Through the Eyes of Another
Being the first part in the Life and Times of Alex Steele.
Chapter I: Boarding Action
Recommended Listening: Twisted Transistor by Korn
Three hours. They had a total of three hours downtime. So far, at least.
"God man, I really need a woman right now. Or three." Alex Steele took a heavy drag off of the cigarette and looked over at PFC Jackson.
"Is that all you can ever think about, man?" he replied, smoke curling up out of his mouth as he talked to diffuse into the recycled oxygen of the Halcyon classspacecraft.
"Dude, come on. We've been in the shit for the past three months, last R and R I got was a joke. I barely get sleep at night, meals are shit...you know how hard it is to find some good weed around here nowadays?" Jackson asked.
"Dude...you've got too many vices; you know that? You never should have joined up for the Marines." Alex responded.
"Oh, I've got too many vices? And what about you, Mr. I'm Too Cool For Regs Smoker?" Jackson stated condescendingly.
"We're all allowed our own little vices." Alex replied, and could feel Jackson's stare burning into him. "However. Our own little vices, okay? Not going off and screwing every woman you see, toking it up and getting drunk off your ass. Smoking is my only vice...okay, besides killing. I think. But those Covenant deserve it." Alex fell silent and took another drag, the thing was almost dead; barely more than a butt now.
"Hey...what about her man?" Jackson queried, shattering the silence into so many pieces. Alex looked out across the gymnasium, into the crowd of shifting, sweating bodies that were a handful of Marines trying to pass the time until the next killing field was available. He spotted the female that Jackson had indicated, following the man's gaze he could see some merit in her.
"Maybe." Alex replied. "But redheads are better." He said.
"No man, blondes are the best."
"Redheads."
"Blondes." Alex sighed and let it drop, neither of them would win; it was an age old argument. So, instead, Alex let his mind drift back over the past day or so. Currently, he was onboard the Pillar of Autumn, which was running its ass off in hyperspace with hell snapping at its heels. For losing their last space based naval yard, the crew of the Pillar was in pretty good condition. The Covenant had demolished one of their last real hopes of survival, except for Earth. Alex sighed and stopped thinking about it, he really should be getting some rest.
"Hey man, where are we even going?" Jackson asked suddenly, Alex pondered the question for a moment, then finally shrugged.
"No idea. Last I heard the Cole Protocol was initiated, you know what that means. We could end up materializing inside a freakin' sun." he replied.
"Yeah." Jackson said sullenly, clearly unhappy with the idea of dying in such a manner. Hell, any Marine would be; they all preferred death on the battlefield. Or at least in bed. Alex didn't care where he died, so long as he took down as many of the bastards with him as he could.
"Man, when we get to wherever we're going, I'm gonna kill every Covenant there. If there's Covenant there...Hey, what's wrong?" Jackson was looking over at Alex now, who had a sort of intent, focused look set into his features.
"Shh...we've stopped." He replied softly.
"I swear, you're a freak man. How can you tell?"
"I just can. Comes from serving on ships for so long." Alex explained, he suddenly felt nervous and naked without his weapons and armor. All he had on him was his holstered M6D Pistol sidearm that was standard issue to all Marines and technicians and UNSC personnel in general. His hand automatically fell to the gun at his side, with his left hand he grabbed his cigarette and threw it down on the ground; stamping on it he turned to Jackson.
"I'm headin' back to the infirmary." he said.
"What for?" the man questioned.
"That's where I left my armor."
"You dumbshit."
"What? I needed medical attention." Alex tried to defend himself, but he knew he was at fault. A Marine was his armor, just like a Marine was his weapon. They formed a triangle of divine perfection that was the modern day Marine. And all that other jargon. Really, he just didn't want to get shot; because plasma stung like all hell. Alex turned and began to head towards the exit of the gym, the infirmary wasn't really that far away; walking distance under normal circumstances. Which Alex had the terrible feeling that the situation was going to quickly deteriorate into most certainly not normal circumstances. With Jackson at his side, the Marine exited the gym and came out into a large, wide corridor.
He'd served on a few Halcyons in his time, they were pretty good sized ships. Not entirely too complicated, but they had their ups and downs. Technicians in orange and red and blue jumpsuits moved hurriedly down the passageways, some of them carrying datapads, others working on exposed circuitry panels; trying to put the Pillar back together. It had seen some action over Reach and they were no doubt heading straight back into action again. Alex wondered where they were going to show up, chances were out in the middle of open space; because that's what a lot of the galaxy was. But ninety nine times out of a hundred, the Covenant would be hot on their tail; Covenant ships were always faster and more accurate.
The two Marines pressed on, progressing quietly down the chromium corridors. Titanium white light flooded every facet of the passageways they navigated. Alex paused briefly as he heard the ship wide intercom click on,
"Attention, all combat personnel, please report to your combat stations." It was the shipboard Artificial Intelligence, Cortana; and she had just sounded the trumpets of battle. Alex felt a cold hand clutch at his heard, the Covenant had found them.
"Oh shit." He whispered. Now he really felt the need to find his armor and wrap his hands around a good old assault rifle. Alex turned and began making his way towards the infirmary at a faster pace now, Jackson was still in his armor like a good, intelligent Marine. It was probably because he'd been too lazy to take it off though, and because he hadn't seen enough gunfights on Reach to have any actual life threatening damage.
"This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill." Cortana continued, spurring Alex on faster. The ship jolted and rocked violently, the Covenant had found them all right. Alex cursed under his breath, undoing the latch on his holster and sliding the pistol out. He gripped it fiercely with both hands in a white knuckled death grip, at least he had that. Alex continued on, Jackson had his own sidearm out and the two men were wishing for bigger guns or at least some back up. Others were running about, techs all had pistols in their hands and most of the Marines held assault rifles. The Pillar of Autumn had been thrown into a sort of organized chaos, everyone knew what they had to do.
"Attention all personnel, we are re-engaging the enemy, external and internal contact is imminent." Cortana informed them. Another blast rocked the ship, briefly throwing everyone off balance. Alex leaned up against a nearby wall for support, then continued along his way. He could hear people shouting orders, and others were praying. No atheists in the foxholes they say.
"You don't have to stick with me, you know." Alex said to Jackson.
"Nah, I've got nothing better to do. Besides, you never pay enough attention on the field." the Marine replied, and Alex grinned just a little. If anything, it was the other way around; he was always saving Jackson in combat. They'd met a month ago and more or less become friends since they were in the same contingent. The infirmary that Alex had left his armor in was just up ahead, down a few more corridors. Then he heard it, a loud explosion that was far too close for comfort; and far too familiar.
"Oh shit." Jackson whispered, they both knew enough about warfare with the Covenant to know what that was. A boarding party, punching through the outer airlocks and blowing the doors wide open to let their troops spill into the ship like a deadly alien infection. Alex held his pistol a little more tightly and moved forward down the corridor, he came to a junction and turned to look down it. Flaming metal fragments were spewed out all over the ground, mixed in with it was thick, fresh blood and the corpses of a small group of Marines who'd been killed in the blast. A duo of Elites and six Grunts were in the corridor, examining the area and perhaps gloating over their damage wrought. That's about when a dozen or so Marines came pounding down the opposite end of the corridor and rounded the corner.
It didn't take long for the situation to deteriorate into a full fledged fire fight, the Grunts screamed and cried as red hot lead penetrated their minimalistic armor. The Elites opened up with their plasma rifles, the bullets pinging harmlessly off of their energy shields. Alex immediately fell into combat mode, he came from around the corner, dropped to one knee and brought his pistol up to bear. Flicking on the 2x zoom, he zeroed in on a Grunt's head and squeezed the trigger. A single 12.7mm armor piercing, high explosive round smacked into the back of the diminutive alien's head and tore away half of its skull. The body flew forward with a lit plasma grenade in hand, which collapsed at the base of the Elites.
Both of them cried out at the realization of the grenade, one of them dove lithely and perfectly back into the boarding craft; but the other one was not nearly so nimble on its feet. The blast blew away the blue colored monster's shield and picked up its body and smacked it into a nearby wall. Thick, purple blood splattered all across the bulkhead from the impact and the Elite's body crumpled to the ground never to rise again. The surviving Marines slowly began to press forward, all their guns aimed at the airlock entrance. The Elite, a crimson armored creature, popped briefly out of the doorway; just long enough to throw a lit plasma grenade. It landed directly on the chest of the center Marine.
The man began screaming and everyone else scattered, one cruel but realistic man shoved the afflicted Marine forward and then he blew up. The Marine's body was more or less vaporized, a few cauterized pieces of him flew about. The blast threw a few of the Marines down the corridor, they slammed into the bulkhead at the end. The few survivors began to regroup when the Elite burst from its hiding place to take advantage of the situation. It opened fire upon the Marines and they tried to return fire, scoring a few shots but nothing damaging enough. Alex and Jackson raised their pistols immediately and let loose, the barrage of explosive rounds slammed into the Elite from behind and soon overloaded its shields.
The creature grunted with pain and spun around, then it was caught in the crossfire. 7.62mm, armor piercing rounds pounded into the creature's back and pistol bullets raped it in the front. Soon, it was nothing more than chewed up, bloody meat lying on the ground. Alex moved forward quickly as the survivors regrouped, tending to their wounded and wasting a few rounds on the corpses of the Covenant invaders. He paused and knelt at the body of a fellow Marine and preformed the grizzly but necessary task of searching him. He came up with two clips of pistol ammo, an MA5B Assault Rifle, fully loaded and three clips of ammo for that. He slid the pistol back into its holster, then slung the rifle and held it with both hands.
The Marines nodded a thanks to him and Jackson as they passed, the two Marines nodded back and continued along their way. Jackson now held an assault rifle and was armed as well as Alex was. Alex was feeling distinctly better, but not yet complete. He still needed his armor, which was within spitting distance now. He turned the corner and came to another passageway, then spotted the infirmary door a few meters down the way along the right side of the hall. There were no bodies there yet, but there would be soon no doubt. The door opened as Alex approached and he stepped inside, gun first; always wary. They were now officially in a combat zone and every corner or room was to be treated as a threat.
Alex looked round, but the place seemed positively deserted. Nothing moved or made any sounds, the staff had cleared out in preparation for the skirmish at hand.
"Watch the door." Alex said quietly as he proceeded into the infirmary, Jackson nodded and covered his friend. Alex headed towards where he'd left his armor and was pleased to find that it was still there. As he slid into the form fitting war attire, he could feel the rumbling of more plasma burst charges and Covenant boarding parties; things were really starting to heat up now. Alex finished by securing his helmet and then heading back to where Jackson stood, guarding the entrance.
"Well, now what?" the man asked. As if to answer his question, the shipwide intercom clicked on again in a haze of static.
"This is the Captain. I'm ordering a full evacuation as of right now. Get to your designated escape pods effective immediately." The com clicked off and Alex and Jackson exchanged a glance, things really were getting bad if the Captain was already ordering a full scale evac. But, who was he to judge? Alex decided with a mental shrug. Shouldering his weapon, he headed out of the infirmary with Jackson at his back. The escape pods were on the other side of the ship, and there would be a lot to slow them down between here and there. The two Marines progressed silently down the corridor, cold and calm and collected. Alex had turned off his emotions now, to the best of his ability at least.
He'd been a Marine for three years now, joined up right out of high school; well, almost. That three years was two and a half years longer than most recruits lived. He was a seasoned veteran now by default, though he hadn't advanced in the ranks; hadn't ever wanted to. Alex remained a Private because he felt that the killing fields was where he belonged, dealing death to the Covenant for as long as there was breath in his body. They'd taken his family and his life, and ever since then he'd felt the burning desire to return the favor. Alex turned a corner and sped up as he heard the sounds of a small skirmish raging nearby. He and Jackson came to a blown open door and found themselves staring into a decent sized messhall.
Half a dozen Marines duked it out with a trio of Elites and a dozen Grunts and Jackals. Alex and Jackson immediately moved into the room, Alex let off a blast from his assault rifle that caused the Grunts to scatter for cover. The Marines were pinned down and a few of them were dead already, Alex blasted the Covenant's position; emptying his assault rifle and then diving for cover himself. He'd managed to peg two of the Grunts, putting them down on the cold, hard metallic floor. He quickly ejected the clip and let it clatter uselessly to the ground, then slammed a fresh one in. Then he let the rifle hang by its sling and unholstered his pistol, which was in the field of battle one of his personal favorites. Alex came up from behind the table he was hiding behind and flicked on the 2x zoom, then zeroed in on a Grunt.
He tapped the trigger and the bullet nailed the thing directly in the shoulder, causing it to spray bright, phosphorescent blood and whirl around. Alex grinned darkly, he'd counted on that. He aimed for the methane pack on the back of the little alien and tapped the trigger two more times. The first shot went wide, hitting the bulkhead behind the Grunt. But the second round just clipped the small, sensitive part of the methane tank and caused it to rupture. There was a mighty, fiery explosion as the tank and the Grunt blew apart in a bloody, destructive mess. Half the Grunts and Jackals were blown away and one of the Elites became KIA. Alex turned his attention on another Elite that had come up from hiding.
He opened fire, chipping away at its shields remorselessly until they finally overloaded and collapsed. With that, he put two rounds into the beast's head and sent it flopping backwards onto the ground. With the initiative now in their favor, the Marines took charge of the situation. Two of them hurled a duo of fragmentation grenades, which flew in wide arcs across the messhall and landed flawlessly in the middle of a group of surviving Jackals and Grunts, and at the base of the final surviving Elite. Twin explosions ruptured the area and sent alien bodies flying everywhere, the walls became thick with intermixed blood and chunks of the creatures. A short lived cheer went up amongst the Marines.
Alex reloaded his pistol, slamming the fresh clip in and then turned to regard a few fresh friendly corpses on the ground next to him. He frisked one of them, leaving the others to the group of Marines. The man came up with a duo of fragmentation grenades and three more clips for his assault rifle. He straightened up, regaining his composure and surveying the area. The Marines had really killed a number of the Covenant, and Alex felt a brief burst of joy from seeing the corpses of his enemies at his feet. He clamped down on the feeling hard though as the Marines formed up, finished with their search; he needed to be clear and level headed if he was going to survive the upcoming trek.
In silence, the now extended group of seven men and women exited the messhall. They all knew what to do, they all had a clear objective in mind; get the hell off of the Pillar of Autumn and take out as many of the bastards with them as they could. As the men progressed, Alex listened to a few of them converse.
"I heard there's a Spartan onboard." One of the murmured.
"Spartan? Here? I thought they all died on Reach." Another replied.
"Died? Nah, I heard one made it onboard; Master Chief. 117." A third stated.
"If they all died on Reach, good riddance." The second man stated.
"What?! Why?" The first queried.
"Screw Spartans; cybernetic, alien lot. They're almost as bad as the Covenant we're killing. Gave up their humanity just so they could be super soldiers."
"They didn't give up their humanity, dude; it was stolen from them. Besides, I like the Spartans. They're like figureheads, something we can all rally behind. We need the Spartans if we're gonna win this war." The talk looked like it was about to fall apart into an all out argument, but one of the men, who Alex noted had Sergeant in his nametag, spoke up.
"Shut the hell up." He growled sternly, and they did. The group was making good time, finding mostly bodies and no survivors amongst them. They headed down highly lit corridors, only a few areas were darkened from power blackouts. The ship was still shaking every now and then from a burst charge or a boarding party, and Cortana wasn't giving orders anymore. That was slightly worrying. Alex and the others came around another corner, making good progress towards the escape pods, they weren't too far away now. They stopped dead in their tracks and found themselves staring at a large group of Covenant.
The wide corridor in front of them held a broken barricade of crates and about six Elites, who were all standing around, inspecting the area it looked like. The Elites all bellowed one form of warcry or another, then everything went to hell in a handcart. Alex, almost without thinking, immediately threw one of his frag grenades. It landed in the midst of the Elites, who all dove this way or that; then it blew. Two of them were caught in the blast, one was completely blown away and another just barely survived with it's shields overloaded. Alex immediately grabbed his pistol and opened fire, capping the purple armored Elite twice; once in the chest and another time right in between the eyes.
The Marines scrambled for cover as the Elites returned fire, bolts of plasma washed across the bulkheads. One of the men didn't make it down fast enough and took a trio of bolts directly to the face. He flopped backwards, screaming and gurgling horribly; he was dead as he hit the ground. Alex hunkered down behind one of the boxes, cursing as the plasma flew just inches over his head. He held his pistol in both hands now, he looked over at Jackson; who also had his pistol out. They locked eyes, then nodded to each other and as one popped up over the barricade. An Elite had just barely and stupidly left his cover to open fire upon the Humans. The two Marines opened fire, within seconds the Elite's shields was blown away and it was another corpse on the ground. Alex pulled back down as the others returned fire.
The Marines and the Elites exchanged gunfire for a few moments longer before finally the Elites stopped living, a duo the Marines had died though. Alex had burned through his pistol clip and his assault rifle clip. He now reloaded these two weapons as the group progressed down the corridor towards the hangar where the escape pods were located. He was displeased to find that he was down to his last clip of ammo for the pistol, that would hopefully change soon because assault rifles were good and all; but usually weren't worth spit in a ranged firefight. They approached the entrance to the hangar and found the door blown off. Alex and the others entered, and found a mass of chaos waiting for them.
The hangar had degenerated into a dimension of pure chaos and violence. Dozens of Covenant went head to head with about equal their number of Marines. There was lead and plasma flying in all directions so thick it could be walked on, the bright flares of explosions could be seen all over the place and bodies were sailing everywhere. Blood was thick on the walls and screams were heavy upon the air. The Marines all broke and ran into the fray, scrambling to take down any Covenant within their sights. Alex and Jackson stuck together, their sights set on the escape pods across the room. It was a good fifty meter walk through a garden of madness. Alex spotted a contingent of Grunts headed their way and he and Jackson let loose with their assault rifles, mowing down the little aliens as quick as they came.
Blood flew thickly upon the air and the Grunts went down without much opposition, Alex reloaded his empty assault rifle and hurled a grenade in the general direction of two Elites and a group of Jackals that were forming a shield wall. None of the creatures saw the grenade and it blew up, sending flaming metal fragments spewing everywhere. The Jackals were blown away, arms and legs and pieces of them flying every which way; their shield wall completely dissolved. The two Elites lost their shields and became two more corpses by a group of passing Marines. Alex and Jackson pressed on, they were halfway there now. He was mostly keeping his head down, but every now and then Alex offered his bullets to a small skirmish to help out any Marines he saw that looked like they could use the help.
They finally made it, almost all of the pods were gone, the doors closed and empty; a forlorn sight in the face of refugees. Alex and Jackson found one of the few 'Bumblebee' escape pods left open that was rapidly filling up. The duo of Marines threw themselves inside just before the doors slammed shut with a very final sounding noise, the pilot at the front ran through the warm up sequence and then with a loud blast the ship exploded away from the Pillar. Alex hurriedly strapped himself into one of the seats and looked out the back of the pod. The Autumn was under heavy assault, massive plasma charges erupted against her hull and caused untold amounts of damage inside. More pods blasted away from the ship as he watched.
"Hey, what the hell is that?!" Someone cried, and Alex turned to look out the front. That's when he saw it. Against the backdrop of a giant, purple planet that was no doubt a gas giant was a large, floating ring. It looked huge, massive. It spun slowly, just hanging there in space. Alex could see land masses and oceans and clouds; and they were heading right towards it.
"I have no idea, but the Captain says its got an atmosphere and we're landing on it. Orders are to regroup once everyone is on the ground." The pilot replied. Alex sat back and tried to relax as the ship began to rumble, they were entering the atmosphere.