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SPARTAN: The human savior by crashedwarthog
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The Flood: A force to be reckoned with (Part 1)
Date: 8 May 2003, 11:43 AM
Swampy area, possible weapons cache. 0724 hours.
"We are foobar," said pvt. James Johnson.
"Damn it Johnson! Fire your weapon!" ordered Sgt. Cappy.
The two marines retreated as the flood pressed on, keeping them on the move the whole time. They'd just encountered the flood for the first time, and already they had lost countless men. They ran down a long corridor where they passed heaps of dead bodies, too mangled even for the flood to use them. Obviously they had fallen victim to the flood's many tentacle lashings and suppressive fire from their own weapons.
"Oh crap..." said Sarge as he realized that, even though they were faster runners than the flood, there was no point in running. A dead end.
"Oh man! We're trapped in here! We're screwed man, screwed!" Johnson remarked
They turned around, to face the unstoppable enemies. With a sudden urge of courage, they both loaded fresh clips into their MA5B's and as the infection forms got closer, they opened fire. They must've killed at least 50 infection forms, but it still wasn't enough. There were too many. As soon as they had emptied their clips, the flood overwhelmed them, and their screams of pain could not be heard, just like all the others.
Unknown Location: 1032 hours
Covenant ship:Odyssey
"Hehehe, me be your...friend?" said Dente' the grunt, as an elite mutant held it's rifle to the little grunts' head.
The answer, of course, was no, and light blue blood splattered over the Odyssey's walls. The Covenant ship was, like most of the others, overrun by the flood. Jackals, grunts, and elites were constantly falling, as the flood charged with their frequent suicide attacks. Technicians were trying to seal as many doors as possible to prevent the flood from proceeding any further. They got 4 of the 6 doors to the storage bay sealed, while infection forms and mutants, pressed on through the other 2. Fuel rod gunners fired into the doorways, while the remaining stragglers fired into the green explosions. One jackal couldn't handle the pressure, and let go of his trigger. His powered up bolt smashed into a red elite, whose shields depleted straight away.
"NOOOOOO!" he yelled and about 20 infection forms smothered him squirming on each other to get a feed.
A grunt threw a plasma grenade into the doorway, but it connected with a charging elite mutant. It ran straight back at the stunned grunt and blew both of them onto the deck above. A few infection forms jumped at an elite, but he dodged them, and continued firing into the green abyss, not worried as his shields would protect him from their parasitic tentacles. The little bloodsuckers then turned their attention to the technicians, who had just sealed the other 2 doors. The squids attached themselves to 1 of the technicians, who ran around, his arms flailing wildly, with his intense pain.
A grunt yelled, "Hold still, hold still!"
But an elite just shot the poor bugger dead on the spot, taking out the infection forms as well with a few bursts of his plasma rifle. The last blue elite then checked his motion sensor. The flood were still waiting on the other sides of the doors. There was no way they could destroy the flood, with only about 12 of them left, 16 including the fuel rod gunners, in this storage bay anyway. The firefight was still going on throughout the ship. Their squads' objective had failed. They originally had to secure 2 of the halls that lead to the engine room. The controls in the command center had been taken offline, by an unexpected attack by a few flood mutants. All hope was lost for the few left. They would never get off this ring, and soon the flood would break down the doors, and it would be all over. The elite hoped that the other strike teams on the ship had done better than they did.
And they were. 4 black elites, 3 red elites, 30 grunts and jackals, were holding their position well. The flood had broken through the floor on the deck above them and were pouring out of the newly created hole. With their suicide attacks and a seeming never-ending supply of reinforcements, they looked as though they had control. But then 2 hunters came out of a sealed door to their right, and fired their guns taking out half the flood attackers. They then charged the flood and killed the rest of the mutants, swinging their shields ferociously. They could not reach the smaller parasites, which burrowed into both hunters backs. The hunters eventually gave up, overwhelmed by pain. The rest of the Covenant force, dealt with the infection forms easily, and then tried to complete what beta squad could not: reactivate the engines in the engine room.
Hope you liked it! Part 2 is coming very soon. Peace out, Punk on.
The Flood: A force to be reckoned with (Part 2)
Date: 10 May 2003, 1:24 AM
Unknown Location
Covenant ship: Odyssey 1048 hours
"Right, lets get this door open", said Dato, the last red elite.
Even though the 3 Special Ops elites were of a higher rank, he was in command. Dato hoped Beta squad was still holding their position in the large storage bay, since his best friend Alto was part of it. The door had taken a lot of damage and as the grunt bypassed it, it screeched loudly and the sound could be heard echoing through the long purple corridors of the carcass littered ship. The remaining grunts and jackals went through the door first, and 1 of the grunts found the lights. Silence filled the room as they saw the horrible sight. Beta squad was no more. Light blue, purple, and brown blood was splattered all over the walls, and the covenant bodies were gathered in a corner for later use of the flood. Their bodies were mangled, but to the flood they would be useful. Through the thick pool of blood, Dato could make out at least one body. Alto. Dato hid his grief, as this was not the time. The other troops were starting to become edgy, with the fact that there was 0 resistance. Dato looked over to where he thought the flood would've have broken through. The 2 doorways, which were now a horrible mess of blood and large chunks of the doors, were filled with flood bodies and human weapons.
"Lets move!" ordered Dato, hiding his grief.
The troops followed him through 1 of the doorways and looked for every little piece of movement, especially watching the ceiling, as they had learnt from before. They reached the engine room, still encountering no resistance. This was really starting to freak them out.
"Jackals! Scout ahead and tell us what you find. Yell if you see anything!" commanded Rato, a black elite second in command.
"Grunts, make flanks for the jackals left and right." Said Dato, determined on keeping his control.
The jackals went out of sight behind the engine drive core. They didn't stay out of sight for long though. The enormous room lit up green, from the jackals' plasma pistols, as they retreated. The doors behind Echo squad closed, and Dato could see the lights on the door on the other side of the room go from red, to grey. They were trapped. Flood seemed to come from every direction, but the covenant force fought on. A lowly grunt named Shelze', ran for the engines manual controls. Dato and the other elites realised what he was doing, and gave him covering fire. Shelze' reached the controls and powered up the engines. Back in the control room, the ship commander saw the white light on his panel flash, and he knew they were saved. He grabbed hold of the controls and began to ascend. Shelze' felt the ship moving and jumped for joy. He momentarily forgot about the firefight going on around him, until he heard the squirming of a carrier form. He jumped out of the way just in time to get away from the explosion, but the infection forms were propelled after him, and they latched on, slowly killing the grunt, who had just saved the covenant ship from the clutches of the flood. Hundreds of infection forms poured out of a vent, and were quickly taking down the rest of the jackals and grunts. The elites battled on as hard as they could, but like thousands of others, their utmost wasn't enough and the flood overpowered them. Dato was the last to fall; only he didn't die from the flood. He grabbed a plasma grenade from his belt and stuck it to his chest. He charged the flood attackers and they surrounded him. The explosion killed almost all of the flood in the engine room, and Dato died instantly, barely suffering at all as the walls of the huge room lit up a magnificent light blue.
As soon as they reached space, the ships commander ordered all troops to rendezvous at hanger 12 and nowhere else. The troops responded as they knew what the commander had in mind. As soon as all the squads and their remaining men had been accounted for, all the doors to the control room, and hanger 12, sealed off, and the ships' vacuum opened up. The remaining flood attackers were flung out into space, and without oxygen, they shrivelled up and died. When they were about to go into slipstream, a huge explosion sounded and the Pillar of Autumns' engines blew. The Odyssey was struck with an incredible force, and the engines were, once again, knocked out of commission. The ship floated helplessly, and as the commander looked on his radar screen, a human fighter flew past, and after all he'd been through, he let it go by.
Well there it is, chapter 2. 3's comin soon so dont think it's over. Peace out. Punk on.
The flood: a force to be reckoned with: Part 3
Date: 23 July 2003, 8:54 AM
Unknown Location on Planet Retina
His armour shone. His blade glowed. His arm tensed. His blade rose. His mouth opened. His legs ran. His arm swung. His blade sliced.........the marine fell.
Kame' laughed as red blood splattered on his gold plated armour. The humans were yelling their 'battle cries' at Kame', and charging him with their rifles blaring. His shields took a bashing, but he charged at them, not worried if he died or not. All he wanted was to avenge his squad members' deaths. He was surprised at how the humans were actually fighting bravely for once, since he had killed so many that were cowardly. He swung and sliced, but kept hitting air. The humans were too quick. They brought him down after what seemed an eternity to Kame', and he fell to his knees, resting his shoulder up against a large boulder, purple blood trickling out of his mouth. His sword was shattered, and his armour had holes through it.
He fell. He sputtered. He clawed the grass. He roared. His head was touched. He felt the steel. He heard the click ......... the elite fell.
Covenant Ship: New Beginning/ 14:57 hours.
-Monitoring Block, Sector 7.
"Sir, they're all dead." Said Ome', in his high pitched grunt voice.
"Dam it!", Jole' slammed his fist onto the holo-desk.
The elite had failed the prophets again. He had sent that squad to help out the downed Covenant ship, the Odyssey, since at that moment; they were the only troops ready for an assault. The Odyssey had crash-landed on the large planet, Retina. Apparently some of the flood that had infested that ship didn't get sucked into space. And without the Covenant knowing, the flood had infested every trooper that had walked into that area. Almost all of the infected Covenant were grunts, and occasionally a jackal or two. That area's sensors had been damaged by a previous battle, and so, the ship had a blind spot. Eventually the combat forms started to attack once they had the numbers, and the ship was once again infected. The flood found their way up and burst into the control room, but were quickly neutralized. But an elite who had backed up to the controls pressed against them fighting off the flood, and altered the ship's course, and they crashed.
All this came flooding back to Jole', how the Odyssey's commander had reported the situation and requested help, how his ship was the only ship in that region, and how he had sent his squad to their deaths. They were ambushed. He cursed those humans; he hated them almost as much as the flood. How they eluded the ships' sensors he did not know. How they even got on this planet he did not know. All he knew was that he would have his vengeance.
Covenant Ship: The Odyssey/ 15:02 hours.
-Control room
"We've lost control of sectors 4, 5, 6 and 7. They're taking us sector by sector" said Forta, the elite which had caused them to crash.
"What about sector 1 and 2?" said the ships' commander.
"They are intact sir. Since the flood started the infection on sector 3, they obviously want to keep coming up." Explained Forta.
"How is sector 8?"
"They report minimal resistance at this time"
"Good. So there are only about 20 more sectors that the flood needs to get through before they get here. Again." Said the commander, obviously angered, since there were about 150 sectors on the ship.
"Yes sir, 22 sectors to be precise"
"I want the forces in sector 21 and 22 to move down to sector 8 as quickly as possible." Ordered the commander. "If we use our troops wisely, we might not need too many reinforcements from the New Beginning."
Unknown location, now called Area 5 by Covenant/ 17:23 hours.
Squad Oscar moved along the grassy hillside, keeping watch for any movement. After 20 minutes of following November squads exact trail, they found the ambush site. A bloody mess of bodies, but not one weapon was found. Only a shattered wrist laser sword was left, still attached to the elite, whose hand was full of grass. 15 Covenant bodies, 1 human.
"This is squad Oscar. We've found the ambush site. Send the dropships now" said Moore' a veteran elite, with red armour.
5 minutes later the hum of the dropships' engines could be heard. 20 of them landed. Out of the possible 160 troops that could be carried on those 20 dropships, only 88 were sent. They began to move out, and followed their DOOP (direction of objective pointer) to The Odyssey. The ship was extremely damaged, and the Covenant knew it had had its share of bad luck. They walked up slowly to the ship, unaware of how many flood were inside the ship. They walked over another hill and had the full view of the port side of the ship. It seemed relatively intact, and that seemed to be the only good news. The flood had surrounded the outside of the ship and it seemed they were about to enter it.
The troops of the New Beginning knew they had to do something, even if it meant the ultimate sacrifice. They had to take as many of the flood down as they could to bide some time for The Odyssey so they could get more organised. From what the troops had been told, sectors 3 though to 9 had been taken over in a very short time.
The troops stood. The troops charged. The troops screamed. The troops fired. The ground shook. The enemy fired. The troops fought on.
Hey i hope you liked my 3rd edition to my series. I know it should've come sooner by i didn't have much time. I'm gonna write a 4th so dont worry. Peace out, punk on.
The Flood: A Force to be reckoned with (Part 4)
Date: 28 August 2003, 6:07 AM
Covenant Ship: New Beginning / 17:30 hours. -Monitoring Block: sector 7.
"My god. Send those troops some reinforcements now!" Jole' commanded. He watched his screen in pure pride as his force of just 88 warriors tried to battle the enormous blob of green that was the flood's army.
"They are certainly brave sir. The gods will be pleased by their performance." implied Fargo, the commander's assistant.
Planet Retina (RE-TEEN-A) Area 10, quadrant 3. "The Odysseys" crash site/ 17:31 hours.
The battle had only been going for 2 minutes, but about 20 Covenant soldiers had been killed. The flood were winning and the troops had no real chance from the moment they charged.
A group of elites were doing well, firing their plasma rifles, throwing grenades, and bashing the flood when they got too close. They seemed to be the only force standing up against the flood, as more and more troops fell.
"Sir the Covenant have engaged the flood." Reported Pvt. McCauley.
"Good God. How are they doing?" asked Sergeant Connors.
"Well sir they're down to about 30 troops. Not much of a resistance left."
"Well let's help 'em out shall we?"
"Sir???"
"Private, if those Covenant can get rid of enough flood for us, we might be able to make a decent strike against that ship. That bird's our only way off this rock, and right now we stand no chance against the flood. My strategy is to let the Covenant destroy the flood. It'll just make our job that much easier."
"Understood sir. I'll go get the squad ready."
"Negative private. Get just 5 men and arm them with rocket launchers."
"Uhh, yes sir. On my way."
"Those Covenant are our only hope" Connors said to himself.
"Keep firing!!!" yelled Manatee, an experienced elite, who was trying to keep some order in his force.
All the grunts had been killed and just a few jackals were holding out on a small ridge. His squad of elites were still holding out, and none of them had perished...as of yet. Manatee struck out at a flood warrior snapping its spine, as it was about to finish off one of his elites. The elite nodded his thanks and got up to get clear so his shields could recharge.
Manatee could see a two elites fighting back to back, literally surrounded by flood. They didn't have a hope of surviving, but Manatee still wanted to help. He ran to the nearest flood and smashed his elbow into its back. He then fired a burst of plasma into its side and it fell limp in his arms. He ripped the grenade belt from its waist, primed a grenade, and threw it into a group of flood charging at the two elites. It blew them away, and gave the elites time to displace to a better position.
Manatee, knowing it was hopeless to continue fighting, ordered all his troops to fall back. He spun around and slammed the grenade belt into a flood, which primed the grenades inside it. He jumped and rolled away just when the grenades detonated. He smirked and turned to start running with his already retreating comrades.
He gazed upon the horizon of a cliff to his left, and saw 6 figures. He looked away to keep his balance while running, then looked up again. 5 human missiles shot out from the figures and smashed into different sections of the flood army. The pitiful humans were helping them! He looked back to see the damage that had been done, and then once again gazed upon the horizon. The figures had gone...without a trace.
Once the now tattered force of Covenant had reached the top of the hill, from whence they came, the sweet hum of dropships could be heard. Manatee ordered the last of his elites to make a final stand on the hill, while the hundred or so Covenant forces jumped out of their dropships and ran to help them.
Only 1 dropship needed to remain to pick Manatee and his men up, since only 6 of them were left. Manatee decided to stay behind, eager to slay more flood and help out The Odyssey's crew. The dropship took off, and sped away to the New Beginning, it's passengers ready for a good rest.
Covenant ship: The Odyssey: Command Center/ 17:43 hours
"What's the status on the battle outside?" asked the ships' commander.
"First wave ineffective sir. Their backup has just arrived and at least some of them were saved. Second wave is battling hard, and keeping a foothold on top of the hill."
"That's good then. How are our troops doing?" inquired the commander.
"Things aren't going well for them sir. At the last report, sector 12 came under attack. The troops in sector 1 and 2 were wiped out when they tried to close in on sector 3. I don't think we're getting that sector back sir."
"That is acceptable...for now Forta."
"Uhh, thank you sir. I appreciate it."
Just then, the radio perked up and plasma fire could be heard in the background.
"This is sector 12 reporting heavy flood resistance!! Request back-up now!!"
"Commander shall I give reinforcements?"
The commander sighed. "Very well Forta, send back up from sector 13."
The commander was annoyed. The same thing was happening over and over. A sector gets attacked. That sector requests back up. Back up is granted. They hold out. Another attack. The sector is thwarted, and the next sector reports they are under attack.
"Forta..."
"Yes commander?"
"Get my armour and sword ready."
"Yes sir. Might I ask what you have planned sir?"
"Let's just say I'm tired of defense." The commander replied, a smirk on his face.
The Flood: A Force to be reckoned with (Part 5)
Date: 15 November 2003, 2:05 AM
Covenant ship: The Odyssey: Sector 19/ 18:00 hours.
"Keep coming!" ordered the Odyssey's commander, as he sliced through 5 more flood mutants that were daring to take over another sector.
Suddenly inspired by their commanders' efforts and bravery, the Covenant forces of sector 19 charged with a new hope of victory, and helped to overcome the flood attack, by pulling themselves together and helping each other out. As the commander took cover for his shields to recharge, he felt like this was his true purpose, that this was what he had been made a commander for. He felt like he was indestructible, and that nothing could stop this attack.
"Forta come in!"
"Yes sir?" Forta replied.
"Put 5 more marks down on the holo-sheet!"
"With pleasure sir", replied Forta, a tone of relief and jubilation in his voice, glad that his master was still alive and kicking some tail.
Just when the commander turned off his com unit, he heard what he thought was a loud BANG! on the other end of the line. He thought nothing of it and put away his com unit. With one glance around the corner of his cover, he spotted a group of flood that were starting to move forward. He jumped out from his cover and threw a grenade, blowing them away. A few bits of large shrapnel flew into the Covenant line, and caught one grunt in the middle of the head, killing it instantly. The commander began to laugh out loud, bloodlust overcoming him, driving him mad in the heat of battle.
"NOT this attack! NOT this time! I WILL liberate my ship from these flood bastards!!" the commander was screaming inside his head. A group of jackals finished off the last of the flood that were stupid enough to stay, as the rest fled. The commander walked up to the last flood mutant that had fallen, and rammed his blade into it, burning its skin and its insides. After he believed he had put enough slices into it and burned it to a crisp, he ordered his troops to move out, and started to run ahead of them. He ran through two corridors, baying for more blood, yet he could not satisfy his thirst; there were no flood to be found. He rounded a blood stained corner littered with bullet holes, plasma burns, and shards of metal, with his liberation force trying to keep up with him.
He ran through another corridor, and stood in the middle of it, waiting for something to happen. No flood could be found however, and they moved quickly through 3 more sectors without resistance.
He switched on his com unit without looking at it, and yelled, "Forta! What is going on here?! We have encountered no resistance from sector 19 to sector 16, where have they all gone?!"
The commander waited for Forta to respond, but there was no answer.
"Forta!? Are you there?" He waited again, but still there was no reply.
As the commander was putting his com unit back in his pouch, he noticed for the first time, since he last contacted the bridge, that a red light was flashing on it; indicating that communications were down. He tried not to think about what that could mean, and turned around, a glare of determination on his face. "Alright, we'll move on through this sector," he ordered his troops, "There's an armory station in sector 15 that we can liberate and hold out in, until we find out what the hell is going on in the bridge."
Several "Yes Excellency's" sounded from the elites as the Covenant forces moved forward and past their commander, who was standing tall, watching the corridor behind the medium sized force, expecting the worst had happened in the bridge.
Covenant Ship: New Beginning: Control Room/ 18:14 hours.
"Well what the hell has happened. First the humans kill us, and then the humans save us. Have I missed out on something here? Have I, Jole', commander of the New Beginning, been out of action for too long? It just doesn't make sense dammit!" Jole' yelled, igniting his plasma sword and smashing a console in half, scaring his elites who were trying to explain the situation to their commander.
"Sir, we have pulled back the second wave of troops as you ordered. They report that the flood have stopped charging, and that most have gone inside the ship. They report no casualties and no sightings of the humans that helped them."
"Good Pamade', make sure they hold their position until told otherwise by me, and only me."
"Yes your excellency."
"Do you have anything else to report on the humans?"
"Well, your excellency, if we may, we believe we know why the humans have helped us." Replied Pamade'.
"Enlighten me then, I must know."
"Sir, we believe the humans saved us to try and pay back for what they have done. They have obviously noticed their situation is pitiful, worth laughing at, and have tried to make an affiliation with us. We all have agreed to this conclusion, however it is up to you what we do with the human scum."
"We will annihilate them! They took away one of my finest Field Masters! We will send out a squadron of elites and banshees once this flood threat is over, and kill them all!" ordered Jole', without a second thought.
"Yes your excellency, as always your decisions are wise. The scum will pay for their actions."
"Good. Now leave me be until I call for you. I must ask forgiveness from the gods, and create some new strategies."
"As you wish your excellency."
Covenant ship: The Odyssey: Sector 15: Armory station 35 / 18:18 hours.
As a lowly grunt bypassed the door to the armory, most of the troops became uneasy and shifted around, not wanting to stay in the narrow hallway, just eager to loot the armory, and stock up on some much needed supplies and ammo. The commander was getting more and more worried by the second, concerned about the life of his 2nd in command, Forta. He just hoped that his dear friend and companion was all right. He became fed up with waiting, and shouted at the little grunt that seemed to be taking his time unlocking the door. The booming voice of his superior officer motivated the little grunt, and soon after, a small 'beep' sounded, and the door screeched open. It had obviously taken a lot of damage, but at least it provided a way in.
"Go through, take whatever supplies you need, then report back here." Ordered the commander, who didn't need anything to stock up on. He sat down on a communication box, and thought about what to do next.
"Sir?!"
"What is it?" the commander bellowed, angry with the elite who had just interrupted his thoughts.
"I'm getting a lot of movement on the tracker! Just down that right corridor!"
"How much movement?" inquired the commander, already forgiving the elite.
"A lot sir! The red blob is taking up the entire scanning screen!"
The commander swore under his breath, and brought himself to his full height.
"Alright get the troops ready, I want us out of this corridor as soon as poss-" his command was cut short as the elite who had the motion scanner erupted in flame and shrapnel.
The elites all jumped up in surprise and terror as they gazed at the burning heap of blood and parts of the elite. The commander ordered one his veterans to go and get the troops, while he and the elites went to try and fight them. The elite ran into the armory and started yelling some orders, while the commander and his other elites ran forward and around a corner into the right hallway. There, a lone flood mutant stood with a smoking rocket launcher in its hands. The commander and his elites just stood there watching it, and it just stared back, as if waiting for a new order. But soon it became obvious to the elites what was happening, as 5, then 10, then 20 flood came out of a doorway, each wielding their own weapons, ready to annihilate the Covenant force with ease.
The commander began to back up, as did his elites. When they had taken about five steps back, the rest of the Covenant came rushing around the corner ready to blast anything that stood in their way. Seeing their commander just standing there, staring back at the flood, they didn't fire a shot, and waited for his orders.
Suddenly, as if reading the commander's mind, the rocket launcher-wielding flood dropped its launcher and leapt into the air, just as he was about to order his troops to attack. The commander sidestepped and raised his blade to slice the flood in mid-air. It worked, and green blood sprayed over the awaiting Covenant.
"ATTACK!" yelled the commander, and about 30 plasma weapons opened up on the flood, dropping them quickly with smashing force. From one gesture of a veteran elite, most of the grunts went forward to check on the bodies.
But it was not over. The corridor was like a T-intersection. There was the main corridor that lead up to the wall, and a passageway on each side with two doors.
Those two doors opened, and flood poured out of them, firing human and plasma weapons alike, plowing into the Covenant and killing almost all the grunts instantly. They didn't even have time to run as more and more flood came through the doors, killing 4 of the 10 elites the commander had left.
"Retreat! Fall back!" the commander yelled as he sprinted back to the armory. He waited at the corner for his troops to get past him, and as they did he threw a grenade, trying not to hit any of the flood that were charging. He didn't, and the grenade exploded, killing some stationary flood that were mowing down some jackals with assault rifles. '
As the last grunt ran past the commander he turned around and headed for the armory door. All the Covenant were inside moving objects over to push up against the door. The commander started slowing down, and eventually stopped. He ordered one of his elites to close to the door, and accepting his superior officers' command, closed it off, realising what he was going to do.
The commander backed up to the door, hearing the shuffles and scrapes of things being pushed up against it. As the flood rounded the corner they stopped firing their weapons, and charged the lone elite, their ghastly faces reflecting off of his golden armour. The commander deactivated his sword, and unclipped his plasma rifle, firing off deadly blue bolts into the flood until it overheated. He threw the rifle down and activated his sword again, endlessly slicing the flood, killing scores of them.
After about 20 tentacle lashings, his shields gave way and he became even more enraged. He sliced faster, and harder than he ever had before, until the flood surrounded him on all sides, slashing at him ripping open his body. As the abominations tore away at his body, with the little strength he had left, he did as he heard the special ops elite 'Dato' did. He ignited a plasma grenade that was still on his belt, and took all the flood that were around him out, engulfing them in a blue fireball, that lit up the hallway that led to the armory.
Not all the flood were taken out however.....
The Flood: A Force to be reckoned with (Part 6)
Date: 25 January 2004, 11:24 PM
~Authors note~ I would like to point out now, that the first two large paragraphs are meant to be fragment, and the grammar is supposed to be screwy. Please dont point this out in the comments section. Thank you =)~End Authors note~
Temporary Marine CQ on planet Retina. Natural cave formation. Structure deemed acceptable for operations. Previous recorded events: Loading...
Pillar of Autumn arrives in the Threshold system, engaged in battle with the Covenant Armada. After the crew being successfully evacuated, Captain Keyes, Jacob, lands the P.o.A on the surface of the ring world, later know as "Halo". Captain Keyes is captured, and kept prisoner on the Covenant ship, the "Truth and Reconciliation", but is later saved by Spartan Joh...FFW--...........engaged with a parasitic alien species now known as the "flo...FFW--..........blew up the P.o.A's engines, escaping in a longsword fighter, before the resulting explosion destroyed Halo, and is believed to have destroyed the Covenant Armada of battleships as well. END OF DATA
Searching for history: Fire team "Gamma" Marine Corps. Recorded platoon events since engagement with Covenant on the P.o.A at 09:48 hours: Loading...
Fire team "Gamma" ordered to secure airlocks on deck 8, by A.I construct "Cortana". Miscalculation by A.I results in fire team "Gamma" not engaging the Covenant. Covenant board deck 7. Fire team "Gamma" awaits orders...FFW--................. Deck 8 is sealed off, due to hull breaches. Fire team "Gamma" enters life pods and after disengaging, one life pod is destroyed from Covenant fire. Two large chunks of metal crash into the other two life pods, sending them both off course and deep into space...FFW--...........crash landed on planet known as Retina (RE-TEEN-AH). Planet air deemed breathable by scanners. Higher concentration of oxygen then that of halo. Bird like creatures sighted and recorded. Fruit wielding trees deemed edible by scanners...FFW--..........ash landed resulting in a minor earthquake. Covenant party engaged by fire team "Gamma", resulting in loss of marine, Pvt. Casey, Peter. Marines return to CQ. Covenant forces land on the surface in dropships and...FFW--.........Connors orders "Gamma" to aid Covenant in their battle with the "Flood". Marines return to...FFW--............END OF HISTORY: New history recorded every hour.
Present orders: Loading...
Marines ordered to move inside CQ for cover.
END OF PRESENT ORDERS.
Time: 18:46 hours...Accurate.
Sergeant Connors stopped playing with the safety switch on his M90 shotgun and looked up at the entrance to the cave from where he was sitting. There, a marine sentry worriedly called over one of his mates, and told him to look into his binoculars. Sergeant Connors watched as the marine shoved the binoculars away and swore. The marine ran to Corporal Alexander, who was leaning against the wall, cleaning his sniper scope. The marine whispered in his ear. The Corporal's eyes widened, and he told the marine to get back to his sentry post. Corporal Alexander looked straight at Sergeant Connors, and walked hurriedly over to him.
"Sir, the sentries report a flight of banshees coming our way."
"Good Lord. EVA?"
"2 minutes, Sir," Corporal Alexander replied.
"Okay, that's..." he thought up in his mind as he looked outside at the stationary machine guns, "...just enough time to get everything inside. Issue the command."
"Yes Sir." Alexander complied. He saluted, turned, and switched on his radio, as he walked away.
Over the marine's comm. layout, Corporal Alexander's deep, calm, educated, and Australian accented voice could be heard.
"All marines, a flight of Covenant banshees are on their way to our position. You know what to do men, get everything and everyone inside the cave now; we don't want to give away our position if we don't have to. Move out!"
Sergeant Connors couldn't help but admire Corporal Rhys Alexander. He was always calm in the heat of battles, and always fought valiantly, and with a clear head. He knew when the enemy was too much to handle, and always followed orders, as did every marine under Connors' command. Corporal Rhys was extremely well respected among the entire Marine Corps, and he was supposed to be promoted to Sergeant on the P.o.A, along with 4 other Corporals, who fought heroically on Reach. But of course there was no time for that, when the problems escalated for the crew on the P.o.A when they came out of slipstream.
Rhys was a sniper of the highest quality, one of the finest marksmen in the Marine Corps, and he had the medals to prove it. Although most snipers weren't too well liked among the regular marines, Rhys was. He always carried his MA5B AR with him, and more often than not, he used it instead of his sniper rifle. He just liked the feel of full automatic fire, and the scene of Covenant getting chopped up by the bullets. This aggressiveness killed him over 30 Covenant soldiers, not including the ones downed from his sniper rounds. He was an Australian, and was a descendant of one of the Australian W.W.I 'Gallipoli' soldiers. The Australians had fought with extreme courage and aggressiveness in that battle, and from then on, that was what Aussie soldiers were renowned for, aggressiveness. Rhys had explained later, that the only reason the Australians had lost that battle, was because of the ignorance of the British high command.
Rhys had told Connors all about this, since they had been friends ever since they met each other when they joined up to the Corps. Sergeant Connors (who was then a private) took an immediate shine to Rhys, and as they shared rations, and helped each other out at every chance, they got through their training with shining colours. Connors thought to himself that if only one marine got off this planet, he hoped it was Rhys. Connors pulled himself out of his daydream and addressed the situation. Marines were moving about quickly, but orderly, getting everything out of sight.
As soon as everyone was inside and everything was packed away, they turned all the lights off, and cleared everything away from the entrance. 30 seconds later, the marines heard the screaming of the banshee's engines go over their little cave they called their CQ.
After roughly 5 minutes of listening to the banshees making passes across the valley, and after a further 3 minutes of waiting in silence, Sergeant Connors was sure the coast was clear. He ordered Pvt. McCauley and another marine regular to make sure the banshees had left, and weren't just nearby. After being reassured of his team's safety, he ordered everyone to get back to their positions and set up their base again.
"Corporal," Connors called.
"Yes sir?" Alexander replied.
"I don't like being a trapped rat, and I'm sure you don't either."
"No sir, no one likes it. I looked at every man's face when those banshees were flying overhead, and they all were worried and stiff as a brick. Even Andre'."
Connors looked over at Pvt. Andre' Pattarnis. He was mute. He couldn't talk at all, ever since a plasma bolt hit him in the throat and upper chest, burning his voice box, in the battle on Reach. After the medic who was working on him filled his wound with bio-foam, the bleeding veins were cauterised, and he was saved. The medic had no solution to how he survived, except it had something to do with "not hitting anything vital", as he had put it. After he was taken to the P.o.A, when Reach was trying to be evacuated, he was checked over, and he turned out fine after they patched him up, so he continued to serve in the Marine Corps, learning to 'talk' by original marine hand movements.
After wincing to himself at the pain that Andre' must've felt, Sergeant Connors spoke suddenly and quietly. "We're going to attack the Covenant ship."
After a few seconds pause, Alexander replied, "Yes sir." a sound of agreement in his voice.
They both watched as the five or so marines set up the camouflage tent over the top of the machine guns, so that if any Covenant ships were in orbit, (and now they knew there was, since The Odyssey was in no shape to send out banshees), they wouldn't see their machine guns and other equipment.
Alexander turned to face Sergeant Connors and stood straight. "Awaiting your orders sir."
Outside Covenant ship: "The Odyssey". Port docking bay door / 19:13 hours
Manatee, the golden elite, watched as the veteran elite tinkered with the control panel to one of The Odyssey's port docking bay doors. After the flight of banshees had been sent out to find the humans, his commander, Jolé, had ordered him to lead a team of 25 troops of his choice into The Odyssey and save it's crew. Jolé had explained that they had lost contact with the bridge, and that they needed to know what was going on.
"Expect the worst, my friend," were Jolé's last words before Manatee shut his comm. unit off.
Suddenly, the large plasma door flickered, went bright, and then disappeared. Manatee ordered his force to move in and take up defensive positions. As the last grunt knelt down on one knee behind a comm. box, a jackal in the corner of the room started choking. All eyes in the room watched as the thin shield bearer sank to the ground clutching it's throat, making a horrible hissing, gagging sound that sent a shiver up Manatee's spine. It was then that the large elite noticed the green gas-like substance emanating from the vent in the corner where the jackal was standing. He recognized it instantly; the spores that the flood vented into the air to slowly kill any enemies. "That jackal must've taken one hell of a deep breath", he thought as his gaze wandered back jackal, which was now twitching on the floor.
As Manatee raised his plasma rifle to put an end to this 'distraction', the jackal started shaking violently, scratching itself and clawing at the ground, screaming words of agony in it's native tongue. It managed to get itself to its feet, breaking its left arm doing so. Manatee winced as he looked at the sharp bone protruding out of the jackal's skin. A grunt and two jackals went over to help it as Manatee and the rest of the squad just watched, barely thinking about the present danger that was looming all around them, just concentrating on this bizarre occurrence.
Just as the grunt put its paw onto the jackal, the jackal screamed and clawed at its chest, scratching its armor. A large purple bump emerged on its chest, and its face started turning greeny-brown. All of a sudden, the jackal exploded sending purple and green ooze all over the two jackals and the grunts. All three of them screamed as they started to get lumps all over their bodies. They started clawing at themselves, screaming out for help. After a few seconds, they too exploded sending more fragments of bone and showers of blood over the docking bay floor. Manatee's mandibles dropped. He had never seen, or heard, anything like this ever happening.
A veteran elite roared and pointed and the now moving ooze. Manatee grabbed a plasma grenade and threw it at the ooze that was creeping along the floor in the direction of the squad. The grenade blew and burned the ooze into a crispy, flaky, and thankfully stationary stream of blood.
Manatee tried to find some kind of explanation for what had just happened, and finding none, he ordered his troops to move towards the only unlocked door in the bay. As they proceeded up the ramp, the jackals began to talk amongst themselves, grieving for their comrade, and shit scared from what was now never going to leave their minds.
As Manatee walked behind his force, one of his elites fell back next to him.
"Sir, that jackal must have taken a very deep breath in. I've seen troops die from spores in the air, but not that way."
"Yes Gantamee, I agree. I've seen them die too but never like that. I've heard however, that flood warriors seem to thrive, and fight much faster and smarter in high oxygen areas. Since this planet has a higher oxygen level than halo, do you think that the spores could be more effective here than on halo?"
"Yes sir that could be it. I'm willing to take any explanation as true after seeing those troops explode."
"Hmm," Manatee breathed out loudly, in a deep tone, "Tell the troops to stay away from the vents. These flood have obviously adapted quickly, and there's no telling what new surprises await us on this forsaken ship."
"Yes sir, they will know."
Manatee watched as Gantamee pushed through to the end of the group and spoke up, telling the troops their orders. It was over 20 decks to the bridge, and since elevators had many vents in them, he wanted to stay away from them. He had been warned to stay away from sector 3, and the two sectors above and below it, since they were in complete flood control. There was a service way around those sectors so they would use it, hoping the flood hadn't completely taken over that as well.
Suddenly, a report came in over the troop's comm. units.
"This is sector 20. We are taking heavy flood resistance from front and behind! We can't hold them off! We need re-enforcements! Sector 20 to anyone do you copy!"
"Sector 20 this is Field master Manatee. We are troops from the New Beginning. We are in sector 2 now, what is the fastest route to your location?"
"Umm, err, the elevator is the fastest route, Field master. However if you're thinking the flood spores will be venting into there, we fixed that. I won't go into detail now, just get up here as fast as you can!"
"Copy that sector 20 we're on our way. Manatee out."
Manatee ordered his men to get into the elevator, and 12 troops had to stay behind until it came back down. Manatee, 5 elites, and four jackals got into the lift and ascended towards what they all thought was their demise. As the door opened on sector 20, a flood corpse fell through and onto the floor. It was burned to a crisp and steam was still trailing off of it.
"Manatee to sector 20, where are you located?"
"We're around the corner from the lift, field master, we'll move to your position now."
"Copy that," he switched off his comm., "Send the lift back down for the others."
A jackal pressed the switch and laughed as the flood body was ripped in half as the doors closed and the lift descended.
"Good to see you're alive, what is you're name and rank?"
The tall elite from sector 20 replied, "I am Forta, the ships' commander's assistant. I guess you'll want to know what happened here."
Manatee looked around the room at all the black plasma burns and bullet holes, and then at the Covenant and flood bodies lying all over the floor. The door to the lift opened again, and the other 12 troops got out and stood at ease.
"They attacked after the commander took back sector 19. You see the commander was fed up of the flood gaining so much ground, so he decided to attack them himself with the two squads holding out at sector 19. After he radioed me back informing me of the situation, just before he shut his comm. unit off, a large force of flood attacked the bridge. He mustn't have heard anything, so we didn't get any help. They bashed through the doors, and I and 5 other elites escaped. We joined up with sector 20 and 21, and what you see here is what's left of us."
Manatee looked at the tattered group, 7 elites, 4 grunts and a jackal including Forta.
"After we regrouped with sector 20 and 21, we decided if any re-enforcements came, we'd need them quickly, so we blocked off all the vents in the elevator, but something happened."
Manatee knew what it was straight away, but he decided to wait and see what Forta thought of it.
"One of our jackals, well, exploded. He was patching a vent when he started choking and gagging, and..."
"He started scratching himself, his head turned greeny-brown, and a large purple lump appeared on his chest," Manatee finished. "The same thing happened to one of my jackals in the docking bay we entered."
Forta's confused face turned to an understanding one as Manatee finished what he was saying.
"Yes, I believe it has something to do with the high oxygen levels on this planet, the combat forms seem to fight better here than on halo." Forta said, seeking Manatee's approval.
"Yes, one my elites and I came to that conclusion as well. Did any other troops explode?"
"No, just that unfortunate jackal Field master."
"Well did anyone touch the ooze that came from the explosion?"
"Yes, a grunt and one my elites inspected it, then after they touched it, it started moving so we fired upon it and burned it."
"Where are these two troops??" Manatee yelled at Forta.
"The elite was killed and the grunt is over there," Forta pointed at the grunt who was leaning up against the wall, "Why sir?"
"Two jackals and a grunt were showered by that ooze when the jackal exploded, and they got spots all over their body and they too exploded. I believe our little friend may do the same."
"What do you suggest we do?"
"I'm afraid he must be killed Forta, we cant have any more troops dying that horrible way."
"Alright Field master. But how can we kill him without spilling any blood and getting ooze on ourselves?"
It was cruel, but it had to be done. As Manatee walked past the grunt, he cut open its methane tank with a plasma knife. The grunt slowly choked, not understanding why it had to die. Manatee was sad at such a waste of a soldier, but reminded himself it had to die. As Manatee walked back and signaled for two grunts to take away the body, Forta began talking again.
"We didn't kill all the flood that attacked us, they just retreated a few moments after I hailed for help. But now that you're here, we want to try and find the commander and his two sector squads. If he's dead we have orders from him, or I have orders, to initiate the self-destruct sequence."
"I'm afraid our commander wont allow that, Forta. He specifically said that under no circumstances must we blow the ship. I'm sorry if that was your commander's last wishes but that's just how it goes."
"That is fine with me. I'd hate to see this ship surrendered."
"As would I" Manatee replied, "Where would you like to start?"
"Well I would like having the bridge back, but the commander is more important. We should proceed to sector 19 and search from there."
"Alright, I'll gather my troops together and get them to take point, your troops seem tired," Manatee motioned towards the group of grunts who were wheezing and trying to keep their heads up.
"Very well, we'll watch your backs."
"Are your weapons any good?" Manatee enquired.
"Well they'll hold out until we get to sector 15, there's an armory there which I believe the commander was heading to."
"That's a start at least. Lets get moving."
After they had gotten organized, they set out down the corridors, heading for the armory. As they walked along at a steady pace, they watched every shadow, every crevice to make sure they weren't caught by surprise. They moved in unison and formed 3 groups, 2 of 12 and one of 10 troops. They moved through sectors 20 through to 16 engaging little resistance, mostly just stray infection forms and a combat form every now and then, but it was when they reached the hallway to the armory in sector 15 that they all froze.
Manatee swallowed back the bile that was rising to his four-pieced mouth. His eyes were watching the top of the doorway, which had been ripped open and thrown to the ground. He was watching a drop of blood that was slowly getting bigger. It suddenly dropped down into the chest cavity of an elite, which had been burnt, then ripped open obviously by a combat form. It was missing a mandible and the other three were all broken and hanging loosely. The elite must have been dead a few hours, but it was still bleeding fairly heavily. The purple trickle of blood streamed through the little pattern that the floor made and ended up trickling through the door and into the armory. Manatee's gaze ventured into the armory, where a sickly dripping sound echoed.
He walked into the room, and was almost knocked over by a foul stench that seemed to cling to him. It was a smell that was familiar to him, the smell of rotting, burnt flesh. There was a fire burning in the near center of the room. Suddenly, a small flicker caught his gaze in the corner of his eye. He looked around to see a huge amount of blood and chunks of body parts and limbs in the corner of the room. There was a large mass of gore, which seemed to be a body. Manatee walked over to it, and saw the thing that had caught his eye.
The gold armor still had a shine to it despite the ridiculous amount of blood still flowing onto it from what seemed to be a mouth. The part of the nametag was still showing, but the rest was covered in blood. It read: 'Kavamee Kavamitus', Manatee wiped away the rest of the blood, 'Commander of "The Odyssey"'.
"Forta,"
"Yes field master?"
"I found your commander."
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