//------------------------------// // 8) Information Gathering // Story: Fireteam Odium // by EchoTheFloof //------------------------------// Two ponies walked slowly towards the craft that was resting away from the camp. One was an older grey mare, wearing a robe made of a red fabric. The robe had various stones and patterns on it to give it a more beautiful look. The other was a Thestral stallion. He wore dark blue armour that blended well against his black fur. As they left the confines of the camp, they spotted the black and orange machine quickly and picked up their pace to reach it. When close enough, the being known as 'Kalis' jumped down to greet them. “You two the ones getting me into the carrier?” She asked. The Thestral stepped forward, “We are. This is War Mage Veil, she will be teleporting us up to the craft.” The Mage gave a nod to the Hunter, a small smile on her lips. “I am Sargent Cobalt,” The Thestral continued, “I will be accompanying you while you get the information. I have been ordered to gather what I can alongside you.” “And how, exactly, are you going to do that?” Kalis asked, tilting her head slightly. “I have multiple rolls of parchment which will-” “I'll give you the data my Ghost pulls” Cobalt stopped for a second, not used to being interrupted. Standing tall yet again, he spoke once more, “I can get this... data just fine. You will just have to protect me as I do it.” “If we try to fill out all of those rolls while trying to remain undetected we are going to get caught far faster. My Ghost can give you everything in a few seconds.” The Thestral could see the sense in that. While he was a fast writer, he doubted he could gather as much as the Hunter's companion could. “As you wish. One more thing to go over before we leave. The Princess would like to be updated on our progress as we go, but there wouldn't be any way to contact her without magic.” “That's easy,” Kalis said, turning to her side, “Ghost, can you transfer a video feed to Kervis' Ghost?” The white machine appeared at the call of his name, “I can do that. I'll let him know what is going on before I start.” “Right. We good now?” The being asked, turning her attention to Cobalt. “I think so. Lady Veil, do you have anything to add?” He nodded when the Mage shook her head, “We will have to get under the craft that you want to get onto. The less distance Lady Veil has to teleport us the better.” “Fine by me. We should get moving before the Cabal try anything new.” At this, the trio began their trek to the carrier that had been chosen by Kalis, with Cobalt praying that all would go well. - - - At this distance from the carrier, one could truly see the size comparison. Much of the sky was blotted out by its shape. It wasn't too dark below the craft as the lights upon its plating shone down and illuminated the ground around them slightly. “Is this close enough?” Kalis asked, coming to a stop. “It should be. Lady Veil?” The mare nodded quickly, looking around her. When she noticed the other looking at her she smiled sheepishly and lit her horn up. “See you up there.” The Hunter said before the spell activated, sending her and the black Thestral into the ship. When her feet hit a solid surface, she drew her Hand Cannon, her knife taking her other hand. The Thestral, on the other hand, didn't come armed. He was confident in his melee skills, enough so that he didn't often use weapons. “Alright, Ghost. Will you be able to get a map of the ship?” Kalis whispered in a crouch, the lights on her armour switching off at the same time. “I can't get the entire thing in one go but I should be able to map out the corridors and rooms as we move,” The Ghost whispered in response. “That'll have to do. And can the others see us?” “They can. Though you will be unable to hear them.” “Doesn't matter. Let's go.” The two began to move quietly through the corridor they had entered. Each hallway and door was exceptionally large to accommodate the Cabal's larger size, which made echoes a real problem. For Kalis, it was easy. Her boots were made of a synthesised rubber, meaning that it wasn't difficult for her to stay quiet. Cobalt, however, couldn't keep himself perfectly quiet with his hooves, and as hard as he tried, he couldn't move silently. Eventually they reached an intersection, the sounds of Cabal could be heard in every direction that they looked. “Ghost? Where to now?” The Hunter whispered, tightening her hold on the handle of her Hand Cannon. “To the right, I think. There is a large power source in the opposite direction that I can assume to be the ship's reactor. The bridge is normally kept some distance from it.” Kalis nodded and turned in the direction her Ghost had advised. The sounds of roaring and grunting were still present, but far quieter in this corridor. They kept close to the wall, avoiding the various crates and canisters that blocked off portions of the hallway. After a couple of minutes, they began to hear a new sound. Kalis recognised them as Psions, though there didn't seem to be that many of them. She still took no chances, turning to push Cobalt behind a crate, and following him after he was hidden there. They could only hear the chattering of the Psions and Cobalt's own breathing as the squad passed by them slowly. When the sounds passed completely, Kalis looked out from their hiding place. The Psions had already reached the intersection and had moved on, leaving the two intruders to continue on. Kalis had figured early on that there wouldn't be too much Cabal resistance onboard the ship. Much of their army was still in the city, claiming as much as they can for themselves before the ponies could retaliate. And sure enough, they only met a couple more patrols on their way towards the bridge. As they got closer, the squads became more heavily outfitted, even to the point that they saw a Flayer in a squad built of Phalanxes. They ignored them, however. Killing them would cause noise and even if they pulled it off silently, the others would notice the patrol missing. So they focused on hiding. The objects they could use to hide were numerous in the wide hallways as the Cabal were known for using these corridors as temporary storage during combat. “Kalis,” Her Ghost whispered when the patrol they were hiding from moved by. “Yeah?” “I know we are here for information, but I found something we may want to check out. Only a couple of blocks away there is a large room filled with bio signatures. They seem to be ponies.” “Prisoners of War? Why would they keep ponies alive?” The Hunter asked as she moved from behind the crate, pulling Cobalt with her. “Not sure right now, but I don't doubt we will find out soon enough. In the mean time, what do you think we should do?” “Mark the room. We'll come back to it when we find out why they have them.” Cobalt looked over at the Exo in shock, “We're just leaving them here?” He hissed. “We aren't leaving them here. As I said, we need to find out why they are imprisoned. When we find that out, we can come back and get them.” The pony huffed at that before continuing forward, his companions trailing closely. - - - “They have prisoners?” Twilight asked, looking over at the two guardians near the table. “So it would seem,” Exodus responded, “I have to agree with Kalis in her choice, but I am just as curious as to why they have kept them alive.” Kervis' Ghost had been displaying a feed of the mission since it had begun. A couple of the ponies actually had to leave at some points during the more intense moments, apparently not being used to such stress. “Did they ever figure out how they were going to get out of there?” Luna asked. “Oh, I'm sure Kalis will come up with something.” - - - “Kalis, I think we are coming close to the bridge.” The trio had been travelling for some time now. The ship itself was enormous and the area they had landed in turned out to be on the opposite side of where they needed to be. “How can you tell?” Cobalt asked the Ghost that was hovering above Kalis' shoulder. “Large amounts of energy are being pushed to a room ahead. The engines are far behind us and the ship's weapons are currently offline, so it isn't them. If it isn't the bridge, then it's likely going to be the navigation room. Either way, we need to be in there.” The room itself appeared to be guarded by two legionaries. They were standing tall, their guns in both hands, as they watched the corridor for anybody that could cause harm to the systems they were protecting. “Any ideas on how we are going to get past 'em?” The pony asked, hiding behind Kalis. “Can't distract them, they aren't that stupid. I would think that the only way we are going to get around them is by taking them out.” “You think we can do that by ourselves?” “Easily,” Kalis' Ghost spoke quietly, “The atmosphere within the carrier had to be changed to prevent structural damage, which is how you are able to breathe. Removing their helmets will suffocate them, and boil the blood in their brains. If they don't die immediately they will still be out of the fight.” Cobalt looked a little green at the description of the death, but still nodded, “So what's the plan?” He asked. “We'll have to drop them at the same time, or one will call out. I can't use my guns in here as the entire ship will hear it so we will have to rely on melee. Do you think you could take one on?” “I think so... just remove their helmets, right?” “Pretty much yeah. Just keep in mind that they aren't made easy to remove. You may have to punch it off.” Cobalt gave another nod and started to sneak over to the nearest soldier. Kalis, meanwhile, shifting to invisibility and passing the pony to get close to the other Cabal. At the same time, they pounced. Kalis channelled arc energy through her blade and slammed it into the faceplate of the legionary, ending its life in an instant. Cobalt, not being armed with anything, had to go with a more brute force method. He jumped up onto the back of the soldier and tore out one of the connecting pipes that held the helmet against the armour. With that gone he struck the back of the helmet as hard as he could, flinging the piece of armour away and leaving the soldier to suffocate. With both of the guards dead, the two turned to face each other. “What about the bodies? We can't just leave them here.” Cobalt pointed out. “Don't worry about that, I need you to go and check the room out. Don't give yourself away, we still need the element of surprise.” The Hunter moved her gaze to the nearby bodies, both perfectly still. She sighed as she pushed solar energy down her blade. She never really enjoyed using solar energy, even from when she was a newly reborn. She felt it was too slow of a way to kill, but she couldn't deny its uses. As quietly as she could, she slid the knife into the first Cabal's head and pulsed a burst of energy. The body disintegrated with the sudden change of heat, leaving nothing but black ash. She did the same for the other one before walking over to Cobalt. The thestral seemed to have seen enough and had been waiting for her to be done with the bodies. “There is a couple of those things in there, though one of them looks far more bulky than the ones we just fought.” He explained when Kalis got closer. “Did it have spikes on its shoulders?” She asked, drawing a confused look from the pony. “No, why?” “Then it's not too bad. That is likely gonna be a commander, though it isn't anything higher than a Valus.” “Well, with its armour we can't exactly do what we did out here again. How do you think we should deal with this one?” Kalis looked down at her hand that held the knife. She had a way, but was contemplating using it. While the Cabal had killed many guardians, guardians had killed far more Cabal. Recent research showed they were actually pretty intelligent and had cities were their families lived, just like Earth. It was why she preferred to use quick and easy kills while dealing with them. She hated to think of them suffering horribly as they died. But this situation demanded a kill that was quiet, and she couldn't get close enough to use her knife. The only ranged weapon she had that was quiet enough to be used was her Golden Gun, which would have been fine if it killed faster. Guardians in the Crucible related being shot by the Golden Gun to having every inch of your skin cooked in a furnace, but their light lowered the pain they felt. If that's what it felt like for someone being shot with light protecting them, imagine the pain a being would feel if they were hit by it with nothing but some metal to stop the shot. Clearing her mind, she finally came to a decision. It wasn't one she wanted, but there was too much riding on this to back down now. Standing up, she threw her arm into the air, a burst of light enveloping it. When the light retreated, a Hand Cannon made of solar energy resided in her hands. Grunting, she brought her arm down to the commander, and pulled the trigger. - - - Mau'ualk smiled as he did his work on the console before him. This planet was going to be the one. The one that let him return home to his family. The Primus had told of the methods they would use and the Colossus could only cheer as the news was given to him. They had been in space for far longer than usual, but that didn't faze the grizzled soldier. The faces of his children as they ran to him when he left his ship was enough to keep him going during the long fights he was exposed to. Pushing a couple more icons, he finished his work and looked up. The Cabal around him were still hard at work, keeping their ship in the air. He had been stationed with them for the duration of the flight and had quickly gained a bond with them. They spoke of their adventures through the separate star system they had ventured, each one having an amazing story every time they sat to eat. Their families were mostly the same as Mau'ualk's. Take, for example, Khur's family. His mother recently passed away in a hospital thanks to a disease that had been spreading through the colony she was living in. He was absolutely heartbroken and swore to find a cure for it before any more innocent Cabal fell to it. He had a wife and a single child, who was lucky enough to be a girl. He could practically feel the love that the soldier felt for that young one each time they spoke. A sound behind him drew his attention over. He was smiling when he turned, expecting one of the guards, but his face dropped to one of horror and rage when he recognised a guardian standing there, its gun of fire aimed right at him. Remembering his training, he threw his Slug Thrower before him before the first shot could hit him. The gun disappeared in an orange energy, leaving him unarmed. The Cabal around him had noticed the commotion and had stood, aiming their rifles at the guardian. Mau'ualk roared and charged forward, bringing his fist towards the face of his assailant. The nimble Hunter side stepped it before it could land, however, and before he could react, he felt a searing pain in his shoulder. Ignoring it, he spun around again. “Cabal! To me!” He cried out, the soldiers around him yelling in confirmation and opening fire on the guardian. The Colossus looked over to his shoulder. The human had fired a round into his armour, but the fire didn't have enough power to penetrate it. He gave a grunt and looked to the guardian. In only a few seconds it had killed off every single one of his comrades. His friends. He had never felt so much rage in his entire life. Moving to a combat stance, he gave the loudest roar he could and charged, swinging his arms in the direction of the human. But it was too fast for the heavy soldier. In one fell swoop, it ducked below the swing and fired a round into his leg, bringing him down to his knees. He tried desperately to rise up but found himself unable to gather the strength to fight against the pain. He looked up one last time, his son's face clear in his mind as the guardian raised its gun to his face. “I'm sorry, son. I failed you.” He said as the weapon's ammunition chamber spun. The last thing he felt was the intense pain of fire coursing through his body. - - - Kalis sighed as her Golden Gun drained of light. While she didn't understand what the Colossus was saying, she hated to think of what he must have gone through. She shook her head and turned to the consoles nearby. “Ghost, you need to start pulling data. Those roars will have been easy to hear throughout the ship and I can't imagine that the Cabal will take kindly to us killing them aboard their own ship.” She said. Her Ghost materialised and began his work, his blue scanning light crossing over each of the monitors. As he worked, the sound of heavy footsteps running towards them could be heard. “Bit faster, Ghost. We don't have much time before they get to us.” “Working as fast as I can,” The Ghost replied, “Though I'm not going to be done before they show up.” “Shit. Alright, Cobalt, we need to defend this room until Ghost is done here.” Cobalt gave a nod and ran to the door frame of the entrance. “I have a small amount of control from here, not enough to keep them away for very long but I can lock some of the doors nearby.” The Ghost stated. “Do it,” Kalis commanded, aiming her Hand Cannon at the doorway. The door's locking mechanisms spun as they received commands from the Ghost. They were not made to be blast doors, just to keep rooms separated. For that reason, it wouldn't take long for the Cabal to breach it, but it would give them time. When they reached the door, the soldiers began shouting and banging on the door. Their language was unknown to Kalis, but their urgency said a lot about how long they were willing to wait. When no response was given to them, the shouts calmed. A single pair of footsteps sounded before all hell broke loose. A Colossus slammed his way through the flimsy door, the slabs of metal flying across the room. “Cobalt! Move!” Kalis yelled, firing upon the Cabal that were moving into the room. The pony did as he was told and back off, giving some room between him and the hordes of Cabal. The Hunter had already dropped a few of them by this time, pools of black liquid growing around their bodies. “Okay! I have what we need. Let's get out of here.” Her Ghost called out, making himself invisible and avoiding the incoming fire. But the Cabal's number were not diminishing. When one fell, two more took their place. The two intruders were quickly becoming overwhelmed. “Ghost, overcharge a blink,” Kalis shouted over the noise. “That could be extremely-” “Do it Ghost, for fucks sake!” As she gave the command, she felt the overcharge kick in. “You only have one jump. Hope you know where you are going.” Kalis grunted and grabbed Cobalt's waist, hoisting him into the air. When he was secure, the Hunter fired off her blink, moving them both around two-hundred metres from the room. When they landed on the ground, Kalis fell. She could feel the drain on her light from the massive teleport she had done, and it was taking its toll. “W-we're safe?” Cobalt asked, looking around. As Kalis looked up, she could make out the various lights from incoming Cabal soldiers. “Not yet.”