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Halo 2: Revenge of a Spartan, Chapter 5
Posted By: LostRock<The1lone2outlaw3@aol.com>
Date: 18 April 2003, 3:52 AM
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1246 Hours, September 12, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Dropship Delta 10, Antarctica, Earth
The five Pelican dropships flew over the vast Atlantic Ocean due directly south. The sky was unusually grey, but not just because it was cold. The destruction from buildings blew dust all over the world, making it a dark, gloomy place no matter where you were.
The Master Chief sat in a dropship, securely fastened to the seat closest to the drop exit door. He was armed with his M6D pistol and a battle rifle. He was fully maxed out with grenades and ammo. He was ready to fight.
The Chief glanced north as he saw a flicker of light in the distance. Another nuke, he thought. He learned that the humans and Covenant were evenly matched, so UNSC had no choice but to use nuclear weapons. Everyone could only hope that the Earth wasn't a glowing radioactive ball when the battle was over. The ozone layer could be repaired again, like the UN did in 2134, but there was a concern that there wouldn't be any ozone left to replenish once the Covenant were gone.
"Okay, let's review, marines," Cortana said over the com channel, breaking the Chief's train of thought.
"There's a large Covenant force stuck on Antarctica. Their dropships were destroyed by orbital UNSC attacks after they touched down. Right now we're racing the Covenant's available dropships coming to pick them up. We need to completely eradicate this division so that when their ride comes there's nothing left to rescue.
"Also, note that we'll be fighting on about half a meter of ice. Do not, at any time, use grenades or rockets. Hidden holes in the battlefield could be deadly for not only the Covenant but also your fellow marines."
Hearing this, the Chief put his grenades in the compartment under his seat. As he looked up, he could see snow covered land. But there was not only white along the icy terrain: the Chief could see a rainbow of shapes scattered everywhere over about one square kilometer, their sizes varying. And they were moving.
"Hostiles spotted," Cortana warned over the channel.
The marine opposite the Chief, Sergeant Ross, pulled out his sniper rifle. He peered into the long gun's scope and opened fire. The Chief watched and could only hope that Ross was making good shots. The Pelicans circled around as they prepared to land.
Touchdown. Making a final shot, Ross put away the sniper rifle and brought up his SMG.
"CHARGE!" He cried.
The Chief and the rest of the marines jumped out of the Pelican. He observed the battlefield for a few short seconds. It was much like the assault on one of Halo's islands in the search for the Silent Cartographer, only on a much larger scale. Covenant forces were everywhere, some controlling Shade stationary guns. Elites fired their plasma rifles in short, controlled bursts so as not to drain the guns' batteries. Hunters, the main target of most of the marines' weapons, were overwhelmed and took potshots with their large fuel rod guns at the humans. Jackals and Grunts blasted away with needlers and plasma pistols. Meanwhile, the humans, armed with every non-explosive weapon available, made up five platoons and were moving in quickly into the Covenant's camp.
His adrenaline pumping, the Chief dove into battle. Peering into his scope, the Chief picked off the Shade gunners with his battle rifle, one by one. He noticed his shields were dropping and looked up from his scope. A group of Jackals had noticed him and were now pounding away at his invisible protection. The Chief ducked behind a communications uplink crate and prepared to toss a grenade.
"Chief!" Cortana spoke up. "You put away your grenades, remember?"
The Chief cursed silently, realizing his error. He let his shields fill back up as he looked around for a plasma weapon to take down the Jackals' shields. Not a single one in sight. There was only one option left.
The Chief jumped out from his hiding spot and barreled towards the Jackals, the shots from their plasma pistols making the air crackle around him. He leapt into the air over a Jackal, raising his rifle. He brought it down right between the Jackal's eyes, crushing the birdlike skull. The other Jackals did not turn their backs quickly enough to face the Chief, and he blasted all of them with the rifle.
In other parts of the battlefield, the marines were not doing so well. The Covenant were using their plasma grenades recklessly. The explosives sent blue flames flying up from the human troops' feet, and left them without said body part and most of the rest of themselves. Marines that had been charging towards enemy lines behind their unfortunate comrades slid and fell into the gaping holes in the ice. Those that were able to make it to the surface of the water were picked off by the Shades.
Though the humans were down, they were not out. The troops quickly encircled the remaining Covenant and mowed them down easily. The blood the Covenant left resembled that of snow cone-making ingredients.
"Good work, marines," Cortana congratulated the marines. "...Hang on. Incoming hostiles. Must've been a patrol unit that was called back when the fighting started. 2 klicks away and closing."
"Get ready, marines," yelled Sergeant Ross. "We're not done with this thing yet!" The Chief locked and loaded his weapon. His work was never finished.
An indicator appeared in the Chief's HUD. He looked to where it pointed and could see figures coming closer and closer in the distance. He could make out several Ghosts, and something that was larger than a Ghost but smaller than a Wraith tank. It appeared to have hover technology like all Covenant vehicles.
The Chief turned to see a white-faced marine offering him a sniper rifle. "Sir," said the marine, "You may want to have a look at this."
The Chief looked into the gun's scope, which was cranked up at 10x magnification, towards the incoming aliens. Yes, the larger vehicles were definitely hovering. But that wasn't his concern. It was the figures onboard them.
The Chief had, at first, mistaken the shapes hanging off the sides of the vehicle to be Hunters, but they were much more rugged. The creatures were about eight feet tall and appeared to be very muscular and heavy. The brown fur scattered about their limbs and torso was rough and dirty. The uncovered skin was like living rock. The armor covering the creatures' torso, arms and head seemed to be a lighter, flattened version of the Hunters' shield weapons. They had horrifying faces, with small, dangerous eyes, gaping mouths and snorting snouts. Their guns appeared to be a variation of a fuel rod weapon, and had a menacing scythe running along the bottom. The beasts also had belts of red cylinders, possibly a new kind of grenade.
"How could the Covenant already have new allies?" Cortana whispered in the Chief's ear. "They only recruited the Hunters about a month ago."
The Chief didn't feel like seeing what these new Covenant could do, so he wrapped his finger around the trigger of the sniper rifle and looked for a target. He got a bead on one of the large beasts and fired. The bullet pierced the Covenant's skin straight through the chest. The Chief stared in disbelief as the creature did not wince, but instead roared with anger. The bullet had broken through the beast's shield as well as its flesh.
Anything can be killed from a direct hit to the skull. These guys can't be that tough, the Chief thought as he took aim at the beast's head. A shot went straight between the eyes. The Covenant fell and rolled away from the vehicle, dead. Satisfied, the Chief put down the sniper rifle and brought up his battle rifle, as the incoming aliens were only hundreds of meters away.
The Chief turned to the marine sergeants and said, "These new Covenant have very thick skin. Tell your men to go for their heads."
"Yes, sir," the marines replied in unison.
Suddenly, plasma fire soared just above the Master Chief's head. He turned to see that the Covenant were now in firing range. The hovering alien craft had turned to reveal a miniature Shade gun mounted in the back. The pink-purple lance danced towards the marines, peppering them with fire as they took cover behind crates.
The humongous Covenant stepped out from the new vehicles and the Ghosts. They fired their fuel rod weapons at they charged at amazing speeds for their sizes. Bullets pinged off their armor like so many small pebbles in a tin can. The beasts rapidly approached a group of marines and slashed with their gun scythes, ripping the poor troops to ribbons.
"This is not good," said Cortana. "I called for backup, they should be here in a matter of seconds."
"We have to do something now," The Chief said. "We're not going to last in the next few seconds."
Grabbing a squad of marines, the Chief led them to the undamaged Shade guns. The Spartan and the other soldiers climbed into the gunner seats of the powerful artillery. They opened fire on the creatures, and the smell of liquid metal and burning flesh filled the air. One by one, the Covenant fell to the powerful plasma. In a few minutes, there was nothing left of the enemy forces but large, green-bloodied corpses and burning hulks of vehicles.
The remaining marines cheered at the victory. "Yeah, that's the way to do it!" "Way to kick some ass, marines!"
The Chief said to Cortana, "Can you find out what the hell those things were?"
"Hacking into the Covenant Battle Net..." said Cortana, "Hmmm...the transmissions seem to designate these new Covenant as 'Brutes,' if I'm correct. Also, those new vehicles are called Shadows."
"Well," said the Chief, looking into the sky at the approaching Pelican dropships, "I really don't feel like seeing what those things can do in large numbers."
TO BE CONTINUED
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