Perfectly Normal Fare

I looked up into the canopy of the taiga forest when I noticed small snowflakes beginning to fall. I tracked one closely, watching it land on a small twig and fail to dissipate. From that I realized that it was cold enough for water to freeze and thus for snow to accumulate. We had been waiting here for several hours now with two squads of infantry that were temporarily transferred to us from the 50th Shock Army, one squad of Rangers from the United Erdellian States Special Forces, and one squad of Neo-Crusaders from the Sacred Army of the Erdellian Ecclesiastical State. I found the regular infantry to be capable soldiers good at following orders, although unspectacular. I respected the Rangers’ fearlessness, ruggedness, wittiness, and proficiency in combat, although I was annoyed by their frequent use of expletives when speaking. I found the Neo-Crusaders to be mysterious: they spoke mostly among themselves, and rarely to outsiders, and had a strange dialect that was difficult for me to understand, and so I did not know what to think of them. I did not understand why we had regular infantry assigned to us for this mission, since I thought Life Guard Grenadiers would have more of the requisite training, but I realized that the matter was probably beyond my purview and I ultimately accepted this.
My squad leader, Lieutenant Ban J’Dumak, was leaning against a tree, his carbine in his hands. He peeked from the side, facing away from me, and made a noise. Some soldiers snapped their heads to him. Then another noise came from behind some trees and branches which hung low and obscured vision. Then J’Dumak made another, slightly different noise. He then deactivated his active cloaking and revealed himself. His immediate subordinate Twilight Knight, Sergeant Raederil Llathendrin, followed suit. The officers leading the Rangers and Neo-Crusaders, respectively, also revealed themselves. The rest of us remained hidden.
I saw, coming out of cover, a squad of Covenant aliens and then a squad of bipedal soldiers, wearing what seemed to be exosuits that obscured their faces. They had no snouts, were about as tall as us Twilight Knights, had no tails, and had no large ears. I assumed them to be the Humans, and I was correct.
Then, Lt. J’Dumak spoke, saying “So, you’re the other parts of this joint operation, then?”
“Indeed we are,” said one of the Sagheili, who I correctly assumed to be the Covenant aliens’ overall leader. “I am Kai ‘Kalar, Special Operations Officer, Swords of Sanghelios. Here is Mik ‘Mutuk, Tes, and Basab.”
Lt. J’Dumak nodded then turned his head to the Humans. He said, “And you must be the Humans.”
The Human in the green armor said, “We’re Blue Team. I’m Master Chief Petty Officer John-117.”
Lt. J’Dumak then went on a brief yet descriptive lecture on information we were already briefed on, but out of respect for his position I kept my attention towards him. Finally, we had received word that the battlegroup had entered the system and began engaging the Banished forces in space. Near simultaneously, the 50th Shock Army was landing its troops at several points across the planet, all of which amounted to securing the Flood facility the Banished were inhabiting, and which we were going to go in first. I found this perfectly normal fare for someone such as myself, and was not terribly bothered by the prospects of getting shot in the face, stabbed, exploded, or eaten alive.
We all quickly descended the forested ridge we were situated on, the snow forming a thin blanket on any surface exposed to the sky. Explosions erupted throughout the defenses of the Banished as fighter-bombers from the 50th Shock Army made repeated attacks, and I reasoned that paratroopers would soon appear, augmenting our forces. I thought that that would be most welcome. We fought through the defenses, although one squad of regular infantry took severe losses. I saw one fellow, whose name escapes me, lose a leg as a grenade exploded right next to him, blasting apart his shields. He yelled and cursed and cried out as he hurled grenades at the Banished and fired his rifle in semi-automatic. As he was laying in an exposed area none could reach him, and so, he died alone, in the middle of a large metallic landing pad-like structure, squeezing the trigger of his now empty rifle, his face contorted into a visage coming somewhere between intense agony, extreme anger, and intoxicated euphoria. I did not envy the dead man and continued fighting.
After about ten minutes we managed to clear the surface structure and its exterior of all Banished, but there was a lift that led to an underground portion, perhaps extensive. We took it down, and I could sense that the comrades around me were very nervous, so I became somewhat nervous too. When the lift stopped we entered a room containing many Banished and Flood-infected corpses. Lt. J’Dumak reminded us that a Proto-Gravemind was alleged to have formed in the lower levels and must be destroyed. We searched for it, fighting large groupings of Flood along the way. I found the Humans to be very good fighters, almost flawless in execution, graceful in teamwork. I admired them somewhat, and was embarrassed at myself for doing so. Meanwhile the Covenant aliens proved their worth, and I certainly dwelled upon that little Unggoy blasting away to his heart’s content with that fuel rod gun of his.
We eventually found the Proto-Gravemind, where one of the regular infantrymen set it on fire with a flamethrower. Keleon, I think his name was. I noticed that he was most enthusiastic with using the flamethrower, and scored many Flood kills, mostly infection forms.
After we destroyed the Proto-Gravemind, we ascended back to the surface. Only one squad, that of one of the regular infantry, suffered casualties. Everyone else – the Humans, the Covenant, the States, and we – were all accounted for. I found that very good, especially considering that this was officially the first joint military operation involving Erdellians, Covenant aliens, and Humans together against a common foe. I did not care much for headlines, not that there was much declassified to say.
Category:The Weekly