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The Survivors - The Fall of the Covenant
Posted By: Dav Flamerock<magicthegatherr@sbcglobal.net>
Date: 13 August 2006, 11:53 pm
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Chapter Two – The Survivors
Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step of Silence / Airborne above Halo
The Covenant dropship flew through the narrow canyon walls. Ahead of them, a patrol of banshees flew around, seemingly randomly. But 'M-bosee knew better. They were guarding the Covenant's headquarters on the ring. There would probably be many ghosts and wraiths patrolling it as well.
The dropship carefully avoided the scattered trees in the canyon. Although they looked exactly like normal trees, albeit a kind 'M-bosee couldn't name, when the dropship had grazed one, everyone in the ship had heard a screech as the top of the tree made a huge scratch in the hull. 'M-bosee knew that Halo was a Forerunner structure, but he didn't know why they needed to have metal trees.
A message scrawled across the holo-panel in front of the pilot, Erwi 'Colamee. He punched in a response, verifying that this was the Sescorheisa Squad. A message immediately came back.
"We have clearance to land. That structure there is the headquarters." 'Colamee announced, pointing at a bunker-like structure that appeared as the dropship passed over the hill.
Just as 'M-bosee had predicted, there were a trio of wraith mortar tanks facing outwards, cannons ready to fire. There were also half a dozen ghosts patrolling around the structure. The Forerunner bunker was connected with the cliff wall, and the roof was flat and battlemented. There were dropships docked on its roof, and a couple more docked nearby.
Erwi 'Colamee set the dropship down next to the bunker. As the four black-clad sangheili and their white-clad leader exited the dropship, Obsi 'Pacolee and a quartet of black sangheili exited the bunker. 'Pacolee and his guards greeted 'M-bosee and his squad.
"Greeting, Nakaina 'M-bosee. I'm glad you were able to join us in our search for Halo's control center." 'Pacolee said welcomingly.
"Of course. We wouldn't want to be anywhere other than the location of the Great Journey's beginning." 'M-bosee replied.
"Come inside. I have a task for you. And it does involve killing humans." 'Pacolee motioned for the other sangheili to follow him.
The entrance to the bunker was a doorway easily three meters high - almost high enough for a lekgolo to pass under at full height. There was a small antechamber, and then a ramp that led down a short distance. 'Pacolee led the other sangheili down this ramp and into a deceptively large room.
It had a pillar in the center, which seemed to have a small platform at its center, and four support beams surrounding the platform. There were four more platforms at about the same level surrounding the central pillar, and although they seemed to be held up by some sort of anti-gravity device, there was a ramp that led up to each one. In addition, there were small platforms built into each wall, with what looked like minor grav lifts leading up to each one from the floor. Finally, there was a doorway of about the same size as this one next to the minor grav lifts. Strangely, they had some sort of shimmering green energy barrier in front of them.
"Interesting." 'M-bosee commented.
"Yes. It only gets more intriguing. Please follow me." 'Pacolee ordered. The formality of it surprised 'M-bosee; 'Pacolee made them sound equal.
'Pacolee led the other sangheili to one of the minor grav lifts. He entered it, and flew up to the platform. One-by-one, they all flew up the grav lift.
The first thing 'M-bosee noticed upon reaching the platform was that there was a closed door next to him, facing away from the door they had entered by. Once everyone was on the platform, 'Pacolee pressed two controls on a holopad beside the door, and it opened. Inside was nothing but a small table with a control panel at one end. 'Pacolee, 'M-bosee, and the rest of the Sescorheisa Squad entered the room, as 'Pacolee's guards stationed themselves outside the door.
'Pacolee strode to the control panel, and pressed two buttons. The doors closed and locked.
"Now, the first thing you should notice is that." 'Pacolee said, pointing at the ceiling.
The ceiling was entirely glass, and there was a large room above them. There might have been a glass wall up there, but no one could see it clearly.
"What's up there?" 'M-bosee asked.
"We don't know." 'Pacolee answered.
"Well why don't you just go up there and find out?" Ewsa 'Dneolee asked.
"We can't get up there." 'Pacolee responded.
"What about the structure at the center of that room outside?" 'M-bosee suggested.
"We are beginning to make a way up there." 'Pacolee explained. "But that is not important to you. What is important to you right now are the humans." 'Pacolee pressed a button on the control panel, and a hologram appeared above the table. It was of a mountainous region, similar to the one around them now. As the sangheili watched, human lifepods flew across the sky, and one of them crashed on the edge of the hologram. 'Pacolee pressed a button, and the hologram vanished.
"We have the locations of the crash sites. You can hand-pick your team of troops to accompany you in your scourging of the pitiful humans. I'm sorry, but the sangheili are unable to help you. I have other jobs for them." 'Pacolee explained. "Go and kill the filthy humans. May the Ancients bless you."
'M-bosee and the Sescorheisa Squad left the room, and exited the way they had come. 'M-bosee gathered eleven other Covenant forces: three Yar-Kai snipers, three Gag-Rak kig-yar, and five unggoy. They mounted the dropship, with Erwi 'Colamee at the controls. The ship lifted off, and 'Colamee directed the dropship towards the nearest lifepod's crash site.
The Covenant ship flew over another cliff, when they saw the lifepod lying broken next to a strange chasm that was spanned by a narrow, rail-less bridge.
The dropship lowered next to the wreaked lifepod, and opened the hatches on one side. The three shielded kig-yar leapt out, and searched the interior of the lifepod. When they came out empty-handed a few moments later, 'M-bosee knew that the humans were either gone or dead. The kig-yar leapt back on the dropship, and 'Colamee lifted off.
He took the ship over the chasm, and yet another cliff. On the other side of this cliff was the next lifepod, but even without searching it the Covenant soldiers knew that there was no humans in it. They were hiding out on a strange structure that stood out in the open. It was easily defendable from ground troops, but from the air they never stood a chance.
There was a wall-like object in the center of the structure, that emitted a pulse of blue energy every now and then into the sky. 'Colamee turned the ship so that the opened side faced the humans. Nene 'Medamee, the sniper of the Sescorheisa Squad, stepped forward and raised her beam rifle.
The moment 'Medamee fired, the three Yar-Kai kig-yar beside her chose and eliminated targets of their own.
The humans, having no sniper rifles and no rocket launchers between them, fled for the base of the structure, where there was a cave that ran underneath the structure. Seeing the humans running for the cave, 'Colamee targeted the cave entrance with the shade gun attached to the dropship, and rained plasma on it. By the time the humans reached it, the cave entrance was melted shut. The three remaining humans turned to flee, but a trio of beam rifles found their targets.
The Covenant dropship flew to its next target, never having set down. They continued this process of sniping and hosing with shade fire through each lifepod crash site until there were only two left.
'Colamee led the ship near the edge of a cliff. At the cliff's base, at least a kilometer down, was some large unnamed body of water. There was a small river that went from the mountains behind the Covenant, and it ran down off this cliff. Next to both the cliff edge and the river was one of the lifepods. Behind that stood another structure like the first one 'Colamee had seen. This time, there were two smaller structures whose purpose seemed to be the doorways into an underground passageway. After Nene 'Medamee had made sure the humans were definitely not in the lifepod, using the scope on her beam rifle, 'Colamee lowered the dropship in front of one of the entrances to the caves.
Ewsa 'Dneolee leapt off of the dropship. He was followed by the five unggoy and the three Gag-Rak kig-yar. They entered the antechamber, where there was a ramp which led down into the underground chambers.
"You three, Jak, Kor, Ram, you overlap your shields and advance. Jagar, you stay to the side where you can easily shoot the humans down with your needler. Everyone else get behind the kig-yar." 'Dneolee hefted his dual plasma rifles. "Let's go."
The contingent of Covenant foot soldiers moved down the ramp. At its base was a low, but wide room. In the center was a block of metal whose exact purpose was unclear. Just behind that a chasm stretched across the room, and it was bridged on either side of the metal wall.
Sure enough, the humans stood on the other side of the chasm. There were maybe eight of them, with two assault rifle-bearing marines and six tech officers who wielded only pistols. The humans spotted the kig-yar shields right away, and one of the marines yelled,
"Open fire!"
The rest of the humans obliged, and the bullets bounced off of the glowing green kig-yar shields. The trio of kig-yar responded by shooting back with their plasma pistols. The unggoy named Jagar stepped out from behind Jak, and sprayed the humans with glowing purple needles. Simultaneously, 'Dneolee stood up, and a marine reached for the something on his chest.
Just before the sangheili could hose the humans down with plasma fire, the marine yelled,
"Fire in the hole!" and a huge purple explosion was seen in the midst of the humans.
'Dneolee leapt behind the metal wall, as a fragmentation grenade went off in front of the kig-yar. There were a couple of gunshots heard, and a pair of unggoy, Jagar included, fell over. 'Dneolee holstered his rifles and pulled a small metal rod off his belt. The sangheili dashed around the other side of his cover, hoping to flank the humans. He heard the rat-tat-tat of an automatic weapon as he rounded the corner.
There were only two humans still alive, and they were both techies. One held two pistols, and the other wielded an assault rifle he had taken from a dead marine. They fired at the remaining two unggoy, who were firing back randomly. 'Dneolee dashed across the bridge as the two humans finished the frightened unggoy off. The sangheili activated his energy sword and brought it down on the head of the pistol-wielding human. The neatly bisected body fell to the ground and the other human, who was completely surprised, turned and fired wildly with the automatic weapon. Three rounds left the barrel, and it clicked: empty.
"Oh no, oh no!" The human tech officer screamed as the energy blade parted his mind from his heart.
'Dneolee recovered a plasma grenade from a dead unggoy and a frag grenade from a dead marine. There were no other useful weapons from either side, so the lone sangheili deactivated his sword and mounted the ramp once more.
"Where are the others?" 'M-bosee asked 'Dneolee as 'Dneolee mounted the dropship.
"Dead." The sangheili replied. Hearing 'Dneolee's remark, the pilot lifted off once again, keeping the sniper's side open.
They flew inland, to where the final lifepod had crashed. The Covenant found the lifepod at the base of a rocky hill. A motion at the top of the hill served to alert the Covenant as to where the survivors were. 'Colamee raised the dropship so he could see over the rocks the humans were using as cover. He then rotated the ship so the snipers could snipe the humans as usual.
The sangheili and kig-yar picked their targets and fired, taking out four humans. Just as 'Colamee targeted the human's general area with his shade, a contact appeared. He switched his view so he could see what the contact was, and saw a human pelican lifting off behind him at the base of the hill. Below it was a human – one of the legendary demons. Those strange humans with the shielded armor were responsible for almost as many deaths as the rest of the human foot soldiers put together.
Suddenly, 'Colamee heard four distant cracks. He heard Nene 'Medamee cry out in pain and quickly closed the hatch. The demon knelt, raising a sniper rifle. At first, 'Colamee ignored the demon, and turned to hose down the survivors of the lifepod crash. They were boarding the pelican, and as 'Colamee targeted it with his shade; four white streaks came from the demon. A message scrolled across the screen in front of 'Colamee.
"Sescorheisa, grab onto something. The shade is offline, and we're leaving." 'Colamee didn't even wait for any acknowledgement as he flew the dropship over a cliff and out of sight.
Dav targeted the area just above the shade's antigrav field. He had absolutely no idea if this would work, but the ship wasn't moving, and it was targeting Skyhunter's pelican. He pulled the trigger four times in quick succession. The first round didn't do a thing. The second and third caused the blue energy above the barrels of the shade to flicker, and the final round punched something vital. The barrel of the shade fell as its energy failed to keep it connected to the ship.
"Boo-yah!" He said to himself, reloading the sniper rifle. The Covenant dropship immediately turned and fled.
"All right Skyhunter; let's get these survivors back to base." Petra said through a secure channel. "It's too bad about the others." She added.
Dav made a mental note to ask the survivor with the sniper rifle how he had been able to kill all four of the Covenant snipers so effectively as he leapt back aboard the pelican.
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