Chapter 19

Harvest threw the spent plasma rifle to the ground, it wouldn't be of any use after its core was depleted, he had managed to eradicate all of the infection forms, they popped like popcorn

He went up to a weapon rack and pulled off a shotgun, it would be perfect to fight the Flood, and turned around to check out the weird moving slime blob

It seemed to be moving more erratically, as if something were trying to burst free

The ODST knelt down next to the strange pile of goop, the green light had to be emitting from the center. He put his hand up against the outside, and the slime parted to reveal a sort of window

This window was made out of a more compact slime, clear and strong, Harvest guessed it was some sort of containment glass

On the inside he could see a small huddled figure, and he decided to knock on the window a few times

The figure perked slightly, and turned around to look at him, all he could see were two whites of eyes, and the irises were a blue

Harvest could easily tell what was inside, one of Ponyville's civilians, he balled his fist and smashed it into the glass, it crumpled and cascaded down onto the ground

Inside the containment glop was Fluttershy, her wet face suggested that she had been crying

"What happened?" Harvest asked

"It's the changelings" Fluttershy answered, "They've taken Ponyville."

"I can see that" Harvest frowned, "But you'd know that."

Fluttershy cocked her head

"If I were to take an enemy ship and leave traps all over the room" Harvest stood up and leveled the shotgun, "Then I'd make sure that there was something to get them if they made it past the first trap, I'd also never keep a large threat too far from where I could get it if needed."

The Fluttershy frowned, before a bright green energy began to cover her form, then out popped a bug like thing, exactly the same that he saw on his way over to the Scavenger inside the Phantom

Before it could move Harvest put the barrel of the shotgun directly to its head

"I'm going to ask a series of questions" he said bluntly, "The first one: Where the hell are my friends?"

[…]

Daniels had made it to the front of the Scavenger, the ship was about half the size of a halcyon class cruiser, and several massive dents and burns showed its experiences as of late

"It appears as if the Scavenger's entrances have been sealed." Tatyana said, "It would be possible to sneak into one of the ejected escape pod launch bays."

"This is going to be a nice little fun climb" Daniels smiled slightly

The dents in the ship's hull made it easy to get somewhat of a firm grip, the ODST knew that Harvest will have killed the Flood by now, superheated plasma always was pretty effective

Once he got to an escape pod launch bay, he could see the town even better than when he was on top of the library, the town was being patrolled by those bugs, but now they seemed to be converging towards the Scavenger

Daniels shook his head slowly and entered the ship, he'd meet up with Harvest inside

The dark corridors of the ship seemed slightly fitting given the situation, the same strange slime was getting more frequent the further he went into the ships depths

The bridge would be the best destination, it was nearby the weapons testing room and would easily be the most logical spot for the enemy to hole up

"I'm getting strange readings, I don't think we've encountered life like this before." Tatyana warned, "Your guns may not work on them."

"I'll fire a few rounds, see how that does." Daniels smirked slightly

[…]

Harvest closed the doors to the weapons testing room, he had the information he needed, but the bug-thing would make a decent hostage if he ever had to

Harvest didn't like taking prisoners, it wasn't something he was used to, it was always shoot first ask questions later

A length of rope was tied around its neck, and it was sort of like walking a dog, a horribly deformed and insect like dog

He decided that Daniels would have gotten inside the ship already, but he decided to secure the bridge

The doors to the bridge were seemingly untouched, but the corridor around it was practically dripping with slime

Harvest leveled his shotgun, punched in the code on the door and it slid open, the creature seemed to react, and backed away in a sort of terrified manner

Harvest let the rope slide off his wrist, he didn't want to deal with anything like that at the moment, but the bug seemingly said something before it slid into the darkness

"Infestation…Follow the Queen…"

Now good ol' Benjamin wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but he set up a visual COMM with Daniels, so he would know what was going on

"I'm going in" Harvest said, "See you in hell."

"I would tell you to not go inside" Daniels said, "But I can tell you wouldn't listen to me."

"Don't do anything stupid while you're in there." A female voice said, "We don't need any less firepower."

Harvest shrugged it off, shoot first and ask questions later, then he went inside the bridge

[…]

The bridge had several of those strange glowing pods, a few of the Flood infection form pods were hanging on the ceiling

"Somebody call an exterminator?" Harvest quipped

The captain's chair swung around, and Harvest nearly gagged at what he saw

It looked like a larger version of the bug things, except it had several Flood infection forms feeding off of it

"Sweet Jesus" Daniels said over the COMM, "What the hell is that thing?"

"I am…Queen…Chrysalis of the…Changelings…" it, SHE, sounded like she was in immense pain

And being taken by the Flood usually did, or so Harvest had naturally assumed

"Get those things off of her" the female voice said again, "We can ask questions later."

"Tatyana's right, we need to take this ship back before those things get inside." Daniels ordered

Harvest wasn't sure how to go about this, he usually would've fired his shotgun, but he was specifically told not to damage this thing unless vital

He walked up, the Flood sacks moved slightly, he'd have to be quick

Before he could do anything he was suddenly launched backwards, and he slammed into the doors of the bridge

Pain spider-webbed across his back, Harvest struggled to his feet and leveled his shotgun, firing several shells

The doors to the bridge had locked, he would have to figure out a way out of here, that way would have to be by shooting most likely

He fired off two more shells, then he heard the empty chamber click

He grabbed the gun, and forgot the ammo, what was wrong with him?

He braced himself as a the creature poised to assault, a bright flash enveloped the room, and Harvest was gone