Chapter 03: Mortus and Sanguine
The noise rang through my head more clearly than even the alarm. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! With each repetitive noise I struggled against my bonds trying to free myself. I collapsed again and once more heard the noise. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! I frantically searched the room for the cause of the noise. Suddenly through the ceiling fell a gold elite. His plasma sword superheated the air around him and with an evil grin he raised his plasma sword to strike. I helplessly watched. I closed my eyes in anticipation of the blow. I just could not die like this. Helpless. I vowed that if I survived this, I would not be helpless again.
"Die sucker, eat my shotgun." The shout came as someone clashed through the doors and fired a high power shot at what seemed like incredibly close range. There was a sickening noise as gore covered pieces flew across the room landing on my face and all over my body. I opened my eyes to see the carnage before me. A marine! He was standing over the corpse of the dead elite firing his shotgun as much as he could pull the trigger.
"DIE! DIE! Pick on someone your own size."
Various other cliché phrases followed as more holes were being blown through the elite, one at a time with each shot. When he stopped to reload the elite was nothing but a small pile of oozing gore.
"Mate, ya need a hand?" the voice said, "Here ya go."
The marine undid the bonds on my arms and legs and helped me to my feet.
"Name's Balton mate, guy's call me Pyrrhus, call me what you like, take this pistol," Balton then continued to explain the situation, "These fucking goddamn creatures got into the base and are tearing us apart, we gotta get outta here. Follow me mate."
I took the pistol from Balton and shoved it into my holster. Picking up the plasma sword from the dead elite I slung it from my belt. Never know when it might come in handy. I took the pistol out of the holster and held it out in front of me, ready to fire at anything that moved. Together we made our way through countless corridors bathed in the dim red light of the alarm and the blue blood of the covenant. Everywhere seemed quiet and deserted. Where were these attackers? After several minutes of running we reached the dock control room. We barged straight through the doors and quickly barricaded ourselves in, placing heavy objects in front of the door. I took a moment to gather myself and looked around the room. Eight other marines were stationed here. All bore the same emblem on their arm. A phoenix surrounded by flames. There were no windows in the room, just a computer console with screens above it. On the screens the hanger bay was shown. Various different views could be seen and it seemed empty. Two Pelicans sat in the bay. On one the name "Sanguine" was scribbled. "Blood," I thought, "How appropriate." On the other the name "Winged Death" had been etched.
"Cap'n," Balton had walked up to the red armoured marine and saluted professionally, "Mission accomplished, ready to receive next objective." The red armoured marine seemed to sigh for a second and then said, "Pyrrhus, guard the door, make sure none of those dirtbags get through." "Yes Cap'n, and don't worry, I'll be back." Balton said the last part in a monotone voice imitating the style of 'The Terminator'. The Captain turned to me and said, "Don't think that just cause I asked for you means that I like ya private. You're gonna have to earn my trust and respect. Is that clear private?" "Yes sir," I replied. "You will refer to me as Captain private, not sir, save that for Mortus, the leader of the Brotherhood here," he indicated to the marine in jet black armour, "It true you were an engineer in your old regiment private?" "Yes Cap'n" "Our engineer died two years ago, we need some expertise here. I want you to open the hanger doors and open the door from here into the hanger. Think you can do it?" "Yes Cap'n" "Then what are you standing around for? Hop to it on the double private."
I walked up to the interface and typed in my access code. The screen flashed red. Access denied. I tried again. Access denied.
"Cap'n what's the password?" I called out. "Enter in seven, eight, four, dash, alpha, omega, zeta."
I typed in the password and hit the enter key again. The screen flashed green once and a list of options were displayed on the screen. I scanned through the list of options, searching for security. Found it. I opened it up and saw that all the data was corrupted. "Damn it," I thought. Opening up the panel underneath the controls I pulled out one of the circuit boards indicated as carrying the security data. As I scanned the board and began work fixing it, a broad shouldered marine in yellow armour came up to me. He spoke in a deep voice. "Welcome to beta squad kid, good luck. You're gonna need it. I'm Kerron. I shot those grunts for you with a rocket launcher as you were falling, remember. That's the sort of work I do, I'm the heavy weapons specialist. The girl in the blue armour is our pilot, damn hell of a good one too. Her name is Aika. The guy in black is Mortus, although the captain already told you that. Noone here knows his real name and his background is surrounded in mystery. They say he once served with the Master Chief himself. That would be an honour. Vallen and Aart are the marines in green. They're good soldiers. Pyrrhus you've already met, he's slightly over enthusiastic. You've also met Vix, the doctor. She gives me the creeps." He looked like he was going to continue speaking, but his introduction to the squad was abruptly halted by Aart.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" he cried, "Alpha squad's on the monitors and they're getting' fucking slaughtered. We can't just sit around here, we gotta do sommin."
I turned away from the console and focused my gaze on the central monitor. The scene before my eyes was horrifying. I knew there was nothing we could do to save them, so I looked at the screen just hoping they would find a way to survive.
Alpha squad had been backed into a corner of the dock and around them an enormous number of elites had gathered. All were armed with plasma swords. If they could just keep them back they would survive. The four marines at the front loaded their shotguns and fired round after round into the elite line. As each shot hit the covenant parts of their body just seemed to explode and the elite collapsed dead. The first elite reached the marines and with several quick slices of his sword the marines fell into strips before its feet. Other elites soon followed suit and only one marine remained. It was their sergeant. The elites marched upon him slowly, almost gloating in their victory. I watched, horrified as he clasped his hands together and began muttering something on his knees. He was praying. In his last few moments just before the elites reached him he leapt from his knees into the group. I caught a glimpse of what he was carrying and foolishly cried out, "Nooooo, its not worth it!" even though I knew it was impossible for him to hear me. The frag grenade between his hands exploded and the blast wave seemed to flow out in slow motion. The monitor turned to static.
"Come on men, there's nothing we can do for them now. Lets get moving people and get out of here as quick as possible. The structural integrity is failing and the building's going to collapse," the captain shouted.
Quickly I returned to the console and with a boost of energy I unlocked all the doors in the station. There was a bang at the door behind us.
"They're breaking through, she just can't take the pressure cap'n." Balton shouted as he ran towards us and through the door. Everyone quickly followed as the door burst from its hinges and the piled debris scattered the room.
"Keep it moving people, they're right behind us," the captain shouted as we ran.
We ran through a long corridor until we reached the hanger. We scurried across the demolished room towards the Pelican.
"Hop in people," cried Aika.
The Pelican began to lift of the ground and we leapt into the back. The waves of heat from the engines could be seen over the floor of the hanger providing a hazy view of what was happening below. Grunts burst through the doors and ran into the bay shooting their plasma pistols at the ship. Soon after two hunters charged in stomping on the grunts to make their way towards the ship, the grunts were instantly killed in this act. What do you know? The hunters killed more Covenants than we had so far. One had armed in its hand a plasma wave gun.
"Uhhh, we should really get outta here, that thing doesn't look like it wants tea and a friendly conversation," I shouted over the noise of the engines. "Aika take us out of here, go to these coordinates," the captain told Aika and handed her a data-pad. "Hold on guys we're in for some chop," Aika shouted.
Just then two plasma bursts were fired from the wave gun. The huge balls of energy headed for the ship. I could feel the immense heat of their power. They were coming right for us.
To Be Continued ...
Footnotes: -
Hope you like the chapter, please review and tell me what you think of it. If you have any cliché phrases could you please leave them as well, or Pyrrhus will run out of things to say. Sorry about the Latin added in but I'm doing my Latin A-Level at the moment. The next chapter will be posted soon. Keep reading and have fun (.
Sanguine = Blood Mortus = Death Pyrrhus = Flame haired one
Thanks to anyone who has reviewed my story so far, if you wish for a minor part in the story just send me an e-mail with a name and personality on it. Thanks again (
The noise rang through my head more clearly than even the alarm. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! With each repetitive noise I struggled against my bonds trying to free myself. I collapsed again and once more heard the noise. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! I frantically searched the room for the cause of the noise. Suddenly through the ceiling fell a gold elite. His plasma sword superheated the air around him and with an evil grin he raised his plasma sword to strike. I helplessly watched. I closed my eyes in anticipation of the blow. I just could not die like this. Helpless. I vowed that if I survived this, I would not be helpless again.
"Die sucker, eat my shotgun." The shout came as someone clashed through the doors and fired a high power shot at what seemed like incredibly close range. There was a sickening noise as gore covered pieces flew across the room landing on my face and all over my body. I opened my eyes to see the carnage before me. A marine! He was standing over the corpse of the dead elite firing his shotgun as much as he could pull the trigger.
"DIE! DIE! Pick on someone your own size."
Various other cliché phrases followed as more holes were being blown through the elite, one at a time with each shot. When he stopped to reload the elite was nothing but a small pile of oozing gore.
"Mate, ya need a hand?" the voice said, "Here ya go."
The marine undid the bonds on my arms and legs and helped me to my feet.
"Name's Balton mate, guy's call me Pyrrhus, call me what you like, take this pistol," Balton then continued to explain the situation, "These fucking goddamn creatures got into the base and are tearing us apart, we gotta get outta here. Follow me mate."
I took the pistol from Balton and shoved it into my holster. Picking up the plasma sword from the dead elite I slung it from my belt. Never know when it might come in handy. I took the pistol out of the holster and held it out in front of me, ready to fire at anything that moved. Together we made our way through countless corridors bathed in the dim red light of the alarm and the blue blood of the covenant. Everywhere seemed quiet and deserted. Where were these attackers? After several minutes of running we reached the dock control room. We barged straight through the doors and quickly barricaded ourselves in, placing heavy objects in front of the door. I took a moment to gather myself and looked around the room. Eight other marines were stationed here. All bore the same emblem on their arm. A phoenix surrounded by flames. There were no windows in the room, just a computer console with screens above it. On the screens the hanger bay was shown. Various different views could be seen and it seemed empty. Two Pelicans sat in the bay. On one the name "Sanguine" was scribbled. "Blood," I thought, "How appropriate." On the other the name "Winged Death" had been etched.
"Cap'n," Balton had walked up to the red armoured marine and saluted professionally, "Mission accomplished, ready to receive next objective." The red armoured marine seemed to sigh for a second and then said, "Pyrrhus, guard the door, make sure none of those dirtbags get through." "Yes Cap'n, and don't worry, I'll be back." Balton said the last part in a monotone voice imitating the style of 'The Terminator'. The Captain turned to me and said, "Don't think that just cause I asked for you means that I like ya private. You're gonna have to earn my trust and respect. Is that clear private?" "Yes sir," I replied. "You will refer to me as Captain private, not sir, save that for Mortus, the leader of the Brotherhood here," he indicated to the marine in jet black armour, "It true you were an engineer in your old regiment private?" "Yes Cap'n" "Our engineer died two years ago, we need some expertise here. I want you to open the hanger doors and open the door from here into the hanger. Think you can do it?" "Yes Cap'n" "Then what are you standing around for? Hop to it on the double private."
I walked up to the interface and typed in my access code. The screen flashed red. Access denied. I tried again. Access denied.
"Cap'n what's the password?" I called out. "Enter in seven, eight, four, dash, alpha, omega, zeta."
I typed in the password and hit the enter key again. The screen flashed green once and a list of options were displayed on the screen. I scanned through the list of options, searching for security. Found it. I opened it up and saw that all the data was corrupted. "Damn it," I thought. Opening up the panel underneath the controls I pulled out one of the circuit boards indicated as carrying the security data. As I scanned the board and began work fixing it, a broad shouldered marine in yellow armour came up to me. He spoke in a deep voice. "Welcome to beta squad kid, good luck. You're gonna need it. I'm Kerron. I shot those grunts for you with a rocket launcher as you were falling, remember. That's the sort of work I do, I'm the heavy weapons specialist. The girl in the blue armour is our pilot, damn hell of a good one too. Her name is Aika. The guy in black is Mortus, although the captain already told you that. Noone here knows his real name and his background is surrounded in mystery. They say he once served with the Master Chief himself. That would be an honour. Vallen and Aart are the marines in green. They're good soldiers. Pyrrhus you've already met, he's slightly over enthusiastic. You've also met Vix, the doctor. She gives me the creeps." He looked like he was going to continue speaking, but his introduction to the squad was abruptly halted by Aart.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" he cried, "Alpha squad's on the monitors and they're getting' fucking slaughtered. We can't just sit around here, we gotta do sommin."
I turned away from the console and focused my gaze on the central monitor. The scene before my eyes was horrifying. I knew there was nothing we could do to save them, so I looked at the screen just hoping they would find a way to survive.
Alpha squad had been backed into a corner of the dock and around them an enormous number of elites had gathered. All were armed with plasma swords. If they could just keep them back they would survive. The four marines at the front loaded their shotguns and fired round after round into the elite line. As each shot hit the covenant parts of their body just seemed to explode and the elite collapsed dead. The first elite reached the marines and with several quick slices of his sword the marines fell into strips before its feet. Other elites soon followed suit and only one marine remained. It was their sergeant. The elites marched upon him slowly, almost gloating in their victory. I watched, horrified as he clasped his hands together and began muttering something on his knees. He was praying. In his last few moments just before the elites reached him he leapt from his knees into the group. I caught a glimpse of what he was carrying and foolishly cried out, "Nooooo, its not worth it!" even though I knew it was impossible for him to hear me. The frag grenade between his hands exploded and the blast wave seemed to flow out in slow motion. The monitor turned to static.
"Come on men, there's nothing we can do for them now. Lets get moving people and get out of here as quick as possible. The structural integrity is failing and the building's going to collapse," the captain shouted.
Quickly I returned to the console and with a boost of energy I unlocked all the doors in the station. There was a bang at the door behind us.
"They're breaking through, she just can't take the pressure cap'n." Balton shouted as he ran towards us and through the door. Everyone quickly followed as the door burst from its hinges and the piled debris scattered the room.
"Keep it moving people, they're right behind us," the captain shouted as we ran.
We ran through a long corridor until we reached the hanger. We scurried across the demolished room towards the Pelican.
"Hop in people," cried Aika.
The Pelican began to lift of the ground and we leapt into the back. The waves of heat from the engines could be seen over the floor of the hanger providing a hazy view of what was happening below. Grunts burst through the doors and ran into the bay shooting their plasma pistols at the ship. Soon after two hunters charged in stomping on the grunts to make their way towards the ship, the grunts were instantly killed in this act. What do you know? The hunters killed more Covenants than we had so far. One had armed in its hand a plasma wave gun.
"Uhhh, we should really get outta here, that thing doesn't look like it wants tea and a friendly conversation," I shouted over the noise of the engines. "Aika take us out of here, go to these coordinates," the captain told Aika and handed her a data-pad. "Hold on guys we're in for some chop," Aika shouted.
Just then two plasma bursts were fired from the wave gun. The huge balls of energy headed for the ship. I could feel the immense heat of their power. They were coming right for us.
To Be Continued ...
Footnotes: -
Hope you like the chapter, please review and tell me what you think of it. If you have any cliché phrases could you please leave them as well, or Pyrrhus will run out of things to say. Sorry about the Latin added in but I'm doing my Latin A-Level at the moment. The next chapter will be posted soon. Keep reading and have fun (.
Sanguine = Blood Mortus = Death Pyrrhus = Flame haired one
Thanks to anyone who has reviewed my story so far, if you wish for a minor part in the story just send me an e-mail with a name and personality on it. Thanks again (