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The Pretenders
Posted By: themanofthepimps<afngo@ucdavis.edu>
Date: 22 May 2009, 8:41 pm
Read/Post Comments
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The Pretenders
0430 Hours, August 12, 2551 (Military Calendar) /
Earth, En-route to Old Mombasa
Six months ago...
Shadows loomed over a sparkling ocean as a group of four Pelicans flew by. These drop ships usually carried UNSC vehicles with tail-mounted magnetic clamps. However, none of them carried any Warthogs or Scorpions as they continued to fly towards an approaching mainland.
Bear sat on the padded seating in the troop bay along with four other ODST hell jumpers. Wolf sat opposite of him along with four other soldiers. Even with the new upgrades added on the Pelican the maximum load capacity for each Pelican was still ten.
Bear was cleaning out the barrel of his shot gun. Unlike most UNSC soldiers that now used the new M90A variant, the Spartan had kept his old M90 K1 version throughout his years of fighting. Though far heavier than its successor, it contained twelve shells versus the M90A's six shells, had a quicker reload rate, and had slightly better penetration and range.
Wolf was staring out at the moving ocean. Both his sniper rifle and BR55 Battle Rifle were latched to the back of his armor. As he gazed at the moving scenery he toyed with a large hunting knife. It was a long and jagged silver blade with a pitch black handle. The blade itself was made from rare titanium alloy. As Bear flipped the knife onto the palm of his hand the whole blade glowed purple as plasma energy surrounded the weapon. Powered by a modified battery pack within the blade's handle the enveloping plasma served to cut through heavy armor, capable of even cutting through a Scorpions armored plates. However, the battery had a limited life span so it was vital to only ignite the plasma in critical situations.
The ODST next to Wolf turned to him.
"You two have funny looking colors to be wearing in battle. Why isn't your armor olive green like Master Chief or at least something bad ass like gold or black?"
"Maybe they wanted to prove their patriotism," remarked another Hell jumper. "If they had a white Spartan they could be an all American team."
The Hell jumpers laughed. Wolf turned to the hell jumper who had spoken first.
"Red represents courage and sacrifice as a comrade while expressing anger and warning as an enemy. Blue represents will power and spirituality within a leader."
The Hell jumpers abruptly stopped laughing.
"My bad sir," muttered the first Hell jumper. "Didn't realize the symbolism behind the color of your armor."
"I was kidding. I just like the color blue because it looks cool."
Bear looked up from examining his shotgun. "Mine's blood. Chaotic."
The Hell jumpers chuckled nervously. Suddenly the speakers began to fizzle and a rough voice broadcasted in the compartment.
"Welcome to flight BADASS. As you can see we are nearing the beautiful city of Old Mombasa. If anyone brought sun tan lotion get the hell of my Pelicans."
The two Spartans and ODSTs stared out the windows as the clouds began to disappear. An island full of derelict and broken down buildings appeared. A huge battered seawall covered in mold and decay surrounded the huge metropolis. The buildings seemed to be tan colored, though that may have been due to the lack of repairs and strong sun that had dried the architecture.
Finally passing over the ocean the Pelicans began to soar over the buildings. Clotheslines were stretched out near cut up power lines. Old mechanical gates were built in alleyways made of brittle brick. There seemed to be no one vacant though most of the doors were shut. Most of the structures looked abandoned and old, as though no one had repaired them for years.
"Alright, listen up ladies," barked the loudspeaker. "This is your Sergeant speaking. You've read the debriefing but I'll say it again because I feel like it. We are to find a reported Covenant excavation site and eliminate all Covenant threat there. Then we are to take some pretty pictures of what they were digging and attempt to discover what the hell they were up to. HQ wants us to capture a hostage but grunts and jackals are stupid and Elites would rather kill themselves than even look at us. So, we'll go with the pictures of the site and their corpses."
"O-RAH!" roared the Hell jumpers.
"We are also blessed with the company of two Spartans who will add significant firepower if the going gets tough. Other than me, they are the highest ranking individuals so you will listen to what they say."
"LZ confirmed sir," yelled the pilot. "We're landing!"
A small plaza appeared. In the center was a dry fountain with a cracked statue of a dolphin. Circular brick cylinders littered the area that each held a variety of dry and dead plants. The Pelicans began to land one at a time and drop their troops before heading out. After the fourth Pelican had left the troops gathered around in the middle of the plaza.
The Sergeant walked out. He was a tall bald Caucasian man with a protruding chin and short eyebrows. He had a long scar that ran from the top of his head down to the side of his face that barely touched the edge of his mouth. He surveyed the team of Hell jumpers and Spartans with squinted eyes.
"We've got forty men. Divided by five for fire teams and that's eight fire teams. I made sure that there was one ODST sharpshooter and rocket man in each pelican. Wolf can lead his own team of snipers and each other fire team will have a rocket launcher. Bear and I will head two teams and the remaining two will be lead by Jenkins and Tomlinson."
"Sir, may I presume that in college you majored in math?"
"No, I majored in kicking ass in the morning and minored in taking names in the evening. Now can it, we need to find out where that damn excavation site is."
A huge beam of light shot down from the sky and disappeared into the city miles away.
"Never mind," muttered the Sergeant. "Move out!"
---
Several hours later...
The sun slept as moonlight glimmered across the abandoned streets and buildings of Old Mombasa. Dark figures skittered across the walls of houses and offices as the ODSTs and Spartans continued to advance. Just a mile away from their location the large beam of light could be seen pouring into the city while banshees circled around like vultures. As they neared the site a huge hole was revealed where the light was hitting. Purple machines fueled by red energy drilled deeper into the hole while Elites, Jackals and grunts patrolled the perimeter.
The Sergeant tuned in to his platoon's radio frequency. "Wolf, get your team to start finding higher ground for better view points. The four remaining teams will get around the hole in the clock position. I'll take 12 o'clock, Bear has 3 o'clock, Jenkins has 6 o'clock and Tomlinson has 9. When I give the signal rocket teams will fire on the banshees and then we will begin to attack their drilling team. After that it's pretty much pray and spray. Sarge over and out."
"Acknowledged," said Wolf. He turned to his team. "Lets get a little closer and then we'll spread out on the top of the buildings. I'll give more orders once everyone is positioned."
They slowly began to move down a narrow road surrounded by dark buildings. Alleyways jutted between each building and lights glowed weakly near shadowy doorways.
Vapory smoke trailed behind a single particle as it flew right into the head of an ODST. The side of his protective head gear shattered as he collapsed onto the ground.
"Find cover NOW!" roared Wolf. He rolled towards the dead Hell jumper and dragged him behind a building.
"Sir, we think the shot was fired from the abandoned office north of our position."
"Scope him out and relay his position to me," muttered Wolf. "I'm going to check the wound."
Wolf quickly removed the helmet and flipped the dead ODST's head to the side. The poor soldier's outer temple had been blown off, revealing his shattered skull and pieces of his cerebellum floating in blood. The Spartan set his visor vision to 2X scope and examined the wound.
Slightly emerged within the wound was a silver bullet. Wolf extracted the bullet and examined it closely.
The round was shaped like a long thin missile. Wolf immediately recognized it as a 14.5X114mm armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot bullet. What was surprising was that while most UNSC issued sabot rounds were silver and black this bullet had seven golden lines. Three circled the front while three circled the back near the fin. The last line circled right in the middle.
"Shit," he whispered to himself.
He popped the magazine out of his own sniper rifle and pulled out a bullet. It had identical golden markings on the front, middle and back.
"This can't be," thought Wolf. "I'm the only one who custom makes my bullets with these markings." But he couldn't shake off that weird feeling as though he knew what was going to happen.
"Sir, I'm gonna take another look!" whispered a Hell jumper.
"Wait, he's still there!" roared Wolf.
The Hell jumpers head had only stuck out an inch before another sabot round pierced right through his visor. The force of the bullet snapped his head back as he flipped over.
"Move through the alley ways," ordered Wolf. "We must take the longer path and regroup with a fire team. The sniper will not give away his position to pursue us."
The two remaining ODST snipers followed him as he ran through the dark alley towards another group of buildings. He turned his radio frequency on.
"Squad leaders we've lost two men to a lone sniper. We are enroute to Bravo team. Bravo team what is your current loc?"
The Sergeant's voice crackled on the radio. "Bravo team is dead, we've just found them. Bodies are all mauled up and there are shotgun shells all over the place. I got a glimpse of a figure running off just as we approached the scene."
"Did you catch any glimpse of him?" said Wolf.
"Yea, he was a red large figure. In fact…"
"Wait…"
"It looked like Bear."
--
Bear and his squad stealthily made their way to the excavation site. They reached a broken down hotel with the main glass doors cracked and swinging off their hinges.
"Once we reach the end of the hotel, let's set up and wait for confirmation from the other teams," barked Bear.
Bear and the Hell jumpers jogged through the hotel. Dim lights glowed along cracked walls as they passed the registration counter and proceeded down the hallway. Most of the doors were closed though a few were ajar.
Just then his radio beeped and the Spartan's private channel with Wolf opened up.
"Julius, the Sergeant says that he saw you leaving the scene where Bravo team was killed."
"No, I've been leading my team the whole time. We're about to reach the excavation point."
"Something's fishy. The sniper that took out two of my guys uses the same custom made sabot rounds that I use. No one even knows how to make them like this. And a Spartan looking just like you seems to be the reason behind the massacre of Bravo team."
"I don't know Brandon I--"
Bear stopped. Something didn't feel right.
"I feel like I'm being followed but I can't explain the feeling."
"Yea, me too. It feels kinda like déjà vu."
"I'm gonna contact the Sergeant. We need to abort this mission now."
"Julius, it feels like a trap."
Before Bear could finish speaking a shot gun blast echoed through the hall. An ODST body was blasted backwards as it crashed into a door frame.
"Stay away from the doors!" bellowed Bear. "He's nearby!"
As the three remaining Hell jumpers sprinted towards him the wall to the right exploded upon them. As the Hell jumpers were buried under the rubble a huge figure emerged from the smoking chaos.
"What the hell-," whispered Bear.
The figure mirrored exactly how Bear looked. It stood at an imposing eight feet with blood-red armor encasing its body. It also wielded an exact replica of the shot gun Bear had. As one of the Hell jumpers attempted to get up the figure slammed the butt of his shot gun into the soldier's head. The Hell jumper's visor shattered as his limp corpse toppled into the wreckage. The remaining three members of the squad jumped into action. One Hell jumper rolled into a nearby room and began to fire his Battle rifle at the Spartan while the other ran backwards firing his assault rifle. Bear pulled out his Battle rifle and began to fire bursts while charging at the assailant.
The renegade Spartan glowed as his shields took the brunt of the bullets from the remaining three squad members. He primed a grenade and threw it into the room where the first Hell jumper was before swiftly closing the door. The resulting explosion deafened the Hell jumpers scream. Bear drew out his shot gun as he approached the renegade.
The other Spartan was faster. Whipping his shot gun around first he fired one shell point blank into Bear's side. Bear flew back and slammed into a wall. His armor began to beep as the last of his shields drained from the impact.
The other Hell jumper had put quite a bit of distance between himself and the lone Spartan as he continued to fire. Without missing a beat the renegade Spartan pulled out an M6D pistol and fired three rounds, instantly killing the Hell jumper. Just then Bear charged again and tackled the Spartan. The two red figures sailed into a desk as they began to exchange blows. As they struggled Bear realized one thing. The other Spartan was just as strong as he was and used the same fighting tactics that he performed. They both utilized a flurry of power moves, ranging from side chops, roundhouse punches and elbow swings.
"Who are you?!" yelled Bear as he smashed his elbow into the Spartans face. The Spartan's head snapped back, and then came forward at full force, head butting Bear. As Bear fell back the silent antagonist wielded his shotgun and fired a round. Bear rolled to the side as the pellets sprayed across the section of the hallway where he had been. As the one dying lamp shattered darkness enveloped the entire building.
Bear cocked his shot gun and fired a round into the darkness. No sound responded except for the clang of the shell casing as it hit the floor. Bear turned the shot gun's attached flashlight on and illuminated the hall. The other Spartan had disappeared and all that was left was rubble and two dead Hell jumper corpses laid out across the bloody carpet.
His radio crackled as Wolf's voice projected.
"Bear, what's going on? What's your status?"
"My whole team is dead and I just fought another Spartan that looked exactly like me."
"Shit...ok, well the Sergeant wants to rendezvous at loc 59, 24."
"See you there."
"Be careful."
"Yea..."
Bear inserted another shell into his rifle as he left the hallway and took the exit door out into the street. He did not notice the figure crouched in the shadows behind a car watching him as he ran down the road. Moonlight spilled onto the dark blue armor as the figure stowed his sniper rifle onto his back and followed.
--
The Sergeant lit a cigarette as he surveyed the men before him. Along with his Alpha squad only Charlie team had been able to regroup with him. They were camped around a small beaten down park. The grass had overgrown around a single sidewalk trail that cut through the small land. Worn out benches were placed along the sidewalk. There were just as many stumps as barren trees that spread along the stretch of land.
Suddenly from the distance emerged a tall red figure. The Sergeant quickly sat up and opened his com link while motioning his men with hand gestures.
"Just in case it's that other Spartan that wiped out Bravo team we have to be in formation," he whispered to the Hell jumpers.
He held the com link to his mouth."Bear is that you?"
There was dead silence. The figure continued to walk towards them.
"Ready your weapons," muttered the Sergeant."This could be the other one."
Bear walked up to the armed marines with his arms in the air. "What's with the friendly welcoming party?"
"State your codename, rank and signature weapon," yelled the Sergeant."If there is failure to comply we will fire upon you!"
Bear inclined his head. "This is Petty officer second class Spartan 207 Bear reporting in with my M90 K1 shot gun sir!"
The Sergeant and his men lowered their weapons."Why the hell didn't you answer me when you were heading here? And where is the rest of your team?"
"My radio broke," replied Bear. "We were ambushed by another Spartan that looked like just like me. He killed everyone and disappeared after our brief encounter."
"Jesus H. Christ," muttered the Sergeant. "We saw a red Spartan annihilate all of Bravo team. This is starting to get a little bizarre."
The Sergeant activated his radio. "Wolf, get your team here ASAP. We need to leave now."
Wolf's quiet voice came on the com link. "We'll be there in three minutes Sergeant. And I have some bad news."
"Go ahead."
"The sniper that took down two of my men has the same reaction time as me and is using the same custom-made sabot rounds that I use. I also believe that Bear has made contact with another Spartan that mirrors his look. I have a hunch that we've encountered two imposters."
"I'm starting to believe you," replied the Sergeant. He motioned Bear over as he continued talking "We've just made contact with Bear and we're holding our position until you arrive."
"Bear's there? Why hasn't he contacted me?"
"His radio broke during the fight with the imposter. He sure near gave us a scare when we saw him." Bear tapped his helmet and shook his head.
There was a couple seconds of silence. The radio crackled as Wolf spoke again.
"Sarge, I'm transferring the line."
"What?"
A rough voice came on the com link. "This is Petty officer second class Spartan 207 codename Bear with the M90 K1 variant."
The Sergeant dropped his cigarette. "What the…"
"Run now. The Spartan you are with is the imposter."
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