A Unngoy Life: Chapter 2: Trouble at Home
Posted By: CrazyGrunt<thomas-hoskins@comcast.net>
Date: 24 June 2005, 8:32 pm
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Harbinger System, Unggo
When the Phantom touched the ground, Nugga and Lovu jumped out and looked around. Dumalee and Lunamee followed, wearing oxygen tanks to breathe in the methane atmosphere. The Phantom's pilot, a Unggoy called Rafiki stepped out, carrying two needlers. Then they all saw it.
Jambo, the capital of Unggo, lay in ruins. It's towering skyscrapers of methane ice were gone. A planetoid-sized ring had embedded itself in the side of mountain the city was built into. A shock of realization swept through the group.
"Halo," Nugga said in awe.
"Lets go to Jambo so we can see it up close," Rafiki said.
The group clambored back into the Phantom, and Rafiki flew the dropship toward to Jambo's spaceport. The Spaceport was unfit for landing, however, due to Halo craving a trench through it, the Unggoy Council Building, the Pleasure district, the Residental district, the Communications district, and the Skyscraper district before crashing into the mountainside.
"Where is everyone?" Lovu wondered.
Rafiki landed the Phantom in the spaceport's parking lot. Before the group left the Phantom, they armed themselves. Rafiki took a two Needlers with extra ammo, Lovu grabbed her Particle Beam rifle and a Plasma Pistol, Nugga took a Plasma Pistol and a few Plasma grenades, Dumalee was armed with a Energy Sword and a Plasma rifle, and Lunamee was dual wielding Plasma Rifles.
When the group stepped out of the Phantom, they spread out to look for ground transport. The only transport were two civilian Spectres and a damaged Ghost.
Nugga hopped in the driver's seat of the Ghost, while the rest of the group got in the civilian Spectres. The antigrav pods in the vechicles took about five human minutes to start up. Then the group left the spaceport.
Unggo, Jambo, trench carved by Halo impact
As the group sped down the trench wall, they searched for any sign of life. When they reached the trench floor, they drove toward the crash site. Suddenly they were ambushed.
A wall of Flood Infection Forms slammed into the Spectre Dumalee and Lunamee were in, and nearly flipped it over. Nugga opened fire on the Infection Forms with the Plasma Cannons. The Infection Forms exploded. Nugga had just stopped firing after he wiped out the remaing Infection Forms when something jumped onto the back of the Ghost. Nugga turned around in his seat and saw a Flood Carrier Form hanging on the rear of the Ghost with its tentacles.
He turned around and accelerated to maximum speed. As he sped towards the wall of the crashed Halo, the Carrier Form's tentacle wrapped around Nugga's methane pack.
I'm going to die, Nugga thought. Then he remembered that he was on Unggo so he didn't need the methane pack. He reached for the release catch on the pack but the Carrier Form's tentacle grabbed his arm. Nugga reached with his fingers for the release. His fingers brushed against a catch. He grabbed it and pulled.
His methane pack slipped off his shoulders, causing the Carrier Form to lose its grip. The pack flew off the Ghost and onto the ground. Nugga looked forward to see Halo's rim coming towards at a very fast pace. Nugga decided to get off the Ghost at that point. He jumped off, causing the Carrier Form to fall into the driver's seat and start swelling. The Carrier Form sensory stalks popped up over the edge of the controls. It had just enough time to realize what was happening before the Ghost exploded.
Lovu gasped when she saw the Ghost Nugga was on crash into the outer rim of Halo. The Flood were still coming, but this time Carrier Forms were performing suicidal jumps down the trench, hoping to knock Dumalee and Lunamee off their Spectre. They were trying to do the same to thing to her.
"Dumalee!" Lovu shouted, "We need to split up. It will be harder for them to stop us if we spread out."
Dumalee heard Lovu and nodded in acknowledgement. He turned his Spectre around and sped away from the downed Halo. Lovu shouted at Rafiki to get the Spectre out of the trench. Rafiki pressed the accelerator to the limit and went vertical trying to get out of the trench. Then ten Carrier Forms leaped into the trench and slammed into the Spectre. The Carrier Forms exploded, sending the Spectre flying into the opposite wall. Lovu was thrown off the Spectre and out of the trench. Rafiki was trapped in the Spectre, so he was killed when it blew up. Then everything went black.
To Be Continued…
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