Gray Team, Chapter 2 Options

[Agent Griff]

So this is the beggining of chapter 2. I hope you will like Preston and his rather awkward personality. He is inspired from the personal frustrations I'm sure we all had at one time or another.

~~~
The Pelican dropship finally landed after an hour-long descent from the Atlas. As Randall and Mike got off, Mike threw a quick glance towards the sky thinking about Quinn's fleet which was leaving them to fend for themselves. Even though he regretted leaving the safety of the ships above, he wanted to find his "brother" just as much. So did Randall.

As soon as they got off the Pelican, Randall ordered the pilot to maneuvre the dropship somewhere where it would be out of view. Stealth was of the essence. Covenant ships could appear any time, and Randall did not want to risk being discovered. As soon as all the necesary preparations were made, Randall, Mike and the 6 Marines accompanying them went off to find Tom.

Meanwhile, in the cave, Tom was having a rather odd discussion with his new found companion Preston.

"So you mean to say that there was a colony here, and that you were one of the colonists?" Tom asked, perplexed by Preston's reply to one of his questions.

"Yes, how many times do I have to tell you so you can believe me? I was a member of the colony, until...until it happened." Preston said with a rather fearful voice.

"What happened? Was it when the other colonists dissapeared?" Tom asked.

"Yes...yes it was. I don't really know what happened. I just found myself, lying on the ground and bleeding and they were all gone. A strange smell was in the air, it didn't feel like something...natural. I looked for days and days but I couldn't find them. They might not have been very nice to me, but at least I wasn't alone. I didn't know what to do after they dissapeared." Preston said with a rather confused voice.

"So how did you end up here?" Tom asked. His suspicions grew with every one of Preston's replies.

"I...um...I...don't actually remember. I just woke up in this cave one morning. The colony was miles away and I didn't remember how I had gotten here. Before I found you, I used to wander back and forth between the colony and this cave. When I found you, I decided to drag you here, since the cave was closer. If you want, we can go back to the colony though it isn't in a pretty good state." Preston said.

"Hm, now that's pretty odd. Durendal, run a check and see if what he's saying is true. Back to my questions, what did you do with my weapons?" Tom asked, after asking his AI to see if what Preston was saying was true.

"They're in here, in the cave. I held them for you since you were unconscious. You can have them back, I have no need for them anymore...I mean, I don't need them." Preston said after gasping quickly. It seemed that he did not mean to say something.

"What do you mean...you don't need my guns anymore? What did you do with them?" Tom asked in an edgy voice.

"Nothing...nothing...I mean that there are no...um, lifeforms on this planet to warrant a need for...weapons. Here, take them. They're all yours." Preston said.

"Hm, I think I'll just go...rest a little. I want to be by myself and think. You...go back to whatever you were doing before I woke up." Tom said as he left Preston. Tom started thinking that Preston was to blame for the dissapearance of his fellow colonists. Tom also wanted to contact his "brothers" as soon as possible to see if a rescue team had been sent.

As soon as Tom had left, Preston began mumbling something to himself. After a while, he started talking to himself in an eery way.

"That went...well. Don't you think?" Preston said. After a short moment of silence, he started talking once more. "No, I don't think he's figured it out yet. But I don't want to be here when he does." After a while of silence, he started talking again. "No! It's your problem! I don't want anything more to do with it! We shouldn't have done what we did from the start! It was too extreme." Preston said with an angry tone. After a while he started talking once more. "Oh, just shut up. I'm tired of you. I'm alone because of you! I have no friends because of you! It's just your fault. Leave me alone."

As Preston was arguing...with himself in the other chamber, Tom was trying to contact Randall and Mike.

"Yes, I detect the presence of both Grendel and Achilles. And they're also rather close-by. I'll try to contact Grendel. Anything else?" Durendal asked Tom as he was doing what was asked of him.

"Yes. What did you come up with regarding the colony Preston was talking about?" Tom asked.

"I found something regarding a minor facility here exploiting some natural gases. All contact with it was lost several years ago, after which it was officially shut down. There are some official records regarding the colonists, but they are limited. I can't find any mention whatsoever about any Preston character. There are only some 12 personnel listed." Durendal said.

"Hm...strange. What do you think of this Preston guy?" Tom asked.

"I find him rather harmless, yet potentially threatening at the same time. I find it highly suspicious that he was the sole survivor after the dissapearance of the other colonists." Durendal said. Durendal had a built-in tone analyzer which analyzed the tone in which someone spoke, deciding at the same time if the person was lying or not. Based on this, Durendal was an accurate judge of character and motive.

"I don't think we should linger here too much. The sooner we're away from Preston the better. Have you managed to make a link with Randall?" Tom asked, returning to the most important manner at hand.

"Not yet. There seems to be a storm outside which is causing interference. We'll have to wait for it to pass." Durendal said.

"Very well then. As soon as this storm passes, we're out of here." Tom said as he lied down to rest.

While Tom was waiting for the storm to pass, Randall and Mike were exploring the nearby landscape. They had made their base camp inside the Pelican, which had been nestled in between some rocky outcrops. As they searched more and more for Tom, they were hit by the storm which prevented Durendal from communicating with their AIs. Wishing to take cover, they dashed for the nearest rocky outcropping.

Soon enough, they found a small cave. Curious to see what was inside, Randall, Mike and the 6 Marines entered. As they made their way further and further inside the cave, the enviroment was beginning to have an eery purple colour about it. Wires and metal soon started appearing as well. Before they could realize it, Randall and Mike had ended up inside the ruin of the Sacred Promise. Inside, they found the mangled remains of hundreds of Covenant and the burnt remnants of their once-mighty ship.

As the squad explored the ship, they also found some Covenant ship-board computers which were still working. The controls however were too alien for a human to wield. Based on their surroundings, Randall and the others figured that they were inside what used to be the bridge of the ship. As they explored further, they also discovered a small box-shaped apparatus of a bright colour. It stood out between the charred purple metal around it.

After a few minutes of tinkering with the device, Mike managed to activate it. From the noise it made, it was clear soon enough that the device was a black box which recorded the final moments of the ship. It started playing a recording of the final moments of the ship. Everyone stood and listened in awe.

"DAMAGE CONTROL: Fire! Fire! Multiple hull breaches aft of meridian control surfaces, decks seven through twelve!

CAPTAIN: Jettison chemical weapons stores and take all other weapons systems, deck four through sixteen, offline.

WEAPON CONTROL: Doing so...

ENGINEERING: [simultaneous with above] It is done!

CAPT: Bring Devotion in close to protect our dead zone... request additional fighter support from Commitment and Patience...

COMMUNICATIONS: Devotion, this is Sacred Promise... request close support our stern. I repeat. Sacred Promise requesting close support our stern.

COMM. (Devotion): Sacred Promise, this is Devotion... will arrive in 1200 seconds. This is Devotion, in transit now-arrival in 1190 seconds.

COMM.: Commitment and Patience, this is Sacred Promise... request additional fighter coverage. I repeat. Sacred Promise requesting additional fighter coverage.

COMM. (Commitment and Patience): Sacred Promise, say again... your signal is breaking up.

NAVIGATION (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] Contact alpha has fired its main weapon!

DC (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] ...solid projectiles closing at 18 kilometers per second. Their trajectory will carry them through main engineering and drive section... brace for impact!

COMM.: [simultaneous with above] Commitment and Patience, this is Sacred Promise... are you receiving me? Over.

NAV. (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] I've lost attitude control...

DC (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] Engineering is gone, Sir! Main drive is offline-I'm reading a fuel cell rupture! Fuel cell rupture, Sir!

CAPT. (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] Sound general alarm! All hands abandon ship!

COMM.: [simultaneous with above] Commitment and Patience, this is Sacred Promise... are you receiving me? Over.

COMM. (Commitment and Patience): [overheard] squeal! {Sound is most likely communications equipment failure due to near instantaneous vaporization of ship.}

NAV.: Commitment and Patience has suffered full fuel cell containment failure - brace for impact in 5... 4... 3... 2...

{Interruption: Klaxons and other warning sirens activate}

DC: Hull integrity compromised on all decks aft of meridian control surfaces!

NAV.: [simultaneous with above] Drive control completely offline!

CAPT.: Sound general alarm! All hands move forward of meridian, prepare to abandon ship!

NAV.: Sir! We are accelerating towards primary planet!

DC: [simultaneous with above] We have a catastrophic over-surge event in drive section! Main drive has entered runaway state!

CAPT.: Set shields full forward! All hands abandon ship! Engineering; jettison fuel cells!

NAV.: [simultaneous with above] We will be entering the primary planet's atmosphere in less than three minutes... still accelerating, Sir!

CAPT.: All hands not yet evacuated prepare for emergency atmospheric landing!

DC: Sir, structural integrity is under 63%-we have multiple hull breaches spanning several decks-the planet's atmosphere is apparently stable...

CAPT.: [simultaneous with above] Redirect 20% shields aft, if we survive atmospheric entry you may distribute shields as you see fit.

NAV.: Brace for atmospheric entry in 9... 8... 7... 6...

SECURITY: [simultaneous with above] Sir, still no response from engineering!

CAPT.: What?!

SEC.: [simultaneous with above] There are no life-signs in engineering and I'm reading all fuel cells are still on board!

NAV.: [simultaneous with above] 5... 4... 3... 2..."

With the recording over, the squad could only think about the fate of the crew of the ship. One thing however bothered Mike greatly. What if the captain was still alive. The Ship Master of a Covenant ship was always a foe to be reckoned with. Unbeknownst to Mike, and the rest of the squad, a few of the crew members had survived the crash and Fleet Master Kusovai was among them. Kusovai, together with Voro and a few other Elites had survived the impending crash and were now recovering from the shock of crash landing on the planet.

As the 2 different groups were exploring the ship for 2 different purposes, the humans trying to discover as many things about it as possible, and the Elites trying to get off, a meeting would inevitable...
~~~
I hope you liked this part of Gray Team.

[Agent Griff]

This part will introduce yet another character which will be a villain to compare with Kusovai. I hope you like him.

~~~
As the Spartans and the Marines were planning out their plan of action on the surface of the planet, dozens of Phantom dropships ferried Covenant troops to the planet in order to search for the missing Kusovai and his second-in-command Voro. These Phantoms were coming from a small Covenant flotilla in orbit around the planet.

The Covenant flotilla was made up of a dozen light Covenant Cruisers accompanied by 2 Carriers and 1 large CCS Battlecruiser. The flagship of the flotilla was the Battlecruiser and the flotilla as a whole was commanded by a Brute Fleet Master. That showed just how much influence the Brutes had with the Prophets. Even though Brutes hated the Elites, this time a Brute was sent on a rescue mission which had, as a target, a shipwrecked Elite commander.

A most disgracing mission indeed for the Brute Fleet Master Bracktanus. Bracktanus was just like most Brutes, a great hulking creature of superhuman strength with a temper to match. What Bracktanus was most famous for however, was his killing of an Elite in a public square near a Covenant temple. For that sort of crime, any member of the Covenant would have been executed on sight, yet Bracktanus was granted special indulgence by the Prophets of the Hierarch Council.

Bracktanus was now sent by the Prophets to rescue Kusovai. Even though he despised the notion of saving an Elite, Bracktanus still had some pleasure in the matter since he knew that Kusovai would surely be branded a Heretic for his failure then executed. As Bracktanus stood on the bridge of his ship, surveying a tactical readout of his forces searching the surface, one of his subordinates, another Brute, came to him. Bracktanus' ship had a large contingent of Brutes serving aboard. It was one of the Brute-controlled ships of the Covenant armada. There were others and, even though the Elites said it was outrageous, many more Brute-controlled ships were appearing.

"Why are you interrupting me?" Bracktanus asked in an annoyed voice. He greatly disliked being interrupted from his business for no good reason.

"We have sent out a number of dropships to search for the incompetent Elite commander sir." the Brute said in a submissive voice.

"If it would have been after me, I would have left him there to rot. That is the price of failure, and a failure like his has not been seen in many, many years. Find him as soon as possible then glass the surface of the planet." Bracktanus said.

"The whole planet sir? But it is devoid of life. It would be a waste of our time when we could be needed elsewhere." the Brute said with surprising courage.

"As far as I knew, Bracktanus was commander of this ship, not some back-talking subordinate. When you're Master of this ship, you can crash it into High Charity for all I care. There have been reports of humans hiding out on the surface of the planet, Demons among them. We can't take any chances, thus we must glass the planet. This is the last time I will explain my actions to you, now get back to your duties!" Bracktanus said in an angry voice. He had been annoyed by the Brute which questioned his choices, a thing Bracktanus was neither used to nor highly acceptant of.

"Understood...sir." The Brute said as he left.

That was the way Bracktanus, and many Brutes, were. Ruthless and uncomprimising. Bracktanus especially wasn't about to let anything get in the way of his success. Before he would glass the planet, he decided to hire a group of Jackal bountry hunters to kill or, if possible, capture the Spartans to raise his chances of success. To this end, he called one of his lieutenants to him.

"Yes sir, what do you wish?" the Brute asked.

"Have the Jackals arrived yet?" Bracktanus asked. Bracktanus had been very thorough in hiring this particular group of Jackals. Bracktanus had especially chosen them because they hunted for money and not for the sport of it. Thus, they wouldn't do aimless things such as evening the odds so their prey could have a fair chance. No, it was all about the money.

"Not yet sir, they seem to be having difficulties with their ship. As soon as they arrive however, they will get to work." the Brute said.

"Good...remember to tell them to capture the Demons if possible. If not, killing them will be enough. No need for unnecessary risks. Now get back to your duties." Bracktanus said in an authoritative voice.

"Yes sir." the Brute said while leaving.

Meanwhile, on the planet's surface, Tom together with Mike were setting up Lotus mines around the security perimeter of Preston's cave. The Havok nuke had already been well hiden inside the cave. While planting the mines, they were careful to avoid being spotted by any Covenant search parties. After planting one mine, Tom prepared to run from behind the large rock he was hiding to another piece of cover.

"Alright, you sprint quickly to that large boulder and I'll cover you while you're in the open. On my mark." Mike whispered as he raised his Assault Rifle to cover Tom. "Mark!"

Tom covered the few meters in the blink of an eye. As soon as he had reached the boulder he quickly rolled to stop from his sprint. After glancing around to see if anything was amiss, Tom winked an amber acknowledgement light twice to tell Mike to wait. He had heard a strange sound ahead. Moments later, a Grunt passed by yet didn't see Tom and Mike behind the boulders they were hiding. Not wanting to draw attention, Tom quickly planted another Lotus mine then drew his Assault Rifle in preparation for a possible Covenant attack.

After waiting a few minutes, a whole squad of Grunts led by an Elite passed by. The Elite, after letting the Grunts pass first, lingered for a few moments, looking around suspiciously. For a second Mike prepared to bring the Elite down with one swift bullet to the head while the Elite's shield was unactivated. The Elite however after looking around went on his way. Reliefed, Mike made a quick lateral gesture with his hand, signalling Tom to stay cool. He then motioned Tom to come forward by flashing his index finger twice quickly. These gestures were all well-known by the Spartans since their training begun.

Decades of fighting against an increasingly adaptive enemy forced the Spartans to develop a shorthand communications system for use against the Covenant. Many of these ideas were known and understood by the Spartans only, as well-guarded secrets. These also sometimes made normal conversations with the Spartans impossible, since they could do a great deal inside their MJOLNIR armor that was indistinguishable from the outside.

After the Covenant search squad passed, Tom and Mike decided to plant one more mine then return to the cave. They decided to plant this mine a little farther from the perimeter, so that the Covenant would have an unpleasant surprise if they approached and be deceived into thinking that the cave was somewhere else. To do this, Tom and Mike decided to plant the mine in a narrow ravine between two rocky outcroppings which led to another part of the rocky hill country of Caleston.

Mike decided that he should plant the bomb while Tom covered him. After quickly making up a plan, Mike dashed to the ravine while Tom covered him from a few meters away. As soon as the mine was set, Mike quickly glanced back to Tom yet he didn't like what he saw. Tom shook his head from side to side. This meant "trouble ahead" in the Spartan sign language. Mike froze and raised his Assault Rifle in preparation. Tom slowly retreated behind a boulder and prepared to come out guns blazing at the shortest notice.

Moments later, a Grunt came by. He passed the ravine, getting dangerously close to it. As soon as he was with his back to the ravine, he was quickly grabbed then wrestled to the ground by Mike, who dragged him in the ravine. While behind cover, Mike quickly slit the neck of the Grunt using a knife. After quietly disposing of the lookout, Mike hid his body under some rocks which were placed just behind the Lotus mine. That way, if another Covenant squad would come, they would invariably come to investigate the odd pile of rocks. Once they did, they would have a fiery surprise.

As soon as he was finished with the Grunt, Mike quickly glanced towards the direction from which the Grunt came. There was nothing to be seen. After that, Mike dashed towards the boulder behind which Tom stood. Tom quickly bumped Mike's shoulder, a move which meant "relax".

"Let's move." Tom quickly whispered.

The two then quietly returned back to the cave. They had had enough of sneaking around for one day and they had come dangerously close to being detected twice. Covenant patrols were also getting more and more thorough. Kusovai had been found and he was already leading the search parties to find the humans.

Against the wishes of the Brutes which accompanied the reinforcements, Kusovai wished to personally search for the Spartans and their Marine companions. He felt he had a duty to find and kill the Spartans to try and reedem what was left of his honour. Seeing that Kusovai couldn't be convinced otherwise, the Brutes left in a Phantom dropship to report to Bracktanus.

As more and more search parties left to look for the Spartans, Kusovai, who had set his headquarters in the ruined hull of the Sacred Promise, talked with Voro about the Brutes which had just left.

"It is...worrying, to say the least, that these Brutes have urged us to climb aboard one of their ships and leave the planet." Voro said with a clearly concerned tone.

"I will not abandon my search. These Demons will found and dealt with, and it will be by my hand only, not the hand of some Brute calling himself a Fleet Master. They are my concern and mine alone." Kusovai said with a firm tone.

"Yes, they are our concern. I have even fought one aboard one of their ships making it my personal quest to destroy the Demons yet I doubt the Brutes will understand this. They do not have our honour. I do not believe they have a notion of something they have started being bound to them until they finish it. The only thing similar to that in their culture is their thirst for power...and their hatred of our kind." Voro said.

"Regardless...that Brute may come here himself, yet I will never relinquish my search. My honour, or better said what remains of it, depends on it. If he does come here, treating me like I'm his subordinate, I will not hesitate to chalenge him to battle to see who is more fit to conduct this search." Kusovai said in a rather outraged voice.

"And you said you weren't interested in politics." Voro said with a slight smile.

"I said it wasn't my concern...until now. If those Brutes interfere in my affairs, and tell me how I should be going about doing them then it is my concern. And those Brutes would best do to stay out of it." Kusovai said. His anger had now been funelled towards the Brutes.

"I'm glad to see we finally share the same view, Kusovai. You can count on me in your search as I will always stand by your side." Voro said.

"Very well then. If it shall come to it, we shall show these Brutes who the true warriors of the Covenant are...regardless if the Prophets support them or not."

"Bold words from one who has been defeated by humans...though I cannot say much better things about myself." Voro said. He was testing Kusovai to see how resolute he was in this matter.

"They can have the Prophets on their side, they can even have the Jackals and the Drones for all I care yet they will still feel our wrath." Kusovai said. Voro was now convinced of his resoluteness.

With the discussion of politics over, Kusovai and Voro returned to their main concern: the Spartans on Caleston.
~~~
I hope you liked this part and I also hope you like Bracktanus.

This post has been edited by Agent Griff: Jun 4 2007, 07:52 PM