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The Fight for Bravo Base; pt. 2- The Attack Begins
Posted By: ONI_operative_343<zattack89@aol.com>
Date: 11 September 2003, 2:08 AM


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Sgt. Reed ejected the spent cartridge and slammed a new one home. Shouldering his S2 again, he lined up his sight on the Jackal. Not two seconds later, the armor-piercing round slammed through the alien's skull, ending the last member of the Covie patrol in a splatter of purple blood. Scanning the area and deciding it was clear, Reed got to his feet. There was still some pain in his right leg, but not enough to keep him off it. Actually, the Sergeant had made good time; by a quick estimate, he was maybe a one-day hike from his whiskey bottle that lay safely in his desk drawer... But back to the task at hand he thought. Steadying himself, he hobbled over to where the last alien fell. Three Jackals, four Grunts, and two Elites (one a major, the other a minor)- lay sprawled on the ground his feet. He picked up one of the Elite's plasma rifles, and found the charge at 23%. Just then he caught his foot on a dead Grunt- a very unfortunate thing to do. The blades on the alien's elbow cut open a new wound on his leg as he went down. Wincing in pain, the Sarge took out his Bio-Foam to try and kill the pain. Now out of breath, the Marine didn't bother to check the other Elite's gun (which had a charge of 88%), but stood up and cautiously resumed his hike back to base. Not checking the other gun was a most unfortunate thing to do.

The Covenant Field Commander lowered the throttle on his Wraith. The machine slowed to a crawl, then hovered in the air as two squads of Grunts shuffled past, followed by seventeen Elites. Leading the ground troops was one of those badass Elites- a Special Op, blessed by the Covenant Prophets themselves. It led a mixed group of Major and Minor Grunts and Elites through the trees to the very edge of the forest. Then the black armor-clad soldier turned toward the tank, awaiting orders. Inside the Wraith, the BattleNet channels buzzed. From what the Commander could gather before the transmission went dead, Bloodied Fang squad had set out on routine patrol and had fallen under attack from a human sniper. The Elite snarled; now it was time for his revenge. The tank began to move up, signaling it would go in first. The other aliens scrambled to get out of the way, but one unfortunate Grunt was caught between the Wraith's bulbous side and a tree. Methane leaked from it's tank as the Wraith slid past, mowed down a large tree, and emerged into the open plain. Suddenly it lobbed a plasma orb into the air, with a trajectory that would put it right in the front door of Bravo Base.

"SHIT!" screamed Hack. "THEY'RE HERE! JESUS, THEM DAMN COVENANT ARE HERE!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Martelli jumped out of his seat, spilling coffee down his front. "What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, seeing the horrified expression on the Private's face. Martelli rushed over to Hack's monitor. At least twenty different enemy signals, including an enemy attack craft, flashed on-screen. Damn... he mumbled. Without questioning his fellow Marine, Hack slammed the combat alert button and released the weapons lockers. Time to earn my pay he thought as him and Martelli ran into the hall. Just then, a massive explosion resounded through the halls. Another Marine, Jesseman, raced towards Hack and Martelli. "THEY'VE BLOWN THE DOOR!" he screamed, pointing back towards the shattered remnants of the base's blast door. Hack squinted, and in the distance he thought he could see a purple, floating blob... and a massive ball of death racing out the top of it...

Bravo Base was a small outpost on Yavin II, a small moon orbiting Sigma Octanus IV. Mostly forests with a few scattered lakes and streams, the moon served no real purpose as a defense station for the planet below. It did, however, have a few detection/scanning stations, and one small outpost, Bravo, staffed with only eight UNSC Marines. Built into the side of a hill, Bravo Base was on the outskirts of the forest, with wide plains and a small lake to it's left. In the hills above the structure were the power stations for the scanning devices and the planet itself, along with the Marine's barracks and a landing pad, which a Pelican dropship, Sierra 523, now occupied. A massive blast door, wide enough for two Scorpion MBT's to pass through together, marked the front of the instalation. One story up were the defense stations: one machine gun turret, and many shields that the Marines could take cover with, similar to those that littered the Pillar of Autumn's hallways. Both the blast door and upper defense stations all fed into underground hallways, which consisted of more then half of the base. The vehicle storage bay was one floor below ground level, as were the armory stations. If the top two floors were lost to enemy control, the Marines could take cover in the hallways. However, the only escape route from those tunnels was in the ramp that led up to the landing pad, which could only be accessed by the lower level tunnels. The ramp was large enough to move a Scorpion through; unfortunately the base didn't have one available. Too bad for the Marines, because even as the Covenant flooded into the newly-blasted front door of Alpha Base and the humans ran for Armory 3, the Covenant tank began to circle around the hill Bravo Base was dug into. Once in position, it began bombarding the landing pad. In one energy bomb, Sierra 523 ceased to exist. Then the tank turned it's sights on the other door.

The Commander Elite laughed loudly as the bomb arched into the air, then fell gracefully downward. Upon impact, a loud explosion similar to the other door's demise rang out to the Marines below, who were scrambling to their weapons. Seven Elites and five Grunts trudged up the hill after the tank, ready to storm into the back door. Soon, thought the Filed Commander, it will be all over. Once again he let out a cruel, evil laugh. Swinging the tank around again, he focused on the generators hidden amongst the tress, and let the plasma launch into the sky.





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