Chapter 3
Hello and welcome to the new third chapter where, as I mentioned in the previous chapter, we'll take a closer look at the relationship between humans and the Elites and also look at the life of soldiers/marines/ODSTs on the base after the war. I also mentioned that it will be narrative as well. It's also skipable, but i will add a note in the story, where i recomend to read it…just look for an authors note somewhere in the story. And maybe, MAYBE, we'll get into the Mass Effect universe as well. So I won't burden you with any unnecessary ranting and let's go to the chapter three. This chapter is a little bit longer i must say.
Chapter 3 – Fort Zackmudo
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Fort Zackmudo, Inner Virgent Colony, UNSC area, 3 March, 2594, moments before the discovery of NBE-1
Virgent, one of the larger planets, rich in mineral resources. A planet teeming with life, vast oceans, forests, forests, vast mountainous regions, a wide variety of species, an excellent tourist zone. Protected by ten Eröd OWP and three patrol fleets, one of which consists mostly of carriers. Three Eion-class carriers, a very old carrier class that has undergone numerous upgrades, received better armour, new fighters, ship systems, the light MAC has been replaced by a Mk.V-B MAC, capable of firing four batches of 600 tonne iron-wolfram projectiles, new propulsion, ship generator, slip generator, missiles, point defence and so on.
There was also one Poseidon-class light carrier and two Warrior-class destroyers. The remaining two fleets consisted of two upgraded Artemis cruisers and four Anlace frigates.
This planet was strategically important as it supplied the UEG with both raw materials and food. Virgent had the conditions for that. That's why it required stronger protection.
The planet also had a larger army and air force. There were many military bases on the surface, Fort Zackmudo was no exception, but this base was something special. It was the largest military facility on the surface with strong security. It also served as an airfield, but that wasn't the main thing.
The reason why it was so special is because Soldiers, Marines, ODSTs along with Elites lived on this base. It was kind of an attempt by the UNSC to get the Soldiers to learn to live with the Elites and learn military cooperation and coordination with each other.
Well, the idea was wonderful, but the reality was way different.
Colonel George Connor
"Oh, hi…I'm Lieutenant George Connor, I joined the army after the Human-Covenant war as some Elites named the war, i am about 65 years now, you may be asking what I'm still doing in the army and how I still look relatively young…that's because I had my age extended sometime during the war. Yes, progress was being made there too at that point…but it wasn't much, just a few units, then later some of the ten, but that was in the experimentation phase…and I made myself a guinea pig… Yeah, it's not like Spartan augmentations where they have it up to a hundred years…I don't know, I'm no expert, I've only heard of it, but whatever, welcome to Fort Zackmudo.", the Colonel introduced himself and pointed to the entrance gate with the checkpoint and the soldiers.
At that point the colonel and his cameraman, also a soldier, turned and went to the gate, where they greeted a couple of soldiers, who let them in and proceeded to give a sort of „tour" to the home viewers.
"Otherwise, I will still introduce my cameraman, Henry James. He is a native of this colony, born here, but I am from Earth, Australia specifically. A lot of my colleagues on base call me John Connor's son, after my last name. Yes, the John Connor from the Terminator movie series, I like the movies, even though it's very old. But I also like to watch the current movies and TV shows."
The Colonel walked over to a giant concrete plaza where a large number of military vehicles were parked, some recognizable but some new.
The Colonel stopped in front of the vehicles and began: "So here we have our military equipment. As you can see here, some of the vehicles, tanks are recognizable. For example, this M-980 Grizzly tank. It's an upgraded tank from the time of the Human-Covenant War, it has all new armor, active protection systems, passive protection systems, a new 155mm cannon, larger caliber machine guns that can be computer controlled without someone having to climb up, brand new targeting systems, autoloading with ammunition separate from the chassis. ..we all know very well how Russian tanks fared in the 20th-21st centuries…and new fire control systems, new engines, chassis and so on and so forth."
Next, he walked around the plaza with the vehicles and chatted: "Then there's the eight-round Mangusta APCs, they're new models, as well as the eight-round IFV Goliath, then there's the ten-round Wasp mobile anti-aircraft vehicle with a 40mm autocannon and two surface-to-air missile launchers down four shafts on each side of the turret."
He then paused at one particularly interesting tracked vehicle. You could see he was all excited to introduce the vehicle.
"So…this ladies and gentlemen is the M980G/E Super Grizzly, it is a heavily modified M980 Grizzly tank chassis, only it has an experimental 165mm railgun mounted instead of its regular turret. Fast thanks to a brand new engine, it has an experimental mini reactor to power the railgun, unfortunately the Railgun eats power and it was not possible to install shields, but it has strong, light, experimental armor. At base, we call it the „Devil's Chariot."
Then he turned and resumed his inspection.
"Hey, look, there's those two with the Elites.", the cameraman said, pointing to two Marines with a group of four Elites.
"Ayo you guys, those two Marines are natives of the Czech Republic, also from Earth, who have joined this program. They are acquaintances. Let's say hello to them.", he beckoned to the cameraman and moved just a little closer.
Then he called out in Czech: "HEJ! DOBRÉ RÁNO MÍ SOUSEDÉ!" (Good morning my neighborours.)
The two Marines, along with the Elites, turned around, and one Marine yelled back in his native tongue: "JDI DO PIČE!" (Go fuck you)
The Colonel started laughing and then yelled happily: "ANO…ANO…TY TAKY BRATŘE!" (Yes…yes…you too brother.)
Even from the distance, you could see that they were laughing too and then they went about their original business and the Colonel laughed.
"That was good…that was good.", he said still laughing.
"Yeah, I was going to mention that too. Since the inception of this program, there have been three groups of people/Elites. The first group are those who have gotten used to each other and get along normally. Sometimes they do shit together and it's fun to watch at times.", he explained and entered the barracks.
"The second group doesn't like each other, but they don't insult each other or get into fights or conflicts. Instead, they are competitive and are always fighting with each other in this style, heckling each other. Because of them, there's a heckling tournament here at the base. But they keep their opinions about each other to themselves. Then there's the third group, and they're the opposite of the second, a time bomb ready to go off at any moment. That's probably the largest group here. And lastly there is the fourth group of ignoramuses, they don't give a damn and just do their job.", he entered one of the rooms where there was a group of Marines and soldiers teaching the Elites how to play Poker.
"Oh, John Connor's son has arrived. Are you filming again?", one of the soldiers greeted.
"Hey Jimmy, yeah…I see you've got a hell of a gamble going.", George greeted back.
"Indeed man.", replied one of the Elites.
Suddenly one of the soldiers entered the room and began: "Hey, have you seen my- oh, you guys have squidheads around here too?".
At that everyone in the room looked at the soldier, people with amused looks saying "You fucked up buddy", but the Elites cast death glares and pierced the soldier with their stares.
"Run.", one of the soldiers advised him.
"Hey…guys, I didn't mean it like that!", he started to run away when one of the Elites got up and ran after him.
"Moral of the story: Never call an Elite a squidhead.", George remarked and the rest laughed.
Hearing the screams outside the window, they peeked out, the cameraman was taking it in.
The same soldier ran by with Elita on his heels, shouting, "I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! CALM DOWN, BUDDY! AAAAAA!"
Of course he got the attention outside and the instructors along with the recruits, ODST and the rest were downright laughing.
"So…shall we pick up where we left off?", another Marine asked.
"Yes, my friend is going to be a bit late.", replied the other Elite.
And so they returned to their seats and picked up where they left off.
Fort Zackmudo training area
The atmosphere was tense, with automatic weapons and plasma rifles firing in the distance and buildings damaged from previous military exercises all around. This was a large urban area built mainly for military exercises, it served as urban warfare training.
There were large-scale conflicts in the main streets of the city.
Anytime an Elite could come at you out of nowhere with an energy sword, anytime fighters could make a target out of you, stray missile, artillery shell, guided/unguided missile, plasma grenades, plasma itself, the worst were the STEALTH Elites because they had, and used, their active cloak and that made for a lot of problems, plus narrow streets and lots of obstacles so there was nowhere to hide. There was also military equipment adapted for these purposes.
A group of eight Marines led by Colonel Chris Mayers were sneaking behind enemy lines.
Chris Mayers joined the UNSC after the fall of Reach, but Mayers was very special. He was an excellent tactician, basically Preston Cole on the ground, so to speak.
The first time he fought the Covenant was on Colony Zealand, there was no chance of stopping the advance but the aim was to hold the enemy long enough for the rest to evacuate.
It was here that he first became known for his suicidal actions deep behind enemy lines, along with a group of eight Marines and two Spartans he found on the battlefield, and together they formed a team.
News of their actions circulated around the colony in the fighting. The Covenant was causing huge problems on the ground, such as sabotage actions, attacks on supply lines, and unexpected ambushes of enemy troops who hadn't even made it to the front yet.
They traveled through enemy territory and chose their targets very carefully, becoming so famous that they even gained the attention of some Covenant commanders.
When such news reached UNSC soldiers on the ground, it boosted everyone's morale rapidly. Mayers became a very respected soldier, and when he arrived home from his mission, he was celebrated.
The UEG made him the second hero of humanity after the legendary Master Chief, because such actions were not to be overlooked. It was mainly his ability to prepare, he was ready to fight anything and anyone, he was very technologically gifted, he studied a lot before the war, very skilled in hand to hand combat.
He was proficient in Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Karate, Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, Kickboxing, boxing, going to practice.
This culminated in the fight for the colony of Singapore, where, according to the account of one of the Spartans in his group, he reportedly fought the Elite alone and survived, which was something at the time.
I came the fight for Earth, and there his achievements were very much in evidence, despite the disadvantage of the enemy's space superiority. Mayers boosted the morale of all the men just by his presence, until rumors spread that he had taken down the Brute. No one knew what had happened, the news was everywhere, everyone wanted to know what it was.
He gained the respect of the Elites, and the Jiralhanae also learned of this news, but unfortunately there was no way to verify it. After the war, everyone came to bother the colonel and ask questions, to which he only replied: "You will find out in time."
Mayers had ten-man group, consisting of eight Marines, including himself, and his Spartans with armor and equipment modified to the colonel's specifications. Normally Spartans worked in teams together, being sent on dangerous missions. The Colonel used two Spartans for direct fire support purposes comparable to an armoured vehicle, this was because not everywhere could get armoured fighting vehicles and the Spartans were an ideal choice for him. Spartans were equipped with Mjolnir GEN4 Mk.XI/DFS-E (DFS=Direct Fire Support, E=Experimental) armor with better and more durable armor, experimental microfusion reactor, experimental 3rd Generation energy shields, they were more comfortable, more mobile, better sensors, targeting systems, EMP protected electronics.
They were even capable of electronic warfare which was very important in such an combat.
Also better communication systems and sharing data with the group, IFF. New were brand new hyperspectral cameras, supposedly capable of recording a cloaked person in a much deeper light spectrum. The Colonel theorized that the Elites' cloaking device should create some sort of anomaly if the wearer could be seen up close even when cloaked, and this hyperspectral camera should find and record such an anomaly and produce a rough outline of the cloaked object.
They were also equipped with a 35mm autocannon and an SPNKr rocket launcher. The ammunition for the autocannon was in the suit behind their backs, the magazine was hidden under the armour, but it didn't affect mobility, their augmentations took care of that and also the exoskeleton.
The marines had a black BDU vest with an exoskeleton with occasional red parts, armbands, a helmet with experimental hyperspectral goggles, a built-in communications unit, a battlefield data sharing system, and IFF systems.
In terms of weapons, these were the MA81 with an overhead grenade launcher and the MB81/2-TAS (Tactical Assault Shotgun) with a drum magazine and semi-automatic mode.
The team crept through alleyways deep in enemy territory, heading toward a bridge leading to the epicenter of the conflict. Their goal was to create absolute chaos in the enemy lines.
At the same time they were listening to the team communication as they reached the main street, the colonel gestured to stop and the team stopped and moved closer to the wall.
"Alright, two stay here with a laser sight, call and send a cruise missile here, the goal is to destroy the bridge and divert the incoming convoy to the twenty-fifth, we'll move into positions and lay mines. When you're done here, you'll move to us.", Mayers said.
Chris' group moved off, leaving the two marines behind as they prepared to destroy the bridge. They slowly made their way through the alleys until the colonel stopped them at a turn.
Mayers took out the mirror and carefully moved it around the corner to see if anyone was around the corner or waiting for them.
The corner was clear and he ordered to move again, this time motioning for the other half and the Spartan to go to the other side of the alley.
They walked and meandered through the alleyways, checking every corner, avoiding the high streets and keeping an eye on the windows, using hyperspectral goggles to keep an eye out for cloaked enemies.
After five minutes of movement, the colonel stopped everyone in front of the main street and began to issue orders: "Harry, Simon, and Stanley, you clear this barrack next to me and set up a heavy rocket launcher on the third floor."
The trio nodded. Chris moved to the Spartans, "You two will place mines in pre-selected locations, the drone has already sent footage of the convoy. Then one of you will move behind the trio and the other will move to the barrack across the street which we will clear. In that barrack we will set up a machine gun nest, supplies and they've already delivered the weapons here, there's a Warthog over there, they didn't have it easy.",
The Spartans nodded. Satisfied, Mayers gave the order for action, and everyone split up and went about their tasks. Mayers' group ran across the street, kicked down the door and combed the barracks room by room, floor by floor and began setting up a machine gun nest, removing the machine gun and rack from the Warthog and moving it up to the second floor.
"The bridge has been destroyed, we're moving towards you.", came over the radio and Mayers confirmed.
The Spartans deployed anti-tank mines two in a row and camouflaged them, the trio set up a rocket launcher and waited. The mines were deployed and the Spartans moved into position.
The machine gun nest was also set up and waiting.
Command center, observation room
"Things are getting interesting, don't you think?", one of the instructors asked the commander.
"Yes, the Elites are pushing our men hard enough, veteran soldiers say it's much more difficult than during the war, they use strategies, comepetent command. Right now they're holding this main sector and sending in equipment. They're about to launch a counterattack on two places. They are preparing the battlefield.", he pointed to the holomap on the table.
"I have to say this training simulator is amazing, here we see what it looks like in reality without the explosions and details and on the other simulated environment to match reality as much as possible. It looks like a good investment", praised one of the experts.
Engineers and experts, plus the generals themselves, were also at the observatory, mainly to see their experimental equipment. That was the new Mjolnir and the hyperspectral cameras and goggles.
But it wasn't just humans that were here, there were also Elite Majors, Generals, basically their leadership, to see how the program was doing. Even the Rtas'Vaduum was here.
Some of the Elites were here just to see Chris' team in action. They didn't just get that chance, so they took it. Of course they'd heard of Mayers, who hadn't. But the Elites weren't like most people when they came to pester him about this stuff.
They basically showed more respect and left him alone.
"So far it's looking good for the Elites, they are using their skills to the max and are making good progress, if they can break through these weakened positions they could make major advances, the humans are fighting valiantly though, but I'm curious about this group here. Destroying the main access road and diverting the convoy is a very smart move.", Rtas analysed.
The instructor confirmed and added his opinion: "Yes they do, they have a hole there, it's probably the convoy, there's no stopping this advance. Our guys have made a lot of mistakes, they're concentrating too much on one point, if they decide to attack in two places, they'd have to withdraw part of it from here. They don't have enough equipment and if they let up, the enemy will push them through. It's bad."
"But I admire Chris's efforts to turn the situation around in favour of the allies, he's causing huge problems and if he's not stopped something is about to go very wrong, where should the convoy be heading?", another instructor asked.
"It is to reinforce the troops at the front and help in the final strike. They have two convoys, the second is just getting ready, which I think is too late, it seems Mayers' group is going to ambush the convoy. They've found a good target, an attack like that would slow down the advance considerably, but it would already be more difficult to get out of the area, they'll notice someone is on their half and the Elites will hunt them down." Said one of the Elite generals.
„Inflict maximum casualties on the enemy and slow the advance, a much used tactic by his team. Hit and run.", the human general remarked.
„Here we go gentlemen.", the instructor stated and everyone focused on Mayers group, as it was about to get really hot in there.
Training area
"Enemy convoy approaching," said one of the Marines.
"Okay, get ready, it's going to be hot.", Colonel Mayers replied.
After a few seconds, they spotted the enemy convoy consisting of mostly heavy vehicles, tanks. What a nice target.
Chris grabbed a detonator and waited for the first vehicle to run into a mine.
"Come on, buddy… come on." The Colonel said quietly to himself. Then a massive mine explosion disabled the first vehicle and the convoy came to a halt. After that, Mayers activated the detonator and another explosion destroyed the last tank in the convoy.
A shock wave has knocked down all the Elites near the explosion. And then came the fire. Bullets flew from all sides, a trio of marines from the opposite house fired a shot at the third tank, which had not even had time to activate its shields and was suddenly on fire. The Spartans with autocannons shelled the lightly armored vehicles, the rest of the marines attacked the Elites.
The elites were not prepared for this attack and so there was great chaos on their side for a moment, they tried to recover from the attack, some returned fire, meanwhile another tank went down, some called for reinforcements before they were shot.
Mayers got the moment of surprise, fired a grenade from the outboard grenade launcher at the EM vehicle, which detonated on the shield, weakening the shield a bit, then a second EM grenade arrived, weakening the shields the same way, the Spartan reached them with the SPNKr, and then the missile that finished the vehicle arrived.
This is how they finished the last vehicle together with the Elites.
Now hell has come. Plasma came from behind out of nowhere and hit one of the marines in the back and he was already dead.
„ENEMY STEALTH UNITS!", Chris yelled and quickly returned fire, he actually saw some outline in the glasses, surprised that it actually worked, so he knew where to shoot.
He managed to neutralize the Elite, a plasma grenade came in retaliation, Mayers screamed and immediately jumped out of the window, no one in the building except the Spartan could react in time and they went down.
Chris hit the wrecked vehicle and the ground, frantically looking around, the Spartan firing at every enemy but getting caught from all sides, he was about to duck and také over when Elita stabbed him from behind with an energy sword.
The colonel immediately turned and shot the enemy. Chris heard footsteps behind him, he quickly turned with his weapon only for it to be knocked away by the already exposed elite, about to stab him with a sword.
Mayers saw the incoming cut and ducked to the side as a hand with a sword passed by, caught it, elbowed Elita in the head, kicked out the sword and ran towards the elite.
The Elite quickly recovered from the attack and backed off a bit as Mayers bumped into him and they pushed each other.
The colonel put his head in the elite's face and tried to kick it away, but the opponent picked him up, lifted him up and ran with him towards the destroyed vehicle, crashing into him hard.
Then he took it again and threw it on the ground like a piece of rag.
Chris tried to pick up Elita's fallen sword and lunged in an attempt to stab Elita.
Elita backed away, avoiding the blow and kicking Mayers a meter away. Mayers dropped the sword to the ground so the original owner picked it up and tried to stab Chris on the ground, Mayers grabbed his opponent's hand and the tip of the sword was pointing at his chest, he tried to push it away but Elita was stronger despite the exoskeleton and she leaned into it with her weight. The tip of the blade went through his chest and Mayers ended as well.
"Yeah…that hurts.", Mayers said.
"Dead people don't talk," said Elite, who he was fighting.
"Oh, I forgot…but it was fun," the colonel acknowledged.
"Indeed.", Elite confirmed, they stared at each other for a moment and then Elita left him. After a few hours the training was over, the suits were unlocked and everyone was standing up, now they couldn't see the damaged vehicles, buildings etc, but it was intact, no one had bullet, sword marks, etc, everything was simulated.
15 minutes later, somewhere in the base.
"Good job, guys, everybody…but next time we're gonna have to come up with a new strategy. We have to be faster, when we blew them up, they knew where we were and came after us. It was my fault, I had to realize that."
Mayers called his group together for a meeting so they could confer and change their current practices.
„The tactics we used during the war can't be used now, the enemy is smarter, more cautious and they will be expecting us. The only mistake we made was staying put and still opening fire instead of getting the hell out of there," Chris explained.
Chris Mayers was very smart and cared about his team, he was able to learn from his mistakes and come up with something new. He was also adaptable, which helped a lot when things went wrong.
Mayers' group was basically independent of management. Most of the time they took over the task and how they did it was up to them.
They were at Fort Zackmudo to continue their training and improvement.
„Maybe whoever's in charge here at the base could lend us a training area and set up some kind of simulation," suggested Spartan G-001 Jacob.
Mayers referred to his Spartans by the letter G and 001 was the order, in this case it would be G-001 and G-002 since there are two Spartans on the team.
„Good idea, I'd like to see him one day.", the Colonel replied.
„Otherwise, how many people were bothering you today Chris?", asked one of the Marines.
„Not many anymore, since Master Chief was found they all slowly got tired of it and went to annoy Master Chief…but I really wonder who showed Chief the Doom games."
„Hehe, he will get some inspiration.", another Marine responded.
„Yeah.", confirmed one of the Spartans.
„Shall we go out to eat? I'm pretty hungry.", he added.
„Yep, I'm hungry too.", agreed Mayers.
At this point they all got up and headed to the dining room.
After dinner they parted, Mayers disappearing before dinner, just taking his food and going somewhere. He spends a lot of time alone. Not much with the team, sometimes, depending on the mood.
The two Spartans, Jacob and Railey, were just walking around until they ran into a group of ODSTs and Elites.
Something was going on, so they went to check it out.
"What man. You can't take it?", one of the Elites teased an ODST soldier trying to pick up a rocket launcher…meant for Spartans.
"What the fuck is that idiot doing?", Jacob asked one soldier who was standing a bit nearby.
The soldier turned, saluted and replied: "A group of Elites took on a squad of ODSTs and bet they weren't even able to hold a rocket launcher for the Spartans, one got pissed and actually went to get the rocket launcher."
"I'm gonna record this.", Railey said, since he wasn't wearing his helmet now, he pulled out his camera and started recording normally.
"Shoot, what's taking you so long?", the other Elite taunted.
"What a wimp.", another Elite said.
"Shut up.", said ODST and finally raised the rocket launcher, albeit with difficulty.
Even his exoskeleton wasn't enough.
Spartan Jacob tried to hold back his laughter. He suspected what was about to happen.
"You bastard…", ODST cursed as he tried to aim the heavy thing.
"I could do better too.", the Elites were talking amongst themselves as they watched him.
"You'll be on your second Christmas before you shoot it.", the Spartan caught his attention.
They all looked at him and Railey said: "So here we have a Darwin Award nominee with a nutcase trying to take his hands off while he wrestles with a Spartan rocket launcher."
"Hey! You've got to be kidding me! We didn't fucking agree on this!", ODST scolds.
"Are you scared, man? And that's what you call yourselves elites.", The elites insulted him.
"That's it.", ODST got angry, somehow took aim and pulled the trigger. Exactly what Jacob suspected happened. The rocket left the tube but the rocket launcher itself ripped ODST's arms out of his hands and still knocked him to the ground himself. The rocket hit the ground in the distance and Jacob just had to laugh as he couldn't také it anymore, Railey joined in with the comment: "What an asshole…well I didn't see that coming!"
"What the fuck are you doing here!!!" the instructor came out of nowhere and the Elites and Spartans parted ways.
ODST was writhing on the ground in pain and screaming, the instructor was the first one there to shake them down before taking the one to the infirmary.
"Now that's an idiot.", Railey said.
"When the girls starts ask the question about why they live longer than men, show them this video.", Jacob replied with a laugh.
This was the second group, they were getting into troubles each other, heckling and insulting each other. It was still peaceful.
Elsewhere, however, a storm was brewing.
A group of soldiers and ODSTs were relaxing in the common area, chatting normally. As a quartet of Sangheili Spec Ops walked by, one of the ODST's loudly declared, "Holy crap, look who showed up."
He stood up and slowly approached the group along with his fellow soldiers, one of the soldiers tried to stop him.
"Hey buddy, don't do anything stupid.", he said and tried to reason with him.
"You got a problem man?", it seemed like the Spec Ops Elite were upset.
"I do…you bombed our colonies, Reach. You think I'm just going to tolerate a genocidal motherfucker in my presence? I don't understand why Command hasn't retaliated.", he paused in front of him.
"I don't care about any of your colonies, it's not our fault the prophets lied to us-„
"Not your fault? I thought you'd be smarter than that, but any idiot can hear the rewards. You're nothing more than a bunch of losers.", he interrupted and the Elite clenched her fist.
He was about to punch him when Shangheili's colleague stopped him, shook his head and motioned for them to go on, ignoring him.
"What, are you that fucked up? Fucking squidhead." He laughed, the rest of the ODST too, except for the soldiers who preferred to back off.
The elite got angry and the surprised ODST got a hard one in the chest.
"I'll handle this one myself.", angry Elite said, and then it all came crashing down.
The unsuspecting commander was just discussing some military matters with Rtas.
"Well, I don't know if I'd let any more of your people in here, the situation is already tense, I've just had a report that a group of Elites have asked an ODST to fire a rocket launcher intended for the Spartans. He's in the infirmary right now. I don't want to make this sound bad, just be careful." Said the base commander named Winston.
"I understand your concerns Commander, that's why we should také a much harder approach to training.", Rtas suggested.
"I've already thought about that. But I don't know how you envision it, nor do I know how it should be done.", he replied and lit a cigarette.
"Harsher punishments, stricter instructors, form a mixed team during training and try joint operations, maybe if they learn to work together they could get used more to each other.", he outlined his idea.
"Well, to be honest, I'm pretty skeptical about mixing ours with yours. It's too soon for me…but when i think about it, we could try it with Mayers group, Colonel Mayers is neutral towards the Elites and in my opinion there shouldn't be a problem with that," the commander expressed his opinion.
"Is that the soldier that took down the Jiralhanae warrior?" he asked.
"Yes, it is.", replied the commander and continued, „I was hoping your Elites could accept it."
"Back in the war, when I heard about him for the first time, he made an impression on me. The idea that in addition to your Spartans, the Covenant had to face another person who was not a Spartan, the prophets couldn't sleep.", Rtas admitted.
"Heh, that's right, surely you could also hear reports of airstrikes on your own soldiers.", replied the commander.
"Oh yes, this was the worst nightmare, no one knew what was going on. Everyone was confused when our own bombers were carrying out raids on our own troops. Do you know anything about this?" he asked the commander.
He replied with a smile: "Indeed, Mayers' group was responsible for this, they chose a target, used jammers to disrupt the Seraph's radar systems, then tapped into their communications and requested an airstrike on the location where the Covenant troops were located. A very old but still very dangerous tactic. The IFF didn't work, nothing, they were blind, then all you had to do was mark the target from anyone and guide them to it," the commander explained.
"It would be an honor to meet him one day.", Elite acknowledged and the commander replied with a smile: „But Colonel Mayers is here at the base, but you watched him on the training ground, he needs to keep his men in shape so they joined here."
"He just doesn't talk about it much, people often bother him with these questions, he only broke his silence in 2581 when he announced that he would write a book about it. But like when Master Chief's discovery was announced, everyone could have gone crazy, but it seems that the colonel doesn't mind," the person added.
"I wouldn't be surprised at him, he finally has peace.", Rtas replied.
The commander was about to say something when he was interrupted by a knock on the door and a young soldier entered.
"Sir.", he greeted and nodded at Rtas as well.
"What's wrong son?" the commander asked.
"Sir, there has been a skirmish in the common room, one of the ODSTs has come into conflict with the Spec Ops Sangheili.", the young soldier reported.
The commander took a breath, crushed the cigarette in the ashtray, slowly stood up and said: "Take me to the place, please."
Rtas noticed the expression on the commander's face, it wasn't a pleasant sight, but he followed suit as it obviously concerned his men as well.
As they walked down the corridor, the commander encountered a Spartan with a machine gun and motioned for him to follow him, encountering a group of instructors along the way.
As soon as they noticed the commander, they realized something was wrong and curiously followed him.
When they arrived at the common room it was as the soldier described chaos, there was a circle of people with Elites yelling at a couple fighting in the middle, ODST and Spec Ops Elite. The ODST soldier was covered in blood, bruised and wobbly, the other Spec Ops Elite looked relatively fine, there was blood at times but otherwise it wasn't too bad.
The Spartan did not have to wait for orders and immediately took the machine gun, pointed it at the ceiling and drowned out everyone with fire.
Everyone immediately stopped their activities and looked in shock at the commander, the Elite standing next to them, there was a moment of silence before the instructors started to engage them.
The roar carried all the way to the living quarters down the hall to the room of the marines from Mayers' group. They were just playing UNO together.
"Do you hear that roar too?"
"Dude, what is it this time…"
"Maybe some ODST provoked a random Elite to fight again.
"Classic…idiots.", said a marine sitting on the edge of the table as he watched in horror as one dealt a card saying také two cards and each one raised until it was him.
When he looked in his cards, there was no such card.
"Come on, you've got to be kidding me."
A group of marines began to laugh loudly.
One of the marines laughed at him and said: "Don't worry, it's only…um…two…four…eight…twelve cards."
Another Marine to his left tapped him on the back.
"By the way…does anyone know where Colonel Mayers is?", one of the Marines asked.
They all shrugged.
Meanwhile, Chris was in an empty meeting room. He was replaying the records of the exercise and taking notes.
He was also carrying a pair of hyperspectral glasses. He was happy it worked, it was just a shame they hadn't come up with it during the war, not that it would have made any difference.
He reminisced about the war and all the operations he'd been involved in. He'd grinned at how many times he'd gotten himself into dangerous situations and gotten out of them just fine.
"Hell of a luck…", he said to himself.
Night had currently fallen over the base, it was late in the evening, the atmosphere was calm and pleasant and he generally felt more relaxed.
Suddenly he heard a noise from outside, curious he decided to walk over to the window and look out.
Outside he saw a whole group consisting mostly of ODST members, some Elites including Spec Ops and a few soldiers. They were all doing pushups and the instructor was there shouting at them.
Mayers grinned.
"ODST…I'd rather not try to understand.", he said into the void.
"Uh uh uh."
Chris turned sharply in the direction of the voice. He was surprised to see two Elites. In his entire stay, he had never had a single Elite come to him. So why now?
"Do you need anything.", he asked the pair.
"Sorry for the interruption, just…", one of the Elites said, thinking of what to say.
"It took us quite a while to find you, we just wanted to talk. How about we go for a walk?", the other Elite replied politely.
The Colonel agreed, not quite understanding what that meant yet.
They walked for a while, Mayers not even realizing that he was being led to the training ground where the Elites usually practiced close combat. As they talked, he didn't notice.
"I heard you're building a new CSO Supercarrier, right?", the Colonel asked.
"Indeed, but this one is supposed to be a more modern version of the old one we lost over one of your colonies."
"It's a little larger in size and minor changes have been made to the original design, it will share some similar parts to the DOS ships.",explained the other Elite.
"So it's basicaly a CSO with a bit of DOS design."
(AN: This is the part from where you could start reading.)
"Yes, they are still thinking about the name, supposedly they plan to name it the same as the previous model, Long Night of Solace.", added the first Sangheili.
"Hmmm…that's kind of…I don't know, I'd name it…Path to Enlightenment? It's more cool.", the person expressed his opinion.
"What are we doing here?", he asked after a moment, when he realized where he was.
"Friendly combat.", said the first Elite.
"By the way I am Ura ‚Mudamai and this is my brother Khatan ‚Mudamai.", he introduced himself and his brother.
"No one here was talking about a duel.", said the Colonel in dismay.
Before he knew it, Ura and Khatan had guided him to the training ground on the circular concrete area next door, and Khatan was readying his two energy swords.
"Don't worry, you've fought with swords before right?", Ura reassured him.
"Well…well I did get in contact with the Elite in the war, but I almost died in the process! It wasn't until a Spartan from the team saved me.", Chris protested.
"Then you'll learn it here.", Ura said, lending…ahem ahem thrusting…him his two energy swords.
"Hey guys don't be stupid, I'm going to embarrass myself in front of you.", pleaded the Colonel.
"When I first got my hands on this, I was scared too. Once you learn the basics, the rest won't be hard. There's nothing to it.", Khatan, now his opponent, assured him.
Khatan activated his swords and Chris realized he wasn't going to back down.
Chris inspected his new weapons, lucky he was at least wearing a combat uniform with an exoskeleton and vest. Suddenly, Khatan attacked.
"Fuck!", Mayers was startled and quickly dodged the blades.
"The enemy never waits for you to be ready, quite the opposite.", Ura commented.
Chris activated those swords of his and mostly avoided the slashes, only blocking some. The attacks were too fast for him though, Chris crouched in front of the incoming blade, bringing his hands together so that he was holding his elbows as he straightened back, lunging forward and elbowing the Elite in the chest.
Because of Khatan's size, he couldn't hit him in the head.
Khatan was surprised by this attack and backed off. Chris attempted to strike, swinging his swords in hopes of hitting his opponent.
The Colonel was very clumsy with his swords and went for strength, Khatan either parried, deflected or dodged all the attacks.
After finding a hole in his defenses, he deflected the incoming blade away from his chest, coming very close to Mayers, who didn't have time to react to this lunge and broke off the attack when Khatan aimed his sword at his chest.
This round did not last five minutes.
"You're betting too much on luck, focus on specific points where you want to hit," Ura advised.
Khatan stepped back and readied himself again. Mayers just nodded and prepared himself as well.
Khatan launched the attack again, this time Mayers was ready and used one of his swords to block the attack, with the other sword he tried to slash at his chest.
His attack was blocked, so he withdrew his second sword and tried again with the first.
Khatan deflected Chris's sword away from his chest and kicked him in the stomach, then launched a new attack.
Mayers blocked Khatan's sword but wasn't fast enough to block the second strike. So Khatan aimed the sword at his chest again, making close contact, and Mayers could swear he could feel the very heat coming from the sword.
"That would be fine, but you're too slow and you swing your swords too much. Smaller swings, strike and retreat quickly, you're leaving holes in your defenses, try again.", Ura ordered.
Mayers was out of breath, but he readied himself again. This got the attention of the surrounding Sangheili and they went to see what was going on.
This time, Mayers was the first to attack. The Colonel made a classic lunge with his sword drawn forward. Khatan used one of his swords, blocked Mayers' sword, and stepped aside.
Mayers continued the attack with his second sword, tried a head slash, Khatan blocked his strike, Mayers withdrew his first sword and quickly attacked again, withdrawing his second sword as well.
Khatan ducked the blow and counter-attacked with a lunge to the chest.
Chris hastily put his sword in the way, but the blow was so strong that he had to back away, pushing Mayers' sword aside.
This newly created hole in the defense helped Khatan significantly.
He slashed his sword across his chest, which the Colonel blocked by crossing his swords, Khatan's other sword stopping just short of his neck.
"You don't look hopeless, but you're slow… and too predictable," Khatan concluded.
"Yeah, I can see that.", Chris confirmed.
"You need to improve your speed, but also your reflexes. Sometimes, when your opponent doesn't find a hole in your defense, he creates one himself. Like in this case.", explained Ura.
Khatan withdrew his sword and walked over to his side, getting ready again.
The rest of the Sangheili watched this duel with interest. The man seemed to be bad with swords, but what was evident was that he could adapt, albeit slowly.
There was much to improve, but now it was coming down to the third round.
"Ready?", Ura asked.
Khatan nodded, Mayers nodded as well.
"Alright…NOW!", Ura shouted and Khatan immediately attacked.
Mayers did something that left everyone shocked. The Colonel crouched all the way to the ground, his hands bracing himself, he extended one leg and wheeled into Khatan's legs for the first time, interrupting his movement and throwing him off balance, then he moved a little closer, withdrew his right leg and extended his left, now tripping Khatan's legs and Khatan fell backwards.
Chris got up quickly and took advantage of the situation. He swung his sword at Khatan, who blocked it with his sword, rolling to the side just as Mayers' second blade landed. Khatan quickly stood up and the Colonel continued to slash at his chest, he dodged that, meanwhile another slash came at his head. Khatan ducked and unexpectedly ran at the Colonel, knocking Chris down with a kick to the chest.
The Colonel was shocked for a moment, then quickly rolled away when he saw Khatan's knee fly at his face. He ducked just so. He quickly got up and took advantage, but by then his opponent was already attacking. The attacks were coming so fast that the Colonel found himself backing away. He blocked one blade, but the second slash from the side didn't keep up, so he made a risky move and blocked Khatan's arm with a roundhouse kick. Khatan's arm connected with Mayers' leg and he pulled it back. Chris had the advantage of having learned different fighting styles earlier.
Mayers quickly pulled his leg back and as he saw Elite trying to close in, he did a side kick and forced Khatan to retreat.
However, he couldn't find the opportune moment to attack. Khatan attacked again, swinging so hard that Mayers lost his blade and lost his balance as he blocked, then again came a second powerful slash that Mayers had to dodge, but he didn't see the kick coming, the hit left Mayers disoriented and he had to back off. Khatan got behind him, grabbing him by the neck, preventing him from escaping, the tip of his sword now just inches from his back.
"Very impressive."
Everyone, including Chris, turned in the direction of the voice, Rtas himself stood there, watching the group intentlyas Khatan slowly released the colonel and withdrew his sword.
"But it takes many years to learn and perfect sword fighting techniques. I've seen many mistakes and missed opportunities on your part, but your ability to adapt is admirable." He slowly walked forward.
"I have heard much of you…of your exploits, but one in particular has made a legend of you.", he said slowly.
Everyone was quiet for a moment.
"I have to say that my men are lucky to be here. It's a great honor for them, and it's also an honor for me to meet you.", finished Rtas.
"The pleasure is on my side.", replied the colonel.
One thing he had to admit to them is that they can respect others if you earn their respect.
"How was that Jiralhanae anyway? I heard mention of it and is the information really true-", one of the Elites wanted to ask but Spec Ops Sangheili nudged him on the shoulder, cutting him off and he just shook his head.
Chris suspected that it would come one day, he sat down, took off the helmet he was taking with him and looked into the visor.
"I'm sorry about my friend-"
"When we landed…", Chris began his narration, gaining everyone's attention.
"When we arrived in New Mombasa…there was chaos all around…"
Flashback – Earth, New Mombasa, 2552
The Pelican landed in an empty parking lot near the police station, Mayers' team exited the transport plane and looked around.
Soldiers and military personnel were running around and commanding officers were shouting orders. There were also other pelicans dropping off groups of soldiers, marines and special forces.
As Lieutenant Colonel Mayers' team passed by, everyone nodded in greeting, or even said hello.
They arrived at the command tent, where the commander was waiting for them.
"Sir, my team is reporting for duty!", Mayers straightened and saluted.
"Excellent, we have just received word that Covenant forces are pushing our defensive positions on the eleventh, it won't be long before they break through our lines, get behind the enemy and weaken their onslaught, we will redirect those who just arrived here.", said the commander .
Mayers accepted the task and set out with his team, still borrowing two Warthogs, one for the Marines and the other for the two Spartans, G-001 Jacob and G-002 Railey.
The team drove through the deserted streets in borrowed Warthogs, the distant sounds of automatic weapons fire, plasma weapons, explosions after explosions, fighter jets, and Banshees and Seraphs.
Down the street, one of the Covenant Banshees crashed into a building, having just been shot down by a human Saber. The explosion was massive and Mayers jerked the steering wheel to the right to avoid the explosion.
"Shit! Watch out!", shouted one of the marines.
"Fuck! Shit!", shouted another Marine.
"Damn! That was close!", another chimed in again and Mayers calmed them all down.
"Alright, we're in a hostile zone, so let's proceed with the utmost caution.", Mayers stated.
As soon as he finished his sentence, the stray plasma hit the side armor of the Warthog.
"AMBUSH! TAKE COVER!", yelled the lieutenant colonel.
And hell began, they stopped the Warthogs, the marines climbed out and quickly ran to any obstacle, the Spartans took cover behind the Warthog and one returned fire with his autocannon. The gunfire echoed perfectly down the street, the marines fired a round and immediately hid behind the walls of buildings, etc.
Chris picked up a grenade and threw it between the group of grunts and jackals, the grunts started screaming and running around in confusion before anyone could dodge, the grenade exploded taking the grunts and one jackal with it.
More jackals took a hit from the Spartan autocannons.
The Hunter was approaching them from the other side. The Spartans were occupied with a group of jackals and grunts, and the Marines were busy trying not to get hit.
"HUNTER ON THREE! LIEUTENANT COLONEL WATCH OUT!", one of the Marines yelled.
The lieutenant colone llooked to his right and indeed there was a hunter charging a cannon. Mayers quickly ducked the moment Hunter fired the plasma cannon.
The hot plasma hit the Warthog the Sergeant was covering behind and the explosion blew the vehicle four meters into the air. Hunter was then greeted by SPNKr missiles fired from three Marines and grenades from the overhead grenade launchers.
The first missile hit the Hunter and created a massive explosion, then the second and third along with the grenades, the Hunter retreated and Hunter stood still but alive.
"THIS IS ALPHA ROMEO 4, OUR GROUP HAS BEEN AMBUSHED! WE NEED AIR SUPPORT AT 25, SOUTHEAST 5 KILOMETERS FROM POLICE STATION, YOUR TARGET WILL BE MARKED WITH ORANGE SMOKE!", one of the Marines named Garry yelled into the radio.
A colleague next to him howled, fired a short burst into the jackal's head, and quickly ducked back. The plasma hit an obstacle or flew over his head.
"Alpha Romeo 4, this is Command Center, we hear you, support is en route, ETA 4 minutes. Over," came over the radio.
"4 MINUTES UNTIL THE FIGHTERS ARRIVE!" yelled Garry.
"FINE, TRY NOT TO GET DRAGGED, PREPARE TARGET MARKING.", Mayers yelled back and fired another grenade from around the corner of the building at Hunter. One of the Spartans began to reload his autocannon.
One of the Marines ceased fire, quickly ran across the street to the Spartan and began helping him reload.
The enemy began to mass and the fire became more intense.
"MARKING TARGET!", Garry yelled, grabbing two smoke grenades, arming one and throwing it at the first group, the other he threw into the street towards the hunter.
In the distance, one of the Marines spotted UNSC fighters heading towards their position.
"THEY'RE OVER THERE!", the Marine yelled, pointing.
"GET COVER!", the lieutenant colonel yelled.
At this point, machine gun and autocannon rounds peppered the street, then the missiles and bombs joined in. The Sabre fighters swarmed their targets with high precision. Soon the Banshees entered the area and an air battle ensued.
The Lieutenant Colonel peeked around the corner and called out: „Clear! Move! Move! Move!"
The whole group ran down the street with the two Spartans behind them.
They got around the corner and checked the street to make sure it was clear, then quickly and quietly ran to the other side and kept moving.
For a while it seemed to be quiet, until a marine named Jonas roared: "BRUTES! SHAKALS! GRUNTS! RIGHT!"
Everyone quickly ran for cover again, one of the Marines managing to fire a SPNKr at the group of Brutes.
They dodged and the Marines and Spartans opened fire again, this time it was worse as the Brutes had shields, which was a horror, but it was worse when the Brutes rushed forward some.
"FALL BACK!", Mayers yelled, the team moved back, Mayers was about to as well, but the explosion threw the Lieutenant Colonel back, so he had to go the other way and they had to separate as there was no choice.
Chris was running, this mission was so fucked up, that's all it could be. He still turned and fired a defiant shot at Brutus, who was chasing him. The bullets caught his shield, so he fired a grenade, which he dodged, hitting the wall of the building behind him.
Brute returned fire and fired the plasma cannon.
Mayers jumped to the side, the plasma hit the vehicle in front and the vehicle exploded. The shock wave knocked Mayers to the ground.
The Lieutenant Colonel quickly stood up and ran into the damaged building, where he lost Brutus and walked through the building.
He seemed to have lost this Brute. The lieutenant-colonel broke down the door, checked the corners, the passages, kept moving, aimed at the window as he reached the stairs, also aimed at the stairs, systematically checked every corner, every open space. He broke down another door, checked the corridor, when it was clear, he ran quickly down the corridor until he reached the door at the end. The door had a peephole, Mayers took advantage of it and looked through.
There was a group of grunts, that was still good. Mayers used the arm of his MA5C to knock the handle off, kicked the door, took the flashbang and sent it flying across the room.
The grunts panicked and started running all over the place as the flashbang exploded, blinding and deafening everyone. Chris burst in amongst the grunts and shot everyone there.
He was about to get out of the building on the other street, he had to hide from a group of Kig-yars. They spotted him and opened fire.
One of them even had a shield to hide behind.
The Lieutenant Colonel hastily peeked out, fired a short burst, and ducked again.
The fire was intense, he couldn't hit anything.
In this case, Mayers used a smoke grenade, pulled the safety and dropped it on the ground. Smoke began to billow from the grenade, and soon enough smoke was billowing out to engulf the entire space inside and part of the outside.
A group of Covenant troops ceased fire with confused expressions. No one saw anything.
They raised their weapons and slowly approached. Meanwhile, Mayers took his pistol from his belt and waited.
The first one got close to his position, Mayers saw part of his leg, that was enough for him.
He aimed his pistol and shot one in the leg, Kyg-yar started screaming in pain and cowered to the ground where he took a second shot to the head. Mayers stood up, aimed at another soldier and fired three shots, the fourth to the head. He hit another jackal next to him in the head with the butt of his rifle, grabbed his arm, disarmed him, stood on his feet,hung up and went to the ground.
The lieutenant-colonel, by his own weight, pulled the soldier to the ground, who violently struck his back on the ground, Mayers twisted his arm, and held the jackal with his foot below his neck.
With his other free hand, he fired two Kyg-Yars, five bullets each, and reloaded. The jackal writhed in pain under his grip, Mayers reloaded and shot him in the head.
He stood up and shot them all in the head again to make sure they were really dead.
Mayers emerged from the smoke with a bloody face and a gun in his hand. He tucked the pistol back in, switched to the MA5C and continued on, needing to at least get to the allied troops. Above him he saw a Pelican flying, soon shot down by enemy air defenses.
Instinctively, he ran after the Pelican, which fell until it landed in the middle of the street.
The lieutenant colonel searched for the fallen pelican. Once he found it, he checked the area and then ran to the pelican.
He opened the back ramp and ran inside to check on the survivors…unfortunately no one had survived.
Chris then focused on ammunition, picking up magazines, grenades, C-12 and SPNKr charges, and headed to where the enemy fire was coming from, tuning his radio at the same time so he could listen for allied communications.
"THAT ENEMY AIR DEFENSE IS DECIMINATING US, WE CAN'T SEND ANY FIGHTER THERE UNLESS THEY SHOOT IT TO THE GROUND!", a pilot yelled.
Mayers accelerated in his run, he could at least take out some AA turrets.
He didn't know how yet though, he would have to sneak in.
He walked through the back alleys until he managed to reach the enemy camp, all he needed now was a bomb or a missile. He pulled out his radio and requested a cruise missile. In the meantime, he got out his laser sight and searched for the perfect spot.
Once he found it, he marked one of the AA towers with the laser at the moment he spotted the missile.
The enemy noticed it too, because he tried to shoot it down. But too late, the missile hit the AA tower directly and it caught fire.
Mayers requested another shot, the covenant probably had to track the launch site by the trajectory of the missile.
Chris waited a few minutes until he spotted the second missile and lasered the second AA tower.
The missile hit its target and created a huge explosion. Mayers quickly stood up and thought about how to také out the third tower.
The camp was in chaos, everyone was running back and forth trying to figure out what was going on.
Chris found a Warthog in the street, and a crazy idea came to him.
The Brutes in the camp were arguing about what to do next, shouting orders and trying to calm the situation, which was impossible with the grunts. Suddenly an engine could be heard in the distance and the sound was getting closer. The two Brutes looked in the direction of the sound and immediately screamed as they saw a human vehicle bearing down on them. Lt. Col. Mayers accelerated to maximum speed and the plasma began to fly. Mayers grabbed the SPNKr and detonator, the MA5C on his back, and jumped out of the vehicle at close range, momentarily confusing the enemy.
Mayers watched the Warthog drive into the camp and activate the detonator.
The C-12 charges on the Warthog detonated and the Warthog exploded.
Everything was overwhelmed by the massive explosion from the warthog kamikaze, everyone near the explosion was killed by shrapnel or the explosion itself.
Chris took the SPNKr, quickly targeted the last AA turret from cover and fired both missiles. He dropped the SPNKr and moved away from the site.
Two missiles hit their target with high accuracy, crippling the AA turret, then fighters and bombers swarmed the entire camp like angry bees, hitting everything that moved.
Mayers ran down the street looking for another target to wreak havoc on. Chris turned into the next street, a Brute suddenly appeared in the distance with a scary looking hammer.
Brute Major noticed Chris and immediately went after him. The Brute was aware of who he was, which is why he wanted to také Mayers down so quickly.
Chris started to run away from Brute, but Brute Major was quick on him, swinging his hammer at him as soon as he was in range. The lieutenant colonel quickly moved aside, looking for a way to get rid of him.
He took the last smoke grenade and unlocked it. He released him into the street and disappeared in a puff of smoke. He fled to a house across the street and Brute Major began searching for him.
He didn't move from his place, searching it here.
"I can smell you, man…get out!" he declared, calling out into the street. Mayers watched him warily from the window. He was loaded, he looked around and found only a dead ODST soldier lying on the ground, along with some explosives, but weak ones. It wouldn't be enough for him to kill Brutus. He also found a grappler by pure chance, death was literally breathing down his neck.
"Show yourself…I know you're here.", Brute Major said loudly.
Chris had no options. He looked at the grappler and thought.
After a while he began to pray.
In a few seconds he picked up the explosives and the grappler and moved to the sixth floor. Brute Major was close to finding him and took action.
Mayers threw a grenade into the street to momentarily distract the Brute Major, which he succeeded in doing.
The grenade exploded and Brute looked behind the explosion, at which point Mayers jumped.
Firing his grappler, the grappling hook wrapped around the Brute's neck and began strangling him, Mayers landing on his back and punching him in the head with force, in the meantime placing one explosive on his back on the armor.
He jumped off his back and flipped onto his stomach and face-slammed him, the Brute was about to punch him but suddenly the charge on his back exploded and paralyzed him. However, the explosion was very weak and did not cause much damage, it was mainly the armor.
Mayers placed the charge on his stomach and swung back behind and climbed on top of them, narrowly missing Brutus' fist.
There he placed a charge on his head and beat him with his fists.
He set the timer and bounced off Brute Major's back, wanting to get away as quickly as possible, Brute wouldn't let him. He managed to grab the Lieutenant Colonel's leg and swung him in front of him.
Chris flew ahead of Brute down the street where he hit a car, bouncing sideways off of it and onto the ground where he impaled himself on pieces of metal.
He lay on his stomach, groaning in pain and struggling to get up.
The Brute Major staggered towards him with an angry expression. Mayers slowly stood up, limping, looking into Brute's eyes, his face bloodied, dusty, his mouth bloody, his helmet missing, it had fallen off on impact.
What my opponent didn't realize was that I had a bullet on my head.
The countdown reached zero and there was a weak explosion. Some of the explosion took out the already nearly depleted shields, but Brute immediately fell to the ground.
Mayers was so relieved, he just watched the body and stood his ground.
"Man! Over here!", voices and footsteps came from around the corner. It was the Elites, specifically the Ultra Elites and the Rangers along with the Field Doctor.
The group quickly headed towards Chris. The Lieutenant Colonel dropped his MA5C to the ground, exhaling slowly and starting to lose his balance, eventually his legs buckled and he fell to the ground.
"Doc!", one of the Elites called out as she managed to catch Mayers just before he hit the ground.
Chris was holding his stomach, his hand was covered in blood,his uniform was covered in blood and a metal shard was sticking out, the other went a little deeper but luckily didn't hit any major organs.
Mayers groaned and tried to process what was happening.The doctor got to the lieutenant colonel and looked at the wound.
"Watch out!", Elite Ultra shouted as Brute slowly began to get up.
Before he could recover, he had been impaled by the swords and was now one hundred percent dead.
"How bad is it?", Mayers asked.
"It doesn't look good, the wound is quite deep.", replied the medic.
"Then operate on it.", said Mayers.
"Are you sure man?", asked Chris uncertainly.
"Either we do it now and I don't lose three asses worth of blood or we wait a few minutes for a human doctor to arrive and risk worsening my already bad condition.", the Lieutenant Colonel replied firmly.
"Okay, whatever you think…", he said to himself as he prepared the necessary tools, which didn't exactly look peaceful.
After all, he was a Shangheili doctor, he was supposed to be treating Shangheili warriors, not humans, so completely different methods and also probably very painful, at least for a normal person.
"Hold him.", the doctor ordered.
Three Elites took this request, two holding his arms and chest, the third holding his legs.
"Get the vest off him, I need space.", the doctor requested.
"Cut it off, it sucks anyway.", Mayers added.
Now his vest was removed and the doctor pulled back his uniform to get a better view of the wound. He had to improvise here, as this was the first time he had operated on a man like this.
"As a doctor, I must warn you that this is the first time I have treated a person in this way and the process will be very painful-„
"Fuck it, there's no time to put me to sleep," the Lieutenant Colonel said.
One of the Elites to his right twitched her fangs. He was quite intrigued by his behavior in such a serious situation.
"I must say, you are a very stubborn man.", the Elite to his left, who was holding him, replied.
"Thank you for the compliment.", Mayers replied.
"Okay, here we go.", the doctor replied.
"Let's get this over with.", Chris breathed.
The elites around just watched, intrigued by Mayers' courage, it seemed he wasn't afraid at all.
The doctor began the operation, the Lieutenant Colonel clenched his hands, gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, grunted, then screamed.
Chris tried to hold back the scream with force, in spite of the great pain. He had to admit that the doctor had indeed warned him.
"The first fragment is out, the second has gone deeper, I need to get to it, hold on.", the doctor announced after about fifteen minutes.
The first fragment would go in easily, but it had to be pulled out carefully, that's why it took so long, the second fragment was worse and by a lot.
The second fragment took much longer to pull out and was also much more painful, but Mayers held on well. It wasn't hard to hold the Lieutenant Colonel, but the Lieutenant Colonel himself was keeping his cool.
"The second fragment is out. I'll start closing the wound.", the medic announced to Sangheili.
"You're doing fine, hold on a little longer.", one of the Elites reassured him.
Chris just nodded and went again.
The worst part here was that they were operating without anesthesia. But after a total of about an hour, the doctor finished treating the wound, covered it with something and bandaged it.
Chris was relieved, the Elites loosened their grip and let the Lieutenant Colonel rest for a moment.
"Let's take him to the human camp, the enemy may show up soon.", one of the Sangheili suggested.
"I agree.", approved the rest.
"Come on, be careful.", said Mayers, with one of the Elites supporting him.
End of the flashback
"And so they took me to the ground troops camp, on the way they asked me about what happened and that's how it spread.", Mayers finished with the story.
It was quiet, so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
"So it wasn't entirely true.", Ura said slowly.
"Yeah, I just knocked him out, he was getting back up in no time until they got to him. People have a tendency to misrepresent information. I could have died, I was lucky,", he explained.
"You had nothing to lose, that's why you decided to do such an act?", Rtas asked.
"Yes, there was nowhere to run, I didn't have enough firepower, I wouldn't get far, this was the only possible solution, even a suicidal one…but you have to také risks here and there. I got promoted to colonel because of it too.", replied Chris.
Chris stood up and walked slowly back and forth, talking at the same time: „I've always been a suicide type, that explains the kamikaze raid. I usually get in trouble that way too, and then the team has to bail me out. In the meantime, I do evil wherever I can."
"Kamikaze?", another Elite asked in confusion.
"Suicide raid, a tactic used by the Japanese in WWII, they took the plane, put charges on the wings, also removed much of the armament for extra speed, and all they had to do was guide the plane to the target. Very lethal, gave the Americans problems for a while, but it didn't change the course of the war. Then came Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered, the Normandy landings, the defeat of the Nazis and the end of the war," he explained.
Some nodded understandingly. But some wondered what he said next.
"Information about WWI and WWII should be freely available to you, I don't know how they have it now.", he added, noticing the confused expressions.
Chris was interrupted by a radio, he was contacted by one of his Marines named Jeremy.
"Colonel, where the hell are you?" came over the radio.
"I'm here with the Elites…what's all the commotion?", he asked as he heard a noise in the background.
"You have to see this, it's all over the news now.", he replied.
Chris decided to také advantage of the artificial intelligence here on the base.
"Maryland?", he asked.
An avatar of Maryland appeared on his bracelet, but only her head without her body.
"Can I help you Colonel?", she asked.
"Let me see the news.", he said.
Her avatar had been replaced by a news broadcast. What they were talking about left everyone speechless.
So, this chapter was kind of just a digression, I made it so that it was partially skippable, that's for those who will come across it later and there will be more chapters. It's also kind of an experiment, in chapter four we'll pick up from chapter two. We'll be looking at the NBE-1 object, aka the Mass Relay. As for the flashback part…I don't know what came over me, ideas are swarming in my head like ants in an anthill.
How did I get to such madness…well, I was sitting, thinking while writing, and then I remembered that one part from The Flash when Batman knocked out the Kryptonian. So I figured I just had to try this…and that's how it came to be…what came to be lol. I basically stole some of the Spartans glory, ODST. Yep…it's crazy, so let me know what you think of this shit xD. Next chapter will be a bit political too…politics, heh, but don't worry, I'll try to make it more entertaining for you guys.
And finally…finally we get to that other backwater…yayyy.
For those who rothodli through and read the whole thing…mad respect lmao.
But I'm gonna get on to chapter 4, see ya later!