Battle at Chppanicas Gorge
Posted By: Austin Peters<gannon52@msn.com>
Date: 11 March 2003, 10:42 PM
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The Battle for Chippanicas Gorge Part 1
"Great plan," muttered Private Matthew Portage. The small outpost in the middle of the gorge had been continually slammed by artillery for the last 12 hours. The original plan was to sneak into the gorge unnoticed and roll out the big guns. A small group of roughly 30 troops had been pinned down on the other end. The first problem with the plan was another trooper accidentally dropped an artillery shell. He was not only injured, but their cover was completely blown. The other problem was that there troop deployment tactics were screwed up beyond reasonable belief. The rosters were misplaced then deleted, and all the drop ships were deployed. They had to walk ¼ of a mile to the gorge. This, however, did allow for the ability to take a few tanks. The only way these tanks helped was to take the continuous pounding by heavy gunfire. The Master Chief managed to take out all the Hunters and 3 Banshees, but it hardly helped. The Covenant had rallied enough forces to easily storm a giant citadel with relative ease.
"Incoming!" shouted Sergeant 1st class Rico Vanderbilt. Twelve mortar shells hit the small outpost. Matthew felt the giblets of meat hit his back. Twelve more gone, he thought. Only twenty of the original force was left.
"Report: The force has escaped. Permission to retreat." A scout yelled over the helmet intercoms.
"Okay men. Let's push em' back and retreat." Screamed the Sarge as a soldier was shot directly behind him. He wiped the blood from his rifle. "Concentrate your fire on the mortar tanks. Master Chief, you get the Banshees. Portage, you move up and mine the pass. Take these claymores and set them up with tripwires." He handed Portage a large pack.
"Take my battle rifle," said Master Chief as he handed him the large bullpup.
"Thanks." A wave of plasma went over the encampment as a pool of blood began to appear in the snow. Matthew creped along the side of a tank. A Grunt popped out from the front. They met eye to eye. The Grunt shook as they stared at one another. Matthew couldn't bear to shoot it. A shot cracked out behind him and the Grunt was no more. Matthew felt a slight twinge of sadness. No matter, just one more Covenant gone, he thought. He continued down the narrow wall. A plasma charge grazed his left cheek. A snowflake fell upon the open wound. In the midst of all the chaos, for the first time Matthew noticed the sheer beauty of the rock and snow. The dark black, almost purple, rock shined offset by the falling wisps of snow. He stopped noticing the gunfire for a moment. It's a shame the beautiful land had to be destroyed like this. Then he abruptly stumbled into a small downgrade in the rock. A perfect place to set the explosives, he thought. He laid down a few of the large bombs. "Now, how to get across the path of gunfire." he said.
"Gotcha covered," said Master Chief over the intercom. He fired a rocket just behind a Jackal and blew him forward to Matthew's position. He removed the shield from his arm.
"Hold you fire!" shouted Matthew over the intercom. He raised the shield and ran across the path of fire. All the shots were absorbed by the shield. Matthew quickly laid down the rest of the explosive and connected the tripwire to them. "Cover me!" he breathed into the intercom. The allied fire intensified as Matthew ran back to the barricade. He narrowly dodged a mortar shell as he rolled behind a tank.
"Good job," Sarge said enthusiastically, "take this sniper rifle and target the Elites. You earned your medals today Portage." Matthew moved up into position.
"I've got a target," he said in a quiet voice. He pulled the trigger and watched as an Elite directly next to the target was showered in blood. Yet as fast as Matthew could pull the trig, another wave of plasma hit once again. Matthew was struck in the shoulder and once in the chest. He fell back into the snow. He could feel his body gasping for air, and all his muscles tense up. He looked over at the remains of the Grunt that was killed earlier. Then he looked out toward the rock near where he planted the explosive. Matthew thought about the sight for a moment. There was a sort of serenity and beauty to it. He coughed up a little blood, and then Master Chief noticed his fallen ally.
"You'll be alright son," he said comfortingly.
"No. This'll be my last battle. I just ask that you bury me here." Matthew felt a slight feeling of heat in all his limbs, and then felt a wave of peace pass over his body. Then everything grew very bright, and Private Matthew Portage died lying right there in the snow.
To Be Continued
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