HELLDIVERS:The Chance Meeting

Citizen Soldier

Helldivers that had been stuck aboard the UNSC's ships due to medical needs had been given a surprisingly free-reign access of the ship itself. Farkas hobbled on one good leg, his other being in a cast, plus two metal crutches as he moved down the hall in nothing but his BDU and cape. The Appalachia's crew had been unsurprisingly silent since their return aboard with what was once one of the UNSC's own Marines, now an Automaton resisting its programming. Were it up to Farkas, he would've put the poor former woman out of her misery, but-

He cut off as he approached the mess hall, where he found a gathered crowd of UNSC Marines around a massive television display. He slowly moved forward to join the crowd as he saw a news programme running. Footage showing the battles down on Malevelon, filmed by UNSC Reporters attached with planetside units, painted a grim picture of what was left of the two Earths' defenses of the Dark Planet. Malevelon would certainly fall within the next couple of days. Despite propaganda, that was what was being heard up and down the Grapevine.

Farkas couldn't blame any of the men and women fighting on the Creek. The place was Hell, rather obviously, so any images taken to show the kind of crap people were going through would be useful. He stepped up and noticed Alessia there, too, nursing a broken arm from one of the latest ops. She turned and snapped a salute at the Chief, who saluted back and nodded to her to be at ease.

The Headline below, on that blue stripe news channels usually have on screen, read AUTOMATON BATTLEFRONT:MALEVELON CREEK DEFENSES HEAVILY ASSAILED just as an image of a UNSC Marine hauling a Jackhammer rocket launcher appeared. Both tubes were fired in quick succession toward an Automaton turret tower just as it was traversing toward the unit, all while Automaton Drop Ships deployed reinforcements for the Outpost in the background.

Then, the image changed to bodybags next to landed UNSC Dropships and their own Pelican pilots' craft. The writing below now changed, reading HEAVY CASUALTIES:ARE THE DEAD BEING STOLEN BY THE AUTOMATA? only for murmurs to start. As music played, however, the Marines quieted each-other down and stared as images from within the News Channel's studio played, the futuristic-looking background slightly obscured by the beautiful red-haired woman sat at the desk. Her name was apparently Lorena McCoy.

Lorena, news anchor for the UNSC's Channel 7 news, began to speak, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Lorena McCoy with Channel 7 News. As you're joining us tonight, our brave men and women fight alongside our newfound sibling nation's finest in the quagmire of a hellish world. The Super Earth Federation's request for assistance was answered almost two weeks ago by the UNSC Marine Corps and the Navy Task Groups transporting them. News from the front, however, seems almost dire. The Automaton War Machine does not fear, does not tire, does not concern itself with casualties it can just rebuild. It's what our forces have faced on the daily."

She sighed deeply, then said, "And in even more acts of brutality, what they do to both our peoples seems like further insult. Please, beware, you may find the images you are about to see disturbing," before turning to a screen. Though censored, the images of the Automaton Outposts containing men and women in cages, the operating tables and the various 'discarded' parts of humans, considered not necessary by the machines, dropped in bins. A few scoffs and murmurs of anger spread across the gathered UNSC members in the mess, while Lorena spoke grimly, "These grisly sights are being found all over Malevelon and other planets our most recent arriving fleets have reinforced."

The woman then leaned forward as her image reappeared on screen, the slideshow of censored, yet still gruesome imagery minimized to her left. She stared into the camera and spoke, "Currently, the reinforcements sent to assist on the front seem to be insufficient, with Malevelon rumored to be close to falling to the Automaton Armed Forces, though it is unknown how true these rumors are. Regardless, the Unified Earth Government's parliamentary session to decide on an expansion of intervention within the SEF's conflicts is ongoing and-" She paused and put her hand up to her ear, stating, "Stand by... We have breaking news, coming live from the government building in Sydney. The President is addressing the whole of the UEG after the vote was cast."