Deception
Prologue
The systems sun broke across the barren rocky landscape. The light reflecting off of the natural crystal formations made it seem like the asteroid was in a glittering embrace of light.
This mattered not to the sole slender figure standing beside a phantom drop-ship. All that mattered to him was finding a place to establish a base, a place where the Elites would be unable to find him. This asteroid was perfect; it was a good enough distance from covenant space.
Another figure emerged from the phantom, its bulging muscles and aggressive stance was that of a typical Brute. “Noble prophet, our scans show there are tunnels under the surface, caused by magma flows,” it said.
“Excellent, send word to the Burning Revenge, they are to start digging immediately,” the prophet replied.
“Yes holy one,” the Brute muttered and bowed, he headed back into the confines of the phantom where his fellow Brutes were waiting. The Brute controlled Assault carrier Burning Revenge glided overhead. Plasma erupted from it smashing into the asteroid, melting crystal shards, dirt and rock alike. The prophet smiled to himself; once he had a suitable command centre he could begin plotting his revenge on the Elites.
Chapter 1 – In need of a clue
Reja ‘Etasut steadied his aim, taking in the cool hard feel of the carbine, he sighted his target. He fired. The single shot from the carbine flew straight and true, it embedded itself in the skull of the target.
“That was a lucky shot,” the Elite standing behind Reja growled.
“If you feel you can do better Inme, please feel free to try,” Reja replied handing Inme ‘Aidure the carbine.
Inme stepped forward and aimed the carbine; he too successfully scored a headshot on his target. It had been two months since the war of Doisac; the Elites had been trying to find the prophet of deception since then. Only making a brief stop at sanghelios to resupply. Since they had lost all traces of the prophet, the Elites had nothing to do but practice in the firing range, work out or just sit around.
As Reja was sighting his second target the ships comm. Activated, “Reja please report to the command centre immediately.”
Reja looked to Inme who just shrugged, the two Elites left the firing range and headed for the command centre of the CCS Battle Cruiser Lightning's fury. When they arrived the rest of Reja’s Spec ops squad was there as well as the leaders of the three other spec ops squads onboard. “What is it you needed me for?” Reja asked Lysl ‘Tohul whom he had left in charge.
“We have found a loyalist controlled space station, hopefully it will shed some light onto the whereabouts of the prophet,” Lysl responded and brought up a holographic image of the space station for the others to observe.
The station consisted of two large semi- circles connected by a cube shaped middle section. Watching the hologram they saw small images of seraphs patrolling. “So what kind of defences does this have?” Inme inquired.
“Minimal, ten pulse laser turrets and a few seraphs, it was designed as a sensor post during the human – covenant war and as such was not expected to take part in battle,” Lysl explained.
“Sounds easy enough to overpower, how are we proceeding about it, infiltration or assault?” another member of Reja’s team, Obru ‘Borut asked
“Both teams three and four will infiltrate the lower section and get in position, team two and my team one will board the upper sections, when I give the word we attack and make our way to the middle section,” Reja explained.
The other squad leaders nodded and left to brief their own teams, Reja turned to Lysl “Order seraph squadron vengeance to prepare for combat, they will need to cover our boarding craft.”
The Lightning’s Fury was equipped with four short range boarding craft, one for each Spec ops Squad. Reja, Inme, Lysl, Obru and Shesa first made their way to the armoury; each one grabbed a plasma rifle and a plasma pistol. Lysl and Obru also grabbed a needler each. All of the Elites equipped themselves with a couple of plasma grenades.
They reached the boarding craft and entered through the tube entranceway. As the Elites strapped themselves in, the gravity beams holding the boarding craft in place deactivated and the ship flew out into the darkness of space.
As the four boarding craft neared the space station three seraphs formed up on their flanks while another four flew ahead to draw the enemies fire. The pulse lasers on the station tracked the seraphs and opened fire, lances of blue streaked towards the seraphs but all missed. The Seraphs returned fire, the shields on the space station flared; the enemy seraphs scrambled to engage the boarding craft but were engaged themselves by the boarding crafts guards.
The boarding craft split into two groups, the two groups then split up again as they got closer and headed to either end of the station. Reja and the rest of his squad detached themselves from their gravity harnesses; they formed up by the exit.
“We will breach the hull in ten seconds,” the pilot announced.
As soon as the boarding craft latched, the Elites charged out, much to their surprise there was a squad of Grunts waiting for them. The Grunts opened fire with plasma rifles and needlers, the Elites dodged out of the way and returned fire with their own plasma rifles. Half of the Grunts were cut down in the first salvo, the rest retreated, the Elites were about to charge after them when a bigger problem presented itself.
An access hatch for the ventilation system burst open and Drones swarmed out, they all opened fire with needlers. The Elites had to dive behind cover to avoid the explosive needles; Shesa and Obru primed grenades and threw them over the armour plating they were sheltering behind.
There were a couple of bright flashes that lit up the whole room followed by twin explosions, half of the Drones now lay dead or dying. Lysl rolled out and unleashed hell with his needler, “Die vermin!” he yelled as dozens of needles exploded out of the weapon, a lucky few shots implanted themselves in drones before detonating.
The fire fight was soon over and the Elites recovered ammo from the corpses. There were also various pieces of equipment that they thought may come in handy. “Why are the Grunts here, they have agreed to no longer serve the covenant?” Inme wondered aloud.
“I am unsure; when we are done here I will send a message to Sanghelios asking for a fleet to be sent to check on the Grunt home world.” Reja said. The Elite moved through a twisting corridor before reaching a locked door. Obru moved to the control panel, the others knew something was wrong when his shoulders slumped.
“They have vented the atmosphere on the other side,” Obru reported.
“*** these fools, they are only prolonging the inevitable,” Inme growled.
“We have to find another way around, I would suggest the ventilation shaft the Yanme'e attacked from earlier,” Lysl added.
The Elites headed back to their point of entry and entered the vent, it was a tight fit but they could move along. Occasionally a Huragok would hover past; they were no threat so the Elite let them be. After about half an hour of moving through the vents they reached another access point.
Shesa kicked the hatch off and he along with the rest of spec ops squad one leapt out.
The sight that greeted them was horrific. Pieces of Elite were all over the room, it seemed like they had exploded to create such a mess. This was not the case though as there were no scorch marks, something terrible had caused this and unbeknownst to spec ops squad one, that terrible something was watching them. It bared its teeth longing for the taste of Elite blood.
Chapter 2 – Stunned
Reja sensed something; a small prickling on the back of his neck alerted him to another presence. He readied his plasma rifle and slowly turned around.
Nothing…
The rest of the squad noticed something was wrong and with a hand signal from Reja, spread out and silently took up positions. All that could be heard was the thrumming of the stations reactor and the occasional sound of machinery humming deeper in the station.
The Elites were just about to relax when they heard a blood curdling screech, out of the shadows something huge and robust flew at them, something huge covered in armour and equipped with two six foot long blades. Inme dived out of the way of the blades but unfortunately Obru was not so lucky, he got swiped.
His shield took most of the blow but the blade did connect with his skin, slicing into him. Obru let out a roar of enragement. Lysl countered by charging forward and smacking the thing over the head as hard as he could with his plasma rifle, it had no effect. The strange creature punched Lysl, the force knocked him unconscious.
Inme and Shesa flanked either side of the beast and they along with Reja poured plasma and needle fire onto it. The needles just bounced of the armour, the plasma harmlessly splashed across it. Using the broad side of its blades the creature slammed Inme and Shesa into a wall and pile of crates; it was only Reja left now.
Reja did not know what to do, he was backing away trying desperately to come up with a plan.
“What are you?!” he exclaimed, the beast made a funny, gruff noise. Was it laughter?
“I am the predator, I have drunk the blood and consumed the flesh of countless Elites,” the beast said in nothing more than a whisper.
“You are a Brute?” Reja asked
“I was, now I am so much more. I am the destroyer of heretics, parasites and infidels,” the creature roared the last few words. Reja had now come up with a plan, it seemed the only part of this things body that was not covered in armour was its mouth.
“You are nothing but a pathetic Brute in shiny armour; I doubt the Grunts on this station would fear you!” Reja provoked.
The beast roared and made to charge at Reja who threw a deployable cover down at the last second. The shield took the full force of the Brute attack but overloaded in the process, Reja had counted on this however. The brute was stunned from colliding with the shield and stood gawking.
A single plasma grenade hurtled threw the air landing on, or rather in the things mouth. It snapped out of its bewilderment and charged at Reja intending to take him with it. Reja spun to the side at the last second and the brute skidded forward before its head vaporized in a beautiful blue flash.
The victorious Elite took a moment to catch his breath; he then proceeded to rouse the other members of the team. All except Obru who had propped himself against a wall clutching his heavily bleeding side. Once Lysl had regained his composure he moved forward to examine Obru’s wound.
“It is quite serious; he is losing a lot of blood. He needs medical attention,” Lysl called to Reja.
“Ok Inme escort Obru back to the boarding craft and get back to the lightning's fury, we will continue on from here and find our own way out,” Reja explained and pointed to himself, Shesa and Lysl.
Inme complied with his orders and helped Obru up, then with one arm wrapped round his shoulder began the trek back to the boarding craft. Reja, Lysl and Shesa all continued on, “What was that thing?” Shesa asked.
“As far as I could see, it was just a Brute that was extremely arrogant,” Reja answered.
The three Elite moved through more corridors, they reached a large room full of supply crates, extra armour plating, plasma coils as well as a few ghosts and even a wraith. Due to the large amount of cover it was easy passing through the room without being detected by the not so vigilant Grunt guards.
Another series of corridors only this time the Elites emerged in a hanger and on the far side was a grav lift. They could use it to reach the central section of the space station. As the elites charged out of the door a nearby squad of Grunts opened fire with their plasma pistols, the elites returned fire burning through some of the Grunts.
Shesa and a Grunt both primed plasma grenades; they were thrown at exactly the same time and collided in midair. The two grenades fused together but since Shesa’s had more power behind it the two grenades sailed into the midst of the Grunts, in a flash they were gone.
The Elites continued on through the hanger but now a squad of Jackals had taken an interest in them, they activated their shields and green ovals of energy flashed to life.
The Elites hosed them with plasma but the shields dissipated it, The Jackals returned fire forcing the Elites to take cover.
A few more Grunts that had been loading supplies into a spirit drop-ship now entered the fray, their needlers and plasma pistols spitting death at the Elites. The Elites were outnumbered three to one but those were the kind of odds they liked.
Reja and Shesa popped out of cover and laid suppressive fire on the Grunts and Jackals, none of them noticed Lysl deploy his mini grav lift and boost up onto the spirit. He dropped down the side, grabbing onto one of the open troop bay doors, he clambered aboard and made his way to the cockpit and seated himself at the gunner controls.
The biggest threats were the Jackals so they were the first to be targeted, bright flashes of purple plasma sizzled into their ranks; their shields were of little use. The Jackals were quickly dealt with. The spirits turret then swivelled round to face the group of Grunts. The Grunts were to busy fighting Shesa and Reja to notice the turret aiming at them.
By the time they saw the shots’ coming it was to late, the last thing those Grunts saw was a bright flash of purple and the last thing they felt was searing heat. Lysl dropped out of the spirit and made his way over to the other Elites.
“Excellent work Lysl, we shall use this drop-ship to escape after we get to the command centre to search for the information we need,” Reja said. The Elites entered the grav lift and floated up towards their target destination.
Chapter 3 – Pointed in the right direction
Reja was deposited out of the lift, followed closely by Lysl and Shesa. They appeared to be in a very large workshop of some sort, Huragok hovered here and there tinkering with various objects. Scattered about were parts of vehicles, ghosts and banshees mostly. There were larger weapons such as broken shade turrets and what Reja assumed was the power core of an AA battery. In one corner there were even parts of a scarab tank!
“This station has a lot of vehicles and other supplies for such an unimportant installation,” Lysl observed.
“Yes, maybe they were deposited for repairs by a passing capitol ship,” Shesa guessed.
“Stay focused, we must be near the control centre so security is likely to be higher,” Reja called back to them.
As if on que a door at either end of the workshop opened and a dozen Jackals charged through each one. It was time for some quick thinking, “Lysl flank round to the side of the group guarding the door we need to get to, Shesa hold the other group off as long as you can and then fall back,” Reja ordered.
The other two Elites moved into position.
Krakok was leading his pack of Jackals; it was their job to protect the entrance to the command centre at all costs. They spread out to either side of the door; two plasma cannons were set up.
Krakok thought he saw movement through his peripheral vision, he turned his head to fully examine the area, there was nothing but a spare propulsion system for a ghost. He dismissed it as his eyes must be playing tricks on him.
Lysl froze, that Jackal had just looked him right in the eye although it had not realised there was a fully armed and armoured Elite standing mere metres away from him. Lysl considered himself lucky that the mechanical smells in this junkyard of a workshop were covering his scent.
The Elite had to choose his targets wisely, the two plasma cannons were the biggest threat so he plucked two plasma grenades from his belt, one in each hand and waited for the signal to attack.
At the other end of the vast room Shesa was also getting into position, the Jackals this end didn’t have any heavy weapons, only their standard plasma pistols and energy shields. Shesa did not have to take them all out, simply stall them long enough for Lysl to take out the other opposing group, he had no idea what part Reja would play in this plan.
Suddenly the comm. Sprang to life and Reja’s voice whispered “Attack.”
Lysl did not need telling twice, he ignited both of his grenades and threw them as hard as he could at the two plasma turrets; there was a satisfying sound as the two grenades latched onto their targets. With two bright flashes and blasts of thunder, the turrets and half of the Jackals near them were gone.
At the same time Shesa opened fire with his plasma rifle. The beautiful blue globs impacted on their targets unprotected flanks, the plasma sizzled through flesh and bone leaving behind three smouldering, dead Jackals. The rest of the Jackals returned fire at the position where the blasts had came from, but Shesa had already moved.
Another blast of plasma and another four of the bird like aliens fell dead. Seven down, five to go. The Jackals had now formed a phalanx as they usually did. Shesa pulled back, he hoped he had kept them busy for long enough.
Krakok did not know what was happening, one moment everything was fine and then the next the world around him had exploded, he crouched behind his orange energy shield searching desperately for a target of which there appeared to be none. A concentrated blast of plasma rifle fire came out of mid air and cut the Jackal next to Krakok down, this was too much.
Krakok slowly and cautiously backed through the door leading to the command centre, he sealed it behind him. As he walked away he heard a scratching noise, his allies were trying to get through the door to safety. The noise was quickly silenced.
Krakok sighed, sometimes you had to sacrifice others to ensure your own safety, it might not be the noblest sentiment but it was what he believed. The lone Jackal made his way to the command centre; he bowed to the Brute station master as he entered.
“Report,” the brute barked in its low gruff voice.
“There were at least two Elites in active camouflage, as far as I know both security teams have been killed,” Krakok answered. The station master hissed to one of his guards who lifted its brute shot and aimed at Krakok.
“You failed then,” the station master said and walked away.
Krakok hit the shield generator on his arm just as the Brute fired, the shield burst into life just in time to absorb the blast, it was severely drained though. Before the brute could get off a second shot Krakok had sprinted out of the control centre doors, the Brute was about to give chase.
“Let him be, we have greater concerns,” the station master called out.
Shesa and Lysl had met up by the door leading to the control centre. There was still no sign of Reja. The squawks and hisses told them the surviving Jackals were heading there way.
Sure enough a few moments later five Jackals charged round a huge stack of supply crates, both Shesa and Lysl didn’t have much energy left in their plasma rifles, certainly not enough to take down all five Jackals. The scrawny aliens took up another phalanx position; they never saw the plasma battery coming.
It rolled down off the supply crates and the force of it hitting the ground caused the plasma to breach the containment field. All of the Jackals were instantly vaporized. Shesa and Lysl both looked round in confusion; finally they noticed Reja standing on top of the crates.
“You could have told us what you were planning,” Lysl yelled up to him.
“No, I couldn’t for I did not know myself exactly what I was doing,” Reja called back.
He scrambled down from the top of the supply crates, “How are you both doing for weapons?” he asked
“Badly, very little plasma left,” Lysl responded.
Reja pried a crate open and brought out two carbines which he handed to the other Elites, “Take them but use the ammo sparingly, we don’t have time to look through these crated for more,” he cautioned. The Elites moved on after managing to unlock the sealed door, waiting on the other side they found a single Jackal, it had its hands spread in a show of surrender.
Chapter 4 – A dish best served cold
The prophet of Deception was a patient individual; he knew that for great things to be achieved there had to be a considerable amount of time and effort involved. It had been three weeks since he and his surviving Brute guards had arrived on this asteroid, they had christened it Emolder.
A fitting name for the plans the prophet had for it meant ‘the unexpected’ in the ancient San ‘Shyuum languages, the Elites were fools and soon they would realise the folly of their ways. The underground base had been built deep into the core of the asteroid; precious minerals were being mined and melted down ready to be used to its full potential. The metal alloy the prophet was attempting to create was incredibly strong.
A few prototype armour systems had already been made from this metal and when tested it had far exceeded the prophet’s expectations. The Burning Revenge had already had some new plates of armour attached.
The Burning Revenge blotted out the stars overhead; it was anchored to the asteroid by means of its gravity lift. Some Grunts were transporting up more armour plates to supply the cargo bays as they’re being installed into the Burning Revenge’s hull, to give it yet more edge battle.
The same chieftain that had originally informed the prophet of the tunnels in the asteroid seemed to materialize out of the shadows. He lumbered in front of the prophet with natural menace and kneeled in submission. “Noble hierarch, our call has been heeded and five of our ships are approaching,” he reported.
“Excellent, what are the classifications?” the prophet asked inquisitively.
“Another assault carrier and four battle cruisers,” the chieftain answered in a tone of devotion.
This was enlightening news to Deception, although it may seem like a small fleet, if enough metal ore was mined to give them all the same armour as the prototypes, the Brute ships would be nearly invincible. “What is the status of the Grunt home world?” the prophet asked.
“Many are still unwilling to aid us, but there are some that wish to join us and there numbers are growing everyday,” The chieftain answered.
“And the Jackals? What of their home world?” the prophet continued.
“They too are mostly un-cooperative although the tribes living in the outer edges of the systems asteroid belt have pledged their allegiance,” the Brute concluded.
“It shall have to do,” the prophet said.
The Brute chieftain bowed and took his leave, the evening feast was about to begin. The prophet moved to face the outlook opening in his gravity throne hovering some four feet off the floor. As befit a prophet of his calibre, the central building he was in loomed above the vast asteroid surface giving him leave to inspect the gleaming and shimmering plains of crystal, dirt and rock... it was a sight to behold.
Occasionally he saw a Lekgolo burst out of the ground, they were a new configuration resembling serpents that were being used to seek out pockets of the valuable metal ore below the surface. After a few minutes five pinpricks of light appeared overhead, these lights grew in density, a ship was deposited out of each one, the reinforcements had arrived.
One of the cruisers glided low over the asteroid; the light from the systems sun caught the crystals at just the right moment making the scene look breathtaking and invigorating.
The boarding craft carrying Inme and Obru had docked with the Lightning's Fury, while Obru was rushed to the medical chamber Inme headed for the command centre. The Elite major that had been left in charge nodded to Inme as he entered.
“How goes that battle?” Inme asked.
“We received a report that spec ops squad two were slaughtered, Spec ops squad one are making progress towards the stations command centre and we have not heard from squads three or four,” the major replied.
“Very well, I am going to get some rest, I want to be informed of any new information immediately,” Inme said
“Yes sir,” the major bowed again.
Inme left the command centre and headed for his private quarters, he intended to read through some more of the Elite ancient scrolls (about the Elite-Prophet war) before getting some sleep. He was not far away when a lot of things happened at once, something behind him roared, there was an explosion further down the corridor where an Elite technician was working and at the same time something cumbersome connected with Inme’s skull from behind. Darkness exploded across his vision as he went limp and fell to the floor.
“Please, don’t hurt me, I will show you the way,” Krakok begged the Elites surrounding him in a tight nit circle. Two of them looked to another whom Krakok assumed was the leader. Moments later this Elite broke the silence.
“How can we be sure you won’t shoot us in the back, or this isn’t some trick planned by the Brutes?” it asked.
“None on this station willingly serve or abide the Brutes; we had an Elite station master until a few days ago when a small company of Brutes passed through the system,” Krakok explained.
The leader of the Elites looked in turn at his two companions, neither spoke up. “Very well,” the leader said, he handed Krakok a plasma rifle with deft handedness.
“I warn you though, the slightest hint of treachery and you will be dead before you know what happened,” the leader of the Elites growled in a stern way.
“Yes Excellency, the command centre is this way,” Krakok said and led the way.
It was only a short distance to the command centre, along the way Shesa and Lysl had acquired more cartridges for their carbines while Reja now hefted dual needlers with elegance. The Elites reached the door; they took up positions either side of it and when they were accounted for Reja hit the controls.
The door slid open and a dozen cylindrical grenades from brute shots flew through it, the explosives impacted the wall further down the corridor in a tremulous blast. Reja caught a quick glimpse of the control centre before being forced back into cover. It was a large circular room, the outer wall was covered with monitors and control terminals, in the middle there was another large circle about fifteen metres higher than the rest of the room, a path curved round this leading to the top. Most of the enemy fire was coming from the top of that cylinder.
Reja turned to tell the team his plan, “Lysl, you and Shesa will stay here and attack from range with your carbines, and I shall head up the ramp and attack those Brutes from behind.”
“Yes sir,” the two Elites replied.
Shesa and Lysl got into firing positions either side of the door, Reja was just about to charge in when Krakok spoke up.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked.
Chapter 5 – Gone but not forgotten
Reja and Krakok sprinted in through the command centre doors; the Brutes were not expecting a charge so they didn’t open fire in time. The lone Elite and Jackal reached the base of the raised area where they were out of the Brutes line of fire.
Not wanting to lose out on a kill, two of the Brutes leapt out of cover; they lumbered over to the edge of the platform priming spike grenades as they went. At this point Lysl and Shesa both leaned round the door and opened fire, the rounds from their carbines quickly penetrated the armour of the brutes and killed them. The spike grenades dropped to the ground and exploded, the spikes rebounded off of the ceiling and down into the Brutes position tearing chunks of flesh out of them.
Reja and Krakok had reached the top now; Reja was crouching down so he could also take cover behind the Jackals shield. The Grunts in the room noticed what was happening and also took up arms, eager to get rid of their Brute oppressors. The remaining Brutes quickly fell to the massive amounts of plasma and needler rounds that were sent their way.
Finally when it was clear Reja called Shesa over the comm. The Elites sprinted up the ramp to the main control terminal. He began sifting through the data files searching for any information on the Prophet of Deception’s location. 5 minutes passed until he found something.
“The small group of Brute cruisers that passed through this system were heading here,” Shesa reported and pointed at a location on a star map, it was a planet not to far from human controlled space.
“Excellent, send this information to the Lighting’s Fury and we can be on our way,” Reja said.
Shesa complied while Reja turned to face the rest of the stations Grunts, Jackals and Drones.
“I am giving you one chance to get revenge on those who have treated you in such a bad manner” he called out and immediately regretted it when he remembered how the Elites had treated the lower races in the past.
Every member of every species in the room cheered, they finally had a chance to try and better things for themselves. Reja and his Elites lead the rest back to the hangar, the Lightning’s Fury had sent in some phantoms to help transport the extra passengers back.
The space station was left powered down, intact in case it was needed in the future. The phantoms and the couple of spirits taken from the station touched down in the capitol ships hanger bay.
Reja had not taken two steps out of the dropship when he was called to the command centre. Two minutes later he dashed into the command centre; it was strange as he noticed at least ten heavily armed Elites guarding it. The major he had left in charge didn’t bother with any formalities, this solidified rejas suspicion that something was wrong.
“Sir we were attacked by boarders, we don’t know where they came from and now Inme ‘Aidure has disappeared”, he said hurriedly.
“What!” Reja yelled, “When did this happen?”
“About Twenty minutes ago,” the major responded.
“Why didn’t you inform me,” Reja growled menacingly, he had a strong urge to rip this major’s throat out.
“Section gamma 13 in the code of the spec ops branch strictly forbid communication to a spec ops squad when they are on a mission in case their position is given away,” the major replied calmly. Reja calmed himself; the major was right and certainly knew his stuff.
“What is your name?” Reja asked him
“Agran ‘Ivys” the major replied
“Very well I am now promoting you to shipmaster ‘Ivys, you only take orders from me now,” Reja announced.
“Thank you exce-,” Agran began but Reja cut him off.
“There will be time for the proper ceremony later, right now we need to find what has happened to Inme,” Reja said.
One of the Elites spoke up; “shipmaster, one of our boarding craft is departing and is not responding to any attempts of communication,” he called. Both Reja and Agran moved over and glanced at the readout, a small dot represented the boarding craft; it was heading towards a small group of asteroids.
“Scan those asteroids now” the ship master commanded. The Elite operator complied, soon a shape materialized on the readout, it was the unmistakable outline of a covenant frigate.
“Target that frigates engines now!” Reja yelled, the Lighting’s Fury surged forward as the engines were brought up to full power. Plasma started to collect along its lateral lines but before it could fire the enemy frigate had moved out of the asteroids and entered slipspace. Reja knew that Inme was aboard that ship, he stood dazed for a minute not knowing what to do until his newly appointed shipmaster spoke up.
“Sir the enemy ships trajectory matches that of the planet you found aboard the station, shall I set an intercept course?” he asked. Reja spun round to face him, there was still hope.
“Do it” he commanded.
Chapter 6 – The chase is on
Reja paced back and forth in the Lightning’s Fury’s hangar, all of the phantoms and even the old spirit drop-ships were ready to launch. As soon as the ship came out of slip space they would launch. No sneaking around or infiltrating this time, they were going to blast their way in, recover Inme and blast their way out.
In the command centre shipmaster ‘Ivys was planning his attack, the long range scanners had detected four battlecruisers in the system they were heading to, most likely controlled by the filthy Brutes, the frigate they were pursuing was on the planets surface.
The battle cruiser exited slipspace and charged towards the enemy ships, the Brutes who were never ones to back down from a challenge also went on the attack, exactly what shipmaster ‘Ivys had been hoping for. He turned to his weapons officer. “Prepare to fire plasma torpedoes at point blank range, also cut power from the engines and reroute it to the forward shield generators, our inertia will carry us onwards.”
The weapons officer nodded and set to his task, the Lightning’s Fury’s engines dimmed to a dull blue as power was cut to them, plasma started to gather along its lateral lines but did not discharge. The Brute ships did fire however; red lances of boiling plasma collided with the Lightning’s fury. Its reinforced shields dissipated the plasma.
“Status?” ‘Ivys barked.
“Shields are holding steady at 92%, plasma torpedoes are ready to fire on your command shipmaster,” the weapons officer answered.
The Elite ship flew towards the closest two Brute controlled battle cruisers. It used its manoeuvring thrusters to set it on the correct trajectory. A few more seconds passed and then the Lightning’s Fury passed between the enemy ships.
“Fire,” shipmaster ‘Ivys yelled.
Plasma erupted from each side of the Lightning’s fury, it splashed across the Brute ships shields and since it had been fired at point blank range, none of the energy had been lost in its transition. The Brute shields dissipated and the plasma burned through their hulls, one of the ships reactors went critical and generated a fireball that consumed both ships, the Lightning’s Fury had already passed through.
Some of the Elites let out a victory cry but shipmaster ‘Ivys knew it was not over yet. He glanced over at a readout and saw dozens of smaller dots leaving the larger ones that represented the enemy cruisers, “Seraphs,” he muttered under his breath.
The Brute fighters screamed towards the Elite cruiser, the seraphs energy blasts peppered its shields slowly chipping them away. The cruisers pulse lasers flickered to life and fired a salvo at the attacking Seraph swarm, tiny plumes of fire erupted all around the cruiser but there were still many Seraphs left.
The Brute cruisers fired another salvo of plasma torpedoes; they homed in and impacted the Elites weakened shields severely depleting them. A small advantage was that the stupid Brutes had just incinerated half of their own seraphs; the remaining fighters were picked off by pulse laser fire.
The Brute cruisers prepared to fire yet another salvo, that was when shipmaster ‘Ivys had an idea, something he had seen a human ship do many years before had given him this idea. “Give all available power to the engines,” the shipmaster commanded. The Lightning’s Fury shot forward just as the Brute cruisers fired. The two plasma torpedoes started tracking the Elite cruiser which was accelerating away from the battle. Suddenly the Lighting’s fury lost all power to its engines; it then began using its manoeuvring thrusters to turn itself round so it was flying backwards.
With an order from shipmaster ‘Ivys the Lightning’s Fury’s engines flared back into life, it sped towards the pursuing Brute cruisers, the only thing in the way was the two enemy plasma torpedoes which were slowly getting closer to each other narrowing the gap that the Lightning’s fury needed to pass through.
The Elite battle cruiser shot through just before the plasma torpedoes intersected its path; the deadly crimson plasma arced round and continued tracking the Elite cruiser which was still heading straight for the Brute ships.
Just before the Lightning’s Fury collided with the first Brute ship it fired its thrusters and dropped down by just enough to miss the other cruiser. The pursuing plasma shots were not as manoeuvrable however and washed over the Brute cruiser. It only existed for a few seconds more before the plasma had burnt through the entire ship.
There was only one Brute ship left now, the Lightning’s fury turned and began charging its own plasma torpedo. It soon erupted from the prow of the ship and sped through the empty space towards the enemy. It splashed across their shields dissipating them; the Brute cruiser was still intact however.
Shipmaster ‘Ivys then had another idea, he ordered his weapons office to charge all available power through a single pulse laser turret, the shot had to be fired before the turret overloaded and exploded though. With all the extra power the shot only took a few seconds to charge.
It fired, the beam of light generated was so intense it pained the eye to watch. It sliced into the Brute battle cruiser and severed its engines. Without its engines keeping it steady the Brute cruiser began drifting into the nearby planets gravity well. The Elites had won this battle.
Reja received the word that it was clear to launch, he leap into a nearby phantom which took off straight away, it along with almost a dozen other phantoms and the couple of spirits began heading for the surface, it was time to get Inme back.
Chapter 7 – Beachhead
The Brute frigate had put down on a mountain in the centre of a small island in the middle of a large lake, the area was tropical and warm and the sunlight reflecting off of the water made it seem very pleasant, well except the plasma cannons, barricades and other defences that the Brutes had on the island, it seemed they had been here a while.
Reja’s phantom flew low over the water, said Elite was manning the turret on the left side of the phantom, he glanced at the island that was fast approaching and went over the plan in his head one more time.
His along with three other phantoms would land on the east side of the island and push inwards towards the frigates gravity lift, another squad that was being lead by Shesa would land on the other side of the island and keep the Brutes busy, they would have the first reinforcements.
Once inside the frigate Reja and his Elites would proceed to the hangar and deactivate the forcefields so more reinforcements could be dropped off, they would then proceed to rescue Inme and leave via the hangar, the plan was simple enough.
The phantoms passed low over a beach, Reja gunned down a group of Brutes that were not quick enough to cover. A shot from a beam rifle flashed into the hull of the phantom, missing Rejas head be mere inches, the Jackal that had taken the shot was melted by the cannon on the phantoms nose.
The green dropship lowered itself down over the beach, the Elite assault squad behind Reja charged out, the group included Krakok who now wielded a beam rifle. The phantom lifted up into the air and Reja gave the ground troops some cover fire with his plasma cannon.
Over the noise of the ground troops Reja heard something that chilled his blood, “Wraith” the pilot screamed a few moments before a dozen green blobs impacted the phantom, it listed to the side for a moment before the engines completely cut out and it nosed into the sand.
Reja made sure the Elite that had been manning the other turret was safe and then went to help the pilot clamber out, he had a small cut on his face but nothing serious, Reja handed him his plasma pistol. The trio of Elites climbed out of the crashed phantom and joined in the fire fight that was happening a small distance away, the ten Elites and Krakok that had departed the phantom earlier were now pinned down behind barriers and portable shields by the wraith.
Nearby two blue armoured minor Elites had pried open a supply crate, inside they found a couple of fuel rod guns and plenty of ammo for both. The two Elites hefted the heavy weapons and stuck their heads up to aim at the wraith; they were both hit by beam rifles and fell with neat smoking holes in their heads.
“Krakok take those enemy snipers out now!” Reja yelled.
Krakok nodded and sighted through his beam rifle, he fired once and then twice before turning to Reja, “both targets are down,” he reported. Reja nodded, he didn’t like making the Jackal kill his own kind but it had to be done, he along with another Elite picked up the dropped fuel rod guns and popped up from cover.
There were only a few Brutes left on this part of the island now and they were all conveniently gathered around the wraith, with a signal Reja and the other Elite opened fire on the wraith, it exploded before the driver knew what was happening, at the same time several other Elite primed and threw plasma grenades. The grenades landed among the remaining Brutes and blew them to whatever hell they believed in, probably one infested by the parasite Reja thought to himself.
A trio of Phantoms flew in once the beach was secured and dropped off a couple of spectres and four ghosts; some new Elites mounted the passenger seats of the spectres armed with fuel rod guns. Reja mounted the turret of the closest spectre and saw Krakok and three other Elites mount the ghosts, soon the small vehicle convoy were on their way.
As they moved deeper into the lush jungle that was surrounding the lone Mountain on the island, things became very quiet, Reja didn’t like it. Surely there would be some kind of wildlife making noise and occasionally he thought he saw a shadow move in the trees. Krakok’s voice came in over the comm. “Excellency, I can see movement in the trees and we are being followed.”
This was all Reja needed to hear, he ordered the convoy to stop and everyone to spread out. Moments later what seemed like hundreds of Drones burst out of the dense tree line, intent on swarming the Elites. Those that were armed with fuel rod cannons blew huge holes in the incoming swarm but were soon forced to switch to more close range weapons. Reja grabbed the plasma rifle from his hip and opened fire; many other Elites did the same. The large amount of plasma cut through the Drones like a hot knife through butter but more and more kept coming. It seemed the jungle was teeming with them.
Reja kept on firing but soon his plasma rifle was out of ammo, he saw the pilot from the crashed phantom get swiped by a Drone, his shield overloaded. The Drone swooped down on him intending to tear the flesh from his bones but the pilot cracked it across the head with the plasma pistol Reja had given him, the Drones shell cracked and its insides spilled out.
The whine of banshees was soon heard over the sound of battle, Reja grimaced. How could this possibly get any worse he thought to himself? The banshees were soon in range and opened fire, instead of burning into the Elites though the plasma washed through the Drones burning them down. “We thought you could use some assistance,” Lysls voice said over Reja’s comm.
“Your timing is impeccable,” Reja responded.
“Thank you sir, there are a couple of Brute phantoms moving on your position that we shall take down, however we did see some choppers prowling the jungle earlier you should get moving,” Lysl answered. Reja clicked off his comm. and called for everyone to get back on their vehicles, by some miracle no Elite had been lost. They were soon heading for the mountain again which the Brute frigate rested atop.
Storm clouds had began to block out the sun, sending a chill wind over the battlefield Smoke rose from the various combat zones on the island and wrapped itself around the summit. Reja replaced the battery in his plasma rifle; he prayed that Inme would survive long enough for them to find him.
Im back! Now with 72% more unseriousness!