Chapter 2

Drake lifted his comms device to his mouth. "Jagger, report."

He heard the reply from the man on the other end of the mic, his germanic accent still prevalent even through the crackling static. "This is Jagger, I'm all clear, haven't seen any bug activity in my sector."

Probably because they're all in mine, he thought, a frown covering his face.

"Thanks, keep it up corporal, over and out."

He clicked off the communicator in his ear, and looked over to his right. Khovostov was beside him.

"How many have you gotten so far?" he asked.

"Three at least."

"This isn't right, they've been active like this for almost three days straight now, but even then, it's never been this bad," Drake said, looking around the small ravine they'd been scouting.

Khovostov replied. "I'll say, it's downright strange."

"It's not natural," Drake said, "Even dumb animals should learn not to stick their nose where it doesn't belong after it's been bitten hard enough."

His friend didn't respond, only sweeping his vision over the rocks instead. "Didn't there used to be a proximity sensor here?" he asked,gesturing to the hilltop they were one, the question leaking concern.

"Drake, I need you up top." That was Vickenson. He groaned slightly as he flicked his communicator back on.

Damn, what does that jackass want now?

"Alright, I'm on my way," he said. Then he turned to his patrol partener. "Khovostov, here's the sniper rifle, I'll be back before the patrol's end. Probably."

That's assuming this prick is quick in his torture.

He gave the former marine his sniper rifle, before heading back to base camp. Typically, patrols were to be conducted in pairs. The only one who didn't was Jagger, and that was because he patrolled the territory closest to the base.

Khovostov is more than capable of handling a few bugs, Drake thought, disregarding the rule.

He moved through the gullies and rock faces. The bright side of not having his rifle was that it was far easier and quicker to scale the small valley he had previously gone into. The land was arid, and dust blew in the high winds. Drake hated that wind. It made what could be an easy shot, into an unreasonably troublesome one.

That's not to mention what the wind does to my face with all this dust, he thought.

Nevertheless, the former sergeant scaled the ledge that formed the edge of the ravine. He felt the sand sting his face as he pulled himself up. It wasn't like the environment bothered him though. After surviving Reach, nothing seemed to compare much. Even so, it was still nice once he moved behind a small rock face.

Drake looked up, being able to see the spire. I've still got a klick or two to go, he thought.

It was nothing the man couldn't handle as he picked up a jog, running through the crags. He had to go slower than usual to avoid rolling an ankle on a loose stone, but he was still almost to the spire in just a few minutes. It was on this last stretch that Drake slowed down.

He wasn't too winded from the effort, but he figured that he was ahead of schedule, so he took his time to guess what it was that Vickenson wanted.

One of those damned birds probably got lost down in the tunnels. Now he probably needs me to dig it out. He disregarded that thought though. There were plenty of other contractors to do that. Come on think, what would he need? Maybe, for some reason known to only God himself, Vickenson wants to go over patrol routes again.

That had to be it, it was all that he seemed to want to talk to Drake about at this point. As if he knew better than a trained marine in how to conduct a military operation. Afterall, was that not what this should be treated as? A military operation?

Drake snapped his head up when he heard something on his left. He could have sworn he heard the rocks move as he turned his head to look.

Stop getting so paranoid, you're almost there, probably just the wi-

He was pounced on before he could comprehend his current thought, startled by the force of something hurtling into him. The eight legged insect appeared from almost nowhere, it's form blending into the rocks. It wasn't that large, being only about the size of a large dog, but at the speed it had launched itself, it took it's victim to the ground through shear force alone.

Drake fell back onto the ground, bracing his forearm against what was the insect's upper torso, saving his face from it's jaws. He drew his sidearm an instant later, his face emotionless as he pressed the weapon to the insect's torso. He pulled the trigger on the M6D once, twice, then three times, each time sending his attacker into writhing agony, it's guts spilling out under it, and coating the marine in a tidal wave of gore. Drake moved the muzzle of the small hand cannon to the animal's head. He fired, sending the insect into the peaceful embrace of death, though what it left behind was disgusting.

He hoisted the bug off himself, before standing up. The gore that coated him was an all too familiar red-green sludge that covered him from the waist down. It reminded him far too much of a past mission.

These bugs are nothing compared to those monsters, he thought, remembering the salivating horrors that killed so many all those years ago. Drake immediately suppressed the memories of that installation. There was no need to bring back dead ghosts.

He instead turned to the more immediate problem. Why are these things this close to camp?

He didn't like the implications of multiple insect encounters like this one bit. It meant that it could be very possible that the bugs had found a way to bypass their patrols. Nevertheless, he had a job to do, and that included getting back to Vickenson for whatever charades he wanted to play next.

Vickenson, if you pay us even a single credit less than you promised us when this job's over, I swear, I'll rip you a new one, he thought. And that's assuming I'm in a good mood.

Eric was standing across from Vickenson when Drake walked in, covered in blood.

It looks like he got up close and personal with one of the bugs.

"Sir, we have a problem," Drake said, a scowl on his face.

"We absolutely do." That was Vickenson. "We still have a bunch of damned morons on the long range transmission. Eric?"

The ODST took over at that, pointing to a datapad in his hand. "These are all the transmissions in the past month."

Drake took the device from his hand, scanning over it. "Your kidding, five? What are we supposed to have? One?"

Eric took the data pad back. "If I were kidding, y'all would be laughing, this is real.

Drake didn't seem happy, but to Eric at least, he certainly seemed rather composed about it. Then it dawned on him. He said we have a problem, but he didn't know about this one.

"What is it?" he asked.

Drake looked up, then to Vickenson. "Sir we have a security breach. These bugs are out of control."

At least it's nothing we're not aware of.

"We know," Vickenson said, "it's the other reason we have you here"

"Sir, if this is about security, might I be so kind as to ask where Jackson is," Drake said, mildly irritated.

"Jackson's indisposed at the moment sergeant," Vickenson said. "That's why you're here."

"Kel thinks they're coming from some underground tunnel close to the comms array," Eric commented.

"Kel?" asked Drake.

Damn, forgot, this guy doesn't pay attention to the birds. "My patrol partner," Eric said.

"And?" Drake was looking at Eric with a cold skepticism.

"And she's already gone to check it out."

Kel looked at the dog sized insect that had almost killed the man earlier. She still didn't know who it was that was stupid enough to get on the comms unsecured like that, but she swore that when she did find out, she'd rip them a new one.

At least the bug is dead, she thought.

Still, the implications were bad at best, and cataclysmic at worst. If the bugs had found a way through, then there would be a swarm coming in force if any messengers got back that there was a good food source here.

I need to figure out where they came from.

Kel circled to where she had first spotted the monster up on the spire. She knelt down into the dirt, just past the metal of the communications platform. There were tracks, and though they had already started to fade away from the harsh wind, she followed them nonetheless.

This entire place hates us, she thought. It wasn't just the wildlife, it was the planet too. Outside of the safety of the caves, there was nothing but a howling whirlwind.

She continued to follow the tracks, and they continued to lead further away from the compound, and closer to the outer perimeter beacons. Sand was constantly being blown away by the wind, and she had to pick up a jog just to keep on track before the wind blew her trail away. Eventually, the quickly fading trail disappeared into a cave, the granite ground completely stopping any footprints from being made.

It definitely came from here though.

Kel unlocked the needle rifle she was carrying on her back and shouldered it, flipping the light on under the barrel. She walked forward, sweeping the light across the abyssal cave.

She felt her hands trembling as she continued to move forward. She felt her heart start pounding in her chest. She was out of her element. She was a marksman, not a close quarters specialist, and every fiber of her being wanted out. It was too similar to past experiences. She rounded a corner, seeing more of the cave floor and walls, though each one was becoming more distorted. The walls looked of concrete now.

What?

Kel heard a scream, then another, each one getting louder. She slammed her eyes shut, pausing in her walk.

Deep breaths, you have a job to do.

She forced herself forward, ignoring the screams of fear and agony plowing into the back of her mind. She saw a firelight around the next bend, and she followed it. Kel felt the sweltering heat, and she felt the infernal ceiling above her. everything was burning.

No no no, no.

She heard a noise among the rubble, and a figure stepped out of the remaining shadows. He was clad in ODST armor, while his hands held onto two long knives. His face was hidden behind the helmet, but she could swear he was screaming at her. It was distorted, but it was definitely in rage, or hunger. The two stood there, motionless for a split second.

Where am I? Why are you still alive?

The man only seemed to answer her through a muffled scream.

Kel swung her rifle to shoot, but the previously motionless ODST sprung to action in an instant, moving faster than she thought possible. He brought his blades down, and she screamed, blocking the weapons with her rifle in the process. The man was strong, but she managed to keep him at bay as she braced her knee against the rifle as she brought her now freed hand down to her boot. Kel gripped the knife there instinctively as she brought the blade out of it's sheath.

On instinct, she went for the neck first, stabbing into the man's jugular, spilling a green bile all over her. Then she switched down to the abdomen, stabbing repeatedly into the ODST's gut.

The man was definitely screaming now as he tried to scramble away, but she dropped her rifle and wrapped her legs around the man's torso as she continued to stab. Kel felt hot slashes of pain on her right leg as she finally began to win the fight.

With a final stab to the jugular, the man dropped dead. Slowly, the background noise began to dissipate, and the sweltering heat faded. Kel sat back against the cave wall, breathing ragged.

I'm not there, I haven't been there for years. I'm not there… She shoved the memories back down, letting her hands ground her to the floor of the cave. Slowly, she opened her eyes again. The massive insect lay dead on the ground, it's final death-throws still finishing up as muscles fired without command.

She looked down to her hands. They were covered in a green, blood-like bile. She felt her heart rate falling again, while her vision cleared.

I'm still in the cave, she thought. Then she spoke it, her head staying still while her eyes darted around in a frenzy. "I'm still in the cave."

Kel looked down to her leg. It was bleeding, but it didn't look serious, as the seals on her body suit were already clamping down on the affected area. She stood, shakily at first, but then more steadily.

I still have a job to do.

Kel pushed forward, towards the light of the cave, the real light this time. She had grabbed the gun off the ground, though it wasn't shouldered this time, instead hanging limp in her hands.

The last time she had a flashback that bad had been almost a decade ago. The last time it had been in a city on Venezia. She had just gotten there, and it was her first taste of civilization since she deserted all those years ago. Unfortunately, Venezia had been crime-ridden at the time, the integration of different species not having been as smooth as planned. Kel was sure it was the gunshots that triggered it. She had been caught in the crossfire of the firefight, unluckily for all parties involved.

Kel exited the cave, her breathing finally returning to some semblance of normalcy again. She was almost on top of the perimeter now.

The beacon should be around here somewhere.

She looked, trying to hone in on its signal, but for the life of her she couldn't find it.

"Eric come in." she said, making sure her voice was even. Then she clicked on the comm. "Eric come in."

"Yeah what is it?" he asked.

"We're missing a perimeter beacon. That's how the bugs got in.

"Shit, you're sure?"

"Well the beacon's not here."

This is not good, she thought. The Beacons produced a sonic quake audible only in high frequencies; it was literal hell for the bugs. It was what kept those things away from the generators for the most part. Of course some would always make it through, but that was why the patrols existed.

Eric's voice crackled over the comms in annoyance "That's just great. Fine, I'll let Vickenson know he needs to send out a replacement team." After a brief moment he added, "You good out there?"

Could be better, she thought.

"I'm good."

Eric closed the comm link. Kel didn't sound good. Her voice was too edgy, too sharp.

"Hey Vickenson? Did you get all that?"

Vickenson nodded. "Yes, I'll get someone out there to put another beacon back up."

Eric returned his words with a blank stare as Vickenson moved to call a maintenance team. "Hey. you, mind if I tag along?"

His boss raised an eyebrow, "sure, I don't see why though."

"I just, have a feeling," he said with a small shrug.

That was a lie; he didn't have any feeling at all, but he needed to get out of this room.

Kel didn't seem alright either. No reason not to check on her.

She had seemed far too rigid. She always talked proper, though it was often sprinkled with improper language, but this was something different.

Fine, he admitted to himself. He didn't just need to get out of this room, he needed to talk to her. Why do I care so much?

To that question, Eric had no answer.

With Vickenson's approval, he walked out of the command center, intent on meeting the others that would be putting up the beacon. It wasn't a monumental task, but some of the equipment was heavy, and vehicles had no way to move about in this terrain.

There were three of them. The engineers were standing just outside with the equipment in hand. Two of them were human, the other Kig-Yar. He wasn't the same subspecies as Kel, his Ruuhtian features coming in heavily.

What were these that Kel talked about? Roothian? Rutan? Hell, I don't know.

At least their actual names were easy to pronounce.

The other two Eric knew, though not well. Daniel and Kala were planet surveyors, though they had other experience that kept them here now.

What did they do again? Eric thought, trying to wrack his brain. Right, they were also starship engineers.

"Hey, y'all ready?" He asked the three.

"We're waiting on you, old man," Kala said, a snark present in her voice.

Eric almost let his face make a reaction, though he kept his calm. "Careful who ya insult, this old man's the one protecting your ass."

A smile tugged at her lips at that. "Daniel, Tuk, at least we got the fun one."

Eric let a lazy salute fly to his eyebrow. "Sergeant Grayson report'n for duty ma'am.

The Kig-Yar Tuk grunted, "Come on, let's get this over with."

Daniel spoke up as they began their trek to their destination. "Sorry, we can't dally around too long, a certain bird doesn't like the wind."

A grunt came from Tuk, though nothing more.

Eric shrugged. "Fine by me, I just wanted to stretch my legs, anyway."

And pry the truth out of Kel.

The four engaged in light conversation, but Eric stayed out of it for the most part. The thing they were talking about was way above his paygrade. Each time he began to think that he understood, they brought in some new technical term about the sonic transmitters. It wasn't that he was stupid, no he was just…

What's that thing Kel kept saying. We're specific. He smiled at the twisted version of the phrase. For however wrong the words were to describe them, it made a certain kind of sense. Eric wasn't a mechanic, he wasn't a scholar. He wasn't good at anything other than being a soldier. He was a killer, no more, no less.

A murderer.

He shook his head. No, of all the things he'd killed, the actual humans that he'd eliminated concerned him the least. At least the covenant were just soldiers following orders like him, but those men?

"Hey Eric, catch up."

The ODST moved to catch back up to his charges.

What the hell is wrong with me today, he wondered.

He clicked on his commlink. "Hey Kel, howya doin?"

His blood froze when he heard several shots. "Is that beacon coming or not?"

Eric grimaced at the sound of her voice; this wasn't good. "We're on our way, what's wrong?"

The response was immediate. "More and more bugs are coming, I've killed eight already. If we don't get that beacon up soon, the entire swarm's going to come through here."

"Copy that, over and out." Eric switched the comms off, then signaled to the group before they could even question what had transpired. "Hey, double time, let's go."

Nobody argued, the tone of his voice said it all.

The group jogged through the rocky crags for what seemed far too long for Eric. The swarm had done this only one other time, and while it had been stopped in much the same way as they were about to now, it wasn't before three men had been ripped to pieces.

The only other time he had ever seen carnage that bad was when they found a group of executed prisoners. The brutes that had captured them had ripped them limb from limb and feasted on their bones. His pulse quickened at the very thought of having to find Kel like that.

Eventually, all four heard the sound of a needle rifle going off, though the rate of fire seemed quicker. Instead of the periodical shots that Kel had fired in their earlier conversation, each round went off within only a few seconds of each other.

The horde's coming.

As they rounded the corner, he saw the devastation. Already, almost two dozen bugs lay strewn across the valley below, and more continued to climb up the hill.

"Eric! Help me with this!" Kel only took her eyes off the sights of her weapon enough to speak before plunging right back down them and firing another shot, sending yet another foul insect to death's cold embrace.

Eric cursed his lack of preparation. All he had with him at the moment was his M6D. The pistol was powerful, but it certainly didn't beat a marksman's rifle. Nevertheless, as the engineers moved to set up the beacon, he moved to engage the enemy.

Just as the bug reached the top of the hill, he fired, blowing it's head off in a stream of gore. The next one was just as unlucky as he fired two clean shots through it's torso, leaving it's abdomen a disgusting mess of innards.

"Eric, the horde's close!"

He fired another shot before responding. "I'm guessing we have maybe five minutes."

Kel grimaced, "less."

With the numbers of the whole swarm, the individual creatures' sense of self preservation seemed to diminish as they hurled themselves up the rocky hill, turning loose stone in the process. That gave Eric an idea.

"Kel, toss me a grenade!"

She turned to him. "What?"

"Just trust me!"

Without another word, she unhooked a fragmentation grenade from her combat harness and tossed it to him. He caught it in his left hand as he holstered his pistol and slid partly down the hill.

"Cover me!"

He saw an insect in his peripheral vision explode as several pink needles stuck themselves into their victim. He continued forward, pushing rocks out of the way of a particularly large boulder. The rock was rounded, and though he didn't think it would do much, the miniature rockslide it was supporting would.

He pulled the pin on the grenade and let the spoon fly off as he stuck it into a small crevice underneath the boulder. Another shot flew over his head as he fled the scene with all due haste, the crystal nailing another member of the countless horde beginning to encroach on them.

One, two, three…

On the fourth second, he blasted back to the top of the hill, and on the fifth, dove to the ground. A resounding boom summoned from down below as the grenade detonated, sending a shower of rock from the boulder. Then, it began to roll. Finally, all the smaller ones left with it.

Eric had watched a vid once about elephants and how they stampeded. For whatever reason, this was ten times more terrifying. The rocks poured down the hillside in a flood of soulless stone. The rockslide fell upon the hapless insects like a brutal tide, sweeping them away in an ocean of rock, blood, and shattered chitin.

As the dust cleared, Eric looked out. Nothing moving arachnids lay pulverized by the small rockslide; he thought he could see bits and pieces sticking out from under some of the rubble, but nothing moved, save for the slight twitch of post mortem muscle spasms.

He was about to let out a cheer of victory when an unearthly clicking sound came from down in the valley. From the innumerable crevices and cracks in the planet's rock, the true swarm came. At least a hundred of the insects crawled forth, each one a writhing mass of hardened chitin and needle sharp claws.

"Guys, how's that beacon coming?" Eric shouted in a mild panic.

On the brightside It'll be quick, he thought silently.

"Almost there, can you hold them off?" Kala cried back.

Kel shot in at that moment. "Holding time is over. You either fix it or we die."

"Kel, get closer to the beacon!" Eric gestured left, as he beckoned her to follow. In but three steps of lightning speed, she was there, beating Eric even from his closer position.

He would have been impressed if it hadn't been for him sighting the first of the bugs reaching the crest of the hill.

He fired, letting the overpowered hand cannon do it's work and blow a hole through the creature as it flopped lifeless. He fired again. As they rose over the hill he didn't even bother to aim, there was no need. Eric looked left to see Kel doing the same. She had gone from firing precise, single shots and instead turned into a killing frenzy, firing in quick succession, and using the blamite crystals to their full potential, triggering detonations as she filled each insect with no less than three rounds each.

Crystals exploded, taking out the insects around their intended victims, but even then it wasn't enough, and soon, Eric felt his gun run dry. Even as he moved to reload he knew it would be no use. The horrifying arachnids would be upon them by then.

Of all the ways to go, he thought bitterly.

Then, just as the bugs reached them, they immediately backed away, their heads writhing around in disgust and frustration at the group.

"Yes! We got it!" Eric heard Kala shout from behind.

Eric couldn't hear it, but he knew by the insects' reactions that the beacon was transmitting it's soundwaves.

He jumped up and down as he shouted out with delight. "In your face assholes!"

The relief he felt as they pulled back prompted him to further action as he reloaded his pistol and fired another volley to send the quickly retreating horde on it's way.

Eric looked back to Kel; she was grinning wide at the sight of the fleeing bugs, though he noticed her bedraggled appearance. Something had definitely jumped at her.

Calming down his previous jubilation he moved to fix some of the feathers that were ruffled at the back of her head. To his surprise, she did flinch, but didn't pull away, letting him readjust the mangle mess.

"There, all better," he said looking at her as he finished.

The T'vaoan let a sharp trill out of her throat as she turned away from the now empty battlefield and instead turned to look at her partner. "Quite uneventful indeed."

Kel walked through the dimly lit tunnels as darkness fell back onto planet 4512C. She hadn't watched the sunset tonight. She walked into the makeshift barracks, dragging her taloned feet in a trudge. Her body felt fine, but her mind felt like an overripe melon ready to split open. She crashed down on her cot with a sigh, dropping the needle rifle unceremoniously to the floor. She was lucky, most didn't even get this sad excuse for a bed, instead having to sleep on the floor in sleeping bags or blankets. She shared a room with three others of similar accommodations, but this was their work shift, so at the very least she didn't have to worry about them for a while.

She wanted desperately to sleep, but she still had a final thing to worry about. The T'vaoan looked down at her right leg. It had stopped bleeding hours ago, but a dark indigo stain still covered the interior of her jumpsuit.

She bent down underneath the pitifully thin cot and fished out the first aid kit she kept there. It was designed for humans but she had no problem making it work for her. Everything felt hazy as she tried to feel for the instruments that she needed. That was when she realized the lights were off. Kel chirruped in annoyance at her brain as she tried to physically will herself to drag her form back across the barracks floor. She flipped the switch to the dim barracks lights as she collapsed back on the cot.

What's wrong with me?" she wondered.

She had been in live combat plenty of times before, and while it always drained her, usually it didn't sap her of her wits quite like this. From experience, Kel knew that meant something else was clawing at the back of her mind.

Damned paranoia.

What's worse, she figured she knew exactly what that other thing bothering her was.

Beacons don't just disappear on their own, she thought as she stripped, trying to get a good feel on how bad the damage was. The gash was on top of her thigh, crisscrossing over just below her hip. Everything around the wound was coated in the indigo color of her blood and she made a mental note to clean that away first.

She slid the damaged jumpsuit under the cot with the rest of her meager belongings. She'd deal with that later; but for right now… She brushed a claw over the wound. luckily it had either missed or been unable to cut any of her Iron-hard tendons, leaving most of the damage as superficial.

Who would remove a beacon though? She continued to think as she worked. Is there a traitor? Kel shuddered at that thought, her feathers twitching irritably. She wouldn't even know where to begin to find someone like that.

There has to be another explanation. She went back and forth on the possibilities as she finished cleaning the dried blood around the wound and removed the disinfectant from the medkit.

No one would be that stupid to actually remove a beacon, would they? It wasn't just that though. There was no motive. No one could possibly think they would get paid after the entire digsite was overrun. If the group even made out with any of the forerunner tech they were here to collect, why would anyone want to take the chance to lose a payday like that?

There is a different reason. Maybe the wind blew it away? Kel knew that solution was ridiculous, but she was too tired to contemplate the issue further.

She finished sealing the wound before turning the medkit and its contents back into their place under the cot. She drug herself back to the lightswitch, flipped it off, then crashed into the cot, curling her naked form up into a ball.

She closed her eyes as she thought. Later, I'll think about it later.