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Salvation Unlooked For Ch. 01: Journey to Hope
Posted By: Spartan99<MarleneMosher@aol.com>
Date: 26 March 2004, 3:03 AM
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Author's Note: This is just a little intellectual exercise, sorry if I don't have the times/dates right. Enjoy my fellow Halo-freaks!
0700 Hours, September 18, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Desrtoyer IWO JIMA, exiting Epsilon Eridani system.
The Pelican's door had been damaged in it's escape from Reach, that was easy for the naval rating to see. They were looking for a torch to cut through them. It also fed her fears of Reach's fate. The fact that the ODSTs were retreating into space couldn't be a good thing. The intraship communication system had been damaged in the orbital battle, and little was known to the crew for sure.
The only hard knowledge was the fact that Reach had been attacked by massively superior Covenant naval forces.Then a series of blood curdling concussions as the IWO took damage in the spatial battle as it fought to rejoin it's battle group....
The IWO had a tough time doing that. She had been in the refit yards, having her MAC system upgraded when the Covenant jumped in system and began their rampage. The refit hadn't been completed, and the IWO charged into battle with 3 magnetic coils uninstalled, though they were on board. They had nearly bought it, but joined the Cruiser COLLUMN OF WINTER, the Destroyer NORMANDIE, and the barely functional Carrier THERMOPYLAE.
First Seargent Juan Ramirez sat in the dark troop bay of Pelican F189 and fought down the waves of grief induced naseau. Reach was gone and so was 1st Battalion. That's the simple, fuckin' truth of it.
1st Batt., 3rd Reg., 2nd ODST Division had been on a full scale training exercise near the head of the Big Horn River when the Covenant attacked. HighCom had called them to shift their mock advance to the north and join in the very real defense of an orbital defense generator.
The plan had been to airlift the entire battalion via Pelican and AirBus to the generator before the Covenant deployed and established air superiority... The covenant were faster.
The seargent fought back the bile growing in his throat as he rembered the flights of Seraph fighters slice through the battalion formation and slaughter his fellow Helljumpers by the dozen. As far as he knew his overloaded Pelican was the only one of his battalion to escape....
A wimpering moan came from the soul-drinking blackness. Private Micks had been struck by a piece of shrapnel that flew through the closing troop door, shortly after the Seraphs swept in. The AirBus immediately behind their Pelican exploded after being struck by laser fire from an assaulting Seraph, and Micks went down screaming.
It wasn't the Seargent's first taste of combat... but here on his home Reach. This disturbed him. He called to the corpsman, Doc Mosher,"Hey Doc, how are our wounded?"
A comforting voice rang from the dark,"Al-thani's fine, I got his leg in an inflatable cast. Hooten's unconscious; shock, sir. Micks is allergic to morphine so I can't give him anything, and the local in the bio-foam wore off... The rest of us are fine; sir, exhausted but fine."
Micks started into hysterics,"It's gone! Reach is gone! Ahh, God, it's gone! The navy's destroyed and we've got no place to go!"
"We'll be okay, you little shit. We pulled into the IWO JIMA, and she's jump-capable, so suck it up and let us sleep," snapped Corporal Perez, refeering to the other 17 marines in the Pelican.
Seargent Ramirez's voice rose in anger,"Stow it Corporal! You will not speak to a member of your unit like that!" Still, despite the fact that they were docked in the IWO, they were beaten, low on cobat power, and Reach was gone along with the only standing fleet between Earth and the Covenant. His heart dropped into despair.
A bright, sputtering light came from the door and flooded the interior. It quickly cut a square in the titanium-A of the door/ramp and the metal dropped outwards revealing a naval rating. "You boys okay?", piped in the crew-women.
Ramirez struggled wearily to his feet," Yeah, we've got wounded though. Are we the only ones?" The rating grinned,"Not quite."
Ramirez stumbled from the Pelican, blinking in the suddenly offensive light, looked down the gangway of the upper level of the docking bay. There were 5 other Pelicans docked into the bays and all were unloading a tremendous amount of equiptment and troops. Warthogs, ATVs, Marines, fellow ODSTs to his suprise, ammunition of all types, and down on the floor of the bay was a Scorpion MBT.
His heart swelled with hope, as he started on his way to the bridge to report to the captain.
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