Chapter 15
Heretic
"You're Sentinels, haven't you ever wondered why they refer to humans as the Reclaimers? And why there is some technology that couldn't be activated with four fingers?" Roger said calmly, the disbelief burning on the Sangheili's face.
"How did you know that?" Sorrung-Yaan asked. Roger smiled before replying.
"Same way as I know about the flood, I asked the right… person."
The first streaks of dawn peered over the semi-glassed planet, shining in the few windows that remained everlasting, while small animals ran through the streets intent on complete whatever job they had to do.
Somewhere in the centre of the city there were several humans and an Elite.
Sarah was walking alone through the corridor like streets, searching for anything of interest. She heard a rustle, like a cat in the grass, with one fluid move she had removed both katana' out of their sheathes and spun to face whatever threat opposed her. She caught a glimmer of something blue out of the corner of her eye but when she turned to it, it disappeared.
She caught another glimmer, she spun, striking with the butt of her left katana, and felt something connect.
"Ow, hey that hurt" Said Alexia, deactivating the active camouflage she had removed from Sorrung-Yaan's armour.
"Neat, just imagine the payday we'll get for something like that" Replied Sarah unsympathetically, Alexia simply rubbed her forehead where Sarah had hit her.
"Not likely, I cont figure how to recharge it, its weird, those Sangheili seem to have unlimited charge, but this device only lasts five seconds before it runs out, then you have to wait an hour. Otherwise it completely discharges" Alexia threw the device on the ground.
"How do you know that?" Asked Sarah, sheathing her Katana' in their selected areas.
"The alien told me"
Roger untied the bonds on Sorrung-Yaan's hands and feet.
"You have not explained how you know Human" Sorrung-Yaan mentioned.
"I'm letting you free, isn't that enough? I mean honestly, you could kill us now that you're untied, but I'm trusting you enough to… oh my god I'm trusting a covenant" Roger exclaimed, butting his hand on his head.
"And besides, we haven't heard your side yet…"
Sorrung-Yaan was a heretic at heart. He did not really believe in the great journey, and he didn't believe the humans were as weak as it was said they were. Time after time he had watched as the humans proved they would not leave quietly.
Despite their limited technology, the humans had made a bigger dent than most other civilisations they had conquered.
Even more than the Lekgolo had. And they had sheer strength and size on their side, so what did the humans have that made them so…
Sorrung-Yaan didn't know what they had, and wasn't particularly pleased wen he was told to report to the shipmaster. It could only be one thing where humans were involved.
He casually walked through the dimly lit corridors, and entered the bridge.
"You called for me shipmaster?" Sorrung Yaan said, it was more of a statement than a question.
"Do you know why we are fighting the humans?" asked the ship master, turning in his hovering chair to face him, he motioned to the honour guards at the doorway to leave, and they obeyed without question, Sorrung-Yaan stared blankly at the commander, as if there was no authority the shipmaster had at all.
"It is not my place to question such as the prophets will" Sorrung-Yaan replied, standing upright and returning the shipmaster's glare.
"THEN WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO THINK YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THE ALMIGHTY PROPHETS?!" The Shipmaster yelled, almost falling from his hover chair in the sharp and threatening motions he threw at Sorrung-Yaan.
"I do no such thing sir" Sorrung-Yaan stated truthfully without breaking eye contact with his superior.
"You will be dropped onto the planet we recently captured in the Sara system. There you will wait for the arrival of Fleet commander Bulak-Voor, you will not be granted a transport away by anyone else but Bulak or you will be executed on sight." The shipmaster said, almost grinning. Sorrung-Yaan knew why. Bulak-Voor was known to avoid work. What was really happening was he was being abandoned on an alien world until he either found a way home and got executed or proved himself worthy.
"And so I was dropped on this forsaken planet and abandoned by my people" Sorrung-Yaan said, his head hanging low, he obviously missed his people. Roger stared at him as he finished his story, watching as his alien figure began to droop into an almost saddened pose.
"How long have you been stranded here?" Roger asked, Sorrung-Yaan Thought.
"Approximately two of your earth years" Sorrung said blankly.
ODST troops always thought they were a cut above the average UNSC marine,
They were always volunteers, people who chose to crash land into heavy fire and clear the way for the rest.
Most were cocky, and each had a life expectancy of thirty two seconds after breaking the atmosphere of a planet.
ODST stood for Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, and Captain Jack Clarke stood in his drop pod, watching the indicators flash green, which meant it was stable, and meant he had a higher chance of surviving more than the thirty two seconds.
He prayed silently that his team made it down in one piece, and closed his purple eyes for a second to think.
His unit was briefed on the areas layouts, and a Dumb A.I was implanted into his helmet. Unlike the 'Smart' A.I constructs, a Dumb A.I was pretty useless, it couldn't hack Covenant technology, it couldn't appear as a hologram, and it couldn't layout tactical data. Its only function was to guide Jack and his team to the area where they were supposed to land, and to send information through an encrypted channel back to their orbiting Frigate Maracaibo, which was where his platoon had been dropped from.
He remembered the name the planet had been given, Nagasaki II.
Why had the colonists named a planet after a city that was obliterated by the first nuclear bombs?
He didn't know, he didn't care, all he wanted was to land and survive the mission without a hitch.
He got his first wish three seconds later, when his pod crashed onto the bleak snowy hillside of an icy landscape.
It was a miracle he hit the hill and not the ice. If he'd done that one of two things would have happened:
1. His Drop Pod would have crumpled, killing him instantly,
2. His Drop Pod would have crashed through the ice into the underlying lake and he would have slowly drowned.
The plate covering him burst open, smashing a curious Grunt in front of him away in the way only twelve tonnes of steel travelling at fifty miles an hour can do.
He tore his Battle rifle from its hold to his left, and charged into the fray, tearing down the hill towards a large covenant structure that lay in the centre of the area, while leading his Unit of twenty Identical ODST personnel towards the relatively light Covenant resistance.
With everyone firing randomly, no one knew who killed what, but everyone cried with every ODST that fell, and grinned with every Covenant that joined the fallen.
Jack watched to the North east, a spectacular display of cunning as dozens of UNSC Long-Sword's bombed the area ahead with as much Napalm as each could carry. The orange glow that the fires gave off would have almost have been pretty if not for the smell of methane and burning meat, the fires didn't burn so well, instead fizzing and melting the ice until it caused a landslide from the hills adjacent.
Jack watched as Beta squad, which numbered eight took positions to defend Alpha, Gamma and Jacks own Delta squads as they pushed forward towards the structure.
He then watched as the squad was ironically crushed by a Scarab tank that literally landed on top of them.
He heard himself shout the order for concentrated fire, and he saw himself begin to fire at one of its legs, but it was as if he was detached from the situation, not even there so to speak.
One particular male in his squad was repeatedly calling to God, calling for them so passionately, it was as if the guy actually thought God would hear him over the radio, Fat chance of that happening.
Jack sidestepped a Banshee that was crash-landing after losing both Anti-Gravity Pods on either side. And felt the shockwave it made when it exploded in the hill he'd been standing on fifteen seconds ago.
The remaining other squads of Alpha and Gamma had almost made it to the structure, Delta moved closely behind, with Jack running backwards, keeping an eye on the Scarab, who was at that moment being bombarded by the combined fire of the remaining Hornets and the Long-Swords.
He spun around when he heard Alpha begin to fire upon two hunter's that had emerged from the structure, and watched as Gamma dropped to the ground to avoid losing the upper halves of their bodies to the Fuel Rod Guns mounted on the Hunter's arms.
"OPEN FIRE" someone from Gamma screamed, probably the leader, Jacks eyes were wide with fear, his brain flooded with adrenaline, and his body simply locked up.
Frozen with fear at the worst possible moment, with two heavily armed gigantic aliens charging towards him, all he could do was watch as they took lumbering step after lumbering step towards him.
Somehow he regained control of himself, or rather regained control of his trigger finger and began firing randomly at the armoured beasts.
One of his shots hit one of the Hunter's in their unprotected stomach sending it crashing to the ground just behind the other, which was still charging, unfazed at the loss of it's companion.
Then he heard the unmistakable click that spelt out death in one of the most gruesome ways imaginable.
Jacks life flashed before his eyes in less that a second and it angered him that it had gone so quick.
But in that second, his instincts took over, and he slid under the Hunter, grabbing onto one of its back-spokes began to thrash at the only other unprotected area within reach in a blind rage, using the butt of his Rifle, he managed to make its orange blood stain the ice which had been a similar colour not so long ago due to the Napalm. He flung himself from the dying Hunter into the snow and landed. He hit the ground just as the Hunter collapsed, staining the surrounding snow with more of its orangey blood.
Unsurprisingly, the only sentences that Jack could formulate after his stunt, as he was given a hand up by one of his fellow marines were the words "I think I just got whiplash".