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Halo Clone Wars: Chapter 8
Posted By: Enthrone Darkness Triumphant<admiralprestoncole@yahoo.com>
Date: 26 March 2009, 10:57 pm
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Chapter 8: Ice Coffin
The images around her started to fade, darkness started to enclose the light as she blinked for the last time. Marshall Zhukov was the last thing she saw, his imposing yet aging figure shining at her, his long greying started end as her knee's collapsed to the stone floor; not a gasp came from her mouth.
Standing over her corpse with a smoking gun in his hand, Sodhi glared at the lifeless figure of Parangosky.
"Looks like I did everyone a favour here. Nobody liked this damned woman," the brigadier spoke as he holstered his weapon. "I'll dump the body into river; let it be her icy coffin."
--
The Enthrone Darkness Triumphant
October 23, 2552
Earth Orbit
"As you can see, the Covenant are amassing their fleet in the Theta Gemini system; a major refuelling stop before, more than likely, jumping to Sol." Cortana informed as she shifted the camera angles from the incoming image feed.
The group of officials suddenly shifted in their seats as a ship floated past on the emitter. The behemoth, jellyfish-shaped cityship completely dwarfed the supercarriers floating past it, easily the size of metropolitan Tokyo.
"Cortana, what is that thing?"
"From my scans of the intercepted Covenant com channels, it appears that this ship is High Charity, admiral."
"The home base of the aliens," Hood quietly whispered. "And all these years we thought that they resided on a planet. The SPEC OPS sure did get their information wrong."
"So they are headed here then…how much time do we have, approximately, Cortana?" Zhukov questioned as he dusted the lightly falling snow from his jacket. "My forces need to be ready to take on those bastards when they arrive."
"I give it three days max, Marshall. What do you have in mind when the Covenant do arrive?"
"Don't worry about me. What does the fleet plan on doing when the time comes? Hopefully they can use the new trump cards to their advantage, though I do not mind getting some ground reinforcement."
"I agree on the last suggestion," Windu spoke as his image winked on the screen adjacent to the Marshalls. "The ground forces stationed here are very specialized; we need at least half the sector army to execute the Marshall's plan successfully."
"What are you trying to pull off Zhukov? Half of the army be assigned to you when you just pulled off an underhanded move on the ONI ranks? This just doesn't sit well with me." Hood answered uneasily, wondering if the Marshall was indeed trying to mastermind a plot for more power.
"The prophet is in my control, and he isn't just one of the random, lower ranked paper-pushing ones; he is a hierarch, and I intend to use him to knock a major blow against the enemy ground forces." Zhukov countered. "The Covenant will most definitely send their best to get him back, so I plan on engaging them and hopefully wiping them clean off of this world."
"Hmm, sounds good to me Marshall. I will bring the 501st and other battle hardened battalions to assist alongside Master Windu; Anakin can stay behind to lead the space forces." Kenobi offered.
"What about the space strategy?" The Marshall questioned again. "I still need to make sure no giant superheated blob of death will fall on top of me and my forces."
"We were reviewing an idealized strategy back in the 24rth century, it involved precision jumps to flank and encircle ships instead of line to line combat," Hood responded. "Since our ships are unable to pull off such precise manoeuvres and jumps, we had to scrap that strategy. However, our counterparts here can, to some degree, pull off precise jumps, as long as they are not too close to gravitational objects and have precise calculations."
"I am sensing some sort of problem with this though." the Marshall stated as he crossed his arms.
"We have to send one of our AI's with the supposed 'hammer' fleet if they are to execute the jump properly," Hood replied while rubbing his eyes from the sudden rush of exhaustion going through him. "We seem to have more superior digital constructs, while they have superior droids."
"I am okay with the suggestion of loaning them an AI," Zhukov replied as he nodded towards the Republic officials." We have our backs to the wall so we will not lose anything more. Hammer out the details regarding the space strategy and I will inquire back within a day to see the progress. I will await the arrival of the ground forces. Good luck gentleman."
--
The Acclamaters touched down all around the outskirts of the metropolitan district; their massive dagger shaped hulls couldn't fit anywhere inside the city. The noise of hydraulic pistons whining to push the actuators filled the sky along with the deep rumbling thuds of the lowering ramps and the massive feet of the landing ships sinking into the wet mud.
The skies had grown dull grey and the weather became morbid. Thunder rumbled through staging area as ice cold rain hammered the flowing traffic of soldiers and vehicles below. Clone Troopers in their eggshell white armour marched in unison as the massive, multi-pedal AT-TE walkers lumbered behind, all moving to the directions given by the masked MPs.
The Marshall watched from afar, the steady stream of traffic increasing as more ships landed and unloaded their cargo. The SPHA walkers were the item he awaited in the cold rain, as the caterpillar legged machines sluggishly came off their transports. These behemoths were the fundamental unit needed by the Marshall to ensure his battle plan would go his way. He needed the Covenant to land outside of the city and proceed inward by land, and Windu assured him that any large unit that got within the SPHA's range would most definitely be destroyed.
He turned around to depart for the Red Square; he was to review the march past being conducted to bolster the spirit of the city and his forces. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Sodhi. The brigadier was practising his swordsmanship with his family double-edged sword. The massive claymore did not gleam the steely lustre of most swords or rust for the ones that were yet to be found but a dull greyish brown of some sort of exotic metal. It had grooves running around the blade, yet the two plates formed a rounded edge.
He had wielded the sword once; the weight itself nearly brought him to the ground, and the rounded edges made it look more like a blunt weapon than a sword. He was wrong on the last fact as Sodhi had showed him the metal piece just exhibited a sort of superheated plasma that, when activated, could directly counter the swords wielded by the Elites.
It was one of a kind, the Excalibur in a sense for Sodhi and humanity. His great forefather, Kulwant Sodhi, had forged it on Mars, the only man in the Sodhi family line that refused to don the uniform of a soldier and had, instead, gone to the sciences. He and his father, Admiral Sodhi had written the unpractised strategy of Precision Envelopment and Annihilation. Too bad when they tried to put it to test, the entire fleet they were in either became atomized bits or was pressed into an infinite voyage in Slipspace. The Sodhi family line inherited the awesome weapon and passed down the generations, not allowing anyone to scrutinize the marvel.
The Marshall watched has Sodhi effortlessly twirled the heavy blade with his hand, smooth elegant movements slashing at an invisible enemy. Sodhi's prosthetic arm still gleamed in his eyes; the man had adamantly refused to get the limb repaired. His memories were starting resurface of that dreadful day when this war got personal for him, but most of all, for Sodhi.
--
"I was only a Major General back then, life was much simpler and easier plus politics was less of a hassle until the mission was assigned to me."
Midgard
Sigma Eridanus System
December 5, 2541
The snow storm gusted against the pelicans has they flew to the outskirts of the remote farming village. The order for the pullout had been given as the human forces were getting pummelled left, right, space and ground. FleetCom had picked up a distress call from the community, calling for any aid against the onslaught of the alien hordes.
The frigid temperatures and the snow covered land only exacerbated the morbid situation that was weighing in on the General's shoulders.
The drop ships landed in the center of the settlement, or, at least, what was left of it. The platoon of soldiers disembarked and followed the General. The stench of burning flesh easily overpowered the noses of all the soldiers as they viewed the dismal sight of body parts littering the ground, and gore strewn all over the snow. It seemed like a pack of lions had gotten a hold of the citizens and torn them apart.
They walked for what seemed like hours down the streets, trying to find any survivors or intact corpses that could identify the local citizens. They kept treading along, holding back their fears and sorrows from the sights, until the General stopped dead in his tracks and fell to his knees.
He held in his hands a dismembered head, the cold, black eyes staring off into the unknown, the pale skin lighter than a ghost, the long jet black silky hair still fluttering with the icy cold wind. He held in his the remnants of Sodhi's only child, once the most beautiful person he ever laid eyes upon; Sodhi's angel and his strength had been destroyed.
But where was Sodhi now? The only reason the General had accepted this damn mission was because of Sodhi and his family. The man had to be alive. He had been to hell and back with Sodhi and he knew that his apprentice would still survive.
"GODDAMN IT, SOLDIER! TELL ME THERE IS SOMETHING ON THE SCANNER!"
"Sir, I…," one of the ODST's stammered, not knowing what to say. "Nothing is coming up."
That's when they all heard a noise; it was coming from the stables. Of all the buildings that were charred or burning, this one was left intact. They cautiously approached the building, but the General simply pushed past them and burst in. It was empty save for some horses, still in their stalls.
"Mount up."
"Sir, we don't know how to…"
"I SAID MOUNT UP!"
They would ride until they found Sodhi, or until they found the damn alien bastards who did this.
--
Sodhi was in a rage; he raised his sword like Thor raising his hammer and lashed at the Elite in front of him. The massive, eleven-foot alien dodged the blow, laughing at the furious human, one who had lost everything that was dear to him. The alien toyed with the emotional human, like the Midgard Serpent annoying Thor. Blow after blow, strike after strike was dodged; the lumbering alien was nimble and agile for his size.
They fought for what seemed like an eternity, the alien, with his swords, lashing at the human, and Sodhi returning the favour. Sodhi knew the alien was toying with him, waiting for him to lose concentration, waiting for him to succumb to his exhaustion.
No, he needed vengeance, he wanted to drench the bastard in its own blood, and he wanted to do it now.
He fell to his knees, trying to pull a feint to draw the beast in. He felt it grab his head and raise him off the ground, looking at him while its mandibles fluttered as if trying to say something.
"You are pathetic and weak. Your daughter put up a better fight," the hollow voice echoed in Sodhi's ears. "I shall not feel the same satisfaction like I did when I cut off her head."
The beast raised his free hand to swipe at the limbering human's head, when Sodhi activated his sword and lashed at the alien. His arm was too weak to lift the heavy blade and strike the aliens skull, but it struck the bastard's chest, cutting through the armour and gashing the flesh inside. The alien released Sodhi as it fell to its knees; the serpent was helpless in front of mighty Thor. He raised his sword, ready to strike and kill the alien once and for all when a projectile hit his armour and exploded into thousands of glass shards.
The alien, sensing the moment, picked up its sword and cleanly cut off the sword arm of the stupefied human. Wincing in pain, Sodhi felt a sense of helplessness and rage building within and his missed opportunity fell to the icy ground, waiting for the final blow to arrive. He felt the ground tremble like a minor earthquake was arriving.
He gazed to spot the charge of horseman ram into the horde of aliens, the bullets cutting through Grunts and Jackals while the Elites were pounded by the immense energy of the cavalry. The hooves pounded aliens into their own rainbow coloured gore, as the Pelicans in the sky swooped in, cutting any stragglers down with their chain guns. The Elite in front of him let out a hollow roar as he was suddenly plucked from the ground by a passing alien dropship, which itself unleashed a hellish barrage of plasma. The hussars dodged the incoming wave of superheated gas bolts as the alien ship shot upwards and out of view.
One of the hussars stopped beside Sodhi as he picked the broken man up and draped him over the neck of his horse. Sodhi glimpsed has the man tried to pick up his family sword, struggling and nearly collapsing from the blade's immense weight. Finally able to get the sword into a makeshift sheath alongside the horse, they rode toward the awaiting Pelicans.
The dropships shot upwards into the sky, their engines whining from the extra weight of the horses. The occupants looked outward as they spotted the first of the immense blots of plasma bombard the snow covered ground, and they all turned away as the back doors closed, knowing another battle had been lost, and one man knowing that victory had slipped through his fingers. One day, he would have vengeance.
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