Chapter 3: Deadly Encounter
Location: The Rust Bucket's cargo bay on Vinishia's surface.
Present Day.
Jackson 001
Jackson and Sil had done jobs in the past that required them to go through hazardous environments so this was nothing new.
"So, how cold is it out there?" Sil asked, still pulling on her winter clothing.
Jackson had gone outside to take a temperature reading to see how cold it was, and it was troublesome.
"It's about 32 below freezing. Was that the answer you were looking for?"
Sil caught on to his sarcasm, so she crossed her eyes and bared her teeth in a mocking fashion then said in a sarcastic tone "Oh, you're so funny."
Jackson just chuckled, his helmet making it sound like metallic coughs, then saying "Hey, I'm not that bad, but I'm not kidding when I say don't leave a single piece of your skin exposed. I don't want you getting frostbite".
Sil just rolled her eyes and continued putting on her clothes while Jackson started speaking to Yim Yam, "Now I want you to look after the ship while we're gone. Make sure the engines don't freeze over or we'll be stuck here, got it?"
Yim Yam did a lazy salute and said, "Yim Yam knows. Yim Yam always look after ship wile Master and Mistress have all the fun".
"I mean it Yim." Jackson said in a more serious tone, "This is an important job I'm giving you".
Yim Yam put up his hand and pointed his thumb at himself and said, "No worries Yim Yam got it covered, ship in good hands".
Not really convinced Jackson just nodded and went back over to Sil who had finally finished getting her winter clothes on. "Ok" Jackson said "Lets arm up."
They had a small variety of weaponry consisting of two shotguns, three MA5b assault rifles, four magnums, one anti-material rifle (sniper), a few throwing knifes and grenades. Jackson went for his default layout, carrying one assault rifle, a magnum, two grenades and a custom made sword. Where Sil liked carrying her throwing knifes, a magnum and shotgun, but this time she went for the sniper instead of a shotgun.
"Whoa there" Jackson said taking the sniper "This is a bit overkill, don't you think?"
Sil started waving her arms about in annoyance "Oh, COME ON!" she protested, "I never get to use that one".
Jackson put the sniper back on the table and started walking to a lone crate. He came back over and had an odd looking long weapon in one hand, and some kind of backpack in the other. Sil looked at him in puzzlement, not sure what to make of this.
"I know how much you want to use the sniper" he said tilting his head slightly "But you have to learn how to use this first." He held up the weapon and gestured for her to take it.
"What is it?" she said examining it. Then her eyes went wide as she realised what it was, "Is this… a bow?"
Sil took the bow and the backpack, she now knew had arrows in. She took out one and attached it.
"It's a compound bow." Jackson said " Happy late birthday present. It wasn't easy to get, so treat it well."
Sil pulled back the string and got a feel for it "Wow thanks uncle" she said smiling "I've always wanted one of these, and now I have one".
"Just don't start shooting it in here" Jackson said turning to the access ramp "That thing can go through the bulkhead".
Jackson and Sil stood at the access ramp and did one final check on their equipment. Jackson's MJOLNIR Mark V was designed to withstand harsh environments, so he didn't have to worry about the cold. What he did worry about was Sil. She didn't have the same hardware as he did, so she was more at risk getting hypothermic.
"Ok now it's the shield check." On Jackson's heads-up display (HUD) his energy shield was full "Ok, turn around and let me see yours" Sil turned and let Jackson see the shield generator she had strapped to her back.
It was a small thing, not as strong as Jackson's, but it did its job well enough. A minute later and Sil's shield bar was reading full on his HUD.
"Ok" Jackson said shifting his weight from one foot to the other "Ready for this long walk?"
Sil looked at him through her snow goggles and said with a muffled voice through her scarf "Lets go and get this over with". Jackson pulled a lever and with a grinding screech the access ramp opened to the frozen wastes of Vinishia.
Location: Vinishia's frozen wasteland.
400 meters later.
Sil
It was so cold. Sil couldn't stop her jaws from chattering and her hands and feet were numb. The edges of her goggles had frozen over making it harder to see in the blizzard. "How long till we get there?" Sil said with a shivering voice.
The cold didn't affect her uncle while he was in his armour. He put a hand up to his helmet and pressed a button, which connected to the earpiece he had given her to talk better in the blizzard. He said, "It's not far now, only 300 meters to go" as he walked he turned his head and look at Sil "How are you holding up so far?" he said not sounding too concerned so as not to hurt her pride.
"Oh I'm doing great, never better" Sil said rubbing her arms "The sooner I get out of this blizzard, the better I'll feel" Sil thought to herself. She fell over when her foot went through some deep snow and was almost buried.
"Sil!" her uncle called out rushing over to help her up.
"I'm fine, I'm fine, you don't have to help me up, I can take care of myself", Sil yelled as she shook her uncle off.
"Hey, don't give me that, we're a team, we look out for each other".
Sil pointed ahead and said, "Can we just keep walking. I'm freezing as it is".
They continued a few more meters when Sil's uncle took her by the shoulder and spun her around to face him. He held her there and started speaking "You don't have to do everything by yourself, you can turn to me. You can talk to me, stop being so stubborn" he started raising his voice "Stubbornness can get you killed, and when you're like this I…" he stopped himself and took a deep breath letting it out slowly. When he had finally composed himself he said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that".
"No" Sil said, "You're right, I'm being childish. I should be the one saying sorry".
Uncle Jack gave Sil a hug and said, "It's ok, and I know how you feel. Come on let's…" before he finished his sentence a loud screech came from the direction they were walking in. Sil and uncle Jack both drew their weapons, Sil took out her side arm and her uncle took out his assault rifle and aimed at where the sound came from.
"What was that?" Sil said sweeping the area with her magnum.
"Not sure" her uncle said also sweeping with his rife. The sound came again, louder this time.
"Heads up" he said, "We got two bogies and they're heading this way".
"I thought there wasn't any wildlife on this planet?" Sil asked.
"There isn't" Sil's uncle said "But we got bogies and they're very much alive".
It was at this point Sil wished she had a motion tracker. It was annoying not knowing where her enemies were coming from.
"Where?" Sil asked.
"There" her uncle said pointing forward.
Sil aimed and got ready to shoot, when a Keg Yar with fur clothing came out the haze of the blizzard and stopped in his tracks.
"Don't move" Sil's uncle growled aiming his weapon at the alien.
"A human?" the Keg Yar gasped, "What are? Never mind, listen…" before he could say anything a set of twin blade like energy spikes bust through his chest and lifted him off the ground.
Sil let out a gasp as the poor alien was cut clean in two, his purple blood staining the pure white snow, and something else…
Some of the blood hung in the air, as if suspended by some unseen force.
"Oh shit" Sil's uncle said slowly as something began to appear. Sil could now make out a faint shape as the thing became clearer. It was 3 meters tall and was wearing large white fur, layered body armour, that was dented, scared and covered in bullet holes. Sil had never seen this type of alien before, and it was terrifying.
"Ultra" Sil's uncle shouted, "Move".
Before Sil could ask what he meant by Ultra the large alien shot forward swinging a long blade of energy in their direction. Sil moved, duking under the sizzling blade missing her by inches. She was about to bring her gun up when the alien kicked it out of her hand and went to grab her with it's large four-fingered hand. Sil smacked its hand to the side, spun on her heel and delivered a kick to the alien's massive helmeted head, stunning it. Sil pulled out one of her knifes and went to stab it in the throat, but alien recovered quickly and brought up it's own blade. Sil had no time to react as the blade cut through the armour on her left arm. Her shield took the worst of it but it still cut deep in her arm, making her cry out in pain.
Before Sil could recover the alien brought up it's boot and kicked her in the face, knocking her goggles and scarf off. Sil fell flat on her back, stunned, her vision blurry, and she tasted blood in her mouth. "I got to get up" she said to herself as the large alien slowly approached her "Get up or you're dead." Sil's body refused to move. She watched helplessly as the alien brought up its blade for the killing blow, to suddenly stop and stare at her, tilting it's head like it was confused.
"Sil" her uncle's voice came through her ear-mic "You're in my line of fire, MOVE!".
Sil rolled to the side as her uncle unloaded on the large alien, it brought up its blade and deflected the incoming bullets, some getting through, but they just bounced off its shield. It charged, still deflecting the bullets and let out a battle cry.
Jackson 001
"MOVE!" Jackson opened fired as Sil rolled to the side and was out the line of fire. He kept up the stream of bullets as the Ultra charged, still deflecting each one. Suddenly his gun jammed "Fuck" he swore as the Ultra slammed into him with his blade, burning through his assault rifle. In one move Jackson twisted his gun so the blade wasn't pointing at him, took the Ultra under its arm and threw it over his shoulder. This sent the alien flying into a mound of deep snow, making it drop its energy blade. In the same move Jackson pulled out his own sword and flipped a switch on its hilt, bring to life. Arks of white and blue of energy danced off its metal surface. Jackson leaped into the air to bring his blade down on head of the still buried Ultra. The Ultra burst from the snow and two smaller blades of energy appeared on it gauntlets. Before Jackson's blade could connect, the Ultra moved to the side and delivered a blow to Jackson's shoulder, burning it but not piercing the metal. Jackson spun and kicked the Ultra in the stomach, knocking it back. Both he and the Ultra stood their ground. Jackson took up a stance similar to an ancient Samurai putting his legs apart, holding his sword with both hands and pointing it outwards. Where the Ultra leaned back and pointed its left arm straight at Jackson and put its right arm up in an L shape. They stood there watching each other, waiting for one to make the first move. For about two minuets they just stood there before they started slowly circling one another. Still neither attacked. They just moved in a clockwise motion watching, waiting, the blizzard swirling all around them. It was the Ultra that made the first move, extending its arms and spinning on its heels. Jackson blocked the deadly blows, sparks and lightning dancing off their blades. He threw an under arm swing right for the Ultra's chest, but the Ultra saw this coming and with one move swept Jackson's blade out of his grasp. Momentarily surprised, Jackson had completely forgotten Ultras were masters at swordplay, and knew how to fool and disarm. With his blade gone the Ultra came right at him. "But…" Jackson thought "You're not the only one with tricks" Jackson brought his arms up and started blocking blow after blow with his armour, letting his shield take the worst of it. The Ultra was getting angry now, its attacks getting more desperate till it slowed down just enough for Jackson to deliver a heavy punch right in the Ultra's face. The blow was hard, sending shockwaves up Jackson's arm. The Ultra's shield popped and half of the face part of its helmet broke off revealing its Sangheili features underneath. Now that the Ultra's shields were down, Jackson tackled the large alien to the ground and started punching repeatedly in its face, not letting the Ultra's shields back up. Managing to grab Jackson's hand the Ultra head butted him hard in the chest, winding him and flipping him over onto his back. Now that the Ultra had pinned Jackson it brought its bladed gauntlet down and tried to stab him. Jackson caught it, but he was still winded and he couldn't hold it. Slowly the blade started cutting through the exposed under-layer of his suit and was going deeper now cooking his skin. Jackson wanted to cry out but he hadn't gotten his breath back so he just let out a moan as the blade went even deeper. "I can't die" he thought, thinking of Sil "Not now".
Sil
Sil watched as her uncle's blade went flying from his grasp and he blocked the alien's blows with his armoured arms. Sil still couldn't move, the pain in her left arm was almost unbearable and the cold wasn't helping. In fact, it made it worse. If she didn't get up now she'd freeze on the spot. Sil rolled on to her belly and started slowly getting up. By the time she had gotten to her knees, Uncle Jack had pinned the big alien and was pummelling him into the ground. Maybe he was going to win. Uncle Jack had fought brutes twice that size with his bare hands; there was no way he could lose. Sil's hopes were dashed, as the big alien managed to roll uncle Jack onto his back and was now stabbing him. "No!" Sil cried out trying to get to her feet, but they had gone numb in the cold and she just fell on her belly again. "Shit, get up, get up" she said to herself, willing her body to move. She got back on her knees and pulled out her compound bow, took out an arrow and attached it. But how was she going to fire it with an injured arm, and what if she missed? "No" she thought "No room for doubt." With that she started to pull back the string. Fresh pain shot up her arm as she pulled, it felt like her arm was on fire. She finally got the string all the way back and was taking aim. Her vision was getting blurry as the pain burned her arm. If she didn't shoot now, she was going to pass out. Focusing with all her will, she aimed at the Ultra and fired. It flew straight and true, as the arrow buried itself in the alien's neck. "Got ya" she said as her vision went dark and she fell to the ground.
Jackson 001
Jackson heard a whooshing sound and a loud thud as the blade in his shoulder disappeared. He looked up to see blood pouring out of the Ultra's mouth and its exposed eye rolled back in its head. The large alien's dead body slumped to the side and lay there. Jackson took in all the air his lungs could hold and coughed hard, sending spittle and glut flying out of his mouth and sticking to the inside of his visor. Jackson looked over to where Sil was to find she was face down in the snow, "Sil" he gasped as he got to his feet forgetting, about the pain he was in and ran over to Sil's prone form. "Sil, can you hear me Sil?" He fell to one knee and rolled her over on to her back. She was still breathing, to Jackson's relief, but she was injured and her face had the first signs of frostbite. From the readouts on his HUD, Sil's core temperature was unstable. If he didn't get her to some cover she would go into hypothermic shock. Before Jackson could do anything, Sil's eyes shot open and she screamed, sitting up. Jackson took hold her as she kicked about "It's ok, its just me. Shhh, clam down, that's it." Jackson did what he used to do when Sil was 7 years old, when she woke screaming after having a nightmare. He held her tight in his arms and rocked her back and forth, humming a tune he learned back at Spartan camp. It seemed to work, she stopped struggling and started to take deep breaths. She was also crying out. From pain, joy, terror, maybe all of them, he wasn't certain. What he was certain about, was that she was alive and kicking, and that's all the joy he needed.
"What happened?" Sil said through her sobs "Is it dead? Did I kill it?"
"Yes its dead, you did" Sil looked up and stared at him with her green eyes, all glazed over with her tears.
"What was it?" she asked.
Jackson didn't answer and said instead "I need to get you back to the ship".
Sil seemed to wake up at that, "Are you kidding me? We can't go back." Sil struggled to get to her feet, wincing in pain. "We've come too far to turn back now."
Jackson supported Sil by letting her lean on him and said, "This job isn't worth risking your life for, I won't allow it. And you're hurt".
Sil shook him off, wobbling a bit before steading herself. "You're hurt too, so don't give me that crap." She bent over and picked up her scarf and goggles, adding to her point, "And you said its not far now, which means we're too far from the ship anyway." She put her goggles and scarf back on, wincing when she touched her jaws and said "Ok 300 meters sounds good, so lets go." She took one step and fell, face planting the snow.
"I see you've made up your mind" Jackson said sighing "And you've got a point, the ship is too far to reach in our state." Jackson helped Sil back on her feet, brushing all the snow off her. "But we need to patch each other up first and dig up our still working weapons" Sil nodded, and with more careful steps she and her uncle got to finding their weapons.
About an hour later Jackson and Sil had gathered their equipment and patched up their wounds with some simple bandages. They didn't dare use bio-foam in this cold. Jackson had discarded his assault rifle due to the fact it had been cut in half after he did his little counter move. But still, he had his sword back, hanging off his belt. Sil kept saying her legs were numb, so Jackson had taken a portable tent with him and had set it up so she could get out of the blizzard and recover. Before Jackson joined Sil in the tent, he went and checked the bodies to see if he could figure out what was going on. The body of the Keg Yar was a complete mess. The blade of the Ultra had cut it in a way where it simply blew the poor alien into two misshapen parts. The Keg Yar's equipment and the fact the Ultra had killed him, told Jackson this wasn't an act of disobedience or dutiful punishment. "This Keg Yar isn't a part of the covenant, so he must have been already here on this planet." Jackson thought to himself as he searched through what was left of the body. He then came across a nametag and the name of a company. "Chocra, so that's your name." The next name reminded him of a person he hated so very much. "So you're also in contact with Kala Van, wonderful, just wonderful." Jackson got up and went over to the body of the Sangheili Ultra. The Ultra was in better shape than the Keg Yar, so it wasn't so hard to see what he had. Jackson took a look at the arrow embedded in the Ultra's neck. "Clean kill, the arrow must have broke his vertebra." If Sil had not killed the Ultra instantly it would have cut his arm off. "Well I guess I still got some luck left after all." He checked the Ultra for anything else and found what made it invisible, a portable clocking device. He knew what he was going to use this for. Jackson pulled out the arrow and went back to the tent he had made for Sil. Inside he found Sil sleeping. "The fight must have taken a lot out of her," he thought sitting down beside her, carful not to wake her. Jackson flipped the seals on his helmet and took it off taking in for the first time, Vinishia's cold air.
"Oh, uh" Sil groaned when she started sitting up. Jackson had just finished cleaning his helmet. "How long have I been sleeping for?" Sil said rubbing her bruised jaws, sitting cross-legged.
"For about an hour. Do you still feel up to continuing? Because there's more where that Ultra came from."
Sil ignored his question and asked her own. "You know what that thing was?" Sil said with a suspicious look in her eye. "I want to know how you know so much about that thing."
Jackson knew Sil was going to ask him this, so he did his best to tell her. "I've fought things like that before. Before your family died and I took you in, I used to fight aliens like that one outside and…"
Sil cut him off and said, "I know you were some kind of war hero, but that's not what I'm asking." Sil brought up her arm and pointed at the tent flaps. "I want to know what species that alien is outside."
Jackson didn't want to tell her, but he had no choice, she would find out anyway and it was better if he told her now. "It was a… Sangheili. The words hung in the air and he almost immediately regretted them.
"What?!" Sil said in disbelief, her eyes going wide in horror. "You mean to tell me I killed one of my own kind?" Sil put one of her hands on her head as she tried to take it all in.
"I'm sorry, Sil." Jackson said, lowering his gaze to the floor. "I never wanted you to meet your own kind in this way."
"It doesn't matter" Sil said catching Jackson by surprise, "He tried to kill you, and me, so it doesn't matter. It was either him or you, so why should I care if he was my own kind?" Sil looked at Jackson and continued, "But I got to ask, why did he hesitate? I mean he had me on the ground and he just stood there."
Jackson put a hand on his chin and offered, "Maybe it was because he realised you were a woman?"
Sil looked at him, unimpressed. "Really, that's the best you can come up with?"
"No really, in Sangheili culture it's the males that do all the fighting." Jackson pointed at Sil "So when he knocked off your goggles and scarf, he saw you were a woman of the same species, so he hesitated."
Sil still didn't look impressed but she at least dropped the matter, for now. "Well ok. But seriously he didn't kill me cause I am a WOMAN?"
"Hey, your guess is as good as mine." Jackson had taken some ration packs with him, so he gave one to Sil. "Tastes like shit, but it'll fill you up quick. Go on, eat up."
They ate what they could, and when they were done eating, they went outside and got to wrapping up the tent.
Location: Alpha base 500 meters below Vinishia's surface.
Three hours earlier.
Neaola Roscal
Neaola was sitting behind a hastily made barricade with a human turret placed on top. The Keg Yar at the controls was doing a good job so far, mowing down anything that dared try and breach their barricade. "Damn it, how did they find us?" Neaola spat as she took aim with her patchwork beam rifle, and shot one grunt's heads into a million pieces, continuing through its back pack and into another's chest.
"Maybe that ship you sent out got captured and told them where we are?" Chackrol suggested, also sitting beside Neaola.
"Damn, you really think so?" came the reply of one Keg Yar who had ducked for cover.
"Aaaaa, it's a possibility" Neaola admitted with a scowl. "If so, this is my fault. Its my fault they're here, killing us."
Chackrol put a hand on Neaola's shoulder and argued, "This is not your fault. How were you supposed to know something like this was going to happen?"
Before she could answer, a wave of suicide Ungoe wielding plasma grenades and yelling something about a Nipple Clan, came charging down the tunnel and right for their barricade. The Keg Yar on the turret shot grunt after grunt as their bodies piled on top of one another. No matter how many he shot, it did not stop the sea of grenades exploding and raining heat, plasma, bits of ice and metal in their direction.
Neaola, Chackrol and anyone else under cover were unharmed by the explosion, but the Keg Yar on the turret wasn't so lucky. The shockwave sent the gunner flying hard into a nearby wall, killing him instantly.
"Shit!" Neaola swore gripping her beam rifle harder "Is there no end to this insanity?" As if to confirm her fears, she heard a Sangheili war cry coming down the tunnel.
"You need to go, NOW!" Chackrol started grabbing Neaola and another surviving Keg Yar. He dragged them to a ladder that led up to a catwalk, and from there to a higher level.
"What are you doing?" Neaola demanded struggling in his arms. "You can't take them all by yourself."
"I'll be fine, you just get out of this level, find your father, and get to the surface."
"Are you crazy?" Neaola shouted as Chackrol placed her on the ladder "I'm not leaving you to die."
"I'm not going to argue with you," he said putting the other Keg Yar down "Please go, NOW!"
"I'm not goi.." Chackrol cut her off by putting a finger on her mouth.
"Please don't make this harder for me, Neaola" he pleaded, "I can't stand the thought of you dying here."
"But what if we never see each other again?" she said softly, one tear running down her face.
"We will" Chackrol promised, "I'm not planning on dying today, you can count on that. NOW GO!"
Chackrol Roscal
Chackrol watched as his wife and the other surviving Keg Yar climbed the ladder to the catwalks above. But they were going too slow. "Damn, I need to buy them some time." Chackrol looked for anything he could use, and then it came to him "The turret!" he thought, "That should work". He ran over to the turret and saw it was still intact. He grabbed it and tore it off its metal supports, now wielding it like a mine gun. "Alright" he thought, "Come and get it."
Soon enough a wave of Sangheili warriors in their classic blue armour, came charging down the tunnel. He unleashed hell upon them with his powerful turret, cutting them down one by one. A few shots hit his steel grey plating, but it didn't slow him down. He kept up the stream of bullets, not letting a signal one live.
Click.
Chackrol's eyes went wide as he realised the gun was empty. He threw the heavy gun at one Sangheili, knocking him over, and ducked under the blade of another. In a compartment of his robotic arm, the hilt of his own energy sword flew into his grasp and ignited. The blade came to life with a brilliant flash of light, and in one move cut the head off his attacker. More came, surrounding him from all sides. One at a time they lunged at him and every time he cut them down. This didn't last long. A bigger Sangheili kicked his chest, knocking him to the ground and bring its heavy boot down on his robot arm, breaking the casing and damaging the gears. The larger Sangheili was about to finish him when a voice said "Enough."
"What, that's it?" Chackrol laughed as the big Sangheili backed off "That all you got?"
Another Sangheili kicked him in the face, bringing stars before his eyes. Two more dragged him to his feet and held him there as a Sangheili, in gold commander armour, walked up and stood in front of him.
"You look filthy, brother," said the gold Sangheili, a hint of disgust in his tone. "What brought you so low to make you fight for these rats?"
Chackrol smiled, saying "Oh, I don't know. Maybe I got sick of taking orders from cowards like YOU."
One of the Sangheili holding him punched his stomach, hard enough to wind him. "You're going to regret those words heretic," the one who punched him growled.
Chackrol laughed, "Don't you get it? There are no gods. Why do you all waste your lives for something that isn't real?"
"Oh, they're real" the gold Sangheili said "But before I send you to them, you're going to tell me what you're doing down here."
Chackrol spat in his face and one of the Sangheili holding him turned his blade on. But before he could use it, a beam of energy struck the Sangheili's head, killing him instantly.
Chackrol looked up and saw Neaola with her smoking beam rifle "No Neaola, get out of here NOW!" he shouted as the still standing Sangheili put an arm around his throat, and started dragging him away.