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Guardians of the Sanctum: (Part 02) -Alliance and Rebellion-
Posted By: BansheeBoy
Date: 27 June 2004, 5:25 PM
Read/Post Comments
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Guardians of the Sanctum: (Part 02) -Alliance and Rebellion-
Note : This is Part 02 of BansheeBoy's Guardians of the Sanctum
series
Ninth Age of Reclamation, Step of Silence Covenant Holy City
"High Charity," Sanctum of the Hierarchs.
The Engineer's tentacles swiftly drifted over the slipspace
generator, fixing it to the best of his ability. He was young, well young
for an Engineer. His name was Rako. The Covenant didn't consider any of
their engineers 'honorable' enough for their actual names to be used, they
were even lower than the Grunts in the caste system. Even at that moment a
Grunt commander overlooked his work, abusing him verbally and physically.
Rako had once not cared whom he had worked for. That had all changed
over the last few days. The Covenant may have not respected him, but they
didn't give him beatings either. The rebels did give him beatings though.
They demanded everything in a blink of an eye and if they didn't get it he
would be scolded, kicked or hit. The Grunt commander whipped him with his
plasma pistol. Rako recoiled in pain.
"Fix it now, Engineer scum!" squawked the Grunt with disgust.
The Engineer let out a sort of angry chirp and quickly returned his
attention to the slipspace generator.
The Sly Menace, the rebel destroyer, had damaged the
generator in it's descent to the Sanctum of the Hierarchs. If the
battle went ill for the rebels, they would need to get out, and fast. So,
Rako had been issued to fix it. He didn't like the thought of being blown to
smithereens in space, so he'd been more than happy to do it. Unfortunately
he didn't know he would be abused by a Grunt. A filthy, stinking Grunt. Rako
regretted joining the rebels now, although he hadn't really chosen to 'join'
them. He had been snatched in a recent raid on the Covenant flagship
Jurisdiction and he'd been with the rebels ever since.
Rako began to take the slipspace generator apart. The problem hadn't
been on the surface of the generator so it had to be on the inside. He
started separating the pieces into organised piles and began burrowing deep
into the complex system. The Grunt commander though, didn't see this as
progress.
"Hurry up, engineer scum. Do you want to die?" he questioned.
Rako continued his work. This was an empty threat from the Grunt. If he
killed Rako, his superiors would execute him. Though not respected, the
Engineers were very valuable to the rebellion. They didn't have that many of
them. The Grunt commander started tapping his foot against the
metal-plating, creating a spooky echo. The Grunt was getting impatient. Rako
knew the small warrior wouldn't kill him, but he could hurt him, so the
Engineer doubled his speed (if that was possible).
Rako finally found the problem. A wrecked power conduit. A pretty
simple problem to solve after all that. The Engineer began to fix it when
the Grunt commander broke.
"Hurry up! I don't have all day! My superiors are gonna beat me
for how long this has taken! If your not finished in two units, I will kill
you!" yelled the Grunt as he hit the Engineer. Rako stared at the power
conduit before looking at the Grunt. There was a bigger problem to fix
first. He turned to the bossy Grunt and his tentacles lurched towards it.
"Stay back! I...I..I'll shoot!" shouted the pint-size
commander. The Grunt lifted his pistol but Rako's tentacles snatched it away
and hurled it to the other side of the room.
"No..no..please" begged the Grunt. But it was too late. The
tentacles grasped it's methane mask and threw that away too. The Grunt fell
to his knees, clasping his throat. Finally he gave up and clattered to the
deck
'Problem fixed' thought Rako as he got back to work.
Aeas Mustamee jogged slowly through the halls of the defeated outer
defence-First Fort. Every few seconds he had to slow down to walking
pace as his leg-injury hindered his progress, before speeding up again after
realising his life was in danger. Mustamee swerved round a bend to come face
to face with a rebel Elite. Both were in a sudden state of shock but
Mustamee recovered quicker, pumping twenty needles into the pale-blue
armored Elite. He managed to jump back in time to see the rebel's chest
explode in a bright purple flash. Dark blood gushed out and the Elite
collapsed to the floor, screaming in pain. Mustamee stepped over him and
continued his retreat away from First Fort.
Aeas heard a loud roar sound behind him in the distance. Mustamee
recognised it as the war growl of the Hunters, so he immediately picked up
his pace. A hobbling Elite against a Hunter in a narrow corridor. There was
only going to be one winner. Mustamee started sprinting before letting out a
yelp of pain and stumbling to the deck. As the scarlet-armored Elite fell to
the floor the roaring Hunter entered the corridor and charged towards the
injured warrior. For the first time in his life, Mustamee felt utterly
helpless. No weapon would save him now. Fear overcame the once brave warrior
as he crawled away. The Hunter strolled closer, obviously finding humor in a
cowering Elite. But all of a sudden another figure entered the fray. A
Brute. And he wasn't a rebel. The lumbering Brute burst down the narrow
corridor towards the frozen hunter.
"Move, Elite!" it bellowed. Mustamee flattened himself
against the wall of the corridor and the charging Brute missed him by a
whisker. The two giants clashed, armor against armor, titan against titan. A
battle of the titans you might say.
The Brute lifted a rusty blade and brought it down against the
towering figure of the Hunter. The Adonis blocked the assault with his
heavily shielded arm. The Hunter charged the fuel rod cannon until it glowed
a sickly green and aimed it at the large ape's head. The blast launched at
the Brute's head blowing the ape all the way down the corridor. It's head
landed at Mustamee's feet. Aeas realised it was time to go. He lifted
himself up and scurried away as quick as he could. This time the Hunter didn
't follow thankfully.
"Aim all fire at the Brutes!" bellowed the High Guard.
The legion of Jackals on the first step ducked down behind their energy
shields and charged their plasma pistols until the concentrated plasma
hummed. The heavy plasma salvo fired, incinerating the rebel advance, along
with the twenty apes. 'So far so good' thought the High Guard. The
Steps of Silence were working effectively as a strong defence and as long as
there weren't any surprises, maybe his head wouldn't be on a pike anytime
soon, at least courtesy of the Prophets. A squad of rebel Grunts exited
First Fort only to be eliminated by a volley of plasma fire from the
Grunts on the sixth step. Suddenly more rebels bursted out of the defeated
outer defence, but there was a difference. Eighteen shades, each carried by
two elites, each guarded by four Jackals parrying the oncoming plasma with
their shields. 'This could be a problem' thought the High Guard.
The rebel Jackals continued to protect the portable turrets (shades)
as the strong Elites placed them down in a neat line. The Elites backed away
and ducked down behind the Jackals, firing plasma up at the steps every now
and then. About twenty Grunts emerged from First Fort and about half
the rebel Jackals came to escort them to the front line. The High
Guard immediately realised what they were doing. The Grunts were
gunners. Since the Rebellion valued them, like the Covenant, at the bottom
of their warrior caste they were expendable. Even now he could see at least
another forty Grunts hiding just inside First Fort as ten more
Jackals strided towards the battle. A good strategy. The Grunt gunners
finally reached the shades and took the helm. Eighteen turrets let heavy
plasma loose on the sacred Steps of Silence. The High Guard couldn't
believe that, even though they were rebelling, they could give up their old
lifestyle and rules so easily, it was amazing. There was no time for this
sort of deliberation. The Guardians of the Sanctum's lives were at stake and
it as his job to group them up and fend off the infidels. Or it would be his
head. He was about to get back to the battle when he noticed something. The
Hunters weren't firing.
The High Guard climbed up the tall steps towards the legion
of Hunters protecting the Sanctum of the Hierarchs. He heaved himself onto
the twentieth step into the vision of a rather disgusted Hunter. The High
Guard ignored the Hunter and got to his feet as the small army turned
towards him, all with the same look on their face.
"My..brothers" he said with a bit of hesitation. More Hunters
cocked their heads towards him. "Your mighty weapons may well save the
Sanctum. Aim all your fire towards the turrets and you will be greatly
rewarded by your leaders. Fight for the Covenant!" bellowed the High
Guard. The Hunters stared at each other mulling this over. Would they
take orders from an Elite? Nowadays it seemed everyone thought they were top
of the food chain. Finally the one closest to the gold-armored Elite gave
him a sly nod. Relief washed over the Elite along with a hint of pride and
companionship. The High Guard ducked down as the Hunter's charged
plasma into their cannons. He closed his eyes as a heavy thump resounded the
area. The High Guard looked up to see the rebel ground forces
obliterated from the combined hunter fire, save few stragglers who were
quickly eliminated thereafter. They had beaten the first wave, hopefully a
sign of things to come. But the ordeal was just beginning.
"Rebels!" yelled a Grunt at the top of his voice. The High
Guard swerved round. The second wave already? No, it was just a single
Elite. The Guardians raised their weapons at the 'rebel' before the High
Guard interjected.
"Stop! He's a Guardian!". The defenders lowered their
weapons. The High Guard had recognised the Elite. His name was Aeas
Mustamee. But he didn't look too good. Mustamee stumbled forward, in a
drunk-fashion. Finally he clattered to the ground, unconscious.
"I want medical Grunts down there now! I want him up and
battle-ready in ten units!" bellowed the High Guard. The medical
Grunts immediately obliged.
Part 03 coming soon!
Note: Don't comment angrily about the first bit with the engineer. You may
say, they're peace loving, they don't care who they work for, but that's
only based on brief meetings in the three books. I want the Engineers in my
stories to not be tools, but to have a mind of their own and be actual
characters. I don't want them to be defenceless liabilities but I don't want
them to be warriors either. I hope you accept my take on the Engineers and
actually giving them names.
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