Chapter IX
Planet Iridanus, Polaris System
0540 22 January 2540
Downtown Rubidard, Delfanus
I turned around as well, and all I saw were mechanical pillars about 200 meters behind us. I then looked up, but through the snowstorm all I saw was an outline of a Scarab.
“This is *** up.” commented Oswell.
I then saw the head of the Scarab turn down on us and started to open its petals. A blue light started to emerge from its mouth. Oh ***!!!
“OH ***!!” I screamed, “Everyone run toward the base of the scarab!”
“Aye, SIR!!” the chorus yelled, but by that time they were already 10 meters from where they were standing just seconds before.
We all sprinted as fast as we could. The main cannon charged and it seemed as if it was sucking everything within its vacuum. The loud roar came and a stream of energy blasted the area where we once stood several moments before. With that, everyone was thrown to the ground as debris blew everywhere. The earth beneath us trembled and felt as it was ready to collapse beneath our very bodies. As we all tried to our feet, we were either flung several meters by chunks of earth striking us, or the vibrations of the ground took our balance and we fell to the floor once again. It wasn’t until several moments later that the scarab had to stop to recharge. We all scrambled once again. The comm. crackled to life.
“Sir, what’s the situation?” It was Master Sergeant Higgins.
“F.U.B.A.R.! THERE’S A *** SCARAB SHOOTING AT US!”
“Sir!?! GSgt. Flowers, get me an infrared feed on their location, now!”
I could faintly hear the Sergeant reply with a ‘Yes, sir.’
“Sir, we’ll have our vehicles giving yo—“
The Scarab Cannon started to charge once again.
“No, you don’t have enough firepower to make a scratch. Get HQ on the line and get support, A.S.A.P.!”
“Aye, sir!”
The cannon fired again, but at the same place. We were flung to the earth once again, but since we were farther away from the blast, we were able to get back to our feet.
“Sir, I don’t think they noticed us yet!” yelled Bohr.
He’s right. I’ve seen no activity suggesting that they’re trying to kill us, not to mention noticing us.
“Squad, here’s what we’re going to do. What we’re going to do is climb that Goddamn piece of *** and *** it up from the inside.”
“Hoo-Rah!”
We were able to get to the base of the Scarab not to soon after. We had to split up, to appropriately flank and surprise the hosts. Myself and Bohr when up one leg, whereas Padilla and Oswell went up the opposite side. We all slung our weapons and unsheathed our knives to use them to scale the legs. Bohr spoke up.
“Sir, what are we going to do when we get up there?”
“What we do every time we’re in a shitty situation, soldier.”
“And what would that be, if you don’t mind me asking, sir?”
“Wing it and kill everyone.”
“Which one are we doing first?”
“I dunno. I’m feeling good today; how ‘bout we kill everyone and then wing it? Sound good?”
“Couldn’t have come up with a better plan, sir.”
“Hoo-Rah!”
We’re now two-thirds on the way up the leg. The Scarab was charging for another shot.
“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, when do you think HQ will come with the reinforcements?” The Scarab fired its main cannon again.
I chuckled before answering. “Always before the last man alive is almost killed. Typical UNSC.”
“That’s not very optimis—AHH!!”
“NO!”
Before Bohr could finish his sentence, a large piece of earth and slammed against the Sergeant, First Class, and threw him off the leg, leaving him a twenty meter fall. I lost track of him only five meters on the way down. There’s nothing I could have done for him now, so I the only thing I could do is move forward.
“Sir, EpsilonSevenPadilla, we’re at the top. Awaiting orders.”
“Hold on there, almost up.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Stealth tactics, Chief Petty Officer. Good Hunting.”
“Roger that. Good hunting, sir.”
I made it to the edge and took a peek over the edge. A grunt was passing by for the moment. I hopped over edge and made a strong sidekick, forcing the grunt to go overboard, screaming. I took stock of the situation to make sure that no one was alerted. Luckily, the snowstorm drowned out any cry for help. Suddenly, heavy thumps were coming toward me from the back of the Scarab. I went to hide behind a wall that supported a heavy turret. I saw a shiny glint striking at me, so I had instinctively grabbed the wrist and I nearly threw the body, but the wrist felt human, so I had stopped midway. I saw a Daemon helmet staring at me, and he saw mine. We nodded to each other and we went pressed up to our respective support walls. With Padilla was SFC Oswell. I looked to my right, and my eyes widened. I could barely make out two major elites guarding the entrance to the Scarab. Luckily, they weren’t paying attention and seemed to be dazed out. The hoof thuds came ever closer. As it passed from my right to my left, I slipped from where the thuds were to where the minor elite actually is. I gripped my knife and thrusted it to the back-neck of the hostile. Its shields shimmered slightly while the blade cut through soft spot of the shields. It quickly pierced through and the knife penetrated through the vertebrate and where its vocal chords should theoretically should be. Silent kill.
I kicked the corpse over the edge, and noticed that Padilla and Oswell had gone on without me. I stood on the edge, looking toward seeing the horizon, watching the morning sun shimmer over the snowy landscape. The snowstorm was starting to pass. Burst fire broke the tranquility of the moment. With that, I felt exposed on the deck of the Scarab. I pull out my stripped MA5B and went prone. A violet beam of light streaked by where I had stood just moments before. I saw a jackel staring at me, so I took sight and let off several rounds. The armor piercing ammo tore through the chest and punctured through the throat. I glanced slightly toward the left, watching CPO Padilla smashing the butt of his rifle into the temple of an elite. There were two elites watching the fight until I had fired my shots. They turned their attention to me. Plasma shots came at me and dispersed on the Scarab deck a foot in front of me. I rolled to get the support wall between me and them. I got to my feet and pressed up against the wall, popping out to let out some suppressing fire. The elites hid in the cave entrance of the scarab. I pull a pin on my frag grenade and milked it for a second. I chucked the grenade in their hole, watching them prepare to whack back the grenade. Just as one of them went to bat it, it blew. One of the Majors was thrown against the wall, a gaping whole in its chest pulsing with purple liquids. In the smoke remnants, a shield could be seen shimmering and then dying. Padilla had struck his opponent with his Daemon issued shield, gripped its open jaw with his hand, and slammed the head to the deck. The elite was gasping for air, only realizing that his last moments would be spent drowning in his own blood. I charged the entrance of the scarab and sprayed it with ammo. The Major elite holed up in there let out a groan of pain, letting out a few plasma shots before he fell to the floor. A shot hit me square in the chest.
‘***!!”
“Take a breather, there, sir.”
“Where... the hell… is Oswell.”
“Captured, sir. He’s inside.”
“Goddamnit soldier, how the ***!!… Goddammnit!!”
We went down the ramp and pressed against the walls. I held up my fingers.
Three…
Two…
One!!...
We turned around our respective wall and laid down suppressive fire, our rifles firing in bursts at a time. We were in time to watch the Ultra thrust his energy blade into his kneeling prisoner, First Sergeant Oswell. His body was left suspended in the air, held up only by the sword that gravity is sinking his body into. Oswell coughed up blood onto his clear visor, and his eyes were just staring into the space of his thoughts. He gave a look at us, and then a penetrating stare of hatred at the Ultra. Oswell disjointed his cuffed arms and threw them over his head and swung them around the neck of the Ultra. From there, he head butted the Ultra so hard in the forehead that the shields shimmered for several seconds until going back into its normal state. Both Oswell and the Ultra fell to the floor.
“*** kill him!!” screamed Oswell and several more pints of blood covered his visor.
I nodded and pulled a plasma grenade from my belt. Oswell kneed the Ultra in the gut, shields shimmering once again. Blood gushed from Oswell’s pierced torso, but only ended up evaporating on the shields. I threw the plasma as hard as I could, only to have a major hit it back at me with a bash from his plasma rifle. With instinct, I used the butt of my stripped assault rifle to deflect the plasma grenade. Luckily, a grunt was unlucky enough to field the fiery blue ball. Not only that, but he ran back into his group of friends that was giving Chief Petty Officer Padilla a hard time. An explosion of superheated plasma engulfed a group of four grunts. A methane tank blew striking a Scarab pilot dead with a sharp alloy to the back of the throat.
“GODDAMN LOPEZ USE YOUR *** SNIPER!!!!” yelled Oswell with deep despair, as the Ultra was starting to overpower the persistent first sergeant.
I gave a nod to Oswell, and exchanged one with Padilla. Padilla and myself withdrew to the ramp. I slung my rifle on my back and took out ‘Beut in stead. I cocked the rifle and fired four shots in quick succession at a corner…
Looking back, we would’ve been in some deep *** if it wasn’t for Oswell screaming the hell out of me. I forgot the detailed info reports that we was drilled into our minds with numerous, repetitive briefings.
"...You might think I'm losing my mind, but I will shy away from the specifics..."
gamertag: path090