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Sarges Platoon by Bobby Lucas
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Sarges Platoon (Chapter 1)
Date: 24 November 2002, 6:36 pm
LOCATION: UNSC HALCYON-CLASS CRUISER: PILLAR OF AUTUMN / UNKNOWN STAR SYSTEM
TIME: UNKNOWN (Approx. 10 minutes before evacuation) CHAPTER 1: The Pillar of Autumn
SECTION 1: The Hangar Private Chris Robbins has just entered hanger bay number 12. He had never seen covenant face to face before. He was hoping the stories of the elites weren't true, he had heard that they had an energy shield that can't be penetrated, and were 8 feet tall! He said a silent prayer to himself, but that was interrupted by Cortana over the loudspeakers.
"Attention all combat personnel. Please report to your action stations. Fifth Platoon, secure airlocks on Deck Eleven. Fourteenth Platoon, rendezvous with 22nd Tactical at Bulkhead Charlie 14."
"You heard the lady. Move like you got a purpose." said Sarge. Then the marines fell in, including Chris. "Men, here is where we show those split-chin squid-head sons of bitches that they could not have picked a worse enemy than the human race. We are going to blow the hell out of those dumb bugs until we don't have anything left to shoot 'em with! And then, we are going to strangle them with their own-living-guts!" Sarge thought, I'd rather die myself than see more of these men die in battle. But then he snapped himself out of it. "Am I right, Marines?!"
"Sir, yes Sir!!!"
"Mmm hmm...Damn right I am! Now move it out! Double time!" Chris' platoon was ordered to secure the lifeboat airlocks near the bridge, and probably see the most combat. As he was running out of the hangar Cortana came over the loud speakers again.
"Attention all personnel. We are re-engaging the enemy. External and internal contacts imminent."
"All you greenhorns who wanted to see Covenant up close, this is gonna be your lucky day!" Sarge said as he began to walk out of the hangar. SECTION 2: The Master Chief Chris' platoon was racing down the long corridor.
"Stop!" shouted the platoon leader. "Shhh..." The entire ship rocked. It was too small too small to be a plasma torpedo. But the announcement over the loudspeakers answered their unasked questions.
"Fire teams: sensors show inbound Covenant boarding craft. Stand by to repel boarders."
It wasn't long before Chris first saw the Covenant, Three Grunts with one Elite. Chris immediately opened fire on the Elite, completely taking it by surprise. The over shield glowed a bright blue color; Chris just kept shooting at it, depleting the shield. As the Elite dropped to the ground he felt invincible.
"Good job, Chris!" said Sam, and Nate, and they patted him on the back. Chris, Sam, and Nate were brothers. They swore never to let each other die. They felt great after their first kill, a sense of 'There not so tough'. It was a false sense of security that may cost them in the future. As the elite fell Chris' eye caught something. It looked human, only he never seen that type of armor before. It was a suit of full body armor. It looked like the ones he seen on Reach during his training. The person, or what ever it was followed another marine into the mess hall. Chris realized he still needed to get to the airlocks, so he yelled, "Are we going to stand here all day?" Then the squad leader, Corporal Stebbins proceeded to lead the team down the hallway to the airlocks. Only the Covenant has got there first. Nate, Sam, and Corporal Stebbins engaged them while the rest of the squad was engaging the covenant in the adjacent hallway. Chris and the rest of the squad killed 4 grunts, but when the Master Chief showed up the entire covenant army fell dead! Then a large explosion shook the entire ship.
"What the hell?" cried Chris "Did something just hit us?"
"Move it! Back to the airlock!" yelled Private Walsh. Chris didn't need to be told twice he ran over to a lifeboat airlock he saw Nate and Sam stacked up at the door.
The Door was blown off in a massive explosion killing both of them.
"NO!!!" Screamed Chris, he started firing wildly into the covenant pouring out of the door. The Master Chief ran into the boarding pod mopping up the rest of the covenant that stayed inside. Private Walsh put his hand on Chris' shoulder. "I'm sorry, man..."
Chris bent over Sam's body and pulled out the video chip stored in his combat helmet... SECTION 3: Evacuation "Combat teams on decks five through nine, fall back to secondary defensive positions." Keyes said over the loudspeaker. Chris wondered why the Captain was over the loudspeakers instead of Cortana. But he had bigger things on his mind now.
"Chris...Chris? Look man I know you feel bad, but that won't save them or you! We got to get to a lifeboat, NOW!"
"Save yourself... I got bigger things on my mind!"
"CHRIS!!!" Walsh screamed "WE HAVE TO GET OFF THIS SHIP!!! IN TEN MINUTES THIS PILE OF JUNK WILL EXPLODE AND EVERYTHING ON BOARD WILL DIE ANYWAY!!!"
Chris noticed some fighting down the hall where they came from. He started that way. Leaving Walsh behind. Walsh knew there was nothing he could say that would stop him. He started down in the opposite direction
"Ops personnel on decks nine through twelve report to evac stations now." Said Keyes
He saw the carnage of a battle that just took place. He knew that the Master Chief was here.
"All hands, this is the Captain, prepare to abandon ship. Combat teams, repel boarders until Ops personnel are away. Good luck. Keyes out." He knew there wasn't much time left so he sprinted down the corridor, until he saw one of his friends.
"Hey Luke! Where's your squad?" Luke shook his head slowly "damn..."
"Tony let's get out of here!"
"Here ya on that! They were running down the hall following the signs of battle: blood, bodies, bullet holes... "Tony, what the hell happened?"
"Covenant" Then they came across a battle, Covenant and humans were battling on a mezzanine above them. They raced up a staircase and joined the fighting. After the battle they ran out of the room. They then came to a curve in the hallway. Luke peered around a corner. He saw 7 grunts, 3 Elites, and a Jackal. He said "Way too many."
"I got two grenades left. How about you?"
"Four"
"Take out two, I'll do the same." The grenades were rigged so that even if the pin was pulled they would only go off if you let go of them. "Pull the pins."
"Got it. I'll throw mine to the right, you throw yours to the left. Okay? 1...2...3!
"EAT THIS YOU SONS OF BITCHES!!!" The grenades exploded killing every thing.
"Look! There are two pods left!"
"Hurry! The blast doors are closing, and more covenant coming! As the two get in the bumble bee escape pod they get themselves strapped in with other marines. The Sergeant was in there too. As the lifeboat launches Luke finally noticed him.
"Hey Sarge," Luke said, "You see Chris?"
"No, wasn't he with you?"
"He said go alone, I guess losing Sam, and Nate was too much for him..."
"Were disengaged, entering the ring's atmosphere in 30 seconds." The pilot said
"Where's the rest of the squad?"
"There dead."
"Brace yourselves, landing in 5...4...3...2...1........................" To be continued...
Sarges Platoon (Chapter 2)
Date: 28 November 2002, 8:29 pm
LOCATION: ABANDONED RING-WORLD / UNKNOWN STAR SYSTEM
TIME: 0930 HOURS SEPTEMBER 1, 2552 (Military Calendar) CHAPTER 2: Ship-Wrecked
SECTION 1: Impossible odds
The pod had stopped. Everyone seemed okay, except a few who died instantly, including the pilot. The door opened. The Sergeant got out first, and gave an all-clear sign. Everyone stepped out. And looked around, but before they could survey their surroundings the Sergeant shouted "Take cover, dropship inbound!" They all ran for cover but it was too late, the aliens got out and started shooting at everyone. Luke pulled out his Assault rifle and started shooting at anything he could. Many of the Techs fled into the tower and tried to shoot them from there. They were greatly out-matched. He tried to drown out the screams of the people who were hit. He knew he was done for. Then all of a sudden, it seemed like an angel has just waved her arms and destroyed half of their army. Then he looked, the Master Chief was standing there, just shooting at a red elite. He elite fell immediately, and blood stained the ground. That was the last of them.
"Heads up! I got a covenant drop ship headin' in, over here!" yelled Luke. The laser from the dropship took aim at several people, killing them, or fatally burning them. Most of the people were near the landing site. As the sides opened, they all opened fire. There were too many and most of the marines retreated into the structure. Those who didn't, got killed. Except the Master Chief. He killed them easily. Blood stained the battlefield. Bodies were scattered everywhere. Then another dropship came in.
SECTION 2: Crash landing
LOCATION: UNSC HALCYON-CLASS CRUISER: PILLAR OF AUTUMN / UNKNOWN STAR SYSTEM
TIME: 0940 HOURS SEPTEMBER 1, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Chris was engaging several grunts, smearing their blood all over the walls. When they fell, he went down the hall to join a fight down the hall. For some reason, less covenant has been showing up. Most of the halls have blood smeared all over them. After a battle you couldn't tell weather the blood was from the alien they had just killed or from the body right next to it or anything. Chris was determined to kill, and get revenge for his brothers. But after he saw a red elite retreating back into a boarding pod, he knew the ship was going to crash. With no covenant to kill, he just waited, waited for death.
"All hands, brace yourselves for impact!" screamed Keyes over the intercom. Chris ducked into a corner and shielded himself in case a piece of flying debris hit him. As the ship began shaking he thought, "Was there ever a way to save them?" The ship shook violently now. The rifles were flying up and down. The Autumn was now just a few miles above the desert plateau, and was falling at a tremendous speed...
SECTION 3: Fallen comrades
LOCATION: ABANDONED RING-WORLD / UNKNOWN STAR SYSTEM
TIME: 0945 HOURS SEPTEMBER 1, 2552 (Military Calendar) "Uh oh, another bandit droppin' in behind us! They're tryin' to flank us!" The battle raged of for at least five minutes. Only a few remained; Private Luke Walsh, Private Tony Notarianni, Private Tim Maloney, The Sergeant, and the Master Chief. The fighting continued. The Master Chief was right there, while the rest of the marines were attacking from above. The marines were still fighting off, what seemed to be the forth wave, as the fifth dropship unloaded. Then everything went into slow motion, Luke watched as 5 needler rounds inched towards him. There was no time to react. What was only a few seconds seemed like hours. Then the needles hit, two in his chest, one in his neck, one in his forehead, and one in his leg. The explosions blew his head clear off his shoulders, spraying his blood everywhere.
"SON OF A BITCH!!!" Tony said to himself. Then he picked up a plasma grenade and hurled it at the grunt with the needler; it stuck to its face.
"GET IT OFF!!! GET IT OFF!!! GET IT OFF!!! WAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Screamed the grunt. Before it died, it ran to the elite for help and the grenade killed both of them, but the chief was in the blast radius, completely depleting his shield, but the covenant was completely destroyed, so it could recharge.
"This is Pelican Echo 419. Anybody readin' me? Repeat. Any UNSC personnel respond."
"Roger, Echo 419. This is Fire Team Charlie. We read you 5-by-5. That you, Foe Hammer?"
"Roger, Fire Team Charlie. Good to hear from ya."
"If you're not too busy, Foe Hammer, we could use a lift. We have survivors to transport to the command shuttle."
Then surprisingly Cortana came over the radio "Foe Hammer, we need you to disengage your Warthog. The Master Chief and I are going to see if we can save some soldiers."
"Roger, Cortana. Okay, Charlie Team, Warthog deployed. Saddle up and give 'em hell!"
"Roger, Foe Hammer. Stand by to evac survivors and transport them to safety." Said Cortana
"That's affirmative. Echo 419 staying on station. Foe Hammer out.
"The Master Chief and I need some backup, can you spare a few men?"
"All right, volunteers step up!" Yelled Sarge. SECTION 4: Through Hell and back! As the warthog pulled away Tony kept thinking "I have to be goin' nuts!" The warthog drove down a steep hill and into a cave. After about a minute, they drove into a large room. Then all hell broke loose! Covenant just poured out of the forest of boxes to the sides of the warthog. Tony and the gunner fired into the mass of covenant. Of course the 50.Cal was a lot more effective than an assault rifle. The grunts' guts flew out of the exit-wounds. The Elites were a little harder to kill, but with the power of the LAAG machine gun, They fell rather quickly.
Then a bright blue light flashed up ahead. Tony hardly noticed that Chief was gone. Then he hopped in the Warthog, and floored it over the energy bridge and out of the cave...
Sarges Platoon, Chapter 3: Heaven, Hell, and all that's in between
Date: 10 January 2003, 4:01 am
SECTION 1: Medic
LOCATION: PILLAR OF AUTUMN CRASH SITE
TIME: 0945 HOURS SEPTEMBER 1, 2552 (Military Calendar) Chris was thrown across the hall. He felt a very sharp pain in his back. In about 30 seconds the ship stopped. Chris couldn't breathe. The dust kicked up by the ship was so thick, he couldn't even see. It burned his eyes, and his wounds. He started to cough up blood. He was choking from all the dust. Then he felt something run into him, then put an air mask on him. In a few seconds he felt the cool air entering his lungs. In a minute he felt better and stood up. His still couldn't open his eyes.
"Stay down! You got a bad piece of shrapnel in your back." So he laid down on the floor. It was strange, he barely even felt it anymore. He felt something pull out from his back, and a wave of pain.
"SHIT!!! FUCK!!! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!?!?!" Chris said in agony.
"See for yourself!" Said the voice. Chris opened his eyes. The dust was starting to settle, but he still couldn't see farther than six feet. He looked down, still in pain, and saw a chunk of metal covered in blood. It was almost bigger than his fist. Then the person said "Let me fix you up, we'll be in some serious shit in a few minutes, and we'll need all the help we can get."
"Thanks..." he said.
"This is gonna' hurt! Bite down on this!" He handed him a piece of a black tissue. He bit down on it. "1...2...3!!!"
SECTION 2: Dead?
LOCATION: ABANDONED RING-WORLD / UNKNOWN STAR SYSTEM
TIME: 0945 HOURS SEPTEMBER 1, 2552 (Military Calendar) The warthog stopped and Tony got out. It looked like there was a rockslide recently. The covenant was engaging the Marines on top of the hill. Then he opened fire. The covenant were surprised by the attack, but they quickly recovered, and began to fight back. They had good cover from the boulders, but that didn't help much, because they had good aim. One bolt hit his rifle, and it turned white-hot, and meted. He quickly pulled out his pistol, and continued to shoot. He looked around. He decided to run to the next boulder, 7 feet ahead of him. He started to run. He felt the hot plasma nearly missing him. Then a Grunt came out from behind the rock, and shot an overcharged plasma bolt at Tony. It hit him in his left shoulder, and he watched in horror as his arm melted off of him. "SHIT!!! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!!" He aimed his pistol, and shot it in its face. It fell on the ground, blood oozing out of the bullet hole. Tony picked himself up, and leaned against a wall. He tried to stop the blood flowing from his shoulder, but all he managed to do was make the pain worse. Then Foe Hammer came over the radio.
"Echo 419 to Cortana, come in"
"We read you, Echo 419. We have survivors and need immediate dust-off. "
"Roger, Cortana. On my way. I've spotted additional lifeboats in your area. One near the cliff edge. And another near the head of the river. Hard to see from my altitude, but it looks like there are more survivors."
"Acknowledged. We're on our way."
Tony walked over to the Pelican, got in, and passed out.
SECTION 3: Chris Dies
LOCATION: PILLAR OF AUTUMN CRASH SITE
TIME: 0950 HOURS SEPTEMBER 1, 2552 (Military Calendar) Chris was in agony. The medic was pulling out shards of metal from his back. He was lucky it didn't hit his spine. The pain was so enormous, his screaming could be heard through the cloth.
"Ok, that's it. You should be fine." Just then, a huge blast rocked the ship. Chris knew the covenant was returning. He got up, and pulled out his Assault Rifle. He saw fighting down the hall. He aimed his rifle, but he was still weak. He couldn't aim straight. Then a huge explosion sent him flying. He hit the wall, and slid to the ground. A Yellow Sword Elite walked up to him. Chris reached for his pistol, but it was missing. It had fallen out during the crash.
"Fuck you..."and he spit in its face. The elite, raised his sword, and drove it into him...
SECTION 4: The Forerunner
LOCATION: UNKNOWN
TIME: UNKNOWN - CLOSE TO MIDNIGHT "Sir, I did not know... I'm terribly sorry."
"There's no excuse for what you were about to do..."
"Yes, but the flood-"
"-You're only concern is to contain an outbreak, not help with the destruction of another race!"
"It's only a matter of time..."
"That's why we built Halo, to study and contain the flood, If there is another-
"-If there's another outbreak, there will be far worse casualties!"
"Listen Guilty Spark, there will be another outbreak eventually. We cannot stop it, until we find a way to destroy...
"...What is wrong?"
"Take the sentinels back to the lab."
"But..."
"DO IT!"
"Yes..."
Tony wondered what just happened, but he didn't have much time to think when he was pulled up by... something. He looked up, and he saw a hooded figure. It looked human.
"You heard everything?" Tony didn't know what to say. It reached out, and Tony felt the thought of what he just experienced being pulled out of him. "...I guess I can tell you, now that you know this much... In two days, we will all be dead......eons ago a race known as the forerunner came into being. They were extremely advanced. Within 300,000 of your years, they developed a way to travel faster than light. They spread to the farthest reaches of the galaxy...then came that day. They were exploring a new planet, when they uncovered a horrible species, known as the flood. It spread like a wildfire, consuming everything in its path. They learned to pilot the forerunner spacecraft, and their once great empire, was reduced to one final stronghold: Halo. During the outbreak, the forerunner built this ring. It is designed to vaporize the food supply of the flood: every life form in the galaxy. It was the only way they knew how to kill the flood, the ring was completely ineffective against them. However, to save themselves, the ring would not harm anything on it. They fired the main weapon, but the flood landed on the ring. All looked lost, except, that the flood fell into hibernation. Much of the flood died out since then, but there are still planets out there with them on it. It will not be long before they find a way off the planets, and destroy the universe. Eventually the forerunner evolved into the covenant species, you know as Elites. Some of the Elites evolved into what you call Hunters. The forerunner that remained unchanged tried to improve on halo's mechanism, so that it will only destroy the flood, not everything else. After many years, they started dying out. The only option to survive was to restart themselves as a new race, only that they will not get so advanced, so fast, and unleash another outbreak.
They...you...call yourselves humans..." Tony just stood there with his jaw dropped. The thing waited for Tony's shock to pass. After several minutes it continued, "Only 5 of the original forerunner still exist, myself included...We are so close to finding a way to kill them, we can't die before we find that technology. Although we have an advanced AI working in the labs, and it will eventually be found, it cannot activate Halo on its own. Only reclaimer can do that..." Tony couldn't speak. He just stood there...shocked... TO BE CONTINUED...
Sarges Platoon, Chapter 4: The Flood
Date: 31 January 2003, 3:32 am
SECTION 1: 343 Guilty spark
LOCATION: HALO
TIME: UNKNOWN "...reclaimer...not too long ago we sent 100 children to your colonies. We hoped that they would grow up, and stop the spread of human colonies...but most of them were abducted by your military, and changed...you call them Spartans...and at least one of them is back here on Halo." Tony was staring at the figure, too shocked to move. The story kept playing over and over in his head. He tried to put it together with anything in human history. He found nothing. But he barely noticed that it was continuing its story... "The race you know as the covenant prospered. Eventually an uprising occurred, and the victor made them all believe what they did. They made them destroy any trace of the forerunner...which is why they want to destroy the human race...Guilty Spark!" Just then a brilliant orange light lit up the area, and a small round figure came out of the center of it. It gave off a blue light.
"Yes?" It had a British accent. He remembered that it was the same voice that the thing was talking to earlier.
"This man knows too much...Get rid of him."
"Of Course" Then, an orange light surrounded the hooded figure and it disappeared. The orange light appeared again, and 3 things appeared. They looked like yellow-green blobs. They hurried toward Tony. He shook off his shock and pulled out his Combat Knife, and when one jumped at him, he stabbed it and it popped. Then he felt a tremendous pain in his leg. The remaining two were eating his left leg. He stabbed one, and it exploded, but the second one jumped, and started digging into his chest. He fell down, and the last thing he saw was his knife on the ground next to him, and everything getting darker... SECTION 2: Wake-up call
LOCATION: CAMPSITE / HALO
TIME: 1245 HOURS SEPTEMBER 2, 2552 (Military Calendar) "Uhh...What happened?" Tony got up and stood up. He was completely undamaged. His left arm was oddly metallic and there was no damage to his leg, or his chest.
"You okay?" asked someone.
"Uhh...I'm...I'm fine."
"You sure?'
"Yeah..."
"I didn't think you'd make it. We used an experimental robot arm replace the one you lost...the disorientation from the drugs should pass in a few minutes." Tony looked at his titanium hand. He wondered how he was still alive.
"Uhh...What happened to those things?"
"What things?"
"Those things that were eating my guts out..."
"...Okay...You must've been dreaming or somethin'."
"Sure as hell didn't feel like any dream I had..."
"Maybe you thought you smelled them."
"Whatever. I'm not gonna sit here and debate this with you...By the way, what's your name?"
"Private Matt, and you?" No sooner than he had said that, that Sarge came over and said,
"Hey! That was one hell of show. Not everyone gets half their body melted off, and lives to talk about it!"
"Half?" said Tony.
"Yeah," said Matt, "the plasma ate through your left lung, and kidney, and part of your stomach."
Then Sarge said calmly "Look. You're the most experienced in this squad. I need a Corporal. You're it."
"Yes sir!" Tony has been in the UNSC for 10 years, and was a veteran of Sigma Octanus, and Reach. As far as he was concerned, he deserved it.
"You are one lucky son of a bitch" said Jenkins.
"All right! All members of Fire Team Charlie, and November to the dropships, double time!" yelled Sarge.
"Sir, what's goin' on?" said Tony to Sarge as he ran to the Pelican.
"Captain wants us to look for something in a Swamp. You'll be briefed in the dropship." SECTION 3: The Swamp
LOCATION: SWAMP / HALO
TIME: 1310 HOURS SEPTEMBER 2, 2552 (Military Calendar) Heavy metal music filled the pelican. "God. Were not even in the same ship and he makes us listen to this shit." Said Tony.
"You said it!" said Matt
"Everyone listen up!" yelled Sarge over the speakers. "You're going to be inserted a click north of us! We will meet you at Rally point Bravo when the package is secure!"
"Aye sir!" Tony said. The Pelican accelerated ahead of the second one, and disappeared in the mist.
"Sir! What's out mission?" Private Tom Said to Tony
" We're going to keep a path clear from the structure's entrance to the LZ. Any of those mother-fucking bitches show up, kill 'em"
"Oh..." said Tom, disappointed. He wanted to see real action. There were 5 people total in the pelican. Pvt. Matt, Pvt. Tom, Pvt. Dave, Pvt. Jason, and Tony. The Pelican slowed down, and began it's decent.
"Heads-up! LZ looks pretty hot...touchdown."
"Move, move, move!" shouted Tony. Almost Immediately gunfire broke out, 5 grunts, and 2 jackals. But they retreated in no time.
"Yeah! You better run!" shouted Matt
"No...It's too easy" said Tony quietly.
"It's not easy, they just never expected the best squad of marines in the corps."
"Something scared them...and it wasn't us..."
"...maybe they're setting us up." Said Jason
"Right, OK! Stick together. Fall in, and prepare to move!" LOCATION: ENTRANCE TO SECRET FORERUNNER LAB
TIME: 1527 HOURS SEPTEMBER 2, 2552 (Military Calendar) They found the entrance of a structure of some kind. "Okay! This is it! Everyone, take defensive positions. Then Tony opened a COM channel to Sarge. "Sir! We are at rally point Bravo, awaiting orders."
"Corporal. We need you, and your team down here, on the double."
"Yes sir!" Tony closed the COM link. Alright stick together! We're goin' in...and we don't know what's down there.
"Yes sir." They walked into the cave-like structure. They approached an elevator. "Matt, throw the switch." He pressed a button on the holo-panel, and immediately they went down, about 100 meters, and went through a series of hallways.
"Okay..." They walked into a room full of marines. "Sargent, sir. You asked us to come here?"
"What do you make of that?" He pointed at a blue elite with its chest torn opened and the insides were thrashed.
"I don't know sir. It looks like something was in it." Then Jenkins and Mendoza approached the elite.
"What do you think that is?" asked Sarge
"It...looks like something...ate it, or...something...which is weird, right? I mean... look at it. Something... scrambled the insides." Replied Mendoza.
"What's that, plasma scoring?" asked Sarge
"Yeah...Maybe there was an accident. You know, friendly fire or something?" Then Keyes walked in.
"What do we have, Sergeant?"
"Looks like a Covenant patrol. Badass elite units, all KIA.
"Real pretty. Friend of yours?" Keyes said looking at the dead carcass.
"No, we just met" said, Mendoza
"Okay. We found a door, but it's locked pretty good. Get the squad down there. I want to see what those covenant bastards were up to."
"You heard the Captain!" At that the squad followed Keyed out of the room. "You can go back to your positions.
"Yes sir." SECTION 4: Death of Fire-Team Charlie
LOCATION: ENTRANCE TO SECRET FORERUNNER LAB
TIME: 1532 HOURS SEPTEMBER 2, 2552 (Military Calendar) Tony, and his squad waited in the dark, cramped tunnel. Then they heard a sound. It sounded like bugs, a lot of them. "SIR! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK...BUT IT ISN'T COVENANT!!!" shouted Tom
"GET IT OFF!!! GET IT OFF!!!!!!" Howled Matt Tony ran to the entrance of the structure. He saw millions of those tiny aliens he saw in his dream, pouring from the outside. They were attacking his squadmates. Tony opened a COM link to Sarge, while shooting at the creatures.
"Captain, Sarge... can you hear me?!"
"What's going on, soldier?" said Sarge over the COM Channel.
"We've got contacts...lots of them...but they're not covenant...they're just tearing through us...what the?...NO!!!" An alien attached itself to his right arm, and was about to rip it off. "Eat this, fucker!" he whipped out his pistol, and shot it, killing it, but the bullet broke bone also, but he suppressed his screams. He took a SPNKr rocket launcher, and shot into the center of the swarm, and a chain-reaction destroyed all of them. "Can anyone hear me?!"
"Yeah..." said a bleeding Dave.
"Thank god...you okay? You look horrible."
"Look who's talkin'!" Dave mumbled, staring at his arm.
"Hold on..." Tony opened a COM Channel to First squad. "Sarge, You there? Sarge? Captain?! ANYONE?!?! DO YOU COPY?! Damn!!!" He changed the frequency. "This is Fire-team Charlie, to all UNSC Forces, does anyone copy? Over. Repeat: This is Fire-team Charlie to ANY UNSC Forces, does anyone copy? Over. Shit... Okay Dave, sit tight."
"Okay..." He was slowly bleeding to death.
"Anyone else here?" Anyone at all?"
"Help..." replied a gurgling voice.
"Matt? Is that you? Jesus..." His leg was missing, and his intestines were hanging out.
"...Just...Just...e...end it..." Tony was about to take out some biofoam, when Matt replied, "No...Nothing...Just let me die..."
"Do it," Said Dave. "He doesn't deserve this..." Tony raised his rifle at Matt's head, and pulled the trigger...
"This is Fire-team Delta, Fire-team Charlie, come in!" SECTION 5: Escape!
LOCATION: ENTRANCE TO SECRET FORERUNNER LAB
TIME: 2400 HOURS SEPTEMBER 2, 2552 (Military Calendar) It was almost 12 hours since they had any contact other than Fire-team Delta. They were all camped in the cave. Tony was trying to sleep inside, while 5 others stood guard.
"HEADS UP SOMETHING'S COMING!!!" Tony jumped up and grabbed his rifle. "THE ELEVATOR!!!" The rest of the squad assembled at the elevator. They were scared out of their minds at the sound of Foe Hammer.
"This is Echo 419. Chief, is that you? I lost your signal when you disappeared inside the structure. What's going on down there? I'm tracking movement all over the place!" Then they almost fainted when a Spartan showed up on the elevator. Almost none of them had ever seen a Spartan in a full suit of MJOLNIR armor. The Haunting green tint of the armor made him look almost inhuman.
"I thought there were Spartans with us!" whispered Dave
Tony briefed John on the situation. "Sir! Thank God you're here! We've been lost out here for hours. After we lost contact with the rest of the mission, we headed for the RV point, and then these-these. these things... they ambushed us. We've gotta get out of here!" Then Foe Hammer Told them where to get picked up.
"There's a large tower a few hundred meters from your current position. Find a way above the fog and foliage canopy and I can move in and pick you up." They followed the Chief out of the structure.
"Shit! Here they come!!!" A swarm of the little creatures swarmed over the hill. Tony opened fire, and the other did the same. "What is that?!" There were several huge figures running toward them. They looked like mutated humans. "I don't feel like finding out, shoot them!" AHH!!! GET THIS THING OFF OF ME!!!" Screamed one of the Marines. A creature was digging into him.
"Damn..."said Tony , after examining the body of a mutant. "They change you somehow...they make you into these...things...YOU RAT BASTARDS!!!" Tony switched into full-auto, and unloaded into the swarming masses. They eventually found the tower, and a group of hovering machines came into view, and began using some kind of lasers on the aliens. By now only Tony, Dave, The Chief, and two other marines were left. Then the chief disappeared in an orange light, up to the tower. "What the hell? Where'd he go?!"
"Hell if I know."
"Chief, I've lost your signal! Where'd you go? Chief? Chief!" Yelled Foe Hammer.
"He just vanished!"
"What?"
"I'll explain later...we can't get up the tower."
"Damn! Stand back, I'm going to use missiles to clear an LZ." An explosion rocked the swamp, Then the drop-ship lowered, onto the ground... TO BE CONTINUED...
Sarges Platoon, FINAL CHAPTER: The Fate of the Universe
Date: 6 February 2003, 12:39 am
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I must warn you that some of the content in this chapter can be confusing if you have not read "The Fall Of Reach". I don't want to see anything in the 'Read/Post Comments' section saying "What the hell are you talking about" or some similar phrase. SECTION 1: To the Autumn
LOCATION: DROPSHIP ECHO-419 / EN ROUTE TO THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN
TIME: 0312 HOURS SEPTEMBER 3, 2552 (Military Calendar) The dropship's engines roared as they accelerated over the desolate landscape. The sun was rising, and the sand in the air cast an orange glow as far as the eye could see. "The Covenant had taken the ship 2 days ago, and they're likely still there...are you guys serious about this?"
"Yes, just stay on station until we find those aircraft. We can't let those...things get off this ring."
"There are easier ways - we could just check every shuttle bay-"
"No...look!" Tony stared out the back of the ship. The flood was running in the direction of the drop-ship. "Those things are already heading towards the Autumn. Checking every bay will take too long, I want to get this done ASAP.
"Chances are that anything capable of flight was destroyed during the impact."
"Just get us as close to the bridge as possible." TIME: 0409 HOURS SEPTEMBER 3, 2552 (Military Calendar) The drop-ship flew over the scorched coastline, and a giant flooded gouge where the land has been ripped away by the Autumn. At the top of that canyon the squad awed at massive stern of the Pillar of Autumn, looking intact. The drop-ship approached the starboard side and turned, revealing that the Autumn's nose is hanging slightly off a massive cliff, and that the antennas along the bow have been bent and torn away. The entire bow has been burned badly; the metal is scarred. The drop-ship approached the bumblebee bays, and decelerated. "Okay, I'm going to put you in a escape pod bay. You can get to the bridge from there. I will remain on station. Good Luck!" SECTION 2: ...and the Horse You Rode In On
LOCATION: THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN CRASH SITE
TIME: 0410 HOURS SEPTEMBER 3, 2552 (Military Calendar) Tony walked into the hall, followed by a group of 3 Marines. "God...It doesn't look like anything could've survived...let's go..." the entire squad was silent. They could not believe what happened to the Autumn. It looked like the aftermath of an inferno. The entire ship was quiet as a tomb, and the dust was still very thick, and the smell of rotting flesh was everywhere. "Ok...Be as quiet as possible, if the Covenant are here, maybe we can slip by them." The team walked down the hall, and through a maintenance duct, and eventually; the bridge.
"Damn it...this isn't going to work...everything is destroyed..." said Dave in a hushed voice.
"...The main view-screen is still relatively intact...maybe..." Thought Tony aloud. "You two..." Tony pointed at the two other Marines; Adam, and Lance. "You know how to operate the bridge controls?"
"I do." said Lance.
"Good...can you try to get the main screen up?"
"I can try..." He sat in a chair, and started pushing buttons. Pretty soon the screen he was using flickered to life, but it was really scrambled, and nothing could be seen but static. "Okay..." After few more minutes, and the main screen lit up, except for a massive crack, it looked perfect. "Done!"
"Great. Now find out what ships left the Autumn before the crash, and where they are."
"Okay..." The picture on the main screen switched to a layout of the Autumn, showing every compartment, and binary was flashing across the bottom. Tony noticed that Lance kept looking at the screen, presumably so he can tell what he's doing. After a minute a list came into view, left of the layout, showing five items. "Okay...There is one Longsword in Launch Bay 7... 3 escape pods left...but are incapable of flying... and a pelican drop-ship in Hangar Number 3."
"Okay...look for anything salvageable, weapons, tools, anything"
"searching...Okay. There is still an armory that has weapons...near the engine room...and...that's it."
"Okay...Let's get back to Foe Hammer. She can get us closer to the engine room, and that ammo."
"No, Wait!"
"What is it private?"
"I found something...in Cryo-1..."
"What?"
"I don't know, but it must be important, because it's Classified Top Secret-Eyes Only"
"Top Secret?! What the hell could be in a Cryo bay that's Top Secret?"
"Hell if I know...wait...what if it's...yes! Sir, let's get down there!" Tony glanced at Adam, and Dave, who just shrugged.
"What the hell is it?"
"I think it's a Spartan!"
"What?"
"I think there was another Spartan on board, and they forgot to thaw it!"
"You think?"
"I know it sounds crazy, but it's TRUE!"
"...You really think it's a Spartan?"
"Yes."
"Okay, but if it turns out to be some new kind of cryo-chamber, your ass is mine. Pelican Echo 419, come in."
"You ready?"
"No, we found something...and we'll be here for a while."
"All right, but I have to warn you, those creatures are about 30 minutes from getting to the Autumn."
"Damn...What are those things? They've been running all night."
"The Covenant call them the 'Flood'..."
"...Anyway, just wait." SECTION 3: Reach
LOCATION: THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN CRASH SITE
TIME: 0430 HOURS SEPTEMBER 3, 2552 (Military Calendar) Gunfire could be heard throughout the ship. The bodies of Spec ops grunts were strewn all over the hall. They had an entire patrol surrounded. Tony, and Dave to one side, Adam, and Lance to the other. Plasma was flying everywhere, but they had great cover behind several piles of debris. A haze filled the air. The dead (and some of the living) grunts were leaking methane from there breathing gear. A plasma grenade hit one grunt in the face, and it was running blindly, and finally blew up, taking the rest of the patrol with him. "Yeah baby! It is so good to be the king!"
"Shut up! All of you! Everything within 5 kilometers knows were here now...stack up at the door." The marines waited at either side of the door, 2 to a side, and Tony pressed the button to open it. The door slowly opened, revealing another hallway. In a corner blood was all over the wall, and smeared in a strait line as if something was pinned against it and slid down. At the bottom of the line, there lay a Marine, dried blood all over him, and some blood still seeping out of a hole in his chest. Tony walked over to him, kneeled down and took off his helmet, which fell down over his face, revealing a young soldier, no older 24. His eyes staring into nothing, and dried blood around his mouth. On the back of the helmet were the words Pvt. Robbins. He took out the video chip stored in his helmet, removed his own helmet, took out his own video chip, and inserted Pvt. Robbins', put his helmet on, and pressed a button on it. Using his neural implants, the chip transferred the data to his memory in a blink of an eye.
[Open Record View ]
[Private Robbins, Christopher]
[PLAY>]
The view shifted to a smoking landscape, a city, completely deserted. Jackals, and grunts are fighting with Chris' squad, which from the point of view looked like about a hundred, the grunts ran from a grenade blast, but the jackals ignored it, and the splattered over the concrete. The grunt ran into an automotive factory. "No mercy!" Shouted a soldier to Chris's left, presumably a Sargent. "Move, move!"
[FFW>>]
[PLAY>]
Now it looked like a courtyard in a training area in Reach's Military Complex. The view paned left to a platoon of Spartans, about 9. The name on the closest one was clearly visible KELLY-087. A beautiful looking building stood in the background, labeled 'NAVEL OFFICERS ACADEMY'. The view panned to the corner of the building. As another group of Spartans, this time16-strong, ran around the building. "Covenant! Thousands of them!" Said a male Spartan.
"Where?" Said a Female.
"They will be here any second!"
"SHIT!! WE'RE SCREWED!!!" said someone to Chris's left. The view turned to the right, 12 Marines stood there, guns leveled at the corner of the building.
"Everyone, take defensive positions!" Said the Spartan again.
"The 'Camera' was shown running behind an arch, near the building entrance."
"Here they come..." said a voice in his head, he realized it was Chris'.
"Take them down now!" as the army rounded the corner gunfire broke out.
[FFW>>]
[PLAY>]
Chris was running , along with several Marines, and 7 Spartans, each carrying 3 or 4 dead or dying Spartans. They ran to a building, its massive doors opened, and the Spartans ran in, they turned around, put their comrades down, and started motioning to hurry up. "C'mon! C'MON!!!" Plasma bolts flew by, and hit the structure. The doors closed, and Chris' momentum forced him to slam into them, along with two other marines. He turned around, and millions of covenant soldiers came into view, Grunts, Jackals, Elites, Hunters, all charging towards him. Chris turned right, and began running again. Just then a pelican came into view, and Chris' hand reached out and caught the edge, and the two other Marines were holding on to his legs. He pulled himself up, and helped the other two in. After getting into the seats, the two others took their helmets off, each had the same names on the back Pvt. Robbins.
[FFW>>]
[PLAY>]
The view changed to the inside of a white room. Not much could be seen, the helmet was on the floor. "Okay, just look straight ahead..." Then there was a loud scream...
[FFW>>]
[PLAY>]
The view now switched to a hallway, an elite above him, holding a plasma sword. "Fuck you!" and a line of spit flew into the Elite's face. It raised the sword, and drove it downward, but Chris rolled out of the way, picked up a plasma rifle, and began unloading it into the elite, draining its shields, and they faded out, soon the elites skin was burning through, but the gun overheated. He threw it at the elite, and picked up a shotgun, shot the elite, before a huge bolt of green plasma flew towards him, and hit him in the chest...static...
[>Unexpected Halt X (WND/INCAP/KIA/] SECTION 4: The Second Spartan survivor
LOCATION: THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN CRASH SITE
TIME: 0433 HOURS SEPTEMBER 3, 2552 (Military Calendar) "I've seen it..." said Tony, with a tone of shock in his voice
"What?" said Dave
"I know where they are!"
"You know where who is?"
"The Spartans! They did survive! I saw it!"
"Woah...you OK?"
"Yes I'm OK! The Spartans got into the underground labs! The UNSC didn't know about it, because they brainwashed him...I think I know why... I know where they are! Now let's get to that Cryo bay! The others just looked at each other like Tony went nuts, but they still followed him to cryo bay A. After forcing the door open (blowing it open), they walked in. There was a single Spartan lying in the cryo-tube. The armor was melted away, and scorched in places but he could still read the writing on the helmet. Linda-||| The rest was burned beyond recognition.
"...Let's get her out of there" said Adam
"No, wait...She was left frozen for a reason...look at her...She doesn't look alive does she? They probably froze her so she would have more time to get to a hospital."
"So how do we get her off this ring without..."
"...I don't know...The cryo-tubes are designed to be removed, but it weighs about a ton, and that suit weighs 5 tons at least!"
"damn..." Adam said, "wait! We have some Mark I power suits in one of the hangar bays! The UNSC uses them to lift heavy objects..." Lance was shaking his head.
"No way, they need a tremendous source of power, and there is nothing in here to power them, unless you get a massive extension cord." Dave was staring at a heap of covenant bodies.
"you know how much power it takes to make plasma?" Everyone looked like they agreed to what Dave was proposing, except Tony
"No, there is no way to get the power out of it, besides, who knows if it even uses a battery?" Dave picked up a plasma pistol, and began pushing buttons on the side. It began glowing, and he hurled it out of the room, just before it exploded, but Dave picked up another one, and a section of it flipped open, revealing what looked like a fusion core inside a clear cylinder, only it glowed bright green. "Hmm..." Dave took out his combat knife, and poked it. When it fell out, the light faded, and it just looked like a glass tube with a liquid inside. He picked it up, and put it in the pistol, and it glowed again. Then he took out his knife again and tapped it, and it fell out, and dimming. he took off his helmet, pulled a panel off, and took a battery out, the holographic targeting system faded away, put the plasma pistol core in, nothing happened. "Damn, it's too small..."
"Here, try this." Said Adam while handing Dave a pair of copper wires. Dave tied them around the ends of the core, and then put them in the terminals. As soon as he connected the second wire, the core began to glow, and the holographic targeting system came into view, but it was blinding, and the copper wires were glowing white-hot. Everyone backed away, and then the core exploded. SECTION 5: Mark I
LOCATION: THE PILLAR OF AUTUMN CRASH SITE
TIME: 0600 HOURS SEPTEMBER 3, 2552 (Military Calendar) Tony was in the armor. The power cores were more than enough for the suit. He walked into the cryo bay. Lance was in the 'control room' of the cryo bay, unlocking Linda's tube. Everything that was needed to sustain the freeze of Linda could be detached with the tube. Tony got a grip of the tube, and pulled it out. Then an explosion rattled the ship. This was the second of its kind, each occurring within a 3 minute period. Tony slowly carried the tube down the hall, which wasn't easy with the added size of the armor. Then a third explosion, this one had more intensity than the rest, the whole ship rocked. "what the hell is going on?!" said Tony as he got into a hangar, and walking over to a Pelican. Just then, a squad of covenant elites ran in, slightly shocked at the huge mass of the armor. They opened fire as Tony put the cryo tube into the ship. One bolt hit Tony's armor, causing it to malfunction. Sparks were flying from the armor, just before it exploded in a ball of flames. "YOU FUCKING BASTARDS" screamed Dave, while entering the Pelican. He was well trained with these ships, it was just a matter of being better with an assault rifle, and the UNSC having...'better' qualified pilots, and needing every soldier as possible. The engines roared to life, and the ship took off, not before the chain-guns slaughtered the elites, and flew out the open airlock. Right before an explosion shook the very core of the Autumn. "What was that?!" asked Adam. Dave responded "Hell if I know...Echo-419, come in, we found another ride! Suggest you get the hell out of here"
"Negative, The Master Chief is down there!"
"Holy shit...copy, don't stay there too long, the ship looks like it can blow any minute!"
The hatch closed, and the ship accelerated into space. LOCATION: PELICAN DROPSHIP C-356 / 1,000 KILOMETERS AWAY FROM HALO
TIME: 0625 HOURS SEPTEMBER 3, 2552 (Military Calendar) [just after the destruction of Halo] "We're running dark. Be as quiet as possible. If anything did survive...we'll hide..." Everyone nodded at Dave's order. Little did they know that the only thing they were hiding from was a single Longsword fighter, and a fleet of UNSC Ships who will arrive in a few days...Little did they know that hiding may cause their own deaths, for the UNSC may not find them. Little did they know that the Spartan they saved may have been in vain... THE END...?
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