Chapter 4: New Friends
Location: 80 meters from Alpha Base. (AKA Demon Spear)
4 hours later.
Jackson 001
"Yep, that's our waypoint alright" Jackson confirmed with Sil. They were still a good distance away but they could now make out the jagged tips of a mountain made completely of ice. In some ways, it looked as if a massive wave had frozen suddenly before it could crash back down to earth, hanging high in the sky.
"Do you see any of those Ultra things?" Sil asked standing beside Jackson.
It was at this point Jackson wished he had brought the sniper with him, but he wasn't about to say that to Sil. He'd never hear the end of it. What he did say was "Ok, let's take a closer look".
Jackson eyed an icon on his HUD, and a second later his field of view had zoomed in on his waypoint. Now that he was able to see, he could make out that at the bottom of the mountain was some sort of landing platform, held up by metal stands, and there was movement on it.
"No, thankfully there's no Ultras, but there is a Sangheili Minor patrolling on some sort of landing platform" Jackson said to Sil.
"Told you we should have brought the sniper" Sil remarked, leaning on him and reaching up patting his helmet.
Jackson just grumbled in his throat as he came up with a plan. "Well since we don't have the sniper, we're going to have to improvise."
Sil had pulled her scarf down and he could now see her expression. Puzzlement. The way she put her jaws together and pulled one lip up, communicated her thoughts on Jackson's plan wordlessly. "How are we going to get there without being seen?" Sil pointed out, scratching her chin with one claw.
Jackson smiled under his helmet as he put a hand in his backpack and pulled out the portable cloaking device.
"This is how we get there unseen," Jackson said pointing at the device.
"What is it?" Sil said, pushing up one lens of her goggles to see the device better.
"This" Jackson continued, spinning the device in his hand "is what the Ultra used to go invisible."
He pushed a button and vanished. Sil had a surprised look on her face as she tried to see him.
"Uncle! Where did you go?" Jackson pushed the button again and appeared on the other side of Sil.
"Boo" Jackson said.
"OH!" Sil yelped, hitting him on his right shoulder "Don't do that."
Jackson chuckled and said "Sorry, I couldn't help it."
Now more serious he continued "Ok if I'm right, when I hold on to you it should cloak you as well."
"You even sure it works that way?" Sil asked, not looking very convinced.
"Well, not really. But in theory if we hold each other when I push this button, we both should go invisible."
"Well, ok…" Sil answered taking hold of Jackson's arm.
Jackson got ready to run "Ok, don't let go, you hear me?"
Sil nodded and with that Jackson pushed the button and they both vanished.
"50 meters to go" Jackson yelled not slowing down, the landing platform was getting closer. Suddenly the invisible field started flashing "Oh on!" Jackson said in alarm "It's running out of power." If they didn't get to cover soon, the patrolling sniper would spot them.
More and more, the field weakened making them more visible "We're not going to make it!" Sil shouted still holding on to Jackson's arm.
"We'll make it" Jackson added, as the field got weaker.
40m. 30m. 20m. Maybe they were going to make it. Without warning, the field went dead "Fuck" Jackson swore, "Split up NOW!"
Jackson gave Sil the device and ran the other way. The sniper spotted them and tried to take aim, but they kept him off track. Beams of energy sizzled past Jackson's head, narrowly missing him. Sil was now out of sight, so Jackson had no way of knowing where she was. Jackson made it to the bottom of the platform, but not before taking a beam to the chest, making him fall over. "Ow, that hurt" Jackson spat, now really pissed off, he got back up and saw some make-shift stairs leading up to the landing pad. Jackson sneaked up the stairs and poked his head up to see where the Sangheili sniper was. Almost immediately, a beam went past his head, he ran for a crate and hid behind it.
"Where the hell is Sil?" Jackson thought pulling out his magnum and sword. He waited for the sniper to get close before leaping out, firing his magnum into the sniper's face. The sniper started staggering back, dropping his beam rifle and trying to go for his blade. Jackson took two quick steps and thrusted his sword through the Sangheili's stomach. The Sangheili's eyes went wide with shock as he looked into Jackson's tinted gold visor, coughing up purple blood. With a twist of his wrist Jackson pulled out his sword and let the Sangheili crumple to the floor, his lifeblood pooling all around him.
Jackson felt something hit off his shield and turned to see another Sangheili in blue armour charging at him with a plasma repeater. Jackson dove for cover as his shields burst from the overwhelming fire, he could feel the heat of his burns as he took a few hits. "Damn" he cursed, "This armour isn't easy to fix, you bastard." The Sangheili moved closer shooting the corner of the crate so as not to let Jackson move.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, an arrow came and hit the blue Sangheili in the back making him stumble. The Sangheili, with a look of shock, started jerking violently as electric waves went through his body. Jackson charged from his cover and stabbed the Sangheili in the mouth, causing him to freeze up and then go limp.
Jackson pulled his sword out the dead body's mouth and let it fall to the floor. He then looked up to see Sil appear with her bow in hand, "Nice shot" Jackson said, a little out of breath as he picked up the plasma repeater "That cloak is useful aint it."
"You can say that again," Sil said, not looking at the bodies. "Can we go inside now?"
Inside there was an eerie silence, and Jackson wasn't picking up anything on the radar. They passed a pile of fur coats and other winter clothing as they made their way down the tunnel. Sil chose that moment to take off her winter coat and goggles and left them with the pile.
"That's better" Sil said with relief. "I was starting to cook in that coat."
"Stay sharp" Jackson reminded her, "We still need to go through the rest of these bastards."
A few meters down, they came across the bodies of Keg Yar workers, it looked like they died whilst still working, jugging by the tools lying about their bodies. "Poor guys" Sil said sadly. "They were just doing their jobs. Why did they kill them?"
"'Cause, Sil" Jackson let some anger slip into his tone "They're monsters and kill because they feel like. So I'm going to put some plasma in their heads."
Location: 200 meters below the planets surface.
Three hours later.
Sil
Sil and her uncle had gone through a lot of Ungoe infantry before coming to a large blast door that was sealed.
"Can you open it?" Sil asked
"I think so…" uncle Jack said not sounding too convinced. "The controls have been damaged by an explosion, but I think I can do a bypass."
Sil watched the tunnel they had come down, just in case some grunts, as uncle jack called them, came running down to attack them.
"Ok, I think I got it." As he said that, the door started screeching open, and the stench that came through the cracks assaulted Sil's nose.
"Oh my god!" Sil said putting her scarf on her nose "What is that, smell?!"
Sil's uncle couldn't smell this foul odour because of his helmet, and now she wanted a helmet because the air in the room now smelled like a room full of Ungoe after a night of inhaling cheap drugs.
Sil had to put her bow away and take out her side arm so she could shoot and cover her nose simultaneously. The room was full of dead Keg Yar, Ungoe and Sangheili, whose bodies were burned all over. "Plasma grenades" Sil's uncle pointed out "And it looks like someone used a lot of them."
"I think I'm going… to be sick" Sil grumbled clutching her stomach, Sil's boots bumped off the leg of a Keg Yar body and to her horror it cried out in pain. "Holy sleva WHAT THE FOUK!" the last word, Sil always had trouble pronouncing.
The Keg Yar coughed blood out of his mouth and looked at Sil "Jesus he's still alive" Sil's uncle said in disbelief.
"You're not…. You're not them?" the old Keg Yar wheezed, holding his belly with one hand. One of his legs was missing, as was one of his eyes. "Thank the gods."
Still shocked, Sil bent down on one knee and tried to talk to him "What happened to you?" Sil asked her hands hovering over him, unsure what to do.
The old Keg Yar laughed, spitting blood in the direction of the Sangheili bodies. "I used all the plasma grenades." He coughed. "It seemed like a good… idea at the time."
Sil took a look at his wounds. "Maybe we can patch you up, we've got bio-foam."
The old Keg Yar grabbed Sil by her collar and pulled her closer. "Listen, I don't have much time…. Find Ne.." He was starting to drift off.
"HEY!" Sil yelled trying to keep him awake. "Find whom?!"
His eyelid was getting heavy and his voice was a whisper. "Find Neaola…tell…. tell her, her old man went out fighting." His breathing became shallow and slowly he slumped to one side.
"Hey, HEY!" Sil shouted trying to help him, but her uncle took her by the arm and pulled her to her feet. "What are you doing? He's dying!" Sil screamed trying to shake free.
"He's already gone Sil," her uncle said in a calm voice "There's nothing we can do."
"I'm going to kill these MONSTERS" Sil screamed, her rage overflowing. "What did they do to deserve this? Why, what's the need for it?"
Sil felt her uncles arms around her as he tried to calm her down, "Tell me uncle, tell me why they had to die?" she said, breathing more steadily now.
"There is no reason for it" Sil's uncle said in a sad tone. "This is evil and no matter how much we try people always die because of it" he turned her around and added "That's why we make sure he didn't die for nothing. Ok?"
Sil looked at her uncle, now with a new fire in her green eyes. "Ok lets go find this Neaola."
Location: 500 meters below the planet's surface.
Chackrol Roscal
Chackrol had been interrogated for hours now, and he still wasn't giving in. "Come on, you shame your mother with that punch." Again, his interrogator punched him in the stomach, winding him.
"You better talk soon, before I start losing my temper," the interrogator snarled.
Chackrol just laughed, "Aw, just when I thought we were getting along."
"My, my, you are a brave one" came a rumbling voice.
Chackrol looked up to see the newcomer, a Sangheili in big sliver armour, lined with blue and gold markings, came walking in and stood a respectful 2 meters away from Chackrol, who was pinned to the wall by gravity clamps. "And you are?" Chackrol asked mockingly. The interrogator was about to hit him, but the silver Sangheili stopped him.
"Go, your services are no longer necessary." With that, the smaller Sangheili left and it was just the two of them now. The silver Sangheili nodded and said "My name is Ship Master Ral 'm' Hondow, the new leader of the Storm" he continued. "My scouts found a Keg Yar vessel coming and going from the dead planet, Harvest. We captured that ship but sadly the crew died refusing to tell us the truth." He smiled "But they forgot to wipe their slip space data and with that, it led us here."
"And now you want me to tell you everything?" Chackrol sneered, "Well, Ral I'm not sorry to say this but, you should shove a stick up your ass" he finished, smiling.
Ral didn't even flinch. In fact, he seemed rather amused "Ha, so that means you don't mind if I bring your Keg Yar friend down here and ask her?"
Chackrol pulled on his clamps, his rage boiling over "Don't you touch her, you monster."
"Ah so, you do have feelings for her" Ral smiled again "Thanks for confirming that."
Chackrol's jaws were wide open now in shock. He had been baited, and he fell right into it "Leave her alone she has nothing to do with this."
"Then tell me what it is you're doing down here, and I'll order my men to stop hunting her."
Chackrol smiled at that bit of leaked info "As long as she's fighting back, I'll never tell you what's going on here."
Ral leaned closer and said with evil in his eyes, "Then she better fight hard if that's what keeps you from talking." He also added, "Keep in mind, I'm not going to go easy on her, she'll give up soon enough."
Chackrol kept his smile saying "Good, she'd hate it if you did."
Location: 325 meters below the planet's surface
Jackson 001
"I have no idea anymore." Jackson and Sil had been going through tunnel after tunnel, and somehow managed to get two Grunts to follow them because Sil couldn't bring herself to let Jackson kill them. "How are your new friends back there?" Jackson said not bothering to look.
"They're doing fine, no thanks to you. They're still a little shaken." Sil sarcastically replied.
Jackson stopped and in annoyance, turned around, and faced Sil and her merry Muppets, the Grunts. Both Grunts had the same armour but different colours, one had orange and the other had dark green. Their names were Flip Yum, the orange one, and Nip Nap the dark green one. They had decided instead of dying, they would join Jackson and Sil to help out. Jackson just wanted to shoot them. He already had one Grunt on his ship. He didn't need another two.
"Are we seriously going to bring them along?" Jackson asked bitterly.
"Yes" was Sil's answer. "Like you said, there's no reason for needless killing and besides, they're so cute." The last part she said in an adoring voice.
The grunts just looked at each other awkwardly. "Um Nip would like to say something" he shuffled up to Jackson fell on his knees and started begging "OH please mighty one let us live, we promise to serve you."
Jackson just leaned his head back and gestured for Nip Nap to get up "Please for the love of your gods, stop begging."
Nip Nap got up and looked embarrassed "Sorry."
"Just… can we just get moving?" All this stress was getting to Jackson, and the Grunts where far from helpful. They were about to continue, when the sounds of gunfire and plasma shots came echoing down the tunnel.
"Everyone, take cover!" Jackson ordered, taking a spot behind some crates.
Sil and the two Grunts took spots behind some barrels and a few more crates. "What you think they are?" Flip Yum asked, pulling out his plasma pistol.
"We'll just have to find out," Sil answered, taking aim with her magnum.
"No one shoot till I say so," Jackson ordered, taking aim with his new plasma repeater.
They waited for any sign of movement down the dark tunnel, the atmosphere was getting tense and Jackson was worried one of the Grunts would lose their nerve. Jackson heard three pairs of footsteps running in their direction. "Get ready!" Jackson called, his hands gripping his gun harder. From the darkness, a Keg Yar female with a patchy beam rifle and two males with old human weapons emerged. The three stopped right in front of Jackson, Sil and her merry Muppets, with a look of shock on their faces.
"A human?" the female said in disbelief "But?"
"Get down!" Jackson shouted, and all at once they hit the ground. Jackson and Sil with her Grunts opened fire on the mass of Sangheili right behind the Keg Yar. One by one, the Sangheili kill team fell to the ground, dead.
The female got to her feet and started screaming at Jackson "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!? Give us a little more warning next time, before you start shooting over our heads."
"You're welcome" Jackson said in a flat tone. "We're here because your boss wanted me and my crew to do something for… someone."
The female just glared at him with her bright blue eyes, saying "I don't give a flying sleva what you're here for, my husband needs my help and…"
"Is your name… Neaola?" Sil interrupted.
Jackson watched as the female turned her attention to Sil for the first time and said in a low tone "How do you know my name?" Neaola walked slowly up to Sil and took a good look at her.
Sil
"Oh um…well, uh you see…" Sil's stomach was tying itself in knots now, making it harder for her to speak.
"Well Sangheili, spit it out already," Neaola said harshly.
"Hey, don't speak to her like.." Sil cut her uncle off.
"No uncle." Sil said putting up a hand, "It's ok." Sil steeled herself for what she was about to say. "Neaola, I'm so sorry but…. Your father is dead."
The look on Neaola's face almost made Sil regret those last words.
"He's dead?" Neaola finally said her voice a little shaky.
"Really?" one of the other Keg Yar said, "I thought nothing could kill that old man."
Sil watched as Neaola's expression changed from shock to grief and finally anger. "Did he die fighting?" Neaola asked looking straight at Sil, hate burning in her eyes.
"Yes, he did" Sil said mournfully. She tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but Neaola just shook it off.
"Don't touch me," Neaola growled showing her sharp teeth.
Sil got the message and backed away "Sorry, I won't."
Sil's uncle stepped in at that point. "Look we're sorry for your loss. But you said something about your husband?"
Neaola's eyes went wide at the word husband. "Yes, my husband he needs help." She pointed at Sil's uncle "And you're the one who's going to help me."
"How are you even sure he's still alive? I mean Keg Yar are tough but..."
Neaola cut him off "He's not a Keg Yar," she spat "He's a Sangheili."