The penultimate chapter of Insurrection. One more to go. Thanks for reading, even if you're not commenting.
Part 51 - Sacrifice
"Here
we are," John murmured, extracting himself from the lifeless grasp of a
dead elite combat form. The still corpse fell to the ground with a
thud, joining nearly twenty of its comrades.
"It's about ***
time," Johnson answered, stubbing his cigar on the wall. They looked up
at the gigantic door before them, which was all that lay between them
and the Gravemind's core. In a last desperate bid, the Mind had set
some of its elite soldiers upon them, but they had soon fallen.
"The
only thing to do now is open it," the Arbiter input, flexing his aching
shoulders. Simultaneously, everyone turned to look at Mendicant Bias,
who chuckled softly.
"I will need a few minutes," the golden
Monitor replied, before drifting towards the door, placing itself
before the holographic panel embedded within it. John nodded quietly,
wanting to sit down and catch his breath but knowing it would be
dangerous to do so. Everyone but his Spartans did so anyway, gasping
for breath. Absently, John did a quick role call.
The two Brutes
had been useful, their raw muscle and unique outlook had proven
instrumental to success at times. They did however have a tendency to
berserk when subjected to arduous and stressful conditions, which made
them a little hard to control. Jahl, the cousin of R'tas, had also
shown himself to be an admirable fighter, although he didn't speak
much. The two Lights of Sangheilios on the other hand never stopped
talking, although they were very insular, rarely conversing with anyone
albeit themselves. Johnson was also a talkative one, and his Spartan I
training and augmentations almost put him on an equal level with the
others. His skills as a sharpshooter almost rivalled Linda's. Almost.
His
Spartans, Fred, Linda and Kelly had, as always, fought like the killing
machines they'd been made into alongside him. And yet still John felt
almost detached from them, there no longer existed the bond there once
had been. In comparison, John found himself often unconsciously talking
with the Arbiter; it was odd, but he almost felt like he connected with
the Sangheili better than he did with his own now.
Mendicant Bias had been rather distracted keeping the Gravemind's manipulative will at bay, and so hadn't spoken much.
Cortana,
as always, felt as much a part of him as his hand, or gun did. She'd
been unable to contact the surface due to the Gravemind blocking the
signal, and had almost given up on the task. John could only hope
things above were going well.
"I've hacked into the system, Reclaimer," Mendicant Bias suddenly informed him. "I will open the door when everyone is ready."
This is it, John thought grimly. This is where we decide the future of our galaxy. The Spartan stood tall, moving by the door, and facing his tired, weary and yet at the same time determined group.
"The
Gravemind is inside that room, soldiers," he told them, feeling a small
motivational speech was necessary. "We're in this alone, no-one is
coming to help us. You all have to be the very best you can be, and it
will be hard. We may all lose our lives here, but I swear that I will
not stop breathing until the Gravemind is destroyed. Killing it is the
priority. Do not flinch in the gaze of battle, or death. Billions, if
not trillions of people are depending on us, and we will not let them down. Are you all with me?"
He
received multiple replies of affirmation, and was reassured by this.
Everyone was on their feet now, weapons drawn and on the edge, ready to
fight. John took a deep breath, and turned to Mendicant Bias.
"Open the door."
The
Forerunner AI complied, activating the mechanism which operating the
gargantuan door to the Gravemind's core, which slid open with an eerie
hiss. John looked through the doorway and baulked.
Thousands of
Flood soldiers were inside, facing them. But that wasn't his primary
worry. In the centre of the room, on an elevated platform stood--
"A ship," the Arbiter breathed, eyes widening. "Oracle, what is happening?"
The huge Flood ship stood hundreds of metres tall, defying all who gazed upon it.
Mendicant
Bias' voice was frantic. "The Gravemind has separated its core from the
rest of itself. It's attempting to flee on that vessel. Hurry, I'll
slow down the launch as best as I can!"
The strike team stepped
into the room, and instantly a loud roar reverberated through the
gigantic chamber like sound of howling wind surging through the mouth
of a cave.
"Stop them!" the Gravemind roared, the voice clearly
originating from within the ship. It was about half a mile away, down a
large stretch of land covered by Flood. The legions surged forward,
screaming in a feral manner.
"Chief," Linda stated, drawing out
her sniper rifle. "You go ahead and get to that ship sir, we'll cover
you for as long as we can."
"I won't leave you here," John protested vehemently.
"You must, Spartan," Galenus insisted, handling a heavy Brute shot. "The mission comes first."
"Besides,
you're the second fastest of us here after me, Chief," Kelly input.
"And that Juggernaut we ran into damaged my leg. You've got to go.
We'll follow, and try and keep them at bay."
"I can't leave you.
I'm the CO. It should be me who--" John continued to argue, but was
suddenly cut off by the thunderous noise of huge engines firing up. The
Gravemind's ship was firing up.
"They're right, Chief," Cortana
told him. "You've got to go. At the very least, to secure an area for
everyone to regroup in. Now move it, Spartan!"
Stealing one last
guilty look at the rest of the resolute and determined strike team,
John grabbed Mendicant Bias' chassis and ran towards the Gravemind's
ship, accompanied by covering fire.
Flood lunged for him, but he
dodged with an athletic grace, firing as he did so. He let rounds loose
from his rifle, felling a few of the Flood who drew a little too close.
Instinctively, he swung out with his left hand as something brushed
against it, receiving a complaint from Mendicant Bias, who was
effectively turned into a makeshift weapon.
Finally, he slid
under the open legs of one of the Flood, rolling on the ground near the
ship and drawing out his Symbiosis rifle, the ammunition for which he
had been saving. He put the heavy stock in his hands, lined up, and
opened fire, the plasma coated bullets impacted into the waves of
Flood, keeping them at bay. Then he waited for a few minutes, looking
up nervously at the imposing ship.
Suddenly, Fred, Kelly and
Johnson broke through the ranks, gasping and letting rounds fly from
their own weapons. John waited, but no more appeared.
"Where are the others?" John roared over the cry of the engine.
"The Flood got them. They're dead." John's heart plummeted.
"Linda too?" Thel's dead? he added silently.
"Not
yet. The Flood cornered her, but she managed to escape by climbing up a
crumbled tower. She can't escape, but she's giving us covering fire. I
tried to help her, but there were too many. We've got to leave!" Fred
shouted back, motioning up at the ship, which was beginning to fire up
its thrusters. The Spartan threw Johnson up onto the ramp of the
elongated and triangular ship, and the Sergeant managed to grab hold of
the rim, pulling himself up. John turned to face Fred.
"We can't just leave her!" he cried, anguish in his voice.
"Dammit
John, she's already dead! We've got to go now; it's what Linda, and
everyone else would have wanted!" Kelly screamed back, pointing up at
the ship, which was beginning to lift off the ground.
"Listen to him Chief!" Johnson shouted down at them, leaning over the edge of the ship's rim.
Go, Chief. The Gravemind has to be stopped, Cortana told him quietly. I'm sorry.
John
didn't trust himself to answer her, and merely nodded at Fred. The
other Spartan grabbed his leg and heaved as John jumped, launching him
a few more critical metres. John reached out with his hands and grabbed
the rim desperately, feeling himself sliding off. Suddenly, he stopped,
and looked up to see Johnson grabbing onto him with a strained fervour.
"Dammit
Chief, I can't hold you for long! Climb up!" the Sergeant growled at
him between cries of pain. John dug his hand deep into the metal hull
of the ship, creating a handhold to pull himself up with. He made a
herculean effort, and managed to get a secure footing on the ship,
which was now beginning to rise. The next one to be thrown up was
Kelly, who just about managed to grasp onto John's outstretched arm.
John stared down at Fred.
"Jump!" he cried down desperately at
his life long friend, who made an attempt to leap for the ship. His
hands brushed against John's outstretched ones, and for an elated
moment John thought he'd grabbed onto the other Spartan's hand. His
hopes were dashed as Fred's hand desperately flailed against John's,
before the Spartan fell heavily to the ground. The ship continued to
rise even higher despite Mendicant Bias' efforts, dashing all hopes of
Fred reaching it.
"It's no good, John!" Fred shouted up at him
resolutely. "I'll stay here, and take as many of these bastards with me
as I can." John shook his head, turning desperately to Mendicant Bias.
"Can't you help him?" John demanded desperately.
"He's too heavy for me to carry, Reclaimer, and the teleportation grid has been disabled by the Gravemind. I'm sorry."
John turned away from the monitor, tears in his eyes.
Then,
another figure crashed through the heavy wall of Flood, who were now
beginning to close in on the area the ship had once occupied. A golden
flash of armour, and a burning blade of violet.
"Arbiter!" Fred
called to the Elite, who picked up on the noise instantly. The Spartan
shot a few Flood soldiers behind the Arbiter. "Come towards me, I'll
give you a boost!"
The Arbiter nodded, although seemed a little concerned. "What about you?"
Fred shook his head grimly.
"I
can't make it, and there's no way in hell you'd be able to throw me up.
I can still help you though! What happened to the others?"
The Arbiter hung his head sadly.
"They're
dead, Spartan. The Brutes died tackling a Juggernaut, Jahl threw
himself on his own sword to stop the parasite infecting him, and Relg
and Malkor, they -- they died, saving me. I got careless, a group of
Flood overwhelmed me. They helped me escape, but at the cost of their
lives. Honour Guards to the end," the Elite answered bitterly, shaking
his head.
Fred nodded, shoulders sagging a little.
"It's not your fault, Arbiter. Come on, hurry!"
The
Arbiter ran, narrowly avoiding the clutches of the encompassing Flood
forces. He charged towards the Spartan, who caught his legs and threw
the Sangheili into the air. The Arbiter lunged with his hand for John,
who was bent over the edge of the ship. This time, the two hands
clasped firmly, and John grunted as he felt the Elite's considerable
weight. Closing his eyes, he pulled the Arbiter up, using all his
strength. In a few moments the Arbiter stood by him and Sergeant
Johnson, grasping the edges of the ship desperately.
"We've got
to get inside this ship, Chief!" Johnson told the shell-shocked
Spartan, who nodded absently. The Arbiter passed him an energy sword,
which he used to cut a hole in the ship's triple layered hull.
Sombrely, John stole one last look at his life long friend .
"We'll never forget you, Fred," he shouted down, tears choking his voice. "Your death won't be in vain, I'll make sure of that."
Fred laughed, stabbing two approaching Flood forms in the head.
"Death?
Don't you know, John? Spartans never die." Then the Spartan disappeared
in a swarm of Flood, and vanished from John's sight. John stood at the
precipice of the ship's rim, sighing. Then, depressed, he climbed
inside the ship with the Arbiter, Johnson, Kelly and Mendicant Bias.
Kelly
was slouched in the corner, being comforted by an uneasy looking
Sergeant Johnson. The Arbiter approached John, head hung low.
"Spartan;
I am so, so sorry," the Elite told him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
John just shrugged him off, breathing deeply. A shield spawned in the
area where the hull had been breached.
Only the four of them and
Mendicant Bias had made it. Everyone else was dead, or worse. And there
were two less Spartans in the galaxy. Gritting his teeth with anger,
John drew out his rifle.
"Enough talk. We're going to go kill that ***."
* * * * * * *
Fred
could feel the mass of Flood on top of him, pounding into his energy
shields. There was no way in hell he was going down without a fight. He
braced himself, tightened the grip he had on his knives, and pushed the
assailants of with a cry.
They fell sprawling to the ground, and
the Spartan vaulted backwards, stealing a glance at the Gravemind's
ship, which suddenly slammed into the roof of the room. The metallic
roof buckled as the gigantic, heavy ship crashed through it, reaching
for the surface.
Good luck John, Fred projected quietly,
before turning his attention to the matter at hand. Dozens of Flood
forms had gathered around him in a circle, with thousands more watching
with glee. Fred laughed, looking down at his knives and grinning.
"You still there, Linda?" he asked over a secure channel.
"Barely. I see everyone else made it. I guess we're screwed,"
the Spartan sharpshooter answered from atop her crumbled pillar. A
congregation of Flood had gathered at the base of it, and she was busy
fighting those who dared to climb it off.
"It looks that way. Well, we might as well go out in a blaze of glory," Fred answered, smiling. Linda chuckled quietly.
"The HAVOK?"
"Hell yeah."
There was silence for a few moments, before she answered firmly.
"Do it. I'll give you covering fire. The Flood will learn that messing with Spartans is a bad idea."
Fred grinned maliciously behind his visor, raising his knives.
"They certainly will. Let's have some fun first, eh?"
"Sounds good. Don't overdo it."
He
cut the communication, and shut his eyes for a few moments. He'd led a
good life, and a beneficial one too. He'd saved thousands in his time,
maybe millions. Fred wasn't afraid of death.
"Now," he spoke
to the Flood soldiers, who were leering at him. "I've heard a lot of
talk from you guys. You claim to be the perfect organisms and all, but
I really don't see it. I mean, look at you. You're falling to pieces,
literally. It's quite pathetic, really."
"You taunt that which
you will soon become," one of them rumbled, stepping forward. It wore
mismatched Elite armour, coupled with a UNSC helmet. Fred turned to it.
"Is
that so?" he answered mockingly, systematically driving the heavy hilt
of one knife into a Flood Stalker creeping up behind him. "Those are
pretty big words coming from an awfully mutilated mouth. I see why the
Gravemind kept you all out of sight down here; you're embarrassments.
Go on, try me. I dare you."
The Flood form stepped forward
angrily, and suddenly found that its head became separated from its
torso as a sniper bullet zoomed across the room from atop a pillar,
soaring through the Flood's cranium and not stopping. It tumbled to the
ground before Fred's feet, who grimaced down at it.
"Well, you
didn't last very long. Does anyone else care to try their luck?" he
challenged the rest. The Flood soldiers exchanged a glance, and five of
them surged forward. Fred leapt into action, engaging them with his
long bladed combat knives aggressively, cutting through a maelstrom of
flesh and bone, losing himself in the brutal art. Seconds later, they
all lay on the ground, shredded to pieces.
"Oh, come on! Is this really the best you've got?"
Three
more from the group surged forward, not even reaching him as a round
from Linda's sniper rifle felled one, just before another shot fell two
others. Fred was thoroughly enjoying himself now, even though he knew
it wouldn't last. Eventually, the thousands of Flood soldiers would
grow bored of this sport and open fire on him. But he didn't plan to
let them do this.
"Now you see, here's the thing," he began,
drawing the small HAVOK nuke from a protective cage on his bag. It was
completely harmless -- until it was armed. Then it would be turned into
one of the most deadly portable nuclear weapons in humanity's disposal.
Usually it would level the entire city of Vadam, but this far
underground, Fred was pretty sure it would only destroy the Citadel. "I
see all of you, facing me all smug and haughty, like you have the upper
hand. This amuses me greatly."
As he brought the HAVOK into view, he saw concern and worry crease the faces of the Flood ranks
Curious.
The Flood seem to possess two different ownerships. The Gravemind being
the more dominant and possessive one, but there seemed to be a second
as well. Almost a hive mind. And perhaps there was even a third, deeply
repressed aspect to them; individuality.
A couple of them
stepped forward anxiously, and were suddenly felled by Linda and her
ever ready sniper rifle. Fred held up a hand warningly.
"I'd
calm down if I were you. If I touch this button like this," he pressed
the activation button on the side of the nuke. "And then speak this
code," he then recited the security code which would prime the nuke,
"then this once harmless hunk of metal becomes a very deadly, dangerous
nuclear bomb. And oh dear, it just did didn't it?"
The Flood were wide eyed, aiming their weapons at him. Fred laughed, holding the football sized bomb out at arm's length.
"Steady
on," he cautioned seriously. "My vital signs are linked to this bomb. I
die, and it detonates. And I think you've assimilated enough people to
know what it does. Oh, and incidentally, it's set to go off by itself
in five minutes."
The thousands of Flood soldiers stared at him
in horror for a few seconds, and then as one, surged forward to the
exit of the room, pushing past each other frantically. Fred called
after them, laughing maniacally.
"I was joking," he told them. "There's no need for a countdown whatsoever."
They turned to face him as one, staring at him with terror. He nodded.
"Yeah,
you're screwed," he told them sincerely, activating the nuke. It
pulsated dangerously, turning from green to yellow. When it reached
red, it would detonate. The Flood howled with rage, some of them still
attempting to flee. Fools.
"Ready, Linda?" he asked his lifelong friend sadly.
"It's a little late for second thoughts now, Fred," she answered dryly. He laughed heartily, before sighing.
"It's been an honour, Linda. To know you as both a soldier, and a friend," he finished, staring up at her on the pillar. She nodded.
"Likewise, Fred. An honour."
The HAVOK bomb turned red. Fred saw the bright light, heard the roaring sound, and then--
Darkness.
"This one has forgotten whether it's heatsink is over capacity. It wonders whether the criminal scum considers itself fortunate" ~ Blasto, the only Hanar Spectre.