Chapter 1: Descent.
Covenant Corvette, Hallowed Spirit
[July 23rd, 2552, 03:25]
The constant humming of the ship had all but faded into the back of my head at that point. Having been on the vessel for a little more than a cycle many things became monotonous with each other. The same type of hallway, the same doors, the same shade of purple that filled every ship in the fleet. Watching out into the twisting cosmos felt at times the only escape from my duty-bound prison. It was oddly breathtaking, and one could write many poems about the mysteries of what is beyond our own life. The large windows very much aided my viewing of the void of slipspace beyond, and the open room was much more enjoyable than the claustrophobic architecture of the rest of the Corvette.
A deep voice called from the other side of the deck, "Leaving Slipspace in 5… 4… 3… 2… "
The dancing lights of faster than light travel came to an abrupt stop as we were placed a decent distance away from a planet.
This is what the Devils believe to be their "bastion of humanity"? I thought to myself as we came into visual contact with the planet 'Reach'.
I found myself staring out at the green, white and blue rock the small fleet had come to. If anything it seemed like just another human colony from this distance. We had known it was one of many "Inner Worlds" that humanity liked to keep close to them and unknown to us. Smart, but we have our methods of finding where you are. We had also known the planet housed many holy artifacts and temples. Put both of those two important details together and one can find themselves a very appealing target.
"Caso, repeat what the plan is." I heard the booming voice of my superior demand from behind me.
I hesitated to turn and face him, my inner curiosity overruling and I continued scanning what was in front of me.
"Touch down in Phantoms, move to the designated position, take out any trouble nearby, place the signal jammer down, hold until further instruction," I answered turning around, "You don't always have to test that I know what I am doing, N'Thuza."
"Well, when they put a female in an important role, a leadership role, to spearhead an invasion of a Heretic planet, I am going to make sure she remembers everything. It is instrumental that the Long Night of Solace is given enough time to set up a base of operations on the surface so that the rest of the fleet can safely make planetfall."
He didn't need to cite my sex as the reason to test my memory.
"You can rest assured, I understand my role and its importance," I said, turning my head back towards Reach.
He put on a smile, a facade as far as I could tell, and rested his hands on his hips. "Now then, take some rest before you go planetside. Wouldn't want you to be ill-prepared for your-important task."
I glanced at him for a mere moment more before leaving the hall. Why must all of my brothers look down on me just because of the genitalia I was born with? We have to pass the same tests, complete the same training, wear the same armor. The 'Tarum surname may not be as widely known as others, but I still deserve at least the same respect as the underlings onboard!
Walking down the tight and twisting magenta halls, passing many comrades of various shapes and sizes was usually a chore. It felt often counterproductive that everyone aboard had to walk from one end to the other, following the long and often confusing paths to their destination. Walking from the bridge to my room sometimes took a unit of walking on the more busy days. Not to mention the many times I have to walk back and forth for various reasons. Being aboard this ship was exhausting to me.
When I arrived at my bunkroom, I took the pleasure of just falling back onto my bed. I, being one of the very, very few females on board; the only others were some Huragoks and a select few of the bugs; had the luxury of my room. A privilege the others seldom had. That was one thing I truly had over them, no matter how insignificant it is overall. As I sat on my bed, I removed the helm from my head in an attempt to ease the tension in my neck and help myself cool down. My mandibles, no longer restricted by armor, opened and closed as I tried to stretch my mouth.
Why am I so hot? They make sure to keep the interior a comfortable temperature no matter the species. Am I really that nervous?
The thoughts in my head fluttered about, in and out, and sometimes through the mouth. "Am I worried that I will let my peers down? Get my squadmates killed? In what way will I bring dishonor to my family?"
The more and more I asked myself these questions, the hotter and hotter I felt. Holding my head in my hands, my breathing getting more and more intense, the world seemingly becoming darker and darker. I shifted my eyes around until I saw the entrance to the Washroom. I focused on the door for a moment as I slowed my breaths down. Soon enough, I was physically calm. I should probably wash up as my commander had said. I need to get myself prepared.
[A Short Time Later…]
I really am a weak warrior, aren't I? I wasn't the best runner, I wasn't the best shooter, I wasn't the strongest brawler, I wasn't the bravest soldier.
I was almost on the brink of tears as I looked at myself in the mirror. My eyes were welling up and I was barely holding onto the sink.
No. I can't be seen like this. Get it together Caso 'Tarumee. You won't mess up. It will work. I hope. Shutting my eyes, I took a deep breath and put a robe on. I stepped out of the washroom, not feeling refreshed, but at the very least clean.
I'm ready.
"The dropship is waiting for you, ma'am."
I jumped so high I nearly hit the ceiling.
"Gah!" I helped, turning around to see a small Unggoy standing in the center of my room.
"Oh, TatTat, you startled me," I said, shakingly holding my chest.
The little Unggoy bowed for a moment before squeaking, "Oh sorry ma'am. Just wanted to let you know the dropship is waiting for ya."
"You could have at least waited until I had left my dwelling instead of barging in while I am undressed!" I yelled, embarrassed, and angry.
The already short creature shrunk as it became increasingly obvious how much of a mistake he had made. "I-I am sorry madam 'Tarumee! The others do not seem to mind when I do this!" TatTat said as he inched his way towards the door, eventually running out into the hall.
As he waddled away, I looked around outside to see if anyone else was near enough to hear me being scared by a little runt. Luckily they were off doing more important things than look around a hallway and worry about their ego.
Wouldn't want to keep them waiting. I thought to myself as I shakily reapplied my armor.
[July 23rd, 2552, 04:00]
The howling from outside the craft as we entered the atmosphere didn't do much to aid my anxiety. Great. I get to fail my family and the Covenant by burning up before we even get close to the surface surrounded by more purple. Entry was swiftly over and we slowly descended towards our final destination, a large farm near a dry mountain range. This is where the Carrier would start shipping supplies to the surface.
Why does this remind me of home so much? I had asked myself, standing by the side doors, observing how the moon illuminated the landscape before me. The sandy ground, dead trees, rocks, and occasional Creek sped by below me as the early morning sky featured in the distance. It was oddly picturesque, something I would see painted in the halls of a keep.
I stood there, admiring the view until we hit an air pocket, causing one of the Kig-Yar on the side turrets to nearly fall off the side. I quickly grabbed him by the back of his collar and placed him back where he was.
"Pilot, how much longer until we reach the target zone?" I voiced over the vox.
"We are looking at about 5 minutes," he replied.
I moved to the center of the small cabin, leaned onto the collapsed pylon, and called for attention from the five Kig-Yar and seven Unggoy onboard I was responsible for.
"We will reach our destination in 5 minutes. Once we touch down, our primary objective is that we get this pylon set up where it can see the sky. We will have to wait for heavier equipment before it is able to be most effective, so we will need to hold our position until the engineers arrive. But before we can do that, we will need to eliminate any Humans stationed on that farm and make sure none of them have a chance to communicate or relay back to their command. We must take the utmost care that the pylon is not damaged. This is the most vital step of the entire invasion, so any mistake could mean the end of your life and the lives of all of our comrades in orbit. I expect nothing less than perfection."
The Kig-Yar all nodded back to me. The Unggoy more hesitantly so, one even holding its pistol as if it was the only thing keeping it from falling to his death. If there was anything they were good for, like my trainer once said, were taking the bullets for you.
It wasn't long until we had reached the landing zone, a small clearing in an ocean of large and often dead trees. As I set my feet on the ground, the first steady natural ground in a while, I could make out the silhouettes of buildings and the large, rock-like hills that littered the region off in the distance. Our objective.
The Stealth Pylon piece slowly but surely descended from the phantom and hovered a foot off the ground. I pointed to the Unggoy, some picking themselves off the ground, and ordered two of them to move the pylon. They hopped over to it and began to push it.
Everything seems to be going great so far.
We began our trek towards the farm, crossing through creeks and over hills. A Kig-Yar had nearly opened fire on an indigenous avian, whom I promptly scolded for almost breaking our element of surprise. The night was slowly turning into dawn as the moonlight was soon outclassed by the steadily rising, still hidden by the horizon. About a Kilometer out from our objective we stopped and observed the premises. The farm seemed to yield mostly crops, as evidenced by the sprawling fields and what appeared to be harvesting equipment. In the middle of the field were two buildings, one being larger than the other. I could assume, based on some intelligence given to me on their architecture, it was a storage depot and a two-story barracks.
"Pylon, hold here. The rest of you, follow me."
We stalked through the fields slowly approaching the complex. The tall grains had done well to mask our approach. By this time the Kig-Yar had already activated their shields and had their pistols ready to fire on anything living. The Unggoy kept waddling.
"TatTat, take your men and clear out their storage," I said quietly
"Ok!" TatTat voiced as he waddled towards the depot. He was certainly loud but no movement, light, or sound came from either of the buildings.
Shaking my head, I continued with the rest of my squad to the barracks. As we got onto the porch and neared the front door, I instructed my Kig-Yar to enter if they heard any gunfire or signs of fighting. I want to prove I could easily clear an enemy outpost by myself.
"3, 2, 1… breaching." I vox as I kicked open the wooden door.
I held my plasma rifle in front of me as I cleared the room I had entered, which appeared to be a simple recreational room, furnished with seats, tables, and a culinary area. I swept the rest of the downstairs only to find various rooms containing various devices and appliances I had no understanding of. I could hear scuffles above me.
"First floor clear."
I heard footsteps as the Kig-Yar entered the barracks
I came upon a wooden staircase, turning and leading to the second floor, I slowly creaked up the stairs, step by step scanning the upper floor for any movement.
Reaching the top step revealed a hallway perpendicular to the stairs, the left path being shorter than the right, turning left I found two doors, one already open. I looked in and saw two vacant bunks on the far side of the room.
Strange. I would expect more bunks.
The unopened door led into a small room containing a wall of what appeared to be books and a desk with a screen on it.
I thought the recreational area would end downstairs.
I heard movement behind me, a door opening then promptly closing and an almost sticky rhythm of footsteps. As I turned I saw out of the corner of my eye a figure at the end of the hall.
A human. It said something under its breath before revealing a weapon and aiming it at me.
Before I could react it fired at me, striking my energy shields, lighting up my figure. I quickly responded with a burst of plasma fire, striking him. He fell back onto the door he had come from, slumping down to a sitting position and caused what appeared to be screaming to erupt from behind it.
I rushed down the hallway and busted the door down, knocking the body down with it. I spun my weapon towards the source of the screaming and-
What the-
It was a Human Female holding its small child, screaming in despair as the child cried in its arms, afraid. The mother looked at my figure and was beset with terror as it held it's infant even tighter. It felt as though time had stopped as I watched a defenseless mother attempt to keep her precious child safe after watching what I could assume to be her husband killed.
Green light arced from behind me.
I watched as plasma made its way towards the pair, hitting their small forms on the floor of the room.
They made no sound after that.
Silence.
"Storage Depot is clear boss!" TatTat squeaked in my ear.
The Kig-Yar had made their way upstairs after the human male had fired at me, and as ordered, cleared out the Humans.
I stood in the bedroom, motionless, staring at the corpses of the mother and child. It felt as minutes had passed before I even took another breath.
"Ma'am?"
"P-" I stuttered. "P-pylon, make your way over now…"
I tortured myself for but a second more before stepping over the corpse at the door frame and leaving the room. I went downstairs and left the house. The sun was rising, and I could see it's orange glow peeking over the horizon.
I sat down on the porch and wept.
Fort Harris UNSC Supply Depot
[July 22nd, 2552, 09:00]
I have known war all of my life. Not warring between tribes or small kingdoms. Not a disagreement between two wealthy nation's. Not a war against insurgency. I was born in a period of fear, a period in which the very existence of our species, the human race, is endangered. The cause of this? A large coalition of different species sent on a crusade against ours. This "Covenant" has been brutal in their war, mercilessly killing non-combatants, razing entire planets, and leaving no survivors. My Mother, bless her soul, would always jump or hold me whenever there was some loud sound outside our home, fearing for my life. Although the UEG was fighting a losing battle, I found myself living in a sort of status quo. My life through highschool was relatively normal, albeit the occasional evacuation drills.
I went and left my planet Nihlus for a college education in 2548, I had tons of scholarships and had more opportunities off-world. Looking back on it, however, I regret leaving my family. It wasn't long until I fell into a depression after watching the news. It was at that moment I decided to join the UNSC Army. I believed I could avenge their deaths.
I was expecting to be sent to die in battle on some dusty planet that the average person on Earth would have never heard of. I was expecting to be a martyr.
What I didn't expect was being stationed on the most boring base this side of the Galaxy. It wasn't some cool little base in the tropics with airframes of all shapes and sizes flying around, it wasn't some awesome mountainside complex with a great view, and it most certainly was not going to put me anywhere near the front if the Covenant decide to be the biggest buffoons in history.
'What is it?' you might ask. It's the galaxy's smallest munitions depot, stuck in the middle of some God-awful valley in the middle of God knows where on Reach. One could make the argument that I have the pleasure of using some of the more interesting weapons stored there. There are no interesting weapons, and, of course, I can't use them without a long process of checking them out and writing every little detail on what I was going to do before I can even start. I however have permission to drive any vehicle on the base that isn't in the garage, but that really only applied to the rusty forklift outside.
Life for me at the moment is boring, and this place is as useless as microwaving an already steaming hot meal.
In total there are about twenty or so people, including myself, stationed in Fort Harrison munitions depot. Sergeant Nickelson was the technical 'CO' and quartermaster of the base despite not even being an officer. He was a tough guy, probably a really fun drinking buddy, but I feel like the long war has really sobered him. I've heard small talk from around the base that he was deployed to his own home, found his whole family dead. On the other hand... Corporal Bradley was his ass-kissing secretary, meaning he did what he was told but somehow accomplished nothing. There was of course me, along with some other guys and gals performing simple guard duty, and they all felt the same way as me.
"Yo Danny, can you pass me a napkin?" Johan asked.
I snapped out of deep thought and looked at him across the foldable table. The young kid had an annoyed look on his pale face. His small mouth was covered in what looked like barbecue sauce. I took a napkin from the pile in front of me and tossed it over to him. It of course flew off the table and onto the dusty floor, causing him to have to lean over and pick it up.
"Thanks," I could hear him faintly say.
Johan was, quite frankly, a dumbass. Born and raised on humanity's home, Earth, he could often be found eating or being exploited from his naivety. His blonde hair, bright blue eyes were often considered attractive or even unique to some. That was off-put by his chubbiness and his hollow head. I could probably hit him with a mallet and his head would ring like a gong.
We were in the depot's mess hall if one could even call it that. It was more akin to a teacher's lounge. The bland, colorless walls were broken up by two vending machines, one containing chips and the other soft drinks. On the right side of the room was a counter with a microwave, a cornflake dispenser, and a minifridge with some milk.
BANG!
A fist slammed the table right next to me.
"God, motherfu- Damn it."
Sheila was staring in anger at her little tablet, the game visible to me, I could just make out that she was in the middle of playing Gravity Switch 3, and a big 'DEFEAT' was plastered in the center of the screen.
"Of course the enemy team just had to have a Seeker, ugly stupid freaking braindead power creep class." She most definitely sounded pissed.
She had every right to be. She used to make a living by playing games on her small mining colony as a kid, a professional gamer. Not the type of career I would have pursued (I'm comparatively not very good at them), but it was still a very respectable career. She really could have gone far had the Covenant not found the colony. Sheila was out of town for a tournament when it happened. It had hit her hard. I don't think she played for a long time after that, and with that break, her skills started to slip. We both shared the same experience, but I don't think the loss of my family impacted my career and future as much as the loss of hers. Like me, she walked into the recruiter's office for redemption, and like me, was stuck in this hell hole.
"If Seeker is so good then why don't you just play them? If they are so meta why don't you conform to stay competitive?" Will had chimed in.
Sheila looked from her screen to him, her temper being tested, "Because I have standards."
Will rolled his eyes and kept reading from his PDA. He kept scrolling until he came upon something that piqued his interest, and like a kid in a candy shop, read it with great excitement, typical of four-eyes. He was that sort of guy, the one who did nothing but read and talk about what he was reading. The "intellectual" of us stooges, and the one I could consider closest to me. Hell, we shared a room. He never particularly liked to share his past, but what he has shared is vague as hell. 'Yeah, I lived in a house' or 'I did that one time'.
I was going to ask him what had him so elated when he spoke out, "Ooh there was apparently an unknown and unauthorized slipspace jump into the system earlier this morning. HighCom is unsure if it was some lost freighter or some insurgent activity. They are gonna send some ship to check it out."
"Maybe we can finally shoot something… mmph," Johan was licking his sauce covered fingers.
"If anything we would be busy moving boxes and supplies," Will replied, "Much less seeing any action."
"You just have to ruin all the fun," Johan pouted
"It's a lot better than sitting around in a humid room eating snacks all day, or waiting to do something of use," I chimed in.
We all silently agreed, outside of Johan, until we heard the chime of the intercom go off.
An extremely nasal voice cleared its throat for a moment before speaking, "Can Private First Class Daniel Mason- wait- Manson please report to Sgt. Nickelson's office. I repeat, Private First Class Manson to Nickelson's Office, thank you."
I sighed and rolled my eyes, what is it this time?
"You would think after 4 months here 'Bratley' would be able to pronounce your easy-ass last name. I am starting to think he is doing it on purpose," Sheila stated.
"Wouldn't surprise me," I said walking out of the room.
"I wonder if this has anything to do with that stunt you pulled off? I wouldn't expect them to call you seeing as you aren't the Evel Knievel type," Will called.
"It couldn't be, I made sure everything was cleaned up and working fine."
It wasn't a very long walk to my CO's office, just a few bends down the hallway was all it took. Who the hell even was Evel Knievel? Coming to the front of a larger room he could see Bradley sitting like a bum at his desk, his greasy face, and focus on whatever he was doing on his terminal. I stood there for a few moments before I coughed loudly to announce my presence. Startled, he looked up, eyes becoming annoyed and he realized who I was. He gestured towards the door, "He is waiting for you."
No shit, Sherlock.
I slipped into Nickelson's office and shut the door behind me. He looked up from his paperwork before signaling for me to sit down, which I promptly did. The room was a lot like everywhere else, brownish grey, humid. His wooden desk sat in the center with filing cabinets flanking both sides. I sat there for a minute or so before he finished writing something down and looked at me. "So Private, how are you today?" he asked.
"I'm doing fine right now, just a little bored," I answered
He leaned back into his chair, "We all are… but I guess that leads into my question."
He moved forward and showed me his monitor. It clearly showed some CCTV footage, but of what? As I studied the still frame, the little loading area out front was the set, a figure appeared onscreen.
Oh shit, it was me.
I watched myself briefly walk offscreen again before a forklift drives by. They had cameras there? Nickelson fast-forwarded it to a few minutes later, and what appeared to be a shoddy ramp was center frame. Suddenly and swiftly, the forklift drives up the ramp and jumps, causing it to tip over as it landed. The occupant quickly exited the vehicle and ran off. The sergeant spun his monitor back around before staring directly into my soul.
"So, can you tell me what exactly this is about?"
I was numb. I was sure that I covered my tracks, only to be ousted by the most obvious threat, cameras. It felt like he was ripping into my gut, and we both knew my guilt.
"I-I uh, Uhm…" I stuttered.
"If you are going to do this shit again, at least tell me beforehand so I can watch it before I kick your ass. Better yet, never do this again Manson. No more forklift. You're lucky you came out uninjured and nothing appeared to be damaged," he said as I rubbed the bruise on my thigh, "I don't want to have to explain to my superiors how a young promising soldier like yourself was killed in a forklift accident. So please, do not do this again."
"Yes sir," I said quietly
"I understand being stuck here at Fort Harrison is not the most exciting thing to be doing, I get that, but you need to be considerate of UNSC property! Even if this place is the embodiment of purgatory that doesn't give you an excuse to be an idiot."
"Y-Yes sir,"
"And since you clearly haven't damaged anything of importance, like your body or the vehicle, and I am sure this talking-to isn't enough to scare you out of doing any more stupid things. So what better trains children than punishment? Long, drawn-out and boring punishments..."
"Yes sir?"
He sighed as he stared down at his papers, "Hope you know how to operate a mop."
[July 22, 2552, 16:32]
I forgot how much I hated cleaning floors. At first, you think, 'Oh, this should be fairly easy! Just swipe the floor back and forth with the mop!' And then you finally get to it and realize how tedious and monotonous it is.
Everything you do becomes 'just a little bit more'. The bucket becomes the tomb of your sanity, being drained and refilled over and over again.
At some point Bradley's fat smelly ass came by and watched me for a few minutes, probably the most active thing he's done in a year. I'm pretty sure he brought some popcorn along while he witnessed my suffering
As I mopped the last room, I had never felt more refreshed in my life. I rolled the bucket back to the maintenance closet, closer to a cupboard honestly. My stomach rumbled to high heaven as I walked towards the mess hall. When I walked in, only Will was sitting there. From where I entered his eyes were obscured by his glasses, but I could tell he was busy reading. It's all the man did. His darker complexion, similar to Sheila, was nicely highlighted by the screen and his glasses, and if I wasn't straight, I would have said he was attractive.
"Where's Sheila and Johan?" I asked him while pouring myself a bowl of cereal.
"Off doing patrol duties outside. I'm on break."
I poured some milk and sat down at the seat next to him. The table in the room was the circular type that you would rent for an outdoor birthday party, with four chairs of varying designs. I sat in the padded foldable, Will got the office chair first.
"What are you reading now? More reports you really shouldn't have your hands on?" I said, taking a spoonful of cornflakes.
"Of course. Apparently, some areas in the Viery Territory have gone dark, possibly a region-wide power outage, or more likely, some rebels jamming the signals," he stated.
I stopped eating my cereal for a moment while I remembered where that was, continuing when I did. "They gonna send some guys to check it out?"
"It's up in the air at this moment, probably just some large squad to check and make sure everything is where it should. Talks are even in the air of potentially sending a Spartan team, though the nearest one is down a member," he said, interested
I was really getting sick of eating stale cornflakes with cheap milk, but I just kept shoveling the slop into my mouth,
"Hopefully something actually happens on this rock. This is supposed to be the Magnum Opus of our military strength outside of Earth, and we are stuck here watching dust collect." I said, finishing my cereal.
A sugar-coated bitter taste was lingering in my mouth
"Why do I have a feeling that's going to come back to bite you on the ass. The last thing I recommend for anyone is to seek conflict."
I laughed and stood up from the chair. "I'm pretty sure I joined the damn army for some conflict. If it does come to bite me back, it better bite hard."
"I'm sure you don't mean that? Just semantics, right Danny?"
"Something is better than nothing!" I leaned against the table.
"Nothing is better than having to kill other people. It's not like they are those little gas-suckers or hinge heads like the Covvies have," Will was starting to get angry, "The last thing I want is to kill another member of our race while we are being exterminated by some alien fanatics!"
I was ready to unload on him but I knew I couldn't. I shared the same sentiment as him.
To be quite frank I didn't know if I had the guts to kill anything. Death always seemed wrong, something that could be avoided.
I didn't understand the logic behind the insurrectionists as much as I didn't understand the logic of the Covenant. It just seemed like everyone just hated without reason. I had reason to hate the latter of the evils, but I still couldn't bring myself to harm anything living and breathing. Unless of course, I had no other choice. But war never gives true choice to the common G.I., the only given option would be dying because you weren't attentive enough.
That's what the more experienced of the bunch told me after I had left boot.
Why must everything be so shitty?
Thank you for reading the first chapter of my story. I've spent a few months working on this project and I believe I am ready to start releasing the first few chapters. Please be aware this is my first time writing a story and I barely had anyone to proofread this, so please, tear me apart in the reviews. You can also expect chapter 2 to be released soon if you decide to stick around. also thank you to the guest who pointed out the text errors, I have no idea what happened there.
