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  • Subject: [Story] Streams of Fire *(Prologue - Chapter 6)*
Subject: [Story] Streams of Fire *(Prologue - Chapter 6)*

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

Posted by: OfTheBloodguard
...Unless you've got some giant ace up your sleeve, that is...

... I just might...

I'll have to see how it comes along......

  • 04.17.2011 2:36 PM PDT

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

This chapter is a little shorter than normal, but I've been busy with exams. Now that they are over, things should return to a somewhat regular schedule...

-------


Chapter 10

Stone, Reynolds, Young, Strauss, the Major and I sat, exhausted, in the back as Luck made her way to the nearest UNSC stronghold.

"CLINIC Base, this is dropship Gamma two four. We have injured aboard, requesting drop-off." Luck spoke over the comm system.

"Gamma two four, this is CLINIC Base, we are full to capacity. I'm sorry, but you're gonna need to try somewhere else." Luck looked back at Major Salvich's unconscious body, and turned back to the comm with resolve.

"Are you telling me that you have no place for a single man? No empty beds?"

"We don't even have space left on the floor, ma'am. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do."

"Where do you suggest I take this wounded officer, CLINIC Base? What other medical facilities are -"

"An officer, ma'am?" The man on the other end cut in.

"...Yes, Major Salvich here is need of immediate care." Luck answered, confused by his change of heart.

"Bring him in ma'am, we can't refuse care for an officer. We'll have to find space in the officer wing. Sending coordinates now." We were shocked. How could they refuse to help an injured private, yet allow any officer in? All we could do was continue on towards the facility.

When we arrived, the Major was coming to. As he mumbled, his mind probably in turmoil from the injuries, two nurses ran out with a gurney, and we carried him carefully onto the bed, which was immediately discolored by his burns.

"What are the extents of his injuries?" One of the nurses asked me, her heavy accent showing her Hungarian origins.

"A plasma mortar landed close to him, he was thrown into the air and his entire left side has been burned badly, along with most of his back." The Nurse nodded and the two departed, the Major between them on the gurney.

We stood, confused, in the small hangar. After a minute of standing, we boarded the pelican, and searched for signals nearby. Locking on to a nearby distress signal, we took off, and left the Major in the hands of CLINIC Base.

-------

Major Connor Salvich woke up slowly, staring at the olive drab ceiling. He felt as though he were floating on the soft bed. He moved slightly, and the pain hit him. An involuntary moan escaped him, and he sat up.

"Oh, look who's awake!" An unfamiliar voice said beside him. He turned to see another man seated in the hospital bed beside him.

"Who are you?" The Major asked, confused, "Where am I?"

"You're in the UNSC CLINIC Base, Major. I'm Collins."

"CLINIC Base?" Salvich asked. "Looks empty." He looked around, noticing only a handful of other in the room.

"That's because we're in the officer's wing, Major. It's small, but there aren't many of us. The rest of the facility is overflowing."

"What?!, why don't they put some of them here?"

"I don't know, Major. That's just the way it works. I guess they think that soldiers aren't useful without officers to lead them. There's no big shortage of privates, but officers are harder to come by."

The Major lay onto his back, the pain immediately telling him that he shouldn't have. "How long have I been out?" He asked Collins.

"Not long, maybe a few hours. It's hard to tell without windows."

Before Salvich could think of something else to say, a nurse came along.

"OK, Commander," She addressed Collins, "time for the implant." She pulled back the sheets, revealing Commander Collins' severed legs.

She rolled a gurney next to the bed, and the Commander grabbed a bar above the bed, moving himself onto it.

"Talk to you later, Major." He called to Salvich as the nurse rolled him away, "Gettin' me some new legs."

Major Salvich stared for a while, then looked over the bandages all over his body. He lay his head back, and waited.

-------

We landed in a mountainous region of the Viery Territory, about a kilometer away from the signal source. I grabbed the comm from Private Strauss. "UNSC personnel, this is Sergeant Roland, responding to a distress signal. Does anyone copy?"

Static drowned out the silence around us. "Roland?" a familiar voice questioned over the comm, "Roland this is Duncan. You came just in time. We're surrounded by covies. We've barricaded ourselves in a house, got eight civilians in here too. Can you give us a distraction?"

"I'd love to, Leiutenant." I answered "Me and my men are making our way to your location now" The coordinates, sent by Duncan, blinked into view in my eyepiece. I pointed, nodded, and we started off towards the new waypoint.

-------

Collins was wheeled back to his bed thirty minutes later, shiny metal caps now covering the ends of his severed legs. A look of frustration sat, unmoving, on his face.

"What happened?" Salvich asked, if only to break the silence.

"Some -blam!- about the legs still being tested. They aren't ready for me yet. These are just the caps that they snap into."

"So they don't even have the legs? What's the use of putting those caps on now?"

"Oh, they have 'em, they just have to go through a little more testing before they'll give 'em to me. Apparently, this new type of artificial limb is just a prototype, and I get to be the guinnea pig."

The Major nodded in understanding, then lay back onto the bed. The silence, only interrupted by the coughing on the other side of the room, tore its way into his head.

"...It was an elite." Collins blurted abruptly.

"What?" Salvich asked as he sat up.

"My legs, Major, an elite cut them off."

"An elite? And he didn't kill you?"

"No, slaughtered all the others, didn't even break a sweat. He got to me and stopped, just stared at me for a bit. When I didn't back down or run away, he tossed me a sword."

"He gave you his weapon?"

"No, he had another, it seemed to me that he wanted to duel. Don't ask me why, I only played along because I knew my bullets wouldn't do -blam!- against his shields. We circled for a while, surrounded by dead marines. He lunged at me, and I tried my best to block his attack. He was simply too strong, knocked me on my back, gave a short laugh, and swung once, right through both of my legs. Then he spoke to me, in a deep, gravely voice. 'You don't deserve an honorable death, human.' he said, 'You will decide your fate.' "

"What the hell was that supposed to mean?"

"I haven't a damn clue, Major. He picked up a pistol from Private Dameron's dead body, emptied the clip, and put a single bullet back in. He tossed it to me, no doubt expecting me to use it on myself. I aimed the gun, and fired once at his head. He laughed and said 'So be it.' Then he turned and walked away, leaving me there, bleeding. Next thing I know, I wake up here. Apparently, backup got there soon after I passed out, got me here in a hurry. I just hope I can find him again, leave him to die like he did to me."

"You probably wouldn't recognize him if you saw him, Commander."

"Oh, I'll recognize that one. His helmet had a long etch in it, all the way across his face, like a blade had almost gotten to him. I'll know that mark when I see it. I'll kill him if it takes another pair of legs to do it."

Commader Collins and the Major lay quietly, in their beds both running through the story in their minds.

-------

  • 05.07.2011 7:55 AM PDT

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

I peeked over the hill one more time, making sure once again that we had counted the jackals correctly. Six of them patrolled the roof of the building Duncan was trapped in. Three more fumbled with something around the door.

"Duncan, we're counting nine jackals outside." I spoke quietly into the comm. "That sound right to you?"

"No, there was an elite, at least one. Check again." I looked around once more, trying to find anything even remotely resembling an elite. I looked to the others, thinking maybe they had seen it. They all shook their heads.

"Negative, Duncan, we see no elites, maybe it had bigger fish to fry, left the jackals to handle you?"

"Sounds plausible. OK, we'll take the three at the door, you get the ones up high. Should be nice and quick."

"Alright, on my three." I motioned to Strauss, Reynolds, Stone, and Young, and they each took aim. I focused on the two jackals on the left.

"One...Two..." My scope peaked just over the edge of the hill, a giant eye centered in its gaze. My finger rested on the trigger. "Three!" Five shots rang out simultaneously, as the door burst open below. I quickly took out the sixth jackal as three ODSTs tackled the jackals that had been trying to break their way in.

The three ODSTs and my squad met by the the door, Duncan and Bishop easily distinguishable to us.

"That was clockwork, Roland." Duncan put forth, removing his helmet with a grin. "I'm almost disappointed there wasn't an elite here to see tha-" Before he could finish, a figure materialized out of the air, igniting a pointed blue flame as it roared. We all reacted quickly, filling it with bullets as we all let rounds fly. The elite dropped dead, its camouflage preventing its shields from being at maximum power.

We were silent for a moment, until Duncan burst into laughter.

"I just couldn't keep my mouth shut, could I?" He asked us jokingly. As the brief spout of laughter died down, his tone became a bit more serious. "I see you've gained a member." He said, motioning towards the still unhappy Private Strauss.

"Ah, the spoils of war!" I joked, Strauss angrily contorting his face to mock me.

"So, where's the Major?"

"He was injured by a mortar shot, he's in CLINIC Base for now." The eight of us walked down into the home, where we were greeted by tears of joy from the two families inside. A young boy came up to me and hugged my legs tightly, his mother trying to pull him away.

"It's alright ma'am." I told her, smiling. I looked down at the boy and knelt in front of him. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Walter, sir. Did you kill all the aliens?"

"Yes, we did, don't you worry. You're safe now."

The comm on Strauss's waist suddenly came to life. I snatched it and listened in, static obscuring parts of the message.

"Attention, this is..... Base, we are....... attack! Please, we...... all ground units to....." I carried the comm to the doorway , hoping to get better signal, some of the others following me to listen.

"I repeat!" the voice sounded over the comm, much clearer than before. "This is CLINIC Base! We are under attack!" I looked back to Stone, a look of worry on both of our faces.

"Roland, this is Luck! Did you -"

"Yeah, I heard it, Luck. Get down here and pick us up, we need to get over there as fast as possible, the wounded can't fight for themselves."

  • 05.07.2011 7:56 AM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

Wicked chapter, man. I look forward to your normal progress returning.

  • 05.08.2011 12:24 AM PDT

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

thanks for the support, I'm actually mostly done with the next chapter already. Now that college is over for the year, I'm on a bit of a writing craze. I may spin out a second chapter for Jiralhanae soon as well, so stay tuned!

  • 05.08.2011 7:29 AM PDT
Subject: [Story] Streams of Fire *(Chapter 11 is up!)*

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

Well, what was a normally unproductive day turned into a bunch of writing, so here's Chapter 11. Chapter 12 is already underway, and I've also got Chapter 2 of Jiralhanae coming up. I'll hopefully be bookin' along this summer.


Chapter 11

Major Salvich opened his eyes, but saw nothing. He sat up, blinking, and saw a dim green glowstick on the floor across the room.

Confused, he stood up, with difficulty, and reached through the darkness to shake the Commander.

"Eh! Wait, what's going on?" He asked Salvich as he pulled himself up.

"I don't know, but something's up. Do you think they found this place?"

"I sure hope not, maybe the power was knocked out by an EMP, something nearby?"

"I don't know, I'll see if I can find a wheelchair, I'll be right back."

The Major walked off, grimacing with each painful step as the burns cracked under the bandages. He picked up the glowstick on the floor, using the dim light to see where he was going.

Something on the wall a few halls over caught his attention, as he focused on them, he recognized them as plasma burns.

A noise at the end of the hall scared the Major, and he covered the glowstick as he looked in that direction. A nurse came running in his direction, and pushed him aside, into a doorway. She was clearly terrified of something, so he looked back to the end of the hall.

Another figure came around the corner, this one much more massive than the nurse. It chased after her, and quickly caught up, sprinting past the Major as it activated its energy sword.

A muffled scream came from the nurse as the sword tore its way through her body. The elite tossed the body aside, put away its weapon, and began walking back.

Salvich watched it as it turned around, then ducked back behind the door. He backed up and waited in the small room.

As the elite passed by, Salvich ran as fast as he could at the beast, and tackled it into the wall, reaching for the spot where he had watched it put its sword. Fumbling for second with the unfamiliar weapon, Salvich struggled to activate it as the elite's mind recovered from the surprise attack.

It kicked Salvich off of it, and back into the dark room, where he crashed onto an abandoned hospital bed, bouncing onto the floor.

The burns all over his body screamed at his mind to stop, but the Major focused entirely on the weapon in his hands. The elite ripped the door to the room off its hinges and threw it in the Major's direction, then made his way to him, overturning anything in his way.

The Major was nearly blind in the dark as he fumbled for the button, barely able to see the deathly figure approaching him. The elite picked up the hospital bed in front of him, slamming it down on the Major, then picking him up by his neck.

Suddenly, a light showed the creature's face, its teeth menacing. Confused, both the elite and the Major looked down for the source of the light.

The sword had activated, piercing the elite's chest. The beast looked back to the Major, then fell, dropping the injured officer onto the now overturned bed.

Salvich rose with difficulty, the pain of the struggle mingling with that of the burns. He lit the sword once more, using the light to search the room, and spotted a wheelchair in the corner.

Grabbing it, and carrying it over the debris that littered the floor, the Major rushed back to Collins.

"About damn time!" he exclaimed when the Major returned. "I could've grown new legs while you were gone!"

"I got held up." Salvich shot back wearily, "The Covenant are here, had to take down an elite."

"-blam!-! Well, it couldn't have been that hard."

"Say what you will, but I managed to come out of it with both legs!"

"Aww, come on, was that really necessary?" The Commander returned as he pulled himself into the wheelchair. "Let's get moving, we can't fight the Covenant alone. We need to find a map.

"Agreed, but where?"

"Try the walls, this is a hospital, not a dungeon. Directions shouldn't be hard to come by."

The two checked the other beds in the room, but they were all empty. As they made their way through the halls, searching for directions, a noise sounded nearby.

Both the Major and Collins remained perfectly still, listening intently for any sound. When none came, they continued down the empty hall.

"Can't see a damned thing!" The Commander whispered.

"Oh!" Salvich exclaimed, remembering the glowstick from before. He pulled it out, and held it up, displaying an eerie green light along the walls.

"You couldn't have used that earlier?"

"Sorry, I forgot about it, I hid it when the elite was nearby."

"How'd you take it out, anyway? Neither of us have weapons."

"I used its sword on it." The Major replied as he pulled out the weapon.

"Jesus! Are you keeping all the good stuff from me, Major?!"

"Not intentionally, I'm focused on more Look!" Salvich exclaimed, pointing ahead to a wall with a map printed on it.

Navigating from the unnecessarily large 'You Are Here' marker, the Major traced a path to the main office.

"If we're gonna defend this place, the first thing we need are blueprints, they should be here."

"You're right," The Commander agreed, "but we're also gonna need someone to defend it. The two of us can't do it alone. I say we split up, you go get the blueprints, I go and rally some troops, we can meet up here." The Commander leaned forward to point to a small room halfway between the two points.

"You sure you can make it? You don't have any weapons, what if there is debris covering the floor?"

"I'll manage, try to stay out of sight. This is a big base, I don't think it's a large force attacking, or we'd have crossed paths with them by now."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Here, take this." The Major held out the energy sword to the Commander.

"You sure? It's your only weapon."

"Yeah, but it'll be easier for me to grab more than it will be for you. Besides, there's no telling what you'll come across when you find the others. They could be surrounded by covies, for all you know."

"Yeah..." Collins nodded, accepting the sword. "I guess we'd better get going then." The Major nodded, both of them taking one last glance at the map, and heading their separate ways.

-------

Talo 'Zamamai stared at the body of his fellow Sangheili, noting the mark of an energy sword on his chest.

"Fleet Master!" another Sangheili called out from behind. Talo turned around to see the Field Marshall. "There is a human body down the hall, killed by an energy sword."

"How is that helpful, Vano?" The Fleet Master spat back, enraged that a human had managed to kill a member of his team. The Field Marshal cringed at the sight of the Fleet Master, a long scar running alongside his helmet, a remnant from the first contact with the Jiralhanae.

"I apologize, Fleet Master, perhaps it was one of the Demons?"

"Don't be a fool, Vano, this is a human medical facility, if what they say is true, the Demons have no need for medical treatment." Talo looked once more to the body, "He was careless, the human probably caught him by surprise in the darkness."

"Most definitely, Fleet Master, the darkness can often be the greatest of foes."

"This does, however, mean that not all the humans here are helpless. We must be careful, Vano. An animal trapped fights even more fiercely, humans are no different. We need to find the data and get out, as even we could fall victim to the humans if they are able to overwhelm us."

"Indeed, Fleet Master, I shall rally Ranish and Keran."

"Do so, quickly, I feel uneasy in this place." Vano left the Fleet Master alone, and went to find the two other Zealots in the team. Talo grimaced once more at the body, then turned and walked out of the room.

This assignment is becoming more and more complicated he couldn't help but think to himself. He knew that, despite his thirst for battle, he would rather be commanding his fleet, the Fourth Fleet of Magnificent Sacrifice, than leading a small team to locate human data.

Talo stopped, clenched his jaws in frustration, and then resumed his search in the dark maze that was CLINIC Base.

-------

[Edited on 05.08.2011 7:29 PM PDT]

  • 05.08.2011 7:22 PM PDT
Subject: [Story] Streams of Fire *(Prologue - Chapter 6)*

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

Major Salvich tried the door to the office.

"Damn! Locked." He cursed under his breath. Why'd I have to give Collins the sword? he asked himself, knowing that he could have simply cut through the door with it.

He took a few steps back, and attempting to barge the door down with his shoulder, immediately regretting the decision to do so with his burned shoulder.

He sighed, rubbing his shoulder carefully as he stepped back from the thick door. Hanging his head, he turned around, and began searching for a janitor's office, hoping to find keys.

-------

Commander Collins stared at the rubble ahead of him, the words of the Major ringing in his ears.

The ceiling had collapsed ahead, and his path was blocked. As he searched for a way around, a noise behind him caught his attention.

He turned to see a shadow approaching quickly, far larger than a human. The light of a blue energy sword confirmed that it was an elite.

Collins quickly pulled out his own sword, raising it to block the approaching foe's attack. The sword glanced off of his, but the force of the far stronger opponent's attack knocked him onto the floor.

The elite kicked the wheelchair, sending it careening into the wall, where it crumpled and stuck into the drywall. It aimed its sword at the Commander's heart, and lunged.

Collins brought his blade up, and caught the elite's between the prongs. Twisting his own blade, the leverage wrenched the sword from the surprised elite's hand.

Before he could attack the now unarmed elite, it lifted him up by the neck and threw him forward, over the rubble. Unable to land on his feet, Collins hit the ground hard, lifting himself up as best as he could on his arms, he spotted the elite, with its sword once more in-hand, climbing over the pile of rubble and heading directly for him.

Collins reached for a nearby gurney, and pulled himself onto the metal caps on his legs, using his free hand to prepare for an attack. The elite gave a menacing laugh, and ran at the Commander, sword raised for an attack.

Suddenly, a loud crack sounded, and the creature collapsed, its momentum sliding its body along the floor, coming to a rest at Collins' legs.

Struggling to turn around, the Commander saw the barrel of a sniper rifle down the hall. Looking around, he spotted another wheelchair, and pulled himself into it as the sniper approached him.

"That was one hell of a shot!" Collins congratulated him as he approached.

"That was nothing." The man answered, "You should've seen me when I had both eyes." Through the dim light, Collins was just able to recognize the bandage across the man's face, covering what must have been a missing eye. "I'm Corporal Miles Tanner. I'm glad you found us before they got you."

"I'm Commander David Collins. How many of you are there?"

Tanner quickly gave a salute to the Commander. "There are a few hundred of us sir, this place was full. For now, everyone that wasn't on life support is still alive, but only twenty of us or so are in fighting shape."

"OK, I need a small group of you to come with me. I sent Major Salvich to get blueprints from the main office, he's going to rendezvous with me not too far from here. We need to find the best way to defend this place."

Tanner nodded, "Alright, let me take you to see the others. You can tell them what's going on, Commander." Collins nodded and followed the Corporal.

"Where did you find those weapons?" He asked along the way, "Major Salvich had to get this from an elite. We didn't see any UNSC weapons."

"As soon as the power went out, we knew somethin' was up. Staff Sergeant Nelson sent some of us to go and grab what weapons we could from the hangar. This was the only sniper rifle I saw. Only have 2 more clips for it, though."

"Hmm, so how badly is everyone injured?"

"About 50 soldiers are unconscious, most are missing limbs, on heavy pain medication for burns, blinded or deaf. The others that are in fighting shape were nearly recovered anyway, only the seriously injured can get in here, with so many being injured by the Covenant. If it had just been my eye, I would've been turned away, but the entire side of my head was burned. They had to replace part of my skull with steel because it had melted."

"And there are a few hundred, you say?"

"At least in this wing, sir. There are six more, going deeper and deeper into the mountain, each larger than the one before it. There are probably over three thousand injured in this entire base, sir."

"Good God!... any doctors or nurses?"

"Most of them ran and hid as soon as the power went out. There are numerous backup generators for this place, so power stopping completely is a bad sign. They aren't soldiers, so hiding is their best option. There are three or four that stayed with us, but they've got their hands more than full."

"Well, we plan on clearing this place out, then getting the power back up. If half of those capable of fighting can come with me, we can see how big the forces here are. Judging by how few I've seen, I would think that it's a very small force, they aren't here to destroy the place, they're looking for something. We just have to figure out what."

-------

Major Salvich fumbled through what seemed like hundreds of keys on the janitor's keyring, trying each one on the locked door. He barely heard the footsteps over the jingling.

As he turned, a sword swiped past him, slicing through the door without a problem. He ducked as a second swipe nearly took his head.

He looked up at the face of the elite, a long scar running across his helmet. He knew that this was the same elite that the Commander had fought.

The elite swung furiously at the Major, who struggled to evade the glowing blade. The pair slowly made their way away from the door, slashed covering the walls where the elite had missed.

The Major came to gurney, which he hopped over and pushed towards the elite. Two swift slices cut it to pieces, and Salvich grabbed a piece of the metal bar from the side.

The massive elite grabbed the Major by the neck, hoisting him high into the air, touching his head to the ceiling. He pulled the sword back, and the Major swung his metal bar, cracking the elite across the face.

Enraged, the elite turned and threw Salvich back at the wall to the office. The Major crashed through the wall, and landed behind the desk inside. As the elite slowly made his way to the office, knowing that he was trapped inside, the Major searched the desk quickly, finding a glowing datapad. He tucked the datapad away, and searched for an escape, spotting an air duct in the corner of the room.

He kicked the vent covering it, and pulled it off, climbing inside. Surprisingly, it dropped down immediately, and he fell down a shaft.

-------

Talo Zamamai approached the air duct, slicing the wall furiously with his sword, and sending debris down the shaft. He uncovered the top of the vent, and cut it off. He looked down the shaft at the human and grinned at the expression of his face.

He reached to his belt, pulled of a plasma grenade, and primed it. He held the fluorescent orb high above the shaft, and took a last look at the terror on the human's face before he dropped it.

The Fleet Master turned and walked away, the explosion sending a shockwave of happiness down his spine.

He pulled up his comm device and contacted his team. "Call in if you're alive."

"Vano Tynamee is searching the lower floor." Vano piqued in quickly.

"This is Ranish Vadumee, searching the opposite end of this floor, Fleet Master." Ranish transmitted.

"...Keran!?...Keran can you hear me?" Talo questioned after a moment of silence.

"You don't think he?" Vano inquired quietly.

"-What else could it have been, Vano?!" Talo yelled back, his anger coming back. "Your questions are getting more annoying by the second!" Talo terminated the connection, his fists clenched in anger.

Two! he fumed, Two Zealots killed by these humans! Wounded ones no less! I can no longer stop with the data. I must find these humans and eradicate them!

-------

I sat up front, with Luck, searching for any communications coming from CLINIC Base. Static filled my ears, and I turned the comm off.

"Glad to hear it!" I overheard Duncan in the back. He was communicating with the ODST that we had left behind to cover the civilians until a transport arrived. "...and they all made it out safe?...Good... New Alexandria? I'm sure they could use your help evacuating. Once all this is finished here, that'll probably be where we go next, I'll look for you. Good luck, Buck."

He turned off his comm and looked up to me.

"The civilians all made it out fine. He's heading to New Alexandria to help out with the evacuations there... Any word from CLINIC Base?"

"No, not yet." I replied.

"CLINIC Base is the largest medical facility on Reach!" Bishop exclaimed. "They've got thousands of soldiers in there, Covenant forces should have a lot of trouble getting in there."

"Those soldiers are injured, Bishop." Duncan contested, "They're there because they can't fight. It may as well be thousands of civilians. Easy pickings for the Covenant." We all remained quiet on that note.

"...All we can do is hope that they've been able to fend them off, and that we get there as fast as we can." I spoke quietly. Even Private Strauss nodded to that.

"Almost there, Roland, don't worry." Luck called back to me.

I Sat down in one of the cargo seats in the back. All I could do was wait. Hang in there, Major I though to myself. We're coming.

  • 05.08.2011 7:23 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

Wow, this is a really cool chapter. Wounded soldiers fighting off Covenant in a medical base is a really cool idea. You're certainly back on your game now. Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see where Jiralhanae goes.

  • 05.10.2011 3:04 AM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
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Talk to the Soul | ~B.B. | Know Your Duardo |  | Hero | ISFJ | 77135 | 94371

"It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me."

Unarchived. Hope you take better care of your topic.

  • 07.20.2011 8:27 PM PDT

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae


Posted by: Duardo
Unarchived. Hope you take better care of your topic.
Thank you! And I will be sure to.

For those who are interested, Chapter 12 should be up very, very soon. I just have a few finishing touches to add in tomorrow. Also coming soon are PDFs that will be continuously updated with the story, in sizes for PC, iPad, and iPod/iPhone. I have also created a cover that will be in the PDF files. The cover was created in free time on Sketchbook Pro for the iPod touch, so it isn't that amazing, but it'll do.

I was busy for a while working two jobs, but now I have weekends off and should have ample time to continue this story. For those of you that have already read up to now: Thank you. For those who liked it: Don't worry, it's coming back. For those of you who remember me saying that last time: Forget that...

But in all seriousness, the ideas that have been swimming through my mind while at work are finally coming together coherently into chapter plots, and this should become a more regularly-updated story.

Thanks again to Duardo for unarchiving this thread.

  • 07.20.2011 9:06 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!


Posted by: Gr33n Knight
But in all seriousness, the ideas that have been swimming through my mind while at work are finally coming together coherently into chapter plots, and this should become a more regularly-updated story.
Don't you love that? It's just hammering the ideas out onto paper/a keyboard that's the hard bit.

Can't wait, man. A fresh take always helps.

  • 07.21.2011 1:30 AM PDT

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

Here it is. Chapter twelve after a long wait. Already working on thirteen.

Chapter 12

The Major watched the grenade fall towards him, and pushed himself out of the way, noticing another shaft across from him.

The grenade landed, and he grabbed a piece of drywall debris. He threw the debris at the grenade, and the two flew towards the shaft. Just as the grenade disappeared around the corner, it detonated. The shockwave, channeled by the air duct, hit Salvich with extra force, sending him sliding along the duct, and collapsing the shaft behind him, leaving him in darkness.

He pulled out the datapad, and began searching through it in the darkness. He found blueprints for the facility loaded on it, and also discovered a log of the base's activities. The most recent alert read: 'Warning!: 5 unauthorized lifeforms detected in the Generator Room. Evacuation Recommended."

Only five, huh? He thought to himself, That we can defend against

The Major pulled out the glowstick from earlier, and began crawling his way to the rendezvous point.

-------

Commander Collins eyed the men up. Five of the most able-bodied soldiers in the wing stood before him, all willing and able to escort him to the rendezvous. Corporal Tanner, the sniper that had saved Collins from the elite earlier, stood proudly in the midst of the short line, the bandages covering the left half of his face masking his expression. Among the others were Privates Francis, Redding, and Huxley, and Corporal Jinn.

Each held a Designated Marksman Rifle, with the exception of Tanner, who carried a sniper rifle across his shoulders. Francis was missing two fingers on his left arm, which was covered in burn scars. Redding's right leg was an old-fashioned prosthetic from the knee down. Huxley looked fine, but had been brought in with a punctured lung, a brute spiker round lodged between his ribs. Jinn's entire left arm was bandaged tightly, a flash-cloned replacement not yet fully adhered to it's new host. The bunch had clearly seen their share of the fight, and all were eager to exact revenge for their injuries.

Collins said nothing. They all knew the plan, and there was nothing left to be said. He turned and left the soldiers where they stood, moving towards Staff Sergeant Nelson. He approached the bed slowly, careful not to startle the Staff Sergeant.

His entire head was wrapped tightly in bandages, blood soaking through in sections. A grunt's methane tank, their sole source of breathing air, had been punctured, emitting its cloud of flammable gas into the air, where it found itself ignited by the Sergeant's cigar, severely burning his entire head, as well as his mouth and throat, this left the man blind and mute.

Hello, Commander. Nelson wrote on the pad next to him. Collins wondered how his sense of hearing was that acute, given the circumstances.

"We're leaving. Francis, Redding, Huxley, Tanner, and Jinn will escort me to the rendezvous with Major Salvich. Once we can come up with an alternative to our original plan, we will make our way back here, to help defend the rest of the injured."

You don't have to tell me your plans, Commander, you are my superior. I know that I can only stay here, and that all I can do is relegate orders to the others here. Anything outside of that is your business.

"I know, I just always feel best when someone else knows what's going on, just in case they end up having to take my place."

I hope it doesn't come to that, Commander. Good luck.

"Same to you." With that, Collins motioned to the five marines, and they left the wing.

-------

Major Salvich struggled to turn around at the end of the duct, placing his feet firmly against the grate before pulling them back and kicking. Two kicks, then four before the grate skidded across the hallway.

Turning around again, he peeked his head out of the opening, checking for elites on either side before climbing out with difficulty. As he stood up, the pain of his burns came back, the scabs adjusting to the new position after being curled up in the duct for so long. Taking another cautionary glance around, Salvich pulled out the datapad, double-checking his position with the blueprints.

Looking across the hall, the blueprints confirmed that the door marked "Equipment" was the rendezvous point. After a minute or two of waiting, Salvich decided that it was probably safer in the duct, and stretched out, laying within the thin metal tunnel as he toyed with the datapad.

Before long, he came to an interesting entry, titled "Ancient Ruins on Reach." It was a letter to a high-ranking official that the Major had never heard about before, and was written by a Dr. Halsey. He recognized that name, and immediately knew that this was highly classified.

"What's this doing on here?" he wondered aloud, albeit quietly. Intrigued, he opened the document, and began reading. Protocol be damned, he mused if they didn't want me digging my nose in it, they should've encrypted it..

-------

A blinking marker appeared in Talo Zamamai's vision, and a crooked grin crossed his worried face.

"Do you see that, brothers?" He spoke into the comm. "It looks like some fool activated the data!"

"A truly imbecilic species, humanity is, Fleet Master." Vano Tynamee remarked.

"And what does that make of our fallen brothers, Vano!?" Talo spat back. "Be wary of denouncing your foe. As dishonorable and puny the humans are, do not forget their strength. Many of our brothers have died honorably at their hands, and you have just dishonored them all with your careless babble!"

"I apologize, Fleet Master, I did not mean to -"

"Regardless, our task has just become much easier. Find the data, and kill the fool who activated it!."

-------

  • 07.21.2011 8:42 PM PDT

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

Commander Collins and the others rounded the corner, the rendezvous in site. As they neared the door for the meeting point, Major Salvich was nowhere to be seen. Given the time that he had taken, Collins feared the worst until a hand appeared from the nearby ventilation duct. Tanner reached down to pull the Major out, but as he did so, a blue blur flew past, stopping on Huxley's chest.

Looking down at the activated plasma grenade, he reached for the buckles of his armor, hoping to get it off in time.

"Shi-" the grenade detonated, sending Francis and Redding slamming into the walls on either side, out cold. Jinn was sent sliding down the hallway, his head slamming into the polished stone floor on impact. Tanner was lodged into the drywall above Salvich, collapsing the section of the wall, and bending the sheet metal duct to pin the Major inside. Tanner fell to the floor, creating a small pool of blood around his head. Collins was blown forward by the blast, landing on his stomach. Looking up, he saw the attacker, a lone elite at the edge of the hallway.

As the monster approached, however, Collins felt a a whole new dread fill his core. A single scar ran down the elite's helmet, sending memories of pain reverberating through Collin's spine. The Commander hoisted himself back into the wheelchair and pulled out the sword from the earlier. A quick look around confirmed that he would be alone in this fight.

The elite stopped about ten feet from the Commander, head cocked.

"You remember me," Collins started "don't you?"

"I do...Commander" He returned, clearly with the belief that Collins was undeserving of his rank. "So it was you who activated the data?"

Confused, Collins glanced in the Major's direction, noticing the edge of a datapad protruding from the rubble. Realization flooded over the Commander. "Yes, it was me." he bluffed, pulling out the screen that monitored his vitals, and holding it out for the elite to see. "I have what you want. Come and get it."

Talo Zamamai grinned, and activated his own sword. He didn't bother circling Collins, as his wheelchair would prevent him from reciprocating. The two stared at each other in silence, which remained unbroken until Tanner shifted, coming back into consciousness. Talo slowly stepped forward, and grabbed the sniper by the neck, lifting him high into the air.

"Stop!" Collins commanded. "This is between you and me. Leave him be."

"So be it." The elite commented, tossing the helpless Corporal behind him without a backwards glance. He charged at the Commander, sword held high. Collins, turned his wheelchair slightly, giving him a better hold on the floor as he prepared for the blow.

As the elite's sword came down, Collins parried it, and was nearly knocked out of the chair from the sheer force of it. As the warrior recovered his footing from the powerful slice, Collins swung and managed to catch his arm with the tip of the blade, a small spurt of rich purple blood dispersing into the air before the hot plasma cauterized the wound.

With a roar of anger, the Fleet Master lifted his leg, and kicked the Commander square in his chest, sending him careening into the wall next to the closed door, smashing through it, and into the room beyond. Talo peered into the darkness, and saw the silhouette of the legless Commander slumped against the wall within.

The sound of shifting debris caught the elite's attention, and he turned just in time for the Major to slam into him with enough force to knock him to the floor. Searing with anger, the Fleet Master placed a kick into the Major's stomach, and threw him into the ceiling above. As he landed, Talo kicked him again, this time in the side, sliding him on the smooth floor and into the wall across the hall.

Salvich coughed up blood as he clung at his ribs. Rolling over, a cool, blue light illuminated the elite standing over him, the sword held high over his head.

There was a sizzle as hot plasma met flesh, and Talo looked down in surprise. I did not swing!

The thought raced through his mind as he inspected the human soldier below. Confused, he looked down, noticing the blue blade protruding from his own chest. It receded, and he fell, clutching the wound. A tall human stood holding the sword proudly, a metallic glint reflecting the cool light from his legs.

"...But..." Talo began "...I defeated you! Why do you keep coming back?!"

"I'm human." Collins answered. "We don't stay down." He drove the blade down into the elite's chest once more, a final breath escaping from the wounds to his lungs. Collins held out a hand to the Major, and helped him to his feet.

"I never though you'd be helping me up." Salvich remarked, wiping blood from his mouth. "I guess the legs were in the equipment room?"

"Bingo. Could've given to me earlier, saved us a bunch of trouble, but no. At least I could attach them to the caps easily while you distracted the elite."

"Yeah... distracted." The two officers turned to tend to the others. Huxley was gone, the grenade leaving nothing. Francis was dead, probably from the impact with the wall, but Redding was unconscious, and looked to have a cracked skull. Jinn and Tanner were fine, just shaky from hitting the floor.

"That leaves three." The Major blurted out as they worked their way back to the general infirmary wing.

"Three what?" Collins asked.

"The datapad said that there were five Covenant in the base. Take out the elite that I killed back in the officer's wing, and then that one, and that leaves three."

"Only five? Jesus! And they did all of this? ...Well that's two then. Tanner took one down by the infirmary wing."

"Two it is, then. Any idea of how to find them?"

"All we can do is wait for them to find us. They want the data on that pad. You activated something on it, and it alerted them to your location, that's how he found us."

"Then this datapad could prove very useful to us. We could easily set a trap."

"I like the way you think, Major."

-------

As our pelican approached the mountain of CLINIC Base, Luck tried the radio once more. The monotonous static filled our ears as the hangar doors grew in our vision. The massive hangar doors were ajar, leaving a narrow horizontal bar between the monstrous steel slabs. It reminded me of a sleeping person, mouth half open in relaxation, but I knew that relaxation was not the cause here.

The power was out, and the guards at the entrance hadn't had enough time to close the doors between the time the Covenant were detected, and the time the power shut down.

"Wait a second," Bishop blurted out, "I thought they were under attack. Where are the attackers?"

"I was wondering the same thing, Bishop." Duncan replied.

"Bring us in, Luck. We'll keep an eye out." I cut in.

Luck edged closer to the opening, sizing it up carefully. "It's too small, Roland. I can back you in, but you'll have to drop about fifteen feet to the floor, and I won't be able to pick you back up until the power's back."

"Damn." I cursed, looking around at the faces in the pelican. "Understood. Take us in."

-------

Vano Tynamee stared at the body, Keran not far behind him. It seemed unbelievable that the Fleet Master had been taken down by a group of humans, especially wounded ones. He examined the scene around him, the walls burnt and crumbling from the fight.

"I suppose I am the superior now, Vano." Keran stated, his rank pulling weight over Vano. "I believe we should call in reinforcements. There is no need to leave this place standing. We should get the data, and take the entire mountain down to ruins."

"We don't need backup." Vano countered, ignoring the order of his superior.

"What, Vano? Do you deny your commander?"

Fuming, Vano, grabbed his hilt, and pressed it to Keran's chest forcefully, the cold metal grip etching thin, silver scratches into the armor plating. "I do not deny my superior, Keran. I deny you. I am in charge here. Understand?"

Confusion crossed Keran's face, as he struggled to comprehend what was happening. "Do you understand that this is treason? This is-" Vano activated his blade, and watched the body fall to the ground beside Talo.

"I think it's time I completed this mission, don't you agree, Keran?" Vano thought aloud, mocking his now dead companion. "Oh, yes, Vano. I do believe you are correct."

-------

  • 07.21.2011 8:42 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

Aw snap.

Awesome stuff! This was just as good as I was hoping it would be.

  • 07.22.2011 5:37 AM PDT

Haven't started reading yet, but will soon. It's pretty long. Good job updating so much and adding more posts all the time. There's a load to read through, but I'll get it done soon. And really kind of you to put up an IPad version!

  • 08.02.2011 4:39 AM PDT

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae


Posted by: S p h 1 n X O 7
Good job updating so much and adding more posts all the time.
Yeah... All the time... There's a load to read through, but I'll get it done soon. And really kind of you to put up an IPad version! The PDF's were really easy and quick to put together, and I'm sure it will help some people read while they're away from their computer, so it's more than worth it.

I am working on Chapter 13 now, so it will not be another two-month wait. I'm hoping to start lengthening my chapters over time. So far, they've been about 6 pages, typed, each. I want them to gradually get longer as this story progresses, and have sections of the story, like the chapters in CLINIC Base, be contained in one chapter. This would have it's limits, as there is only a certain number of days until Reach is glassed, so there are only so many settings I can explore before that date rolls by.

Once Roland and the group is clear of CLINIC Base, I'll try my best to sit down with the Halo Calendar and plan. Up to now, the plot has been whatever popped into my head when I was writing, which I do in long sittings. I want to move a little away from that as I continue.

Hopefully, planning the rest of the story should thicken the plot a bit, as well as speed up my writing process. If I know what I want to happen before-hand, I can write chapters much faster, as I don't have to pause in the middle of them to think of what happens next or where to end.

I just thought I'd put in a little update, but it turned into a little more. Chapter 13 is coming. Hopefully, this weekend will provide me the time I need to finish it, then it's a simple matter of pasting the text into the PDF's, overwriting the old ones, then uploading them to Google.

As for my other story, Jiralhanae, that is on hold for now. After both stories were archived from my hiatus, I've decided that this needs my full attention, and I will re-post Jiralhanae with new chapters once this develops a little more. I still have plans for that story, but it never really got off the ground before I got stumped.

To all those who are reading, whether you are finished or not, please comment! It really helps to know that I'm not just writing this for myself. Thanks to those who have already commented, and I hope you all enjoy the future of this story.

  • 08.02.2011 9:12 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!


Posted by: Gr33n Knight
I am working on Chapter 13 now, so it will not be another two-month wait.
Woohoo!
I'm hoping to start lengthening my chapters over time. So far, they've been about 6 pages, typed, each. I want them to gradually get longer as this story progresses, and have sections of the story, like the chapters in CLINIC Base, be contained in one chapter.WOOHOO!

  • 08.03.2011 1:45 AM PDT

Pffft! Screw this thread! *Does 180 spin and moon walks out of thread*

Wow.. I wasnt expecting something like this on a Bungie forum! Good work!

  • 08.03.2011 5:52 AM PDT

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae


Posted by: xGeaR HeaD 23x
Wow.. I wasnt expecting something like this on a Bungie forum! Good work!
Thanks. It really means a lot to hear support like that.

Also, if you like my work, this forum is full of great writers with stories of their own. If anything, definitely read Halo 3: Insurrection by Wolverfrog. It's complete, really long, and completely epic. I read it a while ago, and afterwards I felt as though I had to write something myself. That turned into to this story.


And I'm working on Chapter 13 now, I just popped on to put in a small edit to Chapter 9. Just a name change. Why? Oh, no reason...

  • 08.06.2011 3:32 PM PDT

"We live in a special time; the only time where we can observationally verify that we live in a very special time" - Lawrence Krauss.

I was a finalist :P


Posted by: Gr33n Knight
Oh, yeah. Was that Physics stuff about the magnetic fields and such understandable? Looking back on it, it seems as though it may sound a bit complicated...

Hey don't worry man. I have got tonnes of weird scientific stuff in my novel as well.
Great read! Well done

  • 08.07.2011 1:20 AM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!


Posted by: Gr33n Knight
And I'm working on Chapter 13 now, I just popped on to put in a small edit to Chapter 9. Just a name change. Why? Oh, no reason...
*suspicious face*

  • 08.07.2011 3:40 AM PDT
Subject: [Story] Streams of Fire *(Chapter 12 finally up!)*

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

Chapter 13 is done! however... I'm stuck out of town with no Internet for now, so it won't be up until Sunday night. I'm commenting now on a borrowed iPod touch while in a wifi spot on the beach...

Also, I left my laptop charger back at my house, and the spare I have doesn't have enough juice to play games on. This means that I will probably be writing a lot between now and Sunday. This means that chapter 14 will be up
soon as well, if I isn't finished by Sunday.

Chapter 13 is eight and a half pages long, so about two pages longer than my average chapter. To put that in visual terms, the entrie story so far is about 70 pages.

It will be up soon, as soon as I have relable wifi, which should be wheni roll back into town on sunday night.

  • 08.11.2011 12:03 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

ossim. I look forward to your next chapter(s?).

  • 08.12.2011 12:51 AM PDT

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

Chapter 13

I tucked into a tight roll as my feet touched down on the stone floor of the hangar. My shoulder slammed into the stone as I stretched out too early, but the others didn't have the same problem. I stood, wincing, as I clutched my new bruise. Looking up, I saw the tail end of the pelican just jutting through the opening.

"Roland!" Luck called out over the comm. "You make it in OK?"

"Just fine Luck," I groaned "everyone got down."

"Alright. Make it quick, Roland. I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Will do, Luck. Just find a safe place to hang tight while we do our thing. We'll signal when to come get us."

I turned to the darkness, my eyes straining to make out the outlines of the others. I walked carefully forward until my eyes adjusted to the low light. Finally seeing the entrance to the facility, I motioned to my team. When I got no response, I realized that they couldn't see me yet. "Follow me." I spoke, quietly. I didn't think that there was a need for silence, but something about being in a dark, silent place makes you want to be quiet.

Using the sound of my voice to orient them, my team arranged themselves into a tight formation, Duncan and Bishop took the lead and rear, respectively, their helmets providing a type of night-vision known as VISR. Stone, Reynolds, Strauss, Young, and I took the middle.

All of us kept our eyes peeled as much as we could in the darkness, looking for anything living. The dark labyrinth quickly took hold of our sense of direction, and it wasn't long before we were completely and utterly lost.

-------

Major Salvich and Commander Collins ambled into the infirmary, Corporals Jinn and Tanner not far behind them, with Private Redding held between them, still unconscious. One of the remaining nurses quickly approached them, keeping her eyes fixed on Redding.

"Is he alive?" she asked.

"Yes, a grenade sent him flying into a wall." Collins answered. The nurse lifted his head, turning it slightly for a better view of the wound.

"It looks like his skull is fractured," she noted "please, carry him this way." The nurse left, Jinn and Tanner following close behind with Redding. Collins led the Major to Staff Sergeant Nelson, who quickly started scribbling on his sheet of paper.

It sounds like you brought him back with you, Commander He wrote, giving a salute as soon as the pencil stopped moving.

"Staff Sergeant Nelson, this is Major Salvich. He brought back the blueprints, as well as bait."

Bait? What are you trapping?

"The last two elites in this facility. Once we've got them pinned down, they should be easily dispatched."

Just two?

"Yes, according to this datapad, five hostiles were detected in the generator room moments before the power went out. Since then, we've taken out three of them."

Such a small force... Are you sure?

"As sure as I can be. They are highly trained, probably just here to get this data and get out. They didn't expect a fight, not from wounded soldiers."

And the bait is the data?

"Exactly. Opening the document alerts the elites to its location. All we have to do is find a way to funnel them into a tight space, then they'll be easy to take out."

Sounds simple enough. I like it, turn the hunter into the hunted... Did the whole team make it back?

"No, we lost Francis and Huxley. Redding is unconscious as well."

The Staff Sergeant nodded, his expression a mystery behind a thick layer of tightly wound bandages. Silence permeated the area, only the ambient coughs and moans of the wounded to break it.

Collins turned to the Major, and they began carefully laying their trap.

-------

We peered into the darkness in vain, hallway after hallway led us, tauntingly, nowhere. Even the ODSTs night-vision doing nothing to help us through the labyrinthine turns. Every corner led to deceptively similar hallways, only room numbers to keep us from going in circles.

"...Why are we here?" Strauss whispered after a while. "There's obviously not any Covenant here."

"If the Covenant isn't here, then why are you whispering, Private." I whispered back. He didn't have an answer for that.

Not long after that we finally saw something different. What appeared to be an office in ruins, torn to pieces by a Covenant energy sword, lay on the left side of the hall way. Walking inside, a corner of the wall caught my eye.

A vent was smoldering under a missing section of the wall. Pointing my gun's flashlight to the floor, I could see footprints in the drywall dust. I could make out a pair of human footprints ending at the vent, and a much larger pair leading to and from it.

I knew those prints, they were from an elite, and a huge one at that.

"We can't be too far." I said quietly, pointing to the footprints.

"Looks like you were wrong, Strauss." Reynolds pointed out, Strauss's scowl was the only reply.

"It looks like an elite chased someone into this ventilation shaft." I observed. "Who wants to volunteer to search it for the body?"

"I'll do it, Sarge." Stone offered after a few seconds of silence. He climbed carefully into the shaft, using his back as a brake on one side of the opening while his hands and knees took him, slowly, down. Once down, he checked on both sides.

"I don't see any bodies, Sarge. One side drops down into another shaft, and it's partially melted, the other continues under the floor."

"Either they got out, or there's a body down there somewhere."

"Wait!" Stone spoke up, "I see tracks in here. It looks like they crawled out."

"Follow that duct, Stone. We'll follow you up here."

-------

Major Salvich stood quietly, watching as the nurse carefully wrapped Redding's new stitches tightly with bandages. Finished, she stood and turned towards him.

"What's your name, miss?" He asked.

"I'm Rebecca," she replied "and you're the Major, right? Major Salvich?"

"I am."

"Was it worth it, Major, what you brought back?"

"It never is."

"...Well, he's definitely got a fractured skull. He'll be out for a few hours at least, but it'll be a lot longer before he'll be fit to fight." She turned back to Redding.

"They all left."

"Pardon?"

"All the doctors, nurses, just about everyone left. Why didn't you?"

"Why would I? Sure, I'm as scared of the Covenant as the next person, but them?" She motioned around her, pointing out the injured soldiers around her as best as she could. "They can't leave, and I can't leave them to die."

"You're younger than the other nurses that stayed, why does it seem like you're in charge here?"

"Somebody needed to take charge. The other nurses really just wanted to do their job, but I wanted to do more. I followed the doctors around, learned as much as I could about procedures, studied books on treatments. I was in medical school when I was displaced by the Covenant two years ago, and I still wish I would have been able to finish. I know more about treatments than the other nurses do, so I figured I would step up when the time came."

"Well I'm glad that you stayed. All of these soldiers would be lost without you."

"Thank you Major, I -" She turned her head as another nurse called her name from across the huge room. "I'm sorry, I've got to go." She ran in that direction, leaving the Major standing next to Redding, awestruck at the young woman's drive to do her best.

"She'd have made one hell of a marine." He remarked.

-------

Duncan and Young pulled the rubble out of the air duct to help Stone crawl out. I looked around the area. I spotted a singe mark on the floor to the left of the vent, and a body not far from it, a matching blood spatter on the wall above him.

Bishop checked the marine's pulse, looking up to shake his head at me. Strauss and Reynolds admired the massive elite bodies directly next to each other.

"Look at the scratch on that one's helmet!" Reynolds remarked "What do you think was strong enough to make that?"

"How the hell should I know?" Strauss spat back.

"Maybe it was the same think that carved that scowl into your face, Strauss?" Young joked.

Coughing sounded as Stone finally emerged from the duct, Duncan helping him to his feet. We all spread around the area, making our own observations in hopes of finding clues to the Major's location.

"Why aren't there any plasma burns on the walls?" Reynolds asked "There's just a few sword marks."

"Must've just been elites" Young suggested.

"It was a Zealot team." Duncan spoke up.

"A Zealot team?" I asked, not sure what he was talking about.

"Yes, I've run into them before, on other worlds. They're specially trained teams that get sent in when the Covenant want something extracted."

"Nasty sons-of--blam!-es." Bishop chipped in. "One of 'em nearly got us on Arcadia."

"They are usually sent in alone, and without warning." Duncan finished.

"How do you know it's a Zealot team, and not just a few elites?" Stone asked.

"The armor is different. The bastards always wear this kind of armor."

"So how many elites are we talking about?"

"Most likely five or six. From what I've seen they're small teams."

"Half a dozen elites did all of this?" I asked.

"All they had to do was take out the power, people cause chaos on their own when they don't know what's going on."

"Well, if what you say is true, there are at least three more of these monsters in here. We need to get to the Major, and to the other injured soldiers before they do."

-------

  • 08.14.2011 7:06 PM PDT

-Gr33n Knight

My stories:

Streams of Fire

Jiralhanae

The Major stared down at the hand-drawn plans that Collins and Tanner were describing. It seemed simple enough. Collins would climb above the door to the infirmary, and the others would be farther within the room with the activated data. When the elite came through, the Commander would drop down on it, his robotic legs taking the fall if he missed.

"This looks like it'll work." The Major confessed, not keen on the idea of Collins taking on the elite alone. "We'll have to move all of the injured away from the doorway, for their protection."

Nurse Rebecca Balehnco can make it happen. Staff Sergeant Nelson scribbled.

"What are we going to do if they both come through that door at the same time?" Jinn put forth from a few feet away. "The Commander can't take both out easily. Even if the other comes in soon after the first, it would be much more difficult to take it out."

"What do you suggest, Corporal? You don't think we should get two of us up there, do you?" Collins asked.

"No, Commander, what I think we should do is use this room." He pointed out an oddly shaped room not far from the infirmary. "It's the physical rehab room, the hallway sticks into the room, so it's almost a U shape, with the doorway in towards the middle, with more of the room on either side and behind it. The thing is, when you first go to it, you have no idea that it isn't just a normal square room. Well, not until you turn around, at least. We could have one person in the middle of the room with the data, and the rest of us could be waiting behind the doorway, ready to flank the elites, whether they enter together or not. This way, we could all attack at once, and we could reset the trap faster, in case they don't come together. The bait could even have their back turned, the rest of us can use one of the motion trackers from the hangar. They're older and outdated, so they don't have the new codes that we use in our armor today, but we won't have to worry about any friendlies in here."

They all ran through the plan again in their heads, deciding that it was probably the best solution.

I guess I'll be sitting this one out, then. Nelson wrote with a smile.

-------

We looked up at the massive map painted on the wall before us. We had nearly passed it before Reynolds tripped and dropped his gun, its flashlight pointing to the edge of the map.

"Wow, we've barely even gone anywhere." Strauss remarked "We're only three halls over from the hangar. How is that even possible?"

"It doesn't matter, Private." Duncan sighed "...Look, we're not far from the Infirmary. It's just past medicinal storage and physical therapy. That's where most of the soldiers should be. The officer's wing is past that, so we can go that way after to get the Major."

"Knowing him, he's probably made his way to the infirmary by now anyway, Duncan." I stated.

"The man had burns over half of his body, Roland, you said so yourself. I doubt he's even able to get out of his hospital bed, let alone fight his way through Zealots to get to the infirmary."

"You wanna bet on that?"

"It's less of a bet, and more of a victory for me, Roland. What's the prize?"

"A beer, when this is all over."

"I'll accept that wager."

"Then it's a bet, Duncan. We should go ahead and get moving though, the faster we get to the infirmary, the faster we can organize against the Zealots and get out of this dungeon."

The whole group murmured in agreement, even Strauss, who seemed to disagree with everyone at every turn. I took one last look at the map, trying my best to commit it to memory, then we turned towards the infirmary.

-------

Jinn sat, reluctantly, in the center of the physical therapy room, or, at least, what looked to be the center from the doorway. He had wanted to be a part of the flanking, but Salvich and Collins were each on a side of the doorway. Tanner lay father behind the doorway, with his sights on Jinn. He was there to make sure that the elite didn't make it to the data if the flanking failed.

"Activate the data when you're ready, Jinn." Collins whispered into the mic.

"...Data has been activated, Commander, the trap is set. Keep an eye on that sensor!"

Now they waited. It was only a matter of time.

-------

Vano Tynamee jumped at the surprise. Out of the total silence, the loud incessant beeping seemed to come like a godsend. He had nearly lost his head alone in the dark, his mind fragile enough after finding Talo Zamamai, his idol, his hero, killed by the humans.

Now his fractured mind had a goal. Sudden renewed purpose propelled him on his task. The data had been activated, and he was going to avenge the Fleet Master's death by slaughtering every last human in this mountain.

A crooked smile crossed his lips as his imagination ran wild with ideas of what to do to them.

"I'm ready to play your games humans." He spoke to nobody in particular. "You may have taken the King, but this pawn is not yet defeated."

-------

  • 08.14.2011 7:08 PM PDT