Hidden Mantis: Finally, some action!
Legal Disclaimer: I still don't own Half-life, Sierra, Valve, Gearbox, Halo, Bungie and Microsoft. I still wish I did.
Date: September 29, 2552
Gordon was assisted to Cryo Bay Two by Tech Chief Thom Shephard.
"You know, you're probably the only civilian here on this ship," Thom informed Freeman. "Everybody else here's either a Marine or Navy man."
Gordon nodded.
"You do know how to shoot a weapon, right?"
Gordon nodded.
Gordon Freeman had experienced slight military training in Black Mesa through the facilities own little training exercise called the 'Hazard Course'. It helped the staff keep limber and alert just in case something catastrophic would happen in the labs.
Date: May 2002
Something catastrophic did happen in the labs.
Turning to the next bend in the hallway, Master Chief encountered his, chronologically, first enemy. A headcrab.
It came from what seemed to be a flash that appeared in the center of the room.
It was a grotesque creature, about the size of a watermelon and had two strong hind legs used for jumping, two stubby frontal legs used for support and two large mandibles.
Immediately following its instincts to latch on to a host, the headcrab threw itself onto the Chief. With John's motion tracker sensing fast movement and noticing the odd creature, he ducked.
The headcrab flew over the Master Chief. Its mandibles pierced through a wall and it got stuck.
The Master Chief immediately knew that this creature was a threat. He made a fist, sprinted toward the wall and punched the alien. Yellow, pus-like blood oozed over his gloves.
That was probably the first and last time John would hit a creature like that.
"You'd better know how to shoot," said Thom. "After seeing what we're up against, you'll need to know."
Gordon heard the word "what". He thought that these people were fighting against another group of people. Why did this Navy personnel say "what"?
"Fire teams, Alpha to Sierra fall back to evac-stations. Stand-by to repel boarders," says Cortana's voice over the intercom.
Master Chief called Jim and Fred to follow him. Fred was still incapacitated from his near-death experience, so Jim carried him on his shoulders.
"Ugh. What is that thing?" asked Fred, disgusted at the felled alien.
"That's probably one of the things I thought that would enter through other portals," informed Jim, failing to hide his fear.
"Well, I'll just make sure these things won't get you guys," says John.
They reached the Cryo chamber. It was shut down, since there was no one in it. The helmet and the crowbar were left untouched.
Tech Officer Third Class Samuel Marcus opened the hatch for Freeman.
Gordon held on to both items. Both were still cold, since nothing warmed them in the tube.
"Bridge to Cryo Two, send Gordon Freeman to the bridge immediately," a voice rung over the intercom.
Gordon wondered why he was going to go to the bridge of the ship. And who exactly was calling him there? The Captain?
Just then, a loud thumping was heard from where Sam was. Thom and Gordon looked up to the control room; Gordon had just worn his helmet, not bothering to latch it onto his suit.
"Oh God!" Sam said with fear in his voice. "They're trying to get through the door!"
Pressing a button under the control panel, Sam desperately called for security, but in vain.
The door exploded, revealing a creature Gordon had not seen before. It was tall, about 7 feet in height, but was hunched in a combat position, so it was probably 8 feet in height. It probably wore an armor of some sort, but revealed parts of skin. Gordon could only make an outline, since the tinted windows of the control room didn't allow him to get visual detail.
It shot a blue bolt from something it held. A gun?
The glowing bullet struck Sam in the chest, burning him and knocking the wind out of him. He hit the floor before he knew it.
Sam's vision blurred as he groped at his wound. His hands were sticky with blood. It doesn't hurt, he thought. It should hurt, shouldn't it?
He remembered Earth, the place where he used to live before joining the UNSC. It's been three years since he's last seen his wife. He thought of her like she was the only thing in the world.
Suddenly, a hoof pinned his arm to the floor. The owner of the boot aimed its weapon at Sam's head and fired.
"No! The lasers!" Jim exclaimed. "They've breached through the pipes!"
The Master Chief apparently saw this as a problem. A powerful laser was ripping through steel and circuit. A machine exploded as soon as one of the lasers touched it.
Jim fainted when he saw another security guard, already dead, sliced in two by one of the beams. Fred couldn't help but slump down with Jim.
"Now Fred, take care of Jim for a while. I'll go on ahead and come back for you later," said the same raspy voice that came from the green armor.
"Yeah. Sure. I don't think I have much of a choice, though."
That was the last time Fred ever got to see the Spartan. Or any other human being besides Jim.
"Sam! Sam!" Thom shouted to the control room. His shouts landed on deaf ears.
"Come on! We've got to get out of here!" Thom told Gordon.
They both ran outside Cryo Two towards another pair of doors. As soon as Thom's neural implants opened the doors, another explosion happened. This time closer than Gordon could think. Too close.
Thom was thrown towards Gordon, already dead before he hit the ground. Gordon was blown away, protected only by his HEV suit, its power and Thom's body. Freeman was hurt, and bad.
"Fracture detected," the HEV suit droned. "Morphine administered."
Gordon knew he was hurt, but he felt no pain. The morphine numbed his body; he could still move as if he wasn't injured. He looked at his health monitor. 78, it read.
Gordon looked around the hallway for an exit. The door that was engulfed in the explosion was jammed, so it wasn't an option.
To his right, he saw pipes. An opening was above the pipes. Gordon decided it was the best way out of there.
Kent Dunham shot another creature in the face. Or at least where its face was supposed to be. He killed two others a while ago.
The alien-looking monster had long claws protruding from its arms, and they looked razor-sharp. The creatures were drenched in red blood.
The oddest thing was that they were wearing scientist uniforms.
The last shot downed the bloody enemy. Suddenly, a sound coming from the broken elevator caught his attention.
"Don't shoot. I'm on your side," said a voice that seemed to scratch at Kent's ears.
The security guard pointed his weapon at the source of the sound. It was a tall humanoid machine.
"I'm human just like you," said Master Chief.
Kent was astonished. He couldn't believe he was seeing a 7 foot tall man in green armor.
"Uhh… Show me some proof," said the guard, confused.
"You know Fred Anderson?" asked John.
"How'd you know that guy?" Kent asked, still pointing his Glock at the metal man.
"We met. He and a scientist are still downstairs, but they're trapped. We better move quick before they stay stuck there."
Kent knew better than to leave a fellow guard down. He joined the metal man, whom he would know later as John.
Gordon slowed his pace. Another door was in front of him. He didn't trust this second door.
He tossed his crowbar towards the door. Sure enough, the door exploded as soon as the crowbar landed in front. The force of the boom sent the metal spinning towards Gordon's feet harmlessly.
Gordon knew it was relatively safe now. He went through the broken portal. In the next bend, he saw some of the Autumn's crew fighting against something behind a wall that obstructed his vision. He saw the crewmen shoot their M6D pistols at their adversaries, and the enemies returned fire with green and blue blobs of what seems to look like plasma.
"Secure those blast doors! Move, move!" ordered a Marine. Soon, the large doors started to close.
Gordon finally caught a glimpse of what they were fighting against: creatures that have large orange backs, possibly armor of some sort, and a few tall ones similar to the one Gordon saw in the Cryo Bay's control room.
He saw everything in fine detail. The large ones had split lips, and looked like they were leading the smaller creatures. The big ones looked more threatening, and they really were threatening.
They didn't get the chance to go through the closing doors. They shot a few more bolts through what was left of the opening, not hitting anything but the ship's walls, and didn't do any more.
Gordon went through a dark hallway, leaving the wounded crewmen. What he saw next would stay imprinted in his mind for a while.
One of the tall aliens warbled at his face, its saliva splashing at his visor. He hit it with his crowbar, but it didn't penetrate skin, or even armor. Instead, it was blocked by something hard and slippery. Where the metal had hit, a glowing shroud that seemed to protect the alien appeared.
Gordon realized what was happening. The alien had a personal shield system.
Gordon expected the creature to kill him. He braced himself, but instead the thing retreated soon after Freeman heard gunshots to his left. Bullets hit the shield, but it never touched the alien. The tall monster retreated behind a door.
"Are you Gordon Freeman?" asked one of the Marines.
Gordon nodded.
"You better get to the bridge double quick," informed the Marine.
Gordon ran.
Right into another hallway where Marines and Navy crewmen were having another firefight with the aliens.
"Doctor, the Captain needs you on the bridge A.S.A.P. You better follow me," screams one Marine over the whirring of plasma rounds and explosions of gunfire.
Gordon tailed the Marine through another hallway. He saw other Marines, wounded and incapacitated. Some of them were shot near the gut, blood gushing slowly but steadily out. He had no time to take notice.
Through the next hallway, another firefight was in place. The Marine who led Gordon shot a few rounds before going back to the path towards the bridge. The aliens were closed down from behind another blast door. Wounded men littered the halls of the Autumn.
"This is the bridge, sir. The Captain's waiting for you inside," says the Marine before going back to the action.
Gordon saw rows of controls being manned by UNSC crewmen. He could read some trajectories for the ship going to what looked like a large hoop.
Continuing to walk toward the front of the room, he saw two pilots and someone in a white uniform. The Captain?
The man in white turned around and saw the man in the orange metal suit he'd only heard of.
And so, the Captain formally introduced himself.
"Gordon Freeman, I presume?" he asked.
Gordon nodded.
"I see. Well, I'm the Captain of this bird. Captain Keyes."
Gordon proceeded to shake his hand. The Captain freely accepted.
"I expect you've met our enemies, the Covenant," Keyes said.
Gordon nodded.
"I've sent you here for one purpose and one alone," said Keyes. "That is, I want you to take care of Cortana for me."
Gordon was taken aback. Why would this man entrust him with an impressive piece of software? Possibly even more than software!
A small platform suddenly started to flicker with purple light. Cortana appeared.
"I expect you to take good care of me, would you?" said the AI.
Unsure, Gordon nodded.
A strong vibration suddenly rocked the ship, letting Gordon, Keyes and the rest of the crew lose balance.
"Damage report!" Cortana ordered.
"Ma'am, the power to our MAC cannons is offline!"
"Damnit," said Cortana.
The MAC cannon was the Human race's strongest non-nuclear weapon. It fires either a ferric tungsten shell, or a depleted uranium shell at 40 percent the speed of light. Three direct hits from the ship's cannons to most Covenant ships would kill their shields, and the last slug would still have enough inertia to destroy the ship, Without these, the Autumn couldn't stand a chance against the Covenant.
"I suspected as much," said Cortana. "This is where you come in, Dr. Freeman."
"I know that your suit doesn't have a data crystal chip, but I've improvised while you were on your way here. We've made this simple radio," a crewmember showed it, "that can be inserted with a crystal chip. It should enable me to talk directly to your frequency and talk to the Marines' frequency, too. Without the crystal, you couldn't carry me around."
Gordon started to understand. Of course, an AI like Cortana would need a large amount of memory to store her. His suit couldn't handle that kind of software.
The crewmember gave Gordon the radio. He attached it on his HEV suit, surprised that it fit snuggly in the front.
"Gordon, please don't lose her," Captain Keyes said.
Gordon never intended to lose her. He nodded.
"Let me take a moment to collect some files," Cortana said.
She pressed on her temples for a while.
"Alright. Yank me."
Keyes pressed a button and Cortana's image was reduced to a blur, and then nothing. He pulled the crystal disk out.
Keyes gave Freeman the disk. Gordon, then, inserted it into the makeshift radio.
"Testing, testing…" Cortana mumbled. "Everything seems fine."
After all that was done, Keyes handed Gordon an M6D handgun.
"I don't keep it loaded, so you're going to have to find ammo as you go," the Captain said.
Gordon nodded.
Walking out of the bridge, he began to embark on a new journey, one that would lead him to Halo and its secrets.
Hidden Mantis: Oh man. Writing things takes too long. 'Specially if you're still in high school. Juggling writing and study is hard!
I regret to inform all the readers out there that I might not be able to fulfill my quota of one chapter per-month. It's just too much of a hassle. Maybe more than a month will do.
R&R please!
I don't think this would be the final version of the chapter, though.
Oh yeah. I have a reccomended book for all the readers out there. You know "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding? It's a must read!
Tah tah for now.
Fact: If you play Crysis on a low-end rig, you'll end up with floating eyeballs for allies. And you'd probably stop playing.
I edited this on July 18 due to lots of typos. Oops...