Halo: The Fight Worth Fighting

CHAPTER FOUR

11 hours 25 minutes, March 10, 2537

Planet Beckon, Covenant capital ship Divine Kinship

Epsilon Omicron system_

He could feel the spike as it went through his chest. Then another. Then another. He stared at his abdomen spurt blood madly, uncontrollably. Ni’ra’ke quickly glanced away from the spike rifle holstered on Borenifus’ thigh.

“Now what’s the matter, most honorable commander?” Borenifus teased. “You think this lure idea wasn’t good? You are supposed to be a strong leader.”

“Shut your mouth before your dirty slobber stains the floor of this vessel,” Ni’ra’ke retorted simply, leaving the Jiralhanae chieftain speechless. “I did not let you come so that you could make me have second thoughts about this.”

The plan was practically flawless. The Wraith decoys were brilliant. “I still don’t see why we couldn’t have used a large plasma bomb and glassed the sector. Then the success rate would be one hundred percent instead of ninety-nine.” He laughed at his little joke, and Ni’ra’ke briefly joined in. However diverse the Sangheili and Jiralhanae were from each other, they united against the common human enemy.

“Yes,” Ni’ra’ke replied. “In only a matter of minutes, the humans will meet their fate that was sealed the moment they sprung the trap.” The UNSC was digging its own grave. The humans were all fixing in at the middle of the base. Ni’ra’ke watched with intent from the bridge of the Covenant cruiser…

Meanwhile, from the ground, Luke watched the bulky metal beast emerge from its underground lair. “What the hell is that!?” Luke heard someone far off scream. He, on the other hand, knew it was best to keep calm in a situation like this. He could come up with better solutions to the problem at hand.

In this case, a thousand-pound enemy destruction machine.

Luke had been in the simulator, and he knew that Scarabs were tough. But not undefeatable. “Call for any backup possible, Pierce,” Luke ordered through his mic. Though they were near one another, the roar of the Scarab was deafening. You couldn’t hear a meteor hit directly next to you.

“Roger that,” Alexandria replied into her own mic. After several precious minutes, she replied, “Can’t get any signal through. Must be being jammed.”

Luke swore under his breath. “Well then, it’s all on us now. You guys ready?”

He received a nod from the corporal and sergeant in turn. In unison, they began rapidly shouting commands into their mics. “Get underneath! Aim for the legs! C’mon, men, let’s get a move on! Go, go, go!!”

Three Mongooses drove in from behind them and screeched to a halt. The three commanders knew exactly what to do. The soldiers that drove in now grabbed a Jackhammer Rocket Launcher and climbed into the passenger seats. Luke grabbed onto the control bar and jetted up the throttle.

A moment later, the sun reflected off of the Scarab’s purple coat of armor, and it was the center of attention even more so than before. He, Jake, Alexandria, and the other Mongooses pulled into a tight formation to get under the immense creature. Luke noticed that Jake was in the passenger seat with another soldier driving.

“You know what to do, men,” Luke shouted. Jake was the first to fire, slamming two powerful slugs into the hull of one hind leg. Luke watched as the aftermath came into view from the smoke.

The other rockets closed in on their own targeted legs. Before long, the Scarab began to falter…and immediately gained all full power as emergency plating slid into place on the Scarab. Its insect-like eyes glowed bright green to charge the main plasma beam. Within seconds, about one-fifth of the UNSC forces collapsed, never to rise again.

“They’ve got every goddamned trick in the book, these guys!” Luke blurted aloud. “We’ve gotta think outside the box.”

“Sir, how about we assemble a strike team to go up there to destroy that beast?” Jake said.

“Great plan, Corporal,” Alexandria spoke out, “but too many people go, and they attract way too much attention.”

“Then we just need a small group,” Luke said.

“That’s too dangerous, Gunny, we don’t know how many Covenant are up there,” Pierce pointed out.

“Well, then,” Luke replied, “I’m sure two of us can operate effectively enough without getting harmed too badly.”

“I’ll go,” Jake said. “Anyway, I’m dying to kick some freaking Covenant ass!”

“All right, then, you two can go,” Alexandria said. “I’ll sit this one out.”

“Okay, Jake, get your cable hook ready,” Luke said. He and Jake jumped off of their vehicles and readied their grappling hooks. They launched them at the first level of the Scarab, and tugged to make sure that they were secure. Slowly, they were reeled onto the enemy vehicle.

The Covenant must have been taken by surprise as they fumbled for their weapons to shoot the intruders. However, the two humans were prepared, and demolished the aliens within a ten-meter radius of their hooks. As they climbed up to the main level, it was their turn to be surprised. Looming over them was an eight-foot tall savage beast, half gorilla, half wolf. Its eyes were bloodshot, and its presence reeked of bloodlust. A brute, put simply.

It slammed its bandolier-like Brute Shot down on Luke with surprising speed and force. The Gunnery Sergeant stared at the blade as it came down on the hull of the Scarab right next to him, then flinched as he felt a slight cut on his ear.

Jake wanted to ask if Luke was alright, but he saw that the Brute was going in for the kill on his comrade. He had to act, so he grabbed a spike grenade off of the Brute’s vaguely visible belt on its torso. The act itself caught the Brute so off-guard, it stopped its attack on Luke altogether. However, before it could react, Jake slammed the alien device onto the Brute’s back.

The Brute reached for the grenade, but his fate was sealed onto him. As it gave out one final curse, Luke and Jake scrambled for safety. It soon exploded into a thousand fragments, the distinct yellow explosion of the grenade flying everywhere. The two soldiers allowed each other a high-five before getting back to business.

“Thanks for saving my skin, Corporal,” Luke said. “I’ll be sure to repay you the favor.”

They met little more resistance as they headed for the main power reactor at the rear of this destructive creature. They both banged their weapons into the power source until they heard an emergency ‘beep’ onboard the Scarab. They shot another pair of grapple hooks onto some nearby wrecked Covenant building that was still standing.

The two managed a brief peek back at the Scarab in time to see the mass explosion that sent Covenant flying off the wrecked vehicle like flies flicked off of a hand. Many alien cries were heard as the Covenant that had thought they were safe met a quick end.

“Amen to that, eh, Jake,” Luke said in praise. They had just defeated the Covenant’s ace in the hole.

“AA-maan!” Jake cheered. The day was theirs.

Not quite.

“Oh, shit!!” Jake yelled as a torrent of plasma cannon orbs of death struck the ground wildly. He watched as all around him the soldiers that had been cheering moments ago now fell to the ground and got their lives burnt out of them.

The two men ran for cover as shrapnel went flying everywhere from the blown-apart buildings. They found Alexandria and immediately regrouped.

“What’s goin’ on?” she shouted. The unbearable noise of the Scarab had been replaced by the roar of the overhead enemy cruiser.

“It sure ain’t pretty,” Luke said. “We’re being bombed. Not sure how much longer we can hold out.”

In a matter of minutes, more than half of the remaining forces weren’t in this life. Things seemed hopeless—until the UNSC forces’ prayers were answered, and a familiar cruiser shadowed over the whole battle, including the enemy vessel.

“Good afternoon, men,” Captain Lee Hamilton broadcast into everyone’s mic. “I heard a weak signal coming though and came down to see what’s the matter.”

So there was no mistaking it. The Leaping Stallion had arrived. The massive ship pummeled the lesser alien boat with tens of powerful slugs. The enemies’ last hope came crashing down a few miles away, and dust echoed throughout the carnage.

“Man, I owe everyone for today, don’t I?” the Gunnery Sergeant joked to himself. He allowed himself a slow breath—and coughed from the dust brought into his lungs. Now it was Jake’s turn to laugh.

“Hey, man, that’s not funny.” But he couldn’t keep himself from laughing, for the victory of today.

____

I think I can start posting these at a faster rate now

Your friendly neighborhood Z-man_