the air conditioned center underground. In lieu of the missing personnel, sentry guns hidden in the nearby pillars would be slightly drawn, almost to the point where they would be nearly invisible. To cover targets trying to hide below, hornets and banshees patrolled their respective sides.
Thanks to their absence, the hostiles slipped in unnoticed; it was too far for sangheili to see without the aid of a long range weapon such as a carbine. In addition, they were traveling along a narrow zone of there the cameras and sensors failed to detect anything, save for a visual clue. They would likely have turned tail and run if they knew that a Spartan was observing them through his own weapon.
"Everyone in position?" He whispered over the coms.
"Affirmitave." Sniper specialist Kelly Robertson whispered. Her aim rivaled the commander's and her prior military experience was highly decorated. All in a person not to cross. Linking her HUD with Vasili's and the three elite police, she marked the four targets. All of them were advancing at a slow, but quiet pace, staying under the bridge and halting when a banshee passed over head.
"Just keep flying the banshees over." Suvorov informed the pilots. "Don't raise any suspicion."
Next to Spartan Robertson, a single elite awaited her go. In their first lesson to discourage trespassers, the Blades had finally managed to teach sangheili to fire warning shots. Growing up in a culture where a shot meant to kill, it was nonetheless difficult. The elites were hesitant to try the practice, basically acting as policeman was a whole new drill for them. It was difficult when trying to change a culture that has been a strong tradition for centuries. However, some units of the Talam forces seemed to learn quicker, most notably the ones who were shy of serving in the war.
The past few times, it had just been lone saboteurs. The next few moments unfolded as the elite peacekeepers made their decision to react to a smuggler or a hostile. Most likely the latter. Robertson's eye stared through her scope, the crosshairs dead center on the lead trespasser's head. Underneath his coat, an odd tube shape was bulging from his fabric. Twisting a dial on her scope, she zoomed in a little closer, all while working another variable to maintain focus. Recognizing what the object was, she zoomed out, still making sure the four hostiles were marked.
"Vasili, they've got portable mortars. I think they're not actually trying to attack the keep."
"Fire a warning shot."
Kelly nodded at the elite next to her. He aimed the long focus rifle, pulling the trigger. Instantly, the barrel of the T-52 SAR, opened, lancing out a purple tinted beam. The marksman made careful not to hit any of the attackers and instead painted the side with the long beam. The weapon is quite rare, following the limited production by the manufacturer Assembly forges. Unlike most traditional sniper rifles, the T-52 fired a steady beam that would slowly deplete shields, armor and flesh. To unarmored enemies, this weapon was far more lethal. Unfortunately, much of the skill in the usage was dependent on the sniper being able to track their target efficiently. The second unpopular trait of the weapon was that the beam was easily visible, especially during dusk and it gave away the shooter's position.
The saboteurs must have seen it from their quick assembly of the small mortar tubes and producing shells from their backpacks. One of them slid the long shell into the tube and recoiled when smoke suddenly exploded out of the end. The shell blazed a brilliant orange, heading right for Robertson's post.
Without any second thoughts, she and the elite sniper leapt off the perch. A split second later, the fragmentation shell detonated right on top of the hovering perch, exploding in a brilliant white flame.
Radio chatter blasted through as multiple people, Vasili, Leah Roush and several elites starting talking through the same channel, falling back on protocols that the Blades had established not two days ago.
"Take the shot! They're hostiles!" The elite commander snarled.
Kelly lined the first one up in an instant, squeezing the trigger. The sniper barked as it kicked back. However, her aim, like always was dead on. The round slammed into the head of the first victim, who felt nothing the moment he instantly died.
"Capture teams! Go!" Vasili queued the next police unit, one specialized for capture of insurgents.
The elites moved in, using their stun plasma rifles to fire upon the intruders. Now developed on the plasma rifle platform, the stun ability allowed their targets to be…well stunned. The power was drastically reduced so that it would not produce serious injury. However, if the target was wearing body armor, the bolts would be completely useless.
New harnesses were also designed for the elites designated as the peacekeeper harness. Similar in aesthetic appearances to the popular ranger harness, the peacekeeper sported a domed visor that ran over the top and covered in a silvery polarized material. The bottom half had rougher characteristics of a mask that filtered out anything harmful to them. The chestplate was sleek, having a couple of lights to indicate the power status. Two smooth angled shoulder pads and knee guards completed the armor set, made for the best possible fit and protection. Unlike traditional combat harnesses, the peacekeeper harness wasn't elaborate. Just like the sangheili who wore it, they were solely to get their never ending job finished and done the first time right.
A second human saw the approaching elites, pulling out a sidearm. Before Kelly could use her excellent accuracy to fire the pistol out of his hands, he turned the muzzle on himself, pulling the trigger and went down with his head becoming a bloody spray.
Just like how the Blades trained them, the three peacekeepers lowered their bodies, charging in their takedown maneuver. The two remaining humans didn't even resist as the larger reptilian creatures flipped them on their backs and bound their hands with a glowing metal pair of cuffs. Once they were secured, Kelly nodded to them and they hauled the attackers on their feet, marching them to the detention facility, a closely guarded prison that was now built to house enemies of the state.
The warden of the prison had his guards escort the two humans to their cells when the peacekeepers gathered on their side of the bridge.
"Excellent work everyone." Vasili started, "You've gotten the hang of what it's like to be protecting your side of the state as well as the human's. While this was a rather easier type of action, you must stay vigilant because not all hostiles will be this detectable." As soon as he finished, his comlink buzzed, the caller read "Leah Roush"
Kelly stepped forward, allowing Vasili to move aside and take the call "Of course, there are still a couple other things that we will teach you."
"Spartan Suvorov." Since it was a visual transmission, he kept his helmet in the viewing screen.
"Hey Vasili." Leah Roush, the Ballista's third officer spoke from the other line. She had a high pitched voice that sounded as if she was squealing all the time, which was frequent, especially when in an action thrill. However, her small frame and girlish attributes were nothing compared to her ability to stay calm and gather intelligence or whatever vital to the mission. "I heard the weather's record high today at Talam."
"Don't ask me that. I'm very comfortable in my air conditioned suit thank you. Ask any of the peacekeepers, which haven't even broken a sweat yet."
"Sure thing. Anyway, Drew's now moving Ballista back into Eudemon's orbit. We managed to orbit Imbel Alpha, almost to the grid where Ambassador Beech's shuttle had disappeared. Samples were collected and you're not going to believe what we just found."
She was definitely a little nervous, but with her high pitch voice, it was difficult to tell. "I'm sending you a short feed of the grey matter under Doc Sofia's microscope."
Leah's face disappeared and replaced with the lit atmosphere of the camera recording under one of Spartan Inselton's thousand credit microscope. The corners were all lined with the metallic dust and it moved, but invisible to his eyes.
Sofia zoomed in to a small patch near the center of the clear slide. Shapes began to take form and to Vasili's interest, he now saw movement inside. It was rather slow, accelerating when the zooming feature was activated again.'
The silvery particles were all alive. Glowing with lined lights, Sofia centered the scope on one of the specimens. The front of it was rounded, having its back means of movement longer than the entire body. Three legs curled upwards and it straightened them out, propelling it forward almost like how a squid would travel. Because they were so small, the glowing twin lines of light were indistinguishable, even though the light blue color stood out.
"Leah, what the hell are those things?"
"Like I said, you won't believe what Sofia thinks. They're microbots, using nanotechnology."
"I think I've heard about that." Nanotechnology was manipulation of matter on a molecular or atomic scale. The concept was highly looked into during the twenty-first century as new ways to combat epidemics of that time, such as cancer. The small bots would devour the cancerous cells in a matter of minutes, cleaning the person of any more chances. However, sometimes, the practice was unstable and the design was regulated into military use only once a disastrous attempt was made on them trying to reproduce themselves. Since they weren't living, they reproduced asexually, using the materials they devoured to create energy for a new unit. The disastrous attempt was done on the planet of Chi Ceti IV, with the nanobots nearly multiplying out of control, only to be stopped by a deployed HAVOK warhead. The blast destroyed every single harmful microbot and thus the Unified Earth Government then banned the use of nanotechnology to their military only.
"Well these microbots aren't of any human design and they certainly seem to have every trait of living organisms, but are artificial. The numbers are staggering, more than a hundred of these things can fit through a needle eye."
"Could they be a secret ONI design? Maybe they're testing it again."
"I doubt that. Why would the Office want to eliminate someone vital to the relations of the UNSC and the elites?"
It was a good question. Vasili hoped that the Commander might have a better answer.
Will Aegis have a better answer? Maybe. Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone. You give my writing purpose.