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Attack on ERISTOCK Part 6: The Boarders
Posted By: xitWOUND117
Date: 1 October 2003, 3:24 PM
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2249 Hours, December 12, 2552 (Military Calendar)/UNSC Hymir, near planet ERISTOCK
Captain Geredar picked up his assault rifle and stood up. "Sir, six Covenant boarding craft have attached to empty lifepod docks. They're here," said the AI, Richard, standing on a pedestal near the main view screen. "Okay, stall them as long as you can; I'll get ready," replied the Captain. He walked off the bridge and down the hall to his left, then walked over to a closed blast door on the left. "Sir, they're on the other side of that blast door. They're trying to get through now," said Richard through the Captain's earpiece. "Richard, close the closest blast door behind them so they are trapped in there," ordered Captain Geredar. "Yes sir."
The Captain walked over to a key pad on the blast door with a red light above it. He typed in a few numbers and the first door began to slide open, dividing into two parts that slid into the ceiling and floor. Through the second door, which consisted mainly of thick glass panels, the Covenant spotted the Captain. The Elites pointed at him and yelled something in their tongue. "Door closed, Captain," he heard through his earpiece.
Once the first large metal door had slid completely away he typed in a few numbers on the key pad to the second door. It began to open slowly, but he quickly hit the abort key. The door shuddered to a stop. Then he slid his assault rifle sideways into the opening between the two parts of the blast door and pulled the trigger.
The Covenant panicked as 7.62mm rounds filled the air. Grunts threw down their weapons and ran around with their arms in the air. The Elites tried to return fire, but it was no use; it was two hard to shoot the human through such a tiny opening without being ripped apart by bullets. Suddenly there was a click as the assault rifle ran out of ammo. The Captain threw a grenade through the slot and began reloading the rifle for another bloodbath.
2258 Hours, December 12, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ a UNSC D77-TC "Pelican" dropship, near planet ERISTOCK
George broke his Pelican away from the group, heading for his landing zone. The ship, it's armor specially reinforced for atmospheric entry, began to violently shake as they drew closer to the planet's surface. Once he had broken through the atmosphere the ship calmed, but then the Covenant began to notice them. "Seven Banshees have lifted off to intercept us at two o'clock," said the AI nicknamed "Public". George pulled up and moved to battle the Covenant's fliers. Once the leading Banshee got in his range George squeezed the trigger, sending a hail of bullets into the alien craft. It exploded into a fireball and the burned out hull fell to the ground, and George turned to the next target.
He quickly destroyed the attack and landed on a flat patch of land near a valley. "Okay, let's move! Soon there'll be Covenant swarming all over the place looking for us, so the more distance we put between us and here the better. George opened the cargo bay door and Mark, Luke, John, and Sarah climbed out of the Pelican. George got up and opened the door leading from the cockpit to the cargo bay and walked out of the Pelican.
As soon as his feet hit the ground Sarah yelled "Look!" pointing at the sky. The rest of the SPARTAN-III's looked up. George shielded his eyes from the sun and saw lifepods heading towards the planet's surface, leaving a trail of smoke behind each one. "If we help them then we would have more men and-" Sarah started. "No," interrupted George, firmly. "Our orders are clear. We must not stray from the mission. Time is of the essence." He lowered his arm and started walking towards the valley.
The lifepod John Carmand, or at least what used to be completely him, was on began to slow down. The other Flood combat forms loaded their weapons and prepared to disembark. John strained his neck to look out the pilot's windshield. They were heading for a UNSC frigate. But what are those strange purple things coming out of it's hull? John thought to himself. Somebody beat us to it. replied the Flood mind.
Jaku 'Ilramamee, after his announcement of his discovery to the High Assembly, returned to the building set aside for him. He stood erect at the top of the steps leading to the main door. He was one of the lucky few that managed to get their own personal houses at the research area. Since he had contributed so much to their military, he felt he was very much deserving of it. The building didn't look to pretty and it was made entirely out of metal, but he couldn't expect very many comforts from a house built by the Covenant army.
One of his Grunt servants came out of the building through the servant entrance, which was to the side of the building, and ran over to 'Ilramamee. "What is it Gagap?" sighed the Elite in an exasperated tone. "A message came for you, Excellency," answered the Grunt. "Very well. Get inside," 'Ilramamee ordered. "Right away, Excellency," said Gagap, then he ran off. 'Ilramamee walked over to the main doors and opened them by pressing a button on a light panel on the wall. He walked over to a large holopanel and opened the message. It was from Kura 'Eralamee, head guard to the High Assembly. It read "While the High Assembly decides the importance of your find, it is imperative that the Exalted are very well protected. A human ship exited Slipstream near this planet and launched many small craft down to the surface. It is expected that you will eradicate this threat immediately."
'Ilramamee was not about to let some of that human vermin interfere with his discovery. "Gagap, come here," said the Elite, not moving his eyes off the holopanel. The Grunt hurried over to 'Ilramamee. "Yes Excellency?" "Send a message to Field Master Huri 'Ranalamee telling him that he will get his support units and more, and after he kills that human he will report to me." He'll get to go on a little hunt for the scum he thought.
2220 Hours, December 12, 2552 (Military Calendar)/UNSC Hymir, near planet ERISTOCK
"Captain," said Richard, "five more Covenant boarding craft have docked with us." Captain Geredar sighed. "Open the blast door to let them in. Close it after a few of them have entered. I don't want to face all of them at once," said the Captain.
He had managed to kill all thirty-six of the Covenant boarders using his tactic of shooting them through the blast door, but the Covenant had put up a fearsome struggle. One renegade Grunt had stuck his plasma pistol in through the slot and shot the Captain in the leg, and an Elite had broken Captain Geredar's assault rifle with his plasma rifle. All of the aliens had fired madly at the blast door separating them and the Captain. He wasn't sure how much more plasma burns the door could take until it broke open.
The Captain shut the first door until it also had a slot through it, then he crouched down so that he wouldn't be visible to the arriving enemies. Slamming another clip into his pistol, his main weapon now that the rifle was broken, he thought he might just have a chance of defeating all the boarders. Perhaps he could then devise a way for the Hymir to escape without being destroyed by the Covenant ship.
Rila 'Onulamee exited the boarding craft. He looked around. Also on the human ship were ten other Elites, twenty Grunts, and two Hunters. He motioned for the Grunts and two of the Elites to approach with him, the others to follow close behind. He carefully started walking down the hallway they docked to. Turning left he saw a gruesome spectacle. The floor ahead was slick with Elite and Grunt blood, the entire floor was thickly coated in it. Mutilated and deformed Covenant bodies lay everywhere. Yet there was no sign of human casualties, except for a small spot of red blood on the blast door at the far side of the hall.
'Onulamee charged forward furious at what he saw. The others followed him, and not far behind were the Hunters and eight Elites. He reached the area with blood and continued on, intending to open the door on the other side. Suddenly, halfway across the body strewn area, he heard a beeping noise. Turning around, he saw a blast door closing, separating his team from the Hunters and other Elites. One of the Elites managed to dive through the door before it shut, locking them in the battle area. It's a trap, thought 'Onulamee. He ran over to the door that just closed and pounded his fists on the metal. Then he heard a noise that sounded like 'clink clink clink...clink clink clink', just before his leg ripped off.
Yura 'Uralamee watched as 'Portalamee dived through the closing doors. "No!" bellowed 'Uralamee. "It's a trap!" He ordered the Hunters to try to pry the door open. He heard a few 'clink' noises from the other side of the door, then he heard two loud explosions and felt the floor shudder. Elite and Grunt screams emitted from the other side, muffled by the door. Then he heard the sound of bullets tearing through flesh and slamming into the door.
The Captain emptied the clip in his pistol then threw in another grenade. He had a pile of grenades next to him: he was fortunate enough to have raided the armory before the next group of boarders arrived. There was a loud boom and more screams from within the trapped area. The Captain picked up a shotgun, pumped a round into the chamber, then stuck it through the door and fired. He pumped it again and fired.
He continued to fire his shotgun until he heard nothing more from the aliens. Looking through the slot in the door he saw that all the aliens were dead. "Okay Richard, open the blast door again and let the rest through," he said, then crouched behind the door. He heard the door open, then the steady footsteps of two Hunters. Shit he thought.
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Author's Note: I would like to point out the difference between the Flood mind in this story and in The Flood, which you may have already noticed and gone "Huh? That's not right. Flood didn't talk to Jenkins or Keyes. This author's stupid" or something like that. The Flood that has infested John Carmand is a "loyal" Flood, housing the Forerunner spirit, and it created a direct link, on purpose, between it's mind and Carmand's. I doubt Keyes and Jenkins had full access and communication to the Flood mind that infested them. And if that didn't satisfy you, then maybe since it has a Forerunner spirit in it it got smarter. Remember, 343 Guilty Spark said they are very intelligent, despite their parasitic nature.
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