1304 hours July 17th, 2554 (military calendar)
Epsilon Eridani System, Planet Harvest
Guarded route to city New Catalina, Coagulation
It is Year 2554; the Covenant Hierarchy is getting extremely impatient with their delays of the destruction of Earth. Harvest, a planet once lost to the Covenant has been restored to its former glory under the Covenant radar, and now is the military outpost that is twice as much as Reach had been, producing the deadliest ships in the UNSC's Fleet.
It is now, however, discovered and is a primary target to the Covenant. Battles now rage in orbit around Earth and Harvest. The humans' counterattack took the alien race by surprise, and now, with more morale than ever, the humans understand that they have a fighting chance.
A few miles off the border of New Catalina, lay the interception route called 'Coagulation' by its marine inhabitants. The site was a large canyon with a collapsed wall facing the north, opposite of the city. Two bases sat on either end, with underground tunnels connecting the two; both were well protected by AA guns that were randomly scattered along the canyon's length.Inside the base, the marines were performing the same routine they did everyday, completely oblivious to the fact that a Covenant assault wave was coming towards Harvest.
"Shit," complained a dark haired PFC Latvia Canings as she slapped the cards down on the table "I only got a pair."
Another blond marine tagged Gun. Sgt. J.D. Damien, laughed aloud as he tossed his cards on to the table "Don't feel bad, I just lost thirty-six bullets for my battle rifle! I got nothing in my hand."
That left two more marines left, a dark-tanned, black haired Mexican called Corporal Manne Toledo, and the light-hearted carrot cropped Lieutenant Dante Sinclair. "If you wanna bet now boy, do it." Sinclair mocked, smiling as he eyed the pile of bullets. He pulled out two BR55 cartridges and added them to the small mountain pile.
The Corporal had played well all game and was holding on to his last two cartridges. He pulled out two cartridges as well "I meet your seventy-two bullets, lay it down, I've got a Flush, sir!"
The Lieutenant gave a short-laugh "I've got a Straight, read 'em and weep!" he pulled the pile toward him.
Manne rocked the chair with his hands buried in his face "That's bu' shit, man! How the hell did I lose with a Flush?"
J.D. replied, "Because you SUCK! Ha-ha-ha!"
"Two words, pal: Fuck and you." Manne snorted, lifted himself up and walked over to the wall and peeked around the corner "Where the hell is Kyle, eh? Shouldn't he be working radar?"
"No, I told him to go underground and head to the barracks and work radar there, knowing the barracks their probably partying their very own asses off and not paying attention. Don't worry I'm expecting confirmation of his arrival any minute now." Dante replied.
"Oh." said Manne, taking a swig of his canteen, which was actually full of alcohol.
J.D. grunted as he sat down " Whose up for another round?"
"Hold on a sec, while I check on the snipers." Dante went around the corner engaged in a conversation.
"I'm outta bullets," Latvia complained, then blinked as J.D. handed her three cartridges "Thanks, where'd you get the bullets?"
"El-Tee's pile." J.D. smiled, winking.
Dante came around the corner and sat down "Snipers are okay, let's play!"
There was a clank as metal struck metal "What the hell was that?" Latvia said, looking over her shoulder at the trap door leading to the tunnels "No one saw anything did they?"
"Probably the guys in the next room over," J.D. suggested grinning over his hand "The techies probably crashed something."
Everyone at the table but her was drooling over their hands.
Latvia glanced uncertainly at the trap door, and then shrugged "Whatever."
And the marines' normal routine continued.
Lance Corporal Kyle Vernon cursed as the lights short-circuited in the eerie tunnels that connected the two bases. Kyle never liked the accursed stretch anyway, it was way to creepy, and the distant groan of the pipes made him extremely uncomfortable. He fumbled for his flashlight and flicked it on, continuing through. He forced himself to whistle as his boots clanking on the metal plates was adding to the mountain of creepiness.
In the distance, he heard another pare of feet come slowly towards his direction. Kyle's tension decreased at the thought of another man down here other than himself. He turned his flashlight in that direction. Nothing.
Kyle cocked an eyebrow. Whipping the flashlight around he turned behind him. Nothing still. Sweat began to bead on his lip. If there was footsteps, and no one to see, that meant. Kyle froze. Camouflaged Elites.
The footsteps stopped. Kyle turned…and came face to face with an Elite that was slowly revealing itself from camo.
"Shit."
The Elite gripped his neck; Kyle's BR55 rifle made a crash on the floor, and the creatures stubs that surrounded the creatures' mouth parted in a smile as a plasma rifle came point-blank to his face.
"Game over." Kyle gulped his last words.
The last thing he saw was a bright blob in his face.
Iso 'Kulamee dropped the halved faced marine on the floor in a mocking tone, disappearing into his camouflage he swept the remaining visible area with his plasma rifle before continuing to speak into his communicator "The connection is secure, we can begin our operations as planned."
"Excellent," a gruff voice of a Brute answered the transmission "Without the connection, the humans cannot reach each other in secrecy. Excellent work 'Kulamee, you may report to the surface and meet in the designated area."
"Thank you, Katarakt." 'Kulamee replied with distaste.
The Brute, Katarakt, was the second chief of the Brutes, took over the operation when the Elite commander had an "accident" of some sort. Kulamee knew well that the "accident" was Katarakt's doing, but, for the safety of his Elite's, kept his mouth shut. There was no need to die this early in domination.
He continued his sweep of the tunnel for several minutes, forming a hasty plan "Deploy my Elites a few miles away from the entrance of the canyon, they will enter at the collapsed wall and we will take the base at the far side, disabling their communication before the get a chance to call for help. After which we will use their own tunnels to attack from below."
"My Brutes will attack when your signal is given. We will ride over the base, make a short bombardment during deployment, then retreat to the forest cover."
"Excellent, if we proceed as planned, nothing should go askew," 'Kulamee replied, "I shall be counting on you."
"Very good," Katarakt snarled with mock pleasure "Very good indeed. You're Elites shall arrive in twenty minutes, can you wait until then?" the mocking still stayed.
"Twenty minutes is all I'll need," Kulamee replied, leaning on the wall. All of a sudden, the wall fell backward, like cardboard, making a muffled thud as it hit the dirt with 'Kulamee's combined body mass. Dust blew up like a smokescreen, 'Kulamee suppressed a cough, rolled over, then swept the area with his plasma rifle before proceeding. When 'Kulamee emerged, his head poked out into a cave with exits on either end.
He went to the lip of the cave and peeked around the corner. He could see just about the whole canyon, including the collapsed wall where his Elite's were to be deployed "I'm going to meet my Elite's at the lip of the canyon, tell them to look out for me."
"Very well." Katarakt replied.
'Kulamee turned on his camouflage and sprinted for the edge of the canyon.
Sniper Tyson Kerstin slowly stretched, yawned, and resumed looking through his scope at x5 like he had been doing for the better part of the day. He itched his arm, glancing over at his other three companions that were completely focused on the area's they had been designated to scan. "Fucking zombies…" Tyson muttered.
He caught a quick glance of something somewhere, and fumbled with is rifle to catch it, but it that instant, the thing he thought he saw, disappeared, and all that remained was the empty plains of Coagulation. Tyson rubbed his eyes, trying to catch the object again. "Hmmm." Tyson grunted his interest was now piqued.
"What?" asked his companions in unison, all coming off their aimers at the exact same time.
"Nothing," Tyson replied "Nothing but shadows. Must be the heat."
'Kulamee cursed ducking behind a hill just before he was spotted. He hadn't realized that snipers had been positioned on the top of the base. Once again swearing at his lack of focus, he took a more stealthy approach to his destination. Flattening himself against the grass he started to roll over until the hill dipped into a small ditch. He gazed at the ditch, then the snipers. Seeing it as OK, he crouched/jogged through the trench, making sure to keep his head as low as possible without stumbling, he rolled over a quick incline and into another hole.
'Kulamee took in a large breathe of air before peering over the edge of the lip of the hole. Snipers still didn't suspect him. All was as planned. He glanced at the opening of the canyon where his Elites were to be deployed. Just above the trees he could see the bulbous Phantom drop ship, keeping lower than it should have been.
'Kulamee reluctantly thanked Katarakt for his cooperation. The remaining ground to cover was nothing but a field. 'Kulamee hesitated. If he were caught the operation would be a failure. Glancing at the snipers for a final time, 'Kulamee elongated his legs beyond their length and took off for the opening of the canyon. With nothing but grass to cover it would be an easy sprint. The wind howled past his camouflaged form, his feet seemed to hover over the ground as grass was crushed under his hooves.
The canyon edge was only a few yards away, but 'Kulamee could risk much more exposure; so he dived behind the cover of some jagged rocks a few feet from the lip of the canyon. The rocky cover would be excellent for his team's infiltration.
"I'm at the entrance, where is my team?" 'Kulamee demanded.
"Your team," Katarakt replied "is on their way, they should there momentarily."
As if on cue, seventeen mirage-like figures took place by his side "My lord, we are prepared for combat, all we require is your word."
"Excellent work my friend," 'Kulamee answered "If 'Putomee can establish a foothold to the north, and we establish ground here, we will have the successful amount of force to overcome this abomination!" he growled.
The Elites gave a hushed cheer "Let us show these infidels true power! We shall proceed stealthy until we reach the far side where their communications are linked as the barracks has many soldiers and we do not want to risk losing men this early in the operation."
"What about Katarakt's men?" asked an Elite "How do we know they won't ruin this operation?"
"I am fully aware of what he is most likely to do if we succeed or if we fail," 'Kulamee reasoned "I know he is worse than Tartarus the Brute chief-tan himself, but I know the council won't stand for it. Let us proceed!"
All seventeen Elites made a run towards the base dodging in and out of cover as they went. 'Kulamee smiled as the operation carried on.
"Sunnuva…. Arrrrgh!" Manne shouted in disbelief as he tossed the cards behind him "You still win even after that freaking hand? That is unbelievable."
Sinclair smiled "All luck." He said, pulling the pile of bullets further to his now enormous mountain of projectiles.
J.D. lifted himself up with a grunt "Well, I'm going to head topside for some fresh air." He said, whipping out a box of cigarettes.
Latvia snarled, "That's not fresh air you imbecile, that's death in a stick."
J.D. lit one as he went upstairs, calling back "Tastes like fresh air to me."
Latvia shook her head, standing up; I'm taking the tunnels to the other base. I need to check up on the techies anyhow. Catch you later- Hey, the lights short-circuited, I'll have to get them back in working order."
"I'm coming with you," Dante said, standing up "Kyle, hasn't reported in yet, I need to see if anything happened."
"Suit yourself." Latvia hopped into the tunnel with an SMG and a flashlight duct-taped to it.
Dante grabbed a few tools and an SMG then duct-taped a flashlight to it like Latvia had done. Walking to the edge of the tunnel, he saw the light from Latvia's flashlight lash back and forth. Hopping in he gripped the edge and held his head up, addressing Manne before he dropped "Do a search of the rest of the base, make sure everything is in working order. I think there's some trouble brewing."
"Roger." Manne replied.
PFC Latvia Canings proceeded in the dark tunnels knowing her way well. Her flashlight bobbed as he ran, flashing brief images of the worn metal around her. Taking in a quick breath, she stopped and allowed the higher-ranking officer to catch up. Lieutenant Dante Sinclair halted next to her, not even gasping for air.
"Freak," Latvia said as she swept the area with her flashlight before looking back at him, brushing her dark hair from her face "How are you not tired yet?"
Dante glanced back the way they had come, and then looked back at her "You're kidding right? That's nothing compared to what I can actually run."
"Whatever," Latvia muttered, and began to search the wall for a dent "The damn box should be around here somewhere… here!" she inserted her fingers into the dent, then pulled it open.
The worn metal opened, revealing a box with switches and wires in a jumbled bunch. Latvia scanned the wires quickly "Nothing's wrong. Must be the second electric box. Follow me." Her boots clanged on the metal as she walked further into the dark passage.
Dante was close on her heels. They went down the passage another thirty-meters before he stopped her with a firm grip on the shoulder, sniffing the air "It reeks of something in here," He said, walking past her "Hold here."
Latvia watched as the young man preceded only a meter or three, before his foot hit something soft. His flashlight shot down to the floor. Latvia gagged, and Dante's face hardened, whispering "Kyle…"
On the floor was the halved face marine, his body dropped in a mangled heap. The right side of his face was burned away "Plasma burns," Dante snorted, "How the hell did they-"
"The crash," Latvia remembered the clanging noise she had heard when they were playing cards "It wasn't the tech's, it was… those bastard's snuck into our own base? How did they do it without anyone else noticing?"
"I dunno how, but I do give a damn. We didn't bring our helmets did we?"
"No, sir."
"Damn it! We have no comm link," Dante shouted, "We're more than halfway to the far base, we'll continue and warn them. Move, double time! I am so demoted for this…" he muttered.
From now on, Dante Sinclair vowed that the marines evening routine as going to be much different.
…To Be Continued in Chapter 3: Interruption …