Halo: 3rd Armored Cavalry Division by HunterKiller
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Halo: 3rd Armored Cavalry Division 1
Date: 20 April 2003, 3:43 AM
Halo: 3rd Armored Cavalry Division 1
Location: U.N.S.C. Warbringer, holding orbit over Covenant Colony Inis'moor
Captain Thomas Warner awoke from sleep hearing a voice come over the comm. System "All armored division officers report to the main control room immediately."
That was his call. Warner got up and slipped into his uniform, pinned on his badges, buckled up his pistol belt and put on his cap. Warner ran over to the door pressed a button on the control panel to the side, and ran through into the corridor. He took a left turn and ran down it. The corridor was one hundred meters down, at the very end there was a sign hanging above the door that said MAIN CONTROL. Warner went through this and assembled next to a group of twenty other officers.
After a minute, General Jackson walked into the room and stood in front of them. All the officers threw up their hands next to their faces, in the normal U.N.S.C. salute.
"At ease, gentleman." He said. "I have awoken you at this early hour because we're going to land on this planet that the Covenant call Inis'moor," he said staring out the main view screen. "And try to either capture, or kill, preferably capture, the three Covenant prophets that reports say are on this planet. You'll be the armored escort for the infantry squads led by Captain Benjamin L. Morris, and Master Chief John 117." At the sound of the name Benjamin L. Morris, their eyes grew wide. Ben Morris held of a boarding party on the U.N.S.C. Thunderbird three years ago. Along with the help of Master chief John 117 they defended the Thunderbird for three days before it finally crashed onto the Gamma Halo that they successfully destroyed.
"Now," he continued, "when we reach the atmosphere your Scorpion X2 tanks will be loaded into the drop ships that you'll be riding in. Now are there any questions."
"Sir," said one of the Officers. "What direction will we proceed when we touch down."
"Well, I can only tell you to follow the Marines. I'll be giving the officers a full briefing at 0300 hours. That's in half an hour. Now get to your tanks."
The officers saluted. The general saluted back and they walked off the bridge. Once back in the corridor, Warner ran down to the other end of the corridor, followed by two other tank captains. They reached the other side, took an elevator to deck twenty and walked into the tank hanger.
The tank hangar was a large rectangular room with tanks outlining the walls, and two rows down the middle leaving a rectangle that you drive the tanks into and get loaded up onto a dropship. He turned to his right and walked over to the first Scorpion X2 tank in a neat row of twelve. This one was his. The Scorpion X2 was an upgraded version of the Scorpion, it resembled the old Scorpion, but the cannon was now 140mm instead of 90mm. There was room for four on each side now, and had a LAAG Machine gun behind the main cannon. The main cannon had two 40mm Vulcans strapped to it now. And to complete the touch, Warner had a sticker below the driver's seat that said, "If you can read this you're too fuckin' close."
Warner climbed onto the tank and hopped into the driver's seat. He closed the hatch and turned in the cab light, he pressed a little green button that brought up a holographic screen in front of him; this was how the driver would see out. Being able to not have any open spots gave extra protection to the driver. He turned on the engine and listened to the tank revv up "Ah. Music to my ears." He said aloud. He turned on the weapons system, and a blue cursor appeared on his screen. He stepped on the right pedal and pulled out of the holding area, and parked in the center rectangle. He shut down the tank and hopped out to wait for his crew and dropship.
Not long afterwards his crew came in fully loaded with MD6 pistols and MA5B Assault rifles. The hangar began to fill with the sounds of tank engines, doors opening and closing, men scurrying about, shells being loaded and Blast Doors opening. The blast doors were situated on the roof, which was where dropships were coming through. Each dropship could carry two tanks, two crew and twenty passengers. Too put it short, the crew and two tank teams-that was the name of a tank's crew and passengers.
Thomas Warner hopped back into the tank and drove it into the dropship's under carriage. Once in he hopped out walked down the hallway that held the tanks, opened the sliding door and walked through into the cabin. His team was already in, so was the second, the second was just waiting for their captain to show up. Warner took a seat on the right side of the cabin; pulled a package of Hawkwind cigarettes out of his pocket placed it in his mouth, lit it and started enjoying. He really appreciated the man who made cigarettes not unhealthy-due to bad lungs- by taking the ingredients, and replaced them with tabac. The plant was a close relative of the tobacco plant and didn't have the harmful chemicals in it. As for the Hawkwind brand that was new, it was only made a year before.
Soon the Captain of the second team arrived, took a seat. Next they new the ship was off the ground and out of the hangar and into space.
To Be Continued . . .
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