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Archangel squad by AlphaBravo343
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Old Memories, Forgotten Weaknesses, New Strengths
Date: 30 March 2003, 4:15 AM
Platoon A stood in front of the triangular door, now unlocked and silently began to move into the large, spacious, chamber. Seargent first-class Michael Goddard swept his MA5B assult rifle swiftly to the left and right, then motioned for the rest of the squad to move in. The marines had been on installion 02 for roughly three weeks, once again fighting a covenant onslaught, and somehow, 'they' had been released on this installation also. Except this time, they didnt have the Master Chief with them, it was the UNSC's finest, against its worst fears. Sweat beaded down his face as he nervously, yet calmly, kept his eye on the door to his left.....then it started to burst outward. "Marines!, lock and load, here they come!" And they did come, like a flood, the deep rumbling of his squad's rifles rang in his ears, his own rifle growing hot in his hands as he held down the trigger......and cooling as it ran dry. "NNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" screamed watkins as he was overwhelmed and his voice became muffled. The small creatures were winning. One by one, the members of his squad fell, and he slowly retreated, screaming as he unloaded a hail of burning lead into the small creatures. The door opened behind him, an escape from this nightmare. "SARGE!!!!!, DONT LEAVE ME!!!!!!", yelled his corporal, who happened to be his brother, "MIKE, PLEASE!!!!" He turned and sprinted out of the installation into the night, shadowed by the foreign planet looming in the heavens above the ring. Tears ran down his face as he called for evac, and he contemplated killing himself in the pelican. He raised the pistol in his shaking hands......no
no....
"no", He said, nodding out of his dark memories. Here he was again, in front of the same door, that led to the same chamber. But this time it was on a different installation, and his men were well suited for the genocide that would ensue. Three years ago, the UNSC funded a project to develop combat armor for the Marines. Black, with the same basic design as the MJOLNIR battle artmor, with the exception of the helmet. The helmet retained the same basic shape as it had on the old marine armor. All this, and the armor was sheilded. The door silently slid open, and his team swept into the room again, and he eyed the door on his left again, and it began to burst outward.
"Thats right, straigt into hell you bastards" he said, grinning beneath his Black helmet. And they came forth from the abyss from which they derived, and straight into the abyss they were sent again. They silently and efficiently destroyed wave after wave of the small beasts. Twenty-two minutes later, they stopped flowing from the seemingly bottomless holes in the small rooms.
"Clear", he spoke over the comm channel
"Roger that Seargent, the demolitions crew is on its way" said the Commander with a tone of wonder in his voice
"Copy that, Goddard out" he said. Surveying the carnage he couldn't help but feel remorse, and pain for his brother lost to these demons, but his squad, appropriatley named the 'Archangels'avenged his death and the death of many a hundred times over. And as the demolitions crew began sealing the spawning pits, he couldn't help but be amazed at how the tables had turned.
In the battles that ensued after the UNSC effectivley repelled the invasion attempted on earth, the marines with their enhanced battle armor had gained a reputation that was almost as noteworthy as the SPARTAN-IIs. They had single handedly repelled invasion forces on colonies and fought the Covenant with fierce, uninhibitted tenacity. And the Covenant now feared them like they feared the SPARTANS.
"Marines, saddle up and prepare for dustoff, we're headed for the control room" said captain Washington
"Copy that sir, Goddard out" He turned to his squad, lifted his visor and instructed them to do so also.
"Alright listen up, this is it, our fight for the control room. We're heading to the command center for some rest. Then we move out at 0600 and we retake the control room by 0900 and no later"
"Sir, yes sir!" the said in unison
"Good, now double time iout of the installation and into the pelican at the rv point"
"Sir, yes sir!" they said again as they stormed out of the chamber, weaving through the technicians and demolitions experts. But private Alderman stayed behind, seeing the haunted look on the sarge's face.
"Something wrong sarge?", he asked
He looked at Alderman, saw the caring look in his eyes. He hadn't changed in this war. He hadn't seen the death and despair the sarge had. "Do you have family Alderman?"
"A wife and son.....why?" He looked confused
"Have you lost any family in this war?", he queried.
"Yes, my parents and grandparents were on earth in Seattle when the Covenant nuked the city" He looked at the ground
"Then you know what we are fighting for", he said placing his hand on Aldermans shoulder, "I lost my wife and three kids on Liberty VIII, and my brother on installation 02"
Alderman looked at him, feeling an almost parental symathy coming from the sarge.
"Alright, enough of the gushy stuff, get your ass topside"
"Sir, yes sir!" he said turning and jogging out of the chamber
to be continued...
Prelude to the Assault on the Control Room: Archangel squad part II
Date: 2 April 2003, 4:37 AM
Goddard whistled as he peered over the edge of the launch bay of the pelican. The rolling hills covered in snow seemed to go on for miles. The area must have been a valley, the foggy mountain tops That surrounded the twenty mile wide clearing masked the outlying lands on the ring. The arch of the ring could faintly be seen jutting distantly out of the mist of the mountains.
"I'm settin' her down here!, covenant forces have occupied the valley ahead of us!"
"Roger that, Be ready to pick us up by 0900 hours!"
"Copy that, good luck Archangels, Bravo 445, out"
The pelican slowly descended, and touched down. The archangels stormed out of the pelican and unloaded the gear. The pelican began to lift-off as it dropped its troop transport-warthog.Goddard looked out across the snow covered ground and saw at the end of the valley, a sharp and rigid rock wall going straight up from the valley floor. And at the base of the wall, stood the pyramid-like structure that housed the control room. Getting there would have been easy, if it werent for the Covenant camped all around the control room entrance. Goddard turned just in time to see the second pelican unloading its squad and its warthog. "Ok boys, gather weapons, I want at least five snipers, and the rest of you grab an MA5B or an M90. Then choose your sidearms. We are moving up to the control room in five minutes!, do you get me?!"
"Sir, yes sir!" said the fifteen marines in unison
Goddard walked over to one of the ammo crates and grabbed an MA5B, he quickly checked the weapon with a practiced eye. Making sure it was combat-worthy, he grabbed five clips of shredder rounds, and five clips of AP rounds. He slapped an AP clip into the rifle and slung it. He poked around the crates until he spotted what he was looking for. The S2 AM Sniper Rifle, pure perfection. Four anti-materiel rounds, enough to kill anything that moved. He grinned as he shoved the heavy clip into the sleeve of the rifle and grabbed several more.
"Alright marines!, load up the troop carrier!, Johnson!, Lombardi!"
The two marines jumped at his bark, "Sir?"
"You two are with me in the combat 'hog"
They silently, but eagerly hopped into the warthog. Lombardi manned "Old Faithful", and Johnson hopped into the passenger side. Goddard waited to get in until the last of the soldiers clambered into the troop-transport warthog before he got in himself.
"Let's go!" he shouted over the comm channel, and the warthog's tires spun in the slick snow, caught and launched forward. Fifteen minutes and two clicks later, the sarge ordered a halt.
"Snipers, with me!" he said as he grabbed his sniper rifle from the gun rack behind his head.
The snipers moved up and went prone on a hilltop. Their, now white, suits rendered them almost invisible.
"Pick your targets and fire away men." he said almost at a whisper.
The rifles discharged again and again, unheard by the Covenant due to the distance between the marines and the encampments. Goddard settled his sight over an elite's forehead and squeezed, then a jackal's head and squeezed. With their combined ammunition, they brought down a quarter of the Covenant forces, and they had just begun to realize what was happening.
"HOLY HELL!!!!!!!!" shouted a marine as a lumbering, furry figure loomed over him. Goddard shot a look at the figure, and his blood ran cold as he realized that a Brute had snuck up on them and they hadn't even noticed. Suddenly, the marines in the troop 'hog opened up with assult rifles, the bullets pinged off of the brutes armor.
"THE NECK!!!!!!, GO FOR THE NECK!!!!!" Goddard shouted.
Still they aimed for its torso, and the rounds pinged off of the Brute's thick armor.
"Hell...." he muttered climbing to his feet, and aiming his rifle at the creature's neck....and it moved out of his sights as it charged Liutenant Bryons. He grunted as it swung at him with its enormous arm. His shields flared brilliantly as he fell to the ground......six feet away. Goddard sprinted up to the beast, unsheathed his knife, and jabbed it into the beast's stomach and slashed around to its side. Blood poured from the gaping wound and the creature threw its head back and howled, but was cut short by the single round Goddard sent through its exposed throat. It gasped for air and clasped its stomach as it fell onto its back. It gasped again, trying to breathe, and died with a deep groan.
Bryons was okay, just a few minor bruises. The team medic checked him anyway. Goddard looked out to the control structure. They were almost there, after they planted the charges, the ring could be evacuated. The ensuing explosion would set off a chain reaction with the nuclear mines set all around the ring.
"Alomst there...." he said to himself as he clambered into the driver seat of the warthog and started the engine.
To be continued.....again.
Part three: The Assult on the Control Room (really this time)
The Assult on the Control Room: Archangels squad part III
Date: 5 April 2003, 1:02 AM
"Old Faithful" sounded again as the elite fell to the ground, screaming as its plasma rifle discharged three times. Goddard edged the Warthog forward as he surveyed the battlefield. He shot a glance at the elite Lombardi had gunned down, saw the intestines hanging out of its exposed stomach, saw the gaping wounds in its chest. He looked away, returning his attention to the battlefield. Behind them were three-hundred deaed covenant troops, and in front of them, lay the control room.
"Scott!" Goddard yelled over the comm channel.
"Yes sir?" he shouted back.
"Scout ahead with your sniper rifle and see whats waiting for us!" He craned his neck as he saw Scott prop his rifle on the windsheild of the troop transport warthog.
"Son of a bitch......" he mumbled as his hud linked up with the rifle's scope. On the landing of the are outside of the control room entrance, he saw several gold elites barking orders at hundreds of grunts and jackals. Several hunters were speaking in the Covenant's strange language with a group of elites. There were four manned shade turrets on the landing, and two wraith tanks sitting on the ground at the base of the pyramid-like structure.
"Dont sit there son!, what the hell is up there?!" he barked.
Scott jumped as he looked back at the sarge. "Well, theres a helluva lot of troops up there, too many to assult directly, we should call in air support." he sighed nervously, "What do you think we should do sarge?"
Goddard quick glance through his own rifle scope. "I think we should call in air support" he answered, "There's way too many troops up there for us to hope to win in a skirmish"
The marines all looked at him, they couldn't believe the sarge had suggested that, they'd always gone in guns blazing.
"Or we could just go in and kick some ass, either one."
The marines roared in approval, so it was decided, they would go in full force.
"WE'RE GONNA DIE!!!!!" screramed a grunt, running away from the marines as they mowed through the crowd of Covenant troops. Blood splattered in Goddards'face as he unleashed a nine round burst into a grunts' chest, it fell to the ground, wheezing out its last breath. An elite roared as it fired its plasma rifle at Goddards' head, he moved to the right in time to hear the air crackle and boil next to his sound receptor. He ran at the elite, firing his MA5B into its chest, bullets pinged off of its sheild as it flared brilliant white. Finally, its sheilds gave out, and it began to convulse from the bullets tearing through its chest, Goddard reached the creature and slammed his rifle into its jaw, its head snapped back and he heard the bones shatter in its muscular neck. It fell, dead. He looked around him, seeing that the Covenant had been wiped out. He slammed a fresh clip into his assult rifle and headed back to where his squad was holding position outside the control room entrance.
"Good" he thought, they hadnt lost anybody yet. Reiken jogged over to the operation panel, and looked at the sarge.
"Be ready, they usually wait behind these doors for us to open them.
"Hehe" chuckled Quesada as he pulled a Lotus anti-tank mine out of his pack, "This should fix that sarge"
Goddard grinned, "Godd thinking son, now, when these doors crak open, set the proximity sensor and toss 'er in, then run like hell"
"Yes sir!", they said in unison. They slapped in fresh clips, several readied frag grenades. Reiken looked at Goddard, waiting for the order. Goddard gave him a small nod, and he pressed the button on the panel and sprinted back to the cover of the Covenant communications boxes. Quesads waited until the door had just cracked open and chucked the bleeping mine into the cracke of the opening door, then sprinted back to the comm boxes. Inside, the mildly startled Covenant troops looked at the mine and jumped...then it exploded, blood and limbs flew from the widening opening. When the smoke cleared, Goddard was pleased to find the Covenant troops in peices on the ground.
"Move up," he said through the comm channel. The squad quickly, and quietly moved down the large corridor, and into the control room. They lowered their rifles, staring in awe at the enormous chamber. The holographic projection of the ring floated around the platform, in the center was the planet, a smaller look at the space around the ring world and the nearby planet.
"Okay, lets set the charges and call for evac" he said, pulling out his pack of nuclear mines.
Twenty minutes later, the pelicans swooped down out of the fog canopy, and the marines clambered into the cushioned seats, removing their helmets.
"Holy hell Goddard, is there anything you cant do?, there must've been a thousand troops here!" said the pilot in wonder.
"No," he replied as a small grin splayed across his weathered features.
"Alright, we're headed back to the 'Vengeance' and getting the hell off of this ring," said the pilot as the magnetic plates activated in the tail of the pelican, drawing the warthogs into place.
"Thank God," said Newman, and Goddard nodded in agreement.
He pulled off his helmet, and breathed in the air in the pelicans' troop bay.
"Almost home." he said as he nodded into sleep.
Outside the battlecruiser "Vengeance", the ring silently exploded. Covenant battleships tried vainly to pull clear of the ring, and were lost in the nuclear hell fire. Pieces of the ring twisted in wild arcs, spreading debris at every angle. The Debris went from white hot, to red, orange, and were lost in the blackness of space. The "Vengeance" set a course for earth, sped up as its Shaw-Fujikawa Sub-light generators activated, and it disappeared into slipstream space.
The End
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