Okay. I think I've paid enough attention to all the other big players in this galaxy. Time to shine the spotlight back onto Sierra-117.
As for what took me so long this time, Mists of Pandaria, that's what. Now I know what you're thinking. "MoP? That crap came out way back in September!" True, but I've only just recently upgraded my computer to the point that I can actually play it. I have a MacBook you see, so it's kind of "gaming challenged." Thinking about getting a PC laptop later this year. I've been a Mac-User all my life, but lately I've been getting curious as to how the other side lives. Anyway, yeah. Been leveling my troll druid main. He's level 89 right now, for those who are curious. Hopefully I can get him up to 90 before patch 5.2 drops, but I kinda doubt it. I'm a horribly slow leveler.
…..Huh. Slow updater. Slow player. Slow leveler. Anyone else seeing a pattern here? Starting to think I'm part tortoise. Oh! That reminds me! I've got to work on my new pandaren rogue too so that I can get one of those dragon turtle mounts!
….Why was I here again? Oh yeah. New chapter.
….
There were strange-looking people, aliens maybe, suffering.
Metal being welded to flesh.
"You are, all of you, vermin. Cowering in the dirt thinking...what, I wonder. That you might escape the coming fire?"
Minds being tormented.
Blood splattering on the ground.
"No! Your world will burn until its surface is but glass!"
Screeching of the damned.
Eyes that spoke eons of malice.
"Best get going. They sound serious."
A star.
A planet.
A light in the darkness.
A monster.
A roar.
"We are your salvation through destruction."
Come on, Spartan!
Move like you've got a purpose!
...
Master Chief's eyes snapped open as he lay in his bed. He sighed.
"That's getting old real fast..." he muttered before hauling himself up.
...
0717 Hours, March 10th, 2683
SSV Normandy
Undisclosed Location in the Forerunner Cluster
...
Cipher-fueled nightmares aside, the journey to Reach was a fairly smooth one for the Normandy. No remarkable incidents or developments of note that would disrupt the mission. Indeed, Chief could honestly say that, for him at least, this was the most pleasant cross-system journey he's had since he woke up from cryo nearly a month ago, mostly due to the odd new friendship he's started with Liara.
The Asari provided the Spartan with a listening ear; someone to hear him for the few times he needed to speak. Chief hated to admit it, but it was nice to have someone to open up to. Chief had talked with Liara about things that he didn't normally like talking about with anyone, not even Cortana in some cases. The best part was that Liara didn't judge the Chief, neither approving nor condemning the things he did or the decisions he's made. She understood him, or at least she understood what Chief chose to share with her. It certainly helped that the two them shared a fondness for solitude, since the two spent most of their time in the med bay's back room.
According to Pressly, Reach would be just a couple of hours away. Chief decided to spend those last couple of hours talking to Liara again.
"So just as Battle Group India was about to withdraw from the system, Covenant reinforcements exited slipspace and looked ready to intercept the fleet." Chief said, continuing his story to a by-now deeply engrossed Liara. "Admiral Cole then ordered what was left of his fleet to continue the retreat without him. He then sped the UNSC Everest towards Viperidae, powered down all non-essential systems, opened all missile silo doors and beamed an open-com transmission to the Covenant fleet, mocking their religion. Ended up pissing off the covies so much that they completely ignored India and gunned straight for the Everest."
"Goddess….." Liara replied wistfully, apparently taken aback by the sheer audacity of one Human.
"Cole then fired everything he had. Not at the Covenant, but into Viperidae." Chief went on. "The shiva nuclear warheads detonated in the gas giant's super-pressurized hydrogen atmosphere, making the gas giant explode into a brown dwarf, completely wiping out the Covenant fleet."
"And….Admiral Cole?" Liara asked.
"He probably died in the explosion, along with the Covenant fleet." Chief answered. "The day of his death was declared a day of mourning for Humanity. But rumor had it that he survived."
"How?" Liara grilled.
"By plotting a slipspace course immediately after firing his missiles." Chief replied. The Spartan then shrugged. "They say that he retired with his Innie wife after that, to some remote planet outside of UNSC space, and lived happily ever after. That's the rumor, anyway. We'll probably never know for sure."
"Goddess….." Liara said again as she wiped her head with her hand. "That's quite a story, Chief."
"Yeah." Chief replied. Liara then grabbed a bottle of cold water off of one of the crates and handed it to the Spartan. He nodded his gratitude and poured the cool water into his armor's aqueduct system. His throat was getting stronger, but the cold rushing water was still quite a relief.
Liara paused after that, looking as if she was trying to think of something to say. "I feel like I owe you an apology, Master Chief." she finally said.
"What for?" Chief asked.
"I did not really know much about your species when we first met." she explained. "I found it hard to take Humans seriously. Your kind always seemed so rushed and high-strung. At first, I thought it was a weakness of your species. But after spending time with you however, I think it might actually be an advantage."
"That right?" Chief asked.
Liara nodded. "You Humans are creatures of action. You pursue your goals with an almost indomitable determination. Admiral Cole, Admiral Whitcomb and Captain Keyes are all such examples of these traits." the Asari explained, recalling all the great Human-Covenant War heroes that Chief had told her about over the past couple of days. "You yourself exhibit these traits as well." she added with a smile. "I remember how aggravated you were with not being able to do anything about your vision but wait to find another Prothean beacon. The thought of inaction, of not being able to immediately solve a problem, seemed to drive you mad."
"A little bit." Chief replied with a shrug.
"Such determination is an admirable trait." Liara said. She then paused. "But…..it's also an intimidating one." she added more quietly.
That bit caught Chief off guard. "Intimidating?" Chief asked.
"Unfortunately, the rest of the galaxy sees Humanity as something of a bully. You run over anyone in your path to get what you want." Liara explained.
"We're not bullies. We're the underdogs." Chief argued. "The Council took slipspace and AI's from us. They neutered us."
"And yet, their restrictions did little to slow you down." Liara pointed out. "Since attaining their embassy on the Citadel, your species has been aggressively expanding its territory into the Attican Traverse, going where few other species dare tread. Additionally, you have a fleet that, even after signing the Treaty of Farixen, rivals the Turian Hierarchy's fleet in power. And now, your race is on its way to its own seat on the Citadel Council."
"We have a political agenda." Chief said with a shrug. "So what? Doesn't everyone?"
"You don't understand." Liara went on. "It hasn't even been three decades since your battle with the Turians on Shanxi, and already you have accomplished things that took other species centuries to do. Many feel that you're growing and expanding too fast, trampling over the other species as you do so."
"Great." Chief said, more to himself than to Liara. "Like we don't have enough enemies already."
"It's up to people like you to change their minds, Chief." Liara pointed out.
Again, Chief was taken aback. "Me?"
"There is a reason the Council chose you to become a Spectre." Liara said. "They saw something special in you; the best of what Humanity has to offer."
"Attention all crew." Joker's voice suddenly came over the intercom. "ETA to arrival on Reach's surface; thirty minutes. Repeat; ETA is thirty minutes."
"Sounds like we'd better go suit up." Chief said as he stood up from his seat. "I gotta go grab Cortana from my quarters. I'll meet you and the rest of the squad down in the garage."
…..
It was raining lightly in the Highland Mountains when the Mako made landfall in the area. "Tapping into the local comm traffic. Let's see what our virtual friend's been up to." Cortana announced aloud as Chief began driving the Mako up a mountain dirt road that led up into a small ravine.
"Okay. Good news and bad news." Cortana began a moment later. "Good news, the VI hasn't spread its territory by much. It's only in control of three firebases."
"And the bad news?" Chief asked.
"Those three firebases are heavily fortified." Cortana answered. "Turrets, drones, mechs, the works. It must be hacking nearby mechs and drones to help bolster its ranks."
"It's trying to build an army?" Tali asked.
"Possibly. Most likely for self-defense rather than attempt a planetary takeover. This is only a VI we're dealing with. Its programming isn't sophisticated enough for megalomania." Cortana explained.
"You would know…." Tali said with a thinly veiled implication.
"Don't worry Tali." Cortana reassured. "When I take over the galaxy and enslave all organics, you will be spared. You will be the royal foot scrubber, in charge of cleaning the boots of the giant robot the Salarians will build for me. When the robot is complete, I will upload myself into it and with my new body, I will crush any organics who dare oppose me."
The Quarian was taken aback by that response. "Did…..Is…..Is the AI serious about that?"
"I'm kidding, Tali." Cortana replied with what Chief imagined was a roll of her eyes. "Unlike Geth, I was flash-cloned from the mind of an organic, so I have a firm grasp of several organic phenomena, such as humor. Also; Garrus has a magnificent ass."
The mako's passenger compartment was silent for a second. The Turian riding in the back with the rest of the squad then began to chuckle awkwardly. "Good one, Cortana." he said.
"Who said I was kidding that time?" the AI replied.
"Focus people." Chief said. The team was getting distracted and things were getting awkward. Two good reasons to end his AI companion's shenanigans right there. "We've got a job to do."
As the mako made its way through the ravine, Chief privately keyed Cortana. "Cortana. This is an Alliance training ground, right?"
"Yup." Cortana replied. "And I know what you're about to ask next, and the answer to that is also yes. This area is indeed part of the Military Wilderness Training Preserve."
"….I see." Chief quietly said. This training preserve was the site of one of his training missions; the one that saw him promoted to squad leader. Memories of the mission flooded back to him. The jigsaw puzzle of a map Mendez handed to the trainees. The handful of blueberries he ate on the way to the rendezvous point. The un-uniformed marines that he thought were rebels and regarded them as such. And how the other Spartans inexplicably looked to him to be their leader in the middle of the exercise, to be the one to come up with a plan. He remembered being surprised when he realized the others saw him as a leader. John wasn't even trying to be a leader. He was just trying to get everyone back to base.
He was only eight years old at the time. Had it really been that long since he was last here?
John pushed his memories aside. This was no homecoming.
The ravine finally opened up into a very large gully. Directly ahead of the mako was the front gate to the first firebase. The wall ahead of them looked to be made of solid concrete and ran the whole length of the hundred-foot-wide gully. On either side of the gate were two guard towers where large, fully automated turrets sat. Turrets that came to life once the mako entered the valley and aimed directly at it.
"Hold on!" Chief barked as he slammed the gas pedal. The mako speeded off, narrowly escaping two rockets fired straight at it. "Ashley!"
"On 'em." the marine replied from the gunner's seat. She aimed at the turret on the right and fired the cannon, not only taking down the turret's shields, but also left it heavily damaged. She then fired the machine gun to mince it down to size while Chief nimbly drove the mako up and down the gully, weaving left and right, trying to avoid the rockets.
"Additional contacts." Ashley reported. Chief checked the gunner's screen and saw LOKI mechs armed with submachine guns lining the wall and opening fire on the mako. LOKI mechs, or locusts as they were more commonly known, were one of the most common mech variants in the Alliance military, a mechanical analogue to basic infantry, typically armed with either pistols or submachine guns. These particular mechs were once part of the live-fire training ground, but were now under the control of the rogue VI, likely under orders to shoot to kill.
In addition to LOKI mechs, a swarm of Alliance drones appeared. Alliance drones were, basically, automated turret guns capable of flight, allowing them to strafe, dodge, reorient, and change defensive positions. These particular drones were rocket drones, and soon joined the locusts in their barrage. With another cannon blast and another round of machine gun fire, Ashley took out the other turret gun, but that left flying targets that were too small and agile to hit with the mako's weaponry.
Chief's eyes darted to the mako's status screens. Under so much fire, the mako's shields were already down to seventy percent and were dropping fast. Even with his erratic driving, the Spartan couldn't dodge every last rocket being fired at him. The most obvious solution was to simply climb out of the mako and attack the drones and mechs on foot with the squad's smaller but more accurate weapons, but it would be too dangerous with all the rockets flying through the air. He needed a plan.
On one screen, the Spartan spied a small group of rocks near one of the walls of the gully. It was then that, thinking back to N'tho's stunt way back on Trebin, the Chief came up with an idea.
"N'tho, Garrus, Tali, Wrex, Liara." Chief rattled off. "When I pop the back hatch, get ready to jump out on my mark."
"Jump out?!" Tali yelped.
"Trust me on this." Chief replied. With that, he made a u-turn and made a run for the rocks. As he did, the drones continued assaulting him with rockets. "Get ready." he said. Upon reaching the rocks, the mako made a sharp 180-degree turn, no doubt tearing up some dirt as it did so. The mako was now shielded from the drones' view by the rocks. "Now! Out!" he ordered as he popped the hatch open.
The Spartan had timed it correctly. When the back hatch opened and the alien members of his team leapt out, they landed right behind the rocks. After delivering its cargo, the mako sped off just a second later, still maintaining the drones' full and undivided attention. "I'll draw their fire." Chief said over TEAMCOM. "I need the five of you to pick off the drones and mechs while they're all concentrated on me. Use those rocks as cover."
"Can do!" Garrus crowed over TEAMCOM before withdrawing his sniper rifle. Lining up a shot, he took out a drone's shields, and then the drone itself a single shot later. Following the Turian's lead, the rest of them whipped out their weapons and opened fire on the drones. While Tali and N'tho shot at the drones with their assault rifles and Liara used her pistol, Wrex used his explosive-modded sniper rifle. There was, however, one problem.
Unlike Garrus, Wrex had a tendency to miss.
"Damn drones." Wrex growled as he missed yet again. "Hold still…."
"I get the impression that long-range combat isn't your expertise." Garrus drawled as he took out another rocket drone.
"….No. It's not." Wrex replied. "So I should probably move a little closer."
With that idea in mind, the Krogan Battlemaster wrapped himself in a biotic barrier and jogged away from the rocks, moving closer to the drones. Once he felt he was close enough to get the job done, he resumed firing. Now that he could actually see the damn things, he was much more accurate with his sniper rifle. The drones exploded into fiery plumes of smoke and circuits.
However, by coming out of cover, Wrex had just made himself an easier target for the locusts on the wall. Some of them switched from firing on the mako to firing on the Krogan. Wrex only barked out a laugh as he turned to the mechs and fired at them, his barrier easily absorbing most of the damage. One by one, the mechs exploded into charred bits of plastic and metal. He got so wrapped up in picking them off, it took him a few seconds to notice the frag grenade that one of the mechs tossed at Wrex's feet.
"….Aw, crap." Wrex grumbled.
The grenade detonated with a deep 'thump,' sending fire, dirt, shrapnel, and a wounded Krogan into the air. Wrex retracted his helmet to spit out some orange blood. Snapping it back on, he suddenly heard a voice in his head.
"That was too close, Wrex. Your readouts are saying that your armor took some damage, but it would've been a lot worse if you didn't have your barrier up" Cortana reported.
"Anything else you wanna tell me?" Wrex asked as he got up, not really appreciating the AI nagging him.
"Yes. Your sniper rifle was heavily damaged." the AI crisply replied.
The Krogan paused at that. He looked down and saw the rifle in question on the ground. The scope was crushed, the rifle butt had been blown clean off, and worst of all, the barrel of the rifle had been bent and cracked in a couple of places. It wasn't just heavily damaged. It was downright unusable now.
Wrex looked up at the locusts and glared at them as his body emanated a biotic aura. "That…..was a Harpoon Mark Seven…With an explosive ammunition mod…for only five thousand credits." he growled.
He biotically charged up to the locusts on the wall, knocking three of them to the ground on 'impact' as he took out his shotgun and began mowing the machinations down.
"Do you..."
*BLAM!*
"Have any idea…."
*BLAM!*
"How rare it is….."
*BLAM!*
"To get a gun THAT good…..
*BLAM!*
"For THAT CHEAP?!"
*BLAM!*
*BLAM!*
*BLAM!*
Wrex roared as he charged into a whole pack of locusts, alternating between blasting them with his shotgun, using the shotgun as a club, punching them, headbutting them, and stomping them. He was now in the throes of the deadly phenomenon that Krogan call 'blood rage.'
With Wrex having inadvertently volunteered to deal with the mechs, that left the rocket drones for the rest of the squad to take out. One by one, the rocket drones continued to fall. Tali would fire off overloads to take out the drones' shields, allowing N'tho to gun them down. Garrus was capable of doing both, having both the omni-tool and aim necessary for the task, while Liara would fire biotic warps and throws to toss the drones about. Liara biotically threw the very last drone into the gully wall, the flying turret exploding on impact. Once the drones were done with, the mako drove over to the rocks where the rest of the squad was and came to a halt.
"Wrex. How does it look over there?" Chief asked.
Wrex winked orange twice.
Several mechs were thrown off from the wall, followed by a loud, satisfied laugh.
"Anyway…." Wrex began after taking a breath to calm himself from his ecstatic killing spree. "This firebase is embedded into the gully wall, but there's a passage in the wall we can walk through. Not big enough for the mako, though."
"Then I guess we're hoofing it from here." Chief said as he unbuckled his seatbelt. "Kaidan, Ashley, pile out. Wrex, find a switch that'll open the door. Cortana, what do the other two firebases look like?"
"One sec. Need to hack the mainframes." the AI replied as Chief climbed out of the mako, following Ashley and Kaidan. The squad congregated outside the door. "I'm in. Interesting. It seems this firebase is just a gate area for the other two, which is actually the training course proper, judging from the symmetrical layout."
"Symmetrical?" Liara asked. It was then that the huge metal gate in front of the squad opened slowly. The squad passed through once there was enough space to do so.
"One firebase directly facing another, with some cover scattered in-between." Cortana elaborated. "Meant to simulate extended firefights; advancing through cover, taking and holding tactical positions, that kinda stuff. Typically, trainees would be sent into one base while the mechs and drones would be sent into another and the two would be left to duke it out, sometimes over certain objectives."
As Wrex descended a flight of stairs to join the rest of the squad, Cortana chimed in again. "Huh. How about that. According to the VI's report, we're doing well."
"Report?" Chief asked. It was then that a list of names and accompanying numbers appeared on the Spartan's HUD.
"Those look like combat scores." Ashley said. Apparently, Cortana transmitted this list to the rest of the squad's HUDs as well.
"That they are, Ashley." Cortana confirmed. "It seems the VI thinks that this is all just another training exercise and is scoring us appropriately. It's broadcasting this report on all channels."
"…..I call varrenshit." Wrex said. "The Turian shouldn't score higher than me."
"That's because my aim was better." Garrus plainly replied.
"I just took out every mech on that wall." Wrex argued with a growl. "And now you're telling me that drones are worth more points?"
"Well, they are harder to hit, what with their tendency to fly around in circles." Garrus pointed out.
"Enough. Both of you. This isn't a video game." Chief sternly cut in. "Cortana, block the scores. I don't want to give these two a reason to argue throughout the mission."
"He started it." Garrus said. Chief looked over his shoulder and the cracked visor glared at the Turian, promptly shutting him up. Wrex then chuckled a bit. Chief turned his visor on the Krogan next, shutting him up too.
"Let's move." Chief said as he lead the squad through the passage that Wrex described. It was a circular tunnel drilled through the rock only three meters tall and two meters wide; just large enough for the squad to slip through. The only illumination the whole way were little blue lights bolted to the walls.
The squad eventually came to a corner in the small tunnel. Chief held up his hand with four fingers pressed to his palm, bringing the team to a halt. There was a faint light coming from whatever was around the corner, light from outside most likely. "N'tho. Cloak and scout ahead. If that's the end of the tunnel, I wanna know what's waiting for us." the Spartan ordered.
"On it." N'tho replied before activating his cloak. Once he was sufficiently transparent, he crept past the rest of the squad and around the corner. "Okay, looks like we're expected. There's like, half a dozen locusts all standing around outside the tunnel exit and they're pointing their guns down the hole." the Sangheili said after a few seconds went by.
"Where are you?" Chief asked.
"Right behind the line they've formed. Already got a grenade handy, just say the word." N'tho replied.
"Get to a defensible position. When you're ready, make a hole." Chief ordered.
"Can do." N'tho replied. Twenty-eight seconds passed before the familiar cracking boom of a plasma grenade detonating pierced the air, followed by the sounds of gunfire. "I now have their complete and undivided attention!" N'tho announced over TEAMCOM.
"On me! Move!" Chief ordered as he barged around the corner and held up his assault rifle, ready for battle. He emerged from the tunnel to find himself on the roof of a building of some sort. Ahead of him were the remains of three locusts, while three others were marching towards a large crate with their guns raised, presumably where N'tho had taken cover. The Master Chief lined up his shots and with three short bursts of fire, popped off the remaining mechs' heads one after another. He had little time to celebrate his victory, as he was immediately under fire.
He looked in the direction the fire was coming from. As it turned out, the building that the squad was standing on was vaguely shaped like a horseshoe. The squad had emerged on one arm of the horseshoe, and the mechs were firing on them from the other arm. "Take cover!" The Chief ordered. Wrex, Ashley and Tali rushed over to one of the cover flaps that pitted the edge of the roof roughly every ten feet. The Chief himself ran to the crate where N'tho was hiding, followed closely by the rest of the squad. Chief looked around the corner of the crate to find N'tho taking cover at an adjacent cover flap. The Sangheili was soon joined by Garrus and Kaidan, while Liara knelt at the Spartan's side.
Chief checked his motion tracker and noticed that the mechs were beginning to march towards them. "Liara. Get ready to deliver a singularity on my mark." Chief ordered. Liara nodded at the Spartan as her body already started glowing blue, primed to fire off a biotic attack. A few seconds later, half a dozen mechs marched into the squad's line of fire. "Mark!" Chief barked.
Liara launched her singularity at the pack of locusts. Within seconds, the mechanicals were swirling around the miniature black hole as if caught in a biotic tornado. Additionally, the singularity also pulled in a rather large crate, the mechs banging off of it as well as each other. "Open fire." Chief calmly ordered. He and his squadmates around him poured fire into the swirling mass of metal. After another few seconds, the singularity faded and the swirling remains of the mechs dropped to the floor, the large heavy crate landing on top of the pile of plastic parts with an audible crunch.
"All hostiles down." Ashley reported over TEAMCOM. Chief checked his motion tracker and was satisfied with the confirmed lack of red dots. He turned around and walked over to Ashley, Wrex and Tali, sparing a glance at the courtyard a story below them as he walked over. It was full of destroyed mechs. The three of them must have been dealt with those mechs while he and the others were dealing with that other group.
"Status?" Chief asked.
"Green." Ashley replied. "Sir." she hastily added.
"Getting an update from the VI." Cortana reported. "It still thinks this whole thing is just another training exercise. It's congratulating us for taking 'blue base,' and has given us sixty seconds to fortify our position while the VI's remaining forces fortify their own position at 'red base' at the other side of the training course."
"This is the training course?" Tali asked.
"You got it." Cortana replied. With that, the Chief jogged over to the other 'arm' of the u-shaped building's roof to assess the layout of the battlefield. He could easily see 'red base' from his location. Between the two bases was a wide field dotted by boulders, trees and a large stream that ran through the middle of the map, with a small island in the middle of the stream. On the left and right sides of the field, Chief could see several different buildings, the ones on the left situated on the edge of a cliff, the ones on the right situated at the base of another cliff. This whole course must have been a nook in the mountain. The Spartan's first instinct was to advance straight down the middle to red base, but then he realized that there were likely many nooks and crannies along the sides of the course that could be used to his advantage. If he didn't do that, the VI likely would.
"Cortana, what do we have to work with in blue base?" Chief asked the AI as he trotted back over to his squad.
"Well, we have a warthog and mongoose in the base, another mongoose by the rappelling towers on your right, so charging in guns blazing could be a viable strategy here." Cortana answered.
"Anything good in the armory?" Chief probed.
"Nothing really too fancy." Cortana replied evenly. "A couple of assault rifles, a couple of pistols, a sniper rifle and…oh."
"What 'oh?'" Chief asked.
"Up in the blue base sniper nest is an asymmetric recoilless carbine-930." Cortana explained. "Basically, a personal railgun."
With that, Wrex immediately started trotting off towards the sniper nest. "Where are you going?" Garrus asked.
"To get me a railgun." Wrex plainly answered.
"You have a map of the course?" Chief asked Cortana as Wrex jogged over to stake his claim.
"You know it." Cortana replied as the map showed up on the Chief's HUD. "We've got twenty seconds before the VI launches its counter-attack. If you're gonna come up with a plan, do it fast."
"Already did." Chief said. "Garrus. Get up in that sniper nest. You're going to be my eyes."
"Sure thing." the Turian replied with a nod before jogging up after Wrex.
"N'tho, Liara, Wrex. Take a defensive position by the rappelling towers. That position will give you a decent LOS on approaching enemy forces. If it's mechanical, shoot it." Chief went on.
Chief received green winks from the three of them. He saw N'tho and Liara jog down the stairs and sprint to the towers, while he spied Wrex biotically charging to his designated station with a shiny new railgun in his hands. "Everyone else, on me. We're making for the underpass over on the right."
"Three…two…one…and the mechs are now coming this way." Cortana said.
"Let's move." Chief said as he jumped from the roof and landed on the ground with a thud. The others followed suit, as it was only a ten-foot fall.
….
*BOOM!*
Wrex barked out another harsh laugh at the sight of yet another cricket blowing up into singed bits and parts. The railgun automatically ejected its slug and the Krogan gladly slapped in a new one. That was the tradeoff to using heavy weapons; most of them didn't use ammo blocks, and so have a much more limited ammunition supply, but considering the results, Wrex considered it to be a fair tradeoff. After firing five shots, Wrex decided that he should probably switch to his assault rifle. He knew the railgun worked, and now he should be saving it for more special targets rather than on these small fries. He biotically pushed one of the mechs into the nearby stream and riddled another one with bullets.
Liara launched a singularity at an incoming pack of mechs. Wrex and N'tho then opened fire on the automatons orbiting the black hole that formed. When the singularity subsided, the dead mechs collapsed into a heap in the middle of the dirt road. "Man, this is too easy." N'tho noted. "I mean, Liara just throws out a-"
"Stop. Talking." Wrex snarled.
"What?" N'tho asked. "I was just gonna say that it's kinda unfair that we can shoot black holes and they can't. Like, maybe they need something on their side to level the playing field a little."
It was then that the three of them heard a low-pitched electronic warble, sounding almost like animal noises. It was then that a trio of small four-legged mechs appeared from the front door of the operations building across the dirt road and began running at the squad, barking like the dogs they vaguely resembled. "I hate you." Wrex said before unloading some fire on the FENRIS mechs, also known as crickets.
Two of the crickets met their ends on approach, but one of them was able to get close enough to N'tho to pounce on the young Sangheili, knocking him to the ground. It then fired a taser at him, disabling his shields. Thinking quickly, Liara smacked the mech off with a biotic throw before rushing over to N'tho and creating a small biotic bubble shield around them.
As more crickets and locusts made their way down the dirt road to their position, Wrex called up the Chief on TEAMCOM. "Chief. Mind letting us in on that plan? Things are getting a little hairy over here."
"Hold on a little longer. Support is on its way." Chief replied.
…
Ashley let out a low whistle at what she saw. "Well well well. Where's your mother, young man?" she asked the armor defense system in a seductive tone of voice.
Sitting in the garage-like area in the underpass was a prone HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark XI Armor Defense System, commonly known as the mantis. It sat in the middle of the garage with its cockpit door open, as if waiting for someone to come in and take control. On its right 'arm' was a mass accelerator machine gun, similar to what the mako had, and on its left 'arm' was a mass accelerator cannon, also similar to what the mako had. The difference however, was that the mantis had not one, not two, but five canons on that hand, though each one was significantly smaller than the mako's cannon. Painted in Alliance Blue with the Alliance logo emblazoned on several spots on the mech's skin, it represented an interesting evolution of the HRUNTING Mark III Exoskeleton, or cyclops, from the Master Chief's day.
Wasting no time, the Master Chief put away his weapon and trotted up to the mech's cockpit. He climbed inside, the cockpit door snapping shut automatically. He powered up the systems, and the mantis rose to its feet, its formerly limp arms now locking into place on either side of the cockpit, ready for battle.
"Here's the plan." Chief said over TEAMCOM. "Wrex, N'tho, Liara. I'm on my way to your position. Once I've given you enough breathing room to do it, I want you to push forward into the operations building. Clear it out, followed by the motor pool. Kaidan, Ashley, Tali. I want the three of you to keep advancing through the underpass and the communications building to red base. That path will lead into a cave that should keep you out of sight. I need you guys to flank the VI while me and the rest of the squad are holding its attention across the stream."
"I'll be sure to highlight everyone's objectives on their HUDS." Cortana added. "Also, the VI's processing core is located beneath red base. Once we neutralize the VI's remaining forces, we should be just one quick elevator ride away from completing this mission."
"So let's make it happen, people." Chief said as he began piloting the mantis out of the underpass and across the stream. "Garrus. How's red base looking?"
"More locusts and crickets on the way, along with a few drones for good measure. Looks like the VI is pulling out - uh-oh." Garrus replied.
"What is it?" Chief asked.
"Big mechs." Garrus explained. "Really, really big mechs heading for the rappelling towers."
"Guess I picked a good time to find this mantis, then." Chief said as he approached the force of locusts and crickets engaging Wrex, Liara and N'tho. He opened fire with his machine gun, tearing the mechs to shreds as he closed the distance. As he came ashore, he stomped on the last remaining locust while turning towards the next wave of mechanical enemies coming up the road from red base.
Escorted by a legion of more locusts was a very large mech. It was shorter, but stockier than the mantis that Chief was piloting, and like its comrades was stark white in color with a mass accelerator machine gun in one arm and a rocket launcher in the other. Like the LOKI and FENRIS, it had two red circles vertically stacked on its 'face' to presumably act as eyes. It was a Battle YMIR Model 34-A Mech, colloquially known as the beetle. It stopped and fired a rocket at the mantis, one that the Chief nimbly avoided thanks to his piloting skills and returned fire.
"Advance into the operations building. I'll cover you." Chief ordered as he fired all five MA cannons at the beetle.
….
"One more thing before you advance through the caves, guys." Cortana said as she slapped a marker on the HUDs of Kaidan, Ashley and Tali. "There's some weapon lockers up top-side holding several heavy weapons. A little extra firepower should help you take out red base."
"Thanks Cortana." Kaidan said. "Come on. Let's move." he said as he led Ashley and Tali up a staircase that went up to the second level of the communications building.
"How do we know it's not lying to us?" Tali asked.
"She hasn't lead us wrong yet." Ashley pointed out as the group took another staircase leading outside.
"It hasn't lead us at all!" Tali countered as they arrived at the roof of the underpass. From the roof, they could see clear to the other side of the live fire course, where Chief was engaging the VI's mechanical minions in the mantis they found earlier. Against the cliff wall was a waterfall consisting of four streams of water, which was likely what was feeding the stream that ran through the middle of the course. To the left of the waterfall was a nook which housed the weapon lockers that Cortana spoke of. The three of them rushed over.
"Okay. Grab something and then head to this spot here." Cortana said as he slapped another arrow on their HUDs. The three of them helped themselves to various different weapons. Ashley grabbed a light machine gun from one locker, a rifle that was roughly 45 inches in length and had a large round ammo block resembling a drum magazine. Kaidan pulled out what looked like a large pistol that had something resembling a cylinder of some sort in place of a barrel. He attached it to his thigh opposite his regular pistol and took out a few spare cylinders from the locker. That left Tali with a large, heavy, and very odd looking contraption. The device looked vaguely like a shoulder-mounted heavy weapon, but Tali did see any slots to slid in rockets or any other kind of ammunition, for that matter. The young Quarian was curious. If it didn't fire rockets, what did it fire?
"Come on, let's move." Kaidan said as he made for the arrow on his HUD, Ashley right behind him.
"Wait for me!" Tali yelled as she decided to bring the strange bulky weapon with her. She folded it up on her back, right next to her assault rifle, before taking off after the two Humans, silently miffed that she didn't get time to inspect the weapon more closely.
….
Wrex, Liara and N'tho made it safely across the road and into the operations building. They found themselves in a a spacious room with computer screens periodically placed along the walls, each one showing the Human Systems Alliance insignia as a screensaver. At the far end of a corridor, a pair of crickets walked out from around the corner. They started barking as soon as they saw the three aliens enter the building and charged, but didn't get far as they were subsequently gunned down.
"I'll check the roof. You two head down that way." Wrex ordered as he pointed down the corridor.
"Since when were you in charge?" N'tho asked.
Wrex headbutted N'tho to the ground. "Pick his ass up and then push forward." Wrex ordered Liara as he stomped up the stairs. He emerged on the roof of the operations building and marched over to a railing and looked over the battlefield below. He saw Chief's mantis embroiled with a beetle. Unfolding his railgun, Wrex lined up a shot and fired on the large mech, hitting it right in the shoulder, heavily damaging its armor. The blow ceased the beetle's assault, giving Chief the window of opportunity needed to press his own attack.
Wrex looked over to the catwalk bridge that connected the operations building to the motor pool and saw several more locusts marching across the bridge, the two that were out in front opening fire through the doorway below where Liara and N'tho likely were. After reloading, Wrex lined up another shot on his railgun and fired, taking out the front half of the mech squad. Liara then appeared from the doorway beneath the Krogan and hit the rest of the squad with a biotic shockwave, knocking them off the bridge, clearing the way for N'tho and herself. Wrex jumped over the railing and landed on the bridge to join them as they trotted into the motor pool.
They were on the upper floor of the building, a series of catwalks over the small garage area below. In the small garage were too inactive beetles that needed to be destroyed before the VI could deploy them. But first, the three of them had to dispose of the dozen or so locusts patrolling the upper level. Between N'tho gunning down a few with his needler shotgun, Liara tossing a few out the window with her biotics and Wrex tackling and headbutting the rest to the ground, the occupying mechs were dispatched in relatively short order.
Once the locusts were dealt with, the three of them jogged down the steps to the lower level. "Okay. We need to get rid of these two mechs and fast. Ideas?" Wrex asked.
"I think I got one." N'tho said as he approached one of the beetles. "Always wanted to try this…." The Sangheili said as he removed his grenade belt and tied it around the beetle's neck. "I call it the grenade guillotine." he stated with a hint of pride.
"That still leaves the second one." Wrex pointed out.
"I can deal with it." Liara said as she walked up to the other one. "I could lift it, carry it out of the building, and drop it off the cliff. But I've never tried to lift anything so heavy with my biotics before."
"Now's a good time to start. Get on it." Wrex ordered. Liara nodded and lifted the prone mech with her biotics and slowly guided it out the garage door. While she was doing that, N'tho pressed a button on each plasma grenade on the belt.
"Fire in the hole!" N'tho yelped before dashing behind a crate, oddly pointing his omni-tool at the mech. The grenades detonated, sending the severed flaming head of the automaton flying outside, skipping across the ground and into the stream. "Oh! Oh! Holy wort! Whole! Lee! Wort!" N'tho cheered. "And I was recording with my camera, too! That is SO going on my startube page!"
Meanwhile, while Liara was carrying the second beetle over to the cliff's edge, she came under attack by another pack of locusts. Thinking quickly, the Asari hid behind the very mech she was biotically carrying, the locusts peppering the beetle with fire in an attempt to get at her. Their attack stopped with an explosion followed up by machine gun fire. Liara turned and saw her savior; Master Chief in the mantis. The Spartan had saved her life once again. Nodding in gratitude, she gently pushed the still-floating hulk of metal over the cliff edge. When the biotic field wore off, the mech plummeted into the river far below.
"We're making progress on the left flank." the Chief announced over TEAMCOM as another mech force, this time accompanied with flying rocket drones, marched from red base to the motor pool. "Alenko. How's the right flank looking?"
….
"No trouble so far." Kaidan replied. He, Ashley and Tali were in a cave tunnel that was connected to the communications building. He looked around the corner and saw red base's defenses on that side; lots of locusts and drones. "We're about to hit red base."
"Same here." Chief said. "Meet you inside."
"Roger that." Kaidan said. He turned to Ashley and pointed to her, and then a tree outside. Ashley nodded before she rushed out.
With her newly acquired SAW blazing and taking down a couple of mechs, she rushed over to the tree before taking cover behind it. As the locusts approached, Kaidan pulled out his sticky launcher, aimed and fired it at the ground beneath the mechs' feet. He quickly detonated it, taking out half of that group before reloading and firing off another sticky at the dirt road that lead into red base; a trap for any mechs that would come from that direction. With that trap set, Kaidan switched to his assault rifle and activated his biotic barrier before rushing outside and kneeling down to one knee to lay down some suppressive fire on the mechs. Tali switched to her own assault rifle but stayed near the cave entrance to use it as cover as she fired on the automatons herself.
Just a few seconds later, a metallic stomping sound could be heard. Another beetle was marching up the dirt road, accompanied by nearly two dozen locusts. Noticing the enemy force approaching, Kaidan whipped out the sticky detonator and checked the fold-out screen which showed a motion tracker. He patiently waited for a squad of six locusts to pass by the explosive he planted and detonated it. With an explosion, three locusts were destroyed, the other three stunned from the force of the blast. Those remaining three were then quickly cut down by Ashley's SAW.
"Tali! Take out that beetle!" Kaidan shouted as he rushed over to a rocky outcrop next to the tree where Ashley was taking cover as his barrier faded away. The Quarian was about to ask 'with what' until she remembered the strange heavy weapon on her back. Now was evidently the time to whip it out.
As she unholstered it, the weapon unfolded slightly, revealing what looked like a gun barrel. Grunting as she tried to hold the heavy weapon steady, she used the fold-out screen to help target the beetle's head. Once she had a good shot lined up, she pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened. She pulled it several more times. "What the bosh?"
"You're supposed to hold down the trigger." Cortana helpfully pointed out.
"Shut up." Tali growled as she held the trigger down.
A tiny red laser appeared from the weapon, painting the beetle. The weapon emanated an odd whine that steadily grew louder and higher-pitched. On the fold-out screen, two arrows moved towards each other to meet on the side of the reticule. Finally, it fired.
"Keelah!" Tali yelped as the kickback from the spartan laser knocked her to the ground, landing right on her butt. Despite that, the massive red laser hit its target. It pierced the beetle's shields, melted right through its armor, and generally cut through the massive machine like a hot knife through butter. The beetle exploded as the laser pierced through it, the force of the explosion stunning its locust entourage.
Ashley came from behind the tree to lay into the locusts with her SAW, Kaidan giving her covering fire with his assault rifle and the occasional biotic warp. Tali also moved up to help cover Ashley after she noted that the beetle was no longer a threat. It was then that a metallic stomping was heard once again, but this time it had a quicker rhythm and a thump that wasn't as deep as the beetle's footfall. Chief's mantis came around the corner to finish off the locust force with some machine gunfire and a few well-aimed cannon blasts.
"Red base is now secure." Chief announced over TEAMCOM. The mantis powered down and sat itself on the ground as the Chief climbed out. "Ashley, Tali, you two are with me. We're heading down to the VI core to shut it down. Everyone else, start searching the course for stragglers. You all have your orders."
….
There were no mechs waiting for Tali, Ashley and the Master Chief in the VI core. The VI core consisted of two dozen VI conduits, and each one had to be deactivated. Unfortunately, with its army of mechs and drones defeated, the VI had turned to its last line of defense; software. It had rigged up firewalls to negate the deactivation commands, making it all but impossible to shut off the conduits.
Unfortunately for the VI, its plan had a critical flaw. The conduits themselves weren't bulletproof.
After destroying the last conduit, a burst of white noise over all frequencies nearly deafened the three of them. According to Cortana, it was a binary sequence that roughly translated to 'HELP.'
With the mission complete, the three of them rode up the elevator back to the surface. Chief went over to the communications building to report the mission as accomplished to Alliance brass. Brass congratulated the Master Chief on a job well-done and ordered him and the squad to remain in the training course so that it would be secure until Alliance marines showed up to relieve them, which would be fairly soon.
Liara had just finished helping Kaidan inspecting inventory at the motor pool; taking stock of everything that was lost or damaged in the battle. Thankfully, most of the inventory was still in good shape, and what little was damaged could be easily repaired and what little was lost could be easily replaced. Kaidan dismissed her and sent her outside. She saw Wrex wading through the stream, catching the koi fish that dwelled within the stream with his bare hands. Apparently, the battle had made him hungry. Ashley and Tali were over at blue base taking inventory, while N'tho and Garrus were doing the same at the communications building. With her own duties done, the young Asari decided to go looking for the Master Chief.
She found him at red base, on the roof of the u-shaped building. He stood by the railing and looked out on the huge, sprawling river in the valley below, into which the stream spilled. The rain had finally stopped and the sun that the Humans called Epsilon Eridani finally managed to break through the clouds and cast its golden light on the new day. The Asari walked up next to the Spartan and leaned on the railing. For a few minutes, the two of them were silent.
"Beautiful view from here." Liara noted aloud to break the awkward silence more than anything else.
"Yeah." Chief replied. Liara noted that he sounded weary, almost sad. Then again, his emotions were hard to gauge with that stoic demeanor of his.
"This is the Big Horn River." Chief said as he pointed to the river. "We're in Longhorn Valley." he added.
"You know this place?" Liara asked.
"….I spent most of my childhood on this planet." Chief answered after what seemed to be a pause. "My family and I went camping here once."
"Reach is your home?" The Asari scientist pressed.
"Closest thing I have to one." he answered. "….There aren't any trees." he said after another pause.
"Trees?" Liara asked, getting a little confused.
"Last time I was here, there was a whole forest in this valley." Chief explained. "Trees as far as the eye can see on both sides of the river. But now look." Chief said as pointed at the valley again. "No trees. Just bare naked meadows on both sides."
Liara observed the valley more closely, and indeed, she couldn't spot a single tree in the valley. "I'm not surprised." Liara said. "After the Covenant glassed Reach, the Humans had to terraform this planet heavily to make it habitable again, and terraforming is not an exact science. Forests don't always take where they should. It is often very difficult to predict exactly where ecosystems will flourish."
The Master Chief was silent again. "Perhaps the forest is somewhere else in the valley?" Liara suggested.
The Chief simply shook his head. "It's not where it's supposed to be." he said. With that, he walked away. Liara did not follow him, sensing that he wished to be alone for now.
….
Codex Entry (Ships and Vehicles): HRUNTING / YGGDRASIL MARK XI ARMOR DEFENSE SYSTEM
The HRUNTING / YGGDRASIL Mark XI Armor Defense System is a single-person combat exoskeleton most often used by the Human Systems Alliance in small-scale reconnaissance operations, light infantry assaults, and covert operations such as those conducted by ONI. It is commonly referred to as the 'mantis,' following Alliance tradition of nicknaming mechs after insects native to Earth.
The typical mantis is equipped with a machine gun on the right arm and a mass accelerator cannon on the left arm, the former being intended for use against light infantry, the latter for use against more heavily-armored targets. It also has a 'stomp' function, which pilots find useful should ammunition run low, or when targets try to attack from below the pilot's FOV. In combination with a speed and nimbleness that is unusual for a manually-operated mech of its size, the end result is a formidable war machine, capable of eliminating entire squads of enemy soldiers within seconds. Its only weakness lies in its fairly thin armor, again unusual for a mech of its size. Most mantises have built-in kinetic barriers to compensate for this weakness.
Several variants of the mantis exist, such as anti-infantry and anti-aircraft models, the primary difference between which being specific armaments. The ODST have their own ODAV variant of the mantis; one that is capable of being dropped from orbit directly into the battlefield, similar to the mako. This variant comes equipped with several modifications to make it more viable for orbital drops; thicker armor, heat-proof shielding, micro-thruster jets to slow descent, and even a small element zero core to reduce the mass of the mech, making it less likely to be destroyed on impact with the planet's surface.
….
Yeah, I guess the REAL reason these chapters take so long is because I'm very easily distra-ooooooh, Roosterteeth posted a new Minecraft Let's Play!
Anyway, one thing I was really looking forward to in Halo 4 as soon as I heard about it? The Master Chief's face. THAT gave me more incentive to finish Halo 4's single-player campaign quicker than I normally would have, that was for sure. So to say the least, I was disappointed that they only show you the Chief's face if you completed the campaign solo on legendary, AND EVEN THEN, you only really see his eyes.
So aside from the fact that his eyebrows are black, John-117's face is still pretty much a mystery.
What do you all think the MC's face looks like? Lemme know in your review or via a PM.
….I'm not gonna have him take off his helmet in the next chapter, as part of some kind of character development. I'm just curious about what all of you think. Really.
….
Ha! Oh Ray! You and your rose fixation!