Grunts do the Heavy Lifting (Halo SI)

[Hyvelic]

The last thing a person expects to hear when they wake up is a shout of "Muzuw!" which is quickly followed by the feeling of something grabbing said person's body and yelling incoherently into my shoulder.

Blinking away the crud in my eyes I come face to face with one ugly looking motherfucker. Their body seems to be armored with a hard exoskeleton, much like crabs and other insects. Their mouth has a set of small, pointed teeth, much like what a reptile would have. Right now the creature is crying, but what is it exactly and why is it viciously hugging me?

"MUZUW!" It cries again, but before I can ask it who it was talking to, it cries out "Klikik said you were dead, But I knew it! I knew you were alive! Klikik told me that I should leave you behind! But I got you to the ship in time! Now you are better again!" While somewhat… informative it doesn't actually explain what is going on. Looking around the room for additional clues only seems to show the walls to be somewhat glowing. The walls are shining with a metallic purple and appear to be plates instead of normal, non-glowing wall material.

There appears to be a large amount of medical equipment here, but it appears to be in bad condition, and in all honesty, it doesn't look to actually be medical in nature, some things are more scrap than a scalpel. Looking closely at some of the scraps reveals a large amount of rubbish and trash. Where was I and what is going on?

I remain silent as the creature continues to babble, it's hard to make out at first, but slowly your hearing improves until you make out what they are saying completely. "Dazik isn't letting you out of his sight No I will now. Not after that Smelly Human knocked you across the head. I got him good though, took him and his legs before I had to run aw- retreat with important information. Yes! I didn't run away from the smelly stinky humans and their big mean horrible Demon." The creature, Dazik apparently, seems to be talking about fighting humans? But why would they be fighting humans? Wasn't I human as well? So what the hell is going? Why would they help me?

Before I could ask a question I am interrupted by Dazik, "Big Boss Jiga was going to kick us both off the ship too! The Smelly Boss tried. The ship close too fast for him to do so though! Yes! I saved you from the Demon and stopped you from dying!" Dazik seems to preen at this as if expecting me to say something in response.

I think for a moment before finally saying something. "Thank you." It's quiet but you can clearly hear that it wasn't my voice talking, what in the hell? It's alien from anything I have ever heard but before I can figure out what is going on Dazik grabs me again, concern drips from their voice as they take hold. "What's wrong Muzuw?! Are you still sick? AH! I GOT THE SOLUTION!" He yells that last part and runs off and begins digging through one of the scrap piles. They appear to be looking for something specific amongst the trash. I try to stand up but I don't manage to catch myself correctly, falling to the ground I catch Dazik's attention causing them to dig harder.

It's a confusing time for everyone involved, at least on my side of the equation. What in the world could possibly be going on right now? I don't know what's going on and I am horrified at the thoughts of what any of this could mean, especially the fact that I may now be a grunt, during who knows when. This is a problem I need to fix quickly, figuring out where I am and what I can do to get away from whatever comes next. Although I doubt the situation could improve at all since… well… Grunts are basically slaves to everyone, Elites, Brutes, Prophets, Drones, Jackels, hell even the Engineers if they weren't so kind, even then who actually knows if they won't treat our kind as expendable workers if they need to.

I let out a startled scream briefly as Dazik stabs my arm with something, I don't know what, but the world begins to bubble as whatever it is beginning to make its way through my system. I think I can hear Dazik saying something, but everything is too wonky for it to make any sense at all. I start to laugh, at the situation, at Dazik, at myself, in fear of what I have become, in horror of what is to come, in pain of losing everything I had, I even start feeling things I don't even understand anymore. Everything is just falling apart around me in that one moment and I just… let it all out.

Dazik seems concerned at first, but once the laughing starts he appears to be beaming at me if you count whatever it is he is doing as a smile. I hope he doesn't lose that smile, because of one of the thousands of things that I am going to do will probably cost him his life. I doubt he'll last long if anything I know about the setting is true.

That's when I hear something, I don't know what, it's harsh and appears garbled over a speaker of some sort, electronic buzzing plays in the background of whatever is making the noise. Whatever the noise is causes Dazik to look both excited and afraid. He turns to me and grabs my shoulders again and begins to shake me. He says something, but I don't pick it up at first. He says it again and when he does I freeze. I ask him to repeat himself one last time and he does, he says the exact same thing as before.

He says, "Get up Muzuw! We are being sent to cleanse the dirty humans from the Holy Ring! We are going to make sure that they don't escape or dirty the Holy Ring any more than they already have!" The zeal in his voice only confirms how fucked I am. A Holy Ring, a Demon, and a crash landing…

I… I am near the end of the war, at the beginning of the darkest moments before the dawn. At the twilight of the Covenant's power. The reemergence of the Flood… I am not going to survive this at all. Not as I am, and neither will anyone else on the ship. We are all going to die a horrible, painful, no good death. Please let this all be a joke, one of the twisted fevered dreams that I have when I am sick… Please?

 

[Princess Celestia]

Being a Grunt SI limits what you can do on a reasonable scale, so this should be more like "My Isekai Adventure Among The Stars or How I learnt To Survive As A Grunt."

Ironically I was complaining a couple of days ago about the lack of Halo SI's and how the few good goods are shorter than 10k and the longer ones are riddle with the shit that makes you roll your eyes and give up.

 

[Hyvelic]

Being a Grunt SI limits what you can do on a reasonable scale, so this should be more like "My Isekai Adventure Among The Stars or How I learnt To Survive As A Grunt."

Ironically I was complaining a couple of days ago about the lack of Halo SI's and how the few good goods are shorter than 10k and the longer ones are riddle with the shit that makes you roll your eyes and give up.

Click to shrink...

To be honest, I doubt that I'll break 10k thus further proof of the curse. If my writing wasn't already riddled with shit

 

[Princess Celestia]

The writing seems fine, grammars fine, pacing

To be honest, I doubt that I'll break 10k thus further proof of the curse. If my writing wasn't already riddled with shit

Click to shrink...

Writing seems fine, grammars fine, pacing fine, I just think as a Grunt you gonna really struggle to go further because as a grunt what can you even do?

 

[Hyvelic]

The writing seems fine, grammars fine, pacing

Writing seems fine, grammars fine, pacing fine, I just think as a Grunt you gonna really struggle to go further because as a grunt what can you even do?

Click to shrink...

Surprisingly a lot, Grunts are actually dangerous believe it or not, if you manage to get them training they can drown you in a literal flood of plasma without breaking, they just need a Deacon or leader to keep them from breaking.

Also ignore the fact they are basically slave child soldiers

 

[Dapperlurker]

Well I have to say that I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes

 

[Hyvelic]

I follow Dazik, unsure of what exactly is going on. I mostly understand that I am being deployed to the Ring with Dazik and a hundred or so nameless grunts, elites, jackals, and hunters. I touch the walls as I make my way to the armory alongside Dazik. The walls are cold to the touch, which is surprising considering that the wall looks like it should be warm to the touch due to the shimmering and color of the metal. It's like touching ceramic tiles on the floor I realize after a moment.

I barely catch Dazik giving me a strange look as we walk, is it that strange to touch the cold metal of the walls as we walk? How much about Muzaw am I getting wrong? The realization dawned on me that I am not Muzaw and can't ever be them since I have no idea what it was they were before I showed up. I don't have any memories from Muzaw and I probably won't get any of them. My brow furrows as the thought hits me, will I even be able to use anything given to me? Won't I just be sent down to the Halo to die? What a horrible existence I stole, I have no doubts that Muzaw is in a better place than I am.

Most likely he is celebrating in whatever afterlife grunts have. I have no doubts that I am going to- "You okay Muzaw? You look unhappy." Dazik says, derailing my train of thought. I notice that I have my back hunched, that's probably what told him something was up.

I change the frown into a smile and look at Dazik, seeing their look of concern that they are giving me, their friend, as far as I am aware his only friend. "I'm fine, just confused, Head got hit harder than I think it should. Forget things, but not Dazik!" I intentionally beam at Dazik only for the concern in their eyes to deepen for some reason.

He reaches out grabbing my shoulder causing both of us to pause for a moment, "Muzaw, don't lie to Dazik. Mean Bosses forcing us to fight so we can not talk now. We talk about this later but hurry up! We need to get armor and tanks on, I'll help you!" He sounds bitter about the fact that we are being forced to fight, and I can't help but feel sad that this is something that is going on all over. Before and after the war grunts will be punished, degraded, forced into what amounts to slavery.

Several cruel whispers crawl into my head, saying that I might be able to change it, that I could stop the treatment grunts receive. I can't though, I can't improve the status of grunts, how we are treated. Because ironically I am a grunt myself. Nobody would respect me, nobody would care, nobody would listen. Maybe I can get someone else to help, maybe I can convince someone else to care.

I could defect, join the UNSC and help the grunts from there. It'd work, for a short period of time, they wouldn't be the most hospitable but the fact that I might not only be bringing help and information, but I would also be laying the groundwork for the grunts to away from the Covenant dealing a blow to their ground-based operations, I could easily do that. I am lagging behind because Dazik grabs me and practically drags me to the armory. After several minutes we manage to get ourselves equipped properly. I grab two plasma grenades and a plasma pistol, the standard setup for a grunt, although I did give the needler a hard look due to its utility. The fact that an overcharged pistol can disable vehicles is what ultimately sold me, it is also much more important in the grand scheme of things due to the ability to worry less about reloading it would give me.

Once my backup methane tanks are equipped Dazik and I head to the hanger bay to get aboard the Spirit that is awaiting us. The hanger is… something else, the games have always painted the hangers as being smaller than they actually are, the hangar bay of the ship that I'm on has the possibility of holding to five Spirits by itself between the towering pillars act as support for the bay itself as well as spots for the spirits to dock when they aren't in use. From what Dazik is telling me, multiple hangars can be used, and each isn't any smaller than this one. While Dazik explains everything he finally mentions the name of the ship. It's called the "Harbinger of Faith", which seems to be more pious compared to the name Truth and Reconciliation. I let out a brief chuckle at the thought before I feel an impact against my back, and my methane tank. Yelping I turn around to look at what hit me.

An 8.6-foot tall creature that reminds me of a lizard stands before more. They have jaws that are quadruple-hinged, with an upper jaw, a greatly reduced lower jaw which together makes four mandible-like "lips." The armor that the creature is wearing is a distinctive cobalt-colored combat harness. They let out a roar towards me. I try to skitter away as fast as possible. Dazik puts himself between me and this… Monster!

He stutters in a panicked manner as he speaks, "M...Muzaw was getting on the S...Spirit, Boss! He got hurt, it's harder for him to move! He just slightly slower! Won't hold you back when fighting the Smelly Humans!" The monster threatening to crush me pauses at this for a moment before looking at me

I feel something ghost down my spine as it stands there staring at me with hate-fueled eyes. I let out a sigh of relief when it looks away and gets onto a nearby Spirit. Quickly I grab Dazik and hug him in my celebration. He looked confused for a second before nodding his head. "Yes, Boss very scary, you must have forgotten what they looked like! I was scared like you when I first saw him! But now I'm not!" He sounds excited at the last statement.

At another roar from the Boss, Dazik gets onto a Spirit. Quickly climbing into position, I follow him onto the vehicle, my steps are unsteady as I leave the ship and board the Spirit. As this happens I make sure to listen to Dazik and his explanations on how to lock myself into the thing so I don't die if something happens. After two failed attempts at locking myself into the Spirit Dazik notices the Boss' glare hurries and helps me get locked into my spot, also showing me how to undo the lock for when we are getting unloaded. I nod quickly and thank him as he scampers off to get into his spot.

Hopefully, this won't end horrifically. I don't want to die. I repeat the same phrase over and over in my head as we approach the Halo. Please don't let there be the Master Chief there… Please!