GOW - Revival - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Like Father, Like Son


Emprise fields
5 Years after Emergence day
The siege of COG space uplink station


"You will tell us the station's power source, filthy human!" Boomed the mighty voice of General RAAM, the Locust's almighty and powerful leader. His stature alone was frightening enough even to other Locust, but that mixed with his deep hissing snarl like voice bought a creature of pure nightmare to life.

RAAM had bolted a captured Gear to the wall of a small cabin they hid inside while they planned their attack on a COG base, called the Space Uplink station. RAAM wanted to know the location of the station's power supply, so that if destroyed, the base would lose all power and  allow the Locust to have an easier time with their mission. RAAM wasted no time with his captured prey, he had bolted the Gear to the wall by shoving sharp knives straight through the palms of his hands and his knees, the Gear could only squirm in pain as blood seeped out of his wounds. A few Drones watched as RAAM continued to interrogated the Gear.

Even when staring at the face of evil, the Gear refused to break, shook his head, h was refusing to talk.

"I… will… never speak!" The Cog groaned in pain.

General RAAM did not take this lightly, he slammed his fist into the Gear's chest, causing him to spit blood onto his helmet's visor and scream in extreme pain. He could only lower his head due to the sheer agony he was in. RAAM quickly grabbed the Gear's head and stared straight at him in anger.

"You have one last chance human!" General RAAM snarled "Tell me what I want and I shall make your death quick!"

"F… Fuck…you!" The Gear moaned.

General RAAM began to shake, his fists quaked and his eyes began to twitch. The Drones watching backed off nervously, as his anger was reaching a new level, one that caused his troops to cower in the corner like frightened human children.

RAAM shoved his hand straight into the Gears chest, the force was so powerful that his hand broke through the chest and went straight into the Gear's innards. The Gear screamed one last time as RAAM yanked his hand from the what was left of his frail chest.

RAAM held onto the Gear's warm, still beating heart, the Gear stopped screaming once RAAM showed him his trophy, he then turned white and let out one last cough before his entire body went limp, he died a most sadistic death.

RAAM dropped the heart and slammed his fist into the wall.

"They tell us nothing!" He roared, not at all flinching as blood came out of his slightly broken knuckles. "We will have victory! One way or another!"

At that moment, RAAM turned around and saw a Grenadier Elite stumble in, he looked as though he had some news for the General.

"Mighty General RAAM!" The Grenadier announced "The Soul Killer called 'Hakar' wishes to see you!"

RAAM's attention was caught as he heard the name "Hakar" he quickly nodded in acknowledgment to the Grenadier Elite.

"Send him in, but first, all of you will leave me!" He ordered.

Without a single hesitation or question, the Drones and Grenadier left the room and out the front door, unquestionable loyalty indeed.

There was a few seconds of silence, before the young Theron Guard Hakar stepped in, though clad in very unique armour, unlike the regular armour of the Theron, The Soul Killer armour was mostly all black, but it did have a few patches of crimson red around the shoulders. Hakar also had the Soul Killer helmet on, though he took off the moment he was in RAAM's presence. Hakar was armed with a stolen Lancer and had both a small combat knife in his holster and a serrated blade.

Hakar stepped forward to meet RAAM.

"My Son." RAAM said "What news do you and your Soul Killers bring me?"

"Father, I have found a weak spot in the ground walker's base." Hakar reported.

"Elaborate" RAAM demanded.

"The front of the base is heavily guarded, a direct assault would be an utter failure, but I have found a weakness." Hakar explained. "We found a small cliff side to the left of the base, the humans have foolishly failed to take note of it. My plan is this, I will lead the Soul Killers to this cliff and provide covering fire."

"How so?" RAAM asked.

"The Cliff is not too close to the base, but close enough for mortar fire to cause chaos." Hakar replied. "We will destroy the defences from there, and then you may lead your assault."

It was obvious that he wanted to please RAAM with the knowledge he had learnt. Luckily for him, RAAM was most impressed.

"You studied your environment and found the weak point, just like I taught you." RAAM replied.

The conversation soon turned from the battle to more… about Hakar.

"I notice that you do not use the Torque Bow." RAAM pointed out.

"I could never perfect it." Hakar replied sheepishly. "As I told you, I don't like it. I prefer my other weapons."

"Indeed." RAAM sighed, almost in disapproval.

"I am bringing my soldier Lehrak, he could use his Torque Bow to kill a ground walker with his eyes closed!" Hakar stated with enthusiasm.

RAAM didn't say anything, he just nodded and then turned around, he almost managed a laugh, but it was more of a smirk. His son always was the one to do things his own way, especially when he was younger. Give him instructions? He'll find his own way to achieve his goal and would not rest until you accepted his explanation as to why his actions were justified.

"To Battle then." RAAM stated, confident that his son was going to help them with their victory. Though just before RAAM left, Hakar had something to say.

"Father! I… Is Mother okay?" Hakar stuttered.

RAAM stopped dead in his tracks, he stood still for a few seconds before turning to face Hakar, RAAM stepped back to Hakar and slowly grabbed hold of his face.

"Your Mother remains in the palace chambers, safe from these barbarians." Replied RAAM "Queen Myrrah assures me that she is safe.

Hakar nodded and left, though before RAAM went out, he thought to himself.

"… Or at least, she tells me that Veega is safe." He thought. "Queen Myrrah wouldn't kill her… not when Hakar has that strong a bond with her."

RAAM then left the cabin to join the other Locust, ready for this battle.

---  

A fact that Hakar had always managed to keep hidden from the rest of the Horde was his "family" background. Normally, only the Kantus sect were thought of as "family" units, whereas Drones were bred purely for fighting. Though Hakar… was different.

In the time before Emergence Day, Queen Myrrah had noticed something changing with the Berserkers, the female Drones. It began after the Berserker Shidowan had her child, Berserkers were now giving birth to clutches of children, rather than just the one.

Deciding to take advantage of this, Queen Myrrah then began a mass breeding program, Berserkers would be taken to "Breeding" chambers where the strongest Males would mate with them, though the Berserkers were chained down so that they could not pummel their mates to death. Back in the old days, the male had to "seduce" the female before he'd mate with her. Not anymore, Queen Myrrah didn't want the ways of old threatening her never ending army.

RAAM, an upcoming and promising Locust general, was an ideal choice for this program. However, Myrrah did not want to give this icon any old "hunk of meat" oh no, she had chosen the right one of RAAM.

Her name was Veega, but she was not like the others. Veega was a Berserker blessed with a gift, a gift of sight and intelligence. While it did not make her a functioning member of society, she was smart enough to see and tell friend from foe, and even communicate, though only through limited growls and snarls.

Also unlike the others, Veega was wiling to mate with RAAM, thus, did not need chaining down.

However, tragedy had struck them. The children Veega had given birth to had died mysterious, the healers believed in may have been suffocation and blood loss while still inside her womb, but whatever it was, it broke Veega and even tore at RAAM…

… That is, until one of the children was found to be alive, both mother and father's faith had been restored.

Due to her more aware nature, Veega was given time with her offspring, which was the very start of Hakar and his mother's bond. However, it wasn't long before Hakar was taken away from Veega, to be trained as a bloodthirsty fighter.

RAAM decided that rather than handing Hakar over to any old military trainer, he himself would raise and train his own offspring. Thanks to RAAM's tactical genius and brutal strength, Hakar quickly became the perfect protégé, mastering his skills almost instantly.

Hakar idolised his father, and hoped that he to, would become a powerful figure in the Locust army. Though while RAAM did hold an unusual protective nature of his offspring, he and Hakar chose to keep their "relationship" a secret. For whatever reason, RAAM felt as though he'd been viewed as "weak" and that the Horde would paint him as a worrying parent, rather than a mighty general. Perhaps RAAM wasn't as secure as his public image made him out to be.

Meanwhile, Hakar still held a strong bond with his mother, something unheard of outside the Kantus sect. Veega was kept in her own special "cell" in the Palace breeding chambers, it was thought that she was groomed into believing that a "smart" Berserker wouldn't be looked upon favourable by the rest of the Horde.

Any chance he got, Hakar was go to visit his mother, make sure she was okay and that no others harmed her or tried to mate with her. It was perhaps her son's dedication to her that kept Veega alive and well.

After the death bringer was detonated, Hakar wondered if Veega died as well. Sadly, it seemed the most likely scenario.

Both Mother and Father dead… Hakar was truly torn apart.


---

The Space Uplink base was used for allowing a constant Hammer of Dawn signal, so essentially, this base could have sent signals for several Hammer strikes just by pushing a button, just in case another "Scorched Earth" was required.

The base itself remained heavily guarded, the front almost seemed impossible to breach and the Cog had used a powerful cement which the Locust seemed unable to dig through. However, they had fallen at the last hurdle, the front was so well guarded, yet the sides and back of the base remained almost untouched.

At the cliff sides on the left of the base, Hakar lead his band of Soul Killers up to a good vantage point, getting ready for the assault.

Among them was Onwa, Hakar's long time 2nd in command, then there was Lehrak, the Torque Bow Marksman that Hakar had pride in having on his team, possible to cover up his inability to use the weapon himself.

With them where two other comrades, Maarg, a demolitions specialist, and Krantal, the sniper. The Soul Killer's plan was simple, provide siege for General RAAM, then when his forces have made entry, slip in under the confusion and bomb the power supply, shutting the base down completely and allowing an easy pillage.

Maarg carried a large mortar cannon, a powerful Boomshot and a Gnasher shotgun, he was recruited to the Soul Killer's purely for his love of carnage and destruction, despite being no larger than your average drone.

Krantal was the polar opposite, he was a calmer, more stoic Soul Killer, who traded every tactic for just remaining hidden and killing the confused opponents one by one, sort of an earlier version of Taus. He was chosen to carry the bomb that would be used for destroying the power supply, as everyone feared Maarg would use it for his own destructive needs.

"Maarg is ready to fire at your command!" Onwa reported.

"Yes Let us bomb these puny insects!" Maarg cheered.

Hakar brushed that comment aside and waited a few seconds before giving the order to strike, he took one last look at the base, before he ordered his attack.

Maarg shot the mortar into the enemy base's defence line, the shells rained down onto the defence line and exploded, destroying sentries, crippling the two front watch towers and of course, slaughtering the troops at the front. Maarg continued to fire into the base, destroying anything that posed as a major threat. Within seconds, the defence line was incinerated, and now the Locust could attack.

"That seemed almost too easy." Lehrak stated.

"Why complain?" Chuckled Maarg

"There will still be a strong enough army to fight through." Onwa pointed out.

"We shall worry about that later." Hakar said "Let us join RAAM."

---

General RAAM watched as the Locust drones dashed past the still flaming defence line and charged into the base, they charged for anything that looked like cover and began opening fire in every direction, apart from the Grenadiers, they charged blindly into any direction, resulting in there deaths, a brave, but some what futile effort.

RAAM smiled at the destruction around him, despite the large presence of enemy soldiers, he had a strong feeling that they would win, that this day would belong to the Horde. Despite being taken by surprise, the COG forces were still able to fight off and kill the first wave of attacking Drones.

It was going to be one long battle… for now

----

It seemed like only seconds ago that The Soul Killers stood up on the cliff's, but now they were already inside the base, having snuck in under the cover of smoke from all the gunfire and explosions going on around them. They were now hearing for the target, a power supply station, which was at the back of the base.

Seeing no other options, The Soul Killer's dashed for the station, Lehrak was back peddling, but he was still able to shoot Torque arrow's into unsuspecting Gears. It was satisfying, watching them explode into bloody chunks.

Soon they hit a snag however, as the station turned out to be quite heavily guarded. They were forced to take cover behind crates and sandbags as enemy Troops opened fire into them.

"Krantal! Maarg! Fall back and lay down suppressing fire!" Hakar ordered.

"With Pleasure!" Maarg cackled, he and Krantal dashed back, looking for another spot to provide the covering fire for Hakar, they spotted a tipped over APC and quickly dashed behind it. They readied their weapons, but Krantal had something to say.

"Let me start us of." He suggested. "I will confuse them, then you may destroy them"

"Can't we just blow them up?" Maarg asked.

"No!" Krantal snapped "We have a risk of hitting Hakar, I know what they are like, if I start picking them off, they will scatter, that's when you may begin your assault."

"Have it your way" Maarg snorted "My way is much more fun though."

"Fun? Maybe, Useful? Unlikely" Krantal replied.

He readied his Longshot and began to lay down fire, Krantal may not have had the marksmanship of Taus, but he was skilled enough to score a headshot, he began to knock down the soldiers one by one. As predicted, they began to move around, desperately trying to see the sniper. That's when Maarg made his entrance, he shot his first Boomshot rocket into a portion of the attacking Gear group, they exploded, sending their remains into the air. Maarg quickly reloaded his Boomshot and fired into the other half of the group, annihilating them completely. Now it looked as if the area was clear.

"Victory!" Shouted the over confident Maarg, he dashed out of cover and made his way, his feeling of victory was short lived.

His body started to tumble to the ground and he suddenly felt not only weaker, but a brutal pain in the back of his neck, he starred at the ground, before seeing blood pass his eyes, that's when he realised what had happened…

"Sniper"

Onwa saw Maarg collapse onto the floor, but with all the chaos going on around him, Onwa lost concentration and presumed that Maarg was merely wounded. Onwa dashed towards Maarg's body., armed only with his Hammerburst. A couple of Gears tried to apprehend the Soul Killer, but he managed to gun down large the small group of soldiers before they could strike. However, one last soldier was able to return a barrage of fire at Onwa.

The bullets narrowly missed his head, but like Maarg, he wasn't so lucky. One bullet narrowly scraped past his face, but tore through and ripped apart his left eye.

Onwa let out a blood curdling scream as he collapsed to the floor, firing wildly into the air. The soldier moved in to finish off Onwa, but didn't get a chance, one of Lehrak's torque arrows slammed straight into his chest. The Gear had only time to squeak before he exploded into a bloody cloud of guts and limbs.

Hakar, Lehrak and Krantal dashed for both Maarg and Onwa. Maarg was dead, but Onwa still lay alive, clenching his left eye, blood speweing out of it and seeping through his fingers. Hakar had to get Onwa to safety, in most cases, any other Locust would be told to fight through the pain, but Hakar felt that rule didn't't apply in this case.

"Lehrak! Take him to safety! Me and Krantal will finish the mission!" Hakar ordered.

Lehrak nodded and picked Onwa up. The remaining Gears seemed more concerned about fighting RAAM's forces at the moment, so Lehrak was able to carry Onwa to safety. Nothing could be done for Maarg, he was long gone. Only thing that could be done now was complete the mission and avenge his death.

With little resistance left, Hakar was able to walk towards the entrance of the power station. Hakar laughed at the small and feeble door, though he had a feeling there would be some Gears on the other side, it wasn't exactly a bother to him. With his Hammerburst ready, he kicked the door down and opened fire, only two Gears stood guard, but they didn't even have their Lancers ready, a foolish move, as they were quickly dealt with before they could reach them.

Hakar ordered Krantal in, there was an upstairs area, but as Hakar approached the stairs, Krantal stopped him.

"We should clear that area out first!" He suggested. Hakar suddenly realised he was right, there could be soldiers up there, ready for them this time.

"Do you have a grenade?" Hakar ordered.

Krantal withdrew his bolo grenade, while Hakar did the same, together, they tossed their grenades up the stairs. Seconds later, they were greeted by the sounds of explosions, and the sight of Gear guts splattering down the stairs. Hakar and Krantal ran up and saw the remains of the dead Gears.

Hakar got a good chuckle out of the sight. From the look of it, they had flipped some tables over and had taken cover behind them, but they had failed to pick up the grenades and throw them back.

Krantal withdrew the bomb and planted it next to a main generator. He quickly began to arm the bomb and set the timer, he gave them enough time to flee to a safe distance. They both sprinted downstairs, Krantal armed with his sniper rifle, he decided to go first, rather than risk having the leader get killed the moment he steps out of the door.

Krantal looked around with his scope and saw something, the sniper that killed Maarg, sitting on top of a small building, starring right at him, Krantal aimed and fired.

Hakar rushed out and saw what happened, he was greeted by the sight of Krantal's body crashing against the wall of the building, having just been struck in the head. Hakar looked around in all directions for the killer, but when he slowed down and looked ahead of him, he could make out a figure falling to the ground. Hakar picked up Krantal's Longshot and looked down the scope, just in time to see the Sniper who killed Maarg and Krantal plummet off a roof and splatter onto the ground.

Hakar was angry he had managed to kill two of his soldiers, but he held his rage in, as he knew they were only moments away from victory. Hakar dashed away from the station and made it back to a safe cover spot.

The Power station exploded, sending debris and fire everywhere, he could hear the sounds of Drones roaring a battle cry, just like the one he heard when he surfaced for the first time. He looked up to see the remaining Gears fleeing from the battle, many of them not getting a chance to run, as Drones and Grenadiers overwhelmed and slaughtered them.

His attention was then caught by the sound of heard heavy footsteps, he looked to his left and saw his father RAAM, starring at him.

"You never fail to disapoint me son." RAAM said. "Your Soul Killers have helped achieve a glorious victory for the Horde."

"Yes, but Maarg and Krantal were killed." Hakar sighed. Feeling the burden of their deaths on his shoulders.

"They died serving the Queen, their sacrifices were not in vain." RAAM replied, helping Hakar up off the floor. Hakar agreed, but he still felt a little torn by their deaths.

"Father, have you heard from Onwa?" Hakar asked.

"Lehrak told me he will be fine, but I fear his sight isn't going to be what it used to be." RAAM replied.

"Even with victory, it feels like we have lost much today." Hakar stated.

"In war, that will happen son." RAAM said "There will be things that will never return the darkness, you must be prepared to sacrifice anything for victory."

RAAM and Hakar began to leave the base, the remaining Locust would pillage the base and hunt down any survivors.