"Non-Specific Winter Holiday Special"
By Kpmh2001
UNSC Dominion
Barracks
Ben was a bit of a stranger to the concept of a holiday, let alone a bunch of them happening seemingly at once. Truth be told, it made him a bit uncomfortable at how everyone around him seemed to be so well-accustomed to all the strange changes around the Dominion. He'd been trained to fear the unknown, and now that instinct was inspiring him to feel paranoid about something that was, by all metrics, completely harmless.
For one thing, some of the Navy crewmen had mounted all of these tiny colored lights and vaguely ice-like fuzzy rope around a bunch of the bulkheads. At first, Ben had assumed it to be some sort of tribute to the deceased, but that clearly wasn't the case, as nobody seemed to be particularly sorrowful around them. After that, he had noticed that sometimes they would change color, and so he assumed that it was some sort of seasonal logic puzzle. All of his guesses turned out to be incorrect, evidently people just liked shiny lights and decorations.
Another oddity was the candles. It seemed that some of the Marines had managed to trade with the locals on Remnant for old-timey candles made of wax or animal fat. Most of them were assembled on these small metal pedestals, either in groups of seven or nine. It seemed that the pedestals were specifically built for this very purpose, and when Ben asked the Dominion's Chaplain, a man named Jensen, he said that they held a great deal of religious significance for many people of more than one faith.
Perhaps that was why all of these festivities seemed so strange to him, as Ben wasn't really a religious person. The closest thing that he'd ever had to a spiritual experience was during his training, with what all of the Alpha and Beta Company washouts that served as trainers called "The Ghosts of Onyx".
The story went that a team of Spartan IIIs from Beta Company had been training around the sectioned off ONI-controlled region on Onyx known as "Zone 67", when they had encountered some kind of bright lights that floated throughout the trees and stalked them. All of the Spartans went missing, and trespassing into the area was declared grounds for immediate expulsion from the Spartan III program. Ben's experience however, had been a bit more indirect.
It had been a dark, rainy, and unforgivingly cold night, and Ben had been doing sniper qualifications with a number of his peers. Sitting in an uncomfortable position high up in an Acacia tree, his limbs bent and positioned not unlike the pieces of a pretzel, all so that he could stop the shivering of his limbs from affecting his aim, and to make him as hard to detect as possible. For hours, he sat in that tree, not moving for anything as he used the Oracle N-variant scope of an SRS99AM Sniper Rifle to survey for any kind of target.
Something strange had happened that night, so strange in fact, that even Curie had no idea exactly what had occurred. It started when a series of red flares were fired up into the air, painting the Savannah in brilliant red light in lieu of the darkness that had existed prior. Ben knew better than to try to move for better cover, if he did, he would only be exposing himself to any of the other Spartan trainees who were looking out for him. While he didn't know why the Flares were being launched, he could guess that this was something the instructors had planned to shake up the scenario.
But then a signal came across on the radio, from Lieutenant Commander Ambrose himself. "All candidates, be advised, you are to hold your fire and make your way to any of the evacuation sites as quickly as possible. This exercise is being postponed indefinitely."
Curie sent a brief acknowledgement on Ben's behalf as he climbed down from the tree, being careful to avoid straining his sore limbs or damaging his rifle. A direct order from the Commanding Officer was not to be ignored, even if it was under strange circumstances. "That is most unusual, I wonder what has happened?"
"Maybe Chief Mendez fell down the Canyon." Ben jokingly suggested.
"Benjamin!" Curie chastised. "That is not funny!"
Ben chuckled at how even though she put on a veneer of being offended, there was a bit of levity in her voice. "Relax Curie. Honestly, I can't imagine why they would cancel an exercise, especially after they went through the effort of dropping us all out here."
"Neither can I, hopefully we do not need to worry-" Curie began to reply, before both she and Ben heard the telltale cracking of a sniper rifle, then another, then the report of automatic fire from an Assault Rifle.
Ben instinctively lowered himself to the ground, before he remembered something critical. "Hold on, Curie, didn't Lieutenant Ambrose give the hold fire order?"
"He did." Curie noted. "Perhaps they encountered a wild animal."
That's a lot of gunfire to take down a wild animal… Ben thought, before the far louder sound reverberated throughout the night, the detonation of a grenade. "...Somehow I doubt that."
"Keep heading for the extraction point, I'll alert monsieur Ambrose that something may be wrong." Curie said, a sense of urgency in her voice.
Despite the apparent danger that somebody else had been in, Ben reached the extraction point without any further issue. Curie reported the event along with what little information she and Ben had, but seemingly nothing ever came of the event. The next morning, it was announced that the entire region was now off-limits for any training exercises, and that there was nothing further to be said about the event.
Of course, that didn't explain the disappearance of four of the trainers, all of whom had been washouts from Alpha and Beta Company. When Ben had asked Richard about it, Richard's reply had been very simple and telling.
"Don't get involved, this doesn't concern you. Worry about your training."
Ben did exactly that, and with no other answer as to what ever happened, the other Gamma Company Spartan Trainees all latched onto the same rumor, the Ghosts of Onyx must have claimed another set of victims.
That night contrasted quite heavily with what Ben was seeing aboard the Dominion. There was no fear, no danger, no suspenseful waiting for a fight, hell, it wasn't even raining. Instead, people seemed genuinely happy, which admittedly probably had something to do with the increase to alcohol rations, but there was more to it than that it seemed. He knew that a lot of people took comfort in cultural traditions and spirituality, but he didn't personally understand much of either.
I should ask Curie, she's always been a lot more informed about this sort of thing. Ben thought.
He made his way to one of the Dominion's innumerable holotanks as soon as he was done with his assignments for the day. "Hey Curie, do you have a moment?"
Curie projected her avatar in response, and Ben immediately realized something different about her. She was wearing a digital hat over her hair, which seemed to be fuzzy and loose fitting, and featured a small silver ball at the end.
"Hello again cher ami, what did you need?" Curie asked. Ben vaguely recalled that specific bit of french meant "dear friend", or something to that effect.
"I wanted to ask about some… things." Ben began to explain, but was distracted as a pair of Navy Crewman both walked past him down the corridor, each of whom were wearing hats not dissimilar to the one that Curie was. Although these hats were red and white, rather than the light blue that defined Curie's hologram.
Curie giggled at his confusion. "Well yes, I suppose that makes sense. What kind of things did you want to ask about?"
Ben ignored her teasing and focused on the reason why he had come to her. "Well, it seems like a lot of the crew are celebrating the uh, Holidays. I was wondering if you knew more about it."
Curie frowned slightly at Ben's words, before shaking her head. "Ben, take me with you for a little while. I believe that you may need a bit of education on the Holiday Season."
Ben did as he was told and let Curie download herself into her datachip before inserting it into his Neural Lace. He immediately felt her reassuring presence in his skull, which always put his mind at ease.
"Ben, what do you know about the Holiday Season?" Curie asked.
Ben wracked his mind for a moment, but came up with very little. "...During Training, we would do lots of Arctic Warfare exercises at the South Pole."
Even though she didn't say anything, Ben could practically feel Curie's frustration at his answer.
"Oh, and Chief Mendez once caught a bunch of trainees and instructors doing… something with a tree that they cut down, I think." Ben continued. His own memory of the event was somewhat fuzzy, and to be fair, he had only been six years old at the time.
"I believe I read about that after I was activated. They were planning to decorate it, and turn it into a Christmas Tree." Curie explained.
"Christmas…" Ben said the word aloud, there was something familiar about it, but he couldn't remember why. "I do remember Chief Mendez being really grumpy about something, so everything seemed normal to me."
Curie laughed at Mendez's expense, even though both she and Ben had immense respect for the Spartan's lead instructor, they were also quite fond of making fun of him. Ben smiled behind his visor, he always enjoyed it when Curie laughed.
"Well, I believe that he must have changed his mind, because apparently no disciplinary actions were filed." Curie noted.
Ben almost couldn't believe what he had heard, CPO. Mendez, the legendary, brutal mentor of the Spartans, had let trainees off of the hook for something. "That's… unlike him."
"Perhaps he was feeling a bit of the Holiday Spirit?" Curie suggested. Thankfully, she quickly realized that he had no idea what he was talking about. "Due to the numerous Holiday Celebrations at this time of year, it is common for people to be more charitable, forgiving, and jolly than normal."
Ben chuckled. "Alright, I think I can safely call Mendez charitable, but forgiving? Jolly?"
"Perhaps you misunderstand, this is a universal phenomenon. While obviously everyone isn't cheerful at this time of the year, it is seen as a sort of tradition." Curie elaborated.
"...I see." Ben replied. He still didn't quite understand how something as inconsistent and intangible as happiness could be considered a timely tradition, but as with most aspects of civilian life, it was probably more complicated than it seemed.
"Did… you truly not know any of this?" Curie asked, her voice rich with concern.
Ben thought back, now that she had mentioned it, he did have some vague memories surrounding the Holiday Season. None of which were with his long-gone biological family, but there was still a handful that dated back to his training."I remember some of the Instructors did a bunch of celebrations in the Winter… but I didn't really know what they were doing."
"Oh Ben…" Curie trailed off sadly.
Ben always felt a sense of sympathy from her whenever they had conversations like this, regarding aspects of life that he just didn't understand. His upbringing in the Spartan Program meant that many of these concepts were simply never taught to him, and Curie was never shy of sharing her opinions on how she felt about that.
Personally, Ben wished that she wouldn't worry about him so much, it didn't bother him nearly as much as it seemed to bother her. Hearing Curie be unhappy was what really bothered him, but thankfully, there was usually something that he could do about that.
"It's okay Curie." Ben said. He was absolutely dreadful at reassurances, but he hoped that he could keep Curie happy. "You know, I don't have any orders at the moment. If you've got some time, maybe you could teach me about it."
Curie gasped with excitement. "I… of course I have time! I would be happy to partake in the festivities with you!"
Ben smiled, Curie was happy again, his self-appointed mission had been a success. "So… where do we start?"
As it turned out, getting started was the easy part. Curie led him around the ship for the next hour and a half, where he would use his unusually tall stature to place decorations in locations that most other Crewmen would've required something to stand on in order to reach. All the while, Curie told him stories of the various myths, legends, and tales that seemed to form a sort of collective holiday mythos.
Between Santa Claus, Krampus, Saint Nicholas, old religious tales centered around Abarhamic Faiths, and Ben's personal favorite, the "Christmas Goat", there was certainly no shortage of stories to tell. Curie was quick to remind him that they were all, in her words, "fictional, but usually harmless". All of them seemed to possess some common traits, like how children who behaved properly would receive gifts, while sometimes misbehaving children would be punished.
It did seem however, that Santa Claus was the most popular Holiday Character aboard the Dominion, just judging by the sheer number of costumes and decorations that the crew seemed to collectively possess. Even Curie was stumped as to why that was, as while Santa Claus was predominantly viewed as a North American character, most of the Dominion's Crew was either of Eastern European, like Ben, or of an Asian descent.
After that, Curie led him to participate in a Christmas-themed version of a popular board game called "Monopoly" with some of the Naval Crewmen and Marines. Although it was largely fuelled by random chance, Ben noted that there was a degree of strategy in what decisions the players would have to make in regards to certain events and "properties" in the game. Curie won, as everyone had anticipated, and as the prize, she demanded to keep the tiny wooden reindeer piece that had represented her on the board.
"I'm not sure that you joining us in a logic and economics competition was entirely fair to the rest of us." Ben pointed out as he pocketed the piece. He opted to keep it in the chest pocket where he kept his few other personal possessions, most notably, the Dog Tags of his fallen Squadmates.
"You had fun, admit it!" Curie jokingly accused.
"You're right, I did… but I think you gave the rest of those guys some killer headaches." Ben replied.
"Oh, they'll be just fine. A bit of humility might do them some good" Curie eplied.
Despite the ultimately frivolous nature of the activities, Ben found them to be very calming, fun even. Although the logical part of his brain was telling him that there were probably ways he could be making himself useful, he was willing to ignore that, at least for the moment.
After around another hour or so of Curie teaching Ben about the Holiday Season, they were stopped by Nathan,
"Hey guys, could you meet me in the Ready Room in like Five Minutes? I've got a special mission for us."
Before Ben could even ask him what was going on, Nathan jogged off. Judging by Nathan's giddy-looking grin, whatever he had planned probably had not been sanctioned by the Commander.
Oh, this oughta be good. Ben thought. He opted to go along with whatever Nathan was planning for the time being, hopefully if it was dangerous or unusually stupid, Ben would be able to put a stop to it.
When he and Curie arrived in the Ready Room, Ben found that Nathan had already assembled himself, Meadows, Fairfire, Yu, Fireball, and her co-pilot, who appeared to be sleeping. Ben was about to speak up when Nathan raised a finger to shush him, out of curiosity, Ben complied.
When Nathan did speak, he did so in a comical british accent, an obvious mockery of Captain Clark. "Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I have gathered you all here. The reason is that we are needed for a very special mission that only we can perform."
"Why is he talking like that?" Ben looked to Fairfire for an answer. She seemed to know Nathan the best, so it seemed like a good idea.
"Because he's an idiot." Fairfire replied, although there wasn't any coldness of disapproval in her voice. If anything, she seemed proud.
Nathan continued with his briefing undeterred. "I've received word from a good friend who works in the Mess Hall that the Dominion was not restocked with Ham before we arrived in Shunspace. In fact, we don't have Pork either, or even Bacon."
"Where is he going with this?" Ben privately muttered to Curie.
"I suppose there is only one way to find out." Curie pointed out.
"To remedy that, I have devised a solution." Nathan explained. "Curie, if you don't mind, could you bring up the Satellite Map on the main screen? We're looking for the village of Arroyo."
Curie complied, causing the main screen of the Ready Room to activate, which displayed a still image of the village that had been taken by a passing UNSC satellite.
"I'm sure all of you remember Arroyo, well, except for maybe Fireball." Nathan said, gesturing towards the pilot as he spoke.
She waved away the concern. "Nah, I remember just fine. You all went down there to kill some Grimm. Thralls, I think."
Ben fought the urge to shudder, he did not need a reminder of that particular experience.
"That's good." Nathan said. "Well, according to their Mayor, they're having a pest problem, apparently they've got something they call a "Brush Beast" tearing up their crops and even killing some pets. According to my-"
Nathan cleared his throat in an exaggerated manner. "-extensive and scientific research, I have found that the Brush Beast is not dissimilar from what we would call a Boar."
Ben frowned, he could already see where this was going.
"The village has put out a bounty of a thousand Lien on the thing's head, but with the Huntsmen are all too busy either on vacation or covering for their slacking co-workers, it seems doubtful that they're gonna get any help." Nathan said with a coy smile. "...Or at least, it seemed like that. In the spirit of the Holidays, and also my desperate need for Bacon, I elected to volunteer ourselves for the duty!"
Meadows, Fireball, and Fairfire politely clapped, as if Nathan had just finished a grand performance.
"You don't have the authority to make that decision." Ben pointed out. "You'd need to run that past Commander Richard or Lieutenant Bradford first."
"Would we?" Nathan asked, feigning a sense of ignorance. "I thought we had standing orders to protect the citizens of Remnant, and by the sounds of it, this Bacon Monster- I mean, Boar, has been causing some real havoc."
Curie sighed with a sense of annoyance. "I will admit that by that technicality, you are correct. And while I sympathize with your desire to help the people of Remnant-"
"And his stomach." Fairfire interjected, earning a few snickers from Meadows and Fireball at Nathan's expense.
"Guilty." Nathan admitted.
"Ahem." Curie said. Although she couldn't actually clear her throat, simply speaking the word aloud seemed to successfully recapture the attention of the Marines. "As I was saying, there are proper channels for this sort of thing. Perhaps we should consult those first."
"Hey, I'm an officer, I can sign off on it!" Fireball pointed out. Even though her tone betrayed nothing and her posture was confident, Ben could tell that underneath her helmet, she probably had a massive shit-eating grin.
"You're a Navy Pilot, not a Marine C.O." Ben pointed out.
"...Same difference!" Fireball said in much the same manner, even gesturing as if Ben was being the unreasonable one.
"Hey, come on Ben, none of us have any other duties! I'm sure we could sign off for some shore leave and go hunt some Boar, it'll be fun!" Meadows said. He gave Ben an encouraging punch in the shoulder, but seemed to have forgotten that Ben was wearing a suit of Mjolnir power armor, and immediately shook his hand in slight pain at his mistake.
"A Boar Hunt does not sound like it qualifies as a recreational activity, let alone a seasonally appropriate one." Curie argued.
"Hey, you can't have a Christmas Ham at the feast if you don't have any Ham!" Nathan pointed out.
"Yeah, and me and my dad used to hunt Boars when I was a kid." Meadows responded. Ben gave him an odd look which apparently made Meadows a bit uncomfortable. "Have you uh, never hunted Boars before?"
The closest thing that Ben had to an experience with hunting was beating a feral wolf to death during Boot Camp on a training mission. "Not personally, no."
Meadows shook his head in response. "Alright, then you can let me take the lead. It'll be fun!"
Ben shook his head. "We still would need authorization from Command."
"I'll sign off on it." Richard's voice unexpectedly emitted from Ben's helmet speakers. Everyone in the Room except for Ben recoiled in shock at the interjection.
"Uh… hello Commander… didn't notice you there." Nathan stammered out.
"Hello Private." Richard replied, betraying absolutely no emotion. "As I said, I'll sign off on it. It's better that you're doing some kind of public service than lounging about thinking up ways to subvert the Chain of Command."
"Are you sure, Commander?" Ben asked. He was quite surprised to hear Richard sign off on such a poorly-planned mission.
"It's just like Private Winters said, we have a standing duty to protect the people of Remnant. Granted, normally we do that in other ways, but I think that a mission with somewhat lower stakes is far from a bad thing." Richard said. "Fireball, you and your Co-pilot will fly them out to Arroyo. And kindly pick up some more rum while you're out, would you? I heard the Distillery around there is top-notch."
Fireball leaned back in her seat confidently. "Oh I can personally assure you Commander, it is. Don't worry, you can count on us!"
"Just don't break into it before you get back to the Dominion." Richard sternly said. "Fairfire, you'll be leading the mission, hopefully Meadows can give you some pointers. You'll depart as soon as you're ready."
Fairfire looked a bit surprised by what Richard was saying, but nodded firmly nonetheless. "Sir, Yes Sir!"
"Good hunting people, literally." Richard concluded. "Oh, and a word of advice Private. In the future, make sure to announce all of your hair-brained plans to the A.I who has standing orders to provide security aboard the Dominion."
Nathan shook his head in disappointment. "Curie, you little snitch, how could you do this to me?"
"Hey now, no need for that, she was doing her job, like what you should be doing." Richard sternly said. "You all be careful, and make sure that thing is dead. All goes well here, we'll help out some people on Remnant, get some fresh meat, and spread the Holiday Spirit all at once."
"You mean the Christmas Spirit, right Sir?" Nathan asked.
"Shut up Private." Richard bluntly replied. "Any other questions?"
Nobody spoke up.
"Good, see you when it's done. Hopefully a bit of Christmas Ham will boost Morale a bit." Richard said.
"Sir Yes Sir!" Everyone in the room sounded off, before Curie switched off the transmission.
"Nicely done." Ben privately complimented Curie.
"Just so you know, I would have insisted that we go even if Richard had said no." Curie pointed out.
Ben scowled. "...Yeah, I know."
"Well, let's not waste any time then!" Fireball said as she stood up, slapping her napping co-pilot on the back of the helmet as she passed.
"Huh? What? What'd I miss?" He asked as he looked around the room only to see everybody leaving to prepare.
Ben didn't answer, he really didn't know what he would say.
Arroyo, Menagerie Outskirts
Arroyo resembled an old western town more than it did any other place from the rest of Menagerie. Between the long central road with much of the town built along it and the relatively new wooden buildings that still somehow managed to look old, it was certainly an odd change of pace from the snow of Mantle or the brisk forests and cityscapes of Argus. A bunch of the buildings even had that strange design where they would have a fake structure on the front of their store in order to give the impression of a flat roof, when in actuality it was slanted. Of course, no matter where on Remnant Fireball landed, her Pelican would look incredibly out of place with its surroundings.
"I'll uh, proceed with our uh, "logistics mission""." Fireball said as Onyx Team dismounted the bird. "Call us if you need some fire support, or when you've bagged the thing."
"Hey, it's just a big pig, I doubt we'll need an airstrike." Fairfire replied, giving Fireball's reminder a wave of dismissal as a sign of confidence.
"Yeah well, my offer stands." Fireball said. The pilot gave her co-pilot a whack on the shoulder to secure his attention. "Come on, we've got our own mission, remember?"
Ben didn't hear the rest of the exchange as Onyx Team began the walk down the street to their first stop, Town Hall. There they would meet up with Arroyo's Mayor for the latest information on their target.
Ben remembered Mayor Tunguska from his previous mission to Arroyo, she was a Rhino Faunus who wore an outfit not unlike one that would be found in the old American West. Even though she wasn't actually a Huntress, she still carried an old six-shooter revolver. Funnily enough, her weapon was one of the few that Ben had seen that could actually mount a bayonet, even though it was a pistol.
I'm never going to get used to this planet. Ben thought as he passed by another Faunus Citizen, this one carrying a large, homemade shotgun on their back.
As it turned out, Tunguska was waiting outside of Town Hall. She had been discussing something with one of her citizens, but she sent them away as soon as she spotted Onyx Team. Ben noted her tense posture and stoney expression, clearly something bad had happened.
"Mayor Tunguska, it's good to see you alive and well." Ben said. Technically protocol dictated that Sergeant Fairfire should speak first, but Ben figured that the friendly gesture was probably acceptable.
After their earlier encounter with the Thralls, Ben had been somewhat worried for her safety, as any Grimm with even a modicum of intelligence would know to target the person in charge. Thankfully, Onyx Team had made short work of them.
"Likewise Sergeant." She replied. There was none of the gusto in her voice that Ben had heard during his previous visit, in fact, she sounded downright exhausted. "So, I take it that this Nathan fellow wasn't just telling tales, you're here to kill Big Bubba?"
Fairfire butted in to answer. "If that's the name of your Brush Beast, then yeah, we're here to kill it."
Tunguska nodded gratefully. "Well the best news I've heard all damn day. I've been trying to get some support from the Huntsmen up in Kuo Kuana, but it seems like everybody's busy with something."
"It is the Holidays, they're all probably spending time with their families." Nathan pointed out.
Ben shook his head in disappointment. "They should know better. The enemy isn't going to let up just because we're celebrating."
"Hey uh, Ben." Meadows interjected. "I'm not saying you're wrong, but try to keep in mind that sometimes we get the Holidays off too."
"People who live in glass houses Benjamin, should not criticize others' strategic decisions." Curie jokingly chastised him, keeping her presence private as to not startle Mayor Tunguska.
"Right, fair enough." Ben replied, he knew better than to argue against Curie.
"But in all seriousness, if you are going after Bubba, you're going to want to think this through carefully, and maybe bring some bigger guns." Tunguska continued, gesturing at Nathan's Series Two SRS99-AM Sniper Rifle, which was the largest weapon that any of them had. "I know you handled the Thralls well, but a Brush Beast ain't like Grimm. They're skittish and very territorial, and their hide is like the armor of… well, kind of like you Sergeant."
Ben gave Tunguska a nod of acknowledgement at her comment while Fairfire answered. "Our guns might look a bit simple compared to some of your stuff, but they hit hard. We'll take it down just fine."
"Hey, I'm just trying to look out for ya. I've gotten quite fond of having somebody actually be able to help out for a change." Tunguska shrugged. "Don't be ashamed if you've gotta come back for some second thoughts. This thing's killed a couple of our people, so… well, expect anything."
"Um, about that." Nathan awkwardly interjected. "You uh, didn't mention that it had killed people."
Tunguska gave a sad nod. "It was only around an hour ago, otherwise I would've told ya' over the radio. If you could get us some vengeance, well, you'd earn a round at the Saloon from me, at the very least."
If this thing is actively killing civilians, it's in our jurisdiction. Ben thought. Any doubts he might have still had about the nature of their mission were now gone, replaced with a drive to do his duty.
"Hey, if this thing is killing people, we'll put it down." Fairfire said, mirroring Ben's thoughts perfectly. "Lead the way, Mayor."
"I can try to help guide us using one of the Clarion Spotting Drones from the Dominion, but I will probably have a bit of difficulty finding the Beast itself. These are meant to locate Starships, not wild animals." Curie said over TEAMCOM.
"Don't worry Curie, I think we've got this." Meadows replied.
Curie sighed. "I wish that I could be as confident as you Sergeant, I fear that we will be trying to find a piece of hay in a stack of needles."
"Uh, did you mean 'A needle in a haystack.'?" Nathan asked.
"I did not." Curie stated. "The Menagerie Wildlands are legendary for their lack of habitability, many of the wild animals here are just as dangerous as the Grimm. I felt that modifying the metaphor better communicated that danger."
"...Oh that's just great." Nathan replied.
Tunguska led Onyx Team to the outskirts of town and sent them on their way with a few hints as to where she assumed that the Boar known as Big Bubba had gone. Her best guess suggested that the creature had found itself a nesting spot in a nearby gulley, providing a perfect opportunity for Onyx Team to fire upon the creature from above.
They set out without further delay, keeping their pace at a steady jog rather than a normal march. A handful of Grimm that resembled small varmints tried to stop them, but demonic versions of squirrels and chipmunks weren't much of a match for automatic gunfire. In many cases, Ben's Kukri alone proved sufficient to dispatch them with minimal effort.
I have no idea why they didn't issue every Spartan with one of these. Ben thought with satisfaction as he hacked a Ratlike Grimm in half with a single gruesome strike.
"Jesus, remind me not to piss you off." Nathan said as he watched the creature disappear.
"I do not believe that Jesus will be able to answer you, monsieur Nathan. My logs suggest he is… busy." Curie answered his concern.
"That's not… oh for the love of God, you know what I mean!" Nathan protested. "Besides, Christmas is only in a few days, I'm sure Jesus has an ear to spare to listen!"
"Quit your yapping and up the pace ladies!" Fairfire commanded. Ben was quite surprised that none of the ODSTs even seemed winded with the rate at which they were jogging, except for Nathan, who was burdened with carrying his heavy Sniper Rifle.
"I can smell something rotting, we must be getting close!" Meadows announced. "Follow my lead!"
"Yeah uh, that might not be a good thing." Nathan breathlessly pointed out.
Fairfire pushed him out of the way as she walked up next to Meadows. "Yeah, I smell it too. You take point Meadows, you have all the experience."
It didn't take long for him to find what it was that was rotting. Thankfully it wasn't any of the villagers that the Boar had killed, instead, it was a wild animal that resembled an Ibex without its horns.
"Uh, yeah, I think our Boar's been through here." Meadows stared blankly at the utterly ravaged corpse.
"Either that or some really hungry velociraptors…" Nathan muttered.
Meadows gave a gesture for him to stop. "Hey, knowing this planet, those might be real. Don't jinx us."
"We must be close, let's ease up on the pace, keep our eyes open." Fairfire stated.
"Yes Sergeant." Ben replied, followed shortly by the rest of the squad.
"Hold up a moment!" Meadows announced as he kneeled down to the ground. "Check this out."
Meadows pointed out a set of indents in the hard soil, and once they were pointed out, Ben couldn't believe he'd not spotted the tracks in the first place. They were more like potholes in an asphalt road, not the footprints of a boar.
"How big is this thing?!" Nathan demanded.
"Not big enough to stop us." Fairfire answered. "Nathan, can you use your Semblance to see where it went?"
"...Maybe?" Nathan replied. After around twenty seconds of awkwardly staring at the ground, Nathan stumbled back in surprise. "Woah, okay, yeah, I can see where it went."
Meadows shook his head. "That's crazy dude. How the hell does your Semblance even work?"
"I already told you, it's like the VISR, but better." Nathan answered. "Alright, it went that way."
"Are you sure? The tracks go the other way." Fairfire pointed out.
"No, I think he's right… I think the feet on this thing are weird. It's like it was walking backwards or something." Meadows said.
"Not to interrupt, but we do have something of a deadline." Curie interjected. "The sun will set soon, and we do not want to be caught out here in the dark."
Fairfire nodded. "Right. Meadows, Nathan, you're leading the way. Ben, watch our Six and kill any Grimm that try to sneak up on us."
"Yes Sergeant." They all replied.
It was slow progress, but with a combination of Nathan's Semblance and Meadow's experience hunting boars, they were able to make some progress towards Big Bubba. Nathan's inexperience with his Semblance offered some issues, and occasionally Meadows would get led off course by the seemingly erratic paths that the Boar had walked. But eventually, all of them halted suddenly, as they heard the sound of meat tearing.
Fairfire gave a gesture for them to move up to the Gulley just ahead of them, and sure enough, as soon as Ben peeked over the edge and into the natural decline, he could see the target.
They had made a slight miscalculation in the size of the animal. Standing on stubby but sturdy legs, the boar was the size of a Scorpion Tank, and it was probably around the same weight as well. It's tusks looked more like spires of rock than any kind of external body part, and when it exhaled, the steam that emerged from its nostrils was incredibly thick, pointing to an incredibly hot blood temperature. It was currently tearing into the corpse of a similarly sized animal with its teeth, although it was so maimed that Ben couldn't hope to tell what kind of creature it had been.
"Holy shit." Nathan whispered over TEAMCOM, and given the utterly gigantic ears that the Boar had, Ben certainly could empathize with his desire to keep things quiet. "So uh, we're pulling back, right?"
"Not a chance! We can take this thing, we've just got to be smart about it." Fairfire replied.
"But… without any heavy weapons?" Nathan asked.
"We've got a few options." Ben said. "I've got a plasma grenade, but I'd prefer to avoid using that, if we can help it."
Not only was the alien grenade entirely irreplaceable, but it would also render the corpse radioactive, and thus inedible. Granted, that was certainly a lesser point compared to the wasting of munitions, but it was still a factor towards the secondary objective of their mission.
"Agreed, use that as a last resort." Fairfire said. "Do you still have those Dust Grenades?"
"In my rucksack, bottom left pouch." Ben answered.
Fairfire quietly crept over to his position while Ben kept his Battle Rifle trained on the head of the creature. Even if actually killing it with an infantry firearm seemed to be a very difficult task, he could at least take out the Boar's eyes and buy the Team some time to kill it.
Fairfire let out a quiet whistle as she withdrew a pair of Atlesian Military Dust Grenades, courtesy of General Ironwood. "Hot damn Nathan, how come you never get me anything this nice?"
"Hey, how am I supposed to know what ladies like?" Nathan quietly demanded.
"If it's explosive, I want it for my Birthday, or Christmas." Fairfire said. "How do we want this porker done lads, flash-frozen or char-broiled?"
"I suggest we use the Ice-Dust grenade to immobilize the hind legs of the creature while Nathan uses his Sniper Rifle to destroy the achilles tendons of its front legs. That way, we can immobilize it, at least for a minute or two, during which you can concentrate your fire on the creature's head."
Fairfire was silent for a moment as she thought the plan over. "...It could work."
"Hit the bottom of the neck at it's base, if this thing is like a normal boar, that's a junction for a bunch of arteries. It'll bleed out in minutes." Meadows suggested, Ben adjusted his aim accordingly.
"...And flood the valley in the process." Nathan joked.
"Alright, I'll throw the grenade. Meadows, Ben, grab your targets, I'll help out with my magnum." Fairfire said as she drew her M6C/SOCOM in one hand and the grenade in the other. "Are we ready?"
"Yeah… let's do this." Nathan answered.
"Shot's ready." Ben answered.
"About as ready as I can be." Meadows said.
Fairfire primed the grenade and threw it in an underhanded manner. The explosive landed at the feasting Boar's feet with a dull thud, which it did not seem to even notice. The fuse rapidly burned away, and the grenade exploded, effectively summoning a massive iceberg that encompassed the rear half of the Boar, as well as peppering the encased region of the body with shrapnel before the ice had fully formed.
Say what you will about the Atlesians, I'm pretty sure we don't have grenades that did that. Ben thought. What few cryonic munitions the UNSC deployed were largely deployed by air, not something as small and convenient to carry as a grenade.
"Weapons free!" Fairfire shouted.
All at once, Ben, Meadows, and Nathan all opened fire, with Fairfire quickly joining it. Nathan's Sniper Rifle had the biggest effect, and even though Big Bubba's legs were as thick and dense as hardwood tree trunks, it seemed like the massive anti-material rifle as up to the task, as splinters of bone and sinew were launched out of the Boar's flesh by Nathan's rounds.
The rest of the team fired upon the Grimm's head and neck, and had decidedly worse results. Things started well when Ben put a trio of rounds through the Boar's left eye, half-blinding it. But it seemed like the Boar's thick skull was a hefty challenge even for the Armor Piercing Full Metal Jackets that Ben had loaded. As soon as his magazine was empty, he elected to change his strategy.
"Use shredder rounds, go for the neck!" Ben shouted over the gunfire.
Meadows reloaded his own Battle Rifle with the specified ammunition, and together they began to tear away chunks of flesh around the Boar's throat. All the while, the giant animal thrashed and struggled to escape from it's icy prison. In spite of the absolutely ridiculous mass that the Iceberg must have had, the Boar was apparently strong enough to shift it by several feet with each thrash and struggle.
"Nathan, target the head!" Fairfire shouted.
"Look out, it's getting loose!" Meadows screamed.
The iceberg was beginning to crack from the Boar's repeated thrashes, and the blood from it's numerous shrapnel wounds was seemingly hot enough that it was actually helping to melt the ice. It hadn't actually occurred to Ben that the creature's hot blood might be able to outright melt the beast into freedom.
Nathan and Meadows both shifted their fire back to the skull, and were seemingly having better luck than Fairfire was with just her pistol. However, the Beast's skull was seemingly angled in such a way to actually deflect the projectiles fired by Nathan's rifle, as if it were sloped like the frontal armor of a tank.
All of the sudden, Mayor Tunguska's warning made far more sense to Ben. No wonder they couldn't kill this thing!
"It seems as though the hide of the Beast can protect it from small explosives!" Curie shouted. "Fairfire, try armor-piercing ammunition!"
Ben quickly put together what she was referring to, the rounds fired by the magnum were of a very high caliber, they did not travel very fast compared to a full-scale rifle, and instead relied on a small explosive charge to deliver their damage. It seemed that the Boar's hide, while not doing much to stop the high-velocity bullets, was adept at absorbing explosive force. If they could deliver a large enough hit from the right angle, it wouldn't bounce off of the Boar's skull, instead, it would go right through.
"Yeah, I think I know what'll work!" Fairfire shouted as she withdrew her shotgun.
She racked the slide to eject one of her buckshot shells and loaded an armor-piercing slug. While it didn't have the same 'spread' effect of a traditional shotgun, the stopping power of such a large projectile, particularly one made expressly for penetrating armor, was extreme.
"We'll have to hit it at a flat angle, that thing's ricocheting our shots." Ben pointed out.
As if to punctuate his point, Nathan fired another round into the Brush Beast's head, only for it to go flying off into the distance with a faint buzzing sound.
"Nathan, stay here, Ben, with me." Fairfire ordered. "If we shoot it in the mouth, it won't bounce our shots. If it moves its head, Nathan can kill it. Either way, one of us will get it."
"Okay but be careful, that thing's almost free!" Nathan shouted as he reloaded. "Meadows see what you can do to punch out that thing's back legs!"
"I predict this plan to be quite dangerous Sergeant, are you prepared to use your Semblance if it does not work?" Curie asked.
"...Sure!" Fairfire answered with a notable lack of enthusiasm. "Let's get moving!"
Using the slope of the gully to slide down to the Boar's level, Ben was able to acquire a much better shot on the creature, as well as a closer look. The combined impacts of literally hundreds of bullets had taken their toll on the Boar's hide, and although the Boar's head was largely in one piece, the skull was exposed in many places, and the creature's throat had been all but obliterated.
"If we only wait for a few minutes, the brain may be starved of oxygen." Curie pointed out.
"My way's faster." Fairfire replied as she lined up her shotgun with the creature's head. Fairfire fired, and the creature flinched it's head back in pain, clearly the shot had penetrated, but it was still alive.
At least, it had been, up until Nathan exploited the opportunity to finally get a flat angle with his Sniper Rifle. Without the danger of his bullet ricocheting, the round was free to do what it was meant to, tunnel into the head and exit out of the other side.
At long last, Big Bubba was finally dead. It's head fell to the ground limply as Meadows and Nathan slid down the hill to join Ben and Fairfire.
"Holy crap, I've seen Hunters die from less rounds than that!" Nathan exclaimed. "What the hell is that thing made of? Are we sure it's dead?"
"I don't know… Ben, go give it a stab with your knife, will ya?" Fairfire asked.
Ben was midway through drawing his knife when Curie spoke up. "That won't be necessary, it has no pulse and no signs of consciousness, it is almost certainly dead."
"How the hell does something stay alive with no pulse and no consciousness?!" Meadows demanded, although there clearly wasn't any malice in his voice, only exacerbation.
"I cannot immediately say, however-" Curie began.
"Hey Curie, you know who could answer that? Jesus! He knows all about life after death!" Nathan interjected. "Yeah that's right! I've been looking for a comeback for the last goddamn hour! How does it feel, Curie?"
Fairfire gave him a slap upside the helmet.
"Right, sorry."
Curie giggled. "I will certainly take that into account, monsieur Nathan. Shall I call Fireball for extraction?"
"Yeah, and radio for some hefty lift gear… we might need an albatross or something to move all of this meat." Fairfire answered.
"I will see to it madame." Curie said. "I will let you give Mayor Tunguska the good news."
While Fairfire and Nathan stepped to the side to call Arroyo and tell them that they were now safe, Ben decided to approach Meadows on a matter that he had mentioned earlier.
"So, this was my first Boar hunt." Ben stated. "Do you think we did good?"
Meadows looked at him a bit incredulously. "Uh, yeah, sure! I mean, most Boars aren't this big, I hope you know."
"I'm aware." Ben replied. "But you were still able to track it, and figure out that it was eating something."
Meadows cocked his head in confusion. "Are you telling me you didn't smell that corpse?"
"I don't smell much of anything." Ben replied, giving his helmet a gentle knock to emphasize his point.
"...Fair enough, and count yourself lucky." Meadows said. "Now come on, if you want all the meat to stay good, we've gotta get to gutting right away."
Ben drew his kukri and gestured towards the cadaver. "Lead the way."
Later
The UNSC Dominion, Mess Hall
There was something pleasantly mundane about seeing the Mess Hall of the Dominion be filled to capacity with Navymen and Marines. Onyx Team sat at their normal windowside table, sitting and waiting for Richard to come along and make his big speech.
Ben was content to sit quietly in the corner, he wasn't wearing his armor for a change, at Curie's insistence. He had been worried that he wouldn't be ready to immediately leap into a Pelican should a dangerous situation arise, but it seemed as if the Grimm had actually receded from the borders of just about every Kingdom. Of course, that hadn't been enough for him, so Curie promised to slot him for QRF duty as a Sabre Pilot, seeing as one of the Air Force Fighter Jockeys was in Sickbay. That way, should something bad happen, he would still be able to help.
But at the moment, that seemed like a very unlikely possibility.
"You should have seen the damn thing Yu! This fucker had ears like Radar Dishes, and oh man, the teeth!" Nathan made exaggerated gestures with his hands.
"Yeah, I know, I saw the body. Nice work by the way, haven't had Bacon in way too long." Yu replied.
Nathan gave her a look of mock surprise. "Oh, you meant the Pig? I was talking about my Ex-Girlfriend! You would have loved her by the way, she stole my-"
Yu gave him a kick under the table. "Ow, bitch!"
"Knock it off you two." Fairfire chastised them. "The Commander's here."
The whole room went quiet as Richard walked up onto a small podium and tapped the microphone. "Before we begin, I'd like to take a brief moment to thank all of the men and women who will be spending this Christmas out in the field, be they UNSC or otherwise. While it may seem like a small sacrifice to spend a day like any other doing something unpleasant, they do it so that we can celebrate a very… unusual holiday season."
Richard's final comment seemed to have sombered the atmosphere of the Mess Hall somewhat, and even though Ben didn't quite grasp what a traditional Holiday was like, he could still understand why they felt that way. All of the Men and Women around him would probably much rather spend their holidays anywhere other than Remnant, but for the moment, they did not have much of a choice.
"Each and every one of you has performed beyond my wildest expectations. Although I certainly wish none of us ever got stuck here, I couldn't think of better people to be lost with." Richard warmly said. "One day, we'll have a way home, and we'll be able to spend these precious days with our loved ones… just, not yet."
Richard reached under his microphone stand and withdrew a bottle of something.
"So, here's to all of you. Remnant might not know it yet, but they couldn't have better protectors. So let's have a toast to all of you, the fighting men and women of the UNSC! And to better days ahead!" Richard exclaimed.
A cacophony of "Oorahs", "Hooyaas" and "Hoorahs" met Richard's words from seemingly just about everyone in the Mess Hall, Onyx Team included.
"We uh, did remember to pass out the rum, right?" Richard awkwardly asked the Marine to his side, just loud enough for the microphone to pick up on, prompting a bit of laughter from the crowd.
"Apparently they did." Fairfire said with a satisfied grin as she withdrew a small keg of alcohol from beneath the table.
"Ah, good, good." Richard said. "Well then, the Galley should have Dinner ready any minute now, so I'll need a bit more patience from you all!"
As he was speaking, the doors to the Galley swung open, and Navymen pushing gigantic carts of Pork and Ham entered.
"Or not!" Richard quickly added. "Dig in everyone, happy holidays!"
Richard descended from the pedestal, and before long, every table in the Mess Hall was practically overflowing with expertly cooked meat.
"Well, we did it boys, we saved Christmas!" Nathan happily exclaimed as he poured himself perhaps a bit too much rum.
Yu cautiously took the first bite, before quickly giving a thumbs up. "Damn, this is good. I wonder how they prepared it."
"It's Pig, how hard could it be?" Nathan asked.
"I have the burns to prove that it's quite difficult at times." Meadows answered.
"Just shut up and eat." Fairfire said, but the friendly tone in her voice gave away that she didn't really mean it.
"We totally should've gotten the first slice of the Roast Beast…" Nathan muttered.
"Technically Ben did, as he gutted the creature." Curie pointed out.
Nathan gave a hum of acknowledgement, as his mouth was too full of food to answer.
Meanwhile, In the Galley
There wasn't a ship in the entire UNSC Navy that was equipped to cook that much meat practically overnight. As such, the cooks of the Dominion had turned to the only expert on massive-game aboard the entire ship.
Set 'Vadum
"Well, for humans, you did excellently." He said. True, the cooks were heretical bastards and quite annoying at times, but they had admittedly served quite well. "If you were Unggoy, I wouldn't have flushed you out the airlock!"
"...Yay?" One of the less exhausted ones replied.
Set didn't respond, instead he picked the fluffy white hat off of her head and placed it on his own. "This is mine now. Well, it's been great fun! I'll be in my cell if you need me!"
With his newfound garment, the Elite happily marched out of the kitchen. The Humans might have been the enemy, but he knew that killing them just wasn't in the Holiday Spirit. Plus, not one of them had any experience cooking any sort of gigantic creature, which as a native to Sanghelios, he had plenty of.
Human or not, we all deserve a moment to rest. Set thought.