halo.bungie.org

They're Random, Baby!

Fan Fiction


The Legends of Sgt. Johnson: Halo
Posted By: Samslink14<Samslink14@AOL.com>
Date: 19 November 2004, 1:31 AM


Read/Post Comments

_____________Author's Note:I spent the past three days attempting to perfect this one. I finally read comments on my other three and did my best to make changes to improve according to them. I feel that I did a lot better and hope you do too. I'm open to any comments you may have and you can even E-Mail me if that serves you. Special Thanks to the Master Chief's cousin and BlasTech. Hope you enjoy it!
_______________________Samslink14
P.S.
Sorry BlasTech, but once I start a series I can never bear to stop in the middle. I'm going to at least finish The Legends of Sgt. Johnson before I move on. Hope you like the changes!


PPS
I spent over a week trying to get indents on my paragraphs. I tried everything I could think of, spaces, tabs; I even put it up in FAQs. But I still haven't got it, so I'm finally just posting the story with lines for indents. If you know what to do in order to get indents, please post it in comments. Thanks.


_________"Damn it!" the pilot yelled.
_________"Problems pilot?" Sgt. Johnson yelled in question.
_________"I can't land on that cliff, but the valley after it is gonna be the biggest damn fit anyone's ever done. Its only a few hundred meters across, and at these speeds, if we hit the other side of the valley we'd be dead!"
_________"We won't be able to get over the hill on the opposite side pilot! We're going to have to try for the valley!"
_________ "Roger that Sir! We've got about forty-five seconds to dirt!"
_________While the seconds ticked off, the whole life boat's hull shook with tremendous force until half the Marines were under the impression that they were going to break apart while still in the air.
_________About .000958 seconds late, the life boat shook with even more ferocity as it skidded across the ground, reverse burners struggling to bring the momentum of the boat to a stop. Mendoza uttered a short prayer and tried to hide it, but his superior officer still caught it.
_________ "Don't worry men, we'll get out of here alive and without a scratch! Every one of us!" Johnson yelled, though no one could really hear him above the sound of dirt scraping the bottom of the hull. As if to underline his words, the hull finally disengaged it's shaking and came to a stop. There was about a half a second of silence until Johnson yelled as if to keep them on their toes. "Hit it Marines! Go, go, go!"
_________Knowing the drill, the Marines unbuckled the straps holding them in their seats and attempted to open the door. As lifeboats always did, the doors were jammed from the crash, so someone hit the secondary door accessing button and blew it open. The Marines piled out and formed a loose formation.
_________Mendoza squinted in the bright sunlight and blinked in surprise. He didn't expect to see the large structure a few dozen meters away when he got out. Johnson, as always, shouted at the Marines, giving orders. He took advantage of the structure and ordered the few crew members with them on top for protection, including the pilot. He incorporated several Marines on the zenith just in case Covenant forces put a drop ship on top of it. The rest of the Marines, including himself, patrolled the area around the structure, just to make sure that it was all clear.
_________Johnson seemed to be making a decision. He could stay at the structure, which offered a superior defense position but allowed easier finding right next the heat signals the life boat put out, or he could leave, on foot with crew to watch over and no protection except staying hidden. Just as he had finished his decision with the fact that the risk of detection was too great, a Covenant drop ship appeared and landed troops.
_________Several Marines cursed and opened up on them. Two or three men had already gone down by the time the drop ship left, but its absence gave no one any comfort, since it had left behind several troops and another was coming anyway.
_________Covenant troops were already starting to pour over the lines and take the battle field when the second drop ship came to a low hover several meters above the ground, unloading another group of troops.
_________Mendoza sighted in on a Jackal and blew its head off before it could bring up its shield. Three Marines had started on an Elite and had brought down its shields when Mendoza jumped in. The Elite, with no support from his Grunts, which had scurried behind some trees, had sections of its armor blown off, pushing it off balance. Mendoza sighted in, closed, and put two in its head. But there were still at least three or four Elites and dozens of Jackals and Grunts to deal with.
_________They were still being overrun, and were beginning to pull back when four Grunts fell nearly instantaneously. A Jackals head exploded and an Elite had its shields dropped sixty percent before finding cover. This still didn't do it much good, since within moments it was attacked again and this time put down under a hail of bullets. Grunts who ran around in confusion dropped three a second. A maroon-armored Elite seemed to have found where the attack was coming from and charged a small group of trees. Before it could leap aside, a frag grenade fell before it and detonated. The Covenant was not out of the fight, however, and merely stumbled with a groan and continued forward. Twenty armor-piercing rounds punctured its chest and threw it back, spurting blood for a full meter behind it.
_________However, the other Covenant soldiers, still numerous, got the idea of what their fallen comrade was doing and half of them charged the trees at once. The other half kept on the Marines. Mendoza fired a few rounds at an incoming Jackal, but kept an eye on the other Covies. A plasma grenade latched onto a Grunt and blew him away while assault rifle fire was concentrating on the Elites. The Elite's shields weren't even down by seventy percent by the time it reached the trees, and what happened next was confusing to Mendoza.
_________The Elite spotted its objective and gave a roar. It leaped at something with plasma rifle in hand and hit something with a solid thud. A bright gold glared and went out as the Elite fired. It appeared that the Elite was pushed backwards, but Mendoza wasn't sure from his angle.
_________He then forced himself to ignore the action at the trees momentarily and opened fire at a Grunt. Without the support that the commanding Elite usually gave them, the Marines slaughtered the charging Grunts, but the Jackals were another problem. Their shields gave them the advantage, but they were still in the open while the Marines had the cover of the rocks and structure. A few frags silenced a couple, but not all of them. Mendoza was considering finding a new position when slugs blew open the side a Jackal's face. Another was wounded when the fire stopped. Mendoza looked back at the trees just in time to see the unmistakable MJOLNIR armor stained in purple and blue blood. Two Elites were firing with vigor at the figure and keeping him pinned down, while the Jackals prevented support from the Marines. The Spartan was trying to at least take down a few Jackals so that the Marines could come and help him out, but the Elite's knew their job too well and were keeping him from getting off more than a couple rounds from his standard pistol.
_________One of the few remaining Grunts tossed a plasma grenade at the Spartan's path, forcing him to double back the other way, right into the Elite's fire. Two plasma bolts smacked against his body, causing his shields, to flare, then fail as a third hit. Another hit his arm, melting away armor. The assault rifle barked and outlined one of the Elites, but it was too slow. A perfectly placed frag caused both Elites to dive away, splitting up. This distraction was enough to allow thirty rounds to burn away at the shield until the Spartan ran up and smacked it with super-human strength. The Covenant growled and received another smack in answer, finally draining its shields. Then the other Elite got back into the fight and fired on him, draining his recharged shields and forcing him to retreat back into the trees. Knowing this would allow the wounded Elite's shields to recharge, Mendoza left his position and charged forward, dodging plasma bolts from the Jackals and opened up on the Elite duo position. He didn't hurt them much, but he distracted them enough. The instant their back was turned, the Spartan leaped from the trees and punched the unshielded Elite's vulnerable back, snapping its spinal chord in half and killing it instantly. This brought the other Elite's attention back to the Spartan, but that was enough. A pistol opened up and dropped its shields down to zero percent. The Spartan could have switched to his assault rifle, but instead he used the second that his shields bought him to reload the pistol. He fired instantly upon completing his reload and blew its guts through the other side of its body.
_________Mendoza was about to cheer when a small green plasma bolt hit him in the side, burning away armor and slightly blistering flesh. He grit his teeth and ducked behind a tall tree. Flanked by the Spartan and the Marines, the remaining Jackals and Grunts didn't have a chance. Johnson burned away a lot of his ammo on a Jackal until the Spartan put a round in its back, piercing its armor and causing it to clutch at its chest and fall to its knees until the Sergeant put it down for good. A Grunt activated a plasma grenade, but found an explosive round to the head before he could toss it. The grenade exploded, blowing away three others. The last Jackal was focusing on the Marines when the Spartan charged forward with his assault rifle and put half a clip into its side. The Jackal screamed and fell to the ground.
_________Sgt. Johnson jogged forward to meet the Spartan, backed up by Medoza and two other Marines. He gave a sigh and began to speak. "It's a mess Sir, we're scattered all over this valley. We called for evac, but until you showed up, I thought we were cooked."
_________The ship AI, which the Master Chief was apparently protecting, opened up a comlink and spoke. "Don't worry Sergeant, we'll stay here until evac arrives.
_________Another Marine called out a greeting. "Good to see you Sir!"
_________One of the Marines on the other side of the structure yelled with alarm into the radio. "Look sharp! Covenant drop ship, inbound! I could use some help over here!"
_________The Spartan seemed to listen to a voice inside his head for a moment, then jogged towards the other side of the structure.
_________From the radio chatter, it seemed that actually three drop ships had landed and unloaded troops. Even with the Spartan, the defenses were having trouble with resisting the sudden attack. Someone announced the forced retreat to the top of a hill and a few minutes later, Covenant forces began to come from the other side. The Marines were able to retaliate momentarily, but were forced back as Covenant reinforcements arrived. By the time the Spartan came to help, Johnson's forces were being pushed to the top of the structure.
_________Plasma tore into an Elite's back, quickly diminishing its shield and leaving the rest to pistol work. It retaliated and fired a trio of blasts at the Chief before the Marines fired on it from on top of the structure. Scores of bullets rained down on its head, ripping mercilessly through the helmet and forcing it to the ground, dead. The other Covenant forces then opened fire on the Spartan, leaving the Marines free. They didn't waste the chance and took down several Grunts and a Jackal before attention was again given to them. The Spartan was starting to seem like he was having problems. His shield was gone and his armor was a miracle just for still staying together, not to mention taking two more hits from plasma rifles. He finally made it to the top of the structure and waited for his shields to recharge. He reloaded the pistol and opened fire on the more vulnerable Grunts just to even out the odds a little before dueling it out with the Elites.
_________The other Marines meanwhile were attempting to hold off the Covenant forces from the other ramp but failing badly. They lacked the shields and training to wreak the havoc that the Spartan could. An Elite made a charge up the ramp, backed by several Grunts and three Jackals. It fired three quick shots, ate thirty rounds of ammo, and swung a blow at a Marine's head with the plasma rifle it held. The Marines tried duck away and disengage, but it was too late. The kid's skull caved in and allowed his lifeless body to hit the ground. Half a dozen other Marines retreated several steps, firing in panic. The Elite took two more lives before losing its shields. After that, it seemed that a Grunt had fired several Needler rounds at a Marines in its eagerness, but the rounds followed the closest life form: the Elite. Five needles blew open its torso, and the sixth finally finished it off. The Grunt seemed confused and scared, until Bisenti put sixty holes in him. The Covenant formation of Grunts broke and ran, cut down by a collection of pistols and assault rifles. The third Jackal had joined with the cowards, but the first two kept their shields up, firing in unison. A couple frags were sufficient to silence them. The other two ship loads of Covenant darted around the trees and rocks, firing few shots with little cover, but little casualties.
_________On the other side of the structure, Covenant forces were starting to overwhelm human defenses. A single Jackal remained, and all Grunts were taken out, but the superiority of the Elites was showing. Two blue-armored ones, with a maroon-armored in the lead, made a charge up the ramp.
_________The lead Elite's shields were down to about fifteen percent when it reached the top, breaching the defense. Marines held their positions directly above the ramp, but the Spartan was forced to move backwards, away from the ramps. Spraying the area with plasma fire, the Covenant warrior leaped into the air, thereby escaping three grenades, two frags from the Marines and a plasma from the Spartan. His weapon shook as rounds poured from it. The Elite's shields finally dropped, allowing a decent chance of killing it before support from the two blue-armored Elites came. Someone had the sense to throw a frag down though, buying several precious seconds of time. The Spartan finished the assault rifle's clip off, switched to the pistol, and blew a hole in its throat.
_________ Not a moment too soon. thought Mendoza as the two other Elites reached the top. Two frags blew away ones shields, but the other escaped with a tremendous leap into the air. It landed two feet behind one of the Marines defending the other ramp and delivered a crushing blow to his back, throwing him forward and off the structure. Five assault rifles barked and dropped thirty percent of its shields. An overcharged plasma pistol went off, bringing it to zero percent. The Master Chief tossed the alien weapon away and picked up the assault rifle again, firing a sustained burst. Twenty-five rounds punctured its armor, causing it to stumble while leaking purple blood, but before the Spartan could finish it off, the second Elite struck his head with its plasma rifle, causing his shields to flare brightly. 117 rolled backwards and drained the rest of the assault rifle's clip into the Elite's halfway recharged shields. He made a switch to his pistol and reached for a clip to reload. His armored glove found his leg. No more ammo for the pistol. The Master Chief cursed and flung the empty weapon into the enemy's face. Its armor didn't allow it to even be felt, but the action surprised it long enough to rip a weapon from a startled pilot's hands and open fire. The Elite started forward, then stumbled as a wave of bullets hit it, from the front and back. It struggled to rise, the attack was too much, and it hit the ground for good. The first Elite had taken out another Marine and wounded two more when the Master Chief finally gave support. It ate two hundred rounds before falling. The remaining Jackal below suffered three slugs into its chest. With that side cleared, things were a lot simpler.
_________The Spartan offered the pistol back to the pilot, but he shook his head. "You can use it better than I can." 117 accepted the weapon and reloaded that and the assault rifle.

Continued in "The Legends of Sgt. Johnson: Halo-Part 2"





bungie.org