Halo: Feet First

by MikeDice

Halo: Feet First covers the story of a team of UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Troopers of the 7th Battalion, 105th Shock Troops Division. The main character, Duncan Iris, faces the full horror of the covenant war effort against humanity as well as the brave retaliation of outnumbered and outgunned UNSC forces. However, he also witnesses the turning of the tides as the war progresses.

14. Epsilon Eridani IV - Chapter 3 (Relicta)

Chapter 3 - Relicta

March 6th, 2544 (22:05 Hours – Military Calendar)

Epsilon Eridani System, Epsilon Eridani IV

Meleonich Mining Facility

:********:

The Meleonich was a massive sprawl of variously sized structures with different purposes. Duncan was finding that out the more they pushed through its expansive grounds.

The facility was built on an artificial island at least 200 meters above sea level. The landlocked island was separated by four walls that partitioned it in the shape of an X in congruence with the four bridges. The bulk of the fighting was currently taking place within those four inlets. There were multi-story barracks where the occupants who had been sleeping only minutes earlier were struggling to dawn armor and load rifles as their comrades fired from open windows at the approaching enemy. The platoon of Marines escorting an armored column in the streets would stop to suppress them with overwhelming suppression fire. They would hold them long enough for one of the M808 Battle Tanks to aim at the buildings. The near-deafening coughs of the Scorpions' high velocity cannons could be heard across the facility as they belched armor piercing rounds into their targets, blowing through entire structures and making short work of the insurgents inside.

Squads of armed resistance took up defensive positions behind hastily setup machine gun nests at the corners of warehouses. Whenever they managed to pin down a squad of advancing Marines, they were swiftly pointed out to one of the four Pelicans circling the facility on overwatch. A quick strafing run by the dropships would tear the machine gun crews apart.

RPG teams stormed out onto rooftops and took aim at the patrolling Pelicans, locking on and firing. But the pilots would detect the incoming missiles well in advance, using their turrets to take them out or deploying chaff to throw them off. The RPG teams quickly fall quiet once armor piercing rounds slammed into them and turret-fire from above cut them down.

Marines kicked in doors and shot their way through hallways filled with armed occupants, restraining and arresting those they could.

Operation BAGMAN had accomplished its goal of catching the Insurrectionists off guard. They were kicking their teeth in at every turn and cutting them down in every firefight.

The final objective was already in sight, the Meleonich's Main Executive Building. It was a ten-story tall cylindrical structure based at the facility's center. If Major Benjamin Kirkley, the Insurrectionist HVI was actually here, the Executive Building presented their best chances of finding him.

There was only one major concern: the three aircraft hangars near the southern inlet. That was 1st Platoon's target. Following a direct order from Colonel Ackerson, the ODSTs were making their way up a street towards the three buildings. If the enemy had any offensive aerial assets then they had to be neutralized before they could be put into play.

At least two squads of the Meleonich' residents were trying to mount a tactical retreat towards the hangers, firing at the troopers while falling back building by building. Squads Eagle, Echo and Epsilon were making quick work of them as they gave chase. But there was something that bothered Duncan, and though they hadn't said anything, he figured the others were probably worried about it as well.

Ten minutes had passed since the UNSC forces broke out from the bridges into the rest of the facility. Yet throughout the fighting they had found bodies of dead Insurrectionists who looked like they were on patrol when they were suddenly taken out. They found five dead guards already. That wasn't the strange part, however.

The strangeness surrounded the fact that they found the bodies where no UNSC personnel had been yet. They were already ahead of the Marines and Tanks pushing up through their side of the facility. In addition, they found two of the guards had died from extreme blunt-force trauma that, upon closer investigation, could only have logically come from being hit by a truck. But there were no signs of vehicle debris anywhere. That wasn't to mention that they discovered all the bodies in alleyways, as if purposefully hidden from sight.

Then there were the boot prints. The troopers found them every so often in the earthy ground. They were bigger than their own boots by a whole order of magnitude. Whoever had made them had to be considerably heavy since there were prints made in the cracked tarmac of the roads they came across, most of which were far apart like what a person would see if they ran on a sandy beach. That suggested a degree of speed and weight that was unprecedented and, as even Deaks admitted, somewhat unnerving. Moreover, their direction indicated they were heading towards the Executive Building.

"Focus on the mission people." Captain Harper said when they found a sixth body whose disjointed and crumpled state made it look like an elephant was the prime suspect. "We secure the hangers first and ask questions later."

"H-hey, 1-Actual?" Zack stammered over comms. "Ugh, how much later because I'm starting to get a little worried here? I mean, who-, who offed these guys, cause the Marines are still back there and it wasn't us."

Duncan's thoughts flickered to the four extra Stealth Pods that came in seconds after they shutdown the Jammers. He felt he both knew the answer and didn't know simultaneously. The entirety of Bravo Company landed at the same time. So, who were the four late arrivals?

"Like I said." Harper replied. "Questions can come later."

1st Platoon carried on, chasing after the NAV marker that the Captain set on their HUDs. The unit turned a corner and found what they were looking for. It was the three hangers, and their doors were already rolling open.

The first Pelican that emerged from the closest hanger caught the troopers by surprise and made them stop in their tracks. Then a second dropship came out from the second hanger. Now they knew for sure that the Insurrectionists hadn't only gotten their hands on UNSC equipment, but their vehicles as well. To make matters worse the last hanger produced a dropship armed on both its port and starboard sides with attached missile pods. While the first two dropships turned and started away from the facility, the last rotated to face the incoming troopers.

"Gunship!" Rico shouted.

"Cover!" Harper ordered. The ODSTs sidestepped into nearby alleyways or threw themselves through glass windows, landing inside of empty barracks. The Pelican Gunship fired several Anvil II-ASM missiles that thumped from the pods and spiraled towards them. The explosions blew deep craters in the ground and tore out chunks from the surrounding structures but left everyone virtually unhurt.

Seeing no targets, the Gunship pushed up the street, heading down the way they had come towards the main fight.

"We can't let them reach the main forces!" Harper said. "Echo-1!"

"On it!" The Sergeant replied, bursting out from an alleyway with Echo-5, both of them armed with SPANKRs.

"I want the rest of Echo to secure the first hanger! Epsilon, you've got the second! Eagle, we're taking the third! Let's go!"

The ODSTs leaped back out from their cover and assembled into their squads. They crossed over the open ground in front of the hangers. Behind them, Joels and Echo-5 fired two rockets each, all of which were locked onto the Gunship's tail. They spiraled towards their target and impacted. The successive explosions bit off half of the dropship's tail and sent it into a spin. It disappeared behind a building and its crash-landing thundered across the area a second later.

"Gunship's down!" Joels said with a hint of pride, fist bumping Echo-5 before jogging back towards the others.

The ODSTs stacked up at the entrance to their hangers then stepped in, weapons raised.

In Epsilon's hanger, Duncan could see that there was still one more Pelican left inside, preparing to take off. A squad of five Insurrectionists were trying to load a large crate into the blood tray, then stopped dead once they spotted the troopers coming in. Three raised their weapons while the other two fought to push the crate inside.

Epsilon opened up on the trio, killing two and leaving the third grasping at his neck and writhing on the floor. One of the two at the Pelican, presumably the pilot, raced up into the cockpit, grabbed the controls and started firing the turret, forcing them to momentarily shelter behind empty crates. Deaks quickly peeked out and fired a single sniper round through the cockpit window where he assumed the pilot's seat would be, ending the situation before it could get too out of hand.

They approached the Pelican from both sides and found the last guy crouching with an M6 pistol in hand, ready for a last stand. He never got that chance. The Staff easily knocked him unconscious with a rifle-butt to the left temple.

"This is Ep-1 to 1-Actual." The Staff comm'd. "We've secured a Pelican here."

"Echo-1 to 1-Actual, our situation is the same as Epsilon's, over."

"1-Actual copies all." Harper said. "All three hangers are secured. Check the crates and get your hands on any cargo manifests if you can find them. We need to know what these guys were carrying."

The ODSTs winked their acknowledgement lights.

"Ep-4." The Staff said, pointing to one of the crates. "Help me with this one then get a scan."

The two grabbed the crate's lid and popped it off while everyone watched. Inside were bars of gold that shined in the overhead lights. Zack reached for one. Nova grabbed his hand mid-way and depolarized her visor, giving him a look that made him back-off.

Hector took out a device that vaguely reminded Duncan of a defibrillator. He slowly waved it over the gold once then twice. The device beeped and sent a reading to his HUD. He double-checked it and nodded at the Staff. "The Iridium levels match the profile of the gold from the Molnar, sir."

The Staff switched back to comms. "1-Actual, we've got a match on the gold."

"Same here." Joels said.

"Looks like it across the board." Harper declared. "Alright, don't touch anything else. Remember the reports, they've got Composition-12 mixed into these things. Leave them for EOD. We've got orders from Ackerson to secure the Mine next so once the Marines get here, we'll head out."

"What about the two other dropships?" The Staff asked. "Chances are they're the shipment that the Omen was waiting for."

"Longswords." The one-word answer from Harper was enough to get everyone's attention off of the Pelicans. The distant sound of the roaring engines that could have only come from the Starfighters confirmed she was right. If Longswords were already on the case then there was no reason for them to worry.

1st Platoon spent another 10 minutes standing guard over the hangers until the first Scorpion Tank pulled up in front of them, escorted by a platoon of Marines. Harper talked to their commanding officer and got him to secure the hangers for them while they jogged further up into the facility grounds.

To Duncan, the Mine itself looked like any other building on the TAC-Map. That notion quickly went out the window once they got there, however. The entrance to the Mine was a lift-structure that had more in common with a large gantry crane hanging onto a platform that hovered over a vertical shaft. After a quick examination of the machine, they found a console panel connected to the base of the towering gantry. Nova went to work manipulating the controls and found out how to get the lift to descend with a few mental acrobatics of her engineering knowledge.

"There are seven sub-levels." Nova said, looking over one of the console's displays that scrolled with data. "The activity log's showing no one's gone down or up since 21:35 Hours. The mine's start on sub-level 3. Max-occupancy for the platform is 16 people. So, who's going down first?"

"Epsilon, you're coming with my squad. Echo stays topside." Harper ordered. "Let's move."

:********:

Duncan had never felt so claustrophobic in his life. Not even one of Head Instructor Dalton's or Instructor Mahoney's torture trainings could have prepared him for what was essentially his sense of personal space being waterboarded. Despite the wideness of the platform, the closeness of the shaft walls made him feel like he was slowly suffocating. The topside entrance that grew farther away and smaller with each level they passed did more to worsen the feeling. Still he kept his cool. There was something about being among battle-hardened counterparts watching his back and needing him to watch theirs that gave him the strength he needed not to give in to his anxieties. Their lives depended on each other's alertness. There was no time or place for angst. He caught himself and realized that he might be getting more of the 'ODST mindset' that the Staff told him about. Then again, how long would it take for him to get it down pact? Would he ever get there at all?

His thoughts faded away when the platform came to a stop. Immediately in front of them was a diagonal mine shaft heading deeper underground. Varying mineral deposits stuck out in the wall like ancient treasures long buried. Minecarts, some full and some empty, were mounted onto rails running farther down. Shovels, pickaxes, crates and other pieces of equipment Duncan didn't recognize were left on the floor, indicating the presence of workers. That meant that this wasn't like one of the industrial mines he heard were popular on planets like Estuary where automated robotics were used. No, they were about to find more people down here and possibly even civilians. That would make running into any firefights that much more complicated.

The Captain placed another Nav Marker at the end of the hallway. "Eagle-4 take point. Epsilon, take the rear and conduct scans of the material down here."

The troopers winked their acknowledgement lights and fell into place. Squad Eagle was the first into the shaft while Epsilon came in behind them. The further down they went the darker it became, requiring them to rely less on their flashlights and more on their VISR modes. To Duncan it still had a vaguely unnerving way of making things seem more haunted, especially when he spotted a hostile contact whose form would be illuminated by a menacing red aura. But so far there were no hostiles, just stretch after stretch of empty mine shaft.

Hector came up from behind him with the defibrillator-look-alike serving as their mineral scanner. He waved it over the walls as they passed by and regularly checked the readings. "It's averaging out with predominantly four minerals."

"Specs?" The Staff asked.

"Three of the four are PGMs. We've got Palladium and Rhodium in medium quantities." He turned to the Staff. "But the highest is Iridium."

"Any gold?"

Hector rechecked his scans. "Yeah, about 12.14%, but the Iridium's more than triple that amount."

"Explains why the composites in the bars were so high." Harper joined in. "Now we've got our source. We'll secure this place down to the lowest level and report what we've found. Let's keep it moving."

Squads Eagle and Epsilon headed deeper in. Eventually they came to an opening in the shaft. The closer they got to it the more they realized that it actually led to a large chamber on the other side. On Harper's signal they stormed in.

The chamber was a subterranean cavity. They deduced it was probably made by the giant mining drill that punctured the surface a few dozen meters overhead, then descended another fifty meters to the ground floor. The drill must have been inactive for some time, at least long enough for whoever worked here to put infrastructure in place. Catwalks lined the walls and bridges stretched to different platforms across the chamber.

Eagle and Epsilon fanned out to opposite sides of the cavity, scanning the walls and lower levels for any activity. So far there was none to be spoken of. So far so good, Duncan thought.

They headed down the stairs on opposite sides of the space and gradually found themselves on the 7th sublevel, so named for the filthy number '7' sign mounted to the far wall. There was twice the amount of mining equipment lying around, enough to suggest that this floor served as the base of operations for the mines and likely as a point of progressive expansion.

"So…where is everybody?" Zack asked, looking around at the empty space. "My connection's getting a little choppy but so far no one's found any miners topside."

Hector shrugged. "They're probably hiding somewhere."

"Wouldn't be surprised." Rico sighed. "We did start shooting people back outside after all. Maybe they're holding out somewhere."

"Look at the steps." The Staff pointed out a number of footprints that coalesced at a point on the ground. He crouched down over it and rubbed his hand over an area of the dirt-covered floor. A seam appeared. He brushed his hand over it some more until he made out a square seam with a handle in the middle. "Found something, 1-Actual."

The troopers gathered around him. The Captain got up close to examine it. "Looks like a hatch leading further in. There shouldn't be any more sublevels past 7 though."

"Unless its not a level." The Staff intoned. He tugged hard at the handle but after several attempts it refused to budge. "Ep-6, make it quick."

Rico nodded as he allowed him to pass. The Demolitionist took out a breaching charge, wrapped it around the handle with a wire and aimed its bottom up at the ceiling. "This way the sound travels up, not down. Wouldn't want to deafen anyone down there too much." He pulled the pin and backed away.

The resulting explosion blew the hatch inward. It landed on the floor further below with a resonant BONG. Startled screams came up from the darkness inside. The haze cleared, allowing them to see a flicker of movement that rushed into the shadows.

"Ep-3, get eyes down there." The Staff said.

"Got it boss."

While everyone else took aim at the darkness below, Deaks took out a fiberoptic probe, a small wire-shaped device with a camera on one end. He bent it at an angle and leaned over the lip of the hatch, pointing it inside. He slowly circled it around the room.

"Anything?" The Staff asked.

Deaks slowly got back on his feet. "Civies sir." He said. "At least two hundred of them all huddled together down there. My VISR didn't pick up on any weapons to suggest any possible troublemakers, none that were detectable anyway."

"Hundreds?" The Captain asked, almost doubtful.

"Yeah." Deaks shrugged. "I have no clue how they got all these people down here either, but…that's just as many as I could see. The room looks a bit big, I couldn't spot any walls."

Captain Harper looked between the sniper and the Staff, then at the hatch and nodded. "Ep-8, you stay up here. We'll need your signal to stay strong in case we need to link through you to the surface. Eagle-4,5 and 6, stay with him. Everyone else, we're going down. Ep-8 if you would."

Duncan gave her a thumbs up, took out a flare from his rucksack and set it off. They cleared the way for him to drop it down the hatch. It landed and lit up the space below in a crimson glow. It wasn't for them, he knew, but for the civilians so that they could see them clearly and know they weren't a threat.

The Staff went first. He switched to his M90 Shotgun and thumbed the safety off before jumping in, ignoring the ladder leading inside. The fact he was still going in ready for anything close quarters made Duncan rethink the possibility of the civilians not seeing them as threats, if they actually were civilians at all. Watching everyone else jump down, Duncan kept his own finger just over the trigger, not on it, just in case. He jumped in after Deaks and took a look around.

While the flare messed with his VISR's tint, it didn't stop him from seeing the mass of shadows moving and mingling in the dark. He made out the shapes of scores of men, women and even children huddled together, forming a circle around the ODSTs. Their dirt-plastered faces all stared back at them with fearful looks. The more he looked around, the more of them he saw.

Harper aimed her weapon down and held up a hand as both assurance of their safety and a warning not to do anything to endanger her troopers. Her voice boomed over her external speakers. "Civilians, we're UNSC Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. We're here to end this mining operation. If there are any Insurrectionists among you, surrender them over immediately. Then we'll evacuate you all out of this place."

The hundreds of people around them simply stared at her, dumbfounded. Duncan had to admit it was a little awkward. Wasn't there someone for them to talk to directly? His attention mostly went to the dozens of kids who cowered behind their parent's legs and peered out at them. More importantly, why were kids here at all?"

At first no one came forward or said a word. Then commotion from one part of the crowd caught everyone's eye. A man stepped out from the gathering. He might have been in his forties or early fifties. Like everyone else he was grimy and wore tattered overalls.

He took a few hesitant steps forward with his hands up. "U-,u-UNSC?"

Harper nodded. "That's us."

The man swallowed. "My name's…Ludo. I-,I'm Crew Chief, I'm in charge of everyone down here." He looked back at the others, almost regretfully. "At least when the Insurrectionists aren't here to manage us directly."

"How many of you are there, Ludo?"

"Um, a-, about four…no that's not right."

"Four?"

"Thousand." Ludo corrected both the captain and himself. "Four thousand. But we get moved around a lot so that count may be off."

He turned to look between the others and the ODSTs. "We're not rebels and there aren't any with us now either. They threw us all down here in this shelter about half an hour ago saying someone was attacking on the surface. I guess that was you guys?"

Harper nodded. "We're here to get you and your people out. Then after that we'll need some answers from you. Are you willing to work with us?"

Even though Duncan couldn't see it in detail, he could tell that Ludo's eyes widened with a look of hope. He glanced back at the crowd who seemed to mirror his own expression back to him with an earnestness that almost moved Duncan to tears. What had these people had to endure down here? Judging by their haggard working uniforms and long stares, he realized that he probably didn't want to know, but would likely find out anyway.

:********:

It took a few hours, but by 24:10 Hours the last of the miners had been sent up to the surface using the lift. By then Duncan had gotten more of an eyeful of them than he'd ever wanted. There were thousands of them and they had more in common with a fictional stereotype of a vampire than a human being. Their pale skin suggested they hadn't seen sunlight for some time. It showed in the way that they had to keep their eyes covered with their clothes or hands as they came out. They also suffered severe malnutrition. Gaunt faces and waddling gaits were commonplace among them. While most had enough strength to walk on their own, the ODSTs had to help carry a number of them out. They even had to make multiple trips which kept Nova on her toes at the lift.

Meanwhile on the surface, the Meleonich's grounds had finally been secured. However, for whatever reason, Ackerson had sent out a single order to all forces: no one was to enter the Executive Building under any circumstance. That was strange to everyone who'd heard it. If someone as infamous and important as Major Kirkley was really here then natural logic would dictate that all available forces should take action to apprehend him. Regardless of that fact, no one had tried defying the order. The Marines setup a defensive perimeter around the building to make sure no one went in or out.

While it was a minor irritation to the ODSTs, they were too busy handling the civilians. Two Marine platoons were sent to help them once the bulk of the fighting was over and the main forces' attention shifted to the growing presence of near-emaciated miners appearing on the surface.

Colonel Ackerson had the Juno land at the Meleonich using an open area near the Mine. At current, the ship was hovering over the facility. The ship's troop bay was lowered to the ground, allowing for the ODSTs to usher the miners onboard. They would be lifted into the ship once the troop bay retracted, then it would come back down so they could load more people onboard. As Duncan and the rest of Epsilon formed lines to hem in the crowds, he figured it would take more than the Juno to evacuate this many people off the planet. Then something he wished hadn't crossed his mind, like it did when he was at the Molnar. This time it came to him when he saw a little girl holding her mother's hand as they both wobbled onto the troop bay. He realized none of this would have happened had the UNSC been there to save these people.

Earlier, Ludo had told them the truth about the miners. While some of them had been kidnapped, the bulk of their number had been former colonists on worlds glassed by the Covenant. However, unlike other refugees, they hailed from colonies that the UNSC had either never sent help to defend or altogether abandoned. The sole reason they were alive now was because they were rescued, rescued by Insurrectionists. They had been the only ones with the transportation needed to escape as their worlds were burned around them. Over the course of the war more of them were brought here, being told that they had to pay back their saviors with service. They would work in the mines in exchange for food and protection. From what Duncan could tell, their overseers had failed epically at both. It was more likely that it was a complete lie to begin with.

Either way, it was over now. Shortly after the civilians were handled, the ODSTs would be pulling out as well. The Marines from the 202nd would hold down the fort on Epsilon Eridani IV until reinforcements were sent to take their place.

It took a few more hours and shipping out the remaining civilians on Pelicans to the Orion before their evacuation was finished. Then it was Bravo's turn. Each platoon gathered near one of the bridges and were ferried aboard the Batavia.

As Duncan found his seat in the blood tray of a Pelican, he couldn't help looking back at the facility. Even after the door closed, he kept looking out.

Nova noticed and gave him a light punch in the shoulder. "Try not to worry so much about it, okay? Keep that head of yours clear or you die, and I can't have you doing that. Erica and little Noah wouldn't like it. And I can't have you causing my own death either. Got that rookie?"

Duncan laughed but nodded. "Got it."

"Jó." She turned away and helped Zack take off his radio.

Duncan saw the Staff Sergeant sitting opposite him. He was also looking out the blood tray at the Meleonich, although his focus centered on the Executive Building. "Hey Staff, how long until I'm not a rookie anymore?"

The Staff turned to him but it was Deaks that answered from the other side of the dropship. "Once you get your tats, you're straight."

The Staff leaned back against his seat. He popped off his helmet and stared at the visor which reflected his pensive face back to him. "You can try all you like, D. Really you can." He looked up at Duncan. "Honestly though, in this outfit, I don't think you ever stop being a rookie."

"A menos que mueras." Rico added with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yeah." The Staff laughed, shaking his head. "Unless you do that."

"What'd he say?" Duncan asked.

The Staff and Rico looked at each other and then at Duncan. The former waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about it. Just hope you can find a bunk on the Batavia. Either that or your sleeping in the hanger bay on the floor."

"If we do, can you rock me to sleep this time, Staff?" Zack asked. "Because you didn't do it last time like you promised."

The Staff shot him a look. "Repeat your last, Ep-7. I don't think I heard you right."

Zack quickly backed-off. "Nothing sir."

Duncan and everyone else laughed to themselves as the Pelican's ramp came up and the rear door closed. They were up in the air a moment later, heading for the Batavia. But Duncan found himself again drawn to the small rear-window built into the door. The Meleonich was quickly falling away from them, and so was the executive building that no one had gotten the chance to enter, not that he knew of at least.

He thought it over, the way the miners looked so relieved to be leaving this place, as if they knew they would have died the very next day if they stayed. Some of them had been here for over a decade. He knew that the UNSC couldn't stretch its resources to defend every planet. Nevertheless, deep in his gut it just made him even more determined to help fight for those they could defend. If these people had no choice between being incinerated and what was essentially slavery, he decided then that he would do his best to give them a third option. In what was now an undeniable war of extinction, he realized that that was his purpose now, both as an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper and as a member of the same species: being the third option between annihilation by one hand and a cruel existence by the other.

Relicta - Abandoned