Again, the lift started, heading upwards. At about mid-trip, I muttered, "It's like one of those old-fashioned horror movies. They are going up the elevator, and it stops, and the creatures come in through the opening in the top . . ." We both looked up. A suspicious green liquid was beginning to drip onto the floor.
We stopped on the bridge level. The doors opened, and we stepped through. The halls were dark, the lights flickering, but the enemy apparently hadn't arrived here yet. Daniels took point, holding his battle rifle in a ready stance. I regretted taking only the Magnum; it wouldn't do much good.
Daniels stopped at the corner, and peeked around the bend. "Holy shit," he whispered. I poked my head out. It was another lift, or had been. The walls around it were covered in sticky red blood. It appeared that a lift had arrived and two humans had exploded. The lift was no where to be found, but a broken cord in the shaft was failing to look innocent.
"Keep moving. They'll be up that shaft any moment now, and I don't want to be around when they do," I admitted. Daniels nodded, and we proceeded down the corridors, following the pointing arrows on the floor that told the directions. After a few minutes of wondering the hallways, we came to an area where the lighting was working. A final arrow, saying 'BRIDGE' pointed toward a bulkhead on the other side of the room. A few plants in pots decorated the bleak chamber.
We walked quickly to the bridge. Daniels banged heavily on the blast door, saying, "This is Second Lieutenant Daniels. Our position was overrun a few minutes ago. Open the doors, please."
There was a brief pause, and I supposed they were checking the camera that was positioned conspicuously in the corner of the ceiling. The doors pulled back, and we entered the bridge.
Terminals and computers were everywhere. I had been here once or twice before, so I wasn't surprised. Some techs remained at their positions, some sleeping, and a few Marines stood guard. The colonel sat in the captain's chair, swiveling and humming animatedly. I blinked once or twice, and trotted to the weapons station to exchange my Magnum for something more powerful. Daniels walked to the camera station.
After selecting two SMGs, putting the Magnum in my belt with a few extra clips, and strapping an old MA5B Individual Combat Weapons System assault rifle to my back, I walked up the most sensible-looking person on the bridge: a woman in her twenties, wearing the standard grey unisex uniform of a bridge officer. Her hair was tied back in a bun, but despite that hair-do's fierce reputation that associated it with uptight librarian, she was still very pretty.
"Yes, Marine?" She said, turning towards me.
My cheeks flushed embarrassingly. "Yeah, um, do you know what we're fighting?" I asked, trying to remember why I had initially come up to her.
She cocked her head to the side and smiled knowingly, in the manner that women do. Beckoning, the officer led me to the camera stations. Daniels was gone now, probably getting some Z's before the aliens arrived.
"You are?" She asked, as we walked the floor of the bridge.
"Corporal Nathan Price, ma'am."
"Charmed, I'm sure. Alicia Hartman. I'm an ensign, just got assigned to the In Amber Clad a few days before Earth was attacked." I nodded.
We arrived at the camera consoles. Alicia pointed to one, just under the top right view screen. It showed Commons A-01, where several of the creatures lumbered about. She pointed to the smallest of the three different things.
"We got a communication from Commander Keyes' squad a while ago. She managed to send us some information from the Forerunner databanks.
"They are called Flood. Apparently, the Pillar of Autumn's crew encountered them on the last Halo, where the shipboard AI got some info on them, too. The smallest, these ones," she pointed again, "are called Infection Forms, the largest entity the Flood can create without directly using another's biomass. These use the bodies of their victims as hosts, and thus becoming Combat Forms." She pointed at the bipedal creatures I had encountered earlier. "They are the rapidly transformed from their former selves, and the host's brain is chemically shut down except for autonomic systems, keeping the body technically 'alive' as it is converted and used. The Flood has access to everything in the victim's body, including memories and skills.
"The final phase of the Flood's life cycle is the Carrier Form. It is created by using hosts of insufficient biomass, such as Grunts, Jackals, or Drones, or by Combat Forms too damaged to be of any use. The Carrier Form always has several Infection Forms within its interior. They explode when near a victim, releasing the spores and sometimes disabling the victim."
"I've seen some Combat Forms that look like humans. Can they only use humans?" I asked.
"No, they can use Elites, too.
I paused, and she looked up, studying me. I tried not to blush, and I was getting frustrated with myself very quickly because of that. This Alicia was having an adverse effect on me.
Suddenly, a tech ran up. "Ma'am, I think the colonel's lost it. I can't get into contact with any of the remaining security stations, and the non-combat personnel bunk areas are silent. Most of the cameras have been shut down in those areas, too."
I took a step toward the tech. "I saw a broken lift shaft on the way here. The Flood could easily crawl up that, if you ask me."
"I'll check the cameras," the tech said, obviously one that didn't trust Marines very well. I turned away, glancing at the ensign; her face was set in a determined grimace. I stepped away from her, and began to reconnoiter the bridge. If we were going to come under attack, self-preservation was at the top of my list, and I would need a place to hide if the ship was taken over.