Slashes and scratches screeched throughout the complex as metal and chitin flaked off from every species. Rumbling gunfire pierced through the sounds of shredding chitin and the ground hissed from the highly corrosive blood. Shrieks and roars bellowed from the serpents who were making a strong attempt to dismember their Spartan and Sangheili foes. The alarm sound pulsating through the facility was muffled, simply by the ferocity of the skirmish.
Gripping his energy sword's hilt tightly, Tyler gracefully swiped at an incoming tail whip from one of the serpents, severing half of its tail off. Before he could counter, another xeno charged at him, claws extended straight for his neck. Instinctively, he evaded to the side and swiped vertically, severing the serpent's claws off completely. Without wasting a second, Tyler bashed his upper right leg against the xeno's lower abdomen and pushed it aside. In quick succession, he charged sword first after the tailless Xenomorph who was screeching out in pain. The serpent was suddenly silenced after its long protruding head smacked flat to the ground.
In the midst of the skirmish, Tyler managed to catch a glance of Porsche, who was dodging several repeated swipes from two other Xenomorphs. Porsche had seemed to be handling his own for some time, but his defense was beginning to falter, due to the trouble he was experiencing from the two Xenomorphs, with only his magnum and energy wakizashi to keep them at bay. After considering the situation at hand, Tyler drew his SMG and waved it at Porsche, gaining his attention. Instinctively, Porsche nodded back, and, with vehement force, instantly kicked one of the Xenomorphs back several feet, slamming it into the metal wall. A loud crack reverberated through the hall, as the serpent recoiled from the impact. Acid began to seep from around its abdominal region. Porsche assumed that the combination of the force from his attack, as well as the contact with the metal panelling, had caused multiple organs inside of the creature to rupture. Waiting for the opportune moment, Tyler tossed his SMG through the air towards his comrade. In a flurry of movements that all seemed like one motion, Porsche managed to sheath his blade, snatch the SMG from the air, and begin to unload into the serpent nearest to his position, while simultaneously landing numerous critical shots on his other opponent with his magnum. In mere seconds, both xenos laid deceased at Porsche's feet, but more continued to flow into the confined space. Without hesitation, Porsche reengaged his new combatants with honorable fury.
Within the pandemonium, Spade was fighting hand-to-hand with one of the Xenomorphs. With his flamethrower swatted out of his reach and his pulse rifle not currently cocked and ready despite still being attached to his back, he was left with his melee combat skills and his combat knife. His armor shielding integrity was quickly diminishing due to being one step behind most attacks from the serpent. To much of his surprise, the serpent attempted a heavy swipe horizontally, but he managed to dodge it. Finally given the opportunity to counter, he crashed his elbow aside the serpent's head and jammed his blade into the upper part of its head, then twisted. The serpent dropped to the floor with a thud.
Before Spade could retrieve his combat knife, he was tackled to the ground by yet another serpent. The serpent shrieked in anger, showing its inner jaw to the Spartan and tightly grappled him by the collar. To its surprise, it shrieked as a deep bluish blade was plunged through its chest. As it was tossed aside, Spade noticed that Angel was the one to save his life. As Spade quickly got to his feet, Angel tossed him his shotgun.
"Eight shots," was all he said.
Spade nodded as he pumped a shell into the chamber. He then proceeded to carefully fire shells at any incoming Xenomorphs.
Gripping his hilt tightly, Angel instantly went to assist Eric, who was firing waves of rounds from his SAW at anymore incoming bugs. As Eric braced himself after noticing a serpent pouncing at him from his left, Angel tackled the serpent mid flight to the ground and lodged the tip of his sword into its chest. Eric nodded a quick thank you to his comrade and continued to mow down more serpents.
Realizing that her plasma rifle was out of charge, Rane threw her rifle to the floor, and drew her personal energy sword. Alongside her elite commander Sotan, she fought against the serpents with zeal, severing off limbs and heads. Unexpectedly, she was tackled to the ground by another serpent from her blind side. The serpent was making every attempt to bite around her neck while snapping its tail around in the air, hoping to also impale her through the torso.
After Tyler sliced yet another serpent in half, he spotted Rane pinned to the ground by the Xenomorph. With his sense of protection kicking in, he whirlwind his body around launched his energy sword at that Xenomorph which lodged itself into the serpent's rib cage. Without given a chance to check on his teammate, he caught another Xenomorph in the process of tackling him to the ground and swiftly used its momentum to choke slam it to the ground. He then raised his fist to the air, and slammed against the serpent's throat with extreme force. The impact snapped through its chitin which caused acid to spray from the wound. While Tyler continued to brawl with the seemingly endless swarm of bugs, his shield integrity was rapidly diminishing due to the corrosive blood.
As Rane pushed the serpent's lifeless corpse off of her, she took a brief moment to glance over to Tyler. Noticing that his shields were low and spotting yet another serpent charging after him, while simultaneously catching another serpent attempting to pounce on her, she somersaulted in the directing of the serpent attacking her, keeping her sword raised over head. In a swift motion, her blade severed the pouncing Xenomorph's body, starting from the left side of the collarbone, in half. In a rapid succession, she twisted her body around and released her energy sword towards the screeching Xenomorph beneath Tyler, then immediately proceeded to pull his energy sword from the dead serpent that previously attacked her.
Surprised by the sudden appearance of Rane's energy sword skewering the now dead serpent, Tyler quickly pulled the blade out of the carcass and turned his body around, readying for any more attacking serpents. The rest of the team were all finishing up their foes then went to glancing around at one another. The attack was finally over, but they weren't out of the woods yet. The alarm system was still sounded and proceeded to light up the room with a pulsing red light.
"Impressive," was all Blackwater could say after witnessing the team's flawless combat skills and teamwork. "I'll be looking forward to our next meeting, Omega."
Eric disregarded Blackwater's comment and turned to his teammates. "Alright, time to go. It's safe to say that this isn't the best place to stay."
"Agreed," Tyler quickly replied back.
Porsche threw Tyler's SMG back to him, nodded a thank you, and drew his DMR. Spade holstered his pulse rifle on his back and retrieved his flamethrower. The rest of the team returned the weapons to their former owners and readied up.
"Good?" Eric asked, receiving a nod from everyone in the team. "Alright let's go."
The team began running down the same hallway where they witnessed all the strange laboratories. As they came up to the incubation center, they quickly spotted several more serpents patrolling around the dead Sangheili. Immediately, they ducked under the window out of view before the bugs spotted them.
Eric glanced back at his team and shook his head. "We have no time for this," he whispered in frustration. He then focused his attention on Spade. "I'm going to break the window. Light them up as quickly as possible," he ordered pointing at Spade's flamethrower.
Spade nodded his head. "Got it, Commander," he replied as he powered up his flamethrower.
Eric swiftly got to his feet with his SAW aiming at the window and squeezed the trigger, sending waves of bullets through the shattered glass. On cue, Spade aimed his flamethrower into the room and immediately set the laboratory in blazes, causing the serpents to scream out in agony as the fire burned their chitin. Both Sotan and Rane then pulled out a few plasma grenades and proceeded to throw them into the room. The laboratory was then blasted with several bluish colored explosions among the fire from Spade's flamethrower. Needless to say, there was nothing left living in the incubation center.
With the entire laboratory in flames, Sotan seemed to be in a deeply sorrowed trance. He watched as both red and blue flames burned his fallen brothers. Closing his eyes very softly then bowing his head, he whispered something in his language and brought his right hand to his heart. Rane flowed suit, bringing her hand over her heart in respect for her fallen brothers. A strong sensation of sympathy washed over the Spartans as they witnessed the sad display of respect that the Sangheili had for one another, even if they were fighting against each other.
"Alright," Eric said, snapping everyone out of their trance. "We need to get out of here."
Suddenly behind the team, several Xenomorphs were beginning to close in on them. Hissing, gnawing on their own teeth, tails whipping back and forth, even hitting each other as the bugs were practically climbing on top of one other to get to the spartans and the two Elites.
"We're running low on ammo!" Tyler shouted.
"And I'm pretty much running on fumes here..." Spade followed up, making Eric quickly think what their next move was going to be.
Far down the hallway, a large blast door was shutting on their only known way out of the facility. Suddenly, more Xenomorphs were crashing through the windows along the hallway and immediately began to charge after the team. Sotan let out a war cry as he drew his modified plasma repeater then started to send volleys of red plasma bolts at the incoming horde of serpents.
Realizing they were cut off from the original exit and no way of contacting the outside, Eric scurried through his mind for any possible way out. The vents were far too small and there was no way of knowing where they would lead to. They were too deep underground to attempt to blow themselves out, provided that they somehow find the explosives and that they survive the blast. As the team slowly moved along the hallway, Eric noticed that they were next to the window that oversaw the cargo bay. Suddenly, it snapped to him. The lift.
"Into the cargo bay, now!" Eric cried out to the team. While Spade and Sotan covered both flanks, the rest of the team jumped through the window that dropped a few feet onto a large cargo crate.
As Eric hopped onto the crate, he looked back up into the window. "Sotan, Spade, get out now!"
Spade's flamethrower suddenly ran out of fuel and he threw it to the ground. He turned around, tapped Sotan on the shoulder and dove through the window onto the crate. Sotan snarled as he melted Xenomorph chitin with his plasma repeater. After realizing a Xenomorph behind pouncing at with its claws out, Sotan drew his sword and cut the serpent half starting from the collar bone. It's acid sprayed onto his armor, compromising his shield's integrity and quickly began to erode through the alien metal armor. As he continued to swipe and slash his energy sword at the incoming waves of serpents, the acid finally met with his dark reptilian skin, firing several pain synapses in his brain causing him to roar out in pain.
"Sotan! Fall back, now!" Eric cried out for the elite.
Sotan growled in anger and caught another serpent by the neck then drilled his energy sword through its chest. For the brief moment that was given to him, he quickly glanced out of the window at the team. "Get out, Spartans! I shall remain here and purge as many of these beasts until the end!"
"No, I have you covered! Jump out!" Eric order.
Sotan paused, mulling over the Spartan's desperate plea.
"You forget yourself, commander." He said solemnly. "I am not one of your own. My resting place is here, with my brethren. My kin. Now go Spartans!" Sotan roared back as he swiped his sword at another serpent.
For a brief moment, he allowed himself to gaze at Rane who was standing near Tyler with her sword activated. Pointing at her, he muttered something in Sangheili, then shifted his finger at the lift. He then tossed her his custom plasma repeater and told her to go. Rane hesitantly bowed to her leader and turned around to face the lift.
"We must go, Spartans," Rane whispered, clearly shaken by what her leader said to her.
Eric and the rest of the Spartans were clearly upset by the elite's decision, but there was nothing they could do. Suddenly, more serpents were appearing around the cargo bay. There was no more time. They had to move. The team quickly turned to follow Rane towards the lift. As they ran, they met little resistance from the attacking Xenomorphs, dispatching close targets at ease. When they stepped onto the lift's platform, they formed into a defensive position. The attacking swarm was very light compared to when they were initially attacked, so they double-teamed any charging Xenomorph. Eric quickly went to the terminal and searched for a key to activate the lift.
Both Tyler and Rane had a few moments to glance at Sotan vigorously taking on what seemed to be a dark cloud of shiny chitin and shrieks closing on his position. The sight before them was like a cloud of darkness attempting to suck out all of the light from this small, luminous lightning rod which, in this case, was Sotan's energy sword. The light from the blade in the distance waved and swept gracefully through the darkness attempting to overtake it.
"Holy shit," Tyler gasped.
Finally, Eric found the activation key on the control pad and tapped it. With a jolt and a grinding of gears, the platform began to slowly lift through the cargo bay. The ceiling slowly began to open up, revealing the night sky.
As soon as the platform was activated, all of the Xenomorphs quickly directed their attention to it and began to scurry after it. Sotan, with most of his armor melted away and his skin burning from the reaction of the Xenomorph acid, roared at the top of lungs. His energy sword was nearly out of charge. He continued to engage the serpents in hand-to-hand combat, but his blunt attacks were proving to be ineffective. Suddenly, one serpent's tail speared right through his back and out of his chest. Sotan dropped his energy sword and coughed up purplish blood. Suddenly, he started to laugh. Pulling out two plasma grenades, he activated them and stuck them on two of the serpents surrounding him. A blue explosion engulfed around the window area sending several parts and bits of Xenomorph around the cargo bay.
With the team out of reach from the serpents, they lowered their weapons. Rane remained silent as she stared at the sight of the explosion. Eric proceeded to call for extraction since communications were back up. Noticing the pain in Rane's posture, Tyler walked up next to her and looked up at her face. Her eyelids were slowly closing and her mandibles were clenching tight together.
"I'm so sorry for your loss, Rane," Tyler sympathetically whispered to her.
Rane merely shook her head. "There is nothing else we can do except honor his sacrifice."
Tyler nodded in agreement, but found himself at a loss of words. There wasn't anything he could say that would ease her pain. Needless to say, she was very close to her commanding officer. The other Spartans were exchanging sorrowful glances to one another at the sight of the depressed elite.
Breaking the moment, a phantom flew over their position and dropped down a green aura. One by one, the team entered the phantom's gravity field, pulling them into the belly of the dropship. As Eric's feet landed inside the ship, he was greeted by Ivan. Behind him were the remaining Spartans and elites that were tasked to stand watch at the facility's entrance. The remaining Spartan members of the team walked up to them and began to discuss about what they just went through.
"Glad to see that you're alright, Commander," Ivan said.
Eric nodded his head and briefly placed a hand on Ivan's shoulder then proceeded to walk towards the cockpit. In there, he met with N'tho 'Sraom. "Commander, can you patch me into Fleetmaster Rtas 'Vadam, please?" He asked the pilot as politely as possible.
"Yes, Spartan," the elite replied as he pressed a few strange buttons.
After a few moments of silence, the channel opened up with the Fleetmaster's transponder indicating on the phantom's holographic panel. "Fleetmaster, this Commander Bame. Do you read?"
Not a moment later, Rtas replied back through the channel. "I read you, Commander. What is it that you request?"
"We came across a Xenomorph infestation on this island. Requesting a containment protocol," Eric said as sternly as possible, hoping that whatever this containment protocol was would include the possible destruction of the entire island.
"You what?" Rtas asked in shock. "There's a Xenomorph infestation on that island?"
"Affirmative, Fleetmaster. We need to contain this infestation as soon as possible before it spreads throughout the planet," Eric grimly informed.
"Say no more, Commander. I'll take care of this myself," Rtas quickly replied back. "Did you extract everyone off of the island?" He asked Eric.
Eric looked to N'tho for the answer. N'tho replied back through the network. "No Fleetmaster, but I'll send a phantom to pick up the remaining team."
"Good. Get your phantoms to a safe distance. I'm bringing the Shadow of Intent to your position," Rtas informed.
Eric lowered his eyebrows in bewilderment. "What is it you're planning to do, Fleetmaster?"
"If what you said about the Xenomorphs is true, that they spread like the Flood, then there's only one thing that could be done to end the spread of the infestation," Rtas answered in a grim tone.
After several minutes passed by, the remaining members of the operation on the island were extracted by one of the other phantoms. From there, all the phantoms quickly started flying away from the island. From a few miles away, the bay doors of each of the phantoms lowered to show the island to the team. Very gradually, dawn began to arrive, lighting up the sea with a beautiful glaze of orangish light.
It was not long before the Shadow of Intent came into view, its massive size quite literally shadowed the island of the new rising sun. "Fleetmaster? This is Shipmaster 'Trok, requesting permission to fire over the target area."
"Go ahead Shipmaster, glass that island to Oblivion," Rtas sternly ordered. Right on cue, a high pitched charging sequence was initiated followed by a white light that shined towards the island. The harsh intensity from the light blinded the team of Spartans for only a moment before a massive purplish-red flash of superheated plasma beamed onto the island. The impact of the blast caused the forest and the terrain to immediately turn into a hot plain of molten glass.
The continuous glassing on the island was completely deafening to the point where it was comparable to listening to the white noise of pure silence. However, thanks to the Spartan augmentations, the Eric was able to hear the members of team gasp in awe at the incredible sight before them. He then heard a Spartan approach him. It was Tyler, who was now taking off his helmet in front of the team and setting it between his arm. He faced the island and saluted, only standing quietly for a moment, before Eric heard him speak.
"This is," he said in awe. Tyler found himself at a loss of words. He turned his head to observe Eric's expression. His commander was oddly unfazed by the amount of total destruction that was happening right before them. "This is fucking crazy...they literally just turned that island into a pile of fuckin' ashes," Tyler mumbled slightly. He then looked to Eric. "But you, why don't you look as surprised like the rest of us? Normally this isn't how people act when shit like this happens."
Eric merely turned his head towards the Fireteam Leader. "This isn't the first time I've seen it this close," he grimly replied.
"Wait what?" Tyler replied after registering his commander's comment.
As the superheated beams continued to literally turn the ground into glass, Eric bowed his head in a deep sense of sadness. "Reach," was what Eric merely whispered. Looking over to Tyler, he let out a somber exhale. "I was there in New Alexandria when the glassing started," he regretfully informed.
Tyler was at a loss of words. He heard about the catastrophic desolation of New Alexandria, but experiencing it was something completely out of his comprehension.
"I was lucky," Eric continued on. "I was evacuated shortly after it started. But the rest were," he paused and looked to the ground in guilt. "They weren't. I watched helplessly as many carriers and cruisers turned the once great city into a pile of molten glass with everyone beneath it."
"I can't imagine," Tyler said in awe.
"Don't," Eric quickly said back.
The rest of the Spartans were thoroughly observing the beams as it continued to desecrate the island. Porsche watched the beams with his arms crossed. The very sight of the incredible display of firepower brought him to a sense of pure admiration for the Sangheili. And fear out of respect. On his right stood Rane, who had her hand placed over her chest and her head bowed down.
There was no doubt in Porsche's head that her posture was out of remembrance for her fallen leader. In a sense, the glassing reminded Porsche of a Viking funeral. Honor by fire and fury, and he deeply respected that. He found a strong sense of admiration for the Sangheili's deep passion for honor, and that honor easily integrated into their sense of morality. They are a strong willed species that should never be overlooked by any means. More importantly, their vibrant passion for companionship and loyalty to one another was also something not to be underestimated. Even if they are at war with one another. Porsche noticed that Sotan's rageful reaction to finding his fallen kin in the incubation center was not only the result of seeing Elites from the SoS dead, but it was also that some were Elites that were a part of the Covenant. If only the UNSC held the same passion of these standards, where would the human race be as a species?
"Alright, let's get out of here," Eric finally said. Porsche gave one long last look to the spectacle, then turned and headed into the phantom, making his way to the control room to assist in navigation. As the doors closed, the team could no longer maintain a visual of the glassing anymore, so the next best thing was to get comfortable and head back to base. Tyler looked to his commander, nodded his head out of respect, then moved to the back with Rane to try and comfort her through her loss. Eric took a look at the rest of his spartans and let out a long exhausted sigh. This was going to be a long trip back. And there was so much that Eric had to say to his superiors.
Date: January 26th, 2559
Location: Unknown
The elevator doors opened horizontally revealing a tall man in a suit with his hands folded behind his back. Proceeding into the bright room, he nonchalantly gazed around his surroundings until his focus was directed to the two individuals he was there to meet with. One of them was standing in a posture like his, observing the view through the large paned windows. The other stood with his arms crossed and his gaze watching the man as he approached them in a calm and elegant pace.
"Blackwater," the man with his arms crossed greeted in his British accent. "It's about time you decided to show up."
Blackwater approached the two men with a faint smirk. "Silver, you know well that I like to keep myself busy with important matters," Blackwater replied in a condescending tone.
The man, dubbed Silver, rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Yes, of course," he sarcastically replied. "You and your science projects."
Blackwater gave Silver a sly smirk. "Oh Silver. You know the importance of said science projects," he condescendingly replied.
Breaking the small talk between the two, the other man announced himself, still gazing out of the window. "Good to see you again, Blackwater. What news of Omega Bame do you have for me?"
Blackwater let out an amused huff and slightly shook his head at the incident with the Omega Division. "Just as I predicted, unfortunately he will not be joining our cause," Blackwater answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
His answer caused the man to shake his head in disappointment. "How can this be?" He questioned Blackwater as calmly as possible, finding it difficult to cage his anger.
Blackwater took a moment to gather his thoughts, attempting to explain himself without potentially setting his leader off into a rage. He was not in the mood for another argument with his short tempered leader. "He still believes in humanity as they are. Based on the reactions he was giving me, there was little to no chance of persuading him."
The man slowly turned his attention towards Blackwater, revealing his African rooted facial features that had a prominent displeased expression. "I gave you all the tools you needed to convince him and the rest of the Omega Division and yet you come back to me saying that he declined our offer," the man sneered.
"Hades, you must have known that he was going to refuse the offer. Bame is not a man of ambition due to the Spartan III program. He is a soldier of honor and duty," Blackwater reminded. "Besides, I still don't understand why this aging Spartan is so important to you. There are many others more important than Bame that would join our cause without hesitation."
"Bame is the thing blocking us from achieving our goal, and I have my own personal reasons as to why I wish to have him aiding our cause," Hades replied, suppressing his urge to lose his temper.
Silver shook his head at the comment, believing that the Omega Division was the least of their worries. "Blue Team would be more of a problem to us in my opinion," he commented flatly.
"I didn't ask for your opinion, Director," Hades sneered. Silver raised his hands in submission but kept his doubtful expression across his face.
Blackwater took a couple steps towards Hades, thorough observing his body language. "Is your personal reason related to the fact that you were once a part of the Spartan program?" Blackwater questioned his leader.
Hades glared at Blackwater after hearing Spartan program. "Absolutely not!" He yelled. "That is irrelevant," he assured them. The thought of his tour in the Spartan Program caused his blood to boil.
"I'm sure it is," Silver sarcastically commented to himself.
Hades clenched his teeth together, ignoring Silver's comment, then turned back around to look out the window. After a moment of silence, he took a deep breath and exhaled. "Blackwater, you do not understand how important his cooperation is to the Empire," he said as he slowly closed his eyes in disappointment.
"It would seem so, Emperor," Blackwater flatly replied.
"What did you do when he refused?" Hades questioned.
Blackwater gave Silver a quick glance and looked back to his leader. "Allowed him to leave," he replied, smiling at the misinformation he provided to his leader. Needless to say, Blackwater had a sheer loathing of the Spartan Program and would want nothing more than to best the physically augmented soldiers with his genetic creation.
"Good," Hades replied. "I'll persuade him to join our cause, myself, in due time."