Karl ran towards the Keep as fast as he could. He had to admit, he was starting feel the fatigue from running and started to slow his pace down a bit to a fast jog. Sprinting the whole way was not ideal. He could feel the effects of the running as his breathing became labored. Karl paced himself from then on and finally he made it back to the Keep.
As he got to the keep he could see about 6 pelicans flying around, 'Oh no' thought Karl as he saw the guards at the gates were no longer there. He entered the keep to see a warzone, Sangheili and human alike were scattered along them ground. 'Looks like they got what they wanted, a war' Karl thought to himself as he picked up an AR from a dead ONI operative. He ran into the building that contained where he lived and could hear gunshots and plasma shots alike being fired off. As he turned a corner he could see the combat and saw about 6 ONI attacking Jede and what looked like a couple of the guards. He saw one of the guards take a shotgun slug to the chest and fall to the ground, these ONI operatives were wearing ODST armor, or at least very similar armor but the helmets had a yellow visor and were more rounded.
Karl turned the corner and took aim down the sights of the AR and shot a few rounds into the back of one of the operatives. He fell as the rounds penetrated the weak back armor and even some came out the other side, blood splattered all over the wall and Karl moved on to the next target. That one received the same amount of rounds and he also fell to Karl's fire. The third one turned around and had a BR. 'Oh shit' Karl thought as he took cover behind the wall and he heard the loud pops of the bullets and large chunks of the wall began to break next to him. The shots then stopped and he peaked the corner quickly to see Jede sticking an energy sword through the back of the ONI operative and had another one in his hand holding him up.
Karl aimed at the one Jede was holding by the throat and unloaded the rest of his magazine into the man. He instantly went limp as the bullets hit and blood splattered all over Jede.
Karl then walked towards Jede but made sure to keep a close eye out for any more behind him. "Sorry about the armor." Karl joked. "It is easily cleanable, do not fret." Jede said as he pulled his sword out of the dead ONI soldier. "Where is Soya?" Karl asked as he and Jede ran towards Karl's room. He had to get his gear to keep fighting. "She is safe in her room human, me and the guards were protecting her while you were away and the attack started. We need to head to the keep to defend my father." Jede said as he loaded a plasma cartridge into his needle rifle. "I will go you stay here and protect Soya." Karl pointed to the door. "My abilities in my armor will be more useful." Karl said as he unlocked his door and ran into the room.
He was tired but he could not give up now.
Karl quickly began taking off his current clothes, not even caring if Jede was watching. He looked around and Jede was already gone. He quickly got on his ODST armor and grabbed his shotgun and taking the magnum out of the old holster and putting in it his ODST armor pistol holster. He got 32 of each shell, slug and buckshot. He even got 12 rounds of frag ammo just in case. Karl also put 2 grenades and 2 flashbangs in his pouches. He was ready.
Karl exited his room and turned on his cloak from his pad on his wrist. As he was running down the hallway he saw 3 ONI operatives coming into the building. Karl stopped and took aim with slugs loaded in the shotgun, they were all lined up perfectly. 'Idiots' Karl thought as he took aim and fired a slug shell. He saw the first one fall with a large gaping hole in his stomach. He saw the second one fall holding his stomach and screaming in pain. The last one just looked shocked and took aim. Karl pumped the shotgun quickly and shot the next shot into the last one's helmet. He watched as the visor shattered and blood splattered all over the wall. Karl was quick to run up to the second one who was on the ground screaming in pain. He wanted him to suffer but he was better than the savages he was fighting.
Karl walked up to the soldier and put a foot on his chest holding him still. As Karl was holding the shotgun in one hand resting on his shoulder he unholstered his pistol and put a shot into the man's chest. He quickly stopped squirming and Karl nodded as he knew he was dead.
He ran out the door and as he was running he saw a small snagheili child on the ground holding his chest. Karl kneeled next to him and recognized it as the kid he trained a little. He was coughing up blood. Karl couldn't help but feel his heart drop at the sight.
He uncloaked himself so he could let the kid see him. "No please human." It begged. "I'm not going to hurt you kid. It's me the good human who helped you that one day." Karl said as he took the kids hand. The child held his hand and Karl could see the tears forming in the Kid's eyes. "I'm sorry." Karl said as he slowly put the magnum up to it's head. He hesitated but could see the kid was suffering and Karl didn't grab any medical in his rush. He brought himself the courage to finally pull the trigger and the kid stopped crying. Karl let go of his hand and saw the blood he transferred onto Karl's glove. Karl wiped it off on his armor and pressed his cloak again.
As he made his way to the Keep he could see the ONI operatives were outside the main door and were planting charges. Karl saw the dead guards all around the door and knew at that moment they were over run. He then saw the landed pelican, said pelican had a thirty millimeter cannon on the nose. Karl got a good idea. He walked up the rear of the pelican and knocked on the back. "Hey let me in, status update!" Karl shouted. He saw the door open and hid on the side of the Pelican. "Alright cool, whats the upda-" He heard the man stop talking, Karl was hidden and he let a smirk come onto his face. "Hey this is no time for jokes in combat!" The pilot shouted. Karl turned the corner still cloaked. "You're right." Karl said as he sent a slug into the Pilot's chest. He heard an "oof" come from the man and that was it. He also heard the slug hit the back wall of the vehicle. "The fuck was that!" He saw the co pilot run out, at this point Karl was uncloaked and he saw the pilot go wide eyed. Karl swiftly put a slug into his chest also and the co pilot flew back 2 feet and hit the wall, blood splattering all over it. Karl pumped the shotgun and the smoking hot shell came out and bounced off the wall.
Karl put the shotgun onto it's mag clip on the back of his armor and he quickly got into the pilot's seat. Karl switched on manual cannon control and he also saw the operatives getting in breaching formation. Karl started up the engines and he could see a couple of the operatives look at the pelican and shrug. Then he saw one of them point at Karl and looked like he was panicking.
All of the sudden all of them between 12-14 started shooting at the cockpit with ARs, shotguns, and BRs alike. Karl just chuckled as most of them caused a crack in the window or bounced off. Karl hovered a few meters off the ground and put it on auto hover. He then took control of the gun. He saw most of them running to get to cover but it was too late for most of them as Karl started unloading with the rapid fire cannon, it releasing a terrifying 'boom' with each shot. He saw as some of them took the large armor piercing shells and blast into pieces. Limbs were flying everywhere as Karl had the most straight and serious face under his helmet. He saw the bright flashes from the cannon going off. He then heard the gun begin to hiss so he took his finger off the trigger and saw the smoke coming from it. 'Fuck, overheated' Karl though to himself as he got up out of the chair and headed for the back of the pelican. But before doing so he kicked the joystick with a powerful kick and the pelican started going forward. Karl ran for the exit and jumped out just before the pelican rammed into the ground and he saw a couple operatives he missed get hit by the massive plane.
Karl let out a long "Whew" as he got up and loaded a couple of shells into his shotgun. He ran up to the wreckage and saw an operative who was stuck under it, at least his legs were. "No please, Kuhn, please!" The man shouted at Karl as he approached. "Well next time don't shoot civies. UNSC protocol." Karl said bluntly as he pulled the trigger and sent the massive slug into his head. Blood splattered all over Karl as he was point blank. He searched around the site and saw that all of them were dead, at least the ones he could find the bodies of. 'There were seven pelicans, I just hope they didn't drop that many troops' Karl thought as he walked over to the door that wasn't smashed in by the Pelican.
"It is Karl, I'm coming in don't shoot!" Karl yelled as he went in through a gap that was in the door and had his hands up above his head. "That was you that did that human?" Karl saw Jaka and several of his heavily armed body guards come from behind makeshift barricades of furniture. "Yep they are taken care of." Karl said as he hopped over and crouched behind it, scooting next to Jaka. "Thank you Karl. Is my daughter and son safe?" Jaka said in a serious tone. "Yes, Jede is there with her and also a couple of guards." Karl said as he wiped some of the blood off his armor with a small rag.
"My lord!" Karl heard a guard running towards Jaka yell. "What is it Furam?" Jaka said. "We are securing the rest of the Keep m'lord, we have almost flushed all of the... savage... humans out." The guard said with a nod to Karl. Karl nodded back. "Well done my captain, regroup everyone. "Oh and m'lord, we saw movement from the Sulamee keep and we have reason to believe they are conspiring with the humans." The Captain of the guard Furam said. "Just perfect..." Karl mumbled under his breath.
"I'll go on top of the walls and see if this is true, might want to send a few men with me too." Karl said as he got up and started walking towards the door. He heard Jaka shout something in his language and a 3 of the guards began to follow Karl. Karl nodded to them both and they nodded back. Karl broke into a quick jog and the elites with him did as well. When he got out of the court yard he saw all of the Pelicans lift off and most of them being shot at with plasma weapons. He saw the bright purple and pink being shot off into the night sky from somewhere else in the keep.
Karl ran with the Elites right next to him up the stairs that gave access to the walls. When he got to the top he signaled for them to stay where they were. Karl ran over to one of the guard towers and began climbing up it. After he got onto the roof of the guard tower he turned on his thermals. He saw hundreds of Sangheili heat signatures gathering about 500 meters away, all of them armed with covenant weapons and armor. 'Shit, there has to be at least 200 of them' Karl thought to himself as he got out his range finder and tossed it down to one of the sangheili. "Look over there." Karl pointed, the elite nodded and looked with the rangefinder. He saw the elite just let out a sigh and yell at one of his companions in his language. He saw the one that got yelled at run back to the keep.
"They have always been waiting for the right time to strike." He heard the guard say. "Guess so." Karl replied monotone as he crouched on the roof and kept observing them. Karl sighed as he jumped out of the tower, it was only about 10 feet tall so he just tuck and rolled when he hit the ground.
After a few minutes he saw Jaka running with at least 20 guards behind him. "Is it true Karl?" Jaka said to him in what seemed like a panic. "Yep take a look." Karl motioned for the guard that currently had it to give it to Jaka, which he did quickly and Jaka instantly took a look through them and went wide eyed.
Karl looked around at all the guards. "Is this all we have left Jaka?" Karl asked. "Yes, everyone who wasn't seriously wounded or dead." Jaka said with a little sadness in his tone. Karl just let out a huff of air and looked past the wall with his advanced HUD optics. "I will hold this Keep Jaka." Karl spoke up. I will cause as much damage as possible while you set up defenses in the Keep, they are about to assault. "Do not risk it human." Jaka looked at him seriously. "I'm a soldier Jaka it is what I do best. I'm not going to die, at least I shouldn't I am just going to cause as much casualties as possible until you guys set up a defensive position and are able to stand a chance against these assholes." Karl said crossing his arms.
Jaka remained silent and then looked up into the sky. "If you suppose so." Jaka said as he shouted at his guards and all 24 of them followed him back to the keep. Karl saw them all shuffle through the door. Karl ran towards the housing area and ran down the hall. He walked into Soya's room and saw her with Jede in the corner of the room. "Both of you go to the Keep and stay in the furthest closet you can find. A battle is about to start." Karl said as he pointed at both of them. "You too guards." Karl said to the guards who were standing in dark corner of the room. "I will fight in the battle, but my dear sister you must hide." Jede said as he got her up. When they walked past Karl Soya stopped next to him for a second. "Survive, please..." Was all she said. Karl nodded and followed them out.
He watched as they all entered the Keep, there are a total of 27 defenders now. and 250 attackers. Karl was going to kill a lot. He wanted to, he was extra trigger happy tonight.
He sprinted to the bodies of the ONI operatives and grabbed whatever he could off of them. He took a battle rifle from a dead one and put his shotgun on his back. He took twelve magazines in total and stuffed them into every pouch. He grabbed extra grenades and he even found a couple satchel charges. 'These will be useful' Karl thought as he tucked them into his arm, he searched the body for the clicker and soon found it and put in a small pouch on his leg. Karl ran to the wall and into the courtyard He put the two satchels about 10 meters apart, he saw the weight of the charge and new that they had a 15 meter blast radius and a 30 meter shrapnel radius. He used them enough to know all this information. Karl ran over to the tower he was on top of earlier and this time went into it. He stayed very low and turned off his cloak and instead turning on his shields to full power, he would need them. Karl peaked out of the small gap that you would shoot from and saw that they were starting to move towards the castle.
He sat down and took off his helmet since they were moving at a very slow pace. He took out a small protein bar and took a bite of it. After he ate all of it he drunk half of his full canteen. "May god have mercy on my soul." Karl whispered to himself as he said a silent prayer. The first time he had prayed since he was a child.
Karl put the helmet back on and peaked again, seeing they were about 40 feet away he quickly ducked. They were moving in one large column and could hear orders being shouted. He heard them enter the castle, they must have been spreading out into the courtyard by now. Karl peaked over the edge to make sure. They were, they were going right into the trap he had placed for them. He saw at least 40 of them swarming the courtyard now. Many were spreading and searching the buildings here and there. Karl silently took the clicker and saw that his was probably as many as he would be able to get before they spread out too much.
Before he clicked it he heard a couple of them laugh, 'must have told a joke to each other' Karl thought, 'I wonder if they think explosives are amusing' Karl said to himself as he clicked the clicker when at least 12 were in the blast range and 20-30 in the shrapnel range. The explosives went off and he heard cries of pain and agony. Karl just let a smile slide onto his face as he saw the 12 in the radius go flying and several in shrapnel range fall to the ground. Karl took his BR and peaked through the slot. He took aim at one and let the burst into his back. He then went from that one to another, and another, and another until his magazine was empty. He swiftly reloaded with maximum skill and began the process again. After that magazine was expended and one dead elite with each burst. They finally found his position and he ducked as plasma and needles alike began smacking into the walls around him. He took cover and even saw a few go through the aiming slot and hit the wall in front of him as his back was to the wall towards the enemy. "Fuck, fuck, fuck" Karl said to himself as he reloaded another mag. He then took several of the grenades and sat them in a line in front of him. He pulled the pin on each one but did not press the trigger mechanism yet. He grabbed one and pressed the trigger, sending it out the hole with a blind throw. He did this with each one simultaneously and he heard the explosion and screams from the elites. After he ran out of grenades he put his BR on the ground with the fully loaded magazine and loaded frag rounds for his shotgun.
He peaked over his cover and was scanning for groups, there were a few that were taking cover together behind rubble or whatever they could find. Karl aimed into a group of six and fired the shell. It hit the cover and blew up, he saw at least 4 fall to the ground never to get up. The other two were fine and shot at Karl. He heard some hit his shields with a 'hiss' he sent the next shell flying and it killed the last two in that group. He the saw about 3 running together to get to cover, Karl lined up and shot carefully. He saw all three of them get obliterated and limbs flew all over the place.
"Yeah! Fuck you assholes!" Karl screamed at them, his adrenaline reaching crazy levels. He peaked again and shot a shell directly into a lone one in his blood rage. The shell hit and the elite turned into a mist. Karl let out a loud laugh as he saw it explode into nothing but blood. Karl put the shotgun back onto his back and got his BR again as they were spread out and he needed precision again. He peaked and shot a few more and expended his magazine. He looked down and saw at least 3 with energy swords running up the stairs towards him. "Ha" Karl said as he threw the BR to the ground again. He quickly loaded buckshot into his shotgun and aimed at the door. The first one ran through and Karl sent the pellets into his center mass. He saw the elite fly backward and knock over the other ones. Karl began shooting wildly into the fray of elites trying to get through the door. After he was satisfied with the amount of blood he saw and them not moving he peaked out of the window again and shot the buckshot at an elite that was hugging the wall below him. He saw the blood splatter from it's head and it fall against the wall.
Karl heard the 'hiss' of rounds hitting his shield again and he ducked behind the wall as the plasma rounds were smacking the walls again, leaving around baseball sized marks in the walls.
He then heard more Sangheili screaming and he saw one run into the open with a fuel rod gun. Karl went wide eyed and realized he had his shotgun with buckshot and he was out of range. Karl quickly switched to his magnum and shot wildly at the elite with the large launcher. Karl saw a round hit his leg just as he fired and he aimed it above Karl a bit. The large plasma ball hit the top of the tower and made the whole ceiling collapse on Karl. Karl brushed off the debris and peaked again. This time with his BR and he put a burst into it's chest, the fuel rod gun fell out of his hands and the elite fell to the ground hard.
Karl heard more footsteps up the stairs. He quickly aimed his shotgun at the door, which he grabbed after hearing the noise. He aimed at the elites bursting in, all of them with energy swords. All 10 of them. "Oh shit!" Karl said as he quickly shot as much as he could with the shotgun. He saw the first 5 fall but then the shotgun was empty. He chunked it at the one that was now in the front and hit it in the face with the gun. It looked unfazed and angry. Karl did what he could to survive and he jumped out of the tower. He managed to land on one that was running through the gate at the time. Karl's weight made the elite fall to the ground. Karl unsheathed his knife and stabbed it into the back of the elite's neck. He quickly got to his feet and ran to the nearest cover, which happened to have 3 elites taking cover. They looked at Karl in confusion and he looked at them with death in his eyes. He pulled his magnum out and shot all three of them in the head quickly.
Then he remembered his own energy sword. He took it off the mag clip on his thigh and turned it on, ready for a melee fight. The 5 that were in the tower were now out and running towards Karl. Karl charged back and jumped in the air at the first one. It not expecting it Karl tackled it the ground but while doing so had stabbed it in the chest. The next one swung at Karl but he rolled under it and back slashed it in the back. He heard it thump to the ground. The next one had grouped with his friends and it was now a 3v1. Karl just let out his own growl to counter theirs. They all began circling him and they all charged at once. Karl rolled in between a gap with them and watched as they all stabbed each other. Karl let out an obnoxious laugh and turned around as one was taking aim at his chest with a needle rifle.
Karl heard his shield hiss as a needle deflected off of it. He ran to cover and took a plasma rifle from one of the dead elites. He unloaded a furry of rounds and saw the elite take several hits and then fall to the ground. Karl looked around and saw the amount of corpses littering the courtyard, he counted at least 60-70 off his head. Karl then looked to the gate to see at least 50 of them running through, and right towards himself. Karl took a deep breath as he took another grenade. He ran towards the horde and saw them all shooting inaccurately at him. Because they were charging him too. He let out a roar as he chunked the grenade into the group. He immediately stabbed the one closest to him in the chest with his sword and fell to the ground with the dead elite on top of him. The grenade went off and he saw at least half of them disappear in the explosion and the others fall to the ground. He remembered to keep one of the experimental grenades from the terrorist hideout he raided back on Earth.
Karl was tired, but he denied letting himself get fatigued and started taking easy breaths. He looked and saw even more flooding through the gate, running over their dead and wounded comrades. "Kill that human!" He heard one of them shout at the top of it's lungs. Karl recognized him immediately as the asshole who slapped Soya. He recognized Karl as well and saw the sangheili fume with anger. He charged Karl joined by at least 20 others with energy swords. "This isn't very fair." Karl said to himself as he began to sprint full speed to the Keep.
He didn't even stop at the wooden doors to the keep. Karl went full speed and smashed through the door. He rolled on the ground a couple of times after the impact and stumbled up. He saw all the guards were aiming their guns at the door and were behind makeshift cover. "It's me, don't shoot!" Karl yelled as he jump and rolled behind the cover. He laid on the ground, breathing heavily. Jaka hovered over him. "How many did you kill." Jaka said as he gave Karl a hand up to his feet. "Lost count." Karl said as he pointed towards the door. "But there are a lot more coming I softened them up for yuh." Karl said as he took cover with the guards. "You have done enough Karl go rest if you want." Jaka said as he handed Karl a plasma rifle. "You said if I wanted, and I don't want to, this fight isn't over yet." Karl said as he saw that the cartridge was full in the gun. "You are very valiant human." He heard Furam say next to him. "I guess I am." Karl said in response just as the enemy began rushing through the door. With Vaka in the front of the charge. "Hmm, you do the honors Karl." Jaka said. Karl nodded and stood up. "Heeey, asshoooooole!" Karl shouted while pointing the gun at Vaka. He stopped as did all of his soldiers. Karl saw Vaka go wide eyed. Karl Unleashed a hail of plasma into Vaka's chest and he saw him fall to the ground with a loud 'thump' sound. Then every guard in the keep unloaded their weapons into the surprised enemies. After about 2 minutes straight of a constant stream of fire all was quiet. Karl looked around and saw that all that entered the keep were dead.
He then heard voices outside the doors yelling in their own language. "They are saying retreat, we did it!" Furam shouted. Karl let out a massive sigh of relief and looked around. He walked outside the doors, followed by all the guards. When they saw all the corpses they all looked at Karl. "What?" Karl said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I went full blood rage mode, never happened before honestly." Karl said as he crossed his arms at the sight of over 100+ dead bodies.
Jaka walked up beside Karl. "There are many wounded civilians, until we can rebuild we will have to be on full alert. The Suramee Keep sent their entire army at us. Obviously they failed and will not return for a while. I'm sure many would want to live here after they hear of our vistory." Jaka said directed to everyone. Furam translating to the ones who didn't know english. Karl walked back into the keep as the guards spread around to clear the entire keep again. Karl sat down on a bench near the side of the large Keep area. He turned off his shield and took off his helmet. He began rubbing his temples and taking deep breaths. He was tired and had a headache from the fatigue, but he had zero serious wounds, at least from what he could tell, the adrenaline has not worn off yet.
Karl heard footsteps at a fast pace and nearly went for his sword until he felt someone take him into a deep hug. "Are you okay Karl, were you injured did you fight them off..." He heard the questions swarming him. "Soya I'm fine, but thanks for the worry." Karl said as he returned the deep hug in his dirty armor, but obviously she didn't care. "I cannot believe you actually did that." Karl heard as Jede walked back into the keep. He saw the two of them in a deep hug. "Glad to see Soya is happy you are alive. But why is the question." Jede said as he walked towards them. Soya let go and dusted herself off. "We are good friends brother and in human culture humans hug their friends." Soya said seriously. Jede rubbed his chin. "Ha very intimate contact, humans are strange." Jede said in response. Karl just cleared his throat and looked at Jede. "Is the compound clear?" Karl asked as he stood up next to Soya.
"Yes, all is clear, only 10 civilians were killed during this whole fight. Including two children." Jede said with sadness in his tone. Soya covered her mandibles with her hand and Karl could tell she was trying not to cry. "Who?" Soya asked choking back tears. "Baka and Tress. As well as their parents, they were in the courtyard when the humans came, they killed all they saw. It was late and they were walking back to their home." Jede said as he walked closer. Karl was remaining straight faced but Soya sat down on the bench and stared at the ground while tears started to flow out her eyes. "Why did this have to happen, it's all my fault." Soya said. Karl sat down next to her and took her in a hug again. "No it's not, the humans were looking for me, not you. The Suramee keep were just in it for the free land probably." Karl said as he tried to comfort her.
Jede sighed, "I am going to go get rest I suggest you two do the same, especially you Karl, you have done more than enough."
Karl sat up and so did Soya. "I suggest you close your eyes if you are sensitive to this stuff." Karl said as they neared the door. She nodded and closed her eyes. Karl took her hand and began guiding her through the area with the least amount of bodies. He walked her all the way to her room and walked her into it. "You can open now." Karl said as he let go of her hand. She opened her eyes and let out a deep sigh. "Good night Soya." Karl said as he began to walk out of the room. Before he could Soya grabbed his shoulder. He turned around and they leaned in and kissed. "Goodnight my love." Soya said as they broke away. Karl smiled and patted her shoulder and put a quick kiss on her cheek. He turned around and before closing the door, "Goodnight Soya." He said as he closed the door and walked to his room. It was still open, he left it that way after he was in his rush to defend the place.
Karl closed the door and locked it, quickly stripping off his armor, he noticed just how bad he smelled and how tired he was, nearly passing out standing up in his under suit. He took that off and quickly put on some athletic shorts and he didn't even put on a shirt. Karl plopped into his bed, 'I'll clean up tomorrow' he thought as he quickly drifted off to sleep.
Guys I'm so happy right now, I got to write this chapter as I had an unexpected break to write this, as I'm typing this its about 2am, but I don't care cause this was a totally worth it chapter, probably the longest one I have ever written and it is full of action. I hope you all enjoyed this a ton. This will be the last chapter I will upload this year though, but hey only one month of no updates. That is not very long compared to people who don't write a new chapter for 2 years.
Anyways I am super glad I got to write this, it might be a little sloppy but I will fix it as I reread the story ever week and make sure everything is ship shape.
I hope you all have an amazing christmas and a happy new years cause this is the only time I will be able to say that. Thank you all for the support and reviews and I will see you in January!
Love,
Stevie
P.S. Shout out to Aggiefan and emipopescu for you guy's support, it inspired me to write this chapter this late :)