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Fallen Angels: Operation Angeles-Chapter 3-Departure
Posted By: Captain Bishop<digifighter@aol.com>
Date: 21 April 2006, 4:26 am


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Ninth Age of Reclamation
Covenant CCS-Class Battle Cruiser Pious Inquisitor
Sol-III
Docking Bay


      Anea 'Uahamee took great strides as he walked toward Special Operatives Commander Anka 'Basoree. The Spec Op Commander was at least a full head taller the Ship Master so approaching him was always a bit intimidating, even for Anea. But the Commander was always humble towards his fellow Sangheili and even some of the lesser races; a rare trait for any of the Covenant.

      The Commander observed as his Special Operative warriors loaded supplies onboard the Apparition and Phantom dropships. Several Unggoy struggled to load a Shade stationary turret onboard a Apparition.

      "How many do we have Commander 'Basoree?" , the Ship Master inquired.

      "Forty-seven Spec Op Sangheili, eighty-nine Spec Op Unggoy, five squads of Kig-Yar, ten pairs of Lekgolo, twenty ghosts, ten Shade stationary turrets, six Wraith mortar tanks, and over three tons of weapons, gear, and ammunitions," the Commander said matter-of-factly, "Does this please you, your Excellency?"

      How could it not? "Indeed it does Commander. This is more than enough to destroy the human stronghold. Excellent work!"

      "Thank you, your Excellency. My warriors will be ready in one cycle."

      "Good, I shall return in that amount of time. Then there is something I must tell them."

      "Yes, your Excellency. I shall be awaiting your return." The Commander bowed low enough that his face could almost touch the plating of the Docking Bay floor. With that Anea 'Uahamee left the Commander to continue his work, and the Gold clad Sangheili walked back to his Command quarters to come up with a plan for the retrieval of the Atlas.

      As the Ship Master stared at his holographic topographical layout of New Angeles, lost in thought, he didn't notice that behind him stood one of the better tacticians within the Council that occupied the Pious Inquisitor, Liira 'Taradee. The Council member had been in contact with the Ship Master many times in their services as warriors within the Covenant, but not only as soldiers but also as mates. They had no offspring though neither complained (it was a time of war after all), Anea was starting to regret this decision.

      "Ship Master, do you require assistance?" She said sweetly.

      Anea's skin color fade to from the dark blue of calm to the dark purple of embarrassment. "Indeed, I do. What did you have in mind, Liira? We cannot risk a plasma bombardment and simply destroy the structure, for we might damage the Holy Atlas."

      "Then don't. Why not simply use the drop pods to secure a landing zone for your other forces?"

      "But it seems that the Humans have set an explosive field around the structure, mines, they call them. If a pod goes astray, it could cause a chain reaction throughout the explosive field perhaps damaging the Atlas below."

      The Councilor adjusted her headdress, as to indicate that she had a solution, " Then do not miss." She gave a Sangheili smile, giving the Ship Master a new found confidence. "I'll leave you now, may the Gods be with you."

      "And you as well, my love."

      Anea looked at the holo-clock above the holographic map of new Angeles. It has almost been a cycle. I have my plan. Anea thought. Now to put it to use.

      He took the nearest elevator to the Inquisitor's Docking bay, to debrief the warriors under Anka 'Basoree's command. He walked past a crowd of Huragok repairing a damaged Banshee, who seemed to be content on staying out of the Ship Master's way.

      "Commander 'Basoree, are your warriors ready?"

      "Indeed they are, your Excellency."

      "Good." Anea stared at the legions of Spec Op Sangheili and Unggoy, ten pairs of Lekgolo and the squads of Kig-Yar, and the number of vehicles and supplies. To see such number assembled in such a little amount of time, in such organized fashion, was a bit unnerving for the Ship Master. He has never personally seen such a large mass of warriors since his years as a Special Operative Commander, that was over thirty years ago.

      "Warriors of the Covenant," he addressed, "we have seen our Lords' creations before. Some of you may have even taken part in recovering some of these artifacts. Today, we have this chance, once again, to prove ourselves worthy of reuniting with our Lords in the Devine Beyond. Today, we will retrieve an artifact that could to reveal to us the location of the Ark, the Homeworld, and even the Sacred Rings." The roars and cheers of the some two hundred warriors hurt the Ship Master's ears, but knew that this was a positive thing.

      "We will retrieve the holy Atlas, and with it begin our Great Journey. I will not lie, the Humans have proven their selves as formidable foes as they are allies with the demons. They will try and stop us, but we shall prevail! We must not fail! Worry not of failing, for I leave you in the very capable hands of Commander Anka 'Basoree. You must all remember that today, we fight not just for ourselves, not just for our own personal glory. No. Today, we fight for our Gods!"

      A ground shaking roar was the response to the Ship Master's speech. "You will leave in one tenth of a cycle. But first, I need thirteen brave warriors to volunteer for a pod drop into the human encampment." Eight Spec Op Sangheili and five white armored Unggoy stepped forward. "Excellent. Now, make haste for the pods. The rest of you prepare for departure…and may the Gods be with you. All of you. Dismissed."

      May the gods be with us all.




October 29, 2552 (Standard Military Calendar)
0156 Hours
Mt Everest/ Himalayan Mountain Range
Operation Everest


      "Man, it's fucking cold." complained Corporal Matthew Guttman of the Fallen Angels. He peered down the Spotter scope trying to make out anything other than snow. "I swear, if I ever meet the guy who assigned us to this damn mountain, I'm gonna kill him"

      "Quit your bitchin'. It's not that bad." replied Corporal Jordan Bennings. He activated the night vision feature on his SRS-99C S2 AM rifle, but he couldn't see anything. "C'mon, let's get back to base."
The two ODSTs stood to stretch their limbs.

      "Yeah, all right. Let me grab my gear, and we'll go." As Guttman turned to retrieve the Oracle Scope, he saw a flash of movement in the corner of his eye. He quickly turned to his two O' Clock position, his MA5B A2 rifle at the ready.

      "What is it?" Bennings took notice of his sudden movement, slung the Sniper Rifle over his shoulder and drew his trusty 12.6mm M6D Magnum Pistol.

      "Could've sworn I saw something." He tried to activate his flashlight in that direction, but to no avail. "Shit. Batteries are dead."

      "C'mon, let's just get out of here."

      "Sure, but switch to thermal on your HUD, just to be safe."

      The rest of the way back to Alpha base was spent in a blue thermal vision. But as the two turned a corner on the winding road, they noticed something on their motion detectors. Enemy movement.

      Bennings switched to the private communications link. "Did you see that?"

      "Yeah. Use a Flashbang?"

      "That'll do fine. On my mark."


      The two Marines kept walking as both of them primed a flash grenade. As they turned the corner the camouflaged assailant crept quietly around the hill. 3...2...1...Mark! The two dropped the grenades in front of the corner and turned to shield their eyes from the blast. They heard the bang and then a crunch as the body dropped to the snow, blind. Guttman kicked at the near invisible body and it fell hard to the ground again. He fired three rounds into where the head would be. The 7.62 mm rounds bore through the alien's split-face and exited through the back of the Elite's oblong helmet.

      "Shit! Bennings you have to get out of here. Get back to Alpha Base and tell the Captain!"

      Corporal Bennings was a little stunned, he didn't want to leave his friend to die, but he didn't want the others to be caught off guard by the Spec Op Elites. More Elites came pouring in from the cliff edge where they had been just minutes ago. "Bennings, go now!" Guttman shouted to him.

      "Good luck, man." With that, the young Corporal ran as quickly as he could the rest of the way back to Alpha Base. The last thing he heard from Corporal Matthew Guttman was a blood curdling scream as the Elites' Plasma Rifles burnt his flesh.

      There was nothing that he could do.




November 13, 2552 (Standard Military calendar)
0248 hours
Earth/ New Angeles, United States
New Angeles Civilian District 561-A
OPeration Angeles


      Captain Bishop awoke in a cold sweat. The helmethe had placed on his lap had fallen to the floor. Corporal Kayla Barrett sat beside him. She tried to wake the Captain from his nightmare earlier, but couldn't. "Sir, " she whispered, "The Covenant are on their way to investigate the disappearance of those Ghosts we neutralized earlier. We have to get out of here."

      "Understood. Call the Snipers back from the roof. We're moving out."





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