So this is the beggining of chapter 2. I hope you will like Preston and his rather awkward personality. He is inspired from the personal frustrations I'm sure we all had at one time or another.
~~~
The Pelican dropship finally landed after an hour-long descent from the Atlas. As Randall and Mike got off, Mike threw a quick glance towards the sky thinking about Quinn's fleet which was leaving them to fend for themselves. Even though he regretted leaving the safety of the ships above, he wanted to find his "brother" just as much. So did Randall.
As soon as they got off the Pelican, Randall ordered the pilot to maneuvre the dropship somewhere where it would be out of view. Stealth was of the essence. Covenant ships could appear any time, and Randall did not want to risk being discovered. As soon as all the necesary preparations were made, Randall, Mike and the 6 Marines accompanying them went off to find Tom.
Meanwhile, in the cave, Tom was having a rather odd discussion with his new found companion Preston.
"So you mean to say that there was a colony here, and that you were one of the colonists?" Tom asked, perplexed by Preston's reply to one of his questions.
"Yes, how many times do I have to tell you so you can believe me? I was a member of the colony, until...until it happened." Preston said with a rather fearful voice.
"What happened? Was it when the other colonists dissapeared?" Tom asked.
"Yes...yes it was. I don't really know what happened. I just found myself, lying on the ground and bleeding and they were all gone. A strange smell was in the air, it didn't feel like something...natural. I looked for days and days but I couldn't find them. They might not have been very nice to me, but at least I wasn't alone. I didn't know what to do after they dissapeared." Preston said with a rather confused voice.
"So how did you end up here?" Tom asked. His suspicions grew with every one of Preston's replies.
"I...um...I...don't actually remember. I just woke up in this cave one morning. The colony was miles away and I didn't remember how I had gotten here. Before I found you, I used to wander back and forth between the colony and this cave. When I found you, I decided to drag you here, since the cave was closer. If you want, we can go back to the colony though it isn't in a pretty good state." Preston said.
"Hm, now that's pretty odd. Durendal, run a check and see if what he's saying is true. Back to my questions, what did you do with my weapons?" Tom asked, after asking his AI to see if what Preston was saying was true.
"They're in here, in the cave. I held them for you since you were unconscious. You can have them back, I have no need for them anymore...I mean, I don't need them." Preston said after gasping quickly. It seemed that he did not mean to say something.
"What do you mean...you don't need my guns anymore? What did you do with them?" Tom asked in an edgy voice.
"Nothing...nothing...I mean that there are no...um, lifeforms on this planet to warrant a need for...weapons. Here, take them. They're all yours." Preston said.
"Hm, I think I'll just go...rest a little. I want to be by myself and think. You...go back to whatever you were doing before I woke up." Tom said as he left Preston. Tom started thinking that Preston was to blame for the dissapearance of his fellow colonists. Tom also wanted to contact his "brothers" as soon as possible to see if a rescue team had been sent.
As soon as Tom had left, Preston began mumbling something to himself. After a while, he started talking to himself in an eery way.
"That went...well. Don't you think?" Preston said. After a short moment of silence, he started talking once more. "No, I don't think he's figured it out yet. But I don't want to be here when he does." After a while of silence, he started talking again. "No! It's your problem! I don't want anything more to do with it! We shouldn't have done what we did from the start! It was too extreme." Preston said with an angry tone. After a while he started talking once more. "Oh, just shut up. I'm tired of you. I'm alone because of you! I have no friends because of you! It's just your fault. Leave me alone."
As Preston was arguing...with himself in the other chamber, Tom was trying to contact Randall and Mike.
"Yes, I detect the presence of both Grendel and Achilles. And they're also rather close-by. I'll try to contact Grendel. Anything else?" Durendal asked Tom as he was doing what was asked of him.
"Yes. What did you come up with regarding the colony Preston was talking about?" Tom asked.
"I found something regarding a minor facility here exploiting some natural gases. All contact with it was lost several years ago, after which it was officially shut down. There are some official records regarding the colonists, but they are limited. I can't find any mention whatsoever about any Preston character. There are only some 12 personnel listed." Durendal said.
"Hm...strange. What do you think of this Preston guy?" Tom asked.
"I find him rather harmless, yet potentially threatening at the same time. I find it highly suspicious that he was the sole survivor after the dissapearance of the other colonists." Durendal said. Durendal had a built-in tone analyzer which analyzed the tone in which someone spoke, deciding at the same time if the person was lying or not. Based on this, Durendal was an accurate judge of character and motive.
"I don't think we should linger here too much. The sooner we're away from Preston the better. Have you managed to make a link with Randall?" Tom asked, returning to the most important manner at hand.
"Not yet. There seems to be a storm outside which is causing interference. We'll have to wait for it to pass." Durendal said.
"Very well then. As soon as this storm passes, we're out of here." Tom said as he lied down to rest.
While Tom was waiting for the storm to pass, Randall and Mike were exploring the nearby landscape. They had made their base camp inside the Pelican, which had been nestled in between some rocky outcrops. As they searched more and more for Tom, they were hit by the storm which prevented Durendal from communicating with their AIs. Wishing to take cover, they dashed for the nearest rocky outcropping.
Soon enough, they found a small cave. Curious to see what was inside, Randall, Mike and the 6 Marines entered. As they made their way further and further inside the cave, the enviroment was beginning to have an eery purple colour about it. Wires and metal soon started appearing as well. Before they could realize it, Randall and Mike had ended up inside the ruin of the Sacred Promise. Inside, they found the mangled remains of hundreds of Covenant and the burnt remnants of their once-mighty ship.
As the squad explored the ship, they also found some Covenant ship-board computers which were still working. The controls however were too alien for a human to wield. Based on their surroundings, Randall and the others figured that they were inside what used to be the bridge of the ship. As they explored further, they also discovered a small box-shaped apparatus of a bright colour. It stood out between the charred purple metal around it.
After a few minutes of tinkering with the device, Mike managed to activate it. From the noise it made, it was clear soon enough that the device was a black box which recorded the final moments of the ship. It started playing a recording of the final moments of the ship. Everyone stood and listened in awe.
"DAMAGE CONTROL: Fire! Fire! Multiple hull breaches aft of meridian control surfaces, decks seven through twelve!
CAPTAIN: Jettison chemical weapons stores and take all other weapons systems, deck four through sixteen, offline.
WEAPON CONTROL: Doing so...
ENGINEERING: [simultaneous with above] It is done!
CAPT: Bring Devotion in close to protect our dead zone... request additional fighter support from Commitment and Patience...
COMMUNICATIONS: Devotion, this is Sacred Promise... request close support our stern. I repeat. Sacred Promise requesting close support our stern.
COMM. (Devotion): Sacred Promise, this is Devotion... will arrive in 1200 seconds. This is Devotion, in transit now-arrival in 1190 seconds.
COMM.: Commitment and Patience, this is Sacred Promise... request additional fighter coverage. I repeat. Sacred Promise requesting additional fighter coverage.
COMM. (Commitment and Patience): Sacred Promise, say again... your signal is breaking up.
NAVIGATION (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] Contact alpha has fired its main weapon!
DC (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] ...solid projectiles closing at 18 kilometers per second. Their trajectory will carry them through main engineering and drive section... brace for impact!
COMM.: [simultaneous with above] Commitment and Patience, this is Sacred Promise... are you receiving me? Over.
NAV. (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] I've lost attitude control...
DC (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] Engineering is gone, Sir! Main drive is offline-I'm reading a fuel cell rupture! Fuel cell rupture, Sir!
CAPT. (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] Sound general alarm! All hands abandon ship!
COMM.: [simultaneous with above] Commitment and Patience, this is Sacred Promise... are you receiving me? Over.
COMM. (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] squeal! {Sound is most likely communications equipment failure due to near instantaneous vaporization of ship.}
NAV.: Commitment and Patience has suffered full fuel cell containment failure - brace for impact in 5... 4... 3... 2...
{Interruption: Klaxons and other warning sirens activate}
DC: Hull integrity compromised on all decks aft of meridian control surfaces!
NAV.: [simultaneous with above] Drive control completely offline!
CAPT.: Sound general alarm! All hands move forward of meridian, prepare to abandon ship!
NAV.: Sir! We are accelerating towards primary planet!
DC: [simultaneous with above] We have a catastrophic over-surge event in drive section! Main drive has entered runaway state!
CAPT.: Set shields full forward! All hands abandon ship! Engineering; jettison fuel cells!
NAV.: [simultaneous with above] We will be entering the primary planet's atmosphere in less than three minutes... still accelerating, Sir!
CAPT.: All hands not yet evacuated prepare for emergency atmospheric landing!
DC: Sir, structural integrity is under 63%-we have multiple hull breaches spanning several decks-the planet's atmosphere is apparently stable...
CAPT.: [simultaneous with above] Redirect 20% shields aft, if we survive atmospheric entry you may distribute shields as you see fit.
NAV.: Brace for atmospheric entry in 9... 8... 7... 6...
SECURITY: [simultaneous with above] Sir, still no response from engineering!
CAPT.: What?!
SEC.: [simultaneous with above] There are no life-signs in engineering and I'm reading all fuel cells are still on board!
NAV.: [simultaneous with above] 5... 4... 3... 2..."
With the recording over, the squad could only think about the fate of the crew of the ship. One thing however bothered Mike greatly. What if the captain was still alive. The Ship Master of a Covenant ship was always a foe to be reckoned with. Unbeknownst to Mike, and the rest of the squad, a few of the crew members had survived the crash and Fleet Master Kusovai was among them. Kusovai, together with Voro and a few other Elites had survived the impending crash and were now recovering from the shock of crash landing on the planet.
As the 2 different groups were exploring the ship for 2 different purposes, the humans trying to discover as many things about it as possible, and the Elites trying to get off, a meeting would inevitable...
~~~
I hope you liked this part of Gray Team.
Full Version: Gray Team
Hmmm, sounds like the next update is going to get messy. I look forward to it.
The next part of chapter 2. Enjoy.
~~~
Kusovai, wanting to see if any more of his crew had survived the crash, divided his remaining Elites into 3 groups of 3 individuals so that they could search a wider area of the ship. Kusovai ordered Voro to accompany 2 other Elites while he himself grouped with 2 of his former subordinates. Kusovai hoped that more had survived the crash, so that this operation wouldn't be a total failure. He was also concerned about the fact that the humans had actually won the earlier battle and had inflicted heavy cassualties upon his task-force.
Even though he told Voro that he did not care about politics and the many intrigues surrounding Covenant religion, he was also very concerned about being labelled a Heretic for his incompetence of being defeated by the humans. There had been some Fleet Masters before him that had been punished for their failures. Kusovai also knew that the Elite members of the Hierarch Council would probably vouch for him, yet the influence the Brutes had with the Prophets would probably also overrule anything the Elite councilors decided.
"Alright Kusovai, we're moving out. Be alert while searching the ship, we mustn't lose what we have left." Voro said as he left with his group. This reminded Kusovai of the task at hand, and made his mind wander from the subject of Covenant politics.
The 3 groups all started searching separate parts of the ship. Kusovai had told them before-hand that they would meet at one of the brigs of the ship after properly searching every nearby corridor for survivors. As the surviving Elites spread out, the Spartans along with the Marines, after searching the bridge of the ship also decided to separate to search for any intact Covenant technology that could be captured and taken back to Reach.
Covenant technology was, unlike human technology, is imitative rather than innovative. Their technology was largely mimicry of the leftover Forerunner artifacts; their weaponry was largely plasma based and most of their vehicles were capable of hovering. Most of the Covenant's hand-held weapons used magnetic coils to direct the usually unstable plasma energy.
While Covenant technology was, on the whole, far more advanced than humanity's, the Covenant seemed to be ignorant of how precise or powerful their technology could be. Covenant engines, for example, were more precise and faster than a Human engine, but the Covenant used their engines slower and less precisely than they could be treated.
Whenever humans could capture Covenant technology and use it for their own goals, they would almost always use it to its maximum potential. UNSC AIs almost always marvelled at how ignorant the Covenant were when it came to their technology. In this end, Randall hoped that he could retrieve a few samples of Covenant technology, which could be adapted to suit human needs. Thus, his team split up. Randall together with 3 Marines went in one direction while Mike with 3 other Marines went in the other direction. Their meeting place was settled in the brig section of the ship.
As Mike and his team got closer and closer to the birg section, they found a corridor going towards the left. Since they had not explored the ship in that direction, they decided to follow the corridor. The corridor eventually led to a damaged blast door. Burned purple metal covered the edges. Mike, using his super-human strength, pushed the 2 parts of the door apart, opening the door in the process. As he entered, the Marines stood for a while and looked amazed at Mike's feat.
"I sure know I want one of those for Christmas." one of the Marines said, reffering to Mike's Mjolnir MK. V suit.
"That makes 2 of us." Another Marine said in aproval.
The room which was behind the blast doors was a rather large chamber with 3 doors leading from it. One to the left, one to the right and one in front. They all seemed rather functional. Mike stood for a few moments, looking at the chamber in order to decided where to go. As he stood and thought, one of the doors suddenly opened. 3 tall figues emmerged. It was Voro and his 2 Elites. Both the Elites and the Marines raised their weapons, aiming at one and other, yet none of the two groups made the decisive move by firing a shot.
"Ah, so we meet again Demon. I though our bomb had slain you back on your ship, yet it seems you're more resilient than I thought. This time, I can kill you properly since there is no bomb to worry about." Voro said with a measure of hate in his tone. He was upset that he couldn't finish the fight last time.
"Your boarding parties couldn't plant any bombs on my ship since they never managed to properly get off their ships. I also don't remember fighting you, yet maybe it was because because of the dozens of scum like you which I killed. It'll be a pleasure killing you now though." Mike said as he pointed his weapon towards Voro. Voro had mistaken him for Tom.
As Mike prepared to fire the first shot, another one of the doors opened, and from it emmerged Kusovai and his 2 Elites. They also pointed their weapons at Mike and the Marines.
"Humans? Already? I didn't think you'd come after us so soon. Still we have you outnumbered without any ways out, Demon." Kusovai said as he and his Elites pointed their weapons towards Mike and his Marines.
Another of the blast doors opened, revealing Randall and his 3 Marines. They all pointed their guns towards Kusovai's group of Elites. All groups now had their guns pointed at eachother. It seemed that this would all end in one bloody showdown.
"Good thing you came to even the odds Randall. They had me surrounded for a moment." Mike said in relief.
"2 of you!? You Demons never cease to surprise me. Nevertheles, the greater your number, the greater the challenge. Let's get this over with Kusovai." Voro said as he prepared to shoot Mike. Mike prepared to do the same thing to Voro.
As the 2 sides prepared to kill themselves, a grenade suddenly bounced between them. As blue plasma suddenly flooded the chamber, the 2 sides were left blind for a moment. Mike and Randall could feel themselves being pulled back by something. The Marines followed them, leaving the Covenant to shoot aimlessly around the room.
As soon as the haze cleared, the thing which pulled Mike and Randall revealed itself to be Tom. All 3 of them had a gasp of amazement at the sight of eachother.
"Tom!" Mike and Randall both shouted.
"Yeah, I'm glad to see you guys too. Let's get outta here!" Tom said as he ran towards the exit.
As they ran towards the cave through which they entered the ship in the first place, they were surprised by the other group of 3 Elites. The Elites, seemingly amazed by the sight of 3 Spartans in one spot, hesitated to fire for a moment. Just enough for them to be mowed down by the coordinated fire of the Spartans and the Marine fireteam.
"Seems we haven't lost our touch." Mike ironically remarked after quickly dispatching the 3 Elites.
"Seems you haven't lost your big mouth, keep going. We're not out of this yet." Tom said as he urged them on.
"Okay, okay, but what's the fuss about?" Randall asked as they all ran at the same time.
"Covenant dropships...loads of them. They're searching for crashed ships from the battle. We better hide quickly before they find us." Tom said. He made his point easily.
As the 9 of them emmerged from the cave through which they had entered the ruin of the ship, Tom quickly urged them to follow him back to Preston's cave since they could hide there. The others all followed him, pretty much unwilingly.
When they finally reached Preston's cave, all of the Marines sat down. They could barely talk because of the exhaustion. One of them could barely say a few words regarding the run to the cave.
"It was...worse than...bootcamp." the Marine said with a tired voice.
The Spartans however seemed fresh after the 3 kilometer run to the cave. They had been trained just for that manner of operations. Get in, do as much damage as possible, get out quickly. It was the only thing you could do when fighting the Covenant. Mike and Randall seemed happy to see their team mate once more.
"How did you find us?" Mike asked, rather bewildered.
"I found a lot of footprints, human footprints, leading to a cave. You weren't too cautious in hiding your tracks." Tom said.
"We were in a hurry. Besides, it was a good thing in the end. You were there to distract the Covenant while we got away. Are there any other survivors?" Randall asked, wanting to get to the point.
"Not that I know off. There were other lifepods plummeting to the ground during the descent, but none of them landed really close enough for me to investigate if there were any survivors. So...now that you've found me...when are we getting off this rock?" Tom asked.
"We...aren't. At least not momentarily." Randall said with a rather hesitating tone of voice.
"We...we aren't leaving? Why? Why aren't we leaving?" Tom asked in a rather desperate voice.
"Quinn's ships couldn't stick around to wait for us. Covenant reinforcements were hot on our trail. They had to...leave the system. But they'll be back...when they can." Randall said to Tom, explaining the situation. He wasn't too happy about it but at least they were all together now.
"Oh great...just great. It had to happen to us didn't it? You shouldn't have come in the first place. Now the Covenant know we're here and they'll surely be coming for us. Perhaps we could deal with a hundred Covenant. Perhaps even a few hundred looking for us. But how are we gonna fend off a whole Covenant army?" Tom asked.
"We've got Lotus mines and a Havok nuke back on the Pelican. And enough ammo to hold us for a few months. All we have to do is..." Randall was interrupted by Tom.
"Hide untill the Covenant find us." Tom added in a rather mocking way.
"No...we'll create a security perimeter around this cave. We'll plant Lotus mines at the entrance and around the outskirts...and we'll keep the Havok nuke for last. Perhaps we could blow up one of their bigger ships...if it lands." Randall said in a calm voice.
"Perhaps we could make use of a Theta maneuvre, who knows?" Mike added, trying to help the planning.
"Yeah, I've seen a few rocky hills with a jagged edge which are perfect for that." Randall said. All the while, Tom had been keeping silent, seemingly thinking about their predicament. He stood up suddenly and looked around the cave.
"We're in this together guys. We fight together...we die together. For good or for worst, we can't run away from the Covenant like we have been thus far. It's do or die now. It's time to see who's better...us or them. Whatever the consequence...I'm with you until the end." Tom said in a conclusive manner. He had finally decided that they were Spartans, and that they had trained their whole lives in preparation for this moment. It was the time to put that training to the test.
~~~
I hope you liked this part of "Gray Team".
~~~
Kusovai, wanting to see if any more of his crew had survived the crash, divided his remaining Elites into 3 groups of 3 individuals so that they could search a wider area of the ship. Kusovai ordered Voro to accompany 2 other Elites while he himself grouped with 2 of his former subordinates. Kusovai hoped that more had survived the crash, so that this operation wouldn't be a total failure. He was also concerned about the fact that the humans had actually won the earlier battle and had inflicted heavy cassualties upon his task-force.
Even though he told Voro that he did not care about politics and the many intrigues surrounding Covenant religion, he was also very concerned about being labelled a Heretic for his incompetence of being defeated by the humans. There had been some Fleet Masters before him that had been punished for their failures. Kusovai also knew that the Elite members of the Hierarch Council would probably vouch for him, yet the influence the Brutes had with the Prophets would probably also overrule anything the Elite councilors decided.
"Alright Kusovai, we're moving out. Be alert while searching the ship, we mustn't lose what we have left." Voro said as he left with his group. This reminded Kusovai of the task at hand, and made his mind wander from the subject of Covenant politics.
The 3 groups all started searching separate parts of the ship. Kusovai had told them before-hand that they would meet at one of the brigs of the ship after properly searching every nearby corridor for survivors. As the surviving Elites spread out, the Spartans along with the Marines, after searching the bridge of the ship also decided to separate to search for any intact Covenant technology that could be captured and taken back to Reach.
Covenant technology was, unlike human technology, is imitative rather than innovative. Their technology was largely mimicry of the leftover Forerunner artifacts; their weaponry was largely plasma based and most of their vehicles were capable of hovering. Most of the Covenant's hand-held weapons used magnetic coils to direct the usually unstable plasma energy.
While Covenant technology was, on the whole, far more advanced than humanity's, the Covenant seemed to be ignorant of how precise or powerful their technology could be. Covenant engines, for example, were more precise and faster than a Human engine, but the Covenant used their engines slower and less precisely than they could be treated.
Whenever humans could capture Covenant technology and use it for their own goals, they would almost always use it to its maximum potential. UNSC AIs almost always marvelled at how ignorant the Covenant were when it came to their technology. In this end, Randall hoped that he could retrieve a few samples of Covenant technology, which could be adapted to suit human needs. Thus, his team split up. Randall together with 3 Marines went in one direction while Mike with 3 other Marines went in the other direction. Their meeting place was settled in the brig section of the ship.
As Mike and his team got closer and closer to the birg section, they found a corridor going towards the left. Since they had not explored the ship in that direction, they decided to follow the corridor. The corridor eventually led to a damaged blast door. Burned purple metal covered the edges. Mike, using his super-human strength, pushed the 2 parts of the door apart, opening the door in the process. As he entered, the Marines stood for a while and looked amazed at Mike's feat.
"I sure know I want one of those for Christmas." one of the Marines said, reffering to Mike's Mjolnir MK. V suit.
"That makes 2 of us." Another Marine said in aproval.
The room which was behind the blast doors was a rather large chamber with 3 doors leading from it. One to the left, one to the right and one in front. They all seemed rather functional. Mike stood for a few moments, looking at the chamber in order to decided where to go. As he stood and thought, one of the doors suddenly opened. 3 tall figues emmerged. It was Voro and his 2 Elites. Both the Elites and the Marines raised their weapons, aiming at one and other, yet none of the two groups made the decisive move by firing a shot.
"Ah, so we meet again Demon. I though our bomb had slain you back on your ship, yet it seems you're more resilient than I thought. This time, I can kill you properly since there is no bomb to worry about." Voro said with a measure of hate in his tone. He was upset that he couldn't finish the fight last time.
"Your boarding parties couldn't plant any bombs on my ship since they never managed to properly get off their ships. I also don't remember fighting you, yet maybe it was because because of the dozens of scum like you which I killed. It'll be a pleasure killing you now though." Mike said as he pointed his weapon towards Voro. Voro had mistaken him for Tom.
As Mike prepared to fire the first shot, another one of the doors opened, and from it emmerged Kusovai and his 2 Elites. They also pointed their weapons at Mike and the Marines.
"Humans? Already? I didn't think you'd come after us so soon. Still we have you outnumbered without any ways out, Demon." Kusovai said as he and his Elites pointed their weapons towards Mike and his Marines.
Another of the blast doors opened, revealing Randall and his 3 Marines. They all pointed their guns towards Kusovai's group of Elites. All groups now had their guns pointed at eachother. It seemed that this would all end in one bloody showdown.
"Good thing you came to even the odds Randall. They had me surrounded for a moment." Mike said in relief.
"2 of you!? You Demons never cease to surprise me. Nevertheles, the greater your number, the greater the challenge. Let's get this over with Kusovai." Voro said as he prepared to shoot Mike. Mike prepared to do the same thing to Voro.
As the 2 sides prepared to kill themselves, a grenade suddenly bounced between them. As blue plasma suddenly flooded the chamber, the 2 sides were left blind for a moment. Mike and Randall could feel themselves being pulled back by something. The Marines followed them, leaving the Covenant to shoot aimlessly around the room.
As soon as the haze cleared, the thing which pulled Mike and Randall revealed itself to be Tom. All 3 of them had a gasp of amazement at the sight of eachother.
"Tom!" Mike and Randall both shouted.
"Yeah, I'm glad to see you guys too. Let's get outta here!" Tom said as he ran towards the exit.
As they ran towards the cave through which they entered the ship in the first place, they were surprised by the other group of 3 Elites. The Elites, seemingly amazed by the sight of 3 Spartans in one spot, hesitated to fire for a moment. Just enough for them to be mowed down by the coordinated fire of the Spartans and the Marine fireteam.
"Seems we haven't lost our touch." Mike ironically remarked after quickly dispatching the 3 Elites.
"Seems you haven't lost your big mouth, keep going. We're not out of this yet." Tom said as he urged them on.
"Okay, okay, but what's the fuss about?" Randall asked as they all ran at the same time.
"Covenant dropships...loads of them. They're searching for crashed ships from the battle. We better hide quickly before they find us." Tom said. He made his point easily.
As the 9 of them emmerged from the cave through which they had entered the ruin of the ship, Tom quickly urged them to follow him back to Preston's cave since they could hide there. The others all followed him, pretty much unwilingly.
When they finally reached Preston's cave, all of the Marines sat down. They could barely talk because of the exhaustion. One of them could barely say a few words regarding the run to the cave.
"It was...worse than...bootcamp." the Marine said with a tired voice.
The Spartans however seemed fresh after the 3 kilometer run to the cave. They had been trained just for that manner of operations. Get in, do as much damage as possible, get out quickly. It was the only thing you could do when fighting the Covenant. Mike and Randall seemed happy to see their team mate once more.
"How did you find us?" Mike asked, rather bewildered.
"I found a lot of footprints, human footprints, leading to a cave. You weren't too cautious in hiding your tracks." Tom said.
"We were in a hurry. Besides, it was a good thing in the end. You were there to distract the Covenant while we got away. Are there any other survivors?" Randall asked, wanting to get to the point.
"Not that I know off. There were other lifepods plummeting to the ground during the descent, but none of them landed really close enough for me to investigate if there were any survivors. So...now that you've found me...when are we getting off this rock?" Tom asked.
"We...aren't. At least not momentarily." Randall said with a rather hesitating tone of voice.
"We...we aren't leaving? Why? Why aren't we leaving?" Tom asked in a rather desperate voice.
"Quinn's ships couldn't stick around to wait for us. Covenant reinforcements were hot on our trail. They had to...leave the system. But they'll be back...when they can." Randall said to Tom, explaining the situation. He wasn't too happy about it but at least they were all together now.
"Oh great...just great. It had to happen to us didn't it? You shouldn't have come in the first place. Now the Covenant know we're here and they'll surely be coming for us. Perhaps we could deal with a hundred Covenant. Perhaps even a few hundred looking for us. But how are we gonna fend off a whole Covenant army?" Tom asked.
"We've got Lotus mines and a Havok nuke back on the Pelican. And enough ammo to hold us for a few months. All we have to do is..." Randall was interrupted by Tom.
"Hide untill the Covenant find us." Tom added in a rather mocking way.
"No...we'll create a security perimeter around this cave. We'll plant Lotus mines at the entrance and around the outskirts...and we'll keep the Havok nuke for last. Perhaps we could blow up one of their bigger ships...if it lands." Randall said in a calm voice.
"Perhaps we could make use of a Theta maneuvre, who knows?" Mike added, trying to help the planning.
"Yeah, I've seen a few rocky hills with a jagged edge which are perfect for that." Randall said. All the while, Tom had been keeping silent, seemingly thinking about their predicament. He stood up suddenly and looked around the cave.
"We're in this together guys. We fight together...we die together. For good or for worst, we can't run away from the Covenant like we have been thus far. It's do or die now. It's time to see who's better...us or them. Whatever the consequence...I'm with you until the end." Tom said in a conclusive manner. He had finally decided that they were Spartans, and that they had trained their whole lives in preparation for this moment. It was the time to put that training to the test.
~~~
I hope you liked this part of "Gray Team".
Woah, things got a little hectic back there. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Kusovai and co yet.
Excellent work.
Excellent work.
Wow the tension during the faceoff scene was great! Things are certainly heating up. The Spartans got their work cut out for them, especially since the chance of rescue is very slim. We'll see how well they do I guess.
This part will introduce yet another character which will be a villain to compare with Kusovai. I hope you like him.
~~~
As the Spartans and the Marines were planning out their plan of action on the surface of the planet, dozens of Phantom dropships ferried Covenant troops to the planet in order to search for the missing Kusovai and his second-in-command Voro. These Phantoms were coming from a small Covenant flotilla in orbit around the planet.
The Covenant flotilla was made up of a dozen light Covenant Cruisers accompanied by 2 Carriers and 1 large CCS Battlecruiser. The flagship of the flotilla was the Battlecruiser and the flotilla as a whole was commanded by a Brute Fleet Master. That showed just how much influence the Brutes had with the Prophets. Even though Brutes hated the Elites, this time a Brute was sent on a rescue mission which had, as a target, a shipwrecked Elite commander.
A most disgracing mission indeed for the Brute Fleet Master Bracktanus. Bracktanus was just like most Brutes, a great hulking creature of superhuman strength with a temper to match. What Bracktanus was most famous for however, was his killing of an Elite in a public square near a Covenant temple. For that sort of crime, any member of the Covenant would have been executed on sight, yet Bracktanus was granted special indulgence by the Prophets of the Hierarch Council.
Bracktanus was now sent by the Prophets to rescue Kusovai. Even though he despised the notion of saving an Elite, Bracktanus still had some pleasure in the matter since he knew that Kusovai would surely be branded a Heretic for his failure then executed. As Bracktanus stood on the bridge of his ship, surveying a tactical readout of his forces searching the surface, one of his subordinates, another Brute, came to him. Bracktanus' ship had a large contingent of Brutes serving aboard. It was one of the Brute-controlled ships of the Covenant armada. There were others and, even though the Elites said it was outrageous, many more Brute-controlled ships were appearing.
"Why are you interrupting me?" Bracktanus asked in an annoyed voice. He greatly disliked being interrupted from his business for no good reason.
"We have sent out a number of dropships to search for the incompetent Elite commander sir." the Brute said in a submissive voice.
"If it would have been after me, I would have left him there to rot. That is the price of failure, and a failure like his has not been seen in many, many years. Find him as soon as possible then glass the surface of the planet." Bracktanus said.
"The whole planet sir? But it is devoid of life. It would be a waste of our time when we could be needed elsewhere." the Brute said with surprising courage.
"As far as I knew, Bracktanus was commander of this ship, not some back-talking subordinate. When you're Master of this ship, you can crash it into High Charity for all I care. There have been reports of humans hiding out on the surface of the planet, Demons among them. We can't take any chances, thus we must glass the planet. This is the last time I will explain my actions to you, now get back to your duties!" Bracktanus said in an angry voice. He had been annoyed by the Brute which questioned his choices, a thing Bracktanus was neither used to nor highly acceptant of.
"Understood...sir." The Brute said as he left.
That was the way Bracktanus, and many Brutes, were. Ruthless and uncomprimising. Bracktanus especially wasn't about to let anything get in the way of his success. Before he would glass the planet, he decided to hire a group of Jackal bountry hunters to kill or, if possible, capture the Spartans to raise his chances of success. To this end, he called one of his lieutenants to him.
"Yes sir, what do you wish?" the Brute asked.
"Have the Jackals arrived yet?" Bracktanus asked. Bracktanus had been very thorough in hiring this particular group of Jackals. Bracktanus had especially chosen them because they hunted for money and not for the sport of it. Thus, they wouldn't do aimless things such as evening the odds so their prey could have a fair chance. No, it was all about the money.
"Not yet sir, they seem to be having difficulties with their ship. As soon as they arrive however, they will get to work." the Brute said.
"Good...remember to tell them to capture the Demons if possible. If not, killing them will be enough. No need for unnecessary risks. Now get back to your duties." Bracktanus said in an authoritative voice.
"Yes sir." the Brute said while leaving.
Meanwhile, on the planet's surface, Tom together with Mike were setting up Lotus mines around the security perimeter of Preston's cave. The Havok nuke had already been well hiden inside the cave. While planting the mines, they were careful to avoid being spotted by any Covenant search parties. After planting one mine, Tom prepared to run from behind the large rock he was hiding to another piece of cover.
"Alright, you sprint quickly to that large boulder and I'll cover you while you're in the open. On my mark." Mike whispered as he raised his Assault Rifle to cover Tom. "Mark!"
Tom covered the few meters in the blink of an eye. As soon as he had reached the boulder he quickly rolled to stop from his sprint. After glancing around to see if anything was amiss, Tom winked an amber acknowledgement light twice to tell Mike to wait. He had heard a strange sound ahead. Moments later, a Grunt passed by yet didn't see Tom and Mike behind the boulders they were hiding. Not wanting to draw attention, Tom quickly planted another Lotus mine then drew his Assault Rifle in preparation for a possible Covenant attack.
After waiting a few minutes, a whole squad of Grunts led by an Elite passed by. The Elite, after letting the Grunts pass first, lingered for a few moments, looking around suspiciously. For a second Mike prepared to bring the Elite down with one swift bullet to the head while the Elite's shield was unactivated. The Elite however after looking around went on his way. Reliefed, Mike made a quick lateral gesture with his hand, signalling Tom to stay cool. He then motioned Tom to come forward by flashing his index finger twice quickly. These gestures were all well-known by the Spartans since their training begun.
Decades of fighting against an increasingly adaptive enemy forced the Spartans to develop a shorthand communications system for use against the Covenant. Many of these ideas were known and understood by the Spartans only, as well-guarded secrets. These also sometimes made normal conversations with the Spartans impossible, since they could do a great deal inside their MJOLNIR armor that was indistinguishable from the outside.
After the Covenant search squad passed, Tom and Mike decided to plant one more mine then return to the cave. They decided to plant this mine a little farther from the perimeter, so that the Covenant would have an unpleasant surprise if they approached and be deceived into thinking that the cave was somewhere else. To do this, Tom and Mike decided to plant the mine in a narrow ravine between two rocky outcroppings which led to another part of the rocky hill country of Caleston.
Mike decided that he should plant the bomb while Tom covered him. After quickly making up a plan, Mike dashed to the ravine while Tom covered him from a few meters away. As soon as the mine was set, Mike quickly glanced back to Tom yet he didn't like what he saw. Tom shook his head from side to side. This meant "trouble ahead" in the Spartan sign language. Mike froze and raised his Assault Rifle in preparation. Tom slowly retreated behind a boulder and prepared to come out guns blazing at the shortest notice.
Moments later, a Grunt came by. He passed the ravine, getting dangerously close to it. As soon as he was with his back to the ravine, he was quickly grabbed then wrestled to the ground by Mike, who dragged him in the ravine. While behind cover, Mike quickly slit the neck of the Grunt using a knife. After quietly disposing of the lookout, Mike hid his body under some rocks which were placed just behind the Lotus mine. That way, if another Covenant squad would come, they would invariably come to investigate the odd pile of rocks. Once they did, they would have a fiery surprise.
As soon as he was finished with the Grunt, Mike quickly glanced towards the direction from which the Grunt came. There was nothing to be seen. After that, Mike dashed towards the boulder behind which Tom stood. Tom quickly bumped Mike's shoulder, a move which meant "relax".
"Let's move." Tom quickly whispered.
The two then quietly returned back to the cave. They had had enough of sneaking around for one day and they had come dangerously close to being detected twice. Covenant patrols were also getting more and more thorough. Kusovai had been found and he was already leading the search parties to find the humans.
Against the wishes of the Brutes which accompanied the reinforcements, Kusovai wished to personally search for the Spartans and their Marine companions. He felt he had a duty to find and kill the Spartans to try and reedem what was left of his honour. Seeing that Kusovai couldn't be convinced otherwise, the Brutes left in a Phantom dropship to report to Bracktanus.
As more and more search parties left to look for the Spartans, Kusovai, who had set his headquarters in the ruined hull of the Sacred Promise, talked with Voro about the Brutes which had just left.
"It is...worrying, to say the least, that these Brutes have urged us to climb aboard one of their ships and leave the planet." Voro said with a clearly concerned tone.
"I will not abandon my search. These Demons will found and dealt with, and it will be by my hand only, not the hand of some Brute calling himself a Fleet Master. They are my concern and mine alone." Kusovai said with a firm tone.
"Yes, they are our concern. I have even fought one aboard one of their ships making it my personal quest to destroy the Demons yet I doubt the Brutes will understand this. They do not have our honour. I do not believe they have a notion of something they have started being bound to them until they finish it. The only thing similar to that in their culture is their thirst for power...and their hatred of our kind." Voro said.
"Regardless...that Brute may come here himself, yet I will never relinquish my search. My honour, or better said what remains of it, depends on it. If he does come here, treating me like I'm his subordinate, I will not hesitate to chalenge him to battle to see who is more fit to conduct this search." Kusovai said in a rather outraged voice.
"And you said you weren't interested in politics." Voro said with a slight smile.
"I said it wasn't my concern...until now. If those Brutes interfere in my affairs, and tell me how I should be going about doing them then it is my concern. And those Brutes would best do to stay out of it." Kusovai said. His anger had now been funelled towards the Brutes.
"I'm glad to see we finally share the same view, Kusovai. You can count on me in your search as I will always stand by your side." Voro said.
"Very well then. If it shall come to it, we shall show these Brutes who the true warriors of the Covenant are...regardless if the Prophets support them or not."
"Bold words from one who has been defeated by humans...though I cannot say much better things about myself." Voro said. He was testing Kusovai to see how resolute he was in this matter.
"They can have the Prophets on their side, they can even have the Jackals and the Drones for all I care yet they will still feel our wrath." Kusovai said. Voro was now convinced of his resoluteness.
With the discussion of politics over, Kusovai and Voro returned to their main concern: the Spartans on Caleston.
~~~
I hope you liked this part and I also hope you like Bracktanus.
~~~
As the Spartans and the Marines were planning out their plan of action on the surface of the planet, dozens of Phantom dropships ferried Covenant troops to the planet in order to search for the missing Kusovai and his second-in-command Voro. These Phantoms were coming from a small Covenant flotilla in orbit around the planet.
The Covenant flotilla was made up of a dozen light Covenant Cruisers accompanied by 2 Carriers and 1 large CCS Battlecruiser. The flagship of the flotilla was the Battlecruiser and the flotilla as a whole was commanded by a Brute Fleet Master. That showed just how much influence the Brutes had with the Prophets. Even though Brutes hated the Elites, this time a Brute was sent on a rescue mission which had, as a target, a shipwrecked Elite commander.
A most disgracing mission indeed for the Brute Fleet Master Bracktanus. Bracktanus was just like most Brutes, a great hulking creature of superhuman strength with a temper to match. What Bracktanus was most famous for however, was his killing of an Elite in a public square near a Covenant temple. For that sort of crime, any member of the Covenant would have been executed on sight, yet Bracktanus was granted special indulgence by the Prophets of the Hierarch Council.
Bracktanus was now sent by the Prophets to rescue Kusovai. Even though he despised the notion of saving an Elite, Bracktanus still had some pleasure in the matter since he knew that Kusovai would surely be branded a Heretic for his failure then executed. As Bracktanus stood on the bridge of his ship, surveying a tactical readout of his forces searching the surface, one of his subordinates, another Brute, came to him. Bracktanus' ship had a large contingent of Brutes serving aboard. It was one of the Brute-controlled ships of the Covenant armada. There were others and, even though the Elites said it was outrageous, many more Brute-controlled ships were appearing.
"Why are you interrupting me?" Bracktanus asked in an annoyed voice. He greatly disliked being interrupted from his business for no good reason.
"We have sent out a number of dropships to search for the incompetent Elite commander sir." the Brute said in a submissive voice.
"If it would have been after me, I would have left him there to rot. That is the price of failure, and a failure like his has not been seen in many, many years. Find him as soon as possible then glass the surface of the planet." Bracktanus said.
"The whole planet sir? But it is devoid of life. It would be a waste of our time when we could be needed elsewhere." the Brute said with surprising courage.
"As far as I knew, Bracktanus was commander of this ship, not some back-talking subordinate. When you're Master of this ship, you can crash it into High Charity for all I care. There have been reports of humans hiding out on the surface of the planet, Demons among them. We can't take any chances, thus we must glass the planet. This is the last time I will explain my actions to you, now get back to your duties!" Bracktanus said in an angry voice. He had been annoyed by the Brute which questioned his choices, a thing Bracktanus was neither used to nor highly acceptant of.
"Understood...sir." The Brute said as he left.
That was the way Bracktanus, and many Brutes, were. Ruthless and uncomprimising. Bracktanus especially wasn't about to let anything get in the way of his success. Before he would glass the planet, he decided to hire a group of Jackal bountry hunters to kill or, if possible, capture the Spartans to raise his chances of success. To this end, he called one of his lieutenants to him.
"Yes sir, what do you wish?" the Brute asked.
"Have the Jackals arrived yet?" Bracktanus asked. Bracktanus had been very thorough in hiring this particular group of Jackals. Bracktanus had especially chosen them because they hunted for money and not for the sport of it. Thus, they wouldn't do aimless things such as evening the odds so their prey could have a fair chance. No, it was all about the money.
"Not yet sir, they seem to be having difficulties with their ship. As soon as they arrive however, they will get to work." the Brute said.
"Good...remember to tell them to capture the Demons if possible. If not, killing them will be enough. No need for unnecessary risks. Now get back to your duties." Bracktanus said in an authoritative voice.
"Yes sir." the Brute said while leaving.
Meanwhile, on the planet's surface, Tom together with Mike were setting up Lotus mines around the security perimeter of Preston's cave. The Havok nuke had already been well hiden inside the cave. While planting the mines, they were careful to avoid being spotted by any Covenant search parties. After planting one mine, Tom prepared to run from behind the large rock he was hiding to another piece of cover.
"Alright, you sprint quickly to that large boulder and I'll cover you while you're in the open. On my mark." Mike whispered as he raised his Assault Rifle to cover Tom. "Mark!"
Tom covered the few meters in the blink of an eye. As soon as he had reached the boulder he quickly rolled to stop from his sprint. After glancing around to see if anything was amiss, Tom winked an amber acknowledgement light twice to tell Mike to wait. He had heard a strange sound ahead. Moments later, a Grunt passed by yet didn't see Tom and Mike behind the boulders they were hiding. Not wanting to draw attention, Tom quickly planted another Lotus mine then drew his Assault Rifle in preparation for a possible Covenant attack.
After waiting a few minutes, a whole squad of Grunts led by an Elite passed by. The Elite, after letting the Grunts pass first, lingered for a few moments, looking around suspiciously. For a second Mike prepared to bring the Elite down with one swift bullet to the head while the Elite's shield was unactivated. The Elite however after looking around went on his way. Reliefed, Mike made a quick lateral gesture with his hand, signalling Tom to stay cool. He then motioned Tom to come forward by flashing his index finger twice quickly. These gestures were all well-known by the Spartans since their training begun.
Decades of fighting against an increasingly adaptive enemy forced the Spartans to develop a shorthand communications system for use against the Covenant. Many of these ideas were known and understood by the Spartans only, as well-guarded secrets. These also sometimes made normal conversations with the Spartans impossible, since they could do a great deal inside their MJOLNIR armor that was indistinguishable from the outside.
After the Covenant search squad passed, Tom and Mike decided to plant one more mine then return to the cave. They decided to plant this mine a little farther from the perimeter, so that the Covenant would have an unpleasant surprise if they approached and be deceived into thinking that the cave was somewhere else. To do this, Tom and Mike decided to plant the mine in a narrow ravine between two rocky outcroppings which led to another part of the rocky hill country of Caleston.
Mike decided that he should plant the bomb while Tom covered him. After quickly making up a plan, Mike dashed to the ravine while Tom covered him from a few meters away. As soon as the mine was set, Mike quickly glanced back to Tom yet he didn't like what he saw. Tom shook his head from side to side. This meant "trouble ahead" in the Spartan sign language. Mike froze and raised his Assault Rifle in preparation. Tom slowly retreated behind a boulder and prepared to come out guns blazing at the shortest notice.
Moments later, a Grunt came by. He passed the ravine, getting dangerously close to it. As soon as he was with his back to the ravine, he was quickly grabbed then wrestled to the ground by Mike, who dragged him in the ravine. While behind cover, Mike quickly slit the neck of the Grunt using a knife. After quietly disposing of the lookout, Mike hid his body under some rocks which were placed just behind the Lotus mine. That way, if another Covenant squad would come, they would invariably come to investigate the odd pile of rocks. Once they did, they would have a fiery surprise.
As soon as he was finished with the Grunt, Mike quickly glanced towards the direction from which the Grunt came. There was nothing to be seen. After that, Mike dashed towards the boulder behind which Tom stood. Tom quickly bumped Mike's shoulder, a move which meant "relax".
"Let's move." Tom quickly whispered.
The two then quietly returned back to the cave. They had had enough of sneaking around for one day and they had come dangerously close to being detected twice. Covenant patrols were also getting more and more thorough. Kusovai had been found and he was already leading the search parties to find the humans.
Against the wishes of the Brutes which accompanied the reinforcements, Kusovai wished to personally search for the Spartans and their Marine companions. He felt he had a duty to find and kill the Spartans to try and reedem what was left of his honour. Seeing that Kusovai couldn't be convinced otherwise, the Brutes left in a Phantom dropship to report to Bracktanus.
As more and more search parties left to look for the Spartans, Kusovai, who had set his headquarters in the ruined hull of the Sacred Promise, talked with Voro about the Brutes which had just left.
"It is...worrying, to say the least, that these Brutes have urged us to climb aboard one of their ships and leave the planet." Voro said with a clearly concerned tone.
"I will not abandon my search. These Demons will found and dealt with, and it will be by my hand only, not the hand of some Brute calling himself a Fleet Master. They are my concern and mine alone." Kusovai said with a firm tone.
"Yes, they are our concern. I have even fought one aboard one of their ships making it my personal quest to destroy the Demons yet I doubt the Brutes will understand this. They do not have our honour. I do not believe they have a notion of something they have started being bound to them until they finish it. The only thing similar to that in their culture is their thirst for power...and their hatred of our kind." Voro said.
"Regardless...that Brute may come here himself, yet I will never relinquish my search. My honour, or better said what remains of it, depends on it. If he does come here, treating me like I'm his subordinate, I will not hesitate to chalenge him to battle to see who is more fit to conduct this search." Kusovai said in a rather outraged voice.
"And you said you weren't interested in politics." Voro said with a slight smile.
"I said it wasn't my concern...until now. If those Brutes interfere in my affairs, and tell me how I should be going about doing them then it is my concern. And those Brutes would best do to stay out of it." Kusovai said. His anger had now been funelled towards the Brutes.
"I'm glad to see we finally share the same view, Kusovai. You can count on me in your search as I will always stand by your side." Voro said.
"Very well then. If it shall come to it, we shall show these Brutes who the true warriors of the Covenant are...regardless if the Prophets support them or not."
"Bold words from one who has been defeated by humans...though I cannot say much better things about myself." Voro said. He was testing Kusovai to see how resolute he was in this matter.
"They can have the Prophets on their side, they can even have the Jackals and the Drones for all I care yet they will still feel our wrath." Kusovai said. Voro was now convinced of his resoluteness.
With the discussion of politics over, Kusovai and Voro returned to their main concern: the Spartans on Caleston.
~~~
I hope you liked this part and I also hope you like Bracktanus.
Well, here's suggestion: remember that Brutes are animalistic in most aspects. So rather than using said everytime the speak, try "grunted, snarled" or something more elaborate.
And if you would like I could give you the Covenant names for the races..... As opposed to always utilizing human nicknames.
Yeah, I though about the Covenant names like Unggoy for Grunt or Jiralhanae for Brute etc. but I thought that the human nicknames would be more accesible. Perhaps I will begin using them in the future parts of Gray Team.
And yeah, that's a good piece of advice, making the Brutes seem more animalistic. I'll have that in mind.
I'm glad you liked this update though.
And yeah, that's a good piece of advice, making the Brutes seem more animalistic. I'll have that in mind.
I'm glad you liked this update though.
Hmmm lots of maneuvering going on in this update. I would certainly want the Spartans on my side as them seem to have a handle on things at the moment. Things are going to get messy though, especially with the tension quickly building between the Brutes and Elites.
Yeah, the SPARTANs are equal in strength, agility, etc with the Elites. But let's keep in mind that the Elites are unaltered. So, what if there were SPARTAN Elites? You can have your human SPARTANs anyday, Mallet. I'll ally myself with the SPARTAN Elites.
The next part.
~~~
Back on the Brute-controlled CCS Battlecruiser Pious Vindicator, Bracktanus received a report from the Brutes he sent to the surface of Caleston to collect Kusovai and Voro. He was furious because of the delay caused by Kusovai's resoluteness in hunting down the Spartans himself.
"So the coward won't come to terms with his incompetence. Very well then." Bracktanus growled. He then continued with a slight smile. "The Prophets gave me full authority to deal with this situation. If the cowardly Elite won't leave the ruin of his former ship, we will drag him out by his mandibles."
"He has gathered many Elites with him, chieftain. They might try to resist our attempt to capture their leader." One of the other Brutes grunted.
"He can have all the Elites he wants, he can even have the Grunts on his side. That will not stop us from dragging him up to our ship. And if they resist, we will use deadly force against him and his motley crew of warriors. Now get back to your duties." Bracktanus said with a menacing growl. The other Brutes quickly got back to whatever their duties were.
Meanwhile, back on the planet's surface, Mike and Tom sneaked back towards their cave a whizzing sound could be heard in the air. At first, it was faint, even for a Spartan's accurate hearing, but it got more and more detailed as moments passed. The 2 Spartans soon realized what the sound was: a Wraith mortar!
The Wraith Battle-Tank was the main Covenant heavy vehicle used in ground engagements, the counter-part to the UNSC M808B Scorpion Main Battle Tanks. The projectiles the Wraith fired however, were more like mortars when compared to regular projectiles. It fired very large bolts of plasma encased in a magnetic field up into the air. These bolts then rained down on enemy troops with tremendous force. Because the Wraith fired in an arc, rather than line-of-sight, this vehicle's attacks were very dangerous. The mortar could bypass most defenses that its enemies had established. The Spartans were about to experience the power of the Wraith first-hand.
As the first Plasma bolt fell it shattered a nearby boulder which the Spartans had passed by moments before. Another bolt then fell. Then another. A Wraith bombardment had just commenced. It seemed that the Covenant had found the Grunt which had been buried by Mike and that they were now aware there were humans in the area.
Mike and Tom soon engaged in a sprint towards the cave, in an effort to evade the bombardment. As they ran they could see Plasma bolts exploding behind them in wide blasts of blue flame. It all seemed like a surrealistic painting, yet it was painfully real. A Plasma bolt soon fell right in front of the Spartans, sending them flying into the air. As soon as he could get back up on his feet, Mike started looking for Tom. Tom was doing the same thing. As soon as the dust settled, they could see that they were within feet of each other. They then set on. The savage howls of Covenant search parties could soon be heard, baying the Spartans to engage in combat.
The Spartans were above the Elites however when it came to battlefield savvy and awareness. They could never be enraged by religious fervour like the Elites were, and they never had fits of fanaticism like the Elites sometimes had, letting go of their ranged weapons and attacking the enemy head-on in a fit of rage. No, the Spartans were calm and collected, almost like machines. They were always methodic in anything they did, from fighting to checking their equipment. They never left anything to chance.
As soon as they were past the immediate danger of the Wraith bombardment, Mike asked his AI, Achilles, how far they were from the cave. Achilles was a novel AI. He was configured using the personality of the ancient Greek warrior Achilles and, much like his name-sake, was quite overconfident and eager to engage the enemy and gain glory.
"About 1 kilometer. Still we should be reconsidering about turning and facing the enemy, much like I did during the glorious siege of Troy." Achilles said with clear eagerness in his voice.
"A very glorious battle in which you died, am I right?" Mike asked as he was running. He had these sort of sarcastic responses like a reflex, something which could annoy his superiors.
"Well...yes. Whatever, I died, but I did it in glory. As proof of that, I'm still remembered to this day in a rather good light. From my sensor readouts, the Covenant should only outnumber us from a number upward of 10 to 1. Rather manageable odds if you ask me." Achilles said, once again hoping to convince Mike.
"Manageable...if we weren't equipped to lay mines and hide around. Now just shut up and speak when spoken to." Mike said rather annoyed.
"Just like the Trojans...they were cautious like this and now look what's happened to them. The laughing-stocks of history." Achilles said in a rather melancholic voice.
Soon after the short conversation with Achilles, Mike and Tom reached the cave they used as a base. There, they found a few of the Marines playing a game of cards with Preston. The atmosphere seemed quite relaxed, opposite to what the situation was outside.
"Ah...Tom...your friend just left. He said he was going to place a few more mines near the cave." Preston said.
"He just left? Didn't he hear what was happening outside? It's raining plasma outside, and he's gone to lay mines?!" Tom asked with a rather angry voice. "I assume he took the rest of the Marines with him."
"That's right." one of the Marines playing cards said.
"Well, I hope they'll be careful out there. Covenant patrols are up and about and who knows where they'll search next?" Mike said with a cautious voice. He wasn't as angry as Tom was, yet he was still concerned about his brother's safety.
"Let's hope for the best. Now...would you guys care to join us? They're not paying us enough for this stuff and it's not like we actually have something to spend our money on...except gambling of course!" the same Marine said. He was a tall afro-american Seargeant who was the leader of the Marine fireteam. Always talking back at his superiors. Apone was his name.
"No harm in an innocent game of cards, right Tom?" Mike said as he sat down and joined the game.
Mike and Randall had gotten to know the Marine fireteam after the time they had spent together. They were a colourful bunch, begining from their leader, Apone. The other members of the squad were Corporal Ramirez, a mexican Marine with a colourful background, Private Jin Tae, a Korean Marine, Private Drake, a regular American, Private Griffin, another regular American and Private Bazzi, a Marine from Lebanon. Out of all the Marines, the ones who got on best with each other were Private Griffin and Private Drake.
"I'm out." Ramirez said as soon as Mike sat down and started playing cards with them. Ramirez had a resentment for Spartans, considering them freaks.
"But you haven't finished playing." Apone said, trying to convince Ramirez to keep playing.
"No, I haven't...but I don't want to play on. End of story. You can play as long as you want...with whoever you want." Ramirez said with slight disgust in his voice.
"What do you mean by that, Corporal?" Tom asked.
"Nothing...Spartan." Ramirez said, adding resonance to the word "Spartan".
"It better be nothing." Tom said with a somewhat menacing voice.
"Was that a threat, freak-show?" Ramirez asked with an aggresive tone.
"It is now." Tom said as he started heading towards Ramirez in a menacing way.
Seargeant Apone stood up and grabbed Tom, trying to separate him from Ramirez. He wasn't doing this because he was trying to keep their group united, rather he was afraid of what might happen to Ramirez. Tom, angered by Ramirez's insult, simply pushed Apone to the side, knocking him down. As he got within a few feet of Ramirez, Mike stood up and grabbed Tom. Tom once again tried to simply push Mike to the side, but he forgot he was grabbed by another Spartan. Angried by Tom's attitude, Mike pushed Tom while tripping him at the same time. Tom was simply sent hurtling to the ground.
"Enough is enough Tom! And you, you better calm yourself as well since you could have been killed right there where you are standing." Mike said towards both Tom and Ramirez.
"This idiot just insulted me Mike! Do you want me to just sit there and let him say all that trash about me?" Tom shouted as he got up, whinding up as if to punch Mike. He quickly calmed down however.
"We're in a life and death situation, stranded on an alien planet, and you two want to kill each other? What if one of the Covenant patrols heard you screaming? What then? I'll tell you what happens, they'll come in here and kill every one of us." Mike said, almost shouting at Tom. He had gotten extremely angry.
"I...I guess you're right." Tom said with a somewhat dissapointed voice.
"That doesn't mean we're friends now Spartan." Ramirez said, trying to spice things up once more.
"You watch your back if you know what's good for you, Jose." Tom said with hate in his voice.
"My name's not Jose." Ramirez said.
"Mine's not freak-show either." Tom replied.
As Tom and Ramirez continued to argue, Seargeant Apone got up, still shaken because of being thrown to the ground by Tom. Mike came to him and helped him up.
"Sorry about this sir." Mike said.
"Boy...your friend doesn't know his own strength. Is Ramirez dead yet?" Apone asked with some regret in his voice.
"No, I separated them. It did require a bit of pushing on my part, but I managed to stop them from killing each other in the end." Mike replied.
"Well, it goes to show, nobody pushes a Spartan around!" Apone said with a chuckle.
~~~
That's it for this part. Comments appreciated.
~~~
Back on the Brute-controlled CCS Battlecruiser Pious Vindicator, Bracktanus received a report from the Brutes he sent to the surface of Caleston to collect Kusovai and Voro. He was furious because of the delay caused by Kusovai's resoluteness in hunting down the Spartans himself.
"So the coward won't come to terms with his incompetence. Very well then." Bracktanus growled. He then continued with a slight smile. "The Prophets gave me full authority to deal with this situation. If the cowardly Elite won't leave the ruin of his former ship, we will drag him out by his mandibles."
"He has gathered many Elites with him, chieftain. They might try to resist our attempt to capture their leader." One of the other Brutes grunted.
"He can have all the Elites he wants, he can even have the Grunts on his side. That will not stop us from dragging him up to our ship. And if they resist, we will use deadly force against him and his motley crew of warriors. Now get back to your duties." Bracktanus said with a menacing growl. The other Brutes quickly got back to whatever their duties were.
Meanwhile, back on the planet's surface, Mike and Tom sneaked back towards their cave a whizzing sound could be heard in the air. At first, it was faint, even for a Spartan's accurate hearing, but it got more and more detailed as moments passed. The 2 Spartans soon realized what the sound was: a Wraith mortar!
The Wraith Battle-Tank was the main Covenant heavy vehicle used in ground engagements, the counter-part to the UNSC M808B Scorpion Main Battle Tanks. The projectiles the Wraith fired however, were more like mortars when compared to regular projectiles. It fired very large bolts of plasma encased in a magnetic field up into the air. These bolts then rained down on enemy troops with tremendous force. Because the Wraith fired in an arc, rather than line-of-sight, this vehicle's attacks were very dangerous. The mortar could bypass most defenses that its enemies had established. The Spartans were about to experience the power of the Wraith first-hand.
As the first Plasma bolt fell it shattered a nearby boulder which the Spartans had passed by moments before. Another bolt then fell. Then another. A Wraith bombardment had just commenced. It seemed that the Covenant had found the Grunt which had been buried by Mike and that they were now aware there were humans in the area.
Mike and Tom soon engaged in a sprint towards the cave, in an effort to evade the bombardment. As they ran they could see Plasma bolts exploding behind them in wide blasts of blue flame. It all seemed like a surrealistic painting, yet it was painfully real. A Plasma bolt soon fell right in front of the Spartans, sending them flying into the air. As soon as he could get back up on his feet, Mike started looking for Tom. Tom was doing the same thing. As soon as the dust settled, they could see that they were within feet of each other. They then set on. The savage howls of Covenant search parties could soon be heard, baying the Spartans to engage in combat.
The Spartans were above the Elites however when it came to battlefield savvy and awareness. They could never be enraged by religious fervour like the Elites were, and they never had fits of fanaticism like the Elites sometimes had, letting go of their ranged weapons and attacking the enemy head-on in a fit of rage. No, the Spartans were calm and collected, almost like machines. They were always methodic in anything they did, from fighting to checking their equipment. They never left anything to chance.
As soon as they were past the immediate danger of the Wraith bombardment, Mike asked his AI, Achilles, how far they were from the cave. Achilles was a novel AI. He was configured using the personality of the ancient Greek warrior Achilles and, much like his name-sake, was quite overconfident and eager to engage the enemy and gain glory.
"About 1 kilometer. Still we should be reconsidering about turning and facing the enemy, much like I did during the glorious siege of Troy." Achilles said with clear eagerness in his voice.
"A very glorious battle in which you died, am I right?" Mike asked as he was running. He had these sort of sarcastic responses like a reflex, something which could annoy his superiors.
"Well...yes. Whatever, I died, but I did it in glory. As proof of that, I'm still remembered to this day in a rather good light. From my sensor readouts, the Covenant should only outnumber us from a number upward of 10 to 1. Rather manageable odds if you ask me." Achilles said, once again hoping to convince Mike.
"Manageable...if we weren't equipped to lay mines and hide around. Now just shut up and speak when spoken to." Mike said rather annoyed.
"Just like the Trojans...they were cautious like this and now look what's happened to them. The laughing-stocks of history." Achilles said in a rather melancholic voice.
Soon after the short conversation with Achilles, Mike and Tom reached the cave they used as a base. There, they found a few of the Marines playing a game of cards with Preston. The atmosphere seemed quite relaxed, opposite to what the situation was outside.
"Ah...Tom...your friend just left. He said he was going to place a few more mines near the cave." Preston said.
"He just left? Didn't he hear what was happening outside? It's raining plasma outside, and he's gone to lay mines?!" Tom asked with a rather angry voice. "I assume he took the rest of the Marines with him."
"That's right." one of the Marines playing cards said.
"Well, I hope they'll be careful out there. Covenant patrols are up and about and who knows where they'll search next?" Mike said with a cautious voice. He wasn't as angry as Tom was, yet he was still concerned about his brother's safety.
"Let's hope for the best. Now...would you guys care to join us? They're not paying us enough for this stuff and it's not like we actually have something to spend our money on...except gambling of course!" the same Marine said. He was a tall afro-american Seargeant who was the leader of the Marine fireteam. Always talking back at his superiors. Apone was his name.
"No harm in an innocent game of cards, right Tom?" Mike said as he sat down and joined the game.
Mike and Randall had gotten to know the Marine fireteam after the time they had spent together. They were a colourful bunch, begining from their leader, Apone. The other members of the squad were Corporal Ramirez, a mexican Marine with a colourful background, Private Jin Tae, a Korean Marine, Private Drake, a regular American, Private Griffin, another regular American and Private Bazzi, a Marine from Lebanon. Out of all the Marines, the ones who got on best with each other were Private Griffin and Private Drake.
"I'm out." Ramirez said as soon as Mike sat down and started playing cards with them. Ramirez had a resentment for Spartans, considering them freaks.
"But you haven't finished playing." Apone said, trying to convince Ramirez to keep playing.
"No, I haven't...but I don't want to play on. End of story. You can play as long as you want...with whoever you want." Ramirez said with slight disgust in his voice.
"What do you mean by that, Corporal?" Tom asked.
"Nothing...Spartan." Ramirez said, adding resonance to the word "Spartan".
"It better be nothing." Tom said with a somewhat menacing voice.
"Was that a threat, freak-show?" Ramirez asked with an aggresive tone.
"It is now." Tom said as he started heading towards Ramirez in a menacing way.
Seargeant Apone stood up and grabbed Tom, trying to separate him from Ramirez. He wasn't doing this because he was trying to keep their group united, rather he was afraid of what might happen to Ramirez. Tom, angered by Ramirez's insult, simply pushed Apone to the side, knocking him down. As he got within a few feet of Ramirez, Mike stood up and grabbed Tom. Tom once again tried to simply push Mike to the side, but he forgot he was grabbed by another Spartan. Angried by Tom's attitude, Mike pushed Tom while tripping him at the same time. Tom was simply sent hurtling to the ground.
"Enough is enough Tom! And you, you better calm yourself as well since you could have been killed right there where you are standing." Mike said towards both Tom and Ramirez.
"This idiot just insulted me Mike! Do you want me to just sit there and let him say all that trash about me?" Tom shouted as he got up, whinding up as if to punch Mike. He quickly calmed down however.
"We're in a life and death situation, stranded on an alien planet, and you two want to kill each other? What if one of the Covenant patrols heard you screaming? What then? I'll tell you what happens, they'll come in here and kill every one of us." Mike said, almost shouting at Tom. He had gotten extremely angry.
"I...I guess you're right." Tom said with a somewhat dissapointed voice.
"That doesn't mean we're friends now Spartan." Ramirez said, trying to spice things up once more.
"You watch your back if you know what's good for you, Jose." Tom said with hate in his voice.
"My name's not Jose." Ramirez said.
"Mine's not freak-show either." Tom replied.
As Tom and Ramirez continued to argue, Seargeant Apone got up, still shaken because of being thrown to the ground by Tom. Mike came to him and helped him up.
"Sorry about this sir." Mike said.
"Boy...your friend doesn't know his own strength. Is Ramirez dead yet?" Apone asked with some regret in his voice.
"No, I separated them. It did require a bit of pushing on my part, but I managed to stop them from killing each other in the end." Mike replied.
"Well, it goes to show, nobody pushes a Spartan around!" Apone said with a chuckle.
~~~
That's it for this part. Comments appreciated.
Excellent work, melancholy as opposed to melancholic. It always seemed that the Helljumpers were the ones who resented everyone but other helljumpers, even SPARTANs. Oh well, it's still realistic to have troops under fire picking fights with each other.
And there are some SPARTANs who enjoy stepping on alien guts whenever it isn't suicide. But then Gray Team aren't particularly those SPARTANs....
I see you've discovered how I based Ramirez on the leader of the Helljumpers from Halo CE. A pretty cheap metaphor, eh? Well, I try to give refferences to the Halo games. I'm glad you liked the update though. I'm also sure that you'll come to realize that Gray Team aren't very much like regular Spartans. They are somewhat...special.
And what do you mean by "melancholy as opposed to melancholic"?
And what do you mean by "melancholy as opposed to melancholic"?
I do not think that melancholic is a word.
Ah, you would be refering to Major Antonio Silva, then. Do you know about 1st lieutenant Melissa McKay?
Ah, you would be refering to Major Antonio Silva, then. Do you know about 1st lieutenant Melissa McKay?
I've read about her in passing but I've not been very thorough when regarding her. I think, she did something in Halo CE, something pretty important related to the Flood if I remember corectly. She sacrificed her life or something like that. Am I correct?
And according to MS Word, melancholic is a word and it is quite gramatically corect.
And according to MS Word, melancholic is a word and it is quite gramatically corect.
Hmm..... Lieutenant McKay was Silva's second in command, and one of the few (only) helljumpers to sympathize for the SPARTANs (that is to say, John-117). And yes, she blew up the Truth and Reconciliation because Silva was going to bring live Flood to Earth on it with the intents of giving live specimens to human scientists to study (which was far too risky).
When Cortana tells the Master Chief that they were the only ones to survive, John reflects on Lt. McKay and how he wished could have gotten to know her better. Anyway, felt like sharing that; dismissed.
Another solid update. Definitely a realistic protrayal of the in-fighting during turbulent times. I just wanted to point one thing out:
I think one of those is actually referring to the Brutes, correct? They're the fanatical ones. I'm sure that was just a typo though, just thought you'd like to know.
Keep up the good work. Hopefully Randall stays alive.
QUOTE
The Spartans were above the Elites however when it came to battlefield savvy and awareness. They could never be enraged by religious fervour like the Elites were, and they never had fits of fanaticism like the Elites sometimes had, letting go of their ranged weapons and attacking the enemy head-on in a fit of rage.
I think one of those is actually referring to the Brutes, correct? They're the fanatical ones. I'm sure that was just a typo though, just thought you'd like to know.
Keep up the good work. Hopefully Randall stays alive.
No, Elites are also rather fanatical at times. But it is true that Brutes are even more extreme than their rivals.
I've only seen the Elites go fanatical when they have a plasma sword. But then again, that's based off the game. In the books, they might be more willing to engage in hand-to-hand combat without a decent melee weapon.
Yeah, in the game you never see something (other than a brute (but those guys are guerillas anyways) or Flood) fight without a weapon. But as depicted in the books Elites will fight hand-to-hand (never actually been seen) rather than use a human weapon so the argument holds.
Btw, have you ever seen anything run out of ammo in that game?
Btw, have you ever seen anything run out of ammo in that game?
Well, I've never actually seen anything run out of ammo but whenever I pick up a Plasma Rifle after a long firefight with an Elite, that Plasma Rifle has less ammo than the Plasma Rifle of an Elite which didn't manage to get off as many shots.
But yeah, Elites also loose it sometimes. Not as much as Brutes do, but it's still there.
But yeah, Elites also loose it sometimes. Not as much as Brutes do, but it's still there.
Yeah, I imagine the entire Covenant and all of humanity could keep shooting at each other until the sun destabalizes before anyone runs dry with one gun.....
I liked the banter with Achilles though I doubt if an AI like that is very efficiënt.
But it was still funny.
,,You should listen to me! I'm a big warrior, a hero! People sing songs about my deeds, little kids want to be me in their dreams!"
,,Great deeds? All you did was die in the most senseless slaughter in history."
,,The fact that I died is completely irrelevant. Now turn around and get into a fight where you're severely outnumbered and on undesirable terrain. It will be fine. Just give a prayer to Thetis first. I'm sure my mom will listen."
*Spartan pulls out the plug*
But it was still funny.
,,You should listen to me! I'm a big warrior, a hero! People sing songs about my deeds, little kids want to be me in their dreams!"
,,Great deeds? All you did was die in the most senseless slaughter in history."
,,The fact that I died is completely irrelevant. Now turn around and get into a fight where you're severely outnumbered and on undesirable terrain. It will be fine. Just give a prayer to Thetis first. I'm sure my mom will listen."
*Spartan pulls out the plug*
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