Xeno Killer
I pondered on that question as we continued through the commercial district, NLA's downtown area. Everyone we walked by greeted Elma and Lin but always went silent when they got to me. I didn't bother to introduce myself to them, talking wasn't exactly my strong suite. I talked when I needed to and not when I didn't. Unless it was with Noble team
'Of course…. It wasn't always like that… no use to me right now though so it's not worth dwelling on'
"You know you could wave to the people who say hi." Lin said in a slightly teasing manner. I didn't bat an eye at the suggestion as we kept walking by the shops. Soon we reached the BLADE barracks and waiting for us inside was captain Nagi. Beside him was a man who looked to be about the same age. He was muscular and had a blonde mustache. His build would be considered impressive for a human.
"Commander Vahndam" Lin said once again saving me the trouble of asking for a name.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in." the commander responded in a nonchalant way. "And you must be the new one around here. I heard you took on a Tyrant way out of your league and on a training mission no less."
"For 'out of my league' it wasn't very herd to kill" was my response. He seemed taken aback slightly but recovered.
"That was reckless… and goddamn magnificent!" he chuckled. "So who are you?"
I saluted and was about to give him the full title until Elma dropped in.
"This is Lieutenant Noble Six, he's a SPARTAN, and a damn good one at that"
I dropped the salute and stood at attention.
"Soldier to the core I see, looks like you hit the jackpot Elma"
"Actually sir, he found us"
The commander seemed even more impressed. "Well aren't you special. Anyway, Nagi here wanted me to get you set up with a division" right after he said that, Nagi excused himself from the conversation. After his departure Elma began to explain the divisions which Vahndam introduced. Pathfinders plant data probes, Interceptors defend the city and help other teams that get caught out of guard, Harriers are the one's who eliminate clear and obvious threats, Reclaimers recover pieces of the crashed white whale, curators set out for new resources, outfitters make weapons and armor, prospectors… prospect, and mediators keep the peace around the city and sound more like counselors than soldiers.
'Well it's certainly different from the UNSC but I guess that's to be expected from a new universe.' I lowered the list down to three, Interceptors, Harriers, and Reclaimers before imputing my decision on my new com device.
"Reclaimers huh? Well you look like someone who could secure a ship piece or two so I guess it makes sense. You'll be part of Elma's team for all assignments. Sound good?"
I nodded in acceptance which caused the commander to laugh
"Well aren't you a chatty one! By the power invested in me, yadda, yadda, you're officially a BLADE. Now, lets get down to brass tacks. Nelson's team has gone missing."
"Nelson, pathfinders then" Elma confirmed
"Yeah, they had a SKELL with them so I don't think indigens are the problem, but still we should have heard something from them by now"
"We'll go see what's up, come on Six"
I readied my gear as we proceeded out the door.
…
Once again we headed east, deeper into the land mass they called primordia. The grassy wooded area was now bathed in moonlight as we had spent most of the day looking for the missing pathfinders.
'I guess the days here go by faster.' I thought as I briefly took in the sight of the white moons before turning back to the task at hand. I kept zooming in with the visor to look for that SKELL when Elma got on the comms
"Six, we found it, get over here." She said as the location popped up on the map.
I immediately made my way over to the adjacent valley and caught up to Elma and Lin. The SKELL was green and looked rather unscathed save for a few burn marks… familiar burn marks. I began to give the mech a closer inspection.
"These aren't bite and claw marks" Lin commented
"If they were eaten we would know, so did they leave or were they taken?" Elma asked
"I'm going with taken, these are plasma burns. Unless one of these creatures can shoot out plasma, the team was fired upon" I said while drawing my MA37.
"You think we're dealing with intelligent lifeforms"? Elma asked. A single nod was my response as I began to hear approaching footsteps.
"We're about to have company." I stated as two armored soldiers with pointed ears approached us.
"You there, drop your weapons" one of them ordered which only made me aim my rifle at them.
"Elma… you don't think" Lin said
"Wait Lin, Six stand down. Have you forgotten what I told you already! We need to see if diplomacy is an option."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Two xenos had us in their crosshairs and she wanted to negotiate? I holstered the AR but put a firm hand on the M6G magnum at my side, just in case.
"We come in peace. We crash landed here about two months ago. If this is your home we apologize for intruding and would ask for the conditions of the release of any human prisoners you have" Elma proposed.
Of course there response was to raise their weapons.
"No conditions, No surrender, we have our orders, all earth aliens must die!"
I drew my sidearm and fired two shots, one for each of there heads which proceeded to soak the dirt beneath them.
"So much for diplomacy, what's the deal with wanting us all dead?" Lin asked as I reloaded my pistol.
"Your guess is as good as mine Lin" Elma responded
"We need to find that team now" I said. Lin then pulled out her com device.
"I got'em. I'm picking up pathfinder IFFs coming from over there" she pointed out what looked to be a metal alien structure.
"No doubt there are more of those things around the structure. I say we split up." I suggested
"Right, Six you move around the perimeter and then make your way inside. You have permission to engage in combat, but be selective, you don't need to telegraph your presence. Now get going, that team can't wait forever." I nodded and headed off.
The light of the moonlight was enough for me to see without the night vision. I approached the cliff under the structure and began to scale it. When I reached the top I drew my MA37 and made way up the steps
[Play Peril-Halo 2 OST]
The first armored alien didn't even notice me and received a knife to the skull for it. The others down in the field below took notice and began to fire. I returned fire, dropping two of them in seconds before I had to reload. Several of there plasma shots connected causing my shields to break and setting off the warning alarm in the suit. I took cover briefly for them to recharge, which caused the aliens to get cocky and change me down.
'Idiots' I drew my magnum and put 3 of them down before they got close. This had a familiar feeling, like I was fighting brutes again, except much easier. I switched back to my rifle and reloaded as the orange glow of my shields came back. I checked the area below before continuing.
"Six, come in"
"Go ahead colonel"
"I've highlighted the target structure, go through the back door. We still have a ways to go, but your close. Clear them out if you can but help that pathfinder team either way."
"Copy that"
As I approached one more alien revealed itself in an ambush attempt. I quickly grabbed the arm and slammed it to the ground before jamming my knife into its skull. It didn't take long to reach the target structure, however an entire squad poured out of the building and began to fire. While some nearby rocks provided good cover I found my shields going down before I could get any shots in as they just never seemed to run out of ammo. I decided to get risky. I pulled out my knife and charged. The shields were dropped in an instant but thankfully I had MJOLNIR armor so the plating held up. The first one I reached met a swift end as I slid the knife into its neck. The next few met a similar fate. Speed and reflexes, two things that the augmentations I endured years ago gave me. These slow, bumbling, brutes were dead before they could call for help. I flicked the blood off my knife and proceeded. Something about being in true combat again was… fulfilling, like I was doing what I was created to do. I then moved in to continue my duty.
Elma POV
"I think that's all of them Lin, come on we're nearly there" I said in an attempt to comfort Lin.
I knew that she was mature enough to handle combat but I could tell something was bugging her. I made a mental note to talk to her later. Lin and I then approached the structure's front gate, they had a lot of metal crates in the way which looked like a poor attempt at disguising the door.
"Lin"
"On it"
"Six, Lin and I are just outside the structure what's your status?"
No response. That wasn't very comforting considering that I barely knew the SPARTAN. Hell, I didn't even truly know what a SPARTAN really was, only that he was a powerful soldier.
"Lin, hurry up"
"I got it" the metal door slid down and then out of its frame, creating a ramp. We made our way inside as Lin tightened her grip on her gauss cannon.
"Relax Lin, you can't aim if your tense." I whispered. She began to regain her nerve as we entered the main room… only to lose it again once we saw what was left in the room. Six, the blue SPARTAN warrior, was covered in purple blood, the blood of the creatures we've been fighting. That wasn't all. Three more of those creatures lied dead on the opposite wall, like they were tossed away after they were killed.
'Did he do this? Who the hell did I just recruit?' he turned to us, stared for a moment and then squatted to the ground. I then realized what he was looking at. Nelson, dead, along with his entire team. I felt terrible, a sinking feeling rose in my gut telling me 'you failed, again'. He began to collect their bloody dog tags as I slowly walked over. He silently looked them over, as if he was trying to learn there names before he turned to me. I could only see my own reflection in the visor as he handed me the tags.
"They showed them no mercy, I showed them none in return" he said in a serious yet sinister way. Normally I would have wanted to negotiate, see if diplomacy was an option, but seeing the mangled bodies and blue blood of Nelson's squad… I felt no pity for these creatures. Not this time.
"We did what we could…" I tried to maintain a calm presence but Lin could tell it was faltering as she put a hand on my back as we walked out.
"I don't get it, why would they be so bent on killing all humans?" Lin asked
"Who can say, either way this is dire news, we should get back to HQ ASAP." I responded
"Roger that, and here I thought we were just beginning to escape all this." Lin commented
We turned to leave, only to hear an unfamiliar voice shout "Yes, escape, Tatsu only want escape!" turning back I saw one of those metal containers shaking, like something was trying to get out.
"More xenos?!" Lin said in a panic
"Stay back Lin" I turned to Six "What do you want to do Six?"
Six POV
I readied my AR as I walked toward the container and hit the button to pop open the hatch. Several potato like crops flew out. I looked over them all and noticed one had fur and a green backpack. I put my finger on the trigger, ready to end the pathetic thing in an instant… until it stood up and started 'dancing'
"Ah freedom, Tatsu do dance of freedom" the thing seemed overjoyed to have been free from its metal prison, so much so that it didn't realize that it was still in serious danger of being shot.
"Interesting, one of the vegetables appears to be sentient." Elma said
I tuned out the conversation, deciding instead to keep my rifle trained on the creature. Every movement of it seemed to give it an innocent vibe at some points while fumbling around at others. It then pulled a ball of light which began to circle around me before returning to the creatures backpack. Lin then scanned the creature before turning to me.
"Hey Six, think you can carry small fry back to the city?"
"… we're taking this thing with us?"
"That 'thing' is a no-pon named Tatsu, he's native to Mira and says that those creatures we were fighting are called prone. They aren't native, which means they followed us here. Tatsu has agreed to be our informant and guide as his people are merchants who trade all across Mira." Elma looked slightly annoyed with me when she added "you can put the gun away now, he's not a threat and even if he wanted to hurt us do you think he could?"
'No but we didn't think much of grunts until they were given plasma pistols.' I decided not to voice that thought and decided instead to pick up the no-pon even as it protested. As we walked back I couldn't help but feel pity for that fallen team, they deserved better than that.
'Then again… life isn't about what you deserve. Life gives you a set of cards and you have to play them… even if that hand sucks.'
AN: From now on, all action sequences will be in third person because writing in first person for action sequences SUCKS! I've updated the profile so I recommend reading that again as Six's appearance has been altered since I first started writing. With that being said the next chapter probably won't be nearly as long… maybe. In the next chapter, Six is going to request something from NLA's best outfitter… who also happens to have a real attachment to SKELLS.
