Fighting With a Spoon

The Phantom descended to hover just above a field of short grasses. We disembarked, all of us Sangheili making heavy thuds on the ground as we landed.
“Careful, guys!” said Basab to his fellow Unggoy, who let out a loud grunt as he landed on his feet, holding a needler. The rest of his comrades were wielding plasma pistols. Meanwhile, Mik twirled his two plasma rifles in his hands.
“They requested another lance to this Forerunner site?” asked Mik, looking around confusedly.
“Indeed, sir,” said one of our Minors, one Dras ‘Imforee. He was missing an eye, thus leaving him quite recognizable even in the midst of combat. “The senior officers apparently keep losing track of men around here.”
“I wonder why that is,” inquired the other Minor of the lance, Retek ‘Maranai. He was no veteran blademaster, but his grandfather’s grandfather was, and thus his family were afforded the honor to carry the honorific. A youthful scion of a family of landed nobles with some renown, Retek fancied himself as a swordsman, and so carried one, although some of my fellow majors viewed him with suspicion. A minor wielding a sword in battle? Most unusual.
Mik had no patience or respect for characters such as Retek, and it showed. “Of course you do,” he said. Retek, not fond of peasants like Mik, shot an acidic glance at my friend, but as it was Retek who was the subordinate soldier, the petty aristocrat said nothing.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” said Tes, our Kig-Yar markswoman, her beam rifle cradled in her hands.
“You and me too, sister,” said Basab. “But orders are orders, eh?”
“True,” remarked Tes.
We approached a tiny forward operating base, ringed with physical barriers and energy shields. Some vehicles were parked on one side, and on the other were accommodations for troops and supplies. Curiously, a small group of Human-made structures was immediately adjacent to the base, with our own structures apparently erected right beside the Human ones. No Human vehicles around their base, and it seems that the Humans themselves made a hurried evacuation, with the structures’ doors remaining open and devoid of several tools, supplies, and information pertaining to the precise nature of their activities.
“There’s scarcely anyone here,” commented Mik.
“Most unusual,” I added. “We must find the commanding officer.” After some searching and questioning the few personnel that remained, we located the commanding officer of the base, a Korso ‘Brumaree. He was clad in gray-white armor, which would allow forgiveness for one who might confuse ‘Brumaree for an Evocatus. He looked forlornly towards the Forerunner structure, which itself seemed to be a large bunker buried deep beneath the earth.
“Commander?” I started. “I am Major Kai ‘Kalaree, Lance 7, 50th Legion, attached to the Fleet of Sacred Mysteries.” I closed my hand into a fist and placed it against my heart. Commander ‘Brumaree slowly turned to us, and he repeated the gesture with care.
“Major, it is good you have come,” he said. “When we initially set up this base here, I sent in three lances into the structure to fully secure it. They have not returned. Then, I sent in another lance to check up on them. Those men have not returned either. Then, I sent in two more at the same time, along with a pair of Mgalekgolo. None of them returned as well.”
“Sir, when was that?”
“Twenty hours ago. Ever since then, I have refrained from sending in any more warriors. Repeated attempts to restore communications were failures. This is most troubling.”
“So, we must follow those lost lances in then, sir?”
“Precisely. I must admit, I expected more reinforcements than just a single lance.”
“I am sorry sir, but when we were briefed, we were informed that we would be the only ones to come until we reported back on the situation, or thirty hours had passed.”
“Indeed? Hmm…” Commander ‘Brumaree looked back at the Forerunner structure once more, then returned his gaze to us. A certain resilience appeared in his eyes. “It is possible that the Humans are hiding within, ambushing us as we enter the facility. This cannot stand. Here are your new instructions: you will assist me in cleansing the Humans entirely from this most hallowed ground, and in finding – or perhaps, recovering – the warriors who went into the structure before us.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Going into the big scary building full of Humans that want to kill us? Sounds like a delight.” Basab spoke in sarcastic tones.
“Unggoy shall not speak in that tone to an officer,” said Retek in a harsh voice.
“Prepare yourselves, we enter the structure in five minutes.”
The five minutes came and went slowly. We were already prepared for almost anything, so there was not too much need to gather things. However, Commander ‘Brumaree equipped himself with a fuel rod gun, alongside his personal energy sword. Before we exited the base, the commander walked over to another officer. “’Tenevee, you’re in charge until I come back.”
“Yes, Boss,” said ‘Tenevee, bumping his fist against his chest. The sub-commander moved to a small group of Unggoy who watched us with curiosity as we departed the base. “Okay lads, I’m the boss until the commander returns. Where’s the Tihr disc?”
We exited the base, passing by one of the sentries, perhaps one of the few Sangheili left. “Good luck, brothers,” said the sentry. “Gods, that bunker makes me uneasy. Too many went in and haven’t come out yet.”
We left the sentry and entered the structure, the large doors gradually opening before us, a subtle metallic groan rumbling. We followed the commander in, carefully scanning the interior. No immediate attack, so we moved deeper inside. The interior was lit adequately, and the bunker doors closed behind us, with some Unggoy gasping in alarm at the sound of the metal closing.
“There is a lift here,” said the commander. “Come, we shall use it to descend to the lower levels.”
We gathered onto the lift, its surface made of hard light interwoven by metallic framing. Then, the commander manipulated the controls of a small panel elevated by a metal podium near the side of the elevator closest to the door. The device lowered us at a rapid yet comfortable speed, although from my personal observation I reckoned that the journey from the surface to the first level was about a third of a krel (a distance slightly longer than a Human mile).
Immediately I was struck by the smell, before I even saw anything. A very strong odor befell my senses before the lift even reached the bottom. To this day, I have not even a rough equivalency to the scent. It was certainly odious, but not inherently intolerable: I suspected none of my subordinates to vomit at the scent, and indeed none did. Although they all had their ways of reaction.
“Gods, what is that smell?” asked Mik.
“Hmm, it’s putrid,” added Dras “Almost the scent of decaying flesh mixed with burning rubber… or cancer. Tis a cancerous smell, yes.”
“Cancer has a smell?” asked Commander ‘Brumaree.
“Certainly smells offensive, sir,” commented Tes. “Like… very old blood.”
“Basab is grateful for his gas mask,” said the Unggoy.
“Indeed you should be,” I finally said. “For I have never before smelled a scent such as this. I can scarcely describe it.”
“I’m… I’m not sure but somehow this is familiar…” uttered Retek. We all looked at him, this young nobleman who stood tall and haughty, an energy sword alight in his hands. Inquisitively, he looked up and around. “This smell… I’ve… I’ve heard this described… by one of my uncles… but I cannot recall what he was talking about…”
“Eh, we’ve no time for your reminiscing, man,” said Dras. The elevator then stopped, and the one-eyed veteran snapped to the open room before us. “Up ahead, casualties!”
Dras aimed his plasma rifle in that direction. As Mik and I rushed out to find cover, we stopped ourselves. Everyone, save for us newcomers, was dead in this room. Sangheili, Unggoy, Kig-Yar, and a few Human corpses, were strewn about. Blood, brilliant red, purple, and blue, liberally painted the walls and floors. Many of the Humans were soldiers by quick observation, garbed in armor and wielding rifles. They all suffered projectile wounds to varying degrees, although some appeared to have been consumed by some sort of beast, pre or postmortem, I cannot say.
Our people suffered horrific, yet puzzling wounds. Most of them appeared to have been torn open by some sort of beast, or suffered harsh defeat in vicious melee combat. One Sangheili fellow had his chest ripped open, the work of a Jiralhanae it seemed. But that was impossible: no Jiralhanae were even deployed to this planet. I initially suspected traitors and rebels from the fleet, perhaps working in concert with elite Human supersoldiers, perhaps not. There was also noticeable splotches of green-brown slime or something of that consistency along with the blood. It did not remind me of blood, for the consistency was not akin to blood, and gave me only more questions.
“Gods, what happened here?” asked the commander.
“If this was an ambush, it doesn’t look like there was a winner,” responded Mik.
“Something’s wrong here…” commented Dras.
The room itself had two large cubic glass containers of some sort, or perhaps a version of hard light, allowing sight both into the container and across to the other side of the room. There appeared to be some sort of spore-like, fungal-like organism, or organic vapor of some sort, floating in the containers. Perhaps then, they are tankers of sorts. Both appeared totally undamaged from the apparent firefight. The Forerunner computer consoles or apparatuses, or whatever they may be, ringed the edges of the room, as well as the edges of the containers.
Retek took a knee near one Sangheili corpse, studying it intently. “My uncle mentioned these types of wounds… he mentioned something along the lines of some sort of fungal organism attacking his party or thereabouts… Yes, I think he mentioned that they looked fungal-like.”
“A fungus?” uttered Mik. “Was your uncle drunk when he was talking to you?”
“How dare- no!”
“Mmm, maybe you are misremembering.”
“I remember well enough, sir!”
“Men, focus,” I said swiftly.
“Now that the young one mentions it…” added Dras. “The smell does recall a vague familiarity with fungi in general. That moldy, almost rotting smell. Also, take a gander at whatever is floating in these glass boxes of sorts.”
I noticed Retek moving to one of the containers, and staring at the material found within. I too I dwelled upon these questions, staring at the tanks but was quickly snapped back to reality when Commander ‘Brumaree spoke. “There is a door, on the far side of the room.”
The environs surrounding the door were coated in layers of blood and other fluids, most likely spilled in combat. Heavy crates and other objects, both Human, Covenant, and Forerunner in origin, seemed to have been piled up against the door, in an attempt to block passage. The door and other heavy objects were forced aside, allowing free passage.
“Wait a minute… Why… Why is the broken open from the inside?” pondered Mik. “Oh. Oh, no… Is this a prison? Was this place used to hold something dangerous in place, and now we broke it open and it’s going to kill everyone? Gods, I do not have time for this.” He spoke in that all-too-familiar half-sarcastic, half-lamenting tone.
“Come now, Mik, it’s not like your only weapon is a spoon.”
“But the dead people around me were using the same weapons I’m using, so none of this bodes well for us.”
“We must then steel ourselves for the battle to come,” said Dras. “Come, sir, let us prepare for a most satisfactory engagement.”
“Hear, hear!” said Retek, raising his sword up.
“Warriors, move out,” uttered Commander ‘Brumaree. ‘Kalaree, have someone take point.”
“I will do it, sir,” I said.
“Hmm. Very well, on you go.”
My carbine out and ready to fire, I readied myself as I passed by the overturned crates, moved aside by some Unggoy. I moved through the broken doorway, down a small corridor, and past another door – also broken from the inside – and here entered another large room. This room was more inclined in the center than the previous room, with two hard light bridges criss-crossing the room, situated above our heads. These bridges, intermittently turning on and off, connected elevated platforms on either side of the room, and were too high for any of us to reach easily. The rooms were all lit with the iconic blue-white hue of the Forerunners, although this second room had a large, illuminated wall, angling along with the rest of the room into a point near the ceiling, giving the whole space a triangular shape. Geometric patterns consistent with other Forerunner sights adorned the walls. Save for the blood and more corpses, this would have been a sterile, if somewhat cold, environment. Plasma scoring, explosive residue, blood, and fungus scent filled the air. Humans outnumbered the corpses in this room, and many faces were contorted into unnatural shapes, twisted from terror and agony. I found this most disturbing, for I would only see this in the fields of corpses we would step over as we cleared crowded city plazas, whom had no warning of our arrival and thus no time to escape. However, this scene I saw as far more unsettling, for it was unclear to me what made them so terrified. In the cities, I understood that it was me and my comrades’ arrival that instilled in them utter panic, but here, the culprit was unidentified. An unknown quantity. This I could not find easy to reconcile with.
I looked around the room, and found it empty. “Clear!” I yelled. The rest of the party trickled into the room.
“This reminds me of that city on that planet… New Hainan, I believe it was called. The streets were choked with corpses.”
“Indeed,” said Dras. “I’ve seen a fair share of scenes like that. And still we find more cities on more planets. Gods, how long is this blasted war going to take?”
“As long as it needs to, warrior,” said the Commander. “As long as it needs to. But I wonder… These men could have radioed in, appraised me on the situation. What happened to them?”
“Perhaps ambushing Humans?” I wondered. “After all, sir, we did ponder about this before.”
“Even in the speediest of ambushes, a man still has time to radio that he is in trouble.”
“What if he was petrified in fear or confusion, sir?” asked Dras.
“Impossible,” quickly dismissed Commander ‘Brumaree. “No honorable Sangheili would allow such a thing.”
“There are powerful forces of the mind and of the heart that rival honor, sir,” I informed.
“I’ve no time for this philosophizing, these brave warriors before us are my own and they dead, and I want to find out who killed them so I may snatch their lives personally. Come, I see another in the middle of this room.”
We embarked upon the elevator and rode it down again in silence, although the nervous jittering of the Unggoy was of no aid. The stench grew in prominence. We reached the bottom, where the commander attempted to radio in to the base. He failed.
“Gods, we must be very deep down,” said ‘Brumaree.
“And… closer to the source of the trouble?” uttered Mik. “Eyes ahead, I see two Mgalekgolo down.”
Indeed the corpses of a pair of some of the most powerful warriors in our Covenant were in the center of the room. They died together – and in battle – and that is something Mgalekgolo would prefer, I think. They were surrounded by what appeared to be a mix of Sangheili and Human corpses, horribly misshapen and warped, covered in what appeared to be cancerous growths mixed with fungal matter. I could barely discern faces. Unggoy and Kig-Yar were also dead, liberally located around the room. The room itself had a raised floorplan, in a sort of step style, with the pinnacle summited by some sort of light apparatus transmitting the beacon of light shooting up from the hill covering the structure, marking its location for all to see. The Mgalekgolo were here. Doors lined the sides of the room, with most of them emitting a red light, denoting their impassability. One was marked green, on the far side of the room. Once again, I took point and we crossed the room, our weapons aiming towards any conceivable point of cover.
“Oh… Yeah…” uttered Mik, with a grimly assured tone.
“Mik, what is the matter?” I questioned.
“Don’t tell me you all forgot your history lessons?” responded Mik. “Nobody watched holovids on the subject? Didn’t pay attention to some sermons?”
There was a silence.
“Gods, it’s the Parasite, people!”
The Unggoy cried out in fear. “Uhh, Parasites?!” shuddered Basab. “That’s certainly something to get me shaking in my boots, sir!”
“Don’t worry little man, I’m right beside you,” added Tes. “Just don’t think I’m gonna hold your hand or anything.”
“If the Parasite is indeed here,” started the commander, “we must glass the whole area of operations. Not a single spore must remain intact. Perhaps the fleet may even glass the entire planet…”
We went through these large double doors, and found ourselves at one end of a wide and somewhat long corridor that gradually sloped downwards. We moved along this corridor until reaching an almost identical pair of doors, and we went through these as well. Here we entered a room of moderate size, with three smaller doors on all sides. Splotches of blood and fungal matter were on the ground.
“What the… what is this now?” Mik muttered.
On my HUD, I saw two incoming friendly contacts, their appearance most likely coming from the left. “Incoming friendly warriors, from the left!” I warned. The door then opened, and out tumbled a Sangheili Minor with a plasma rifle and a T’Vaoan Kig-Yar dual-wielding plasma pistols.
“Ah!” screamed the Sangheili. “Oh gods, thank you! You’re here!” He stumbled towards us. The T’Vaoan kept both his pistols on the door they came through, but quickly and frantically aimed them in different directions at different doors. “Commander, we have to glass this planet now! By the gods, now! The unholy terrors sealed within these walls have broken free thanks to our ignorant meddling, and we must close shut this gate to hell we have opened!”
“By the Prophets, Goroth, pull yourself together!” admonished the commander. Goroth could not be restored his composure.
“Sir, the things we have faced…! The… the Parasite!”
“Yes, we inferred as much. Is there anyone else alive?”
“Gods, no!” spat out the T’Vaoan. “Those Parasites… the Flood, they ate them… and now they’re going to eat us! By the gooooooooods!!!”
Suddenly, all three doors burst open, and a great many Flood infection forms poured forth, quickly overtaking the T’Vaoan. He was quickly consumed in panicked screaming, wildly firing his pistols.
“Gods, fall back! Quickly!” yelled the commander. I fired my carbine rapidly into the swarm of Flood, but the beings were so small and so numerous. Mik’s rapid automatic fire of hot plasma decimated their ranks, but the Flood continued to advance. A few Unggoy were engulfed as well, screaming in terror as they were crushed and suffocated and infected. Meanwhile, Retek repeatedly swept an area before him with his sword, slicing and popping scores of the Flood. Then, the combat forms soon started to appear from the doors, and they fired Covenant and Human weapons upon us. They were a mix of Sangheili and Human monstrosities, bastardizations of higher forms of life.
We quickly fled back up the room with the pillar of light. Dras had put aside his plasma rifle in favor of using a mounted plasma cannon that had been set up, facing the large doors. He fired upon the swarm of Flood quickly ascending the corridor ramp, cutting down a great many. Then, loud banging soon erupted from the side doors of this room.
“Gods!” I yelled out. “We are being outflanked! Dras, abandon the cannon!”
“Rah, I have a better idea!” Dras responded. With a roar, he ripped the cannon from the mount and carried it in his hands, hip-firing the weapon against a large group of Flood. With this firepower, we managed to beat a hasty retreat. We reached the elevator. The commander fired a fuel rod at the center of a grouping of Flood, giving us some momentary breathing room, just enough for me to fiddle with the controls and allow us an ascent.
Goroth looked up and screamed, “They’re above us!” He raised his plasma rifle and fired wildly. I looked up, and indeed a sprinkling of infection forms rained from the level above us. A few combat forms jumped down as well. I fired several times into the center of one Human-like form as it fired a plasma pistol at me, impacting my shields. It was killed. Mik and Dras dispatched several more, while Basab and Tes closed ranks: with no shields, they were most vulnerable. Basab had picked up a plasma pistol and used it in tandem with his needler, while Tes did her best to pick off some combat forms herself. All the while, in this lift, I felt the whole universe just box me in. I ran out of ammo and switched to my sword. Here came a Sangheili combat form with a plasma rifle, who fired at me. I slashed the arm holding the rifle off, but still it stood there, and rushed me, striking me with its other arm, depleting my shields entirely.
In a panic I sliced the combat form again into certain oblivion. My adrenaline blasted through my veins as I desperately prayed for my shields to recharge, all the while slashing at any and all infection forms, avoiding stepping on them, or worse, having one jump onto my neck. To think of that, of having one scurry on my shoulders and drill its… whatever those are into my skin and pump me full of the infection… gods, what a ghastly thought.
Luckily, Retek was an able swordsman indeed, and he waded through the Flood, cutting them down like wheat before a scythe. My shields recovered thanks to his prowess in melee, and we reached the room with the bridges. We rushed across this room, not caring about the host of Flood starting to pour from the platforms above us. Some combat forms paused right on a bridge as we were passing underneath. This begot a certain intelligence to them, as the bridge soon dissipated, allowing them to fall right on top of us. Or rather, on Goroth. He was quickly overwhelmed by the combat forms, and screamed out in terror as they broke his shields and tore into his body.
Commander ‘Brumaree, enraged, raised his fuel rod gun up and fired. The explosion was centered on Goroth’s body, and indeed the Flood host was destroyed, although many more would be behind them. “Curse you!”
Mik pulled the commander along. “Sir, let’s not dally!” he said.
We rushed past the glass room, where luckily there were no other side doors for the Flood to reveal themselves from. We concentrated our fire on the door as the commander raised the base on his comms.
“We need immediate reinforcements, I repeat, immediate reinforcements now! Call in everyone! We have confirmed Parasite infestation! Repeat: Parasites are present on this world!”
Dras roared as he continuously fired the plasma cannon at the doorway, slaying many Flood. Indeed, we all engaged in heavy direct, suppressive fire, killing as many Flood as we could. Even the swordsman Retek fired upon the Flood with a plasma pistol. The commander then got the elevator to the top working again.
“We’re leaving, and we’re leaving now!” roared ‘Brumaree. We followed his orders and accompanied him up the lift. It was unknown whether the Flood could follow us up.
The outer door to the wider universe opened, and we stumbled out, exhausted, half-terrified, and wary of the horrors we recently abandoned in the Forerunner structure, and which may yet follow us. We were greated by ‘Tenevee, piloting a Wraith. By now, several Phantoms and Spirits were in the air, either landing troops or departing after already delivering a compliment of forces. Several lances and a pair of Mgalekgolo were standing by in defensive positions.
“You okay, Boss?” asked ‘Tenevee in his peculiar, colonial accent.
Commander ‘Brumaree, exhausted, panting, said, “This place must be glassed. We have Parasites.”
“Okay, Boss. We’ll relay the message to the Supreme Commander.” ‘Tenevee turned around. “Hey, get that message out, huh?!” He then turned his attention back to behind us. “Boss, Boss, over there!” He pointed back to the bunker.
As was feared and expected, the Flood began to rush out of the bunker. Fortunately, the combined firepower of our lances proved decisive, and the Flood were forced back into the structure.
Not long after, our lances were withdrawn to safer positions and we observed the Everlasting Salvation glass the entirety of the area. I heard rumors one of the Hierarchs personally intervened to allow such a measure, for indeed the Parasite represented a grave threat to our Great Journey.
I was glad to see the plasma beam smite that ruin into oblivion.
Category:The Weekly