Chapter VI : Help us
The fields were covered in charcoal and burning rocks …
The air was filled with smoke and fire…
countless bodies rotting everywhere…
And I am alone here…
As he walked trough the fields he quickly noticed his rifle and grenades were gone. But that didn't stop him , that voice lured him more and more , although it was probably a trap he didn't care , he was determined to find it.
As he entered the mausoleum whispers and screeches could be heard from the darkness , in the center rested the item he seek'd . As he was about to take it , the item warned him of its guardian , a massive figure appeared from the shadows , reflexes kicked in and he quickly took cover from the blasts. Unarmed he didn't stand a chance against it , other figures approached and suddenly he was surrounded.
As all was filled in darkness the voice filled his mind once more.
Help us…
''Chief five minutes to the base , Id thought you wanted to know '' ,- the pilot said by the com and the Chief quickly checked his head display : 4 marines , Spartans 125 ,133 ,147 , 159 , Lt. Hamill and the pilots registered in , on the other pelican 7 other marines traveled next to them , 120 registered KIA.
The Chief remembered how 120 died to finish his opponent, although he was new, he was still part of his team , the Chief cursed himself not being able to safeguard his teammates.
Thought the trip 159 was really quiet , a rare feature in a former ODST who tend to tell obscene jokes with other marines. He was injured as well in the leg , but he withstood the pain well . The Chief opened a link to 159 asking if he was ok , 159 only looked at him and nodded . Maybe he too was thinking of the battle
Meanwhile back at the base:
Four marines guarded the remaining covenant prisoners , this time the marines had full gear , just in case.
Sgt. Johnson entered the brig and directed to the newbie soldier in the group:
''Soldier my boots are dirty , get me that English spitting grunt so that he can lick them up''
''Sorry sarge , I have orders to not open the gate''
''Damn it , open that gate or you are going to be the one who's gonna lick these up''
''Y,yes sir'' the marine answered nervously.
The sarge dragged the grunt known as yapsak trough the base , the grunt could only watch as the sarge whistled all the way , playing with his combat knife,
''Please make quick '' the frightened grunt said.
''What the hell are you talking about , I don't know what the hell you do with those squid head on your free time but don't involve me on some damn grunt gay parade ''- The sarge replied.
After a quick trip they reached the interrogation room where 2 ODST's and Cortana awaited . The grunt was tossed to a chair for interrogation , one ODST attached a small coin-like plaque in the grunt's head.
''Alright here's the thing , the device in your head is a lie detector , but the difference is that when you answer with a lie that little toy will deliver a small charge to your body , so you better play your cards right'' Cortana said to the grunt.
''AHH no need , I tell truth , and my name is Yapsak''
''Well then , question one , you had previously encountered the creatures that attacked us right ¿Where do they come from?''
''Can't tell , elite masters will feed me to the jackals if I do''
Cortana's image looked at the grunts plaque and delivered a small charge , the grunt jumped in pain and changed its mind.
''No more I'll tell , those monsters attacked our crew as we where heading to base , don't know where they from''
''Alright question two ¿how were they able to gain access your ship so easily, and start from the beginning''
The grunt remembered what would happened to him if he lied so he told the whole story:
''All began when we arrived to dirty planet''
'' Grunt bastard , tell that again from our planet with a bullet in your ass'' The sarge yelled at Yapsak.
''Wait sarge let I'm continue'' Cortana replied.
''Our taskmasters ordered us to search place for useless human crap for engineers to look , then found shiny box and quickly took to elite master , then we retreat when outnumbered , on way home some of us disappeared in ship to be found dead, but elite master only locked in room with shiny box , on way demons appeared from everywhere and killed lot of us , when we fought back our master was dead in strange way , then you appeared . That's all I know''.
''And that shiny box your master had , where is it'' , Cortana ask.
'We sealed in field to avoid more monsters'' –yapsak said
''You mean that these damn freaks emerge from a shiny box'' - sgt. Johnson replied
''Me not know , please don't hurt more''
Cortana saw that the grunt didn't had more info so decided to send him back to the brig.
'' You know that those split chins know more , so why don't we bring them to interrogation´´
''Because sarge, the elites would never succumb to torture , they rather die that betray their prophets by helping us, however we need to find that box the grunt said to analyze , sarge. regroup the teams that scavenged the covenant ship for interrogation''.- Cortana said to the sarge.
''Well do but, a lot of them died in the first attacks'' , saying that the sarge left the room.
''Captain you heard all the story the grunt said right ''-Cortana said to the monitor in the room.
''Right Cortana , If that cube has been activated and its on the covenant ship we need to find it and deactivate it , loosing that ship would be a great loss for the UNSC'' , the captain said by the comm.
''Captain , given the situation you should consider in destroying the ship , if it's the origin of the attack , then we must act now before they appear again''.
''I'll consider it '', the captain said in a grin mood as he turned the screen off.
Back at the landing site , eco 513 and 522 returned with the survivors of the previous mission , an irony that the first rescue mission was the one being rescued at the end , the Chief thought.
The marines descended quickly followed by the Spartans and Lt. Hamill.
''Hey we got back , now get out of here '' , the pilot said to 159 in full armor who didn't answered and raised his rifle.
''Hey I'm just kidding pal , jeje'' , the pilot replied thinking that 159 was just playing , but instead he received 13 shots to the body and his co pilot 7 in the head.
The marines quickly checked the pelican to see what happened , but they received a frag surprise that lift them off their feet. Immediately everyone took cover aiming their weapons to the pelican from which a blood stained Spartan emerged feeding his rifle a fresh magazine. The marines couldn't believe what they saw and had no choice to open fire. The Spartan quickly evaded every single shot ,killed a nearby guard and retrieved the corpse shotgun and frags.
The master chief headed as fast as he could to the courtyard and found one of his Spartans killing marines by the second; he opened a comm. to 159:
''Spartan 159 stop immediately, what the hell are you doing, did you hear me stop at once''
159 crushed a marine's lifeless head as every marine watched in horror, then he heard the chief by the comm. ,he looked around to find him near the entrance, he then lifted his rifle and unloaded a full burst to the chief, the chief ducked behind near crates with 2 marines shaking in fear.
''Sir. What are your orders''-the marine barely put together the words as he could only tremble some more, the chief hesitated, unarmed and his shields were down since the battle with the hell knight, he was left with no options.
''I'll try to disarm him, you run for cover ''-the chief ordered.
159 reloaded his shotgun as he continue to receive fire from behind, but his shields were abnormally strong, he inserted the last shell and turned to the crates to fire, but the chief was ready ,he held the shotgun and aimed it to the air, he began to fight for control of the weapon as he continued to yell to 159 to regain sense.
159 let go of his shotgun and punched the chief in the face, his helmet cracked by the force and he slammed into the floor , 159 kicked the shotgun away and readied his assault rifle aiming to the chief's unprotected face, when 125, 133 and 147 gunned him down with shotgun blasts , 159 fell down.
''Are you alright''-147 helped the chief get up , the marines slowly approached the Spartan 159 lifeless body rifles ready in case.
''What happened''-Cortana popped in the chiefs comm.-''Why did he attacked you''
The chief was about to answer when 159 rise again shields at max, he grabbed the chief's neck and started to choke him, the chief was loosing consciousness ,147 rammed the but of the gun to 159 face ,then unleashed a single shell to his face, to her surprise the helmet fell out and revealed a skinless face , blood poured from the armors neck and he marched once again to attack, but a scorpion's shot blow him away.
''Take that you damn cyborg, no offense chief''-the sarge yelled as he emerged from the tank. The master chief approached 159 once again, his torso anyway, rifle ready this time. To his surprise ,the chunk of corpse tried once again to attack, but with no legs and one arm little could the zombie-Spartan do. The chief tried to refuse his own actions but at the end he put a single round into the Spartan's head.
''I killed a Spartan''-The chief said to himself , regretting what he had just done. The last thing he would do was this.
''No you didn't , that thing wasn't a Spartan anymore, you did the right thing''-Cortana said by the com, however the chief didn't feel better.
''Master chief , assemble your squad and head to the command room immediately''-The captain yelled by the comm.
The remaining Spartans and the sarge had just listen to the briefing Cortana had just given them, they were more than pleased to hear it.
''You gotta be kidding me, you're trying to say that when 159 went rogue a few covenant bastards escaped and seized their ship once again.''-The sarge yelled to Cortana.
''Quite so sergeant, however their weapons system is still down, but its shields are up again, and as you can guess, our ships weapons are ineffective against a carrier of that size''
''Probably those boo-bags helped them fix those shields, so it means we don't have much time until they fix their weapons system''-133 replied
''Less than you think, I just intercepted a transmission from the ship to the covenant base in the planet, and I bet its our home address''-Cortana said from her small holo-projector.
''One more reason to take control of the ship and destroy the base at once, chief you'll lead our main force to the covenant base in the planet, while half of your team will assemble a strike force to the carrier, now 125….''
´´With all due respect captain, I would like to lead the strike force to take the carrier back''
´´Chief the base is more protected than the carrier ,and…''
´´Sorry sir but I have to do this, the sarge and 125 can lead the strike force to the base''
''You better let him captain, once he gets his mind set on one thing he doesn't stop''-Cortana said from her small holo panel.
''Strange I don't recall seeing any engineer on board when we captured the covenant ship''-147 replied.
'' Well then its settled, Chief you ,133 and 125 assemble a strike team to take the ship back, sarge take the rest of the Spartans and gather the troops to assault the base ,that will be all, dismissed '' – The captain said as his image vanished from the monitor.
'' Before you leave, meet me at the armory, I have a surprise for you ''-Cortana said as she also banished to wait for them in the armory.
10 minutes later
The Spartans and the sarge had a small tutorial explaining the surprise of Cortana.
'' Well this is Christmas or what, Cortana you should have told us of these weapons before ''-The sarge said as he inspected one of the experimental plasma rifles.
'' Sorry ,but the captain orders were to keep this confidential until the prototypes were ready, now then ,we have 10 plasma rifles ready to distribute and 2 uh, what name you decided to call them'' –Cortana motioned the scientists in the room.
'' We decided to call them BFG's, that stand for Big Fu..''
'' We know what it means, so there is no need to say it ''-Cortana cut the scientists before he finished.
'' Say what, Big Fucking Gun ''- The sarge said to Cortana who shook her head.
'' Well then ,the plasma rifles are our first attempt to duplicate the covenant plasma rifles, but these weapons have a more wide radius of damage, and the BFG fires a threaded variable charge that eliminates targets in the blast radius, and just to warn you the charge is powerful enough to wipe out uninvited guests in a room''
'' O yeah, my kind of weapon, Cortana you didn't by any chance saved me one for the mission right ''
'' Of course sergeant , the chief will take the other while the plasma rifles will be given to the remaining Spartans and ODST's ''
'' You know Cortana you give much preference to the chief instead of us, but what the heck at least I'm gonna fry some elites with this baby ''-125 said as he grabbed his plasma rifle.
After being loaded with the necessary equipment for the mission, the chief and his squad headed onwards the covenant carrier. While on the ground the main assault force headed onwards the covenant base.
'' Now that were alone here, mind to tell me why you wanted to come to the carrier ''-Cortana said to the chief.
'' I cant really explain it but, before the incident with 159 I had a strange dream ,I just needed to come here instead ''
'' Your call, well since probably isn't something dangerous I'm okay with that''
'' Sir were reaching the covenant carrier, please bring Cortana here to lower the shields ''-The pilot said as the massive ship came into view.
'' What's our situation marine ''
'' Sarge ,the base doesn't appear to be guarded ,I see turrets deployed as well as deployable shields but by the looks of it they seemed abandoned for some time''
'' Roger that marine, remain in your position and keep an eye open, well approach the base in 2 clicks '' –The sarge motioned the armored transports to advance first just in case.
'' Sir I have a bad feeling about this, maybe we should wait for reinforcements''
'' Store that garbage marine, we have 6 tanks 10 warthogs over 100 marines and 3 Spartans, what more do you want, your mommy, get back in line ''-The marine returned to formation, leaving the sarge in doubt, last time a marine said that they were ambushed by the flood, but then again this wasn't halo, nope probably those demons will appear, but what the heck let them bring it, the sarge thought.
Seeing this 147 approached the sarge to propose an idea''- Sarge maybe we should go first to secure the area, that way we'll be more confident on just what awaits us in there ''
''Alright but take a platoon of ODST's and stay sharp, who knows how many bastards you'll encounter''
'' Of course ''- 147 replied as she lead the first squad inside the covenant base.
'' 133 in position deploying optic camera ,sending image now'' –The chief along with 125 received the video feed that came from the control room, it appear that the covenant were accessing the ship's control once again, but something didn't seemed right, they seemed desperate to activate something.
'' Prepare for door breach in 3 , 2 …''- 125 blasted the door open with a charge and the Spartans entered the room, quickly taking out the only armed elites.
'' Stop please, don't kill ''- The grunt yapsak yelled desperately to avoid being killed. The ODST's followed and aimed their weapons to the remaining covenant.
'' Cortana to Captain Stukov, we have recaptured the ship along with the covenant onboard it. ''
'' Excellent work team, secure them in the brig and disable the ship's shields so we can reclaim it completely ''- The captain said by the com. However the elites seemed reluctant to obey their captors .
'' Don't understand ,we must stop monsters ''- The grunt keep repeating.
'' Sir you might want to take a look at this ''- 133 said to the chief as the monitor showed a cargo bay in which a small golden cube was generating some sort of portal.
'' This energy reading it's the same that appear when the demons attacked us in the base, that cube must be the source behind it ''-Cortana said as the portal was getting bigger consuming the entire cargo bay. The chief saw this and motioned his team to evac, the covenant also tried to flee ,but they were consumed , the chief saw how one by one his teammates were being absorbed by this portal.
'' Nothing dangerous right, why do I always listen to you ''-Cortana said as the portal's energy came closer and closer.
'' Sir, we've lost contact with the Chief's team in the carrier ''
'' Re-establish a com link immediately''-The captain ordered however the same growls and laughs were heard in all the channels, red pentagrams filled every monitor in the base as for above them the carrier's weapons returned to life opening fire in the established base below it. The remaining force in the base could only watch as the plasma turrets of the massive ship fired upon them, vaporizing them in instants.
'' Chief ,the carriers weapons were activated and they opened fire , this is bad isn't it ''- Cortana said by the com as the energy came closer to them, with no way out.
'' What now chief, should we try shooting it '' –The remaining ODST said to the chief without worries of letting his fear to be seen.
Help us…
The same voice was heard in the chief's head as Cortana sensed it as well.
'' What was that ''
'' The thing of my dreams Cortana, I don't know what will await us at the other end of this portal but , we don't have much choice ''-The chief said as he lowered his assault rifle preparing for the inevitable ,leaving the ODST and 133 wondering as well, the energy surrounded them and they felt as if their entire body was spliced and sent far away , the tunnel had an almost look of blood and gore as countless screams filled the environment , whatever was on the other side one thing was certain, It wasn't good…
Well, long time no update, but after this fic only has less than 10 reviews it kinda disappoints me ,since its my first fic ever done, but well anyway stay tuned for the next chapter soon, Hell...
