Halo: The Nameless War
Chapter 5: The Way Forward
Jerkin landed the dropship as close to the camp as Miller dared. They were entering deep Covenant grounds and the chance they would survive was minimal, at least they had shields now.
There were no human munitions available so they took Plasma handguns that they could keep in their pockets without fear of them going off. They had these in addition to the weapons they began with, as these guns were so small the weight hardly slowed them down or took up enough room to become a problem.
Heading West they came upon the camp, Mesa taking point. The camp was much larger than they had anticipated. It started with a small door and a corridor behind it that leant down into the ground. Two Covenant Elites were stationed at either side of the door and three Grunts were sat on Three Shades around it. Jackals also paced along it, four of them. They walked in a circle before the Elites. Thyme set up her Sniper Rifle on a rock near the camp and zoomed in as far as she could. The Elites were armed with Plasma Rifles and looking menacing, and inside the door there seemed to be nothing other than those there, and therefor, no danger of reinforcements.
"No extras," she muttered to Gainer.
"That's not like them," came the reply, "but then again, they may just be eager to find whatever's down there."
"How are you planning on getting in?"
"Miller's the planner, personally I just look forward to the fighting."
The team pondered for a few moments over a plan of action. The Elites would have to be taken out by Thyme, but she would likely only manage to take out one. The second would come after her, so that was easy to deal with, but the others could easily collect reinforcements. A grenade would be out of the question in case it closed up the entrance. There was no way to get around to the sides of the entrance without being spotted though. Eventually Miller and Gainer headed down to the bottom of the rock face, with Jerkin and Williams flanking them. Williams of Electronics also headed down to give a camera view, but the only camera was pointed in their direction. Thyme, Mesa and Reid stayed up on the mountains. Thyme was to use the Sniper, Mesa her pistol and Reid her Needler. If they could deal with the Elites their team-mates were prepared to make a rush at the remaining enemies, as long as they were well covered themselves.
Thyme was careful for Williams to signal her on his panel before firing. She waited a little longer before firing and blasted through a grunts body before hitting an Elite in the head. The team began to move quickly, forcing their opponents to scatter. The Jackals circled the Elite, which blasted towards Miller before being hit with Needles on all sides. The explosion hit two Jackals with it. The others began to run and guard the grunts now blasting on all sides. Mesa took two quick shots, removing two grunts while Miller and Gainer went nuts with their shotguns, clearing everything with the aid of Jerkin and Williams. Thyme made one last shot, taking out the camera watching them before she reloaded.
They moved quickly into the complex, their shields replenishing. Gainer took the lead, Shotgun pointed straight ahead. Miller was at the rear, keeping an eye on the front as well as the rear. The tunnel went a long way down, into the ground of Halo. They walked until they came to a large broken door. Gainer pushed and it fell, revealing a large blue room. It was large and square, with three doors around it. Reid gasped, Covenant bodies were sprawled across the floor. Jerkin moved towards one and leaned towards it.
"Plasma fire, looks like a Rifle. A fight broke out," he looked around the room, "Elites on Grunts. The Elites took one casualty, the red one over there. They took everything, there's something in here the Elites wanted most. We need to know where to go."
To nobody's surprise, Williams began tapping buttons on his panel. He pressed a few buttons, then a few more, realised that button wouldn't work since he'd already pressed another button and pressed a different button instead, "Depends where we want to go, the Armoury is to the left, they definitely were worried about this weapon themselves. To the right is the Command Centre, details of the weapon I guess. And forward is the mining area."
"To the right then," commanded Miller, "be careful though, you never know what might be there."
They began to move again, but it wasn't long before they reached the Command Centre. It was somewhat elevated, overlooking the mines. Thyme moved towards the windows while Williams logged in to the main computer. He scanned it over, "There's been one hell of a fight, but it's nothing about the computers. I know what it could have been."
He pressed a button and from the side of the panel came one small purple cylinder. Above it appeared a Covenant Elite.
"Is that a Covenant AI?" asked Williams, astonished.
"Yep, but it's based on human technology, watch," he again began pressing buttons and eventually, a picture of himself appeared. He pressed a few more buttons and seven others came up from one of the fifteen small openings on the desk. They each moved towards one.
"They all have the same data, just copies. Perfect Covenant access, looks like an experiment of theirs. Why here I don't know."
"Probably to hold Cortana," commented Reid, "the Chief must be defending her well. Can I have someone else, the serge, just not you. You annoy me.""
Williams pressed more buttons and Miller appeared in Reid's. Then they got moving to the mines, and in seconds they were there. But they seemed to be alone. They travelled left through the tunnels until they came to another room, looking like an outpost. Two more Grunts were dead there, lying motionless on the ground. They opened the next door and Gainer stepped back.
Turning towards them was a large bloated yellow creature. One arm was simply tentacles stretching far while the other held a Plasma Rifle. It's head was also bloated, it's legs seeming to be normal, just powerfully built like an Elites. It's eyes were strangely unfocussed. Gainer raised her Shotgun and blasted it hard in the head, which flew off into the air. The thing dropped to the ground and Gainer shut the door. Past it were one hell of a lot more, all looking across.
"Bolt the door," she called across to Williams, who was still hooked up to open it. He did as he was told and locked the door.
"What the hell was that?" Gainer shouted across, "what the hell are the Covenant doing dead when that thing roams about?"
"That's their weapon," said Williams, "but I don't think they can control it. They died but managed to send it back and lock it in, then waited for reinforcements to wipe it out."
"Then we'd better get out of here before those reinforcements arrive."
"Too late. We're going to be completely surrounded."
"What'll we do?"
"Well, who would you rather face? Covenant or that thing?"
Chapter 5: The Way Forward
Jerkin landed the dropship as close to the camp as Miller dared. They were entering deep Covenant grounds and the chance they would survive was minimal, at least they had shields now.
There were no human munitions available so they took Plasma handguns that they could keep in their pockets without fear of them going off. They had these in addition to the weapons they began with, as these guns were so small the weight hardly slowed them down or took up enough room to become a problem.
Heading West they came upon the camp, Mesa taking point. The camp was much larger than they had anticipated. It started with a small door and a corridor behind it that leant down into the ground. Two Covenant Elites were stationed at either side of the door and three Grunts were sat on Three Shades around it. Jackals also paced along it, four of them. They walked in a circle before the Elites. Thyme set up her Sniper Rifle on a rock near the camp and zoomed in as far as she could. The Elites were armed with Plasma Rifles and looking menacing, and inside the door there seemed to be nothing other than those there, and therefor, no danger of reinforcements.
"No extras," she muttered to Gainer.
"That's not like them," came the reply, "but then again, they may just be eager to find whatever's down there."
"How are you planning on getting in?"
"Miller's the planner, personally I just look forward to the fighting."
The team pondered for a few moments over a plan of action. The Elites would have to be taken out by Thyme, but she would likely only manage to take out one. The second would come after her, so that was easy to deal with, but the others could easily collect reinforcements. A grenade would be out of the question in case it closed up the entrance. There was no way to get around to the sides of the entrance without being spotted though. Eventually Miller and Gainer headed down to the bottom of the rock face, with Jerkin and Williams flanking them. Williams of Electronics also headed down to give a camera view, but the only camera was pointed in their direction. Thyme, Mesa and Reid stayed up on the mountains. Thyme was to use the Sniper, Mesa her pistol and Reid her Needler. If they could deal with the Elites their team-mates were prepared to make a rush at the remaining enemies, as long as they were well covered themselves.
Thyme was careful for Williams to signal her on his panel before firing. She waited a little longer before firing and blasted through a grunts body before hitting an Elite in the head. The team began to move quickly, forcing their opponents to scatter. The Jackals circled the Elite, which blasted towards Miller before being hit with Needles on all sides. The explosion hit two Jackals with it. The others began to run and guard the grunts now blasting on all sides. Mesa took two quick shots, removing two grunts while Miller and Gainer went nuts with their shotguns, clearing everything with the aid of Jerkin and Williams. Thyme made one last shot, taking out the camera watching them before she reloaded.
They moved quickly into the complex, their shields replenishing. Gainer took the lead, Shotgun pointed straight ahead. Miller was at the rear, keeping an eye on the front as well as the rear. The tunnel went a long way down, into the ground of Halo. They walked until they came to a large broken door. Gainer pushed and it fell, revealing a large blue room. It was large and square, with three doors around it. Reid gasped, Covenant bodies were sprawled across the floor. Jerkin moved towards one and leaned towards it.
"Plasma fire, looks like a Rifle. A fight broke out," he looked around the room, "Elites on Grunts. The Elites took one casualty, the red one over there. They took everything, there's something in here the Elites wanted most. We need to know where to go."
To nobody's surprise, Williams began tapping buttons on his panel. He pressed a few buttons, then a few more, realised that button wouldn't work since he'd already pressed another button and pressed a different button instead, "Depends where we want to go, the Armoury is to the left, they definitely were worried about this weapon themselves. To the right is the Command Centre, details of the weapon I guess. And forward is the mining area."
"To the right then," commanded Miller, "be careful though, you never know what might be there."
They began to move again, but it wasn't long before they reached the Command Centre. It was somewhat elevated, overlooking the mines. Thyme moved towards the windows while Williams logged in to the main computer. He scanned it over, "There's been one hell of a fight, but it's nothing about the computers. I know what it could have been."
He pressed a button and from the side of the panel came one small purple cylinder. Above it appeared a Covenant Elite.
"Is that a Covenant AI?" asked Williams, astonished.
"Yep, but it's based on human technology, watch," he again began pressing buttons and eventually, a picture of himself appeared. He pressed a few more buttons and seven others came up from one of the fifteen small openings on the desk. They each moved towards one.
"They all have the same data, just copies. Perfect Covenant access, looks like an experiment of theirs. Why here I don't know."
"Probably to hold Cortana," commented Reid, "the Chief must be defending her well. Can I have someone else, the serge, just not you. You annoy me.""
Williams pressed more buttons and Miller appeared in Reid's. Then they got moving to the mines, and in seconds they were there. But they seemed to be alone. They travelled left through the tunnels until they came to another room, looking like an outpost. Two more Grunts were dead there, lying motionless on the ground. They opened the next door and Gainer stepped back.
Turning towards them was a large bloated yellow creature. One arm was simply tentacles stretching far while the other held a Plasma Rifle. It's head was also bloated, it's legs seeming to be normal, just powerfully built like an Elites. It's eyes were strangely unfocussed. Gainer raised her Shotgun and blasted it hard in the head, which flew off into the air. The thing dropped to the ground and Gainer shut the door. Past it were one hell of a lot more, all looking across.
"Bolt the door," she called across to Williams, who was still hooked up to open it. He did as he was told and locked the door.
"What the hell was that?" Gainer shouted across, "what the hell are the Covenant doing dead when that thing roams about?"
"That's their weapon," said Williams, "but I don't think they can control it. They died but managed to send it back and lock it in, then waited for reinforcements to wipe it out."
"Then we'd better get out of here before those reinforcements arrive."
"Too late. We're going to be completely surrounded."
"What'll we do?"
"Well, who would you rather face? Covenant or that thing?"