Chapter 28 Outskirts

The door in front of the two men opened letting them back outside. There were two more Idryll on patrol and were dispatched quickly. The bridge was retracted and the control panel didn't work. Munro located a panel were he could unlock the bridge control. They took out one more before grenadiers hit the bridge next to them collapsing it. The Chief touched the panel and Cortana transferred herself into the system quickly unlocking the bridge controls.

"I've located those grenadiers too, they're behind some crates just on the other side of the bridge." She reported

Munro used his zoom feature in his HUD to find the crates and also found a crate of Idryllium, an explosive substance. He took out his sniper rifle and loaded incendiary/explosive rounds. He aimed and fired at the Idryllium crate. It exploded taking two Idryll with it. Munro and the Chief went back to the bridge control and activated it. The bridge began to extend and Munro stepped forward but the Chief put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hold it. Patrol up ahead. One tango." He said

He took out his pistol and attached a silencer to it. Using its zoom feature he aimed and fired at the patrolling Idryll. She fell without a sound.

"Clear."

Munro and the Chief crossed the bridge and went around a corner. The Chief took out a lookout in a tower with his silenced pistol; again the Idryll fell without a sound. Just then another Idryll came around the corner. Munro tackled the enemy and punched him. The Idryll was knocked out cold. Munro put a strong tranquilizer in him to keep him asleep. They took out two more Idryll after going up short stairs and partway across a bridge. As they crossed however two more Idryll fired at them from either side and grenadiers were lobbing mortars at them from three different directions. Munro and the Chief both had sniper rifles out and while moving forward took out both lookouts and grenadiers on either side, then Munro hit one on the roof of a building. Two more Idryll came down some stairs that went around the building. The Chief had switched to his battle rifle and put a pair of bursts into each person. Munro and the Chief briefly split up and went up either set of stairs. They met at the top behind the building. They began to cross a bridge but out of nowhere a mortar hit just in front of them collapsing the bridge to the swamp below.

A door opened up and some sort of creature came out. The Chief's built it tricorder identified it as a 'leviathan' and projected a health bar of the creature on his HUD. Munro and the Chief each drew and primed a plasma grenade, lobbed at the creature and watched it die from the attached explosives. Two more doors opened allowing a pair of leviathans to attack from either side. Munro and the Chief both switched to the rocket launcher and selected conventional warheads. One rocket was sufficient to put them down. Once the creatures were defeated a set of stairs rose up from the swamp allowing the two men to approach a door. It opened revealing three Idryll. The Chief had already cloaked just before the door opened.

"Surrender, we're taking you to Krindo." said the leader.

Munro nodded and was summarily knocked unconscious.

The Chief followed them until Munro ended up in some kind of control room. He saw Krindo working some consoles then turned to Munro as he woke up. The Chief found a corner behind a crate. He hid there, deactivating his camo to let it recharge. He also heard the conversation between Munro and Krindo.

"Your 'Hazard Team' has been captured and now you're my hostage. If your Captain won't trade you for Kleeya. You'll die."

"We don't trade hostages."

"Then you can die."

"Where's my team?" asked Munro

"I'd care more about myself right now."

"That's another difference between us."

"I care about my entire race."

"Just not your father?"

"What are you talking about?"

"He's on Taravar seven. Stop the attack now or you'll kill him with the rest of the planet."

"He'd never go to Taravar seven.

"Too bad we can't contact your father through the electrical storm. You'll have to come to the Enterprise to learn the truth."

"Ah but we can. Our comm. system is linked to a cloaked communications array in orbit. I'll contact his communicator but he won't answer because he's not on Taravar seven." Said Krindo

He worked some controls and was surprised to have his father on the screen.

"Krindo is that you?"

"Father?"

"Please stop! Please spare this planet I beg you. If you won't stop the killing for the Attrexians will you stop for me?"

"But we've won!"

"They're just outside this room. I can hear them…chewing."

"Oh no! NO!"

"Goodbye son. Please, forgive me."

"Wait! I'll stop, I'll stop them."

The comm. signal went dead.

"Send the stop signal."

"I did! My Exomorph commands don't work."

"Make them work."

"Stop! Why don't you stop?"

"Let me out I'll help you."

The comm. was momentarily reestablished and Krindo could hear his father's screams as the Exomorphs attacked him.

"The Exomorphs have now turned against you."

"I don't understand!"

"Let me outta here or they'll get you too."

"I don't deserve to live!"

"Listen to me Krindo. But you can help us stop the killing. Now take down this forcefield and I'll get us outta here."

Krindo hit a panel and the forcefield surrounding Munro flickered and died. Munro ran up to Krindo.

"Tell your troops to keep my team alive. We'll met them as soon as I get you out of here. Have them prepare one of your shuttles now!"

"I'm going to set the manual destruct sequence from here. You must get out of the facility immediately."

"No you're coming with me. I don't want to see anyone else die."

"You must go ahead. This is the only way to destroy the facility. Don't worry about me. I will meet up with you at the lift to the surface. Now go!"

Munro nodded and stepped onto a lift. It descended and the Chief deactivated his camouflage system.

"Thanks for your restraint Chief."

"It wasn't easy trust me." He replied

The lift stopped, Munro and the Chief found themselves on a bridge but it had a small gap. They had to jump across the gap to continue. As they approached the gap a basher rose up from below and landed in front of them. Immediately the two men switched to assault rifles and poured fire into the creature. They began backing up as it spit at them draining their shields slightly. After a full clip from both men it died with a scream. They racked the bolt on their weapons and were almost instantly reloaded. They jumped the gap and fought another basher before continuing into corridors using forcefields for walls. They went through three doors and took out a pair of chewers that had killed a pair of Idryll. They moved along following the corridor until the forcefields flickered and died. Then as they reached the end of that corridor a pair of bashers flew down from above. The men backpedaled as they switched to rocket launchers. They put a pair of rockets into each basher as they were charging and killed them.

Munro and the Chief moved further along into another corridor. Suddenly a tree fell from above creating a large gap between them and the last bit of the corridor. The gap was too big to jump so they used the tree to get to the lower level then climbed a ladder at the end. On the corridor level they found another basher and put a pair of clips into it. They turned and went through a door that led to a hallway that continued on….