Hey, ThatGuy here. Just wanted to make something clear from last chapter. I'm treating weapons as actual weapons in this. Kind of like how the Halo books treat them, if you've ever read them. Also, technically the Kinetic Barrier shield that milky way soldiers use shouldn't be able to stop the Kett and Angaran's energy/plasma-based weaponry. That is all.
Chapter 4
The clicking became more pronounced as we reached the mouth of the cave, and shouting echoed from inside. Both human and alien shouting. Liam and I nodded and moved in, rifles raised. As we turned the corner, we saw Greer backing towards a dead end, with two aliens advancing slowly, rifles aimed at his chest.
"I'm not hostile! And I can't understand you! I'm not from here!" Greer kept shouting, answered only by unintelligible responses from the creatures. Liam aimed at the left alien, and I aimed at the right. I keyed my COMMs to a private channel with Liam. How did I know how to do that?
"On my mark. 3. 2. 1... Mark." Both our projectiles found their marks, both aliens collapsing into a brand-new pool of blood. Greer exhaled and moved towards us. "Liam? Ryder? I thought we were the... never mind. Its damn good to see you. Run into Kirkland or Fischer yet?" I nodded and had Liam fill him in on the details.
"damn monsters. This rock is turning out to be everything but home." Greer growled, fists clenching before he picked up one of the alien rifles. "I saw some flares launch over the ridge a bit north of here. Might be the other shuttle. I'll go keep Fischer company. Find us a ride outta here, alright?" He looked at me with a smile, but it was fairly obvious that it was just a front. "will do man. Keep in touch okay?"
He nodded and headed off to Fischer's location, Leaving Liam and I with the alien corpses. "head to the flares?" I asked, pointing towards the ridged Greer pointed out. Liam moved as if to speak before the radio cut him off, getting rid of the static.
"-ora! We go-… - working! Let me fi-… - There we go. Cora, Radio's hot!" There was a burst of static as Cora connected. "This is Cora of the Pathfinder team. We are repairing our shuttle but hostiles are inbound, does anyone copy?" We both reached for our mics before SAM beat us to it.
"Cora. It is good to hear you. It appears Scott Ryder and Liam Kosta are on the way to assist. Approximately 5 minutes out." SAM was right, we had both started moving as fast as we could the moment the shuttle's IFF had shown up on scanners.
The narrow path we followed opened up into a large clearing. Cora and her half of the team had unloaded the shuttle and turned the cargo into a hasty defensible position. One more hit from the jump jet landed us square in the center of it. Cora smiled through her mask and jogged up to me, extending a hand. "Glad to see you two made it. Guns and ammo are next to the shuttle. Load up and get ready." Her point was made by a large green ship making its way into the clearing, dropping foot soldiers all along the way.
I sprinted towards the boxes and grabbed the m8 Avenger sitting on top along with a handful of heat sinks, turning and boosting forward to the makeshift barricade. A hail of energy rounds began impacting the walls as we returned fire. "total hostiles! Sound off!" Cora yelled into the mic.
"I got four in front of me." Liam responded.
The pilot keyed in next. " three more to the right." I peeked over to confirm and saw one more figure drop onto the battlefield as the dropship flew off. it looked like the others, but larger with red accents on his armor. It carried a large gun that seemed to be charging up energy and aiming at...me. Fuck. I ducked down as a barrage of fire tore at my position like a feral animal. "I got one big one in the back with a big gun to boot!" I relayed over COMMs.
I looked over at the rest of the team returning fire. Cora and Liam were both on the right side, spraying over the wall to try to get a break in the fire. Dr. Carlyle and the shuttle's pilot, Hayes, were in the center, both huddled behind a large boulder. I was by myself on the left side. I was about to focus back on the situation at hand when I saw a shimmer move towards Cora.
"Watch out!" I yelled, boosting towards her, arm outstretched, knowing I wouldn't make it in time. Suddenly my Omni-tool flared to life, launching a small ball of fire towards the shimmer. The flames hit the creature right as it de-cloaked and lunged, catching it square in the side. It squealed as it was knocked back, quickly being engulfed in flames.
How the fuck did I do that? Cora gave me a thumbs-up before returning to the fight, and I boosted back to my position, peeking around a corner and catching an alien unaware in the side of the head. Another hail of energy projectiles brought me back into cover, sweating and swearing under my breath. "I'm pinned down by the big one! Need an assist here!" I shouted to nobody in particular.
Liam answered my call by standing up and launching a concussive round from his Charger. It hit its target, taking a large chunk of its abdomen with it. I popped from cover and drained a burst of gunfire into the wound, taking it down once and for all. The smaller aliens looked around a second, clearly shocked by the death. "They're distracted, open fire!" Cora shouted, and everyone popped up and began engaging targets. The aliens tried to regroup and push back, but the relentless gunfire from our position shredded them, leaving the ground steaming with gore and green blood.
"Everyone okay? Sound off!" Cora barked as we grouped up after the battle. We all responded in time, until Dr. Carlyle shouted. "get over here, we got wounded!" I turned to see the pilot Hayes who was fighting next to the pilot clutching at her stomach, blood seeping through the hole in her suit. We all rushed over as Dr. Carlyle administered a canister of medi-gel into the wound. Cora was at their side in an instant. "Can you stabilize her?" Dr. Carlyle nodded, fear in his eyes.
"yeah, but not for long. She needs to get back to the Hyperion soon or she isn't gunna make it." We all jumped for a second at the response. "no way the shuttle is taking off in this storm. But I may have found a way to end it. Cora, Scott, Liam, meet me at these coordinates time now." The pathfinder sent us a new marker on our HUD, and we all turned to look at the blue beam of energy launching into the sky.
"On our way pathfinder." Cora responded and started to move out. As I reloaded and followed her, the pathfinder opened a private channel with me. "glad to see you made it Scott." The only thing to respond with was "thanks, Dad."
We made great time to the nav point, as it was only about a klik from our position. We ended up on a ledge made of the strange metal cropping up all over the place, overlooking a large compound built around the structure emanating the blue beam. The Pathfinder was crouched on the far side, and we all slowly moved up to him, taking secure positions on the ledge.
Below us, more of the aliens patrolled around a large shield wall, lightning rods making them unafraid of the storm. The pathfinder turned to us, bringing his omni-tool online.
"Alright team, SAM's confirmed what we've all been thinking. That beam is what's causing the massive lightning storm here. Our only option is to find a way to turn it off. Not gunna lie to you, it'll be a rough fight the whole way, but I believe in all of you." Liam nodded and piped up.
"how are we getting passed that shield there? Can't make it in if we don't have a door." The pathfinder nodded and keyed his omni-tool once again, setting off a series of explosives he placed on the lightning rods in the area. The blasts launched the rods skyward, tumbling and bending as the hit the rocks below. The patrolling aliens stopped and watched as the lightning started upon the shield barrier, it being the next highest structure in the area.
The pylons of the shield immediately burst into flames and sparks as the lighting overload the systems, causing the barrier to fade away. "now!" Shouted the pathfinder and he leapt off the ledge and into cover, firing at the surprisingly few guards on the outside of the complex. The outer guards were quickly dropped by a combination of gunfire and the lightning that had begun striking the compound, causing fires and warping metal.
"move now!" The pathfinder yelled as we aggressively assaulted the base, using the surprise of the attack to our advantage. Soon we neared a long walkway connecting the compound with the strange alien monolith. Only two aliens stood guard on the other side, firing at us as we charged. Liam ended them with another concussive shot between the two, sending one flying over the railing and into the abyss below.
I took up the rear as the others crossed the platform and took my chance to move as they set up on the other side. I was about halfway there when the walkway was hit by a multitude of lightning strikes, warping the metal and tearing the path apart. I tried a desperate leap towards the gate before the walkway fell apart, plummeting into the abyss with me close behind it.
Suddenly my view turned... purple? I looked up to see Cora's body glowing with the light and radiation of element zero, projecting a bubble around my form and slowly pulling me. She dissipated the bubble and dropped me onto the floor around them.
"thanks for the save Cora. Didn't know you were biotic." She gave me a half-smile as the purple glow crept back under her skin again. "don't worry, it's not contagious." She gave me a hand up and turned to the pathfinder who was busy hacking the door.
"… aaaannnndddd there. Get ready people." The gate opened to the shocked faces of aliens on the other side, who were quickly dropped under a hail of gunfire. We moved along the strange monolith, until we reached the entry. The last aliens had set up a small defensive position on the edge overlooking the abyss, leaving only small holes to fire out of. Cora glowed purple once more and shoved the whole barricade off the edge. "I really didn't want to deal with them."
We cleared the rest of the platform and set up defensive positions as the pathfinder ran over to what looked like a console on the center. "SAM, can you decrypt this?" Alec asked the AI. Its synthetic voice responded over the whole squad chat. "I've been decrypting since it came within range of the scanners. I have enough to perform basic tasks on this machine."
The pathfinder nodded and held his hand out over the strange hexagonal keys. They moved in a wave, and the massive door to the monolith began moving. "incredible." The gruff voice of the pathfinder sounded, followed by a low cuss as the door jammed. "Hey Scott, help me with this will you?" I ran over and began helping him open the door manually. Once we opened enough of a space to walk through, he smiled and turned toward the interior.
"Now let's go have a chat with whatever's in here." I followed close behind, my spine once again tingling in fear. "alright, just be careful."
"worried about your old man?" The pathfinder laughed "don't worry, I won't tell anyone." A large blue light shined ahead of us, revealing itself to be a large holographic panel and the base of the large beam in the sky. "alright SAM, let's see what we have." The pathfinder stepped forward once more, and SAM began decryption and translation. "one moment... indexing... translation complete pathfinder."
"alright, let's see what we have here." Alec Ryder held out his hand to the hologram, and an orange sphere flickered to life around his hand, sending out tendrils that interacted with the device. The blue hologram flashed a bright blue and outlined itself, before a wave of power surged up the entire inside of the monolith, firing an energy projectile into the sky.
The orange tendrils retracted and he turned to face me, then pointed outside. Rays of sunlight shown through the door, signaling the breaking of the storm. We both jogged outside and stood in awe at the sun showing through the clouds, taking in the view.
"you did it, pathfinder." I said in a low tone as he put his arm on my shoulder. "There's hope at least." I looked at him and smiled. "isn't that all anyone ever asks for?" He smiled at me.
"well we can't give hope if we spend all day staring at sunrises. Let's get back to the shuttle and-"
We heard a noise behind us and turned to see a blue cloud racing towards us. Before we could move it hit, throwing us onto the floor and dragging us off the platform. I grabbed onto the ledge, holding on for dear life before one of the alien corpses hit me in the helmet. Next thing I knew I was airborne, and after that my back impacted with the ground, knocking the wind out of me.
I tried to gulp in air to recover, and suddenly my lungs were on fire. I opened my eyes to the shattered remains of my visor. My face burned from the air, and I kept trying to breath, my brain beginning to panic as my vision began to cloud. As I struggled to stay awake I saw a figure approach me through the encroaching darkness. It was the pathfinder, my dad. I began hyperventilating as he knelt down next to me. I could hear him saying something on the radio and then looking back at me, shaking his head. The black tunnels in my vision got darker and darker as I saw him take off my helmet, then reach behind and take off his, sealing it onto my suit.
Oxygen exploded into my mask, and I I looked up once more at the man who saved my life and sacrificed his. The pathfinder. My dad. He smiled at me and grabbed one of my hands and I heard him speak once more before I blacked out. "initiate transfer, SAM."