I don't own Killzone, I just liked the game and the plot behind it. I'm simply a fan who felt like trying to write something about it. That's my disclaimer.
It's my first story, so it could suck, but maybe not. I don't know, you tell me.
The day had started out somewhat nice. The sun had risen and turned the sky a nice shade of deep red, streaks of yellow cutting through the clouds that hovered overheard. Captain Ryan Dannis didn't even notice it as he gripped his hand tighter against the roll cage of the Rumbler as it roared through the criss-crossing dirt roads. Squads of ISA marines jogged throughout the fire base. Some moving to cover positions, some moving towards one of the dozens of bunk houses to get the allotted six hours of sleep. Fire Base September was on high alert. The Corporal behind the wheel of the Rumbler eased it to a stop in front of the command bunker, but Dannis was out before the wheels even had a chance to stop moving.
At Twenty-seven, Dannis was older than most of the other grunts on the base and was definitely older that the men and women under his command. His dirty combat boots kicked up red dusts as he made his way to the entrance to the command bunker. The camouflage uniform he wore was dirty and dusty, his M-82 Assault Rifle slung over his shoulder. Two HE frag grenades hung clipped to the front of the combat mesh on his flack jacket and a M4 handgun hung strapped against his thigh. The two guards standing in front of the bunker's heavy steel doors saluted as Dannis walked past them, stopping at the check in point. Dannis was the career marine. He signed up on his sixteenth birthday and never looked back. His hair cropped closely to his head, Dannis looked like he had walked straight off a recruitment poster. Warn, torn, and always ready to fight.
Another guard checked his ID pass and pressed a series of coded buttons on the panel standing outside the blast doors. With an electronic beep followed by a low hissing, the massive steel doors slowly slid open, the bright, white, light from the florescent lights and filtered air was a stark contrast to the low red light and dusty, dirty air found outside the bunker. Dannis's heavy boots clanked against the steel floor as he made his way deep underground into the bunker.
General Peter Wallin stood in the command center, grinding an unlit cigar between his clenched jaw. Noise was flooding in around him. He stood carefully filtering only the important information. Fire Bases Navasto and Wingtoll stood at high alert. They along with September were the main defenses to Vortis, the capital city of Planet Vekta. A storm was forming in the East. A Com-tech turned to Wallin.
"General, the briefing center is ready, sir."
At Fifty-four, Wallin was a stark contrast to the young faces sitting all around him. His gray hair was cut closely to his head, and a mustache of a brighter gray sat over his mouth. A M4 pistol was strapped to him in a shoulder holster, his fatigues wore none of the countless medals that he had been awarded. Wallin slowly scratched the scar that ran down the left side of his face, only covered a few inches by the eye patch over what was his left eye. The doctors had said they could replace the eye, but Wallin wanted none of it. It was a constant reminder of why he had to be toughest, roughest son of a bitch in the ISA Command. He was one a very few left who had fought in the Helghan War. He always wanted to remember the enemy and what they could be like. Slowly turning he left the command center and walked through a pair of doors. In the next room three colonels and eighteen captains stood in unison, saluting immediately as he walked into the room.
"At ease. Have a seat"
The 21 other marine men and women sat in the steel chairs facing forward. Another Com-tech sat at a computer in the corner of the room.
"Generals Garris and Louka are ready sir."
"Put them up."
The wall in front of Wallin slowly flickered and different screens began to light up. Two other generals, one male, one female, both younger than Wallin came up on two of the screens. Both saluted immediately. Wallin saluted back, then began to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as you all have no doubt noticed, I have put us all on high alert as of 2100 hours last night. ISA Central Command has lost contact with the cruisers Madia and Lukabi. They were patrolling on the outer reaches of Sector 82."
A few of the faces in the room suddenly went sullen, each and every person listening knowing that Sector 82 was the very edge of ISA Federated Territory. Beyond that belonged to the Helghast.
"And so, until further notice, we are staying on high alert."
Wallin turned to look at the two generals on the screens behind him, but the Com-tech suddenly stood up. Every head turned to look at him.
"General Wallin! Priority transmission from Orbital Alpha!"
Without waiting for the order, the Tech punched the transmission up onto the screen. A young Captain appeared on the screen.
"--Repeat--Helghast cruisers and troop ships have jumped out of hyperspace and are incoming! Planetary defenses have failed!"
The screen suddenly rocked and an alarm somewhere within Orbital Defense Station began ringing. The Captain quickly began typing on the keyboard in front of him.
"I am transmitting the coordinates of all sighted crafts. I…I don't know how many there are, but they just keep com--"
The transmission suddenly cutout. The Com-tech typed on the keyboard.
"Transmission's gone, sir…looks like the whole station is gone…"
Wallin slowly ground the cigar in his mouth.
"Ladies and gentlemen, get to it. And good luck."
Immediately everyone in the briefing room stood and ran out. Wallin turned to Garris and Louka.
"General Garris, I want as much hardware in the air as possible, right now."
"I've scrambled Firefoxes and Guiders, sir. The Warhawks are loading up as we speak."
The sounds of explosions slowly began to bleed in through the comms.
"Louka, armor. Everything needs to be pushed to the battle lines as soon as possible."
"Copy that, General."
"Good luck you two."
The two generals nodded on the screens before their transmissions cut out. Wallin took the cigar out of his mouth and dropped it to the floor, then turned and walked back into the Command center. It was going to get a lot worse, real fast.
Dannis jogged through the Command bunker heading towards the surface. Running through the blast doors, Dannis squinted in the sudden change of light. The rest of the captains flowed out from the bunker behind him, followed closely by the colonels. The guards standing outside the bunker, stepped inside, then sealed the blast doors shut behind them. Dannis climbed into the Rumbler, his driver now looking scared shitless.
"Back to the perimeter. NOW!"
Dannis felt the jeep rock suddenly and spun around. Master Sergeant Walker Tombs had jumped into the rear of the Jeep and grabbed hold of the Chaingun mounted onto the roll cage.
"What took you so long, Tombs."
"Just waiting for you, sir."
Dannis grinned as the driver slammed the gas pedal down, spinning the tires before catching traction and roaring off. Marines were pouring out from bunkers and houses, all sprinting to get to their posts. Looking up into the darkening sky, a dull, almost hum could be heard over the engine of the Rumbler. Suddenly, busting through the clouds, massive Helghast ships emerged. Dannis registered them as more and more began coming through the low atmosphere. They were carriers, lots of them. Almost immediately anti-air missiles began launching from sites dotted throughout the Fire Base. Explosions began blooming off the ships as they lowered towards the ground. Aircraft began streaming out of ports on each of the ships.
"Why aren't you firing?"
The corporal was starting to panic. Dannis, not really wanting to deal with it, ignored the kid. Obviously not having any effect of the captain, the corporal began screaming at Tombs.
"C'mon, fire!"
Tombs calmly looked down at the corporal.
"There's no point in wasting ammo at something that is way the fuck out my range. We're going to need every bullet we have."
The corporal just gripped the wheel tighter and banked hard, sliding the Rumbler around another corner. Dannis reached forward and lifted the com-unit off the dash.
"Alpha 5-38, this is Rumbler 23, copy?"
Static filled the earpiece, but a voice slowly made it's way through.
"Rumbler 23, this is Alpha 5-38. Good to hear your voice, sir."
It was Sergeant Ellana Routico. Her voice was strained as she yelled into her portable com-unit.
"Alpha 5-38, ETA in five minutes. I want everyone fully armed with as much ammo as possible."
"Copy, sir. Way ahead of you. Davatos, Lincoln, Revs, and Ouyli are preparing the men."
"Copy."
Dannis dropped the com-unit and picked up a pair of binoculars, looking up into the sky. Cutters. Small, one man speed ships were screaming down from the carriers followed closely by a massive number of troop transports. Occasionally a cutter would suddenly veer out of it's trajectory and fly head first into an oncoming missile saving a troop transport. Helghasts were like that. They would gladly sacrafice themselves if it meant that more could live to make it to the ground where they knew they had the advantage. Dannis yelled over his shoulder.
"Getting close, Tombs!"
Anti-aircraft machineguns and artillery began erupting from everywhere. Tracers and small explosions began filling the sky. Helghast aircraft exploded and fell to the ground below, but more continued moving out from the heavy armored carriers. A deafening roar erupted as Tombs pulled the trigger on the chain gun, firing it into the air at any aircraft. Dannis unsung his assault rifle and chambered a round. It was going to be one hell of a fight.
Wallin stood in his spot in the Command Center. Techs ran all around him, screens were filled with images of Helghast ships moving down on top of them.
"Sir, Helghast Cruisers have begun firing!"
Almost as soon as the Tech finished his sentence, explosions could be heard overhead. The lights of the bunker occasionally flickered with an explosion, but Wallin knew that they would be safe from the fire. He was far to busy concentrating on the unfolding war.
Images of civilians pouring out of buildings in the city and moving into bomb shelters filled some screens. ISA marines taking up positions on the perimeter filled more.
"Concentrate as much missile fire as we can on the Cruisers, let the machineguns and artillery worry about the drop ships."
A screen cut to streams of missiles impacting into the side of Helghast cruiser, it's anti-grav systems suddenly failing on the port side of the ship, causing it to cut immediately over, crashing it into another cruiser. The massive explosion erupted in the sky, bringing on cheers from both ground forces and Techs in the Command Center. Wallin just stared, it was far from over.
Dannis watched as what was left of the two cruisers began freefalling to the ground, fire burning from any open ports. Troop transports and Cutters attempted to move, but a number were caught in the falling debris. Troops cheered all around, then continued to fire up into the sky. The jeep skidded to a halt and the three marines jumped out. They jogged to a foxhole and jumped in. Troops were swarming all around them, moving ammo crates and weapons.
"Shit, my rifle!"
The corporal who drove Dannis and Tombs jumped back out of the fox hole and ran back to the jeep. A high pitched scream suddenly cut through the air.
"INCOMING!"
The Cutter screamed through the air, opening with it's guns. The ground kicked up across the foxholes as marines dove for cover. Dannis saw that the corporal had made it to the jeep, but just as a stream of bullets tore into it, erupting it into a fireball, instantly killing him. Dannis gritted his teeth and moved through the foxholes and trenches, moving towards the front of the line, Tombs close behind.
Routico stood against the wall of the trench, her com under her helmet. She was screaming into the unit as Dannis and Tombs came up. Routico looked up at him.
"Sir, we have massive incoming. The Cutters have made it through and are strafing our lines. We have Firefoxes and Guiders on the way. Their transport ships are minutes away from landing. Looks like their going to land outside our perimeter and move in."
"Like a fucking noose."
Tombs squatted across from Dannis, his rifle in between his legs. Dannis sat and stared at him for a moment, then turned to Routico, taking the com.
"All squad leaders report in."
One by one, each of his squads reported in.
"I want all bazookas and M327 Grenade Launchers to the front. NOW!"
Moments later the reports chirped in that each man was in their place.
"Grenadaires, switch all rounds over to proximity. I want six lines one after the other starting three hundred yards out. We're making ourselves a mine field."
Tombs grinned as he kicked open a crate and pulled a M327 Launcher out, sliding six grenades into the revolving chambers. The dull thump noise of the launchers firing filled the air as the grenades flew through the air. Dannis watched as small puffs as dust kicked up as each round impacted on the ground, but didn't explode.
"All launcher crews listen up. You wait until they start touching down, then you light them up. Take as many out before they unload as you can. Once they reach the mine field fall back to your original positions and do what you can. Hit any targets of opportunity."
"Sir, our aircraft are incoming!"
Dannis handed the com back to Routico as Guiders, small, light, fast aircraft, and Firefoxes, more heavily armed, but slow fighters began streaming over head, flying into the oncoming swarm of Helghast fighters. Mid-air dogfights began breaking out across the sky. At first the ISA fighters were pushing the Helghast back, but the sheer numbers of forces coming down on them soon had the tides turning.
Wallin watched as his fighter force fought bravely and as hard as they could against the Helghast, but the Helghast simply had a larger numbers. He knew that he would have to get the much more heavily armored and armed Warhawks into the air. The fresh cigar he put into his mouth was quickly getting ground down to a stub.
"Get me General Garris."
Garris's image appeared on a screen on the computer in front of him.
"Garris."
The image was blurry and fading in and out.
"Yes, sir!"
"Where are my Warhawks?"
"Sir, we've had complications!"
A sudden explosion rocked Garris on the screen.
"A Helghast cruiser has knocked out half of our anti-air defenses. Troop transports were able to land almost immediately. We're holding them off for now, but they've started unloading armor. I'm losing marines left and right."
"Can you get the Warhawks up? If they don't go up, we will lose the air."
"I'll do what I can, sir, but a number of our aircraft have been destroyed."
Wallin chewed his cigar longer.
"Garris, divert as much air headed our way back to you as you can. They must cover you so you can get the Warhawks in the air. Louka will be sending some armor your way. After you get the Warhawks up, I want you to fall back to the city perimeter. Meet up with the City Defense Force and prepare."
Another explosion rocked Garris as she shut her com with Wallin off. Wallin turned to a Tech.
"Send the order to Louka to send a platoon of armor over to Garris. Send some to us, but tell him to keep as much as he can. He'll need it."
Dannis watched the sky as Guiders and Firefoxes began breaking off and moving to the East. Fire Base Wingtoll was in bad shape and needed some help. Dannis silently cursed as his air cover moved off, being chased by a few Cutters. Out in the distant sky, Dannis saw a long dark line stretched out, growing bigger very fast.
"Everybody down!"
The line of Cutters, unloaded, firing straight through the trenches and foxholes. A pillbox to Dannis's left exploded as a round impacted into an ammo crate inside. Marines screamed as rounds tore into them, exploding limbs, torsos, and heads. The Cutters pulled up as anti-air fire began taking them out as they got closer to the Fire Base.
"Fucking hell. Everyone get ready, the troop transports will be next."
The transport ships came down, kicking up massive amounts of dust and dirt creating a haze in the distance. Immediately bazooka rockets fired off from the trenches and explosions could be seen in the haze. Transports lifted off from the ground, but nowhere near as many as landed as more transported descended to unload their troops. More rockets fired off as Dannis pulled up his binoculars and looked into the distance. And there they were.
Emerging out of the dust storm, like demons from hell, out ran the Helghast Infantry. Wearing black from head to toe, except for the glowing yellow goggles allowing their eyes to adjust to the light of this planet. Their breathing masks attached to filters in back allowing them to breathe. They ran, full sprint toward Dannis. He was amazed they could run that fast with the amount of weight they carried. Occasionally a rocket would slam into their line, kicking up blown apart and dead bodies in a massive explosion, but the line kept moving. A single force with a single mindset. To kill everything.
Sliding the binoculars back into the pouch at his back, then lifted his rifle. Slowly moving through the line, he went from squad to squad, making sure they were ready for what was about to come. A sudden explosion caught his attention. Looking up over the trench, he saw the Helghast had made it to the minefield. That had slowed them, but not by much. Opening his com channel to all marines, Dannis raised the rifle to his shoulder.
"Open fire!"
Hundred of marines began firing their rifles. Helghast began falling by bullets, more explosions from the minefields tearing into their ranks. The Helghast opened up with their StA-52 LAR Assault Rifles, but the ISA forces were still a safe distance away from the short range rifles. A pillbox next to Dannis opened fire, it's heavy machinegun roaring to life firing thousands of armor piercing round. The private behind the gun strafed back and forth into the mass of enemy. M327 Launchers thumped again as grenades soared through the air and came down on top of groups of Helghast grouping too close together. Suddenly streams of smoke erupt from within the Helghast ranks, rockets streaming out of launchers. Explosions impacted into the ISA lines. The private firing in the pillbox didn't even see the rocket as it slammed into the side of box, erupting it into an explosion sending his body flying into the air.
Dannis fired into the Helghast, taking down a few with his clip of thirty rounds. Ducking down into the trench, changing his clip out, he glanced around taking stock of what was around him. Dead marines lay in pools of blood around him. He saw at the end of the Routico sat leaning against the wall, blood pouring from where her arm used to be attached to her shoulder. A medic rushed to her and started to work on her, but Dannis knew she was dead. Slamming a fresh clip home and chambering a round, Dannis stood next to Tombs who was firing of grenades from his launcher.
"We're taking a lot of them down, but there's so fucking many of them."
Dannis reached to the trigger under the front grip and pulled, sending a grenade firing out.
"We do whatever we can."
The grenade impacted killing a few more Helghast. A rocket flew forward and impacted into the ground in front of Dannis and Tombs, the concussion sending them back first into the opposite wall. Shaking his head Tombs, stood dropping the now empty M327 Launcher and lifting his rifle up. Dannis stood up, his ears ringing, and started firing again.
The Helghast had made they're way through the minefield and had reached the sea of crisscrossed razor wire separating the trenches of ISA against the mass of infantry trying to get to them. Unhooking grenades, the Helghast popped the pins and hurled them through the air. Landing in the wire, the explosions cut giant, jagged holes, opening the way. Helghast poured through the openings. Dannis opened his com.
"Concentrate all fire on the holes! Try to bottle them up!"
Missiles screamed over head, impacting into the mass of Helghast, sending bloody and charred pieces flying, but the Helghast never stopped. Continuous replenished by the nonstop troop transports, they continued pressing. Dannis and Tombs fired their grenades off, sending them into a group of Helghast who had made it through the hole and went for the trenches, cutting them off and killing them. Dannis swerved his head when the screaming finally reached his ears. Cutters jumped down from the sky, going straight down the trench lines, blasting the guns. It was all that was needed. With the momentary lull in fire coming at them, the Helghast immediately rushed forward, making it into the trenches.
The ISA had lost the range advantage they had with their rifles and began fighting in trench warfare. Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, Dannis lifted a pump shotgun from a crate and tossed another to Tombs. Tombs caught it and slung his own rifle, spinning just in time to blast a hole into a Helghast jumping into the trench. Explosions began trembling the ground as grenades began going off sporadically throughout the trenches, both from ISA and Helghast. Dannis and Tombs began moving through the trenches, guns at the ready.
General Wallin stared at the screen. The lines had been broken. The Helghast had made it into the perimeter. The sea of black running through the trenches, stopping occasionally to spray into a pillbox with their guns began filling the screen. Wallin turned to a Tech.
"Open up the channel to ground forces."
Dannis slowly made his way to the corner of the trench and peaked around. Three Helghast stood firing over the side of the trench at ISA troops further back. Pulling a grenade from his vest, Dannis pulled the pin and watches the lights on the side of the grenade begin to blink on. Waiting until the last second, Dannis spun and chucked the grenade around the corner. The Helghast spun when they saw him, but the grenade exploded almost immediately while still in midair, cutting their bodies in two.
"C'mon, let's tr--"
Dannis was cut off as his earpiece crackled to life.
"Attention all ISA ground forces…"
It was Wallin.
"…I am giving the order to pull back. Make your way back to the main Fire Base perimeter. Repeat, pull back."
The radio went dead again. Dannis looked at Tombs, who just stared back at him. The two men turned and started jogging through the trenches.
The Helghast moved like they all had one mind. Coming around corners, not even slowing down and simply opening up with their StA-52 LAR Assault Rifles, emptying fifty round barrel clips at a time into any fleeing marines. Nothing was going to stop them.
Spinning around another corner, Dannis and Tombs suddenly found themselves facing a ground of five Helghast. The Helghast turned and began opening fire as Dannis and Tombs ducked behind boxes on either side of the trench. Bullets tore into the ground and boxes. Tombs began blindly firing the shotgun around the side of his cover. At least one Helghast went down, his gurgled sounds muffled by the gasmask over his face. Dannis fired his shotgun, but soon found himself out of ammo. Dropping the empty gun, Dannis pulled his last grenade, popped it, let it cook, then lobbed it over his cover. The Helghast let out a small yell for cover before the explosion kicked up dirt, sending it raining down over on Dannis and Tombs.
Pulling the rifle from his shoulder, Dannis stood up and scanned the scene in front of them. Four bodies lay on the ground, mostly in pieces. Stepping forward, Dannis spun suddenly as a blur of movement came around the corner. He raised his rifle, but not fast enough as the Helghast fired his IvP-18 Tropov pistol. The three round burst, slammed into Dannis sending him back first to the dirt. Tombs stared as the Helghast for a split second, taking in the sight of a the seven foot tall trooper. He had apparently been caught in the grenade explosion due to the fact that his left arm was blown clean off. Blood ran down his side, but it seemed as if the Helghast didn't even notice that he was missing a limb. Tombs fired his shotgun, but was just wide, then pumped the gun and pulled the trigger, but the gun clicked empty. The Helghast lifted his pistol to fire, but soon the click signaled that he too was empty. Dropping the pistol to the ground the Helghast stared at Tombs, then slowly reached to his back and unsheathed a combat knife. Tombs quickly dropped his shotgun and started to pull his rifle down, but the knife cut through the air and slammed into his chest, going clean through his flak jacket. Tombs stared down at the knife handle as he felt blood slowly start to rise and trickle out of his mouth. Falling to his knees, Tombs looked up as the Helghast slowly moved forward, reaching to the ground and picking up a rifle from one of the dead bodies that littered the dirt. Lifting the rifle with his one arm the Helghast fired, blowing Tombs head off of his shoulders.
Tombs corpse fell to the ground and the Helghast suddenly spun, but felt the three bullets slam into his side and shoulder. The Helghast stumbled back against the dirt wall and moved forward again, but three more round into his head dropped him to the ground. Dannis lowered his M4 pistol to his side. His face was cut in different places form where the shrapnel of his gun exploding in his arms went into his face. He couldn't open one eye and he felt as though he would blackout at any moment. Sitting with his back against the trench wall, he stared at Tombs's dead body.
He heard someone coming around the corner and raised his pistol to fire, it shaking in his grip. Three ISA marines ran around the corner and slid to a stop. Dannis dropped his pistol. He recognized one of them, Private McNaro. McNaro stared at him for a moment, then came forward and slowly pulled Dannis up to his feet, putting an arm around him to steady him.
"We need to go, sir. General Wallin's about to close this place down."
McNaro helped Dannis forward as the two other marines took the lead, rifles at the ready. It seemed to take forever. There were Helghast around every corner. At one point the marines ran out of ammo and had to lift of Helghast rifles off of corpses to continue to fight. They picked up a few more marines who were still alive and fighting before they made it into a larger group of marines who were making a stand at the entrances to the trenches. The McNaro got Dannis to a medic who starting going to work on him. Dannis turned to a Com-tech squatting next to him.
"Who's in charge?"
The Tech looked at him, then looked at his rank insignia.
"That would be you, sir."
"Great. Give me your com."
Dannis took the com and opened the channel.
"To all ground forces, I need a sit-rep. Where do we stand on the evac?"
People began coming over the radio. Most were panicky and yelling. Dannis got the jist of the information. Marines dead and dying. Helghast moving forward, getting closer and closer. There was one choice.
"Fall back to the Fire Base."
Marines moved to blast doors that went into the walls of the firebase. The doors opened and marines began pouring in, carrying injured and dying. Dannis watched outside the doors and listened as the marines reported in that they were in the Fire Base and the blast doors were closed.
A dull rumble suddenly cut through noise of battle around them. Looking up into the sky, a line of Warhawks streaked through the sky and began unloading missiles and dropping bombs into the trenches that now were filled with Helghast. Giant fireballs rose into the air and the smell of cooking flesh filled the air. Stepping behind the blast doors as they slowly slid shut, cutting the heat blasts from the explosions off. Dannis turned and went into the nearest building making his way to a Com terminal. He punched a few buttons and stated his code. A screen lit up with Wallin's face.
"General, all remaining marines a secured in the Fire Base, sir."
"You look like hell, Captain, but look who you're talking to. I know, I listened in. As soon as I heard I sent in the Warhawks."
Explosions rocked the building. Wallin slowly ground his cigar in his mouth.
"This is going to get a whole lot worse I'm afraid."
"We'll fight'em, sir."
"It's not the fight I'm worried about. It's the win. Get back to the Command Bunker after you deal with the medics. You've just been promoted."
"Yes, sir."
The screen went blank as Dannis turned and walked back out. Explosions filled the sky as artillery and missiles continued to fire into the air. The war had begun and Dannis sure as shit wasn't going to let the gas masked freaks win.