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Fafnir Chapter 1
Posted By: KnightmareWolf<KnightmareWolf@aol.com>
Date: 21 June 2002, 7:02 pm
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Prologue:
The Message
The steady beat of an undeniable staccato of AR shells hammering off Titanium A floor plates gave way to that inevitable thud.
A bullet-ridden corpse followed closely by its eternal companion, crimson blood making resolute pilgrimage, riding through darkness unending.
Glazed eyes stare uncomprehending into unforgiving stars acting parts too numerous to understand; yet it is said eyes are windows of one's soul, never truly dying, and never truly living.
Either could have been fact or fiction, for science may have argued a point describing billions upon billions of atoms, all interacting to form complex living, breathing organisms, therefore supporting the former. Holy men so stubborn in their ways would insist on supporting the latter, since only fools claimed death was unstoppable.
Greg's squad mates moved down the elongated corridor, various lights casting indigo particles across each member's body. Thick trails composed of some rancid smelling hazel colored fluid streamed along walls and transparent tiles know as fiberglass.
Around corners, beyond hatches, passed windows...
Until finally, the nine-man team came to a stop, content in their skill at arms, knowing that nothing could get the jump on them!
Shadows swept across the corridor ending in an open maw of death and destruction.
They did gander open mouthed at the carnage, laid bare for all to see were corpses piled high, rivaling small mountains.
Entrails were spewed onto cold floors; gore splashed across walls, even the ceiling was marred.
Eight simply ran, but Greg stood on the spot, frozen from terror.
A single, ignited plasma sword rested in an incline, stabbed through the floor, held erect.
And smeared in the lifeblood of over five hundred marines were the words:
He Says I Came Not to Send Peace, But a Sword
It wasn't an army, or a Black operations squad that had done this.
It was one creature and one creature alone...
Greg ran too.
Chapter One:
Honor among Warriors
The Seraph fighters flew in low over the UNSC Destroyer "Martyr", making strafing runs on beleaguered navy pilots.
Four-meter thick titanium battle plates burned away as plasma torpedoes literally rained down upon weak points within Martyr's superstructure.
Covenant assault craft banked left and right, arced upwards, shot downwards, and dove painfully close to steel decks resulting in...
Coordinated barrel rolls.
They shot around pieces of wreckage with a strange ease coming only from experiences too gruesome to repeat. The Red Armored Elite pulled hard right, barely avoiding barrages from point defense guns, he was returning fire, highly concentrated plasma beams lancing into Martyr's stubborn shell. Almost enraged, Kerdel forced calm over himself.
He had a job to do.
No matter how pathetic, he had a job to do. The scientist's little experiment had gone well, the Covenant battle groups had seen the effectiveness of the lone warrior firsthand, feeling the loss.
They'd decided to recreate the effect.
Using specially hand picked "Guinea Pigs" for lack of a better term, teams of scientists had worked on the perfect warrior.
So perfect, that it was better than even one annoying thorn in the side of the battle fleets for far too long.
The scientists started with a single embryo, and made the specifications.
It had ninety-nine percent better reflexes, sight, hearing, smell, speed, stamina, co-ordination, and anything else one could think of, than the best human spawned whelp seen in battle.
Every fighting style, killing technique, strategy, weapon schematic, combat drill, or education was integrated into the brain via cloning and gel. Cybernetic enhancements were non-existent. It didn't need any.
However, without an upgraded version of the suit humans called MJOLNIR, It was equal to a devil known as a SPARTAN.
Kerdel noticed he was getting too low.
He tapped a few buttons on his holo panel, and his craft immediately started a sharp ascent.
"This is Revenant One, Revenant wing even off with my craft, assault formation." Kerdel commanded through his air mask. "Revenant Three, rear guard."
No response came, so he checked his rear camera.
Three was the first to arrive, hanging back, keeping position as rear-guard.
Kerdel clamped his mandibles tightly, he'd hoped the experiment would fail.
Soon after Revenant wing followed.
He soared downwards, towards some communications rig.
Three broke from formation seeing something Revenant wing didn't.
"This is one, three pull back into formation!" He cried in annoyance.
Three ignored him, and flew straight past the intended target.
"Three!" Kerdel cried. "Revenant cancel current strafing run, break off and regroup at flagship! This human vessel will be destroyed, I'll not have us failing due to some upstart lab experiment!"
Three banked left, then dove.
Kerdel chased the rogue fighter.
Three would notice the tail easily, he thought, but was making no move to evade. He watched as Three suddenly cleared point defense guns, shooting towards an exhaust shaft where fusion waste was ejected, and fired all weapons simultaneously.
Seeing what Three had planned he angled away and retreated.
(Music- Metallica- The Unforgiven II)
The human Destroyer exploded without warning, and Three was consumed.
He would be punished for this.
He looked back, seeing the flames glow even brighter.
Nothing could've made it through that...
The Experiment was only Seventeen human years of age, and already it had died.
Just then he saw a single pinkish speck.
Three's Seraph materialized on the edge of the explosion, and took up a position parallel to Kerdel.
He looked to Three, and stared the pilot down through the Seraph's windows, his eyes never leaving that single opaque visor. He could see Three's upper body, and three knew it.
Three laid an arm across its chest, its hand clenched in a fist just over its heart, in salute to him.
Kerdel laughed in spite of himself, and returned it.
Maybe he could like this thing after all...
"EtarÓ ‹a Three." Offered Kerdel. "The Ancients bless this day, an Ally is found!"
"haydo ™tas" Replied Three. "The Flame burns brightly."
With that the two Warriors turned from the Covenant flagship, they let their fighters sit motionless, and watched Martyr Burn.
One Week Later: Human Colony at Reach II
(Music- There She was Just A' Walking Down the Street)
Human fleets took up orbit around a blue and green planet, the paradise that was Reach II.
Pelican drop ships were used as transit shuttles from place to place, and Longsword patrol squadrons circled Destroyers and Cruisers from the 56th Fleet.
The civilian shuttle seemed out of place among the massive UNSC ships. Its unarmored chassis barely fitted "Flea" to even the smallest of the 56th.
As it neared one massive structure floating through space, it hailed a docking bay.
"Gatekeeper this is Arms Corp. Shuttle Seven requesting permission to dock." Said a voice with a South American accent.
Silence prevailed for several seconds while its identity was confirmed.
"Roger that Arms Corp. Shuttle seven," Stated a professional sounding voice with a Russian accent. "You are clear for entry, proceed to bay nine."
With that the data stream was cut, and the shuttle headed for docking bay nine as ordered.
As she landed her crew piled happily off the boarding ramp, eager for their shore leave.
Eric Fields wasn't like others though, he calmly strode past grease monkeys and pilots alike, watching them repair machinery and such.
It took him a while, but he finally got to the station's cafeteria, where he ate some crap ass MREs (Meals Ready to eat) and almost threw up.
Since he was feeling nauseous he took one of the guest bunks assigned to his crew and slept.
He didn't dream, he just, lay there with a sick stomach until he finally fell asleep.
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