Sullis was lost, there was no doubt
about that. Smoke and Covenant ships engulfed the horizon. Squadrons of
patrolling banshees screeched through the salmon colored sky. The smell of
sulfur permeated through the charred wasteland. “This isn’t happening.” were
the only words running through Jason’s mind. He glanced out the window at the
once beautiful cityscape, visible from the west control room, all that remained
now was a pile of rubble. Two covenant
cruisers circled menacingly, spouting beams of plasma every so often, melting
the ground below. The scorched earth nearly resembled glass.
Jason had heard stories about the
covenant glassing planets, and he had seen holo-vids, but nothing could ever
prepare him for witnessing it firsthand, it was like looking into hell. He was
suddenly overcome with a great sickness as he watched his home world burn. He
turned his head away from the charred wasteland and made his way downstairs to
the server room.
He approached the door silently. If
there were any covenant inside already, he wanted to make sure he had the
element of surprise, there was no way he’d win in a straight up fight. He
checked the door, still locked. Jason breathed a sigh of relief, entered the 4
digit code, and slowly opened the door, gun in hand. He shined his flashlight
and crept inside. The room was still surprisingly completely intact. The
computers flashed and whirred, like nothing was happening, despite the living
hell that was outside. The soft light of the computer monitors somewhat lit the
room. He began to walk up and down the rows of 3 meter tall servers. After he
was sure he was alone he locked the door behind him.
He slung his EMR3 Tactical Rifle over his
shoulder, made his way to the central terminal, and began executing the COLE
PROTOCOL. He initiated the system wide data purge and initiated the triple
screen check to ensure they were wiped clean. When that was done he neutralized
the backups and downloaded the viral data scavengers. They began their final
data scan, deleting any bits of data that might have been left behind. Last but
not least was the recovery and protection of any local UNSC AI constructs.
Jason made his way to the AI core. He approached the sliding glass doors. They
hissed open and Jason was hit with a blast of cold air, a light fog filled the
room. He approached the AI terminal. A small holographic figure emerged, he was
dressed in medieval knight’s armor.
“Hail Fellow!” exclaimed the AI
“How farest thou? Percival James at your… Sir Jason? Tis a pleasure to see you
again, lad! What prompted thee to awake me from my slumber?”
“Percival, the Covenant are
attacking, we need to go” said Jason.
“Good
Heavens! Let us make our leave with haste, shall we?”
Jason pulled Percival’s AI chip
from the terminal and inserted it into the slot on the back of his helmet.
There was a click followed by a whirring noise. Jason turned and walked through
the doors back into the server room. He stopped and listened. There was a
crackling noise. He peered around one of the computers.
“Scans suggest there are covenant
on the other side of the door.” Said Percival. “Standard formation, big ones in
back, small ones up front.”
Jason readied his EMR3. His heart
was ready to explode with fear. He could hear his heart in his ear. He had
never trained to fight covenant, well not yet anyway. They hadn’t progressed
that far into his advanced training. The Paladins were created to stop
insurgencies, not alien invasions. Come to think of it, Jason had never even
seen a real alien before, let alone fought one.
The only things he knew about the
Covenant were rumors he had heard from Marines he had met, and as far as he
knew there were only 3 races that formed the covenant. First was the stocky
methane breathing Grunts. They were so tactically inept that their main purpose
was either to act as cannon fodder or overpower the enemy with sheer numbers.
Then there was the bird-like Jackals who often acted as shock troopers or
marksman, and damn good ones at that. Last was the all-powerful, all deadly,
Elites. They were a proud warrior race, they were often the ones calling all
the shots.
There was
a loud hissing noise as the door began to glow red hot, the Covenant were using
plasma cutters to get in. Jason couldn’t help but stare, paralyzed. “I am
sensing thine heartbeat Sir, tis off the charts.” said Percival. “Might I
suggest a smoke screen?”
“G-great
idea Percival” said Jason, he began searching his belt and tried his best not
to panic. The hissing stopped. Jason peeked around the corner and saw that they
had finished cutting through the door. He quickly deployed the smoke screen the
room was filled with a thick white smoke. He switched his vision mode to
infrared.
The door fell with an ear-shattering
BANG! Jason peeked his head around the corner, he saw four Grunts. When he had
confirmed visual, he opened fire. The .45 caliber bulled ripped through each of
the aliens facemasks. The methane hissing from their tanks. Two Jackals
followed suit. He shot at their feet crippling them, then fired one round each
into their raptor like heads. Pools of purple and translucent blue blood
gathered in the center of the room. Jason watched his motion tracker for about
thirty seconds, no movement.
Jason switched off his infrared
vision setting and walked to the center of the room. “You weren’t so tough.” He
kicked over a dead Jackal with his boot and examined it. “Ugly lookin’
bastards, I’d hate to see what the Elites look like.”
“You won’t have to look far, infidel.”
Jason froze solid, he felt all of the blood suddenly leave his face. It took
all of his might to look up. An eight foot tall elite de-cloaked and drew his
energy sword, its soft white light illuminated the room. Jason instinctively
raised his rifle and began shooting. The Elite snarled, his four mandibles
split wide open. Jason dodged left as the elite thrusted his sword into a
nearby console. Jason recovered and continued firing at the alien. Its energy
shields shimmered blue as every bullet was deflected. The Elite removed the
sword and swung at him vertically. Jason raised his rifle to try and block the
attack. The sword went clean through, slicing his rifle into two unequal parts.
Jason fell to the ground, half of a rifle in each hand. He shifted his weight,
rolled backwards, and was immediately back on his feet.
He flung the rifle halves at the
elite, each of them hitting the alien in the face. The elite was knocked over.
While the Elite was stunned Jason made a mad dash for the doors. He got
half-way before he heard a loud SQUISH!
He slipped and fell to the ground on his stomach. He realized he had slipped on
the bloody corpses of the aliens he had previously killed. He desperately tried
to crawl away. He felt a large, four fingered, hand wrap around his neck. Jason
was thrown backward into a nearby computer. He was covered in a shower of
sparks and computer parts. The elite walked over, dragging his sword on the
ground. The Elite grabbed him by the neck again and lifted him off the ground.
They were face to face, his beady yellow eyes staring right at him. The elite
spoke, his hot breath fogged up Jason’s faceplate. “Are you ready to face your
death with honor, human?” Jason stayed silent. The Elite tightened his grip,
Jason began gasping for air. “You will answer when you are spoken too, pathetic
worm!” Jason started to squirm as his vision slowly darkened. You will perish
with the rest of your weak race.” The Elite released his grip. Jason limply
dropped to the ground in a heap. He started losing consciousness. He closed his
eyes and heard a series of loud gunshots. The unmistakable crackle of a BR55. A
loud thump was the last thing Jason heard as he slowly slipped into
unconsciousness.
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