- MaxRealflugel
- |
- Elder Mythic Member
Part 9
A deep pop echoed from the front of the rocket launcher as the solid propellant was ignited, and the four retaining pins were released. For a split second it seemed as though the launcher was faulty, until the quiet pop was replaced by a deafening roar as the rocket screamed towards the nearest alien.
The rocket hit the alien square in the face and exploded with enough force to destroy a Warthog, as a result it was thrown against the nearest wall, landing with a bone shattering crunch.
Despite the direct hit to the face, which was now a semi-molten blob, the main bulk of the alien had somehow remained intact.
John had previously turned Covenant Wraith tanks and the lumbering Hunters into smouldering wrecks in his encounters, with successive hits from a rocket launcher. But here was an alien no bigger than himself, clad in some kind of power armour that, despite being dead, still had all of its limbs attached after being hit by an M19.
Just as the launcher had completed its automatic re-load of the second and last rocket, John turned to the next alien in line and squeezed the trigger.
Even with knowledge of the outcome, the alien made no attempt to evade its impending demise, and as a result it was thrown against the wall, knocking two of its comrades onto the floor that fell directly on top of the string of fusion cores.
John dived to the floor, behind the Forerunner computer terminal just as Cortana activated a power surge in the damaged conduit. The line of sentinel cores exploded in a blinding display of light, sending two more of the aliens to their deaths, but that still left another four.
John popped his head above the computer terminal to see where they were stood, but this time they had stopped, as though assessing the effectiveness of their new threat. All John needed was for them walk forward another metre or so and they would be directly next to the LOTUS anti-tank mine.
John frowned in his helmet, staring at the dark figures. “What are they doing?”
“I think they’re trying to figure you out, see how much of a threat you are. Three hundred sentinels couldn’t stop them but one Spartan seems to be more of a handful.” Examined Cortana
Just as Cortana finished her sentence, one of the aliens raised its black gauntlet at John and a strange fizzing sound filled the chamber.
“Get down!” warned Cortana.
John fired a quick burst from his BR55 Battle rifle as he dived for cover, but the brief storm of bullets did little to deter the alien.
A second later and the room was filled with cascading bolts of iridescent green light. The computer terminal took most of the blast, but the alien energy seemed to worm and slither its way around as though looking for its target. Several smaller strands of lightning sprang from the smoking computer console, striking John and the surrounding area.
His Mjolnir armour seemed to flex in the flowing energy, as if it was being slowly pulled apart and then he heard a distinctive pop as his shields failed.
Bright pin-pricks of pain surged from his legs and arms, followed by waves of intense heat and nausea. John thought he was physically on fire until he managed to open his stinging eyes to see the energy finally dissipating.
“Chief!” yelled Cortana “The mine!”
John pulled his aching head up and around the computer terminal to see the remaining aliens slowly lumbering forward, into the killing radius of the anti-tank mine.
With his body still reeling from the energy weapon, John reached over and grabbed the LOTUS remote firing trigger. The pistol grip sized device was illuminated by a single display that read “SAFE” in bright green letters.
John toggled the switch and the previous display was changed to “ARMED” in a menacing red glow, before he pressed the spring loaded trigger.
The anti-tank mine shattered like glass before exploding, sending three of the aliens in all directions, one of which was struck by the shaped charge. The fourth was thrown against the nearest terminal followed by a storm of fist sized mine fragments.
John slowly pulled himself upright and then felt a warm wet trickle on his top lip, he tasted blood. The alien attack and the succession of explosions without his shields had caused several small blood vessels to burst, it was nothing serious but his head was aching and his limbs felt as though they had be pulled off and re-attached by a blind field surgeon.
The chamber that was previously immaculate and quiet was now covered in small fragments of metal and debris. Along the floor and walls near the entrance were several charred blast marks where the fusion cores and the LOTUS mine had been.
The darkly armoured figures were spread around the room in a varying degree of rag-doll poses, as though a giant hand had just thrown them around.
The nearest alien, slumped against the terminal, was the only one that still looked completely intact, save for a small pot-marked area on its back.
John was taking no chances and levelled his Battle rifle at the aliens head.
The alien suddenly turned to face John, arms raised, knocking the weapon from his hands. Now that he was closer John could make out far more detail of the dark armour than before.
The head was a series of angled plates or panels with two red slit-shaped eyes that were devoid of pupils or anything similar, but it looked as though this was part of the armour and not the aliens’ eyes.
The mouth area was another collection of angled plates as was the majority of the armour, but unlike the rest of its bulkier body, the arms seemed thinner almost insect like in nature with a single row of small jagged barbs where each elbow was located.
John had seen enough, and powered a single fist as hard as he could into the aliens’ angled face.
Initially the dark material that covered the helmet seemed to absorb the impact like sponge, but then he felt resistance and the alien helmet crumpled, sending the alien sliding along the hard metal floor before coming to a stop next to the rest of its dead comrades.
John surveyed the scene before him and silently counted his blessings.
When he had fought against the Covenant and even the Flood, John had simply done what was required to achieve his mission and to survive, and even though his experience with the Flood was somewhat unpleasant he always saw them as an opponent that could be defeated.
But this enemy of the Forerunners was something else entirely. They had easily destroyed hundreds of sentinels and breached the armoured exterior of the facility in a matter of minutes.
He had been lucky this time, exceptionally lucky. A few more of the aliens and the situation would have quickly become more than difficult.
John thought about Cortana’s warning for him to escape before the aliens reached the chamber, he could understand her concern. If anything happened to him she would be stranded here, without the ability to physically move around, but worse than that she would be alone.
John looked over at her and Cortana turned to meet his gaze, her usually calm appearance had changed to something else. Her eyes, despite being a holographic projection based on the interpretation of data from her core, showed more emotion than usual, they showed relief.
She had gone from his friend and guide to an electronic surrogate, concerned for her distant child. But John recognised this look; it was the same anxious stare that Dr Halsey had displayed when he returned from his first combat mission.
“Cortana, you remember when I said next time let’s try something harder?”
“Yes.”
“I was joking.” Replied John
[Edited on 08.04.2008 7:35 AM PDT]