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Civilian Assault by ONI_operative_343
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Civilian Assault, pt. One- The Beginning
Date: 14 February 2004, 9:01 PM
year: 2553, exact day/time: unknown
The Longsword bomber raced over top of Jon's hiding place in the abandoned apartment complex, drowning out the weapons fire in the streets below. He stole a glance out the window and saw that there were two of them, and they had just dropped some kind of missiles at the alien's cannon tower. Forgetting that a Covenant sniper could take him out at any time, Jon stared at the tower and the shielded his eyes as it went up in a massive explosion of fire and plasma. Once the bombers raced off, Jon began to notice the rifle and plasma fire on the streets below once again. He glanced at the alien to the far right of his view just in time to see it's head get smashed in by another alien. Wait, that wasn't an alien, he thought... its... A SPARTAN! Jon had heard the rumors, everyone had. He didn't know much about the chief, except he was kicking some major ass down there. He had to stop himself from calling out to him, in case he drew the enemies' fire towards his position. After a few more seconds the aliens were slaughtered by the chief and a bunch of soldiers, ODST's, in black armor. Jon thought they looked similar to the green Spartan out in front. Then he noticed a small group of regular soldiers up on the patio that had once been an outdoor food court area. They were all clustered around something, probably a dead alien, thought Jon. He turned back towards the room he was hiding in, his old apartment. He grabbed his backpack and dumped his college textbooks on the floor. Hey, I might get outta payin back the loan he thought grimly. He proceeded towards his dresser, and began loading the backpack with extra clothes. Two pairs of jeans, a few t-shirts, as many pairs of socks as he could find, and some un-matched ones, too. Next, the closet: one pair of work boots that didn't fit he tossed, but he grabbed a long sleeve shirt and a hoody. Right before he shut the doors Jon noticed his gym bag: water bottle, sweats, and his running shoes. He grabbed that too. On his way past the bathroom he tossed his toothbrush and deodorant into the gym bag also. He crossed the hall into the dinning/kitchen area, grabbed the flashlight that was charging in the electrical outlet, and began to raid the pantry. All Jon found were a few candy and granola bars, a bag of chips, and some warm, un-opened soda cans. The fridge was even worse; a few cans of beer (he passed on those, thought he better keep his senses up), some cold pizza, which he took a minute to eat, and some milk, along with other worthless items of food he couldn't take. After he finished the pizza he stood up and piled the meager food items into his now stuffed backpack. After taking one last look around his apartment, he grabbed a key, like I'll need it, he thought, opened his door, and stepped into the darkened hallway.
Sergeant Banks doubled over as soon as he handed the MC his weapons. The plasma had burned through the sides of his armor, tearing and burning his flesh, too. He knew a guy that had taken a shot to the stomach a few years back, before the damned aliens showed up, and he was imaging that this was what it felt like. The gunfire was slowly drifting away, followed by the occasional explosion. His vision was blurred, but Banks could see a group of Marines standing over him, shouting something. One man tried to life him, as he felt his arms hoist him up from his armpits, he knew he wasn't going to make it. Very slowly, the light slipped from his vision, like someone shutting the door to block out the sunlight from the world beyond...
"Shit! Rifle's jammed!" Pvt. Stewart flung his rifle towards the ground.
"C'mon damnit! Why won't you DIE?!" Shouted the Marine to his left, a man who wasn't in his company. Stewart thought his name was Wright, but he wasn't sure. Wright was trying to lodge a shot in the Jackal in front of his position, but kept hitting the creature's shield. Stewart unlatched the M6D in his sidearm holder and opened fire on the Jackal, flanking it. Distracted, the Jackal tried to turn but was taken down. Hearing more aliens approach, Stewart slammed the last two bullet's into the alien's dead carcass, loaded a fresh clip, and opened fire on the Grunt that was advancing around the corner. One shot landed in the alien's arm, causing it to drop the grenade it was about to throw. A second shot miss the alien's throat by a few centimeters, hit the hose that ran from it's breather to the methane tank on it's back, and ruptured the hose. The alien lurched to the side, paused for a second, then was ripped to shreds and practically vaporized as the grenade went of under it's feet. A dead Jackal flew over the low wall the Grunt had come from, and landed with a thud and splash of purple blood next to Wright, spraying him.
"Ahh hell," he said, "there's gotta be more of 'em!"
Sure enough, a group of five Grunts turned the corner at once, followed closely by two Jackals. Stewart pulled the pin on his last frag, and let it fly as Wright opened fire with his Battle Rifle. Two Grunts dove behind the Jackal's shields. The explosion detonated, taking out the three orange Grunts out front, and disabling the Jackal's shields. They turned to run, but were cut down by Stewart and Wright. A stray bullet from Stewart's pistol lodged itself in one of the Grunt's methane tanks, and the alien exploded. Purple and blue alien blood flew at them, as did several dead bodies.
"And my mom thought I was gonna be a doctor! HA!" Laughed Wright.
"C'mon, lets get the hell outta here."
"What? You wanna call the dropship? Or maybe the Covies can give us a lift." Wright grinned at his sarcastic comment.
"Screw this. I'm bailing before more of them show. You can stay or come, don't matter to me." Stewart bent down, grabbed a spare clip of M6D ammo from a fallen comrade, and searched the debris of the last battle for another Battle Rifle. Wright just starred at him, and swore under his breath. Finding another working rifle, Stewart looked up.
"Yes?"
"Sure. I'm comin, don't worry."
Stewart shook his head and holstered his sidearm. He slammed a fresh clip into the Battle Rifle, then turned back to his new partner.
"So, which way?" He asked.
"How about the Ando Prim-" Wright stopped mid sentence. Stewart flung around to see what had captivated his attention. He scanned the area and didn't see any aliens. He glanced back at Wright, and caught his gaze looking up. Slowly, Stewart turned back around.
Holding position above the city was a Covenant Cruiser. It landed in-system a few days ago, but Stewart didn't know where it was. It made sense that it had arrived in Earthcity. Suddenly, a bright light dropped from the sky near the ship. WTF, he thought. We didn't hit it, did we? Sure enough, more lights fell. They aint hitting the cruiser... so they aint our missiles thought Stewart. They look like...
"...Insertion Pods." Wright finished his thought for him out loud.
Suddenly, the ground shook beneath their feet, like a small, car-sized meteorite had impacted. Startled, they both dove for cover behind a burned out car. Stewart dared to peak out, and what he saw made his stomach lurch. A pod had broken open, maybe 30 ft. in front of him, and steam was billowing from it. Oh, and a snarling black armored Elite had just activated it's plasma sword, looking for victims.
Civilian Assault, pt. Two- Beginning of a Suicide Mission
Date: 26 March 2004, 1:18 AM
Civilian Assault, pt. Two- Beginning of a Suicide Mission
year: 2553, exact day/time: 15 minutes after alien drop-pod landings
Wright blinked once, twice. Him and Stewart had been sitting still for what seemed like an hour, waiting for the snarling Elite to move. It hadn't. Wright was about to explode if something didn't happen; he was losing his cool. He could see Stewart on his left, peering through the cracked windows of the car, trying to see where the Elite was. It had circled the pod, then went back inside and called to something on some sort of radio... Backup? Wright asked himself. And indeed it was. Another Special Ops. Elite emerged from the alley the two Marines were previously attacked from; it kicked a dead, charred Grunt out of its way as it advanced. Luckily, this one hadn't noticed either Marine, too.
They sat, watching. Both Elites had de-activated their swords, and were standing there talking. Wright could here every part but understood nothing. Suddenly, the pod buzzed with some evil noise, like nails being scrapped across a chalkboard, but more alien. An ear-splitting, alien static. Wright jumped at the sound... and brought his elbow back down on a broken piece of glass. The remaining shard shattered, causing both Elites to swing their heads around.
Stewart was panicking. They had heard that idiot Wright. He had to escape, fast. But there was no way out. He peered through the car window just in time to see the Elites activate their plasma swords again. The new Elite crouched down, scanned the area, and then waved the other forward. The first Elite nodded, then advanced on the left. Right towards Stewart. He was going to freak and run... maybe he could outrun the... when Wright burst from his hiding place and took off.
Wright knew he was going to die anyway. Better to do it on his own terms was his way of thinking. He bolted past the wrecked car and Stewart and down a side alley, not the same one all the aliens had come from. Wright was just sliding the bolt back on his weapon when a hot, during sensation tore into his armor, tossing him to the ground. He fell next to a dead grunt, blood still leaking from its mouth. He looked back to see the mandibles of a Spec. Ops. roaring at him, sword raised. He tried to stand up and swore he heard the alien laugh at his pathetic attempts. Suddenly the second one jumped down from the roof it was following on. Trapped he thought... but before the first alien took it's fatal swing, Wright had already pulled the in on his last frag.
Stewart heard the explosion seconds after Wright had taken off. Most likely the Elites had killed him. Stewart, however, was really unaffected. Other then losing an extra gun in a firefight, he didn't care much about Wright. He was on the edge and likely to get them both killed. Luckily, his stunt had bought Stewart some time. He grabbed his stuff and took off in the opposite direction, unsure exactly where he was headed.
Jon watched in horror as the grenade exploded under the Marine. The soldier was instantly killed, but Jon was astonished that the aliens weren't. The one closest to the blast doubled over, clutching its left side, and the other appeared unaffected; its armor was shimmering with some silvery liquid. Some sort of shield thought Jon. Not even a second later another explosion went off; Jon didn't even have time to blink. A smaller, dead alien next to the warriors suddenly exploded like a time bomb. The injured Elite was killed instantly. The second black armored one was tossed to the ground. Its shield appeared to be broken, and it was panting heavily. Its sword was tossed from its hand and slid towards Jon's hiding spot in the burned out building. Before it reached him, however, it disappeared, like it had evaporated.
Jon wasn't sure what to do. Half of him wanted to run up and crush the Elite, but mainly he wanted to get away from it, fast. He turned to run just in time to see what looked like a Covenant bus drive out the alley to his far left.
Yeppka Mark'que had just been promoted to a Major for surviving the battle that took place when the Covenant landed. His squad alone had taken out three of the Human soldiers, and a lucky grenadier in Yeppka's squad managed to land a plasma grenade on a critical part of one of the Human's tanks. The poor fellow didn't survive the encounter, but neither did the Scorpion or its troops. So when he saw the lone, defenseless Human lined up directly in his sights, Yeppka didn't hesitate to fire the Shade.
Stewart jumped onto the dumpster, pulled himself over the fence, and dropped into the alley. He jogged to the street, then cautiously peered out. Plasma fire could be heard in the distance, followed but the occasional BRAPP BRAPP of the Helljumper's weapons. He heard a dull thump, followed by a small explosion. Artillery he thought.
The street Stewart was on seemed clear enough. He waited a few more seconds then dashed across to the next alley. Dead end; he bolted back, turned left around a large office building, and tried the other side passage. This one was wide, at least large enough to fit a dump-truck through; maybe even a Scorpion MBT. But Stewart froze in his tracks; right in front of him was a Covenant vehicle. Luckily, they hadn't seen him. He watched as the craft floated out to the next street and breathed a sigh of relief it wasn't moving towards him. He was just about to look away and run when he saw the gun turret swivel. Damn Grunt must've spotted somethin... Shit... He swore crazily, took a deep breath, then leveled his Battle Rifle. This is suicide... he thought, and pulled the trigger.
Civilian Assault, pt. Three- Unexpected Air Support
Date: 31 March 2004, 3:07 AM
Civilian Assault, pt. Three- Unexpected Air Support
year: 2553, exact day/time: sunset over Earthcity
Yeppka Mark'que felt the bullet slam into his shoulder. Another tore into his chest from the side, and another ripped a gapping hole in his methane tank. For some odd reason it didn't detonate, but regardless, the Grunt was dead. It fell out of the vehicle-mounted shade and slammed onto the hard pavement below. The Grunt in the driver's seat tried to escape, but Stewart's bullets soon found their way into his body, too. He slumped over, dead at the controls. The Covenant craft nose-dived to the street and slid a few feet on the pavement, scrapping the alien metal along the street with a wicked noise. Doubtless, everything in the area had heard that.
Jon watched as the alien fell out of the gun, and it swiveled around, operator-less, to the front of the craft. He saw gunfire to his left, from the same alley the craft had emerged from. Seconds later, the Covenant 'bus' dropped to the ground, no longer hovering, and slid along the street. It made a loud, eerie grinding noise, which scarred Jon out of is shock. He ducked behind an abandoned car, took a deep breath, then called out.
"Hello?" he called nervously, in the direction of the alley. "Don't shoot; is anyone there?"
Wright heard something, a voice. Not the growls and barks of the Grunts or the gurgling-like speak of the Elites, but a Human voice. He called out, too.
"Where are you? Do you need help?"
To which the voice responded, "I'm out here, near that... thing. There's no more of 'em."
Wright reloaded his Battle Rifle and cautiously stepped out of the alley and into the street. To his right he saw the Covenant's intended victim: Wright had found a civilian survivor.
"Thank you, for stopping them."
Wright laughed. "It was no problem. Are you sure you're ok?"
Jon nodded his head in the affirmative. "What should we do now? I'm sure they heard that."
A wide grin appeared on Wright's face. "Wanna go for a ride?" he asked, as he jerked his thumb towards the Covenant craft.
"This is Lt. Eriksen. How you guys doin down there? Over." Lt. James Eriksen clicked off his COM radio. He tapped the joystick of his Longsword slightly to the right, dodging a plasma torpedo by mere inches. "It's gettin pretty hot up here, over."
The Banshee that had just fired it's Fuel Rod Cannon was hot on the Lt.'s tail. It launched a stream of heated plasma after Eriksen's ship, and followed him into his inverted dive. Eriksen pulled out and rolled the Longsword to the left.
"Red 5, this is Red 3. That bitch is still hot on you, over." Eriksen's wingman, Lt. Morack said. "I'm comin up on your six. Hit the air brake in three, two..."
Eriksen pulled up on his fighter and slammed on the brakes. The Banshee pilot kept going right beneath him, but not for long. Morack dropped in behind the Banshee and let loose an AGSM-II missile.
"HAHA! To hell with ya!" he hollered as the missile streaked towards its target. The Elite in the Banshee tried to dodge it, but his sluggish fighter was no match. The AGSM-II slammed into the Banshee's tail, killing the pilot instantly. The crippled machine plunged to the ground below but was stopped mid-fall by a large skyscraper. It slammed into the building, and seconds later the structure was collapsing.
"Uhhhh... let's hope everyone e-vac'd... command ain't gonna be happy, eh?" asked Morack.
Eriksen swore. "Not much they can do now." He paused to look around the cockpit and out the large windows. Just as he was enjoying the ending of the sunset, one thing on Earth the Covenant hadn't destroyed, his radar chirped once; twice. "Red 3, you readin that? Over."
Morack glanced at his radar console. "Yea buddy, 6 of em, comin in fast. This is gonna be a busy day, over."
Wright was getting the hang of piloting the Covenant transport. He had read files on how to pilot Covenant craft; in fact, his unit had practiced for a week with a few captured Covenant Ghosts at a secret ONI facility in California. To the best of his knowledge, half of the Western United States was glassed, so the facility was more then likely destroyed, too. But that didn't mean his skills at alien machinery were lost with it. He took a hard right and followed the road he was on for about 3 miles before running into a dead end. He wasn't familiar with Earthcity; his squad had just dropped in about a week before, and Wright had no idea where he was, or where he was trying to go. Luckily, Jon was with him.
"Ok, go back a few blocks, then we'll turn right when we hit the MetroChem building."
Wright nodded, then swung the craft around. They hadn't gone three blocks before plasma erupted in the air around them. Jon hung onto the side handles in the middle section, and Wright hunkered down in the front and tried to show as little of himself as possible, without hampering his ability to drive. They both franticly looked for the source of the shots, all while Wright gave the vehicle more throttle. Suddenly a huge crater appeared in the street in front of them, and another to the side. Jon looked up just in time to see the Covenant ship open its cargo doors, and ready its massive cannon for another salvo of heated death.
Great, Phantoms! thought Wright. He had also read the ONI files on these ships: They were still being deployed in what seemed like test groups on Earth. Normal dropships usually accompanied them, since no military personnel had seen a Wraith or Ghost flown in by one of the beasts. Not that it wasn't possible though; Wright just didn't know. Typically, Brutes were the sole residents of these carriers. They would hurl themselves out of the back of the ship's cargo bay and into the ranks of troops below. Wright was unsure about the Brutes, too. All he had heard were stories of wounded soldiers... and not many survived to share the encounter. Wright recalled one story... One man's spine was snapped in half, as was the entire left side of his body, and half the time he was between unconscious and insane. When the doctor at Wright's camp managed to calm him, he had asked what had happened. The man's eyes glassed over, and he stuttered, "Big... monkey..." then passed out. The next day he was dead from internal bleeding. The Brute had tossed him around like a rag doll.
Most troops laughed; how bad could a Covenant gorilla be? That was, until they saw them. And right now, Wright was freaked.
Something else caught Jon attention besides the flying bringer of death that was keeping pace above them. A small comet appeared to have struck the MetroChem tower, their intended waypoint about four blocks away. He wasn't sure what the hell it was, but it destroyed the tower. It was collapsing; racing to the pavement below.
"Oh shit..." he muttered.
The Elite at the controls of the Phantom saw it too late. A human fighter had just shot down one of his own kind's Banshees. But his orders were to clear the streets, which was what he was doing. He had spotted the Humans in the stolen transport, and would soon clear them from existence. He had fired his cannons, but the Humans had managed to evade his shots. Reluctantly, he opened the cargo doors to unleash the Brutes... if he didn't there would be trouble. And lately he had heard rumors of the Prophets playing favorites... he wanted to live to fight another day, so he didn't question orders. But just as he pressed the button, he noticed the building in front of him collapsing. He tried to turn, but it was too late. He closed his eyes and braced for impact, mentally preparing him for the paradise that awaited.
Wright and Jon saw it all happen in slow motion. The building rushing to ground level, the Phantom getting caught and smashed under debris, and the huge chunks of metal that now rained down near them, threatening to crush them too. He swung the Covie transport around in a U-turn, the let loose as much speed as the craft had in the other direction. They were almost home free when a large hunk of metal slammed into the back of the craft, pushing it down and to the left. Something sizzled then cracked, Probably the anti-grav drive guessed Jon. The transport hit the ground and skidded along at top speed. Wright wrestled with the controls, but it was no use. They were going to crash. Well, I tried... was his last thought before the transport connected violently with another building.
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