- soulguard
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- Exalted Mythic Member
Doctor Carolyn Smith ignored Ackerson’s threat and began to gather her papers and data pads into a briefcase. As she stood up she noticed that Ackerson was secretly staring at her legs. Her skirt was barely military length, and the only women on Charlie Base were soldiers, she was the only civilian and that made her available. She let him look. So long as he was fascinated with getting into bed with her, she was safe from his punishment. She had taken his Black Ops away from him and told the UNSC brass and ONI about the secret research she had done. Ackerson vowed to kill her fourteen years ago, for betraying his project, but when ONI ordered the Black Ops into action she immediately joined them; she was safe with them. But Kim Peters’ death changed everything.
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Elite Inner Sanctum
08:40 October 26, 2552
Jogrennilee
The Tram motioned to a stop and the last of its riders filed out. The last of the marines were silent, deathly so, and were shocked at what they were seeing before them. The elite Inner Sanctum brightly shined before them with all of its wonder and beauty. The cavern was so massive that a thin haze of clouds could be seen floating above, and beyond the thin whips of pressure controlled clouds was their target, the glowing ball of crystals which was the Seed Installation.
Eric walked through the crowd of marines with his Black Ops following closely behind. Things were going to get tough in the next few minutes, but no matter how the elites reacted he had to make sure the flood did not get their tentacles on that ship. He stepped to the front of the mass of soldiers and then began to push his way through a sea of congested grunts, all sitting and looking toward the massive door that would allow them access into the Inner Sanctum. Eric had yet to notice that the Ranger elites where following him as well and they were also slack jawed at the marvel of the Inner Sanctum. It had been so long since any of them had seen it during the trials of their youth.
“Sergeant Raynord.” An elite elder stated as he approached. A few days had passed since Eric had seen Elder Bortello, but his face was one of the few that Eric could distinguish.
“Why haven’t we been let in, elder?” Eric softly questioned, whispering so that only Bortello would hear.
“Despite all that has happened, there are still those that will not welcome the grunts, and to let so many of them enter the Inner Sanctum would cause in uproar.”
Eric looked to his left at Palab, the grunt leader was ferociously gazing at the elder as if he was waiting for the right moment to strike. Eric placed a hand on Palab’s shoulder, in a calming tone, but Palab did not back down.
“We stay here, flood creature come. You know, but not care if grunts and humans die.” Palab snarled. His words caught the attention of his Mirratord grunts and they also began to fume; feeding off of Palab’s emotions.
“Sergeant Palab, we have granted you and your Mirratord grunts access into the Inner Sanctum, but until High Elder Vornaldea returns from the Sacred Hall the other grunts and humans must remain here. This includes you Sergeant Raynord.”
“Me not leave grunts to die!” Palab barked in return. Eric looked at his watch; his operation was already five minutes behind Zero hour. There wasn’t much time. He turned to Melanie and nodded his head sharply. Melanie frowned slightly, but she understood, there was no more time. She quickly put on her helmet and the other Black Ops followed suit. In an instant, the mood of the Black Ops had changed. They were now in combat mode and they all knew that the next five minutes would be crucial. They all divided amongst the crowd of grunts and positioned themselves at striking range of the honor guards. Eric then turned and looked over the grunt’s heads at Wesley. Eric didn’t have to be close to him to tell that the young man was nervous; his body posture told his tale. Wesley was sweating frantically and nervously gazing back at Eric, waiting for the signal. Wesley knew his job, but still he was scared. Eric had told them all on the Tram what the plan was, and his was simple: Get to the phantoms and load up as many grunts and marines as he could, while the Black Ops and the Grunt Mirratord held down the Honor Guards. But he had to wait, he had to wait for the signal, but waiting was hard.
Eric turned to face Elder Bortello, “Elder you know that thing is coming.”
“Sergeant, Vornaldea is on his way. I beg you to be patient. We have given you much respect and honor in these last few cycles. Do not do anything foolish.” Bortello was not as blind as the younger Honor Guards were. He was very much aware that Eric’s soldiers had positioned themselves into an attack position.
Chess is a game of planning ahead, adjusting to an opponents move and counterattacking. Sometimes chess can be played two or three moves ahead of the current positioning of the pieces, and in Eric’s mind he was already three steps ahead of Bortello. The elite elder would never see it coming.
“Elder…”
“I beg of you Sergeant Raynord. I spared your female aboard our ship and returned her to you unharmed. Let that deed hold your hand for just a moment longer. I will not let you or your kin die at this door, but you must respect our ways. Do not do anything until Vornaldea has come. The other elders are waiting nearby in defense. If something were to happen then I will not have any control and nothing will stop it.”
Sammy 13 cut into Eric’s helmet communicator, “19! Snipers at 9, 12, 3, and 5! We’ve been made. They’ll take us down before we cross the door.” Eric slowly lifted his eyes, and in the distant windows of a nearby building, he could see the shadows of several elites holding Particle beam rifles.
Bortello followed Eric’s gaze, “There are more of them, Sergeant. As I said, do not do anything foolish. We have been betrayed once today, we will not let our guards down so easily again.”
Eric loudly sniffed twice.
The Black Ops all stepped to the front of the grunt refugees and stood within ten feet of each other. Bortello gazed in confusion, but his honor guards showed no restraint and powered on their energy swords.
Eric looked to the group of Ranger elites at his side, “You have a choice. Go over there with the other elites, or stay here with me and the Black Ops.”
The elite squad leader looked at Eric with curious gaze and stepped forward, “If battle comes, we stand with our brothers. It is duty and honor that binds us and we must obey the will of the High Council.” The rangers then pushed through the grunts, passed the Black Ops and joined the line of honor guards that protected the Inner Sanctum doors. The rangers stood behind the Honor Guards and Bortello. Bortello could only shake his head in disappointment.
“Do not force your hand, Sergeant.” Bortello sighed.
“You made your choice. I have to make mine.” Eric pulled down his helmet visor and each of his Black Ops responded by pulling back the hammers on their battle rifles, but they still held them low.
Bortello stepped forward, “You would betray our honor …” but his words were cut short. From behind, he was gripped by one of the Ranger Elites, and a hiss of energy roared from the ranger's hand. The energy sword sparked as it came up to Bortello’s neck and the honor guards roared in disapproval.
“Traitor!” Bortello roared as he lifted his head away from the blade, but the Ranger held him tightly, keeping the massive energy blade at the elder’s neck.
“Forgive us elder, but if we are to befriend the humans then we must trust them now. And the same goes for the grunts.” The ranger squad leader turned to the honor guards and roared in their native tongue. The honor guards lowered their weapons and powered off their blades. “Signal the snipers to stand down, elder. We do not have much time.”
“How?” Bortello questioned toward Eric.
“You always have to plan for every possible move, even the most unlikely one.” Eric had used his second option, taking a prisoner. He then turned to Palab. “Get the grunts to secure the Phantom docking ring until we signal for them. Ready your Mirratord grunts to join me and the Black Ops. We’re heading to the ship.” Eric then yelled to Wesley, “Move it!”
Palab quickly turned to his grunts and began barking something to them. The grunts and marines began to sprint ahead toward the docking ring as the Inner Sanctum door began to close behind them, sealing off the Tram Tunnel.
Eric then turned to the Ranger squad leader, “Hold the elder hostage until you hear from me.” Eric and the black ops then ran toward the Phantoms, with the Mirratord grunts racing at their side.
“How could you have done this?” Bortello questioned with a sigh of disapproval. The ranger released Bortello and powered down his blade. He quickly lowered himself to a knee and his fellow rangers joined him.
“Elder, Honored warriors, forgive us. But we did not betray you blindly. We are trying to help save us all. You did not see the creature with your own eyes as we have, and it is digging toward us. The honored human Sergeant is correct. If peace is going to last we must trust one another. If we do not leave, we will surely die and the flood will use the seed to conquer everything. The Sangheili must not die here.”
Eric and his squad tore through the city, passing by elite females and young in a flash. Close to their side sprinted the remaining four Mirratord grunts and Palab. The Phantom docking ring wasn’t far but they had to hurry. Wesley would soon begin loading up the Marines and ODST and following them to the Seed ship, but they had to clear the path first.
“Good thing you had a back up plan, 19.” Melanie softly said through a closed channel. “I didn’t want to fight them, but if we hadn’t seen those snipers it could have gotten ugly.”