PART 2
A DARING ASSAULT! Commander Kolby leads three-hundred Sky Marshals to the Moon where the mutated abominations of THE COVENANT have infiltrated an old construction dome, within which they seek to complete the SCS PERPETUA star-zeppelin and bring about THE END OF HUMANITY!
While on the lunar surface, Commander Kolby receives a distress call from PROFESSOR HENRIK GLÄSMANN, a scientist claiming he and a group of civilians are trapped in a bunker, which presents A CONUNDRUM to the valiant Sky Marshal leader: deviate from the mission for a rescue operation, or ignore him to focus on the objective?
You’ve made your choice. Now see the consequences...
“Alright,” Commander Kolby spoke into his cosmocom. “I don’t know if you can understand me, but hold tight. I’m on my way.”
“Sir, what are you doing?” Tchakova asked.
“I need you, Chen, and Vickers to hold this position while I secure a high-value asset. If we need help dealing with Perpetua’s atomic reactor, this could be exactly what we need.”
Though the Sky Marshal was clearly conflicted by this sudden change in the mission’s parameters, she nodded and rocketed up to higher ground to take up overwatch with her sniper rifle.
Gläsmann had remained silent on the cosmocom but transmitted a waypoint to his HUD, directing him to a nearby bunker. Two mechanized steel doors built into a thick, slanted concrete box opened as he approached, inviting him below.
“I’m coming in, professor. Have your people ready.”
As Kolby headed down, he picked up the noise of hustle and bustle echoing up from within the vault—the sounds of dozens of feet stamping about, excited chatter, boxes and crates being moved and thumped down on the ground with haste, perhaps setting up a defensive perimeter in case of a breach. That was good. The word “civilian” was one that hadn’t been used for years, for it had come to lose all meaning in this total, all-consuming war.
At last, he arrived in the central vault chamber, its domed ceiling illuminated by small lights running along a thick wooden beam that spanned the length of the room, approximately fifteen meters in diameter and crudely sectioned off with various rooms—a kitchen, living quarters, workstations, and a closed door at the far end of the room that was surrounded by candlelight.
Kolby tightened his grip on his rifle as he saw no sign of anyone around, yet the sound of activity persisted. The floor was scuffed with boot prints, carpets were torn up... people
had to have been here.
He listened closely, slowly making his approach towards the living quarters where the sound tracker of his Triplex Aero visor seemed to be picking up the noise source, aware that every second he was spending down here meant
anything could be happening on the lunar surface.
As Kolby pushed into the living quarters, he felt a sudden impact strike his helmet and whirled to the side, weapon raised, to see a gaunt man in a white lab coat with mousy, golden hair. He held his hands up and shook them.
“Nicht schießen! Einen Moment!”
After a few seconds, a second voice in Kolby’s head repeated:
“Don’t shoot! One moment.”
“Professor Gläsmann?” he asked.
“Ja,” he responded, pointing at Kolby’s helmet, his voice now just about synchronizing with the English translation. “I put earwig device on your head, let us understand each other.”
“Professor, where the hell is everyone? You said there were civilians down here...” Kolby glanced over to a wooden table in the corner and spotted a disc spinning on a record player. Lifting the needle, the sound of commotion ceased.
“Oh, they are here, Commander!” he said, beckoning Kolby over. “Let us head to the chamber beyond, I think they are nearly finished...”
Gläsmann scurried over to the door surrounded by candles and as Kolby approached, he saw that names had been scratched into the wall.
Barton. Dubbo. Endesha. Magnussen. There were dozens... and Kolby felt his blood run cold as Gläsmann smiled at him, opening a slat on the door and peering inside.
“Is unfortunate we have to skip the pleasantries and get straight to business, Commander,” Gläsmann said. “We had hoped to delay you a little longer, and that you would have brought your squad with you. But no matter, the leader of the valiant Sky Marshals will do.”
Kolby raised his rifle once again, aiming squarely at Gläsmann’s head. “What the hell have you done?”
“They bade me offer you the chance to surrender.” Gläsmann did not turn to face him, but continued eagerly staring at the process of... whatever was happening within.
“Those mutant cultist freaks actually made a deal with you?”
“They came here. Told me that what they truly seek is to be unbound from our mortal concepts of good and evil, of laws and morals. The Old Ones, their technology, will lead the Covenant to their third life—as man, as mutant, and as what comes next when their wisdom teaches us all new ways to revel in this great journey. Their grace will smother the Earth, and with the star-zeppelin complete they will go on to affect
universal change in time. This kindness, to join them, they offer.”
Kolby pressed the barrel of his rifle to the back of Gläsmann’s head. “Do you even hear yourself? How the hell did they turn you with talk like that?”
Gläsmann remained unfazed. “We have been here for a long,
long time, Commander. We offered no resistance when they came, and their Prophets offered us salvation. If you wish to see the choice the others made, simply step into the radiation chamber. They’re all in there. Waiting.”
“And you?”
“They knew they would be followed here and needed someone to delay your progress.” He turned now, holding out his hands to Kolby. “But we can end this now. We shall step into the chamber together, join the others, and begin the great journey.”
In all his years of fighting, Kolby had seen much of what the worst of humanity had to offer—both in the form of the
Covenant’s cultists and mutated abominations
and the Unified Nations Security Confederation itself. It had almost seemed easy to go numb to it all as the world descended into base depravities in the name of long-dead generals and Covenant dogma, but this... a new world of deeper, darker horrors waited just beyond those doors, and Kolby could stop them from opening.
Time was up. He had to return to his squad, resume the fight to secure the
Perpetua, deliver a crushing final victory against the horror that had taken root here. But first, there was the matter of the unarmed monster before him—Henrik Gläsmann.
Kolby could gun him down now and be done with it, or leave the twisted scientist here—maroon him on Luna to live out whatever remained of his life with no hope of escape. He wondered which would be more just, but like “civilian” the word “justice” had long faded out of use.
SHOULD COMMANDER KOLBY...
ㅤ
A) Leave Gläsmann
ㅤ
OR
ㅤ
B) Execute Gläsmann
Cast your vote on
Twitter,
Waypoint,
YouTube,
Discord,
Instagram,
Reddit, and the Official Halo Club on Xbox and PC.