Ch 3: Angels of Destruction

"Something's out there." Came the man's shaky voice. Alicia nodded and continued to gaze toward the outskirts of the city, where the luminous glow of a miniature sun still tinted the area a ghastly blue. It had been several moments since the explosion rocked their shelter, and its shockwave could have been felt from miles away. It hadn't been an orbital gun, she knew that. The color was all wrong for covenant weaponry, and more hadn't followed. That wasn't what scared her, though.

A deafening bellow had come several moments after the explosion. It was low and deep, almost as if it were the growl of angry predator, somewhere in the jungle. The very sound of it shook her to the core. Above her head, in the breaking dawn, whips of light and flame rent the sky in a dazzling display of blue and purple plasma fire. Distant thunder echoed off the walls again and again.

"Broadsides?" the man asked her. She shook her head. "We don't have anything that can do that." "What is it, then?" he asked. "I'm not sure. Covvies are fighting something, though." She turned her gaze to his pale features, and smiled "Shit, maybe we got lucky and they're fighting each other." She sighed, immediately regretting this. It was a jest in poor taste, she knew, but she couldn't think of a single word that would lift his spirits.

Another bone- shaking bray resonated from the city's outskirts, this time closer. Whatever it was, it was fast. And it was quickly moving on their position. "We need to move," she told him. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to get killed by whatever the hell that is." He nodded.

She cautiously stood, and stepped out of the tiny hovel that had played the role of their shelter throughout the night. Sounds of a distant fire fight graced her ears. Ash rained from the sky like grey- white snow. A strange, vaguely oily smell curdled the air about her nose. She turned to the man "You coming?" she called back. His pale face emerged from the darkness, and he took his first shaky step onto the ash- strewn ground. Together, they started walking.

"You know," she remarked, "You sure do get nervous a lot. You just out of basic?" "Conscript." He replied. "I was a baker before all this. They found out the covenant was making their way here, and-" "Gave you a uniform and put an assault rifle in your hand." She interrupted. He nodded grimly. "Pretty common story." She replied. "and conscripts are usually pretty twitchy when the bullets start flying."

The sounds of combat were getting closer and closer now. Several rocks shifted ahead. "What do you think is going on?" "I don't know." She replied. "Maybe we got some reinforcements." He audibly gulped, and followed her. He seemed to know she was trying to make him feel a little better about their situation. But that was unlikely.

Several shapes ran through the ashy haze ahead. Alicia raised her rifle and took a knee. They were small, and lumbered from side to side on too- thin legs. Alicia immediately recognized them. "Grunts." She whispered. The man fell to his knee as well, and immediately hyperventilated. "Oh man. Oh man. Oh man." He whispered. His shaky hands attempted to raise his assault rifle. Alicia shot him a disapproving look. He was fumbling with his weapon's safety catch. The shapes were getting closer now. They seemed to be in a panicked rush. Only one seemed to clutch a weapon in its tiny hands, and this didn't even seem to be charged. Explosions cut the air around them, rained bits of broken stone and debris around them, and illuminated her silhouette. The creatures saw her, and shrieked in fright.

Alicia didn't hesitate. She opened up with a burst of fire from her assault rifle. Rounds punched into the short aliens, cutting them down in a spray of blood and gore. They all fell without another sound. The sounds of battle were intensifying around them. She turned to the man. He was laying on his back, covered in ash. He hyperventilated pathetically. His rifle was clutched in clawed hands.

She approached and helped him up. "Next time we're in immediate danger," she said with an air of annoyance, "Try to at least fire your weapon." He nodded quickly, his face a mask of fear. She walked away, allowing him to follow her to the corpses of the aliens. Aside from their bullet wounds, several were brutalized beyond recognition. One had a grievous wound to its abdomen that cut through its armor. The flesh underneath was torn into jagged strips of meat. The man looked at it cautiously. "It looks like it got hit with a chainsaw." He said in awe. Another explosion rocked the ground nearby.

Alicia grabbed the man's hand. "We've got to move." She told him. Together, they broke into a run. More aliens were running away from the fight. Most were grunts, and a few jackals. She was almost certain she even saw an elite or two among those who were running. She paid them no attention, however, as they paid her none.

They came to a courtyard in a small building nearby. Transit signs covered the walls and littered the ground here. Alicia stopped and shoved him inside, near a row of planters bearing great, reddish- brown trees. She followed him in, and ducked behind the nearest planter. She looked over the lip of it, toward the water feature that was the centerpiece of the courtyard. Broken marble tiles covered the ground near the fountain. The fountain itself was still somehow functional. A broken screen was placed over the fountain. It spouted gouts of sparks, and flickered every few minutes, as if trying to turn on. Must have been a light rail station she thought to herself. She shook her head at the thought. She could've been at this exact station, merely days ago. What had once been a beautiful place had been reduced to mere rubble. If this place was ever rebuilt, it would take years.

Cruciform shapes screamed overhead. They bristled with needle- like projections and missile pods that glowed a dull blue. "You ever seen a fighter like that?" the man asked. "It's not one of ours," she replied. "Must be whoever tore up the covenant before."

She reached into her drop pocket, and fumbled around before her hand met a pack of cigarettes. Idly lighting one, she turned her back to the courtyard, and thought about their next move.

Smoke filled Xasze's lungs with choking particulate as his consciousness slowly made its way back to the surface. His skull pounded, and his ears rang with the clatter of distant fire fights. His vision slowly came back. There were fires here. They engulfed several buildings and washed his broken, battered body in intense heat. He looked all around him, his eyes falling one-by-one to the dead warriors that had been under his command.

His memories were slowly flooding back into his mind. That thing had- he stopped. What exactly was that, anyway? It was nothing like any human technology he had seen before. And it escaped without damage. He thought to himself. He shuddered to think of the destruction being wrought elsewhere in the city, against his fellow warriors.

Shapes entered his field of vision and accumulated by the moment. Humans were walking past him, bearing rifles that were unknown to him in human technology. As they got closer, he could see that they were the size and shape of humans, but that is where the similarities ended. There were red robed figures, covered in mechanical plates and writhing tentacles and extra limbs. They vaguely reminded him of the blue sea hunters on his home world. There were soldiers with them as well. Men in red clothing with metallic faces, bearing rifles that glowed blue- white.

The robed figures were picking through the rubble, examining everything they came across. Some things were simply thrown aside; and some, they examined more closely. Tiny lenses extended from their face plates and examined plasma rifles and Kig'yar shield generators more closely. One crouched in front of him. He held his breath.

The human-like thing picked up his plasma sword and turned it over and over in its metallic hands. Hundreds of tiny fingers danced over the sword's hilt, as its eyes whirred and clicked with each new discovery. It removed cover plates and energy cells, examining these as well.

Xasze's armor began to reinitialize. Lights flicked across his eyes, as warning sigils began flashing. His shield generators were offline, atmospheric sensors were severely damaged, and his locomotion servos were at twenty percent of optimal power. He attempted to move one finger. Just one digit should go unnoticed. He found movement in the finger extremely difficult. His armor hissed with the effort. He held his breath again. The thing in front of him looked up.

Metallic hands reached out and grabbed his face. Tiny fingers prodded his helmet. They lingered near the top. Xasze realized in a moment of horror that this, this thing, this human was trying to determine how to pry off his helmet. He knew he would be found out. Would be killed, laying here on this filthy human planet. He had to act. With every ounce of strength he could muster, he forced his arm up, and knocked the robed figure onto its back. The thing flailed and landed in the dirt. It emitted a shrill, static- laced cry. One barking sound that carried in less than a second.

Almost immediately, three of the soldier- things broke formation, and rushed forward. Xasze forced his armor to right itself. With incredible effort, he was able to get his feet under him, and broke into a slow jog, away from the cybernetic humans.

Gouts of blue energy sizzled past him. His lenses attempted to compensate for the searing light, but several times, his vision was washed out by extremely close energy blasts. He staggered, his armor whining with the effort of movement, as another blast exploded on the ground beside him. In that moment, he remembered being a child on his home world. He remembered frolicking with his siblings through the red fields. He remembered hiding from them. He remembered how he hid. At the sound of the next shot, he simply fell. He allowed his armor to go still and buried his face in ground.