Chapter X
Planet Iridanus, Polaris System
0555 22 January 2540
Downtown Rubidard, Delfanus
“Now these Scarabs are nasty sons-of-***,” explained Captain Chin during a briefing. “Their armor is nearly impervious to everything in our arsenal. Never mind your small arms; it’ll just glance right off. If our tanks can’t do anything against it, nothing portable will do the job.”
“It’s a manned-vehicle, right, sir? Any way we could board it?” blurted out a Daemon.
“Rarely, and I mean rarely, has a Scarab ever been boarded successfully. From what we do know, it’s impossible to shoot it up from the inside. Armored internally as well. You’re going to need to gut the whole crew if you want that Scarab.”
“The armor deflects shots from the inside as well?” asked SSG Coolidge.
“From what we know, Staff Sergeant.”
“What if we shot a sniper round inside?”
“Well, in that case…”
The rounds from the clip ricocheted off the corner and went on to wreak havoc inside the compartment. Grunts, squeals, a scream from Oswell, and any other inhuman yell erupted from the cabin. One round made its way back to the entrance ramp where we were and pierced the shoulder of CPO Padilla.
“****Harper. I’m gonna feel that one tomorrow.”
I gave a quick smile, then waited for things to quiet down inside. I gave the signal to move in. He took the right entrance; I took the left. Plasma bolts flew across my visor. A half dead major made a final effort to kill the intruders. CPO Padilla fired a burst of shots and drilled three rounds into the skull of the pilot.
I took in the scene of the control cabin. Guts and blood were strewn across the walls and floor. There came some twitching from the long dead passengers. After death sporadic nerve contractions, I supposed. I walked up to the corpse of First Sergeant Oswell. I bit my lip and drew blood. 450 caliber rounds and penetrated his body over eleven times. You could have probably stuck a prod clean through. I took the energy sword from out of him and threw it aside. I collected his dog tags and started to walk over to the main screen. I had a bad feeling about our surroundings. As if some of the twitching weren’t involuntary. CPO Padilla was looking at the view screen.
“Chief, I want hole in every head. I want to make sure the dead don’t come back to life.”
“Aye, sir.” he replied.
He was about to turn away, but he froze in his tracks like a deer in the headlights.
“Oh ***. SIR!!!”
He was pointing to the view screen. My eyes widened. Two Shortsword bombers were making their way to our location from the horizon.
“Damnit!” I tried the contact MSG Higgins. Static.
“Goddamnit! Chief, get Higgins on the line stat!”
“November EpsilonSeven, Papa to CP, come in. I repeat. Come in.”
A look of tension ran through Padilla’s face. Then joy.
“Sir, I’ve got them on the line.”
“Tell them to call off their bombers!”
“CP, call off incoming bombers.”
I just stared intently at the view screen. I could see the payload being released from the bombers. Goddamn.
“Too late Chief!! Brace yourself.”
“***.”
We both braced ourselves to a pillar away from all of bodies in the cabin. We kept our eyes on the view screen and clenched to the pillar as hard as we could moments before impact. The cabin went dark a violent forced struck the Scarab. I could have only held on for a moment before being thrown to a wall. A loose plasma pistol took a shot at my side. A silence ensued for a short moment.
“Padilla, you there?”
No reply.
A creaking noise could be heard, and it was getting louder and louder every passing second. The legs! The creaking sound came to an abrupt halt as wires ripped and a leg joint snap. Alien metal was grinding against alien metal. The loud screeching almost unbearable to hear. I ran back to the pillar and clutched it as hard as possible. The Scarab’s weight became too much for a joint to handle and the legs started to give. It came off balance and toppled as gravity had my legs held in dead air. Bodies flying every which way knock into me as their were on their way. I lost my grip as the Scarab hit the floor. Oswell laid on top of me.
Minutes passed until I decided to do something.
“Padilla, you there?”
Silence.
“Padilla, fuckin’ answer me!”
Silence.
With that, I decided to change my HUD display to show infrared scanning. I pinpointed a body of heat. I pushed Oswell’s body aside and made my way to the Chief Petty Officer. He was lying next to the view screen, still breathing, but knocked out. I switched back to normal vision and I kicked his ribs but no movement came. I decided to unlatch his helmet and throw some water from my canteen on him.
“Ugh.”
“Ugh? UGH!?! Is that how you greet your superior!?!”
“Huh?”
“Stand up Chief, you’re still in a war zone. Keep your eyes peeled.
He still seemed rather disoriented so I took a swing at him. He’ll feel pain, but it’ll wake him up. The comm. crackled to life.
“SGT Harper, are you there?”
“I’m alive.”
A sigh of relief came from Master Sergeant Higgins. “Pelicans en route to your location. ETA 5 minutes.”
“Thank you Sergeant. Over”
“Over and out.”
“Put your helmet back on Chief, we’re headin’ out.”
I picked up Oswell’s body and we made our way to the ramp. The Scarab toppled sideways so now what was our left is the floor, and what was the floor was our right. Padilla jumped into the rampway first. I threw up Oswell’s body, and then I climbed up, feeling the pain of that plasma pistol. I slung my rifle and carried Oswell’s corpse on the way out.
For the first few meters outside, vision was blinded by the smoke from the wreckage. We walked further from the site, only to see an equally as wrecked battlefield. I looked back and saw the Scarab in shambles. Something still didn’t seem right, though.
“Sir, look.”
Two Pelicans and a Sparrowhawk could be seen in the distance.
“Finally. When I get back to base, I’m going to have me a nice bowl of chow.” commented Padilla. He flashed me a grin. “We earned it.”
The ships started arriving close and we could hear the engines roaring. I then heard a growl. It more like a whimper you hear from an injured dog, but a growl nonetheless. Then I remembered my bad feeling. Oh ***!!
“PADILLA!”
I swung around and threw Oswell’s corpse at the noise. A rock caught my leg and I fell backwards. You could hear an energy sword click on moments before it cut into Chief Petty Officer Padilla.
”GAH!!!”
Padilla turned in time to come face to face with the Ultra, but not in time to dodge the attack. The Ultra had purple blood gushing through holes created by the sniper ricochets. His shin was busted with part of his skeletal structure sticking out from under the armor. His left arm was limp and obviously shattered. Shields burnt out beyond repair. How that son-of-a-*** snuck up to us, I’ll never know. But the look of fiery maliciousness was contrasted by the large grin he gave Padilla. As if he relished more and more in every passing moment Padilla’s agony. He was as happy with his kill as if he were a beast returned to his primal state.
It was at about this time that Oswell’s corpse had finally hit him. The Chief Petty Officer hit his sepulture with a thump, the energy sword still in him. He was alive, but was bleeding profusely at a morbid rate. All you could make out through his visor was a pool of blood slowly filling up the inside. The Ultra tripped backward and howled out. The freezing cold is starting to get to him. His gaze turned to me, rage noticeable in his eyes. He effortlessly threw off Oswell’s corpse. I got back to my feet and grabbed for my rifle. He picked up and threw Oswell at me. Too Late! I dodged left, barely. The lifeless body struck my arm and knocked away my stripped MA5B. Another rock caught my foot again.
The Ultra jerked the energy sword from the gutted CPO and trudged towards me. I tried to get up but he lunged. My pistol was too far of a reach, so I just yanked a metal rod at my belt and activated it. Oh God…
A jackel shield emerged and negated the attack. I kicked his shin and he roared in pain. I reached toward my ankle and pulled out my M6D. He went for another strike.
*BSH*BSH*BSH*
Three pistol shots rang out. Two were from me. The jackel shield and the energy sword disrupted and phased out. Padilla had shot out the Ultra’s wrist, while I put two caps through his mouth.
“YOU ***!! *** YOU!!”
I held the dead Ultra suspended in air.
“YOU PIECE OF ***!”
I punched him across the face. I bashed in his skull with the butt of my pistol. I dropped kicked him to the floor. That doesn’t mean I was done with him.
A pelican landed behind me and corpsmen rushed over to the Chief Petty Officer.
“BURN IN HELL!”
I emptied the rest of my clip into that freak. I reloaded and shot some more.
“SGT Harper! Sergeant, get a hold of yourself!” screamed a familiar voice.
I emptied yet another clip.
“GET BACK UP YOU PIECE OF ***!”
I kicked as hard as I could into its ribs. Blood pouring from the fresh opening.
“Harper that’s enough!” It was Gilbert.
I fell to my knees, tears swelling.
“Harper,” his voice more compassionate now. “We’ve got a meeting in the stars. This Pelican here is taking us to the UNSC Eagle.” Fleet Admiral Lopez’s Flagship? Why?
He gave me a pat on the shoulder. I got up and walked over to Padilla’s body, now deceased. I collected his dog tags. I gave a salute as the corpsmen took his and Oswell’s body to a second landed Pelican.
“All right. Let’s go Gilbert.”
As I went to board. I paused for a moment.
“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, when do you think HQ will come with the reinforcements?” asked Sergeant, First Class, Bohr.
I chuckled before answering. “Always before the last man alive is almost killed. Typical UNSC.”
The requiem for the fallen is a howling winter wind at sunrise.
"...You might think I'm losing my mind, but I will shy away from the specifics..."
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