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Caught on Film,Chapter 2
Posted By: Dropship Pilot<www.cows@hotmail.com>
Date: 12 November 2003, 10:25 PM
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Chapter 2
"Holy shit! That was a little too close Barnes! The objective's to get us on the ground alive!" Lieutenant James screamed into his boom mike. Barnes ignored him.
This was amazing footage I thought. I couldn't see the enemy AA guns, but they sure were putting up one hell of a defense. The ship in front of us took a direct hit, and melted away completely.
"Damnit!" James cried, "that was our heavy weapons squad! Looks like we're goin' in without launchers boys!"
I could see the men weren't happy about that. My knuckles were white from gripping the camera, and I became even more terrified when I saw the surface of the planet.
The Covenant had been surprised by the attack, there was no doubt about that. The barracks, or what I thought were the barracks, were pouring out Grunts and Jackals, and what ONI labeled Elites. They all scrambled for their guns, be they small arms or the anti-aircraft weapons; anything they could use to stop our landing. I saw one Jackal fire an overcharged plasma bolt at the lead dropship. The bolt did not do much, just popped and sizzled on the metal hull. Then, before I knew it, the ground came up fast, and our pilot was yelling:
"FIVE TO DIRT! GET READY TO HIT IT MARINES!"
Then the ramp was down, and the Lieutenant was shoving us out. I stumbled out, and was startled by the bright sun on my eyes. I set the tint on my camera and made sure I was still rolling.
"IVERSON! Follow the rest of the god damn squad!"
I looked back, and saw a sergeant I didn't know shouting and waving his arms at me. The rest of his words were drowned out by the whine of passing plasma. I heeded his words, and ran after the squad.
As I reached the rest of the guys, I looked up to see what they were firing at. What I saw made me wish I hadn't.
In front of us, on a little grassy dune, sat at least 30 Grunts and Jackals, all entrenched behind fat rocks.
"Oh god no........." a marine muttered as he looked at a ragged cut across his chest. The cut was quickly blossoming red across his armor. I made sure I didn't pan over him.
"Fire in the hole!" the El-tee shouted as he tossed a frag grenade into the trench. The bastards tried to jump out of the way, but were too late and spattered their blood over the ground.
"Move it marines! Through the gap! NOW!" he cried at us.
We all sprinted up the rise, dodging as much fire as possible. The guy next to took an overcharged plasma bolt to the chest, stopped in his tracks, groaned, the fell backwards. Another man got a series of rounds in the face and dropped.
Then we were in the ditch. This was when all hell broke loose. Covenant on all sides of us. Men were expending their ammunition in seconds. Long pink needles exploded in a mans arm, sending him flying backwards. I drew my sidearm, and taking aim at an oncoming Grunt, squeezed the trigger and put 3 rounds in the little guy's head. There was so much going on, I made sure the camera was getting everything for ONI.
Suddenly the enemy in front of us was ripped to shreds by something behind us. We all tuned and looked at the beachhead. This was one hell of a battle.
3 UNSC Pelican dropships had landed behind us, and each one had brought along an M12 LRV, or Warthog, as it was called At least 15 regular marines jumped out as well. The Pelicans were using their coaxial chain guns to pummel the fleeing resistance. The marines manned the 'Hogs, and their tri-barreled rear machine-guns were also making short work of the enemy defending the beach. We all cheered in relief. The beach had been taken.
After about half an hour the area was clear of any enemy pockets, 30 more marines plus Warthogs had landed, and our squad was ready to push forward. I noticed the low battery light on my camera was on, so I discarded the old ones and snapped in a fresh pair.
"Alright! Listen up marines!" the burly black Master Sgt. I had seen on the Atlantis ordered, " now here is the rundown of phase two, in case you fools forgot. We're gonna' take a couple of these 'Hogs and follow the Wang Sui river all the way up to an old mining post the UNSC set up before the Covenant occupation. There we will clear out any enemy units, and wait for reinforcements. Any questions?"
"Sir? Will we have any help now? I mean, our squad is pretty thin," a sandy haired guy asked.
"Good question Baker. Yes, we will have 8 men from Company C along with one of their Jackhammer launchers. Now get in gear marines, 'cause we're moving out in 5 minutes!"
"Yes Sergeant!" we replied.
I walked over and sat on a piece of driftwood. The scenery was so beautiful, I wondered how there could actually have been a battle here. I was drinking from my canteen when the sandy haired man came and sat next to me.
"Here kid, take these" he said, offering me a bandoleer with 5 frag grenades on it, "you might need these,"
"That's okay. I'm not really supposed to get involved too much in combat," I replied.
"Just take 'em okay? These bastards don't care who you are. The slaughter innocent civilians. They see humans, they kill them; whether they've got a camera or a shotgun. These things here, they might help ya' survive. So just take them," he stuffed the bandoleer into my hands and walked away.
What he said haunted me. Actually, it was the way he said it. He sounded so sad, like he'd seen the Covenant murder people a thousand times before. He probably had, I thought again. I shuddered.
"Okay grunts! Lets go!"
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