"The long Journey" (a Shadowrun crossover with everything)

[Praeothmin]

Short update...

Chapter 39

Cue “La Mort de Fronsac” from the soundtrack of the Brotherhood of the Wolves

It was Doc who delivered the bad news.

“Heyes is dead, Sir.” He said soberly.
“Those alien bastards threw a grenade at him, and it stuck to his armor.
The explosion was too powerful, there wasn’t enough left of him for me to try anything.”

James knew the expression Doc was displaying on his face, as it was one he’d worn for a long time after his failed military mission.

“It wasn’t your fault, Doc.” He said.
“Heyes’s death wasn’t your fault.
I’m sure you did all you could to keep them all alive, Doc, but trust me, sometimes you lose men, and there’s nothing you can do about it, except to accept it as a reality of battle.”

“I know Sir,” Doc answered, “I’ve seen men die in battle before.”

“But you’ve never had men under your command die in battle before, Doc, correct?” James had ascertained.

“Correct, Sir.” Doc said.

“That makes all the difference in the world, my friend.” James told him.
“When you are in command, you’re told you are responsible for your men, and you think that makes you responsible for everything that happens to them, and you’re mostly right.
But someone getting killed by an enemy while under your command is part of battle, and is a reality you must learn to accept, as missions where no one dies are rare, very rare.”

“You lissen to the Chief, there, Doc, ‘cause he’s tellin’ the God honest truth.” Sergeant Johnson said.
“I’ve had more men die under my command then I care ta count,” He added, “but I’ve learned to accept that it’s a part of battle, and that the best thing I can hope for is to minimize the number of people I lose, ‘cause I’ll always lose some, no matter how easy the fight, or how good the plannin’.”

Johnson’s face softened for a moment.

“The best thing you can do for those you lose, Sergeant, is to make sure they’re always in your think box, and that their deaths weren’t for nothin’.”

Then his features hardened again, and he looked around at his men, daring them to comment on this uncharacteristic show of sentiment.
No one said a word.
James came up to Doc, put a hand on his shoulder, and when Doc nodded, he let go.

Cue “Outlands” from Daft Punk of the Tron Legacy soundtrack

“Major, I’ve got an incoming communication from a friendly.” Cortana said.
“Patching it through.”

Their helmet speakers came to life at the same time as the Marines’ radios did.

“This is Foe Hammer to any UNSC Marines out there, anyone hearing me?” the voice asked.

“Foe Hammer, this is Cortana, it’s good to hear your voice.” The AI replied.

“Hey, Cortana, I’ve got a present for the Chief and the Marines.
Where can I drop it?” Foe Hammer asked.

“Follow these coordinates.” Was the answer.

James heard an incoming aerial craft, and as he looked up, he saw a green colored ship coming towards them.
The ship had a long body, narrow at the front where the cockpit was, with what looked like a flat boarding ramp at the back, with two large but short wings, each with jet engines on them, and adjustable jet engines at the rear, one on each side.
The craft had what appeared to be a jeep attached to its underside.
It came in fast, and oriented its engines towards the grounds at the last instant to stop abruptly, in perfect control, roughly six meters from the ground.
The pilot, Foe Hammer, James thought, was as good with her craft as Boomer was in a Raptor.
She dropped the jeep from her position, six meters up, and James along with the rest of the MACOs inhaled in fear of the damaging crash they would hear upon the vehicle’s impact with the ground.
The jeep landed hard, its suspension going down very low, but to their great surprise it bounced back up immediately, the shock absorbers of the vehicle propelling it off the ground at least half a meter before it landed again.
It was a two-seater combat Jeep, James could see, for on its back, mounted on a weapons’ platform, was a belt-fed .50 caliber tri-barrel minigun, the belt leading directly to an ammo box at the back of the jeep.
When James looked at Johnson, the man was smiling profusely.

“Ah, a good ol’ Warthog.” He said.
“Thanks, Foe Hammer!” He called in his communicator.

“Johnson, that you?” Foe Hammer asked.

“You got that right.” Johnson answered happily.

“Well then, I guess our survivors are already rescued then, with you and the Chief there.” The pilot said.
“Have the survivors here get on board, I’ll take them to our temporary camp.” She finished before taking her craft even lower, almost touching the ground, before opening her craft’s back ramp.

“Doc, I want you to take Wilson and climb aboard with the rest of the survivors.” James said.
“Once our mission here is completed, I’ll get back to you guys.
Hicks, Hudson, you’re with me, we’ll take the Warthog and drive to the landing coordinates for the other lifeboats.”

“Now wait just a damn minnit here,Chief.” Johnson said.
“There ain’t no way I’m letting you rescue my boys without me.
Now you tell one of your boys here to get on in with the rest, I’m goin’ with you, end of discussion.” The man said with finality in his voice.

James knew there would be no way of changing the man’s mind.

“Hudson, you go with Doc and Wilson.” He ordered.

“Aw, man, I’ll miss all the fun.” Hudson said plaintively, but he didn’t discuss the order, and went right in the craft.

James signalled for Hicks to follow, and they went to the Jeep.
Johnson was already sitting in the driver seat, waiting for them to select either the passenger seat, or the machine gun nest at the back.
James signalled for Hicks to get in the passenger seat, and he jumped up in the gunner’s nest.
He armed the high-caliber machine gun, planted his feet in the gunner foot harnesses, and signalled he was ready to Johnson.
The man started the jeep’s engine, which rumbled to life, and then, shifting gear to “drive”, he floored the gas pedal.

Cue “Highway To Hell” from AC/DC

The Warthog jumped forward, leaving deep tire streaks in the dirt, and James had to hold on for dear life.
They rode on for a while, going down a deep gorge that became a natural tunnel, if anything could be considered natural on the Dyson Ring, and the natural tunnel eventually gave way to an artificial one, which led them inside a huge cave.
At the cave’s entrance they met with more aliens, but Hicks’s rifle and James .50 caliber gun made short work of them, even those with shields.
After clearing al the aliens they could see, James and Hicks explored the installation, sweeping around what seemed like rocky blocks, killing every alien they could see.
They came up to what looked like two columns of the strange, alien material, and noticed that this construction was mirrored at the other end of the wide chasm separating the two identical structures.

“This is a bridge,” Cortana said to James and Hicks.
“There should be a bridge control somewhere around.”

James and Hicks went through the structure once more and eventually found a short, steep ramp that they hadn’t seen before.
Not taking any chances, they threw a couples of grenades pilfered from the alien corpses -Plasma grenades Cortana had called them- up the ramp, where they exploded, again without any noticeable damage to the surrounding structure.
What had been affected by the grenades were the two Elites who were waiting in ambush at the top of the ramp.
Their torn bodies, most of which had been pulverized by the grenades’ explosive power, lay on the ground, their purple blood coating the floor and walls of the corridor like a new coat of paint only partially applied.
James continued on, and found the controls, which he activated.
He saw, from both sides of the chasm, two huge metallic girders extend from below the chasm’s edges.
When the girders were extended to around twenty meters on each side, a translucent force field appeared over them, connecting the chasm’s two sides.
Hicks and James quickly made their way back to the Warthog, and Johnson gunned the engine as soon as they were in.
They felt as if they were returning to their point of origin, as the tunnels on the other side of the chasm went through a reverse transformation, going from artificial to natural.
They emerged from the tunnel amid a group of aliens, but once again they were quickly dispatched in gory showers, their bodies chewed up by the heavy machine gun rounds fired from James’s weapon.

As they drove around, looking for the lifepods signals, they met and dispatched a few such alien groups, one even led by an Elite, but once again, the .50 caliber rounds devastated the enemy as quickly as they exited the cannons of the tri-barrel weapon.
They suddenly came upon a recently crashed lifeboat, but found all its occupants dead, killed by enemy fire.
As they were about to leave, their jeep was thrown in the air from plasma bolts that rained on them from two different directions.
Before the jeep was even halfway through a sideways roll, James, reflexes revved to the max by the previous encounters, had jumped off, and was getting to his feet firing after a tuck and roll.

[Admiral Breetai]

man that was epic Doc lost a man but the colonials show they have balls.

I liked it allot and the Warthog whooping ass was especially glorious

loved it

[sonofccn]

A short update but a good one. Pity Hudson didn't get to tag along but I understand. Now what pair of aliens needed to die so badly that they decided to anger James? :)

[Admiral Breetai]

A short update but a good one. Pity Hudson didn't get to tag along but I understand. Now what pair of aliens needed to die so badly that they decided to anger James? :)

I'm not sure but Cortana can provide snark for it, it just wont be as funny as hudsons mouth

[Praeothmin]

Update...

Chapter 40

Cue “Let’s Ride” from the Runnin’ Wild album of Airbourne

The two flying enemy crafts, the same kind of small violet attack crafts he’d encountered before, were in a steep winding climb, trying to position themselves for another pass.
James lifted a borrowed rifle and fired a long burst at one of the crafts, his enhanced strength allowing him to keep all shots on target.
As the jeep had finally finished its cartwheels, the attack craft exploded mid-arc, in a brilliant plume of plasma and violet metal.
An Elite’s flaming body fell out of the ship as the wreckage plummeted to the ground.
James threw a quick look at the Warthog, and sighed in relief as he noticed both Hicks and Johnson rolling away from the jeep so they would not be crushed under its weight.
He saw the other craft coming from his right out of the corner of his eyes.
As it fired, he dashed forward a few steps to evade the deadly plasma coming down towards him, and twisted his torso while advancing to fire at the ship.
Since he was running, half his shots went wild, but half hit home, and so as his rifle clicked empty, the bolt locking into place, the second alien craft exploded just as it was trying to climb again.
It graciously started ascending, and then reversed its momentum and went down in the small brook to James’s left.
He immediately went over to the other two men, looked them up real quick, looking for possible injuries.
He found none, and so helped them get up and shake the effect of the attack off.
Johnson looked at James, relief in his face.

“Well, that was close!” He said.
“Glad you’re with us Chief, or we might’ve gotten our asses whipped.”

He looked around a bit, searching for something, but James was wondering what it was, since the man had recovered his weapons.

“God damn it!” He swore.
“I lost my God damn ceegar.
‘Was my favourite brand, too.
Those sons of bitches will pay for this.” He finished.

James couldn’t suppress a smile at the quirky, yet tough as nails, Marine Sergeant.
He looked over at Hicks who was silently collecting his weapons, and foraging through the dead men’s equipment while keeping an eye out for trouble.
James was very glad fate had put Hicks on his team, even though he still carried his lost teammates in his mind and heart.

They rummaged through the dead Marine’s possessions, restocking their ammunition, and picking up some grenades, but what James was most happy about was the Sniper rifle they had found, fully loaded and with extra ammo as well.
After their supplies were taken care of, they checked the Warthog, resting on its side, James fearful that the attack crafts had damaged the vehicle beyond repair.
To his great surprise, it looked functional, except for the bent head bar and the machine gun mount that had been sheared off.
Johnson looked at James, pointing to the Warthog, and said:

“Why don’t you put ‘er back on ‘er wheels so we can get to my men?”

James looked at the man like he was crazy, and then remembered that his visor precluded the Sergeant from seeing his expression.

“Excuse me?” He said.

“The Warthog, Chief,” Johnson indicated, “Put ‘er back upside, we ain’t got much time.”

James still wasn’t moving when Cortana intervened.

“Go ahead, Major, you can do it, trust me.” She said.

Doubtful, not sure if Cortana was making fun of him, James went to the jeep, gripped its side, and heaved with all his strength.
To his surprise, the jeep came up fast and almost overturned the other way, before finally setting itself on its suspension.
Johnson clapped James on the shoulder and got up in the driver’s seat.
Hicks went once again in the passenger seat, but James no longer had a supported machine gun to go to, so he sat on the mount’s bottom plate, facing back, and took the machine gun in his hands.

Cue “Spit You Out” from Bullet for My Valentine, from the Album The Poison

They rolled for a few kilometres before arriving to a narrow climbing pass in the mountains.
Johnson started the climb slowly, and stopped once he got to the top of the pass.
The pass opened up on a plateau with a mountain wall to its left, and a cliff’s edge at its right.
In the center of the plateau, another energy emitting structure, shooting blue beams towards the other side of the ring.
They noticed movement, and saw a lot of aliens, some with shields, some wielding grenades, and a few Elites patrolling the structure.
James signalled for Hicks to disembark, and to take up a sniping position to cover them.
Once Hicks was off the jeep and in position, Johnson stepped on the gas pedal and threw the Warthog down the slope towards the enemy.
James sat more comfortably in the back, and grabbed the tri-barrel machine gun in both hands.
He fired as soon as he saw an enemy, the big gun firing bullet after bullet at a dizzying rate, the tracers every five round making the weapon look like it was firing a single beam.
Using the greatly enhanced strength provided by the armor, as well as its weight, to stabilize the machine gun, James was able to concentrate fire exactly where he wanted.
He didn’t waste many bullets, as almost all he fired hit their marks, pulverizing the smaller aliens, and even taking out an Elite that had shown only its left side to fire at James and Johnson.
Its left shoulder was disintegrated into purple mush by ten .50 caliber rounds, and it fell down spinning, spraying purple blood everywhere.
James registered some movement to his right, and when he turned he found himself facing an Elite with its gun pointing at his head.
Before he could align his machine gun with the creature, it fired.
A few bright pulses of crimson fire sped towards him, the impact taking out his shield and scoring his armor.
But a few pulses were all the creature could fire, as its head exploded like a purple watermelon under the impact of a high-powered rifle bullet.
The crack of the bullet being fired was heard a second after the headless Elite hit the ground, seemingly coming from all around them.

“Thanks Hicks!” James said in his Comm.

“My pleasure, Major!” Replied Hicks in a calm voice.

Sergeant Johnson eventually stopped the Warthog in front of a smaller structure at the base of the big one.
He got off, followed by James, and they went around the side of smaller structure.
As they rounded the corner, they came face to face with a smaller alien, one that lifted its arm to throw a grenade at them, but it never got to finish the movement, for James brought his heavy machine gun up and depressed the trigger, unloading a full burst into its body.
The small alien jerked under the impacts, and dropped the grenade on the ground behind it.
James turned around and pushed Johnson around the corner where they both took cover, just as blue plasma ball erupted behind them.
Even using the building as cover, the explosion was so powerful that the shields on James’s armor were affected.
They quickly recharged as both men rounded the corner again, facing a bluish goo all over the ground and building wall.

They found an opening, and went in using standard cover formation.
A ramp went down under ground, deeper in the structure, and James thought he saw shadows moving there, and his enhanced hearing picked up some noise.
Boosting his FOF sensor, he went in, followed by the Sergeant.
They swept the lower levels, and came into an opening, a room bisected in the middle by a deep chasm three meters wide.
Two small bridges crossed the chasm, and on each side, instead of a parapet, stood some sort of a wall, directly in front of the ramp.
Four Marines were hiding behind this small wall, trying to stay covered, hiding from alien’s fire coming from across the chasm.
James wasted no time, and as he entered the room, he sidestepped to the left of the wall, and opened fire at the other side.
The tri-barrel whined and then thundered in the small room, the noise deafeningly reverberating on the walls.
The Marines jumped in surprise, and then elation, as James started a sweeping firing arc that covered the opposite side entirely.
Sergeant Johnson stepped out from behind the wall to the right, and calmly picked his target one by one, as they tried to come out from behind James’s sweep to shoot at the armored behemoth that was thinning their ranks.
One of the Marines, bolstered by the spectacle before him, jumped out from behind his wall, ran hunched across one of the bridges, and lobbed a grenade over the side of the wall on the opposite bank of the chasm.
He then dropped to the bridge, almost going over, when the grenade exploded.
Alien parts flew everywhere, and then they heard a great howl of pain receding, as if a wounded enemy was getting away from them.

Cue “Chateau” from the Matrix Reloaded Soundtrack

James ran across the bridge in front of him, jumping over the prone Marine in the process, and, once on the other side of the chasm, noticing it too had a ramp leaving from the room and going up, he entered the passage at full speed, gun blazing.
He was halfway up the passage when his machine gun stopped firing, the Tri-Barrels simply whiring in his hands.
He let it drop and quickly took out his ManHunter, and he started up the ramp again in a full run.
The Elite was nowhere to be seen, even though James was using his Thermographic and Low-Light visions, seeing clear as day even in the darkest corners of the corridors he was running in.
He was nearing the top of the ramp he was on, and saw that it led outside, so he slowed his ascent, and approached the exit cautiously.
He peered around, ever fearful of ambush, and noticed the exit came out behind some pipelines, and that there was some sort of open-headed corridor, heading right and left.
He looked to the left, and saw nothing, but then his FOF signalled an enemy right on top of his position, and on top it was.
As James heard the sounds of moving armor above him, he dived out to his right, rolling and uncoiling to stand facing the corridor’s opening with his gun pointing towards it, almost three meters from his original position.
But his enemy had anticipated that, so when James stood up, he was facing an Elite less than a meter away.
He fired, but right before he could depress the trigger, the Elite’s right arm came in a circle under his arm, pushing it slightly to the right of the Elite, the bullet passing less than a hair’s breath away from its torso.
But James couldn’t kick it back to re-align his weapon, else he’d be shot in the face at point blank by the hulking alien in front of him.
So he used the momentum imparted to his right hand to twist it around and bring it back up to his right, while his left hand shot up and over his right, knifing past the Elite’s weapon and pushing it to James’s left just as it fired.
The energy pulses flashed brilliantly in James’s visor, but the big human’s augmented eyes, modified so they would have natural Flare Compensators, were barely affected.
As his ManHunter was coming back up to point at the alien’s face, it pivoted to its right, its left hand slapping at James’s gun pushing it once more to its right, while its right arm followed its body movement and completed a sweeping arc after which it pointed once more at James.
Hearing noise at his back, James took a left step forward, talking him inside the sweeping arc of the alien’s arm, and while he pivoted to his right, his left hand came up and grabbed the Elite’s wrist to point at a smaller alien that was trying to shoot James in the back.
As the Elite’s weapon fired, hitting the smaller alien square in the face, James’s right arm was going around his right side, then up at his back as if in an arm lock, the gun pointing towards his back, to end its course pointing at the Elite's lower abdomen.
Before he could fire, the Elite’s right knee came up and pinned his gun to his back while pushing it off line, at the same time as its right elbow came down and pressed on his neck, forcing James’s body to twist down to prevent his spine from breaking.
He let go of his ManHunter, and used his right hand to grab the Elite’s hand at the thumb, while his left arm bent and his elbow went up to push under the alien’s right elbow.
As his arms performed these actions, he twisted his right leg to kneel on it, and twisted his torso to pull on the alien’s arm.
The Elite had no choice but to follow, or suffer a broken arm.
It jumped over James in a roll, but instead of following it, James simply twisted its gun hand, forcing it to relinquish its weapon.
Still kneeling, he used the creature’s own weapon to fire at it, hitting it in its roll, the first two shots talking down its shields, breaking its momentum, the rest of the shots going through armor and body, killing it instantly.
James looked around quickly, fearing another attack, when he saw a blue scintillating ball arcing graciously down towards his face.

Oh frag, he thought.

[Khas]

Nice action scenes. For added epic music, might I suggest "Fate" from Rebuild of Evangelion? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9smuVTU ... re=related

[Praeothmin]

I will listen to it at home...

Glad you like the action...

[sonofccn]

Frag indeed. His suit needs a better AI, just saying :)

Another good update, and I think you really capture the "feel" for Halo. Reminds me of when I played at least, minus Hicks being there to save my hide. :-)

[Praeothmin]

Frag indeed. His suit needs a better AI, just saying :)

Another good update, and I think you really capture the "feel" for Halo. Reminds me of when I played at least, minus Hicks being there to save my hide. :-)

Thanks!

I played Halo many times, and read almost all the books...
It helps, I think... :)

[Admiral Breetai]

well this was the pick me up I needed most awesome!

[Praeothmin]

Another update, hope you guys like it...

Chapter 41

His first impulse, which he resisted, had been to grab the grenade and then thrown it back, but then he remembered that these grenades stuck to what they struck, and so he did the only thing he could: he blocked it with the pilfered weapon, the grenade sticking to it, after which it started pulsating rapidly.
Knowing the explosion was impending, James threw the weapon as hard as he could over the adjacent pipelines, but the grenade had barely made it over the pipes when it blew up, blue plasma washing over him, draining his shields and throwing his to the ground.
Looking for his ManHunter, he quickly found it, but noticed it had been partially deformed by the explosion.
He heard many footsteps coming up the ramp, and recognized them as human, so he called out to the incoming Marines so that they wouldn’t shoot him when they exited the structure.
When they came out, he asked for an received a heavy pistol and two spare clips.
Taking point, his shields having come back, he advanced cautiously, dispatching enemies as they appeared, making sure none of them were in any shape to represent a menace to the Marines.
Once all of them were out in the open, under the watchful eyes of Lt. Hicks, Cortanan called out to Foe Hammer so she would come and pick up the survivors.
As the Marines climbed aboard the drop-ship, called a Pelican, James appropriated himself with another couple of spare pistol clips, and relieved one Marine of his rifle.
The man was only too happy to oblige, giving his rifle wilfully to the armored monster who had saved them, and brought them to safety.

As the Pelican lifted off to fly the survivors to the UNSC camp, Cortana piped in the Comm channel.

“I am detecting another lifeboat further up in the mountains, to the South-East.
We should go there immediately, as I am also detecting a Covenant drop-ship inbounds for that location.”

Cue “Danger Zone” from the Top Gun soundtrack

James and Johnson jumped in the Warthog, James driving this time, as he knew his enhanced reflexes would allow him to better maneuver the jeep and use the best possible speeds.
And speed they did use, for after they had recovered Lt. Hicks, James had put pedal to the metal, almost going through the Warthog’s undercarriage, and he never lifted his foot while getting to the Marine survivors’ location.
They encountered only token resistance, as the Warthog’s front fender impacted heavily on an escaping Elite, while Johnson and Hicks fired at the smaller fodder aliens.
The jeep then shot on through the lines of aliens, careening in a gorge, bouncing against the walls, always going full throttle, and eventually the beating James was giving it started to take its toll on the vehicle.
But its job was done, for as they rounded a bend in the gorge, they came in a rocky valley and saw that the Covenant Drop-ship was just positioning itself to drop its troops so they could attack the Marines’ positions.
James slowed down near a grassy knoll, and then yelled “Jump now!” to Hicks and Johnson.
The two men obeyed him instantly, and as soon as they were off, James floored it again.
He laid low in the driver’s seat, as the Covenant troops had seen him and had opened fire, but they scattered in wild panic as he continued on, straight for the Drop-ship.
At the last instant, just as the ship was trying to escape by getting airborne again, James aimed the warthog at a low, inclining rock, jumping in a tuck and roll right before the Warthog hit it, jumping high in the air to impact the Drop-ship just as it was finally gaining altitude.
Before James could hit the ground, the ensuing explosion threw him backwards to land roughly on the ground, just as it incinerated the aliens closer to the ship, and threw the rest flat on the ground.
The impact was brutal, the shields flickering and dropping, the armor absorbing the brunt of the impact, James body absorbing the rest.
Even though he was completely encased in armor, hitting the ground took away James’s breath and stunned him.
He heard shouts and through hazy eyes he saw forms approach him, but he couldn’t make out if they were friend or foe, and his FOF apparently wasn’t working after the fall.
His hearing was also out, a shrilling noise continuously present, one that prevented concentration from James.
He was a sitting duck, and he knew it.

Cue “Demon Hunter – My Heartstrings Come Undone” from the Resident Evil 2 soundtrack

He shook his head, trying to regain his senses, fearing even his resilient body could be experiencing the effects of a concussion, but eventually his vision did refocus, his hearing stopped ringing.
When he could finally see clearly, he saw the bodies lying on the ground around him, all of the enemy, all of them dead.
He got up and went in for a closer examination, and noticed that they all had huge holes in their bodies, the kind that a sniper rifle would make.
He thanked Hicks silently, and went to gather his weapons, found only his pistol, then looked around for Marines and enemies.
He found neither, but he realized that the valley he was in was small, and had many rocky outcroppings in its middle, and that these outcroppings apparently created some kind of maze where enemies could hide and ambushes could be laid.
To his right, there was more grassy terrain that went farther in the valley.
To his left, the ground went slightly up, the far wall of the valley curving to the right, enclosing the rocky outcroppings.
There was debris from the Drop-ship, fires were still raging, and James thought he saw movements beyond the wreckage.
He advanced cautiously, favouring his left leg which he realized he must have twisted when he landed after the explosion.
Pain was there, meaning the injury was greater than his Pain Compensators’ capacity to drain.
As he made his way around the burning wreckage, using larger rocks to mask his approach, he saw an Elite come up to a Marine who was on his back, moving weakly.
From James’s location, he could only see the Elite’s upper body, and the Marine’s shoulders.
The elite was looking down at the Marine, its maw open as if to laugh, then it pointed its weapon to the defenceless Marine’s head, and fired.
James tried to shoot it before it could kill the Marine, but as he had drawn his weapon and taken a step forward to shoot, his left foot had stepped on a small rock and his left knee twisted, pain flaring up in it, and so his first shot went off its mark.
The Elite went down, hiding behind the rock as soon as it had fired.
Cursing his bad leg, he ran as best he could, and then jumped over the rock hiding his enemy, firing four shots blindly as he somersaulted over the surprised alien.
He landed badly, his left leg buckling under him, and he fell to the ground, losing his grip on his Pistol.
He turned around in an instant, ready to roll away from the Elite’s return fire, but he saw it was in no shape to fight.
James’s shots had hit it in the right shoulder and left leg, and it was down on the ground, looking frantically for its weapon.
James found his, got up and grabbed it, and walked towards the alien to finish it off.
But then he stopped, for he saw the Marine’s body, the one that had been shot in the head, or rather, James saw his upper body and the rest of his head, for his lower body, from the navel down, was covered by a huge boulder, almost as big as the one James had vaulted over.
It had probably fallen from one of the rocky outcroppings higher up, and had crushed the Marine’s body to a pulp under it, blood escaping from the man’s mangled body.
The Elite had not killed a helpless man, James could see, but it had abridged the suffering of a mortally wounded enemy soldier.
What James had taken for a callous act of savagery had in fact been an act of compassion.
He stood there, dumbfounded, for what seemed like an eternity to him, studying the face of his wounded enemy.
The Elite was no longer looking for its weapon, its concentration fully on James, curiosity clearly apparent in its eyes.
These aliens had appeared to him as cold and ruthless as the acid borne ones, yet the one in front of him had shown him he wasn’t.
Even worse, looking at the way James had conducted himself in the battles against those enemies, he couldn’t rightly believe himself better than them, as he had been as hard, as vicious against them as he had perceived them to be against the surviving Marines.
James opened his visor, so the Elite could see the expression on his face.

“Major, what are you doing?” Cortana asked, slightly panicked.

James ignored her.

“I’m sorry!” He said, not sure if the huge alien could understand him.
“It seems I misjudged you.
I didn’t know your kind was capable of compassion.”

The big alien didn’t answer, it simply continued to stare at James.
The big man advanced slowly towards the Elite, holstering his weapon, and getting his medkit out.
He kneeled next to the surprised alien, knowing full well the creature could attack him at that instant.
It didn’t.
He took out clean gauze and bandages, and took care of the big alien’s wounds as best he could, fearful of using any disinfectants, not knowing if they would actually help or wound the creature further.
His job done, he got up, took a few steps back, nodded to the Elite, and turned to leave.

“I did not know your kind was capable of compassion either.” A big voice rumbled at his back.

James turned around to face the Elite.

“It seems we are both guilty of misjudging the other.” It said with its deep, booming voice.
“And thank you for tending my wounds.
I hope we meet again on the battlefield.
It would be an honor to fight against you.”

James nodded, turned around, and jogged away, looking for the surviving Marines.
He found a passage between large boulders, and followed it very carefully.
He tried raising his team over the integrated Comm unit in his helmet, but he only received static.
The boulders he was going through were very high, and the passage he was following was narrow, making them perfect for an ambush.
He stopped, looked at the boulders on each side, and decided travelling on the top of the boulders would yield better vantage points.
He jumped up using his full strength, and when he was at the apogee of his jump, he extended both his legs, one on each side of the passage, and used them to lock his body in place.
Then, using his hands as anchors, he ascended, one foot going up, the other being used to push himself up, then his hands locked his body in place while the other foot was brought higher than the first, and he repeated those movements until he was at the top of the boulders, seven meters up.
He slowly lifted his head over the lip of the boulders, and quickly looked around.
Seeing no enemy, he lifted himself up and over on the top of the bolder to his left, which was the widest one.
Crouching, he advanced as quickly as possible while making very little noise, going to the edge of the boulder he stood on, never going close to the edge unless he was certain no one was hiding there in ambush.
His position allowed him to see that there was some sort of clearing in the middle of the maze created by the boulders, and when he listened carefully, using his augmented hearing to its maximum, he thought he heard some noise coming from the clearing.
Jumping over passages that were at some points close to two meters wide with ease, always careful not to offer himself as a target, he made his way towards the noise.
As he was closing in on the clearing, he went to a crawling position before slowly, and very carefully, approaching the edge of the boulder he was on.
He arrived at the edge of the boulder, and looked down.

The clearing was wide, almost fifteen meters across, and was circular in shape.
But when he looked in it, his heart skipped a beat, because before him were his two companions, Sergeant Johnson and Cpl. Hicks, as well as half a dozen human survivors, all kneeling on the ground in the middle of the clearing, weapons in a pile at the northern side, next to a passage.
They were guarded by two Elites and three smaller aliens with shields, all of them alert and on guard.
James had to move back a couple of times so they wouldn’t see him because one or the other would look up to where he was lying.

“This is a trap.” Cortana told him.
“They’re waiting for you.”

“You think?” He asked sarcastically.
“Don’t worry,” He said, “I’ll handle it.”

He knew it was an ambush, of course, as he was certain, after all he’d done, that the enemy knew about his capabilities, and knew that the guards affected to watching the Marines would not be sufficient, that in fact, they would barely slow him down, unless it came down to unarmed combat, which he did not intend to happen.
But he also knew that people laying ambushes rarely had the patience to see things through, especially the ones who were used as cannon fodder.
He continued to observe the guards, patiently noting every movement, every action to see if they could be some sort of coded messages to the enemy in hiding.
He did not see any pattern of movement, though, but after over an hour of patiently waiting, lying on his boulder, occasionally looking around to ensure he wasn’t being crept on, he was rewarded.
One of the smaller aliens looked for a few heartbeats to the north of the clearing, close to the Marine’s weapons pile, and then turned away.
James saw that the boulder there was shaped in a way that created some sort of canopy, and he could see that this canopy was deep enough that aliens could be hiding under that boulder and he wouldn’t be able to see them from his position.
He backed up, and thought of a way to free the men with a minimum of losses, but no matter how he twisted and turned all possibilities in his mind, due to the unknown number and type of enemies hidden under the rocky canopy, he always ended up with a plan that left at least half the men dead, to one that left him and Johnson, and possibly Hicks, alive.
James simply abhorred those numbers.
He was still thinking about possible issues, a plan slowly forming in his head when he heard a deep, booming voice come from the clearing.

“I address the armored human warrior.” It said.
“I am Krec’Loak’Hor, leader of the Sangheili warriors and lesser castes you have faced in combat.
I know you are out there, close by, I can feel it.
We have your friends, though I’m sure you already know that.”
The voice was powerful, charismatic, the tone was firm, and the speaker clearly held immense resolve.
“I was told of your great skill, warrior, was told by one of my most trusted subordinates of your compassion, but most of all, I was told of your great honor, which is why I am offering you a choice, warrior, and it is one I know you’ll consider:
I am offering you the chance to free your comrades, to gain their lives.
Face me in single combat, a fight to the death, as nature and the Prophets intended, no armor, no weapons but our bodies.
If I win, I will take your friends as prisoners of war.
If you win, my men will allow you and yours to leave unharmed to rejoin your clan, to fight in another battle.
This, I swear!”

There was a brief pause before the alien talked again.

“If you refuse, warrior, if my subordinate’s evaluation of your honor is wrong, then I will kill him, and then kill all your friends, this I also swear.”

James quickly re-analyzed the situation, and quickly came to one conclusion that allowed for a maximum number of saved lives: he had to accept the Elites leader’s offer.
As he rose up, he heard the plight of Cortana in his Comm:

“Don’t do this, Major.” She pleaded.
“The Sangheili are dangerous, they are a race of warriors, and their leaders are the most dangerous of all, not like the weaklings you’ve faced before.
And unlike you, their armor doesn’t not help their physical prowess.” She stated with finality in her voice.

“I know,” James replied, “But I have no choice.
This is the best chance I have of saving these men, and I will take it.”

“You truly are a Spartan, Major.” Cortana said.
“Though I’m not sure if it’s a compliment or not.”

Turning on his external speakers to the max, James got up and said:
“I accept your challenge, Krec’Loak’Hor, leader of the Sangheili.”

And regretted it instantly.

For the Sangheili leader was easily identifiable, easily standing a full head above the other Sangheili, close to nine feet tall, and half across.
He was a regal sight in his golden armor, his helmet resembling ancient earth Samurai’s.
His skin was of the deepest grey, with lavender eyes which shone intensely.
Almost as impressive was the half dozen Sangheili standing guard around him, one guard favouring an injured shoulder and leg.
All the Sangheili were looking at James, standing tall atop the boulder, and the Marines lifted their eyes as well.
James saw Johnson smile, and Hicks, his visor up, only nodded at him.
He jumped down, his armored form easily taking the seven meter drop, his half-ton form cracking the rock he fell on.
He righted himself up, and advanced towards the surviving Marines.
He heard someone whisper “it’s the Master Chief, we’re saved”.

“I accept your offer!” He said again, to the apparent delight of Krec’Loak’Hor.

The Sangheili guards made the Marines get out of the center of the clearing, and had them sit with their backs to the largest boulder, fanning out around them so they could not escape.
James started to remove his armor, as did the Sangheili leader, the main difference being the Sangheili leader needed to remove his piece by piece.
The Sangheili were surprised when they looked at James, the human remaining big even out of his armor, his six and a half feet frame, with broad and very muscular shoulders clearly apparent in the skin-tight underarmor suit he wore.
The difference between James and the other Marines was the same as the difference between the Sangheili leader and his troops.
Still, when the two warriors approached one another, James looked small indeed when faced by the Troll-like Krec’Loak’Hor.

“I would know your name, warrior, for whether I win or lose this fight, my people will record what happens here, and it will join all other great battles the Sangheili have waged in the past.” Krec’Loak’Hor said with his deep voice.

“My name is James Reynolds, and I am honoured to be part of your people’s history.” He replied, hoping indeed that the fight would last long enough to be worthy of figuring in the Sanhgeili’s historical records.

Cue “Throwing Punches” from the Underworld soundtrack

The Sangheili leader saluted James in what was a close imitation of a Japanese bow, which James replicated.
And then they both fell in their combat stance, the two opponents staring at each other, knowing full well only one of them would get out of this fight alive.
Knowing the fate of the humans depended on him, and fearing the big alien’s capabilities, James started probing the giant’s defences.
A quick right spin kick delivered to the giant’s knee was absorbed when the alien simply turned his leg to James’s left and bent with the impact.
An uppercut in the giant’s stomach was partially deflected away from his body, the rock hard abdominals tanking the rest of the force of the punch.
The follow-up left hook from James did impact the Sangheili’s face, but the big alien partially retracted his head and the punch barely fazed him, if at all.
A direct right kick to the inside of the creature’s left thigh only served to push James away, just in time to retract his head and avoid a punch that would have taken it clearly off.
James retreated to a comfortable distance, and was dismayed.
While the Sangheili had been surprised by James speed and strength, he was very resilient, and extremely good, for he had reacted perfectly to all of James’s attacks.
James knew then and there that his chances of winning had taken a huge drop, and that the fight was going to be long and gruelling.
The only upside was that his injured leg seemed to respond well, at least at the moment.

“Your prowess was not exaggerated.” The Sangheili leader said reverently.
“This will be a glorious fight.” He finished with a laugh.

And then he attacked.
To James surprise and total dismay, the giant moved like a mongoose, delivering his attacks with speed and power.
And unlike the Sangheili warriors James had faced a few hours earlier, this one was not predictable.
James, the man who was used to take the fight to an enemy, to wade in an enemy’s reach and deliver devastating attacks, was on the run.
The giant’s long reach and immense strength meant James could not block directly, or he would have been seriously hurt by the impacts of those blows.
So he evaded like a crazed monkey.
A spinning kick forced him to roll over it in mid air.
A powerful backhand had him bend over backwards in a bridge position, which became a handstand to evade a descending punch, spinning on his hands to deliver a kick to the alien’s head, and flipping in the air above another kick to get back to his feet.
A charge had James jump over the Sangheili leader, planting his hands on the alien’s back and kicking the back of his opponent’s head to jump away and land far behind Krec’Loak’Hor.
If this frustrated the alien leader, he didn’t let it show as he continued pressing the attack.
A knee attack to the face became a spring board, allowing James to jump over two crushing arms intent on grabbing him, opening Krec’Loak’Hor up for a knee to the face which, again, barely fazed the giant.
James landed farther back and quick stepped a couple of times to keep his distance from the monster facing him.
And so it continued for almost an hour, James jumping and twisting every which way to evade and counter, but he was getting tired, and his injured knee was making its presence ever more felt.
His only solace was the fact the alien leader showed traces of James’s blows, proving to James he wasn’t invulnerable.
But he hadn’t slowed down, while James had.
Every miss was continuously getting narrower, and James knew the hits would come even closer still if the fight was allowed to continue.
James knew he had to change tactics, and so he did.
He decided to use the closer blows to start targeting pressure points and muscle joints.
But he didn’t have time.
A knee attack designed to force James to jump up was followed by a straight right punch to the face.
He reacted quickly by crossing his arms in front of him, but the blow simply pushed both his fists in his face.
He felt his nose get crushed, saw stars and then flew through the air to hit the side of a boulder.
He dropped to the ground, still on his feet.
As Krec’Loak’Hor advanced, he rushed the giant and speared him in the knee, bringing the giant down, howling in pain.
Finally, James thought, the Fragging alien shows some pain.
They got up at the same time, but James struck first, giving everything he had in an epic uppercut, and heard the cracking of a braking jaw just as the giant alien descended a huge hammer blow to James shoulder.
James went down on his knees, but tried immediately to get up and grab the alien’s head, but his attempt was stopped when Krec’Loak’Hor grabbed both his hands with his, the huge alien’s hands completely enveloping James’.
He lifted the human up, high in the air, looked at James in the eyes, and said “I’m sorry!” before he started pulling on James arms.
As the strain became unbearable, as he felt his arms were about to give, James replied “So am I!” before swinging his legs up, his right feet hooking the back of Krec’Loak’Hor’s head while his left went up against his forehead.
Before the big alien could react, James used all his considerable might to push with his left leg while pulling with his right.
Krec’Loak’Hor tried to resist, but his powerful neck muscles could not compete with James’s legs, and a loud, wet cracking sound was heard as Krec’Loak’Hor’s head twisted to his left and continued on to face the giant’s back.
Both combatants fell to the ground, limp, unmoving, only one of the two still breathing.

[sonofccn]

Sheesh Hicks, James gives you your big chance, leaves you alone for five minutes and what do you do? Get captured? Okay sure you kinda saved him earlier but still.:)

Liked the fight scene between the leader alien a lot, a good long dragged out fight between worthy opponets. Keep it coming!

[Admiral Breetai]

I reread that fight a few times really good!!

[Praeothmin]

Glad you both liked it...

It was a practice run for the ultimate badass showdown I'm planning... :)

[Admiral Breetai]

Glad you both liked it...

It was a practice run for the ultimate badass showdown I'm planning... :)

we're all waiting with baited breath