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Shadows of Archon II (part 6) - The Chosen Ones
Posted By: Wado<wyamauchi@msn.com>
Date: 28 August 2002, 6:21 am
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The land of the Jukan is a tropical wonder. Deep green plants and colorful flowers. Everything is oversized, flowers the size of garbage can lids, fruit the size of beach balls - Everything that is, except for the trees, the tallest tree is only about 4 meters high. The trees don't provide much cover in a storm such as the one happening now.
In the storm, John can sit alone. Everyone else has taken cover in the caves. John's self-enclosed battle armor gives him more than adequate protection against the strong winds and acorn-sized hale.
"Cortana," John says over his comm. "Have we gathered enough information to formulate a plan? What do you recommend?"
Cortana replies, "Chief, we still need more data on the Jukan, their strengths and weaknesses. I recommend that we make contact with the humans in private. Perhaps the woman named Valerie Sinclair. What's left of her UNSC uniform indicates she held the rank of lieutenant in the 907th Terran brigade. She seems the most capable of the humans. Be careful though, we don't know what they have gone through, it could be quite a shock to her."
"Very well."
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The Chosen Ones
In the caves small fires burn to provide heat to the thirty of them. Twenty human slaves bound in heavy chains, nine Jukan guards, and one Nomdian prisoner. The Nomdian prisoner is kept under heavy sedation. Should this devil creature awake before the group gets to the Spirit City, it could very well be the end to them all.
Garridor, the leader of the Jukan guards, paces about looking out the cave entrance; his white fur turned silver-gray under the fire's light reflecting off of the caves dark glassy walls. He is the only Jukan still wearing his wooden mask. A mask that has the face of an Elite painted on it. The rest of the Jukan relax some using their masks as makeshift pillows.
As John approaches, Garridor kneels, the rest of the Jukan rise up and put on their masks then in unison, they all except Garridor fall prone to the ground. Garridor says, "Oh great Chosen One, we the humble portal guards are here to serve you."
John says, "Bring to me the human slave called Valerie."
A tall, slender woman perhaps in her thirties is brought to John. They stand outside under the sparse cover of trees and rocks. The storm has died down to just a light sprinkle.
John, forgetting for a moment that he is still disguised as a Covenant Elite says, "Lt. Sinclair, tell me something about yourself and the others."
Valerie's face looks like it could cry, but her eyes are dry. There aren't any tears left to shed. "How can you be so cruel? Your voice is so kind, but yet your heart so twisted. I'll do whatever you want, just please have mercy on the others."
"What?" John says and then realizes that she believes him to be an Elite. "I mean what makes you think I'm that way. Do you know me? Looks can be deceiving. Lieutenant didn't anyone ever tell you that it's what's on the inside that counts?"
Valerie looks strangely at John, "What are you, some kind of philosopher Elite? And you don't talk like an Elite either, why do you keep calling by my old rank?"
"What do you think I am Valerie?" John says as sincerely as he can but failing horribly. He feels almost like a boy playing a trick on his little sister. Funny he would think of that, maybe since he never was a boy nor did he ever have a little sister this is sort of his inner child coming out.
Valerie looks over John. He appears to be a runt Elite, standing only slightly taller than she does. A little on the chunky side too. This is so precious, a reject Elite and the Jukan worship him like a god. She replies in a defiant voice, "What ever you are, you ain't no Chosen One. That's for sure."
John says, "You got that right Valerie. Now have a seat; I have something to show you, this will all make sense in a moment." John begins to remove the faceplate of his disguise but the seals seem stuck. He struggles a bit looking like he's trying to pull his head off.
Valerie says, "Oh God, please strike me down with a lightning bolt. Now I've seen it all, a pervert Elite."
"No" John says. "No I'm not a pervert, I'm trying to show you who I really am, just got to get this suit off. Cortana can you do anything?"
Over the comm, "Chief, try to get the food intake piece open, I might be able to project my holographic image out through it."
John opens the food intake but it doesn't open wide enough. He takes his hands and grabs the upper and lower jaw pieces and tries to open them further. The holographic projector is still covered so Cortana's image can't get out through the opening; however, it does create a bright light that projects out of the food intake like if John had swallowed a flashlight.
"What, Cortana? Whatever turns you on pervert." Valerie says as she hops on a rock and holds her chains high above her head. "Please, lightning strike me down now!"
No lightning strikes down. There is a sudden break in the storm. The sun shines brightly over green jungle. Steam rises from the ground. The sound of animal life chatters away.
Some of the Jukan pop out of the cave to see the new day. They outstretch their arms and do slow martial movements in unison with their plasma tipped spears.
John is about to say something to Valerie when out of the corner of his eye he spots a flash of light far off on a hill. A chill goes down his spine. He quickly grabs Valerie and throws her down. Just as he is about to dive by her. Thud, something blasts off the side of his head. John's head feels like it weighs a ton as he falls headfirst to the ground.
Valerie panics. "No! I won't do it." She yells as she tries to run to the cave entrance. Her chained legs make it very hard for her to move with any speed. Phit! The sound of sucking flesh is heard. Valerie goes down to a sniper shot into her stomach. She screams in pain. This wound will kill her, but not right away. It is a slow kill.
John recovers and crouches behind cover. "Cortana status."
Cortana replies, "Chief your vital signs are good, the shot glanced off the outer armor. Another three centimeters on target and you'd be in a body bag."
John looks over at Valerie. He only saw one flash of light, but judging by how quickly the shots hit, there must be more than one sniper. The angle doesn't look right either. The snipers might be shooting from different positions.
Cortana says, "Chief, not enough data to calculate the second sniper position. The first position is approximately 453 meters at 31 degrees west of here, elevation plus 48 meters."
John pops his head out for only a split second. Back behind cover, he thinks in his mind what he saw. "Cortana, that would be approximately 4 rock widths to the right of the egg shaped rock on the hill straight behind me. Am I correct?"
"Affirmative" Cortana replies.
Valerie tries to crawl to cover but another sniper shot tears through her right leg. She screams in pain again unable to move anywhere.
Two Jukan guards run out quickly. One guard fires plasma bolts randomly at the hill, the other grabs Valerie. Before John can yell to them that it's a trap and to get back behind cover, the two guards lie lifeless on the ground with quarter-sized holes drilled dead center in their wooden masks.
"Cortana," John says, "Why would the Jukans risk their lives for a human slave?"
Cortana says, "I don't know, maybe they thought she was of value to you Chief."
John has no weapons, pinned down like a trapped rat. Cortana reminds him, "Chief, have you forgotten that your Elite suit has a cloaking shield? I recommend you use it to take out the first sniper position.'
John replies, "Yes, right." John cloaks and takes a round about path up to where he believes the first sniper position is located.
He moves unseen and comes up behind the position. There before him about 6 meters away is a small area covered with camouflaged netting. The storm has blown down most of the plant life next to the camouflaged area. It would be very difficult to sneak up to there unheard. John takes a chance and leaps the distance, coming down right outside a small opening in the back.
John rips the netting to the side to reveal two surprised figures underneath. Both are Covenant grunts, one with a sniper rifle and the other with some scanner and communications equipment.
Snap. John breaks the neck of the communications grunt. The other grunt swings his sniper rifle wildly at John. John has no time for this; the other sniper position may have a shot at him. John grabs the sniper rifle and with a swift kick to the grunt's stomach, he completes the disarming.
The grunt coughs up blood inside his armored headgear. More than just the wind knocked out of him.
BOOM! A large explosion comes from a nearby hill about 50 meters away. John instinctively dives to the ground. If he hadn't, the shock wave from the explosion might have knocked him to the ground anyway.
The grunt next to John opens the face piece of his headgear. Blood pours out. In his last words he says, "No surrender. Ha, ha, ha, (cough)." And then he passes out. On his belt are blinking red lights, a count down timer.
John, realizing his life is in immediate peril, begins to dive away as he shouts "Faaaa...!"
Boom! Too late, John is caught at ground zero of a huge explosion. Heat so hot it could sublimate steel burns around him and on him. His polarized visor turns black to keep the light from burning his eyes out. That's the last thing he remembers.
John wakes up face first in the mud. He is at the bottom of two burned up hills. A thick black smoke covers everything. Before John kneels Garridor.
Garridor speaks, "Oh mighty Chosen One, in the fires of hell you have transformed to your true self -- A mighty Shadowguard."
John looks at himself, his Elite suit totally destroyed but his MJOLNIR battle armor no worse for wear. Except that it is covered in a black as night soot.
John forgets about Garridor for a moment. Over his comm, "Cortana, you okay?"
Silence...
"Cortana answer. You alright?"
Silence...
"Cortana? Oh God no."
Silence...
Then a hissing sound followed by, "Affirmative Chief, systems coming back online. How many times do I have to tell you to be more careful, there's two of us in here?"
John says with a relieved voice, "Good to have you back Cortana. Now that's it, no more gathering data about the Jukan. I'm taking things into my own hands." John then looks at Garridor and says, "Garridor, these what did you call them again, Shadowguards, they mightier than Chosen Ones?"
Garridor replies, "Yes, they the first Chosen Ones, mightiest of them all."
John continues, "Do your highest laws apply to the Shadowguards?"
"They are the lawgivers, they passed down the highest laws to us servants." Garridor answers.
"Excellent, follow me," John says as he heads quickly into the caves. There he sees all twenty of the human slaves alive. Valerie is cleaning up the blood from around where there should be a deadly would, but it is completely healed.
John looks directly into Valerie's young brown eyes. "You're okay Valerie, how?"
She looks up, as do the rest of the humans. Their faces like children, the wrinkles from years of hardship cannot be seen for the moment. No one can say a word, but if they died at that moment, they would die at peace with themselves.
A single tear falls from Valerie's left eye -- Not a tear of sadness, but a tear of joy.
In a strong and commanding voice John says, "Release the slaves and prisoner. Release all of them."
This is what legends are made of.
-- Next, What the Heck Happened --
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