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originally posted in:The Black Garden
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12/17/2013 3:17:03 AM
2
The Chronicles of Alec Blackwater XIV Jungles of Trouble
The Leviathan was quiet and dark; Whisk and Arial sat in the pilots’ seats, looking out the windows into the darkness of space, which was lit up by billions of stars.
“So,” Whisk began to ask Arial. “Why all these picky details? I mean, why do we have to use Fallen “Blue” ammo? Who’ll care?”
“Just cause,” Arial remarked. “That’s my reason.”
“Alright.” Whisk said, unmoved by what she said.
Arial tried to think of other things, but her remark towards Whisk about his mother hung on her mind.
“I’m sorry about what I said about your mother.” Arial said, trying to make up for what she said.
“Don’t worry about it.” Whisk remarked and changed the topic by asking about Arial’s story. “What’s your story?”
“What?” Arial asked in return to Whisk question.
“Your parents and you?” Whisk specified.
“My parents were Hunters, Awoken born, and were famous for holding the line at Folia Creek. My father, Captain Cornelius Yaintz at the time, was in charge after the Major, who was in charge, was killed. My mother, Esther Yaintz, had been taken prisoner; the rumor was she had given the Vex information on our positions for her release. It was a lie; she never talked, though she did tell them something my father and the other Guardians had planned on her to tell the Vex: That the Guardian forces were camped in the creek bed, three hundred yards from the village of Folia. The Vex fell for it and my father and the rest of the battalion ambushed them there. My mother was killed holding her position, though she supposedly killed several guardians in friendly fire; she had damaged sight from the mechanical claws of the Vex she had received from her “interrogation.” I’ll tell you the rest my story latter, when you earn it.”
“Oh.” Whisk said in response to Arial’s story. “That’s interesting.”
“I’m curious,” Arial began to ask. “Why doesn’t Alec belong to a faction of the city? Has he ever belonged to one?”
“All I’ll say is this,” Whisk started to say. “Alecs never trusted the factions, he sees the majority of them as being greedy, power hungry, and war mongers; things Alec doesn’t like to associate himself with. You want to know the whole history why, ask him yourself. I can say he has had good relations with some members of a particular organization known as the StarSide Echoes, though I don’t know his total involvement with them.”
The rest of the ride to Venus was quiet, filled with only the hum of the engine and Boris’s’ snoring. As they came into Venus’s atmosphere, a thick mist hung over the jungle canopy; the jungle was mostly quiet, undisturbed by conflict or movement by any sort of creature on its surface. Suddenly, like the galaxies loudest, most annoying alarm clock, Jk-Bx woke everyone up to the sounds of techno and bass.
“Up everybody!” Jk-Bx boomed. “Up, up, up, up, up, etc. etc. We got a mission to accomplish!”
“We?” Asked Whisk. “Where’d you get ‘we’ from? You and the mouse in your pocket? You’re not going with us.”
“Awwwww.” Sighed Jk-Bx, hanging his head and arms.
“Let’s get ourselves ready now.” Arial instructed.
Alec, Whisk, and Arial walked back to the armory and went through the weapons Alec had collected. Various sorts of weapons, about two dozen collected, twenty-five in all; three FOTC tactical shotguns, four FWC stinger smgs, two BARRON lmgs from Dead Orbit Munitions, about ten Orion Thorian hand cannons, two Monarchy bolt-action M-73 sniper rifles, a very rare Mrk 17 FWC Fusion Recon Rifle, two semi-auto FOTC handguns, a common breech 49 rocket launcher, and a very wide selection of blades, varying in sizes, shapes, and alloys. All had custom mask, but had been wearing Dead Orbit armor; whoever they were before meeting Alec, those Mercs were well supplied and financed it seemed. There was also an assortment of grenades, traps, explosives and other miscellaneous devices Alec had found.
Alec grabbed the Recon rifle; and older retro style rifle, it was mostly black with red and gray trimmings, possessed a precision sight on it for longer ranged shooting than most rifles of its like, it also had two fire modes: Semi-auto and three rounds burst. In addition to the sights attachment was a recoil reducer on the left side of the weapon near the shell ejection port, giving the weapon some reduced recoil from each shot fired. The stock was fixed so it wouldn’t move, and there was a rail under the barrel for attachments, the clip was in front of the trigger guard instead of in the back like most modern weapons. The rifle had to of been in someone’s personal collection at one time; its manufacturer markings had been machined off for some reason, but Alec could tell it wasn’t from modern times; he checked its breech, then grabbing some clips to go with it.
Arial double checked to make sure her rifle was ready by checking the rifles sights and making sure the barrel was clean; Arial’s rifle was a modified version of an old twentieth century rifle known as the Mosin Nagant Model 91/30 rifle; the stock was wood (hollowed out) stained cherry. It had a chin rest for a right handed shooter and a range conductor for long range accuracy on the right side of the barrel. She also checked the tension on the trigger to make sure it was set to the right amount pull for her. She had wrapped a flag around the barrel; it looked like the flag of the Fallen, though it was hard to tell.
Whisk picked up the Double Tap smg he had grown accustomed to using. He turned on its holographic sights to check them out then powered down the fusion smg so he could get into its internal chamber and swap out the conductor coil for a Thenix crystal, to increase its fire rate and to assist in conserving energy. Going over to one of the cabinets in the armory, Whisk opened the drawer to reveal multiple barrels for smgs of the FWC Stinger type smg; pulling one out, he removed the Double Taps original barrel and screwed the new barrel into place, which stuck out about two more inches than the original barrel, he hopped this would help improve the smgs accuracy. Turning on the weapon once again, the weapon began to glow red, and a humming could be heard as it finished charging and then went silent; a green light near the hollow sight indicated that the weapon was ready to fire.
“’Double Tap?’” Alec asked to Whisk, noticing the name on the weapons side. “That’s the best you can come up with for a name?”
“Yeah.” Whisk remarked. “What’s yours?”
“’Mortal Reckoning.’” Alec said in response.
“Read that on the back of a cereal box?” Whisk asked in a mocking tone.
“I got you both beat,” Arial said, interrupting their conversation. “’Should have stayed in bed this morning.’”
“I like it…I like it...” Whisk said, nodding his head.
“Not bad.” Alec remarked. “Aren’t Thenix crystals illegal?”
“The Elders of Commerce lifted the ban on them,” Arial responded to his question. “As long as you have a ‘special' weapons, equipment, or artifacts permit. Something Whisk doesn’t own I imagine.”
“Not yet.” Whisk said with a grin.
Whisk knelt down on the floor and lifted up on a grate and set it aside, revealing a smuggling compartment underneath the floor. He brought up a small, gray box with an orange “T” on its lid.
“Shhh.” Whisk shushed, pressing his finger to his lips.
He opened the box to reveal that the whole container was filled with coils and crystals; the rare sort used to enhance weaponry of the fusion type.
“Its Lyles secret stash,” Whisk said, hoping Jk-Bx wouldn’t hear. “He collects them and uses them to modify Fusion weapons behind closed doors without a license to do so. It’s the only license he doesn’t have…well, one of them anyway…..and these are but a few of his collections of rare parts.”
As Whisk continued to talk, Boris had some rather upsetting news.
“Boss! Boss!” Yelled Boris. “We have big problem….yes, big.”
Everyone entered into the cockpit room, leaving their weapons in the armory.
“We, uh,” Boris began to say. “We are in area where Fallen and Cabal are meeting, yes? Well, you all know as well as I that Vex bots are here as well; so… (takes drink from vodka bottle)…Vex has detected us and…”
Alec had no sooner heard Boris say “…Vex had detected...” and he was gone, running through the Leviathan to the armory, grabbing Arial’s rifle and the blue ammo she had; then running for the cargo door (which had been lowered already by Jk-Bx) and jumped.
“Alec!” Yelled Arial after Alec. “He can’t go alone!”
Whisk wasn’t sure what to say, but he knew one thing: Vex were quite particular about Guardian ships in their airspace.
“He’ll be fine,” Whisk shouted. “He’ll get it done! “
The wind was blowing rapidly around them from the open door.
“He can’t do this alone!” Arial shouted. “He needs one of us to go with him!”
As Whisk, Arial, and Boris stood near the doorway yelling and arguing over the situation, a loud yell came from the cockpit.
“I’M COMING BUDDYYYYY!” Jk-Bx yelled, as he ran between everyone and jumped out the back, after Alec.
As he fell through the air, Jk-Bx hadn’t realized how high he was.
“I feel like I’m falling…” Jk-Bx began to sing as he fell.
[b]Continued below...[/b]
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23 Replies[b]Continued from above...[/b] Meanwhile, back on the Leviathan, the three remaining crew members closed the door and walked back to the cockpit. “Well,” Boris began. “At least we have some peace and quiet now, eh? *urp* One down and….wait, what are we doing?” “We are going to just orbit the planet until Alec contacts us.” Arial said with irritation on her voice. “We can’t stay in that area or airspace to long because of the Vex air space detection; we need to remain as nonexistent here as possible.” “Hope he’s going to be okay.” Boris said. “Jk-Bx?” Asked Whisk. “*hic* No,” Boris continued. “Alec, that Jk-Bx can be very annoying.” Whisk and Arial looked at one another and set their attention on watching the jungles below; making sure not to break radio silence. Jk-Bx landed in the jungle vegetation with a crash, getting buried in mud. As the small droid dug itself out of the mud, he pulled himself up out to find Alec standing in front of him, covered in mud, moss, and other vegetation from the jungle surface, covering his armor. “What are you doing here?” Alec asked. Jk-Bx stood up on both feet, brushed himself off and pointed at himself with his thumb and said with pride: “I’m your backup, buddy!” Alec just stood there, unamused by his answer. “This is a stealth operation,” Alec began to say. “No noise, no music. You can’t be wearing those clothes either…” “Say no more, buddy, watch this!” Jk-Bx said. Jk-Bx took his backpack off and began to take his clothes off, revealing his somewhat exo-skeleton body, all white and transparent, stuffing them into his backpack. His body wasn’t made from metal, but from material that Alec guessed it was some kind of….synthetic material. Jk-Bx removed his yellow shoes and his hat, putting them into his bag; swinging the bag onto his back, he told Alec to prepare to be amazed. Clapping his hands, Jk-Bx disappeared into thin air and said softly: “Ta-da.” Alec wasn’t sure what to think, but as long as the little droid didn’t make any noise or make a scene, he didn’t care. His hope was that Jk-Bx would be of use and not a hindrance. Alec decided on a direction for them to take and headed towards the bunker. Along the way, Alec admires the jungle’s many colors, plants, insects, and little streams and rivers. Jk-Bx didn’t make a peep for the forty mile hike, though he couldn’t be sure if the little droid wandered off and got lost either. Soon, the bunker was insight; covered in jungle growth, the empty fortification was buried in the side of a hill, shrouded in the jungles vines, leaves, and mist. Across from the bunker, the citadel sat quiet among the trees, plants, and other jungle growth, slowly decaying. The citadel was largely a research facility at one time, but was turned into a citadel when some major event occurred that called for a heavy militarization of many such locations. The citadel had a twenty-foot wall surrounding it with four towers, one on each face of the wall; the one on the south side of the citadel was destroyed, leaving most of its southern entrance exposed to the jungle. A wide valley filled with mist and rainforest stood between the citadel and the bunker, about 1200 yards. Alec and his little robot companion climbed up the steep hillside to the bunker; as they walked through the destroyed doorway into the bunker. Jk-Bx hadn’t made a peep until they walked into the bunker. “Boy, this brings back memories…” Jk-Bx began to say. “Though, I‘ll save that for a later time, we are on a mission after all.” The inside of the fortification was claimed by the jungle; leaves, vines, and other kinds of growth now covered the walls, desk, chairs, and a console on the wall. There didn’t seem to be any signs of traps or any current tenants, aside from some small animals called “wrats;” small rat like creatures that are part reptile, having a rats tails and body, but also having green legs, pink claws, very sharp fangs with a long yellow tongue, and blue eyes. These ugly things were experiments of scientist during the Golden age to cross different species; even though they weren’t successful in most cases, the “wrats” were a prime example of how it didn’t work. The console was what caught Alec’s attention the most, he wondered if there may be any power to it still, though he knew better than to turn it on. As he walked over to the console and began to clear it off, he found many buttons, small screens, and displays. What caught his attention the most was a place for someone to place their right hand inside an object shaped like a hand; Alec looked at his own hand and removed his gauntlet, placing his hand inside. One of the screens lit up and read: “Error” Alec thought for a moment then, and then began to remove the artificial skin from around his hand; looking at it closely, noticing the Greek letter Delta on the back of his hand and on the palm as well, but with Mark III etched in a strange pattern. As Alec went to place his hand in the scanner, Jk-Bx noticed what he was doing… “Alec! Don’t!” Jk-Bx exclaimed, but it was too late. Alec inserted his hand and he felt a surge go through his body; his life flashed before his eyes. All the war, death, love, pain, joy, hope, and other things he had felt or experienced passed through his mechanical mind in seconds. Soon, everything went dark and Alec found himself looking into the darkness, wondering if he’d finally bought the farm. Soon though, he heard Jk-Bxs’ voice. “Alec, Alec!?” Yelled Jk-Bx, standing over Alec. “Stay away from the light! Oh, you’re coming back, that's good, almost thought-” Jk-Bx stopped short of what he was saying, stepped back from Alec…slowly. “Oh, dear.” Jk-Bx began to say. “What?” Alec said, suddenly noticing his voice having a more mechanical grind to it and sounding deeper and….darker. “What happened?” “No, no, no, no, no,” Responded Jk-Bx softly; he decided to change the topic. “We have a mission to accomplish, yes?” Alec thought to himself, in fact, he never had thought so clearly in his life. “Yes,” Alec responded. “We won’t be taking the shot from here though, to obvious. I’ll find a place for us somewhere on the hill side to blend in at, use the jungle for cover.” Jk-Bx didn’t argue him, just listened to what Alec said and followed him outside. He looked around and glanced around the area, looking for a good vantage point. After some searching and climbing, they located the perfect spot, about half a mile from the bunker. Alec took to making himself blend with the environment, covering himself with vegetation and growth from the environment. Jk-Bx had hid away, like a dog waiting for his master to call him. Alec went prone and sighted the Arial’s rifle in on the sight of the meeting. They had three hours left, but apparently the Fallen had set up some kind of camp; they had munitions, provisions, tents, some vehicles, and they were about 100 strong. Alec noticed their leader, a very old Fallen Captain who was quite tall. He looked like he’d been around the block a time or two; his armor was old and scared from seeing many battles. His cape was faded red and had tears in it, in addition to bullet holes; a crest was at the center of it; it looked like a blue shield with a white skull that had writing on it, which Alec couldn’t translate. He had a sword, but unlike other captain’s swords, it had a gold hilt and the blade was transparent, like it was crystal. He appeared to have two mechanical arms where his two lower arms used to be. Around his neck hung what looked like some kind of fangs or claws of the Hive, human dog tags, and some kind of a computer chip. His mask had green eyes and his shoulder guards were Cabal skulls; while his knees and elbows were covered with human skulls. He also had what looked like a Vex chest plate over his own chest; Alec could only guess that this Fallen had no friends outside his own species, though he treated all the other Fallen like they were trash; save for two captains with the same mask as the leader, bearing the same crest on their capes as the leader, followed him closely, looking very similar to the leader in demeanor and physical looks. Soon, a Cabal transport come flying from the east and Alec got out the “Blue” ammo. “Jk-Bx.” Alec called out and Jk-Bx came running over. “You have an arc core I imagine, recharge these rounds.” Jk-Bx took the bullets from Alec reluctantly and a small door opened from the left side of his chest. He inserted the five cartridges in and closed the door. There was a warping sound and when it was over, the little bot handed the newly charged rounds back to Alec. The rounds were now very much brighter; Jk-Bx began to wonder if he had done the right thing, he was worried about what had happened back at the bunker. Alec took aim and waited for the Cabal to show their faces; Alec felt weird, like he couldn’t wait to take a shot at the Cabal….and the Fallen. Soon, the Cabal came marching; a large, very tall cabal adorned in decorative armor plating (looking like a Centurion), was at the point of them all. There were two flag carriers behind him and about thirty Cabal Legionaries in all. They met at a landing pad in the center of the citadel, the Fallen Captain and Cabal Centurion, exchanging greetings. The Fallen and Cabal soldiers were at edge, looking like they were ready to go at it with each other. [b]Continued below...[/b]
