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Discovery of an Enemy, Chapter Seven: Part II
Posted By: russ687<russ687@hotmail.com>
Date: 30 June 2004, 6:09 PM
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1520, July 21, 2552 (Military Calendar)
System Designation Classified, Planet Codename Milestone
Kren stared at the chrome ball lying in the center of the room as he tried to suppress the pain coursing through his leg. He started to pull himself toward the beam of light, which is where the ball was.
The Elite was hopefully dead, having received more rounds that what Kren thought possible. The creature was obviously not one of the Covenants low-time Elites, and the armor color gave the appearance of it being some sort of high commander or leader. Being in many battles with Elites before, but all of them he had backup, he had come to known that the blue and purple Elites were the easy ones to take down; the ones that really gave the Marines a run for their money were the Gold armored Elites. But never had he seen an Elite with silver armor.
He crawled along the dusty floor and made it to the puddle of water under the shaft that led to the surface. He reached out to grab the ball but stopped. He waved his hand over it and noticed that he did not see a reflection of his hand on it; everything else was reflected by it. He didn't think about it, though, he would have to wait until he wasn't in shocking pain.
He reached out again and grasped the ball.
Kren opened his eyes and found himself standing. He looked around the room. Despite it being completely dark, he could see everything; the containers lining the room, the dead Elite next to his pistol, even his rifle. He looked down at his leg and found it completely normal, it moved and functioned normally, like it was never broken.
He looked at the containers. At first they appeared normal, like how he saw them the first time. But then his vision of it changed; his peripheral vision went blurry as what he focused on took up his complete eyesight. The container walls and lid disappeared before him as he saw through it to what was inside.
He began taking steps toward it, but noticed that he was there in a split second. He looked back toward the center of the room where he was just before, it was at least fifty meters. The complexity of it was there, and he didn't quite understand how that just happened, but he turned to see what was inside the container.
Before him in the container lay a deep red object shaped like a pyramid. It was only about half a meter tall and long, but it was the only thing inside the container. He looked closer and for some unnatural reason he got a view so close that he could see every detail on the on the object.
He had never had bad eyesight, being able to boast and perfect 20/20 vision. But he had never seen something with such detail, not even through a microscope. It was fascinating all the while he picked out every minuet detail of the object. He looked it up and down, and noticed small symbols etched in it.
They were similar to the ones he saw in the entrance tunnel to the large room. But this time when he saw them it was different. He cocked his head to the sight and read them. He had never seen anything like them before he got to this planet, and had no clue what they meant. But for some reason, he understood them.
Key of the Sacred Door, Opener of the Path Beyond.
He shook his head as the information flooded his brain. A key? He thought about it for a second and came to no results.
Something emitted sound and he turned around. Nothing was in the room, but he heard it as if he was near it. It was the sound of cautious footsteps. He focused on the sound and his peripheral vision went blurry again. He found himself staring at three Marines moving into the room he had put the chemical glow stick on his own way in.
Suddenly the view of the Marines on the surface came to him, all of them filing onto the black craft at the structure entrance. He watched as the last one boarded reluctantly. It was Meyers.
He focus changed and he saw eight Covenant drop-ships escort by a dozen Seraph fighters enter the atmosphere from above the planet. He focused and saw every Elite, Jackal and Grunt. He saw the two frigates and saw everything happening onboard each of them, from the small conduit wires being repaired by a Covenant Engineer on the bridge to a dozen Grunts sleep along the side of a corridor.
He noticed a black ship in the distance and found it to be the Valiant Knight. He focused on the bridge and found them all nervously waiting for the UAS-9A to return with its load of Marines. The captain sat on his chair, drinking coffee.
He stopped thinking and snapped back to the room he was in, a wealth of knowledge of what he had just seen washed over him as he stood there. He then thought for a second and focused on the three Marines down in the tunnels with him.
It was McCollum, Brooks, and Ryder. They were turning down the correct tunnel that led to him. He stopped and thought about it.
The trap.
He started running for the tunnel that led to it but found himself in the booby trap room. He looked at the invisible tripwire, something he could not have done before.
Flashlights came from the tunnel that led to the room. The quiet voices of the Marines were completely audible to him as he watched the first, McCollum, step into the room.
McCollum froze and stared directly at him. Kren had never seen anyone look at him like that before, and it chilled him as the Marine shouldered his rifle.
___________________________________________________________
McCollum stared straight down the sight at the figure in front of him. His first impression was that it was the half-transparent Elite they had encountered twice before. But it wasn't, the size was all wrong.
The half-transparent figure came into a better view as McCollum recognized what it was. He heart skipped and beat, the question was not what it was, it was who it was.
Before him stood his CO. The sight was alarming and daunting as he stared at the Marine lieutenant he had known for years. He slowly let his rifle point down as he took a step closer.
McCollum stopped in his tracks as the ghost of his CO immediately put up his hand. No sound was emitted from him, but the signal was obvious.
Brooks stepped out of the tunnel, with Ryder in quick tow. "What the...?"
McCollum shushed him quickly as the figure pointed to the ground directly at their feet. McCollum followed the figures gaze to his feet and noticed something glimmer of his light. It was a trip-wire.
McCollum looked back up at the half-transparent figure. "How?" He whispered.
___________________________________________________________
Kren looked back at McCollum, now joined by Brooks and Ryder. The three Marines stared back at him, their faces pale. He stepped back slowly but found himself back in the room. Wherever he willed himself to go, he was there.
___________________________________________________________
"Let's go," McCollum said quickly as he watched his CO disappear.
The three Marines stepped cautiously over the trip wire and moved for the tunnel. They entered it and traveled the 50 meters distance before it emptied out into the room with the beam of light coming down from the surface. Directly under the beam was Kren, his ghost-like appearance sending chills down each of their spines.
McCollum scanned the area with his rifle and found nothing, despite the fact that his light wouldn't penetrate deep enough to find whatever was on the other side of the room. After making sure it was clear, he stepped into the room and moved toward his CO.
The figure of his CO held something in its hands out. It looked like an over-size chrome ball bearing.
It began getting bright as his CO began to shake. The three Marines had to start shielding their eyes as the light began to intensify to blinding levels. The room was completely illuminated by the light coming off the ball.
McCollum heard the sound of his CO breathing hard, then suddenly the room went dark. He looked up to see Kren's figure snap back into real time. The lieutenant let out a yell of pain and clasped to the floor. The ball rolled slowly away into a puddle of water.
McCollum and Ryder ran up to him as Brooks looked around the room, confused. The two Marines knelt down to the lieutenant as he gritted his teeth in pain.
"Sir? Can you hear me?" Ryder asked, pulling out a medical kit form a web pouch.
Kren looked up at the two Marines above him and grunted. His leg was broken, nothing about it had changed. The pain coursed back through his body as he clenched his jaw, trying to relieve the pain somehow.
"Lieutenant?" McCollum asked. "Are you okay?"
He nodded slightly.
"What the hell happened? what was all this?" McCollum started.
Ryder jumped to his feet and scanned the area as five muffled shots rang out it the room. He then saw Brooks lower his rifle, staring at something on the ground.
"Don't worry," the fire tam leader said, relieved. "It's already dead." He pointed to the bloody corpse of an Elite.
Ruder looked at it in disgust, then slung his rifle and knelt back down to his CO. "Let me guess, sir, you had a run it with that."
Kren nodded and winced in pain as they looked him over. "Listen to me, go to that container over there and get it open." He pointed to the one he had seen the object in. "Get the key out."
McCollum stared at him, puzzled. "The key?"
Kren grunted in frustration. "Just do it."
The two Marines hesitated for a second, then got to their feet and moved for the container. McCollum hefted at the lid and couldn't open it. The other two Marines joined in and together they pulled up as hard as they could. There was a hissing sound, then the lid gave way, slowly budging aside under the constant pressure from the Marines.
Kren closed his eyes as they retrieved the object.
"They key?" McCollum said, looking it up and over.
Kren nodded, bearing the pain that was beginning to go numb; his whole body was starting to go numb. "Stow it on your body somewhere safe."
"Tell me what happened." McCollum said, moving toward his CO.
"Not enough time," Kren said. "We have two minutes to get to the surface and out of here."
"What? No we have more time--" Ryder began to say.
"Trust me, we need to get out of here." Kren said.
McCollum looked him over. "We can't get us all of out of here, especially you, in two minutes."
Kren pointed at the shaft. "Yes, we can."
___________________________________________________________
"Sensors report multiple hostile ships inbound." Weisfield announced.
Lt. Abrams sighed as he circled over the structure. They had loaded all the Marines save five. One of them was reportedly dead, and the other four still underground. He switched to the cabin comm. system. "Lt. Meyers, we need to get out of here now."
The Marine officer grabbed the railing by the cockpit entrance and looked in. "Negative, stay on station just a little longer. They say this is a stealth ship, right?"
The pilot shook his head. "You can still see it."
"Then take somewhere they can't see us." Meyers said.
The pilot thought for a moment then nodded. The craft pulled up into the clouds.
___________________________________________________________
McCollum aimed straight up the shaft. He had unscrewed the silencer off, then attached the rifle-fired grappling line to the end of the barrel. He aim straight up and flicked the safety off. They would only get one shot at this.
He pulled back the trigger and the loud, un-muffled rifle, shot the bulky canister straight up the shaft. All the way up it released cable line that was attached to McCollum's web belt.
The canister shot straight up and out into the cold wet air of the surface. As it reached its maximum length, four grappling hooks flicked out and it fell back to earth. It landing in the mud and was dragged along until it caught something.
McCollum put all his weight on it and testing the integrity of the line. It appeared to be good. He then took off the attachment to his belt and hooked it up to Ryder. "When you get to the surface, radio Delta 4-1 and tell them we need evac wherever we are."
The comm. specialist nodded and stepped directly under the shaft. He thumbed the button and the small motor in the canister at the surface activated. It pulled the Marines straight up in the shaft for the 300 meter journey to the surface. At the selected speed, it would take Ryder 60 seconds to reach the surface.
That made total time at least four minutes. Damn.
McCollum stared up the shaft as the light was blocked out by Ryder's body as he ascended toward the surface. They would need a little luck on this one.
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