CommanderAuri

Two weeks before infection 0% of known population currently infected A steady and painful ache began throbbing just behind my right eye as I stared into my computer’s screen, text scrolling by at a blinding pace in one small window. Data mining. I hated it. Most people thought hacking was some super secret fancy thing that could be done at the drop of a hat. With some stuff, sure. Depending on the type of script you’re using and the amount of security you had to carefully navigate. And, God forbid, you had to work against the clock. I glanced up and took stock of the office. Gentek, like every other pharma company out there, was grossly rich but they still installed energy saving lights that were motion activated. I’d lost count how many times a day I had to stand up from my cubicle and flail my arms in an attempt to get the damn things to flicker to life again. Seemed I was the only one left “pulling overtime”. A heavy, tired sigh escaped from me as I slumped back in my seat and

Planet Sera Day 43 Auri settled in as best she could atop an old sofa and peered outside one of the gaps in boards covering the windows. Both her weapons laid nearby and her helmet rested on her lap. Old memories threatened to rise up after her brief talk with Baird but she pushed them down. There’d be time enough to deal with those ghosts later. Much later. She absentmindedly drummed her fingers softly on her helmet as she watched the dark landscape outside. Nothing moved save for the wind as it stirred up a mini dust devil in its wake. Her mind bounced from one thought to another before finally landing on the prospect of returning home. A little over a week into her stay on the Sovereign, Baird had taken her and Noesis to his temporary lab he’d gotten set up on the ship. The servers were linked up to one he had on the shore and the three of them had gotten to work trying to pinpoint where exactly the commander had landed. Noesis had reassured the Gear that she wouldn’t

Planet Sera Day 34 Over the blaring alarm, the Spartan could hear both men curse profusely with Baird quickly gathering up his small spread of tools. Her rifle was in her hand without a second thought and was already making her way toward the entrance, taking relative care to step over the tripwire. How they hadn’t seen it before now was beyond her. It was a foolish mistake and one that was potentially going to cost them. “‘Ey, Auri! You picking anyone up yet?” Dom called out as Baird worked quickly to silence the wailing. “Not… Yup. Yeah. Got a handful of contacts coming in from the north side. Best guess is Locust,” she replied. The deafening siren above them finally quieted, Baird having cut off a series of wires from one of the nearby wall panels. “Alright, we gotta go now before-“ The commander’s sentence was abruptly cut off as the building shook violently around them. Cracks spiderwebbed quickly up and down the walls in their immediate vicinity, as did the floor. Chunks

Planet Sera Day 29 The week following the Lambent attack had been a long and rather smelly one. The bodies were either burned or tossed overboard and those that perished during the fight were given their final rights before being committed to the sea. What next of kin they had were notified and their names written down in the log. Nearly half of Omega squad, the team that had been assisting the civilians down in the hold and keeping back the tide of Lambent before Baird had managed to get the bulkhead doors in place, were killed. The remaining members, the ones not in the infirmary, were in the process of being reassigned to other units. It had taken a good few days’ worth of washing before they managed to purge that abhorrent stench the Lambent emitted upon death from the Sovereign’s deck but it was done. Once the last of the Lambent had been kicked off and the damage to the engines mostly repaired, the warship was soon able to begin running again. Auri fell in with Delta as they

Sera Reap 17, 16 A.E. Day 277 aboard CNV Sovereign “Come on, people. Move it!” Baird yelled out over the sounds of chaos and gunfire. He’d been inside navigation when the Lambent struck and was immediately helping to distribute weapons to the officers who scrambled into motion. Already five other soldiers darted out onto the deck to repel boarders while two others dove for extinguishers to quench the small fires that had broken out just outside the room. Baird quickly brought his Boltok pistol up to bear as he went to leave and squeezed off four shots, dropping two Drudges that were trying to push inside. A bullet embedded itself in the metal frame just above his head forcing the man to duck into a low crouch and search for the offending hostile. His eyes caught movement at his 11 'o'clock. A drudge had taken cover about thirty feet away behind a section of ventilation ducts. It was shifting in its position, growling low. Delta’s tech gritted his teeth, raised his sidearm and

Planet Sera Day 1 It felt like an eternity as their gazes remained locked but, in reality, it only lasted maybe five seconds. Ten at the most. Blood thundered loudly in the Spartan’s ears and her throat went dry. Before Baird could react, Auri had already launched into motion. She sprang up from the edge of her bunk and strode forward, reaching him within the span of two seconds. All the Gear managed to do was let out a “Hey!” as the commander grabbed a fistful of his shirt and yanked him inside, growling out, “Get in here.” Baird lurched inside stumbling once before regaining balance. Shutting and locking the door behind them with a dull thunk, Auri gripped the handles in front of her and breathed out slowly in an attempt to cool her temper and her rising fear. Damn it all. Baird just had to come down here and for what? Okay. Let’s just start with that. “Why are you down here?” the Four asked sotto voce, keeping her inflection firm and even as she let go of the door and turned to

Sera Reap 12, 16 A.E. (Year 6008) - Nine months after the sinking of Jacinto Day 272 aboard CNV Sovereign When word got out that Cole’s squad had made contact with the foreign entity, the same one Damon Baird and another tech head had pinpointed that sudden spike in energy, on top of KR Six-Four’s brief conversation with them, most everyone aboard the Sovereign had been expecting a new Locust weapon of some sort. A trap, maybe even a person who’d joined the remaining Locust to lure in unsuspecting COG in exchange for a cache of food. A soldier of unknown affiliation was the last thing anyone would’ve expected, let alone that trooper be human of all things. From his post aboard the massive warship, Baird peered through a pair of binoculars in an attempt to spy Dom’s gunboat on its way into port. His blue lensed welding goggles were pushed high into his hairline as he swept the coastline before landing on a blob of drab green bouncing through the waves. Dom was at the helm clearly and

Foreign Planet Day 1 At least, she was certain it wasn’t Requiem. A city sprawled out before her, steel I-beams sticking straight up from the ground and into the sky like the remains of some long dead mighty beast. A few structures still stood tall but were either listing heavily to the side or were leaning against their neighbors. A wave of dust rolled through the Spartan’s immediate area, kicking up small dust devils in its wake. Dirt particles clattered softly off of her armor plating as both soldier and AI surveyed their surroundings. That’s when it hit her. There was no bird sound. No animal noises, air traffic, nothing but the wind. This city was dead. Something about that fact set her teeth on edge. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t walked through dead and decaying cities before but this… Something about this was different. Just then she heard the portal at her back ripple with energy. The commander threw a glance at it over her shoulder as a snap of electricity could be heard from