The Secret Story of Dustin Echoes

Chapter 7 - To Bliss or Woe

            The fight was a short and bloody one, but to Dustin, time seemed to slow down, and the battle seemed to take forever. Afterwards, he would recall it as nothing but a flash in time, remembering only a few brief moments of the bloody massacre.

It began when Rebas Noiproks activated his dual energy swords. Their glow lit the room even brighter, especially when several of the other Elites around them activated their blades as well. Rebas threw aside all pretense of caution and leapt at his foes with the ferocity of a demon. The Elites with swords attempted to surround him and disarm him, to block him from attacking any of the other Covenant soldiers, but it was no use. Rebas moved with the skill, discipline, and precision of an expert swordsman, but with the strength and speed of a monster. He cut through the Elite’s defenses with little trouble, and then killed them with no remorse. He knew his mission: he had to kill as many Covenant as he could to defend his allies, for he was the only one that the Covenant would not immediately destroy without a second thought.

“This is madness!” snared Thanatos the Brute from the platform overhead as he watched the spectacle, “Men, attack the Elite! Kill Rebas the Heretic!”

            “No, Thanatos!” Urgas retorted, giving the Brute a violent shove, “You will not take my victory from me!”

“You are no longer any use to us, Urgas Konoproks,” Thanatos said, baring his fangs, pure fiery rage burning in his bloodshot eyes, “The time of the Elite is over… The Age of the Brute… has begun!”

For a second, Urgas quailed, intimidated by his smaller foe’s immense muscles as they tightened and thickened, and as his grey-brown fur stood on end like Hunter spines. This gave the Brute enough time to barrel into Urgas with his shoulder, knocking the Elite off his feet. Dordap the Grunt, who was also on the platform, cried out for mercy and ran away as fast as his tiny legs would carry him. Urgas landed hard on his back, the wind knocked out of his respiratory system. With a deep, throaty war cry, Thanatos drew out a pair of short, curved blades… blades broken off the back of Brute Shot rifles, which he often used in battle… and leapt at Urgas, hoping to land on top of him and cut him to ribbons. But Urgas was no coward, no fool, and certainly no weakling. He brought up his strong hind legs and waited. When Thanatos landed on the Elite’s hoofs, Urgas kicked with all his strength, sending the Brute flying off the platform… and into the fight below.

“Elites!” Urgas shouted, “That traitor tried to knife me! Kill him!”

While this fight took place above, the humans had not fared well. The Elites soon learned that fighting Rebas was no use; it would be better for them to attack the humans, and after they were all dead, flee the room so that Urgas could have the duel he desired. The humans had been faring well against the Jackals, but when the Elites suddenly turned on them, they had a much harder time. Gunfire flashed through the room in a blinding display of blinking lights, whizzing bullets, and flashing plasma blobs. Purple and red blood intermingled on the floor, staining it almost black, as human and Covenant fell in a heap together. Meanwhile, from behind, Rebas kept up his steady slaughter.

Early in the battle, a Hunter had gone straight for Dustin Echoes. Dustin noticed the glowing gun arm aimed for him, and, having once again donned his ODST helmet, Dustin barreled straight forward. The massive alien was taken by surprise when the Human showed a desire to fight him melee, but it was more than ready to oblige. With a deep growl, seemingly coming from somewhere deep in the creature’s clanking armor, the Hunter raised its shield arm and brought it down at the puny human. But Dustin was quicker, and he rolled forward, right under the Hunter’s shield, and stood up behind it. He turned and aimed his two SMG’s for its exposed back. Bullets rained into the creature’s orange flesh, sending blood spraying out. The Hunter gave a cry and fell forwards, dead.

“The bigger they are, the louder they fall!” Dustin felt he simply had to exclaim.

The creature’s blood had splattered on Dustin’s visor, and he brought his sleeve up to wipe it off. As he did so, the second Hunter came for him with a furious roar. The alien’s heavy shield struck him on the back, sending him flying against the wall. Dustin hit the wall hard, and then fell to the ground, dazed. He looked up, the world swimming before his eyes, in time to see the Hunter lower its gun arm and begin charging its weapon. But as he tried to move, expecting death at any second, Dustin saw a tiny blue light appear in the Hunter’s belly. The creature gave a cry and straightened up. The blue light in the orange flesh moved across, drawing a thin line. Blood poured out of the wound like a waterfall, and the Hunter fell over backwards. As it crashed to the ground, Rebas brought his sword out of its back and dodged its falling body.

“It would seem you are right,” said the Elite, almost smiling “He made a lot of noise, my friend!”

Dustin stood up and turned back to the battle. He shot down another Jackal that was charging its gun to fire at Sarah Morrison. The woman was crouched on the ground, shooting her battle rifle in short bursts, aiming for the heads of the approaching Elites. The Elites had backed the remaining humans into a corner and, as Dustin watched, they began to tear them apart with their energy swords and plasma rifles… But then something unexpected happened. A massive ball of muscle and fur came falling out of the sky, landing right between the Elites and their prey. Then Urgas’s order was heard echoing through the room.

“KILL HIM!”

The Elites changed targets… and attacked Thanatos. The Brute gave a terrible, bloodthirsty war cry and began slashing his blades in a furious frenzy. Dustin had thought the way Rebas fought was amazing, but this Brute was equally so. His fighting style was not disciplined, agile, and precise, like Rebas’s, but instead it was fast and furious, using brute strength and blind rage instead trained skill. The Brute tossed one of his swords into the chest of an Elite gunner and was rewarded with a spray of purple blood and a falling body. Then, without pause, he used his free hand to grab the wrist of another Elite, wrenching the plasma sword from its grasp. With his remaining blade, he sliced the throat of an approaching foe even as he kicked away the Elite that he had just disarmed and stabbed him with his own energy sword. Dustin could only stare in astonishment at the fast-moving battle and spraying blood.

Then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Thanatos simply tossed the remaining Elites aside and barreled out of the room on all fours like an ape, smashing through a group of Grunt reinforcements that had just been entering. An Elite followed him, killing a few of the Grunts on his way out in pure rage. The last remaining Elite threw back his head and gave a throaty roar. His shields were gone. Dustin aimed his SMG’s at the alien’s back, but the Elite still had time to draw out a plasma grenade and toss it at the Marines before he was cut down from all sides.

The great blue explosion lit the whole room… and destroyed all the remaining humans in a single blast. Dustin blinked until his vision cleared… and all he now saw standing was Rebas, perched over a pile of dead Grunts. All of the humans lay sprawled on the floor with the blood and the corpses. Dustin walked up and looked closely at each Marine’s body. One by one, he confirmed that each of them was dead. When he came upon the body of Sgt. Harris, the man’s eyes opened, and he looked up at him.

“Am I… okay?” he said, but he did not wait for reply before he went on, “The Index… Sarah has it… Take it… from here. Get away.”

“Okay, okay. Calm down, Sarge!” Dustin replied as he crouched down to inspect the plasma wound in the man’s side.

The Sergeant was wheezing for breath now, “No… get…”

And then, in mid-sentence, he died. Dustin checked to make sure, and then he reached down, closed the Marine’s blank, staring eyes, and moved on. Sarah Morrison was the next person he came to. Her medium-length blond hair was a mess now, flying wildly and cached with blood where she had fallen on the ground. Dustin checked her pulse and confirmed that she was still alive, just unconscious. He reached down and tried to awaken her, but he got no response.

“Urgas!” Rebas suddenly shouted, startling Dustin, “Are you up there?! Come down and face me! I am ready!”

“Shut up, you idiot!” Dustin shouted, “Get over here and help me!”

“No, I must face him!” Rebas replied, still looking at the ramp overhead, “I must end this; I must be free of him!”

“Then we’ll all die for nothing!” Dustin retorted, “Now get over here and carry Morrison here for me!”

The Elite shook his head and looked down. His chest was heaving. It seemed to take a moment for the bloodlust to wear off of him, and then he settled down into his usual attitude. He breathed a heavy sigh and walked over to wear Dustin was standing. The Elite lifted the body of Sarah Morrison off the ground as easily as if she had been a plasma rifle. Slinging her over his shoulder, he turned toward the door that the Brute had exited through. Dustin took one last look around the room. It was the first real ground battle, between people on foot, that he had seen. He felt like had to pay his respects to the dead soldiers somehow, to say something…

            “Four times fifty living men, and I heard neither sigh nor groan, with a heavy thump, a lifeless lump, they dropped down one by one. Their souls did from their bodies fly; they fled to bliss or woe. And each soul, it passed me by…”

            “Come human, let us go.”

            Dustin turned. Rebas stood impatiently waiting in the doorway, holding Sarah Morrison. Saying nothing more, Dustin ran to catch up with the Elite, who now started off down the hallway. They made their way along silently, heading for the ship’s hangar. They met some resistance, but were able to dispatch it with relative ease. Perhaps, Dustin thought, now that Thanatos and Urgas were openly hostile, the entire ship was at war with itself, and that was causing a suitable distraction to allow them to escape. When they reached the hangar, all was silent as death. There sat one of the Covenant’s large U-shaped dropships, floating between a pair of boarding ramps.

            “Can you fly one of these?” Rebas asked as he gently lay Sarah Morrison in one of the dropship’s seats.

            “Yes,” Dustin replied, “They taught me how in training…”

            “Good. Then fly it out of here. I still have something to do.”

            Dustin’s eyes widened, “Are you going after Urgas? You’re crazy! Get in the dropship, Rebas! Don’t throw your life away!”

            “I am not throwing my life away,” the Elite replied calmly.

            “Rebas!” Dustin shouted, “Don’t you get it? You said you bow to no one, but you’re wrong! You still follow the Covenant by following their traditions! What makes you think you have to fight Urgas? To regain your honor? That honor is a Covenant idea! Banish it from your mind, and live free of the Covenant completely! That would be a true victory!”

            “You are right, Dustin Echoes,” Rebas sighed, “You are right. But it is hard to break with that part of the Covenant. It is a part of my heritage. It is a part of me. But that is not the real reason I must leave you now. I do this to save us both. If we get to the surface and try to escape in your ship, this cruiser will shoot us down. I leave now to prevent that, so that you, at least, and the Index, may escape…”

            Dustin stared at the Elite for a moment, breathing hard, “Very well, Rebas. You’re right. I… I don’t know what to say. I never thought I’d see a traitor Elite. And I never thought I would fight alongside one… but I truly never, in my strangest dreams, thought that I would actually care about one dying. But now I do. I guess even some of you aliens are human too, after all.”

            The Elite cocked his head to one side, “Despite your intention, I actually find that remark… rather insulting.”

            Dustin laughed, “What I mean is, Rebas, it has been an honor to fight with you. And I will make sure that the humans hear of what you’ve done, about how you sacrificed yourself for a greater cause… something both sides should be able to appreciate.”

            Rebas nodded once and replied, “And I am honored to have known you, Dustin Echoes. If you are any indication, I truly hope that the Prophets do not succeed in obliterating your species.”

            Dustin gave a short laugh, “Well… that’s a grim statement, but thanks, I guess.”

            Rebas turned to leave, “Now go, Dustin Echoes! The path before me is clear! Leave while you still can!”

            Dustin watched as Rebas ran off, the lights glistening on his crimson armor, his strange legs making long strides as he sprinted toward a distant doorway… and disappeared. Then the human turned back to the Covenant Dropship and crawled inside. Once he was in the pilot’s seat, he closed the hatches and activated the engines. The long, awkward ship made its way out of the hangar doors, flying through the shields and into the darkness of the deserted alien planet. Dustin had trouble piloting the craft; it was tougher than he had expected. The Blackdagger was not immediately visible. The Iniquisitor, it appeared, had moved a good distance away from where it had first picked up the humans with its gravity beam. But Dustin finally found the two human ships, the Blackdagger and the Longsword, side-by-side in the distance. He tried to bring the Covenant dropship down for a landing, but he wasn’t sure how, so he was forced to make a crash-landing. He brought the ship down low as slowly as he could, and then he shut off the engines. The entire vessel dropped like a rock.

            Dustin opened the hatches and crawled out of the ship. Gazing out at the sandy terrain, he saw the Blackdagger and the Longsword fighter still there waiting for him. He heard someone sigh behind him. Turning, he saw Sarah Morrison rising slowly out of her seat. She rubbed the back of her neck and limped toward him.

            Dustin put an arm around her to support her as he led her toward the Blackdagger, “Are you alright?”

            “I’m… okay,” she replied, and, feeling of her pocket, she added, “And I still have the Index.”

            “Dustin!”

            At first Dustin thought that it was Morrison who had shouted his name so emotionally, but then he realized that the voice was coming from inside his helmet. It was Diana.

            “It sure is good to see you, Dustin Echoes! I thought you were dead! I didn’t know what to do… I…”

            Dustin sighed, “Don’t worry about it, Diana. I’m okay now, and I still have the Index.”

            Morrison had apparently heard Diana over the commlink, for she commented, “Are you sure there isn’t something wrong with your AI unit? She sounds awfully emotional.”

            “She’s fine,” Dustin replied. He suddenly felt terribly afraid of Morrison thinking that Diana was going rampant. He didn’t want to lose her; she had been his only companion for so long.

            Suddenly a great, powerful roar rose up in the night, echoing against the dark, looming mountains all around them. The two humans stopped dead in their tracks. Simultaneously, they turned to look. Thanatos, the monstrous Brute that had slaughtered all those Elites, was crawling out of the wreckage of the Covenant dropship.

            “The Index is MINE!” he shouted, and then, in one great leap, he was right on top of them.

            They did not have time to run. They barely had time to react. Thanatos landed right behind them and, grabbing them both, flung them in opposite directions. Dustin scrambled to his feet in time to see Morrison draw out a pistol, but Thanatos just as quickly knocked it away with the back of his hand. Then the Brute grabbed Morrison’s head between his huge hands and twisted it sharply, snapping her neck as easily as if it had been a dry twig. Her body fell down like a limp rag doll.

            “NO!” Dustin shouted, opening fire with both of his SMG’s.

            Thanatos ignored the spray of bullets as they struck his armor and his flesh. He jerked the Index out of Sarah Morrison’s pocket before turning, drawing his blade, and barreling down on Dustin. Dustin gritted his teeth planted his feet, preparing to dodge. And he did dodge, just in time. As the Brute passed, Dustin cut into his side with his combat knife. Thanatos gave a howl of pain and rage. He straightened up and turned on Dustin, knocking the weapons out of his hands with the same backhand swipe he had used to disarm Morrison. Then he kicked the human in the chest, sending him sprawling.

            Thanatos put one foot on the dead body of what had once been the ONI officer Sarah Morrison. He raised himself up into a commanding position and spoke into his commlink.

            “Inquisitor, this is Thanatos. Fire on the human vessels on the surface. Now!”

            They all looked out at the distant horizon, where the huge Covenant Cruiser was looming over the mountains. A row of bright lights lit the underside of the Relentless Inquisitor. So they had responded to the Brute’s command. Perhaps, Dustin thought, Urgas was dead. Perhaps Rebas was dead too. Dustin could only wait for the end now. So he stared at the sky to watch the spectacle… one last time. At least, he thought, he would finally get to see it from this point of view. The glow of the plasma cannons intensified… and then exploded.

            Inside the ship.

            “The shields…” Diana said through Dustin’s commlink, “They did not drop the shields before firing! They fired inside their own shields!”

            As Dustin watched, the Covenant ship tore itself apart. Explosions ripped through the hull, spreading like wildfire. The plasma cannon backfire had caused a chain reaction. Piece by piece, the Relentless Inquisitor ignited… and was destroyed.

            “WHAAAT?!” screamed Thanatos, drawing out a plasma pistol, “Impossible!”

            Dustin rose to his feet, pain racking his body as he tried to lift his SMG, “Give me the Index, Thanatos, if you want to live!”

            “Fool!” the Brute shouted, “If the Prophets cannot have the Index, NO ONE WILL!”

            With that he tossed the tiny, thin metal object into the sand. It was so small and fragile, Dustin thought, to contain something so important. Dustin ran forward, firing his SMG at the Brute the whole time, trying to save the Index. But Thanatos lowered his pistol, which he had been charging, and let fly the powerful, fully-charged green plasma bolt. It struck the Index full in the center. The insignificant object flew to pieces, and the sand where it had been was burned to glass. The key to killing the Flood, the thing that they had fought for, that the Marines had died for, was gone. And Thanatos laughed.

            But then his berserk state began to wear off, and Thanatos felt the pain of Dustin’s bullets. After looking down at his bleeding body, Thanatos turned angrily toward Dustin, as if seeing him for the first time. The human was reloading now. Thanatos gave a roar and leapt for him. Dustin dropped down and rolled forward, under the flying Brute. He stood up quickly and fired a few more rounds into the creature’s back. Bullets seemed to have no effect on this monster! He was bleeding from upwards of twenty places now, or so it seemed, but he still was not hurt! Thanatos turned, grabbed Dustin’s wrist, and crushed it in his iron grip. Dustin cried out in pain and dropped his SMG. Thanatos threw back his head and laughed… But as he did so, Dustin picked up his combat knife and jabbed it deep into the Brute’s neck. He was rewarded with a cry of pain. Again and again he lunged forward, jabbing the blade deeper and deeper. Thanatos staggered backwards, blood running freely down his chest. Then the Brute tossed Dustin away. Thanatos staggered, choking on the blood that was gurgling from his throat. He thrashed around for a few more seconds, screaming, as if he were trying to fight off Death as it came for him… but finally he fell down in the sand with a thud. Dustin coughed out a painful laugh as he watched.

            “The bigger they are…” he croaked out.

            “Dustin, get in this ship, now!” Diana scolded him.

            “I’m coming… Diana…" Dustin said, coughing, and then he breathed a sigh, "I'm coming..."