The Real Thing

“Okay, this will not be like the last time,” I said. “They know we are coming. Expect heavy resistance from the breach point onwards. This is the real thing, gentlemen.”
“Don’t forget your tallies, brothers!” yelled out Mik.
“I’m about to shake hands with the Mighty Ones!” a Minor, one Yrdur ‘Akattunee said.
I picked up a fuel rod cannon and readied myself.
“Thirty seconds!” said the Sangheili at the controls of the boarding pod.
I heard the muttered prayer of one of the younger Sangheili in the rear. He ended the benediction clearly and noticeably with, “In the name of the Forerunners, and of the Great Journey, and of the Sacred Rings.”
We all joined in his final word: “Amen.”
Then, a loud bang. The door opened. I leaped out and immediately fired a shot from my cannon. An explosion ensued, the green light and intense heat from the plasma conflagration reflecting off me. The Humans before me screamed in agonizing pain, or were silently flung about as the concussive force of the blast killed them instantly.
Mik followed me, spraying the area before him liberally with plasma rifle fire. More Humans were killed. Rapidly, our lance poured forth from the boarding craft. Some Unggoy were killed quickly by Human fire, fire Yrdur silenced shortly thereafter.
A stubborn Human ducked behind some sort of metal barrier, blindly firing in our direction. Another Sangheili, the newest of our lance, one Velek ‘Issanee, fired at the Human with a Type-33, the projectiles homing in on the hidden Human. They impacted, and a cluster of them exploding, sending pieces of that alien flying to and fro. The explosion set off a chain reaction of other nearby Human explosives, blowing open a shut blast door, and leading to the interior of the ship we boarded, a so-called Marathon-class heavy cruiser.
We all turned to face Velek, who looked at his weapon in admiration. He brought his attention upwards to us and held up his needler. “I like this,” he giddily uttered.
“Focus on the objective, warriors,” I said. “The bridge. Mik and I have been on one of these ships before, so we will take point.”
“Always,” added Mik.
“At least it isn’t us!” uttered Basab.
“Took the words right outta my mouth,” said Tes.
“Quiet you two!” Yrdur barked. “We’ll get lip from you when we ask for it.”
“Move out, move out!” I ordered. And so, with alarms blaring and warnings shouted over the ship’s speakers, we made our way towards the ship’s bridge. Resistance was lighter than expected, almost token. An occasional Human warrior rounded the corner and fired at us futilely, resulting in his instant demise. However, as we happened upon a rather large corridor, a whole squad of Humans was engaged in combat with another lance. The aliens were hiding behind cargo containers moved into positions as ad hoc cover.
“Plasma grenade out!” I yelled, warning all who could hear me. My throw was true, and it stuck to the helmet of a Human soldier. However, that Human quickly took it off and tossed towards us.
“Oh shit!” cried out Mik. He kicked the helmet back towards the Humans, and it exploded mid-air, killing a few of them. The rest were annihilated as the other lance moved in.
Here I spotted the lance leader, one Quso ‘Thurikee. “Quso! Still alive I see.”
“I don’t want to make you sweeping in and stealing our glory a common occurrence, you know,” he replied.
“We wouldn’t even think of it,” said Mik.
“Now, to the bridge!” I commanded. Quso’s lance, meanwhile, proceeded to the engine room.
As we fought our way towards the bridge, I had noticed that the Humans were focusing on hurrying to the escape pods more than fighting us. Mik and I looked at one another.
“Just like the last time,” he said.
“Hopefully not.”
At last, we approached the doors leading to the bridge.
“Step back!” I said. The lance complied. I aimed my fuel rod cannon and fired, blowing a substantial hole into the doors of the bridge. “Minors, move in!”
Yrdur tossed a plasma grenade into the bridge. There was yelling, then an explosion, then silence, apart from the alarms and ambient noises of battle in other parts of the ship. “I’ve got you covered!” Yrdur said to Velek. The latter Minor nodded and edged into the room, needler in hand. Then, a shotgun blast rang out, and a loud grunt. Yrdur charged in, firing wildly with his plasma rifle. He let out a loud battle cry.
Mik, Tes, Basab and I followed in. I put my fuel rod cannon onto a latch on my back, and took out a plasma pistol. As we entered the bridge, we saw scores of Human officers dead or dying. One corpse had a shotgun, and Yrdur was still firing at the corpse.
“Stand down, warrior!” I said. Yrdur reluctantly followed my order, scoffing as he turned away, back towards Velek. That Minor was on the floor, blood pooling beneath him. His end was near.
“What was that…?” Velek weakly questioned.
“You’re going to be fine, brother! It’s just a flesh wound…”
“I feel… I feel like I should rest for a bit…” And at that moment, Velek passed on before us, starting the final act of his Great Journey.
Suddenly, here entered the one who controlled our pod, I forget his name, and the other who uttered the benediction. I think his name started with a B…? The pilot rushed to the controls of the heavy cruiser. I looked around the bridge, and noticed a sigil of sorts. It appeared to be some sort of metallic maritime warship. As I could understand Human writing, I discerned that the inscription read “UNSC Leyte Gulf” and another below it, perhaps some sort of motto, stated, “THE WORLD WONDERS.” The meaning behind such imagery and phrasing eluded me at that time.
“Where the fuck is the Huragok?!” spat out the pilot. Warrior B led in said Huragok, and pointed that alien to where the pilot was.
“Come on, come on, Clouds!” worriedly said the pilot. “We’re short on time! Extract whatever data you can before-“
“I am sorry,” said As Light as the Clouds. “It appears that the ship’s AI has wiped the data cores of all their contents. There is nothing for us to retrieve.”
“Fuck!” uttered the pilot.
“Standby…” continued Clouds. “Warning: the Humans have initiated the ship’s self-destruct sequence. The engines will overload and explode in approximately three minutes: I cannot stop the countdown from here, and do not believe I can reach the engine room in time.”
“Oh, that’s just great,” the pilot sarcastically said.
“Orders, sir?!” asked Warrior B.
“Alert the other lances, pilot, we are leaving this vessel.”
“Yes sir.”
We rushed back towards the hangar: Mik had to pry Yrdur off of Velek.
We managed to evacuate the vessel on a Phantom before its destruction. Frustration abound our whole fleet, for numerous brave warriors died for virtually no gain. Our commander was especially irate at our lance, and relegated us to guard duties at evening hours.
I could not blame him.
Category:The Weekly