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The Fight for Bravo Base; pt. 1
Posted By: ONI_operative_343<zattack89@aol.com>
Date: 5 September 2003, 8:58 PM


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Pvt. George Stockwell clicked off the safety on his MA58 assault rifle. He swung left, raising the gun to his shoulder, casting light into the dark bushes. He hated the night patrols... why the hell does Sarge always send me out? He wondered. Then his thoughts snapped back to reality. There it was again; a rustling of leaves, this time on his right. A small bark erupted somewhere behind him; then the shuffling of feet. Grunts he thought, turning around. An alien emerged off to his right, and another to his immediate left. Stockwell pivoted towards the first grunt, but had barely enough time to fire one bullet... the Major Elite had snuck up on him, and with one swing of the plasma rifle, dropped the unfortunate marine.

2 Days Later

"Incoming Banshee!" Sgt. Reed hollered hollered from the side seat of the Warthog. The marine in the driver's seat tried to maneuver out of the streambed he had been in when the fuel rod torpedo erupted in the water behind him. The marine in the gunner's seat was killed instantly from the explosion, and the driver, along with Reed, was flung out. The unfortunate driver literally splattered against a nearby rock as the Banshee swooped in for another attack. Sgt. Reed was flung into some bushes; there was pain in his right leg. He swore, but was thankful he still had some defense... 3 frags, his S2 AM sniper rifle, and two clips of ammo. Then he swore again, realizing that he had nothing to take the Banshee down with.

All for that godamn Stockwell he muttered to himself. Lost for 2 days... can't Command just accept that he was dead? NO... He thought... always gotta check and get more of my men killed... great.

By now the Banshee pilot had given up his search, assuming the other human was under the water. It had swooped in for a minute, killed two men and injured a third, then took off. Reed couldn't believe these Covenant... they were almost unstoppable. Now he had to make it to Bravo Base alive... otherwise four men from his squad, including him, were gone. Not good. After checking several times that no Covenant patrols were nearby, the Sgt. hobbled over to the Warthog, which had made a full flip and landed rubber-side down. It wasn't good however: the back-right tire was gone; just the empty swing arm remained. The entire LAAG gun was busted; it wouldn't turn properly, and even if it had, no marine gunner and a bent barrel would make the gun useless. The vehicle would also be an easy target for Covenant search parties. On the other hand, a marine recon may search for it, too... After deciding to abandon the Hog, he grabbed the MedKit and put some Biofoam on his right leg to stop the bleeding; it was making him dizzy. He tried to stand, then fell back down. A few minutes later he got up again and managed to stand. Reed slung the sniper rifle over his back and prepared for the long hike back to Bravo Base. What I wouldn't do for that damn Banshee... he thought.

Back at Bravo Base, Pvt. Hack searched the comm. channels. It's been 3 hours since the search party set out in the damn Hog... something must've gone wrong, he thought. The Sarge had been on the patrol with them, which was something Hack had warned him about... what if something happened? But Reed wouldn't take any of that shit... Now the Sarge, who was codenamed Bravo 1, was possibly dead- along with Bravos 3, 4, and 7- the missing Stockwell. It was odd... Stockwell couldn't have strayed far from the base.. maybe a ten-minute walk at the most. After he hadn't checked back in at base, Sarge had been on edge. Did that mean the Covies were in-bound of Bravo Base? Wondered Hack. First thing in the morning Command radioded in, ordering Sgt. Reed to send out a search party, which arrived back at base with no success. Today he went out with the search party... and had been gone for 3 hours now... It was too suspicious. The Covenant had to be in the area Hack thought out loud. And with Sarge missin, that aint good. There's only me, Lynch, Martelli, and Jesseman left to hold down this dumbass little outpost. And the weapons aint top-notch; two damn snipers, a few assault rifles, and one rocket launcher, with only two rockets he thought. They're nearby he thought, and I just hope they don't decide to show up now. But Pvt. Hack knew they would, long before the Wraith came crashing through the trees outside.





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