Chapter One: Echoes in the Sand
A light breeze blew across the barren, desert like planet of Renin. A breeze that I felt across my mandibles as I waited tense, perched upon the crest of a jagged hill. It was uncomfortably hot inside my metallic red armor, but if this was the will of the prophets then who was i to question them? My thoughts were interrupted as a sudden blast of chatter filled my com informing me that a couple of human drop ships had been spotted in the area. I growled in the hope that one of the drop ships would land in my quadrant so that I could lead my squad into battle and win glory for the prophets.
The gritty sand formed small craters underneath my feet as i paced restlessy. Some of the jackals under my command squabbled for a slice of meat. Normally I would have invoked obedience over the beings under my control, however; things were unsettling after my account with the one they called “Spartan”... ”No” I thought, “I mustn’t think about that shameful day.” Eventually the yellow shielded jackal won, let out a screech of victory and stalked away to enjoy his well earned meal. I turned to my right to see the four grunts of my squadron warming their hands against a fire. And then it happened, a flaming drop ship flew overhead, it turns out that this was going to be my lucky day after all!
"Wort Wort Wort" I bellowed as I led my squad across the barren plains and towards a cliff underneath which the enemy drop ship had crashed. I planned to strategically eliminate any enemy hostiles that were there, hopefully regaining some trust with the prophets; enough trust to get a new assignment far away from this dead end planet.
I surveyed the area, searching for a strategic advantage that would give my forces the edge in battle. And then i spotted it, the dropship had glanced off of a cliffhead before crashing in the side of a sand dune far below. I ordered one jackal sniper to post up on the cliffhead and ordered three more to make their way down on the other side, it was a steep descent of shale and debris, but it was worth the strategic advantage. Satisfied that my forces had the upper hand I then proceeded to order the remainder of my jackal-subordinates to take point and instructed the three grunts of my squad to stay in the middle of the formation, as I took up position in the rear. As my squad neared the craft I spotted the aliens as they took shelter next to their downed ship. I ordered the jackals to form a phalanx formation to shield the squad from enemy fire. We advanced slowly and I could just make out the sound of an enemy sergeant yelling at his troops in a barbaric tongue.
The dropship was a wreck, one wing was torn off, and the cockpit was burning, filling the air with the scent of seared flesh. Wreckage was strewn around the site, most of it on fire. There were approximately fifteen humans surrounding the dropship, and of those fifteen about ten of the humans were lieing wounded outside of the dropship, and of those ten only a few were capable of handling a weapon. Easy pickings.
As we got closer two humans lobbed grenades at my formation, a momentary wave of doubt shock-waved up my spine, but I quickly shook it off. The phalanx would hold. It turned out I was correct as the fragmentation grenades bounced back, exploding and sending shrapnel everywhere, including through the thoracic cavity of a by standing marine, killing him before he even had a chance to scream. As I neared the drop ship scattered enemy fire flashed against the jackal’s energy shields, but none of them dissipated and we continued our slow advance. One human lost his mind completely and tried to make a run for it. My carbine exhaled a steam of lime-green gas as the human screamed and fell to the ground, three holes burning through his back. As my squad neared the drop ship I gave the order to drop the phalanx, it would serve no purpose in the sheltered remains of the ship. My troops scattered, shooting down humans left and right. I turned to see one of my grunts get shot down by an abnormal human in a black suit. I roared in anger and the human shot repeatedly at me with a rapid-fire weapon as I closed the distance between us. My energy shields had dropped to half by the time I reached the human and lifted it by the neck. It struggled wildly as I slowly tightened my hand and felt the humans struggles weaken until they stopped completely. I turned to see how the battle had gone. As I had assumed my squad was systematically walking around the battle field finishing off all of the wounded humans. I quickly counted up the casualties. There was one grunt dead and one jackal wounded. I walked over to the jackal and bent down. “May you partake in the great journey” I whispered as I ended his misery with a swift slice of my energy-blade. I sniffed the air. Something was wrong. I looked around in time to see the human sergeant grin as he jumped out of the drop ship with seven more of the black-suited humans by his side, each with a rifle aimed at my head.
P.S. Hope you like it, constructive criticism is also welcome. Also if anyone can think up of a better overall title, or chapter title that would be great, THANKS!!
GT: Nomadic MacManus
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