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4679: Pre Halo Firing by Reiyou
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Nemesis
Date: 25 March 2004, 9:16 PM
A quick note:
A Zurian is basically very much like a human except for a few differences. Two of them being eye and hair color, as it could be any color of the rainbow. Another difference is a Zurian is a helluva lot tougher, stronger and faster then your average human.
Another note, grunt=soldier
4678, 15th Cancer P.H.F (Pre Halo Firing)
93,717 years before the start of human recorded history
The Flood, a sentient race with parasitic capabilities and the ability to physically change their host, a quirk, the Forerunner noticed in how such a combination of evolutionary events. Another fact they noticed that the flood had their own technology, or at least the rudimentary ability to travel the stars. The Forerunner welcomed them into the fold of inter-galaxy travel. However, what they did not know is that the Flood was in every galaxy. In one such galaxy, designated MW2678 or the Milky Way galaxy, the flood subspecies here was an all consuming force. The Zurians, the Forerunner police force and military might was dispatched to try to contain the flood as long as they could, or at least to hold them off long enough for the Ring Worlds to be built.
The day was cold and dreary, the kind that Auren hated. The sky was overcast, and a fog bank was threatening to come down. What more was the fact that he wasn't in his combat armor, so he was in the mud, cold and tired. He was to hold a pass, along with a squad of fellow grunts, from two squads of another unit's infantry. The rifle he held in his hands was easily one and a half times longer then a MA5B AR. The rifle, designated as a Z36 mark IV Carbine. The carbine had the same general shape as the MA5B Assault Rifle, just the ammo counter was on the side, near the clip instead of easily seen just by looking at the top. The weapon would easily put an Elite down with a burst. If there had been any elites back then. However, since this was a training exercise, the rifles were loaded with jelly rounds. Jelly rounds were a solid jelly slug that exploded harmlessly on impact, yet delivered enough force to knock someone on to their ass.
The Corporal wound through the trench that he ordered his squad to hurriedly dig.
"Any sign of them?" He asked.
"No sir, I think they're waiting for that fog bank to either come down or, nighttime." Auren replied and he went back to splitting the area with his eyes.
"Huh, do you think they're gonna come straight through the middle and feint to hit us from the side?" The Corporal asked.
"Maybe, they've got the manpower to do it," Auren replied. Something caught his eye, like light reflecting off of metal.
"Sir! Contact, 350 units Core ward by spin ward!" he whispered harshly. The corporal swore and started back down the trenches when a deep throated bass chatter of carbines echoed through the pass and a line of 6cm holes appeared in the bank behind the corporal.
Auren returned fire to where he saw the metal glint was rewarded with a cry of surprise and pain. He saw another muzzle flash and he dove into the trench where the rounds hit harmlessly into the dirt, each making a thumping noise. The Corporal rose over the bank and fired a sustained burst. A yelp of pain came back. The rest of Auren's eight man squad returned fire.
He heard a thump and a grunt from behind him and saw one of the opposing squad's member dropped into the trench. Without hesitating and aiming, he let loose. A trail of lines appeared and shot to the opposing grunt. There was a series of dull thunks as anywhere from twenty to thirty-five jelly rounds hit him. The soldier grunted in pain as two of his ribs broke. He was then ripped off his feet and blasted back into a bank of a trench. A purplish pinkish stain covered him nearly from head to foot. He groaned and tried getting back up but Auren fired 5 shots that hit the other grunt dead in the chest, knocking the breath out of him and guaranteed he was going to have problems breathing for a bit. He slumped to his side and drifted into unconsciousness.
Auren slid the clip out of the carbine and reloaded it. He darted down the trench where he heard more firing of carbines and noticed two more enemy grunts firing at someone of his own squad. He ripped the carbine loose on full auto, the storm of gunfire rocketing both of them off their feet and putting them into the mud puddles sporadically spread through out the trench. Both groaned and tried to get up and get their weapons but Auren got both carbines and locked them, leaving them useless. He reloaded again and joined up with the soldier holding off two of the enemy. The Carbine fire lessening, they both realized the exercise was getting close to an end. They both sped through the trench line when they found the Corporal, blasting an enemy grunt off his feet. He reloaded the weapon and they heard two chimes, signifying the end of the exercise.
Their commanding officer voice came to them through their helmet speakers.
"Good job men, Drill sergeant Cairns says we're to head in while the opposing squad stays out here through the night. Form up at the top of the middle trench."
A ragged chorus of 'aye sir' came back and with the other grunt they made their way up. The other 5 members of their squad came up from another section.
The corporal cleared his throat again
"The most 'kills' goes to Auren, he took 4 down, a quarter of their squad." He said with pride as the commanding officer of the other unit came up.
"Any casualties on your side?" he asked.
The corporal beamed with pride and his jade eyes flashed.
"No, and no hits on us as well." He replied. They head a dull roar build up to something fierce as the drop ship, a metal behemoth with more armor and weaponry then should be on a transport of its size. The drop ship, after all could only carry three squads of infantry. And two tanks. The thing looked ungainly but anyone who had taken a ride in one knew the things were as graceful as deer, able to dodge most flak and missiles. The armor, which was almost twice the amount of armor on a Scorpion, could reasonably hold against a lot of weaponry.
When the squad loaded up, Auren marked another scratch into his carbine, marking another victory.
Not Well Enough Alone!
Date: 6 May 2004, 1:38 AM
Another note! Can you believe it? Grunt=Private I'm using standard ranks for ease of reference
4679 12th Omega P.H.F
93,716 years before Human Recorded History
Auren was a corporal, oh how he hated this job. He had been assigned as a security detail along with the rest of his platoon of 33 men, he only one of 4 corporals. The place he had to guard was the Ring World 004 MW2678 Flood Containment Lab. (Or 343 GS for a closer reference)
He didn't understand why, they had decided to keep this strand around, when High Command should've wiped them out. Oh well, not his decision.
It was around closing time for the lab. So his squad was to engage the security system, place Remote Turrets and put the sentinels on alert.
He made sure all of his people checked in.
Grunt Taila was a medic. She hated this damned place. When she double checked everything was in place, she heard the odd slithery noise she came to associate with flood. She reached up to her combat armor's helmet and was about to call in when something slammed into her, penetrated her neck seal and tap into her spine. She never even had a chance to scream.
Auren counted his squad, and found he had one medic instead of two, he started worrying.
"Anyone seen Taila?" He asked the troops he had. They all gave negatives. Auren swore and started calling the sarge but nothing came back.
Kess, another grunt started freaking out.
"Oh my GOD we're so dead!" he screamed and started backing away and dashed off.
"Shit! Well, you two, go after him!" He ordered two more grunts away.
"The rest of us, we'll head to the primary control center, and activate the lock down procedures, if we're not too late..." he said and they started off. They headed through the corridors until they found the remains of another squad. They all started getting spooked by this.
"Hey, Saran, where are you?" he asked the one of the two grunts he ordered off after Kess.
"We're on the second level, we caught up to him and we found Sarge's squad..." he finished.
"Yeah, we found another squad, form up on the level one gallery, over." Auren finished.
"Let's move out to the level one gallery, we'll figure out how to get out of here from there." He said to his grunts as they started backing out of the room.
When they head the clanging noise of steel being shattered, they startled and bolted, all the while arming the carbines. A scream came over the comm. net. Auren figured it was from Kess. Only though, he heard carbines being fired and then the radio broke off.
Kess, was screaming in horror when the pile of corpse flesh charged him and fired his carbine, ripping an arm off. Only it didn't stop coming. The thing hit him with its other arm and knocked him on to the lower level of the gallery where three more came after him. He scrambled to his feet and put all three things down with his carbine. He had seen flood before, knew some of them, along with their host and found that they were like anyone else. On top of that, the integration simply meant that things were a bit odd in the chest department of things but nothing more obscene then that. But these things had mutated their host.
He had lost track of Saran and Kalen, he'd have to worry about them later when he left the gallery. He moved through a corridor when he found another elevator platform. He hoped this was the way up because then, he could punch a hole whatever interference was blocking out all outgoing and incoming signals. He crept through the next room; conveniently, none of the flood seemed to be paying attention to him.
Oh well, their mistake. Kess thought when he aimed at one. All the flood in the room must've jumped when he pulled the trigger as one of their members disintegrated into nothingness. They charged him and he pulled the trigger a dozen more times, each obliterating a flood. He reloaded in one smooth action and came face to face with one. Its facial features were locked in an expression of shock and horror and then he recognized it.
It was Taila.
"Come on Taila, let's get the fuck out of here, I'm sure Sere can fix what ever happened to-" He was trying to pull someone out of this god forsaken mess, but the flood was having none of it and charged him. Kess's combat instincts kicked in when he drifted off to one side then used the butt of his Carbine and slammed the thing that was Taila several dozen meters across the elevator platform and a sickening crunch told him where it landed. He toggled his night vision and watched it get back up. Without hesitation he ripped Taila apart with two bursts of carbine fire. He then reloaded his carbine, put the semi-full clip back into his combat pack, and went to the elevator and triggered it.
Auren's side was getting worse as flood armed with carbines would let loose with the big guns and a frantic firefight would break out. He would often have someone go down, only to have Sere patch the wounded grunt back together with her medic armor pumping him full of regenerative chemicals and stimulants. He was getting tired, running low on ammo and was going about scavenging ammo off of the fallen flood. He ordered his troops to take a break and patch up their armor as best as they could when a banging noise sounded. He saw the door start getting forced apart when he primed two High Explosive grenades, heave them perfectly and had them land right at the flood who was in front's feet and explode, filling the room with a harsh light and incinerating anything in the fireball's path. Except for the Armored Zurians. Auren was the first into the breach and the flood in front caught a fist driven that would've gone through battleship armor plating. He promptly flew apart. Another stepped up but, one of the advantages of being an officer was being given a combat sword. The sword was out of it sheath and through the flood lengthwise and back in the sheath before it realized what had happened. A swarm of infection forms skittered towards him.
"Ah FUCK no!" he yelled and pulled out his side arm pistol. He fired on full auto and the swarm exploded as high explosive rounds went off around them. He heard more yells and he saw that the whole chamber crawl with flood.
"Form on me!" He ordered and the remaining four grunts charged to him. "Go go go!" He yelled as he picked off flood with the pistol. He then dropped a grenade with a fifteen second fuse and was the last through.
I told you so
Date: 6 May 2004, 1:39 AM
4679 12th Omega P.H.F
93,716 years before Human Recorded History
Auren made it through the door right before the grenade exploded. He turned around and aimed with the pistol in hand.
The rest of his squad was panting.
"Everyone here?" He asked. He got a ragged chorus of 'aye sir'.
An alert private who had made it through this sheep screw had noticed something.
"Sir!" He said, while looking at the elevator panel. "Someone's gone down and I can tell you it wasn't one of them." he said.
Sere held up a carbine's 90mm cartridge. "Yeah, I'm guessing our missing men went this way. Auren nodded. "Form Up! Once more into the Breach, People! A bunch of Yes Sir! Followed that were thankfully enthusiastic.
Kess had finally reached the bottom. Not where he wanted to be. Thankfully there were no flood around here. He heard the elevator go back up. He spun around and waited for it to come back down. It was Auren and the rest of his squad.
"Thank god it's you sir!" He shouted.
Always business, Auren nodded.
"What happened to Saran and Kalen?" He asked the other two missing members of his squad.
"Unknown, we ran into a pack and I lost them there." He said mournfully. The squad got off the elevator and approached the door.
The door opened and it was a Zurian. He was unfortunately dead and they looked into the chamber beyond.
It was the main control center.
Some areas were on fire and a massive battle had happened as dead of both Zurians and Flood littered the area. The primary control panel was blasted to hell. Another door opened and everyone spun to the noise. It was Kalen. Saran was over one shoulder and the other arm had an Anti-Tank Shotgun up and ready, no lighter then a pistol.
Auren reacted first. "Kalen, what the hell happened?" He asked. As Kalen moved into the room, checked it was secure and checked his rear.
"As you know we went after Kess and we caught up to him and he had recovered. So I decided we should head here and that's when we were attacked. Kess got separated from us and I guess you guys found him. So we finished the fight with the flood. We moved on looking for a way to get down and back up and we found an armory. High Com had sent us AT shotguns so we loaded up. I then locked down the armory and ordinance. We headed for the stairs and we got into another fight. We won no problems with these badass suckers. We reached level three and decided to move on. It was there we were ambushed and Saran caught a clip on full auto. I finished the fight and I've been fighting with him on my shoulder the entire time. So now I'm here with you." Kalen finished.
Auren took in the situation. Saran was also his electronics expert.
"Sere, patch him up and get him able to fight. Then tell him that he should fix the main panel. I think it's in his capability to get it working. I'm taking Kalen, Kess, and Janice to get ammo, armor repair kits, shotguns and whatever else I can think of. You read?" She nodded and then started to tend to Saran.
"Alright! Let's Rock!" He yelled and kicked down a door that was to the main gallery. Flood were everywhere and he opened fire with a carbine. Flood exploded into shards of flesh and bone as the massive carbine raked through their ranks. The rest of his squad fanned out in a rough semi circle and the rate of firepower that was fired at the flood would even make a squad of Spartans quake in their boots. Auren moved forward, and found that they had decimated the gallery.
"Scrounge ammo!" He ordered. The Zurians spread out and searched for spare ammo off of dead corpses. After everyone had collected what they could. Auren lead the way through another door.
"Sere, is Saran up?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm up!" Saran replied. "Let me guess, Armory?" He asked. Auren heard a zap on the comm. Channel and Saran cursed.
"Yes, where is it?" Auren said as he spotted a flood. He opened fire and it was sawed in half by the slugs. Another dropped into his view and he blasted it apart as well. A third dropped down on his right. He fired a burst and the flood's chest disintegrated. It dropped in a crumpled heap. His squad piled past him.
"Done?" Saran asked.
"Yes."
"Great, 2nd floor, from the main gallery take a right through the right door from when you get on top of the gallery. Then take a left once you reach that room and go up the stairs. There should be more ammo along the way. I'll drop a NAV point for convenience." Saran finished. A NAV point appeared on Auren's HUD.
"Thanks." He said. He led his squad up a ramp and followed Saran's directions. He was right. Dead flood littered the area with hundreds of shell casings. Those two must've gone through thousands of rounds of ammo. Well, the carbine was known as the most accurate wall 'o' flak creator. He reached the armory and found the toys he liked the most. The Z77 Multi-purpose missile launcher was one of his favorites. It could fire four different missile types. Type I rockets were High-Explosive Armor Piercing rockets. One of them would splatter a bandit. The next type, Type II was for LONG range bombardment. They had a 5 km range and were hyper accurate. About as half as powerful as a Type I, they, were dangerous but not a one shot, one kill rocket. Type III were Flares, except powerful enough to blind anyone in a fifty meter radius on impact and burned for ten minutes. The final type was a small fusion bomb. It would glass a 25 meter radius at about 10 million degrees Celsius. He found the healthy supply of Type Is and IIs that usually came with Z77s but when he opened another crate he found four Type four.
"Jackpot." was all he said. He grabbed the rocket launcher and the type fours. He then grabbed four type 1s and slotted them where his grenades would go but he had ran out a long time ago. He then slid the rocket launcher on to a rack on the back of his armor and put his carbine on the other. He grabbed an AT shotgun and enough shells to last him for a long time. The rest of his squad was purring over the toys as well.
"Sir! Lots of contacts!" Janice said. She chambered a round into her shotgun and aimed at the door. The door started getting pounded as big indents appeared.
"Stow the rest of that and get ready!" Auren yelled as he also chambered a round. The door finally exploded inwards. Janice fired first. Three flood disintegrated. Auren fired as well. A small swarm of rangers were destroyed as well as another flood across the gallery.
"Sir! I've got company!" Sere reported. He looked at his squad monitor and noticed she was firing her weapon as well.
"Saran how much longer?" He yelled as he sprinted into the room and spun. He fired twice and 8 flood were killed in the twin walls of flak.
"Five minutes! Maybe quicker but the damn system refuses to start!" He said grimly.
"Back to the main control room! Let's scatter! Make them pay!" Auren yelled as he went into another room. Someone followed him as another shotgun roared along with his. He turned and found it was Kess.
"Let's go! No time to waste." He said and jumped 10 meters up and onto the next level. He slaughtered another pair of flood with another shotgun shell.
"Sir! It's getting crowded and hot in here!" Saran reported. His monitor reported that he was firing his weapon as well.
"God damn! How many of them are there!?" He yelled and skidded into a wall, leaving a small crater. Kess was behind him as well and skidded into the wall as well. Both kept going over a pile of corpses. Auren hoped he could get to the main control center before Sere and Saran were overrun.
Final Run
Date: 6 May 2004, 1:43 AM
4679 12th Omega P.H.F
93,716 years before Human Recorded History
2143 military standard time
Sere Cursed. She was dangerously low on carbine ammo. Saran had helped her out and it came to the point were she had to fire bursts to make kills. She read her ammo counter
50 rounds. Out of a clip of 250 rounds, she was down to a fifth and she had no extras. She shouldered it again and fired a five round burst that shredded an infected Zurian's chest. It dropped dead as the controlling ranger died as well. She looked at the other door and fired two bursts. They killed another Zurian and destroyed 32 rangers.
"Hurry it up Saran!" she said and scanned the room. He mumbled something and then a click sounded. She looked up and the ceiling as the main overhead lights came on. Saran was busy navigating the mainframe and activating everything. She heard another flood related sound and took aim once more.
Auren saw the lights come on and tried calling Sere. Kess was winded as they had sprinted across three rooms of hungry flood all looking for Zurian.
"Janice! Where the hell are you?" He said impatiently into the comm.
"Don't exactly know but we're surrounded!" She yelled. Auren swore.
"Drop a NAV point! We'll get to you ASAP!" He yelled. A NAV point was dropped 200 meters away from him.
Sere felt the carbine rounds enter her body and shred her organs and other related internal damage. She weakly raised the carbine and shot the flood that shot her. Then blackness took her.
Saran looked behind him and drew his pistol. He blew away 8 flood and destroyed numerous infection forms. He reloaded and took aim. He looked down and saw the pool of crimson that surrounded Sere's white armored form. He felt his heart skip a beat and the blood drain out of his face.
"Sir! I need back up NOW!" He screamed into his mike and pulled his carbine out. He screamed and set his Carbine on full auto and let loose. The flood were taken back by this sudden assault as the pinpoint accuracy tore them to shreds. Finally a flood with a Z77 fired a type 1 rocket and Saran was bathed in fire and he died in a hell storm.
Auren watched as his last medic's bio-monitors flat lined as well as Saran's. Fuck! We're Screwed to hell! He thought. He entered the room where Janice and the other soldier were. Flood corpses were scattered in piles and they were above them.
"Sir!" Janice waved and then jumped down. Kalen followed suit.
"New orders. Saran and Sere are dead. We on the other hand are alive. I hope to keep it that way. We are to move to the top level and evac. Understand?" They nodded. "Now move out!" He spun on his heel and left the way he came. They proceeded to the 1st level where he could hear the normal reports. He listened to the calm for a few minutes, knowing in that in 5 minutes, all hell would break loose. He clicked on his comm.
"This is Corporal Auren Deyros! We have a Code Omega Red situation! The Flood has broken their containment! All members are presumed to be infected. I have only three squad members left! We need immediate evacuation!" he clicked it off. He listened to the silence as everyone took in what he just said.
"Corporal! Repeat that now!" somebody important said furiously, thinking he was crazy or something. "Yes sir! We have a Code Omega Red Situation. The flood has broken their containment. All except a partial squad have been infected. All the senior officers started swearing and then the first voice came back.
"Corporal, I have an area map of your position. There is a hill 254 meters counter-spin (left) in your area. However, I'm getting not friendly contacts in that general area."
"Yes sir! We'll be there for evac!" He said. He didn't like the hill but it will have to do.
"Hold on now, There is the Library 300 meters Core-ward (north). There are large open areas and only one small pass to get to it. It's a straight shot. There are not as many contacts along that route. I'm sending a drop-ship into the airspace around those two points, get to the top of either and call in." The voice snapped off.
"You heard that! Now let's move to the tower! Keep your eyes glued to your scopes and keep full clips. If we get overwhelmed, just sprint to the tower. Now let's move!"
Evac
Date: 6 May 2004, 1:46 AM
4679 12th Omega P.H.F
93,716 years before Human Recorded History
2203 military standard time
Auren dropped into the lukewarm pond. The water went over his boots and went into his socks and started to soak his feet. Someone complained.
"Can it! Be glad it isn't cold!" he whispered harshly. This brought him to the swamp at large. There was no sound. No birds, no insect calls. Not even wind. He startled as someone stepped on a fern.
"God damn it! It's too quiet!" Kess swore. Auren looked at him and then back. An all too familiar hump-backed shape appeared.
"Son of a bitch! Contacts people! Let them have it!" Auren called out and aimed at the flood with his carbine. The chatter of weapons fire shattered the silence as a firefight broke out. The flood lost as the troopers used Infrared Vision and picked off the bright red creatures.
"Keep it moving! Let's go!" Auren called out and broke into a jog. His boots sunk into the moss peat occasionally and it soon was annoying. He looked up and saw dozens of infection forms.
"Shit! Contacts! Above! OPEN FIRE!" He shouted and dropped to one knee with the carbine braced against his shoulder. He fired and infection forms attacked him but died under the fatal flak.
"Sir! Structure sighted at 156 meters Core ward!" Someone shouted. Auren looked Core ward and sure enough, there it was.
"Move it! To the structure! We need to get up top!" He shouted and picked up the pace. He took a quick look at his squad's bio monitors and saw that everyone had an elevated pulse. He reached the base of the structure and spun to provide covering fire for his soldiers. A flood vaulted high into the air.
"HEADS UP!" Auren yelled and fired. The slugs blasted apart the flood and Janice, who was rear-guard, gave silent thanks and turned to cover them.
This was bad; Auren couldn't find a way up until he saw the platforms circling the building.
"Hope you're up for jumping! Up on to the brace and move up. I'll be right behind you." He said to his passing squad members. They scurried up the brace and up on to the first platform, with running starts, jumped 10 meters forward, and up. Auren slotted the carbine and pulled out the Rocket Launcher. He activated the targeting gear and dropped to one knee. A pack of eight charged him with a mass of infection forms. He targeted the one in the middle and fired.
The rocket screamed forward on a pillar of smoke and fire. The flood pulled memories of this weapon and figured to dodge at the last second. Too late. A fireball exploded among them as the Type 1 blew them all to hell and bits. Someone cheered from up above. Removing another rocket he snapped the targeting gear and forward barrel down to drop the next rocket into the tube. He scanned the area for another cluster and found another swarm sprinting towards him. He didn't bother to lock on and fired the rocket at the first. Bits of rotting flesh rained around him. He reloaded. Auren checked for anymore attacking and he unarmed the firing mechanism. He climbed the support and hopped to the first platform. After a series of jumps he heard the roar of the drop-ship circling. He grinned and hurried by increasing the pace of his jumps. He heard a scream from the comm. And he looked up at the edge and saw a shambling mass. He drew his pistol and fired at it when he saw green and blood mist as he shot the form. It dropped next to him and he looked at the shattered visor. Even with the massive hole in his right eye, Kess was unmistakable. He felt the blood rush from his face as he realized he killed one of his own team mates. He holstered the pistol and climbed up, pale. He found his other remaining squad mates on the roof, surrounded by spent brass and pools of blood. Flood infection forms surrounded them and the drop-ship circled. He got the rocket launcher out and took out the type 1 and loaded one of four of his type fours.
Better give them a funeral pyre. He thought bitterly and targeted the middle of where his two former friends lay and sent the rocket on its way.
A blindingly white light dome appeared and everything in its radius vaporized. He was the sole survivor and he couldn't help the unbidden tears that came with losing all of his friends. The drop-ship, attracted by the flare of hell lowered down onto the roof. Two other soldiers dropped out and scanned the area.
"Sir! Where are the other three?" One of them asked. Auren dropped the rocket launcher and approached the craft as though he was in a dream.
"Gone," Was all he said and he climbed into the drop-ship.
It took off with a howl and a blast of wind.
Kess rolled over and clutched at his eye. He got out his emergency med kit and injected chemicals that reversed the cell's specialty and basically redeveloped the missing organ, as cells nearby would scream out that something was missing. Thus, his eye regenerated and so did the bullet wounds on his body. He enjoyed the feeling as a warm sensation spread out through his body. Then he ran a systems check and to his dismay, the radio was destroyed, along with his IFF beacon. He looked up to see the drop-ship soar into the mists. He got to the roof and found the glassed area, where a type 4 apparently went off. He swept up the discarded rocket launcher and slotted it to where his carbine, would go. The other weapon was only a few feet away and he picked that up as well. He checked his map that was thankfully intact. The nearest outpost was 126 kilometers up-spin. He sighed and started hopping down the platforms when a blue pulse alerted him. It was 343 Guilty Spark.
"Reclaimer, I need your assistance..." The AI said. Kess sighed again, twice within two minutes. He waited for the teleportation grid to spirit him away.
Argh! It pops like a zit!
Date: 6 May 2004, 1:51 AM
4679 12th Omega P.H.F
93,716 years before Human Recorded History
2215 military standard time
In a massive corridor, near a dead end, twin golden bands of light appeared.
A floating blue orb appeared along with a Zurian with a shattered visor and massive holes in its armor appeared next to it.
"Hurry we must get to the index..." The orb trailed off.
"Look! I'm no reclaimer! I'm a fucking light infantryman, and you say I have to acquire the index! HHHEEELLL NOO!" He trailed off. Kess's eyes adjusted to the dim lighting and he saw the usual horde of monstrosities appear.
"Still, someone must claim the index." The orb said.
"Yeah, Not - Me!" Kess said as he dodged a burst of gunfire and returned the favor, killing the pot-shoter.
"Then who, if not you?" It replied. It watched as Kess razed the incoming horde, then collected ammo, and reloaded.
"Someone from the ZAL," he said. "I on the other hand, can't really hold out against this kind of fire power with my armor status, even if it was full strength." Kess said. He heard something drop and saw something new. It was bulbous with tentacles on two humps and waddled.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" He said and aimed at it. Kess snapped off a round and it promptly exploded instead of flying apart how flood usually do. It released a group of infection forms.
"Great. A carrier." He mumbled and stepped on, punched and kicked infection forms out of the air.
"Very well then, besides, scanning your combat skin, you're only a class 3." The orb said. Golden bands descended upon Kess and he felt the weightlessness and 'non-existence' of being converted into data and being relocated. He found himself outside of the outpost when he looked at the main gate.
It was blown off its hinges and a small fire roared in the middle of the compound. He shouldered his carbine and moved into the compound.
"HALT! DROP YOUR WEAPON!" someone bellowed and he found himself dropping the gun as he recognized the distinct tone of command.
A black armored trooper dropped down from the gate he passed through. The helmet was styled like a motorcycle except for the camera and LR comm. Unit mounted on the side. The figure's shoulder pauldrons were large enough to be small shields. The arms were thick as small tree trunks and so were the legs that ended into a boot with sharpened edges. The gauntlets had enough power to crush steel yet dexterous to be able to sew if need be. The torso had a massive pack on its back and the front had the rank insignia of a captain on the left breast. It was wide as a small barrel as well.
"Captain! What the hell happened-"Kess started and the captain cut him off.
"I ask the questions here, Kess." The captain said. Kess recognized as one of his cousins, who was a member of the ZAL.
"Sorry! Thought I'd never see you here!" Kess said.
"Hah, I'd say the same for you. What the hell happened?" Captain Tryastal said.
"I failed being a guard. ZLI guarding the flood containment facility, someone had to lose a couple of marbles over that." Kess said.
"Alright boys, stand down and someone keep watch. Kess looked up as he saw about 45 other figures in black with the same armor stand up. Some had red crosses and a blood drop on their pauldrons, marking them as medics. Someone else moved along the wall and dropped.
"Sir, who the hell is a ZLI Infantryman doing here?" The second figure said. Tryastal turned to him. "He's my cousin. He's probably got more guts then you! Ah, you haven't met. This is Dracadis, he's my aide. Dracadis, Kess, got it? Good." Kess shook hands with Dracadis, he could feel the pressure being exerted on Kess's gloves, and figured it required a lot of dexterity.
"Also, get Kess a new set of plating; it looks like he got shot at, plenty of times." The captain said and turned back to Kess.
"Tell me what happened. First we are attempted rape victims and we have warrior forms everywhere and the ones that pop like some teenager's zits and spew the little guys who are annoying at worst. And we even had a rocket fired at us. That was annoying." Tryastal said. Kess told him everything, up to closing time, the first attack, the disappearances, Taila, the last stand of Sere and Saran and the attempted Evac. Then he got shot up by his own commander.
Captain Tryastal took this in. "Damn, damn, damn, damn!" he repeated to himself.
Never mind him! Mind them!
Date: 6 May 2004, 1:56 AM
4679 26th Omega P.H.F
93,716 years before Human Recorded History
1643 military standard time
Two weeks later.
Auren was relocated after what had happened at the lab. He was now back to being a front-liner. He was in a fight with another sentient race that didn't like the Forerunners meddling in their affairs.
A glowing needle shard whizzed by Auren's head. (These are the needles every one knows and loves, except wayyy faster.) Auren personally had seen holes blasted in combat armor much like a carbine does. If 8 or more hit you, it was generally decided that you were screwed, as the victim would be blasted to hell in a pink fiery cloud. The race themselves looked like Elites but were larger and much tougher as they relied on absolutely no armor. They were hard to hit as well. Auren was hiding behind a rock and looked over the edge. He saw three of the Sartanions move back and forth among the trees. One of them spotted him- roared something to his comrades and Auren ducked his head down as needles whizzed by, and splintering the trees and plants.
"God Damn it! I need some back up! I've got three of the bastards pinning me." Auren barked into his comm.
"Roger, paint them for me will ya?" His heavy support grunt reported.
"Forget paint! They're about 87 meters core ward of my position. They don't know where you—" Auren was cut off by a needle bouncing off a tree and drove straight to him. He barely moved his head out of the way when it his comm. Unit got hit by the shard.
"Fuck." He said to no one in particular. He poked his head over the edge and heard one of them laugh. Auren aimed with the carbine and snapped a burst. The Sartanion was blasted into pieces as the HEAP rounds tore into its unprotected body. He ducked back down as a response hail of needles came down on him. He heard the scream of some mortar go over head and explode 87 meters away from him. One of the Sartanion's eyes landed in his lap. He heard someone approach with a heavy tread. Auren quickly brushed the eye off and stood up.
The figure was in ZAL power armor and the gold pauldrons marked him as a general.
"Sir! Sector secure, finally, sir!" Auren said. The general nodded.
"Good, move your artillery squad up. The enemy has retreated, we found where they are hiding and your team has indirect attack capabilities. We will need them within the hour.
"Sir! Yes sir!" Auren replied. He took out a small portable comm unit,"Squad move it up! The ZAL need our help as usual so move it up!" His orders were followed by acknowledgements when he moved up and along side the general. The general looked at him.
"I don't need you guarding me. You'd get in the way and then I'd have to watch for both of us." He said and crunched through the brush. Auren shrugged and advanced. He heard someone in exoskeleton armor, It was his artillery expert and the suit was to help him with two heavy mortar launchers on its shoulders.
"Sir! Where should I set-up shop?" He asked.
"Don't know, you might want to get your SMG out." Auren said. The general halted and looked around. Auren restlessly looked back at his squad moving up in a delta formation. The general was obviously focusing on his tactical HUD when 4 of the aliens slithered through the brush.
"Contact! Over there!" Auren shouted and whipped up his carbine. The aliens were alarmed at how they were easily detected and opened fire on his squad. A few hits were scored on the Zurians and they counter-attacked, maiming one and killing the others. Someone shot the survivor in the head.
The general snapped back into reality. "What the hell?" he asked when he saw the dead bodies.
"Thank you sir!" Auren said and slinked through the brush, checking for other enemies in the area.
"Nothing moving!" He reported. He checked the area one last time. He returned to his squad's position when a massive contact appeared on the Long Range motion tracker.
"Any idea on what the hell that is?" Someone asked. The general returned, he was flanked by four of his soldiers. They spread out wordlessly. The general also activated his suits orbital comm unit. Auren couldn't pick out the words but the general was listless. He then started pacing. Auren was unnerved by his commander and then he saw the first shape. At first he didn't recognize it but a burst of memory blasted through his brain. He screamed and raised the carbine and blasted away at the brush. Everyone snapped up and looked at Auren and where he fired. The general was pissed.
"Corporal! What the hell do you think you were doing!" The general scolded him. Auren was still in panic mode when his combat training hacked its way through the mode.
"Sir! I thought I saw something - I don't know what it was..." He trailed off.
"Son, when we get back to the fleet, I'm ordering a psych analysis. You're obviously not fit for combat if you're having hallucinations! Lock down your carbine and give it to me." The general said. Auren complied and thought sadistically I think you're going to die. He had no idea where the thought came from. The general slotted the carbine on the storage racks on the backpack of his armor.
Then Auren got his confirmation on what the massive contact was. A huge horde numbering of a few hundred combat forms swarmed his squad's position.
"OH SHIT!" Auren yelled "SCATTER! REGROUP AT THE TAILIS RIDGE!" Auren scrambled to the general, ripped his carbine off and unlocked it. He took aim.
The flood didn't like someone spoiling their approach and the forms with weapons fired upon the 14 Zurians. The general unholstered two pistols and his body guards all got shotguns out. His squad scrambled as ordered.
"Corporal! Stay and fight damnit!" The general snarled on the comm net.
"Fuck no! We can't fight them here! If we can get to the ridge, we may be able to hold them off from there!" He replied and dashed through the wooded area. Sartanions saw a flittering shadow here or there as Auren eventually got to his top speed, as fast as the not even created human race could even hope to achieve, even with augmentations and life-long training. Eventually he reached Tailis Ridge. He heard other Zurians haul their ass to where he ordered them. The flood knew about this ridge in some form or another. Auren wasted them with concentrated carbine fire, each disintegrating as the High-Explosive-Armor-Piercing rounds exploded while burying themselves deep into chest cavities, limbs and heads. Auren's rifle ran dry on ammo as the last flood disappeared into a firestorm. Auren ejected the clip and slammed another in. The ammo counter reset itself back to 250. He heard more flood moving through the forest and realized the area was slithering with flood.
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