Eve of Fate
Chapter 3: Fist-Alpha
The lobby was abandoned, as the Master Chief expected. A large desk, perhaps once the information desk, was at the back of the lobby, with two doors tucked away to the back two corners behind it.
The map led the Spartan here, to an abandoned building not far from the apartment. He cautiously walked inside.
The Master Chief examined the debris, noting their positioning and how surprisingly intact the pieces were. Heavier pieces were set farther into the lobby, while smaller pieces were spread about like caltrops. They were intentionally placed, as if to provide cover from an assault from the entrance, or at least to delay an attacker.
Overall, the entire lobby appeared to be falling apart on its own, so more chances than naught, the entire place was dismissed, which would luckily help camouflage the location from Covenant attention.
Suddenly, the Master Chief could hear movement, coming in from beyond the lobby. Within mere seconds, a small squad of five soldiers appeared from a door, their weapons aimed at the Spartan.
The soldiers were equipped with scarred and dented marine combat armour. Some did not wear helmets, while a few were lucky to wear something resembling the old helmets from the war. Regardless of what equipment they wore, they all wore a similar look of surprise.
"What the-? A Spartan?" one of them remarked.
"I assume there's a tunnel entrance located here," the Master Chief said. "I'm looking for Hawkins."
"Hawkins? Who told you?" another soldier asked.
"Stacker did, and he was the one who gave me this location."
The soldiers looked on in awe. One of them pulled out his radio and contacted somebody possibly back at command. After listening for orders and putting away his radio, the soldier spoke up.
"Come with us Spartan. Turns out old man Hawkins wants to see you as well."
The soldiers walked into through the door, while the Master Chief followed behind them. As he followed them through a wreaked hallway, the Master Chief didn't feel right. It was not in the location, but rather in the sloppy tactics that soldiers used – they let him follow right behind them, without bothering to watch him at least.
He reminded himself that these were not real soldiers, but rather, civilians willing to fight against the Covenant.
But it did not matter – so long as he could get through this as quick as possible.
"Here we are," the lead soldier reported, pointing towards a reinforced manhole cover.
Opening it up, he climbed in, as did the others. The Master Chief waited until they were all the way down before he did so as well. The ladder rungs were surprisingly well reinforced, enough to support the full weight of his MJOLNIR battle armour.
When his feet touched the floor, the Master Chief looked around at the surrounding area, which was the inside of a tunnel. The tunnel was wide – perhaps eight or nine feet in diameter with plenty of headspace for him. The centre of the tunnel carried along sewage and water, while a walkway flanked either side of it. The entire tunnel was drenched in darkness.
"Damn, my night vision goggles are busted."
The Master Chief watched one of the soldiers fumble around with the goggles, then giving up and putting them aside.
"Does anybody have a flashlight?" he asked. The others shook their heads.
"Allow me" the Master Chief said, stepping in and activating his helmet's flashlight.
A thick beam of light illuminated the tunnel, allowing the Master Chief to better see the detail of the walls. From what he was able to tell, the tunnel was a mix of concrete, brick, and steel.
"You'll move with me Spartan," the lead soldier said. "Keep your flashlight pointed ahead for me to see, and I'll lead us back to base."
There was a snicker from behind them, coming from one of the soldiers.
"Hey, McCreary, I bet you thirty bucks you forgot the way. Again" the soldier joked, putting emphasis on the last word.
The lead soldier, apparently named McCreary, scoffed and smiled.
"Alright, thirty bucks it is then Hannigan. Pay me when we get there."
"If we get there."
McCreary began to walk down the tunnel, as did the Master Chief. The Spartan followed next to him, keeping his flashlight pointed down the tunnel. He noted how…immature the soldier Hannigan was. These men were definitely not well trained, or at least as well trained as the Marines.
Although the Master Chief did not pay close attention, he knew that there was a conversation going on behind his back among the four others. If the Spartan would be to make an educated guess, he would know they were talking about him – how he suddenly appeared.
An unknown number of minutes later, they reached a dead end. Hannigan laughed at McCreary as he felt the wall.
"You got us lost again, McCreary? Well, at least you got us somewhere, not like the last time."
McCreary didn't answer, instead feeling his fingers along the texture of the wall. Suddenly, the wall shook and slid open. McCreary's fingers had been trying to find a secret switch on the wall for the hidden doorway.
"Right," McCreary said with pride. "So, who owes who thirty bucks, and who forgot their way back to base?"
Hannigan grumbled as they walked through the door and into the resistance base.
There was a long and cramped hallway behind the entrance, dimly lit by flickering light bulbs on the ceiling. The hallway so narrow that perhaps only three men could pass by at the same time so with the bulk of his MJOLNIR battle armour, the Master Chief took up most of the space. Walking along the hallway, the Master Chief looked off to the sides where there was occasionally an open doorway, leading into other room.
The first room he saw was filled with men, sitting down against a wall tending to their weapons. None of the soldiers in the room appeared over the age of twenty, and were equipped in badly dented and scarred combat armour. One of the young soldiers looked to the entrance and judging from the shock on his face, had seen the Master Chief. He told the person next to him and within seconds, the entire room stared in shock at the sight of the Spartan.
Without stopping, they moved along, passing by what appeared to have been a barracks, an infirmary, an armoury, and other small room. Along the way, many more caught sight of the Master Chief and followed behind, whispering in excited chatters about what they just saw, while some grumbled incoherently.
After walking the entire length of the hallway and reaching a thick reinforced door at the end, McCreary opened the door and let the Master Chief walk in first. Inside it was another room, only larger and had better lighting. Desks and tables lined the walls and took up most of the space in this room, while diagrams and maps covered them. More than a dozen men hunched in their desks, examining the diagrams in closer detail, some sporting either flashlights to see better with, or even using a pair of night vision goggles.
Close to the center of the room was a larger and more solidly built table with a large and heavily detailed map of the city lying on it. An older man and two others looked over it, but their attention turned to the Master Chief, as well as all the soldiers now crammed inside the same room, following with keen interest of why there was a Spartan in their base.
"Master Chief, I presume?" the older man asked, standing straight and walking around the table to face the Spartan.
A murmur of awe came from the others, while McCreary, standing just behind the Spartan, looked at him in shock.
"So I was walking next to a war hero the entire time," he said in amazement. "Well I'll be damned."
While McCreary was amazed, most of the other soldiers were not. The Master Chief could hear their negative remarks, which were all the same of what he was expecting.
"I'm Hawkins," the old man explained. "Stacker contacted me a little while ago and told me to expect you."
Hawkins appeared to be just as old as Stacker, with his hair was turning grey, and his leathery face bearing multiple wrinkles and scars. He looked like a veteran, one who had fought endlessly for many long years.
"What brings you here Chief?"
"I figured the resistance needs help," the Master Chief replied. "If you plan on fighting back against the Covenant, you'll need as much help as you can get."
Hawkins folded his arms and shook his head, looking back down at the map.
"Explain to me just why we'd need the help of one who ran from the field of battle about thirty years ago, and thus abandoned our original war effort?"
The Master Chief then went on to explain his tale, about how he knew nothing of what happened. It was met with scoffs and cold responses, all typical of the resistance mindset about him. But amongst it, there was one voice that stood out.
"Guys, shut up. Are we going to turn away our best hope here?"
A single soldier stepped forward. He was not a heavily remarkable man – he was of an average height and build, and the poor lighting partially obscured his dark skin. His voice had a slight Irish accent to it, but it was difficult to successfully place.
"Tell me, how many of us have even managed to kill a Covie?" he began. "Not just those little Grunts, but the big guys, like the Elites, or even a Hunter or Brute if we've been lucky enough to see one?"
Only a few soldiers waved their hands, privileged enough to have done so.
"If put together, we've only killed probably a few dozen Elites," he explained. "And for those few dozen, we lose how many to try and kill them? The recent raid on the street proved that. We lost a lot of good men up there that day, for a street that was already occupied with waiting Covenant."
The soldier then motioned towards the Master Chief.
"I don't know how many Covenant the Chief here has killed, but I'll safely say that he has easily killed at the very least, a few hundred, getting up to a thousand maybe. More than any of us for sure and more than all of us combined."
Silence went out amongst the soldiers as they listened.
"The Chief knows how to best kill the Covies, and he's done it for so long. If we're stupid enough to actually try and take back our planet, we need an actual soldier who has spent their life fighting them, not a ragged bunch of kids who can barely fire an SMG.
"Give the Chief the respect he deserves – because he's the one who's going to help us win. If we don't, the most we're going to do is die together."
The soldier remained silent, some muttering incoherent words beneath their breaths, but generally, they were now unsure of how to see the Master Chief.
"Well, since he's here, he might as well help," Hawkins said. "Chief, stay put, we'll get you fighting soon enough. Everybody else, return to your posts."
The soldiers did as they were ordered and piled out. When the room was empty, the soldier who stuck up for the Spartan greeted him.
"Welcome to our base Chief," he said. "Name's Foley, second-in-command of Fist-Alpha, the original fighting group that started it all."
"Fist-Alpha?" the Master Chief asked, nothing how peculiar the name sounded.
"Not exactly a real military sounding unit name that you'd be used to Chief, but it's good enough," Foley explained. "We were pulled together awhile back by Hawkins and Stacker, and we practically started the resistance. Began with a few, and now we've got close to three hundred boys with us, all spread out amongst several tunnels running under the city. Granted, there are some other resistance groups as well, but none are as large or as well organized as we are, and, better yet, spearheaded by guys who actually fought the Covenant."
Foley then walked over to the map and explained to the Master Chief the various points of interest.
"This is the City – don't ask me what its name is, because we don't know and we never figured it out. It's your typical, all around metropolis – a wide and sprawling urban playground. Cramped streets and broken highways and roads are the main arteries of this place, but it's mainly closed quarters – urban warfare galore for us."
The Master Chief looked at the map and noted two parts, the first being a thick border surrounding a certain area of the city.
"That's the wall," Foley explained. "The Covies built it to keep us in. There's nothing outside of it, except the ruins of the rest of the city. We've had a few bases out there, but since the Covenant don't patrol there, and since we've already cleared most of the area of any supplies, there's nothing fascinating beyond the wall."
The second point of interest was the strange pyramid structure in the centre of the city.
"That's the City Arcology, one of the first structures of its kind. It was built back in 2550, but was never really completed. It's a rough six hundred story pyramid, built out of reinforced steel and Titanium-A - a real marvel of construction and design."
"An Arcology?" the Master Chief asked, trying to remember what it was.
"An Arcology is a massive vertical structure designed to hold a large population the same way a city should be able to. The basic structure was finished, but all the rest was abandoned when the war got into full gear."
"If we're right, it's now the Covenant headquarters," Foley said, disappointed. "They mainly use it for vehicle storage, but we've seen the occasional Prophets and high ranking Elites live inside of it. Y'know, it's actually ironic that they hate everything having to do with us, but are now tenants occupying one of our finest architectural achievements."
The Master Chief looked carefully at the structure on the map. That was where the Covenant powerbase was at. All that would possibly be needed would be for a single strike at it, and the Covenant command over the city could be broken. But what would it need in order to succeed? How many of the Covenant's finest warriors are stationed inside? How many of their leaders?
"Foley, why not give the Chief a tour of the base? He'll need to know the area if he's going to work with us" Hawkins said.
"Right, well I'd better start here – this is the command centre, the central mind of Fist-Alpha, as well as with probably the entire resistance."
Foley then led the Master Chief out the door and showed him the individual rooms that connected to the central hallway. They included one of many barracks, an infirmary, a large storage room, an armoury, and a 'ready room' for the soldiers to prepare their weapons and equipment before venturing out into the tunnels for either patrol, or perhaps an actual attack.
The ready rooms and the armoury were located right next to each other, and was located within close proximity to the main entrance, possibly to make it easier to get whatever equipment possible and get out quicker. The Master Chief stopped off at the armoury and looked over the weapons the resistance had in use.
"If I was to say one good thing about the Covenant, it would be that they've picked a city with lots of arms caches to herd the remaining humans into."
It was true – the armoury, which also included a short firing range with targets, while small by UNSC standards, was filled with plenty of weapons and ammunition. Everything was there, from the variants of the M6 pistol, plenty of SMG's, various rifles that including the newer BR55 Battle Rifles and the older MA5B assault rifles, a wide variety of grenades, and even what appeared to be an improvised rocket launcher. The Spartan eyed the strange weapon, a tube with a crude sighting and firing mechanism and a hastily painted arrow at one end of the weapon.
"We've been able to find rockets, but we haven't found enough launchers for them," Foley explained, heaving the weapon over his shoulder, careful not to fire the weapon. "So, we did the next best thing and fit each rocket into a Titanium-A tube. It's easy to carry and fire, and plus, it's lighter than a full Jackhammer."
The Master Chief had to admit that the resistance, in spite of the limitations, was still able to make the best of what they had.
Foley's radio then began to beep.
"That's for me. I'll see you around Chief. Just take it easy – we'll get you back to fighting soon."
Foley then left, leaving the Master Chief alone in the armoury. The Spartan examined the weapons further. While there were a lot of weapons, but they were all in varying states of repair, with some with minor scratches and dents, while for others, it was sheer luck they were still working.
"Uh, sir?"
A small voice came from behind the Spartan. Turning around, the Master Chief realized it belonged to one of the soldiers. He was very young; perhaps fifteen or sixteen, and he had an SMG in his hands. He was nervous, and he looked down at his feet a lot.
"What's wrong?"
"My SMG, sir, it's broken I think."
The Master Chief picked the weapon up and examined it. It was the same as most of the others weapons – in terrible shape. The stock was also closed, and the fore grip was folded up.
Reaching for the cocking lever, the Spartan gave it a smart tug. A bullet ejected out from the chamber. It was nothing but a jam, and was probably why the weapon appeared 'broken' in the first place.
"It was just a jam. Give it a try now."
Handing the weapon back to the young soldier, the Master Chief observed how he fired his weapon. The SMG jerked uncontrollably, with the young soldier almost unable to hold onto it. The 5mm bullets hit random spaces downrange, barely hitting the target at all. The solder fired until the weapon's magazine was empty.
"Try this."
The Spartan took the SMG from the soldier's hands and extended the stock and unfolded the fore grip, and also loaded in a fresh magazine. After giving the weapon back to the soldier, the Master Chief went over the basic firing techniques, and corrected at every possible moment the shortcomings of his stance and aiming.
When he was finished, the soldier had his weapon shouldered properly, and was actually using the sights to aim. When he fired, he fired in bursts, just as the Master Chief told him, and his shots actually hit the target. He continued to fire until the magazine was emptied out.
His firing and aiming were still sloppy to the Master Chief, even by marine recruit standards, but considering how the marines never had soldiers the age of fifteen to sixteen, and considering how this soldier wasn't exactly a trained soldier at all, he wasn't too bad.
"Keep your weapon loaded, ready, and cleaned at all times. You're doing fine soldier" the Master Chief commented.
"Wait, sir I…"
The soldier looked timidly to the ground as he heard the Master Chief's order. It took less than a second for the Master Chief to realize why.
"Do you know how to disassemble your SMG?"
He shook his head. The Master Chief then went over the basic procedure for SMG disassembly for the young soldier. He taught him all the things he knew, all the methods and ways of caring for the weapon. Within moments, other soldiers began to gather around and they too had questions.
The Master Chief was then helping them on how to properly aim and use their weapons. The Spartan was only able to hope that by the time he was finished, these young freedom fighters would become more like actual soldiers.
End Note: This was the first of the 'new' chapters, with new material, etc. I always felt that a type of scene where the Chief is introduced to the resistance, which, by the way, I will be referring to solely as 'Fist-Alpha' (kudos if you know which game that was inspired from) from here on out. The introduction also helped to introduce three things. First, the characters of Foley and Hawkins, both playing roles later into the story, Hawkins in particular. Foley was already in the other chapters, but I saw potential to make more of a character out of him. Hawkins is a new one, and I've tried to set him up as the leader of Fist-Alpha.
Next, I also set up some of the conflict between the soldiers and the Master Chief, the bitterness they still have for him apparently disappearing. I felt this was necessary because in the older chapters, I introduced the idea that they hated the Chief for it, but it never was explained or looked into much. I saw an opportunity to do it here, and I think it was a hit and miss sort of thing. I got part of it, but it could have been expanded a bit more I felt.
After that is the setup for how the Chief will earn their trust back, another thing that I needed to expand on. In my older chapters, he just came in, killed Covenant, and before you know it, everybody likes him. Not good enough. I saw another opportunity here and in another chapter to do so.
I also developed a bit of a focal point in the story - the arcology. This came after playing one too many games of Deus Ex: Invisible War. To the unenlightened, an arcology (a combination of the words 'architecture' and 'ecology') is a proposed huge structure that can support a large population density inside of it. Think shopping mall combined with apartment building and small city put into one huge as hell building, multipled by a thousand. It was an idea that has been on my mind for a bit, and I wanted to create a location that I can place the Covenant command at, rather than just some random location over the City. The arcology is fitting well, because realistically speaking, I figure humanity would have built at least one to play around with, and it helps to have the Covenant stationed around it, rather uneasily, to develop where their base of power is, for future chapters.
And at the same time, the idea of an arcology has fasinated me for a long time, and I gave in to it.