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Battle of Croton by Trevor White
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Prologue: Battle of Croton
Date: 7 April 2003, 6:21 PM
1527 Hours September 14, 2554 (Military Calendar)
"Six months and no Covenant activity, something's up." Sgt. Mikhail thought to himself.
It had indeed been six months since the UNSC had detected any Covenant, in space or planet side. To most it seemed like this day would never come, but a few still held suspicions that the Covenant weren't gone but were merely biding their time.
0423 Hours September 16, 2554 (Military Calendar)
A crewman knocked at the door to Capt. Ambrose's quarters.
"Sir, here's night watch's report." the crewman said briskly.
"Thank you son, you may go." replied Ambrose.
Capt. Ambrose sat reading over the night watch's logs, nothing unusual, some space dust, a rogue comet, a few clusters of stray atoms. Nothing worth even reporting, but Capt. Ambrose was one of those few who doubted the Covenant had just given up and gone home. As the Capt. Got ready to go to the bridge alarms staring going off, he immediately ran to the COM and called up to the bridge to find out what was going on. Just as he started talking the floor below him seemed to lift up and lurch sideways with a force that could have only been caused by impact of plasma weapons.
"Bridge, this is Capt. Ambrose. Report"
"Sir, they just came out of nowhere. Six, no seven, Covenant CSS-class ships just came out of hyperspace" a crewman responded.
"Initiate Cole Protocol, arm all weapons, ready fighter crews like I wanted them scrambled 10 minutes ago!" the Capt. exclaimed.
"I'm on it sir!" the crewman replied.
Just as the Capt. had released the com button the ship lurched again, this time with considerably more force than it had previously.
"Saxon, what's the ships status?" the Capt. asked the ships onboard AI.
"Well, I've got good news and not so good news" Saxon responded.
"Cut the crap Saxon!" the Capt. yelled.
"Sorry, According to my readings 5 of the 7 Covenant ships the emerged from slip-space have reentered slip-space. So, according to basic mathematical formula that should leave...processing...2 ships." Saxon said with a hint of pompousness in his voice.
"You don't say...give me the readouts of the 2 remaining ships."
"Both ships are Covenant frigates; the CCS-Hallowed Oath, and the CCS-Righteousness and Might. Sir, according to UNSC reports, both of these frigates just fled from a battle over the planet Adeona."
"Good. Saxon, bring the MAC cannon online and activate the point defense cannons. I want firing solution for both ships according to the Keyes Loop coordinates."
"Already working on it sir. Sir, are you sure you want to risk attempting the Keyes Loop? We outnumber the Covenant 5 to 2."
"Well if that's the case I want every ship to get a copy of your coordinates, oh and make sure you calculate for the size of each ship and the time it needs to get to it's target. We don't need anybody 'bumping fenders' out there."
"Move like you got a purpose marines!" shouted Sgt. Mikhail as he prepped his men for combat.
"Alright ladies we're about to go planet side. I know some of you have never seen combat, but that's no goddamned excuse. You either fight the Covenant or I'm gonna kill your pansy butt. You got me!" he shouted.
"SIR, YES SIR!" the marines shouted in unison.
"Good. Now I want everyone on a Pelican." he shouted.
Outside in the empty vacuum of space the battle with the 2 Covenant frigates was going frighteningly well for the UNSC task force. After about 2 minutes the Covenant crews began abandoning their ships heading for the planet's surface.
"Sir, hundreds...no thousands of drop ships are heading for the planet." A crewman reported.
"Good, we've got'em on the run. Ensign patch me through to the docking bay." Capt. Ambrose stated.
His voice blared over the COM system throughout the docking bay "Alright men, it's your job to beat those Covenant bastards on the ground. Remember, you're the best of the best and I want you to let the Covenant know that, Ambrose out."
"You heard the man, let's go kick some Covenant ass!" Shouted Sgt. Mikhail.
"Hey Rennerd, you got a second." Mikhail shouted over to a nearby Sgt.
"Sure, what you want?"
"I'll bet you 20 bucks my squad gets more confirmed kills than yours does." Mikhail said
with a smirk
"You know you're one crazy SOB." Rennerd responded and then ran back over to his drop ship.
After all of the squads had been loaded into their Pelican drop-ships the drop-ships lifted off from the docking bay and began their decent towards the surface. During the decent the Covenant, who had apparently brought artillery with them began to shoot at the drop-ships...needless to say a few drop-ships never made it including the one that carried Sgt. Mikhail and his squad (but it's ok because he was a real ass and all of his troops were umm...special).
"Sir, we've lost Drop-ships 449, 726, 989, and 435!" Shandor, Rennerd's spastic radioman said.
"CALM DOWN SHANDOR," Rennerd snapped back, "Alright marines we touchdown at the LZ in 5, I want first squad to follow me. Second squad I want you to follow Gearhart. When we hit the turf SPREAD OUT, I don't need a well placed mortar taking out my entire platoon."
Two minutes before the drop-ship hit the ground explosive bolts fired and sent the back hatch flying off, this was to make sure that the marines wouldn't get bottle-necked at the back of the drop-ship.
The drop-ship touched-down and hundreds of thousands marines piled out of their respective drop-ships only to find that the Covenant weren't any where to be found.
"Where the hell are they?" Rennerd asked.
"Sir, all platoons report ZERO Covenant activity!" Shandor responded.
"CALM DOWN SHANDOR, THAT'S AN ORDER!" Rennerd snapped back
'Why's that boy so damn spastic?' he thought to himself.
"Alright men, I want a command post up and running in 15." Rennerd ordered a group of privates who had been milling about, "Shandor, I want you to radio in and get me eight Warthogs up here, I want the running patrols. Oh, and make sure at least two of them have SAMs mounted on the back. We got a war to win."
The ground engagements on the surface of Croton were the fiercest and bloodiest since the fall of Reach. Nothing could have mentally or physically prepared the marines of the UNSC for what they were about to face.
During the fighting on Croton the Covenant mounted a multi-front counter attack against the UNSC's other military command colonies; New Reach, Parasprea, and Ehrtos IV. The entire UNSC fleet would become engaged in the largest space battle in the history of the war; all supply lines were immediately stopped. This meant that the soldiers engaged in ground battles wouldn't be re-supplied until sufficient numbers of Covenant ships were destroyed as to let some of the UNSC fleet resume supplying the ground troops.
Battle for Croton
Date: 9 April 2003, 9:18 PM
Battle of Croton
It had been approximately three days and still there had been no major covenant counter attack, some believe it would never come. The marines had been dumped on this god forsaken planet a month ago, but something was strange about the battle the covenant task force was well...small, only two frigates. The UNSC had shown up with three destroyers and five frigates. During the course of the battle thousands of covenant troops invaded the planet, but hundreds of thousands of marines were dropped in, and for once the UNSC had won in space. Now all they had to deal with was the ground troops...well at least they weren't going to get glassed. After two days of intense ground fighting the ships were called away on some priority alpha 'bull crap', every thing was priority alpha now. Anyway neither covenant nor human vessel had returned in over a month and it seemed that the marines would be stuck on this planet forever. Well at least the covenant seemed to be beaten on the ground, but who could say for sure, this whole campaign had been bizarre right off the bat.
Rennerd was quickly thrown out of thought quit literally "INCOMING!" is all he heard and then was thrown into the air like a toy. He landed unceremoniously on the ground.Crap, he thought, how did the zero in our position so quickly, and where did they get the mortar tank. They should have all been destroyed in the last battle. He stood up got over to Shandor, his radioman, and screamed over the com. "Get me some air support over here, all hell is breaking loose!" Just then five ghosts, accompanied by a whole fucking army of grunts and three banshees attacked his small encampment. He heard a pilot's voice come over the COM, "We'll be there in ten minutes. Over." "You've got three, anymore than that and we'll all be dead." Renner retorted, "Well see what we can do, no promises." Incompetent pilots Renner thought to himself, well he had more important things to worry about, like...staying alive. He looked to Carl "Get a squad equipped with M 19 SSM rocket launchers. We need to take out those banshees, they're tearing us apart." "Already on it" Carl said, "and you Gearhart you get your team equipped with MA2B rifles, pistols, and whatever...just set them up and keep those rocket crews safe, no matter what" "Yes sir!" Gearhart immediately jumped to his task. Renner looked around the encampment had noticed he only had two warthogs to work with, "Man, why do I always get stuck it the boonies? Smitty, Grater you man the warthogs. Take full crews with you, I need you to distract those ghosts so the don't wreck havoc with our lines." "What are you going to do?" Smitty asked. "Me?" Renner said, "I'm leading the counter attack"
At the command base a private came running threw the door, "Sir," he yelled to lieutenant Jamison "recon base Dealey is getting hit hard. They say they can only hold out for maybe five minutes at the most, they need support." Jamison went over to his maps he looked tired and aged beyond his years, the war had certainly taken it's toll on him. "There's a narrow canyon pass about five clicks south of their base tell, them to double-time-it back to that position and we'll give them all the support they need." "Yes sir" the private ran to his task. "Do really think they can make it?" sergeant McIggerd asked. "For their sake I hope they can but I wouldn't count on it." Jamison said. "So should we send the reinforcements, they could be used other places." McIggerd asked, "I don't see why not. All of the other fronts are quiet and have been for three days, this is probably the Covenant's last-ditch effort." Jamison then sent out the order with another private. The private began handing out the orders and hear the radioman yell, "We've got a problem, we've confirmed attacks on five different bases." The private ran back to the lieutenant, 'well' he thought 'Jamison got one thing right this is the Covenant's last-ditch effort, but now non of the fronts are quiet."
Back at recon base Dealey the battle had gone completely south, out of the fifty marines Renner had started with only thirteen were still able to fight. The counter attack he was to lead never even happened, one warthog had been destroyed but the covenant had lost three ghosts and a fair number of infantry, but most importantly they had lost all of their air support. The marines had lost a rocket squad right off the bat and they were attempting to take down a banshee but it fired its fuel rod cannon killing most of them just before it burst into flames and those that had survived were crushed under its falling wreckage. The other two banshees had gone down with relative ease but the counter attack had to be canceled to make up for the loss of the rocket squad. After that it all went to hell they had to repel attack after attack after attack after attack after a brief 5-minute break followed by another attack. The remaining warthog had to be pulled back to help support what was left of the marines. Shandor ran over to Renner "SIR ORDERS FROM HQ WE ARE TO PULL BACK TO A NARROW CANYON PASS ABOUT FIVE CLICKS SOUTH OF HERE!!" "What the hell, we finally get dug in and we have to pull back this is such a load of bullshit, tell them we will be there ASAP and redirect that air support" Renner said. "I'LL DO MY BEST!!" Shandor said "MOVE OUT" Renner yelled. He ran to the warthog and jumped in the now empty gunner seat, he notice Grater was driving given he had only one arm but Grater didn't even seem to notice, that means Smittys dead Renner thought, good riddance to the stupid bastard. Just then the two remaining ghosts gave chase and they were all dented as hell, just like my warthog Renner thought. They must be having a pretty ruff time also. Renner aimed at the more damaged of the two and sent a steady stream of lead death its way. The bullets impacted denting the front of the ghost over and over and over and...never-mind, finally the armor gave way and the nose of the ghost collapsed like Michael Jackson's nose and BOOM! the ghost exploded causing a thundering echo through the narrow canyon they had just entered. "And for my next trick" Renner yelled to the passenger over the whine of the engine, Renner pulled out a grenade pulled the pin and just dropped it behind the warthog. "One, two, three" BOOM! "their goes the last of the ghosts" Renner allowed himself a small smirk. They cleared the canyon "We'll set up here" Renner said, "we'll use the canyon exit as a choke point and wait for reinforcements." They formed a small semicircle around the canyon exit with the warthog in the center and waited.
Ten minutes latter the covenant came barreling around the corner elites and grunts engaged the small band of marines, the shear amount of fire was causing the ground to distort from the heat. Renner looked at his men and thought this is were I die. "Ahhh" he grasped his ear as a rocket went screaming passed his head "Watch your fire marine!" Renner yelled. "Sorry, my bad!" Carl said through blood soaked lips, KA..BOOM! the elites at the front of the advancing formation were blow into oblivion, "Wrrrrrrraaaaaaaaa" their finale cries echoed through the canyon. Then Renner saw something that put the fear of God into him, around the corner came ten hunters and what appeared to be two ghosts poorly welded together, and mounted on the back was a plasma mortar off of one of the covenants tanks. Then the hunters and the "ghost-tank" for lack of a better word, began powering up. NO Renner thought they're going to wipe us out with one gigantic salvo and there is nothing we can do about it. Then thud thud the sound of rolling thunder two high velocity shells impacted on the covenant lines, blood, death and the smell of burning flesh filled Renner's nose. Then three longsword interceptors went screaming over the "ghost-tank" and a majority of it hunter support was obliterated. Support was finally there ten warthogs most of them customized out of necessity came to support Renner's recon team, accompanied by sixty marines. "Oooorahh" the hole squad yelled. Renner looked for a good warthog to man, He finally decided on the one that had two mounted M 19 SSM rocket launchers were the chain gun had been. He surveyed the seen and it looked like something out of "Road Warrior©", each warthog was different some had almost nothing except for maybe a mortar or a grenade launcher others were armed to the teeth like the "Stinging Pig", which was basically a warthog chasse with tank treads for its rear wheels, and the main gun attached were the chain gun used to be, it was also covered head to wheel with hunter arm shields that had been 'liberated' after numerous battles. It also came equipped with two anvil missiles. The "Stinging Pig" could take a huge amount of damage and dish out some major pain. "Okay," Renner said "we're going to chase done those covie basters and kill them all. Do you get me?!" "SIR YES SIR" they shouted in unison.
They quickly reached what was left of recon base Dealey, "Air support must have followed them for a while" Private Hillock said (that was Renner's new driver he liked the kid, he had some serious skills) " There are way to many dead for you men to have pulled that off." "You'd think that wouldn't you marine" Renner spat. Let's keep moving the Covenant aren't going to wait for us. The first trouble they ran into was a squad of jackals, a dozen thuds echoed through the lines, man wailed. The passenger in Renners hog was hit twice his flesh melted as did the metal around him and he was fused to the inside of the warthog. "Gaaahhh" Hillock said, "that smells horrible." Renner just aimed his rocket launches and compressed one of the triggers whoosh a missile streaked towards a pair of jackals they put up their shields to deflect the blast but it was all in vain, the missile slammed home and the jackals were vaporized all that remained was an arm and a few bits of burnt flesh. Then all the marines opened up on the jackals. The battle lasted all of two minutes, tops, but now they had wounded which would slow them down. Renner whistled to two snowmobile like vehicles which immediately came up beside him "We're going to go ahead everybody else go back to recon base Dealey and see what you can salvage, Hillock your driving." "Yes sir" Hillock said.
They reached a small Covenant base about ten minutes latter. "Give me you sniper scope" Renner yelled to Andrea "Yes sir" she huffed. He looked through the scope the place looked horrible, in the center seemed to be some crashed covenant ship maybe a stealth class it was to small to be anything else. The troops posted around the base looked half dead under nourished and tired. There were broken plasma conduits everywhere and it seemed like the Covenant were using it for warmth and to cook there food...or something. Their dead were in a large pile next to what seemed to be a med tent. "This is pathetic" Renner whispered to his team "this place is badly demoralized and low on supplies with just a little more support I think we can take them." Just as if on cue ten marine came over the ridge, it was everybody that was left of his old squad, Renner couldn't help but crack a smile. "Okay were going to divide into two teams a pincer move them, Andrea you command team two I'll take my own squad, remember attack quickly and without mercy if you want to win this one." Five minutes latter they were in position "CHARGE!!!" Renner yelled everybody started yelling it sounded like a whole battalion was coming down the hill. And elite jumped from behind a rock aimed his plasma rife right a Renners head and pulled the trigger, PFHT, PFHT, PFHT...groan, the elite just dropped his gun a put up his hands. What's going on here Renner thought Covenant never surrender, the elite just sat down and put his hands on his head, "I will be hear when you return" it said in a voice low enough to vibrate the ground under Renner's feet, it was strange there was no menace to the voice just sadness and no will to fight at all.
About half an hour latter the covenant forces were all detained in there own downed ship, lucky for the marines the ship's brig still worked. "Try to fix this ship and scavenge anything you can, we'll also have to find away to either secure this area or transport the prisoners. I'm up for any suggestions." "Well," Grater said "we could bring in engineers and see if we can fix this thing, or try to air lift it out." "Do you honestly think our engineers can repair this ship when the Covenant couldn't" Renner asked, "Hey you just asked us for suggestions you didn't say they had to be good ones" "Touché" Renner admitted. "The air lift idea actually has some merit to it, what do you think the vessel weighs?" Renner asked. "You're asking the wrong man I'm just a grunt," Grater said. "Well get me a damn engineer then" Renner yelled, "Yes sir" Grater went running.
An hour passed and finally an engineer came up to Renner, "What do you need?" a slightly disgruntled engineer asked. Renner just glared at him "How much do you think this Covenant vessel weighs in at?" "Well since I have no idea what materials were used to build it, what it uses for reactor fuel, or how many people are on it...but given this planet has approximately earth's gravity I'd say 100 to 120 tons easy." "Well how many longsword interceptors would it take to move this beast?" Renner asked. "Well given that an interceptor has about (he begins mumbling to himself and starts counting on his fingers....after about 90 minutes he seems to have an answer, a good answer, I didn't say that) well if I'm right and this is a big IF, it should take about fifteen longsword interceptors give or take a bit." The engineer shrugged. "Well thank you" Renner looks for an identification tag, "Privet...(not really sure what it says he mumbled something barely audible)." "Not a problem but don't thank me yet," the engineer walked away. "Shandor," "Yes sir!" he came running "Get me fifteen longswords over here ASAP, and calm down" The longswords, who were supposed to be there in ten minutes took five hours, mostly because they were engaging covenant forces and getting lost. The marines were now mopping up most of the Covenant that had been defeated.
The longswords finally arrived and they dropped thick heavy lift cables down and, engineers quickly began attaching them to the downed covenant stealth ship. "Okay, let's move this beast" Renner shouted over the COM. The longswords lifted it the air, the cables went taught there was a long groan then the ship just lurched of the ground, "Let's get it up high and back to HQ" an engineer yelled over the COM. The longswords moved off with the vessel at a pretty good clip. "Sir!" Shandor said "the are requesting you at HQ for a debriefing on this battle!" "Well lets not keep them waiting, saddle up boys were moving out. Oh and Shandor, CALM DOWN!!!"
They arrived at HQ in half an hour. Renner stepped up to the gate and looked around, the place more resembled a junkyard than a command post, every thing that had been scavenged was now in large piles. Looks can be deceiving if you looked long enough and hard enough you would find this place was a formidable fortress. The whole surrounding area was a network of lotus mines, and automated guns, the inner circle was nothing but bunkers, trenches, mini-guns, rocket launchers, even a few shade turrets that had been captured. It was also the only base with true artillery, which was a big ass gun that fired 180mm high velocity rounds, air support and functioning scorpion tanks. If you didn't spend the better part of a day that was required to see that it was a formidable fortress it looked just like a junkyard and didn't smell much better, but neither did the private that had just saluted him. He walked down to the command shuttle, which was basically an over sized pelican that couldn't fly or defend it's self, what a piece of garbage Renner though to himself, well at least it fits the surroundings. He entered through the broken and permanently open. Jamison returned Renner salute, "you pulled of a real piece of work out there today so were promoting you to sergeant first class." "Thank you sir" was all that Renner could reply. "Now on to a more pressing matter, come over here and look at this VID screen, it shows a large vessel of unknown origin." "So what does this have to do with me why should I even care?" Renner sat staring at the screen like a frog caught in a hailstorm. " Because we're and by we're I mean myself, are going to send your sorry ass out to blow that thing to hell and back!" "Okay?" Renner now was thoroughly confused, "what if it's a friendly ship?." "I'll have non of your lip solider unless you want to be up on charges of insubordination." Jamison shot. "Oh no nothing but that" Renner said as mockingly as possible. "Just assemble a team you'll be moving out at ohhhh 600 lets say." What ever you say you stupid monkey turd" Renner growled "WHAT" Jamison roared. "Um ahh er a um nothing sir" Renner just slinked away.
He found his squad out side drunker the hell, Hillock was with them. He was being initiated by having everybody else in the squad punch him five times. What a bunch of retards Renner thought, but they are my retards guess I have to deal with it. The rest of the night was a blurr of drunken stupors. They went around setting of false alarms and even stole a warthog and went jumping of the junk heaps, Leo and Carl both got injured when the warthog did a barrel roll and landed upside down. Shandor was screaming like and idiot, Renner, Grater, and Duke almost beat him into unconsciousness. The next morning they mounted up and three warthogs went flying into the horizon. Hillock who was only twenty was still a little bit buzzed he couldn't drive worth shit and repeatedly crashed into just about everything humanly possible. "Stop" Renner yelled "Hillock I'm driving now." "Fine sure just take away my glory Hillock," Hillock slurred and fell out of the warthog. They crammed him into the passenger seat and strapped him in, "just don't puke every were okay" Hillock gave the thumbs up and the sped of to the crash site.
They arrived about five minutes latter. "What the hell is it?" Andrea looked to Renner for an answer. "Does it really matter were just going to blow it all to hell, do you have that nuke with you Grater." Grater sat holding the thermonuclear device as if it were a baby, "Yes I do all 150 megatons worth." "Isn't that just a little over kill?" Hillock urped. "Hell no if your going to do something you best do it right." Grater responded. Hillock cocked his head "but what the hell does that have to do with my question I asked if it was over kill not if we were doing it right?" "Shutup you stupid piece of sperm jerky," was Graters only response. "Well let's get this over with." Andrea spat. They quickly sped to the crash site. Renner looked around for an opening, "What the hell is wrong with this picture?....Can anybody tell me?" All the marines just shrugged. Click click, "what the hell was that?" Duke asked Renner "Well probable just a ...... Wait a minute this is going to be bad." Blam, blam blam three warthogs rocketed into the sky from high explosive plasma charges.
"Everybody okay?" Renner yelled, "were fine all except Durger he bit it big time." "What the fuck is that?" Andrea yelled. She tossed Renner the scope. "Oh shit on me shit on me." Renner gasped "WELL IF YOU REALLY WANT ME TO SIR." Shandor attempted to be funny. "Can it you moron." Grater shot, "Well what do you see boss?"
"A whole lot of trouble, their covenant alright but there some special unit, there wearing black armor rimmed with gold, they are all elites... no wait there are two hunters really big ones and a third who is about 16 foot tall he's dwarfing everybody out there..." Renner was cut short, ten Elites formed out of thin air around him. "Oh shit Renner yelped.
Battle of Croton: Chapter 2 - At least we're not dead...yet
Date: 11 April 2003, 2:45 AM
Battle of Croton
Chapter 2 - At least we're not dead......yet
"Oh shit" was all Rennerd could say, the nearest Elite clubbed him and Rennerd was thrown into unconsciousness. When he awoke he found himself in a cell.
"If being captured wasn't bad enough" came the familiar, if not grating, voice of Shandor, "this purple is cruel and unusual punishment."
Rennerd's vision began to clear and he found that he wasn't the only one in the cell, his spastic radioman Shandor was with him.
"Aw c'mon, I'd rather be dead than stuck with him." Rennerd whispered to himself. But he also had to agree with him, the purple that bathed the cell was nauseating...at best.
Soon the voices of a number of marines could be heard, most were grumbling about being caught, some were frantically trying to come up with plans for escape, and a few...well actually only one was panicking.
"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE! THERE'S NO ESCAPE!" Shandor yelled.
"Stow it marine or god help me I'm gonna...." Rennerd was cut off as an Elite in spiffy looking black armor rimmed with gold turned off the force field that acted as the door to Rennerd's cell and yanked him out by his collar.
"HEY! WHAT THE FUCK! LET GO OF ME YOU STUPID BASTARD!" Rennerd yelled as he was dragged through the corridors of sickly purple...well he didn't know where he was, that would soon change however.
Rennerd was taken into a huge chamber, inside the chamber there was a huge curved table. He dragged to his feet by the elite that had removed him from the Covenant holding cell and almost immediately incredibly bright spot lights came on revealing the, for the lack of a better word, people behind the table. Rennerd couldn't believe it, he had only herd rumors of what the leaders of the Covenant religion looked liked and sure enough these three creatures fit those descriptions to a tee. Behind the table sat three Covenant Prophets, each one had on an ornamental head dress, flowing robes, and seemed to float in midair (no doubt another gross misuse of Covenant technology). The middle Prophet, whose headdress was significantly bigger than those of his counter parts, began to speak. Rennerd was immediately forced to bow (in reality he was shoved to the floor) by the elite standing behind him.
"Why have you come to this planet?" the Prophet asked in surprisingly good English.
"Why do you think we came here, to kill you and the rest of your entire fucking race before you kill us!" Rennerd retorted and spat. He didn't get away with his remark; the elite behind him punched him hard in the kidneys, lucky for Rennerd he was already on the floor.
The three prophets began to mumble to each other in an alien language that Rennerd could have never hoped to understand.
"Z'arlemee, bring the human some food." The prophet ordered the elite that had brought Rennerd into the chamber. Z'arlemee knew better than to refuse an order from a High Prophet, so without hesitation he brought Rennerd a small tube of something and a canteen that had been taken from one of the marines when they were captured.
"You must be hungry, eat." the prophet directed Rennerd.
"Never, I'd rather die first." Rennerd shot back.
The high prophet waved his hand and Z'arlemee grabbed Rennerd by his jaw, forced his mouth open, and squeezed the contents of the small tube into his mouth. The contents of the small tube was the foulest thing Rennerd had ever tasted yet it seemed to give me renewed vigor.
"What you just ate was a vitamin paste designed specifically to rejuvenate even the most tired soldier" the prophet said.
Rennerd spit out as much as he could onto the chamber floor, "Fuck, they weren't kidding when they said the bad tasting shit was good for you" he mumbled as he tried in vain to cleanse his mouth of the foul tasting paste.
"Wise words for such a simple species" the prophet said.
"Why the hell am I here? I didn't know the Covenant took prisoners" Rennerd asked after having given up on getting rid of the foul taste in his mouth.
"We don't, to us it's a weakness. But this was a special circumstance, and special circumstances require different methods.
"What the hell are you babbling about?"
"You're here because we both know that your forces are vastly outclassed in space and that our ground forces have been unable to gain anymore ground and in fact are losing ground." the prophet said.
"Then what the hell do we have to talk about, we both know the score." Rennerd responded.
"Since the fall of your military HQ on the planet, I believe you called it Reach, your forces have been dwindling. It has been my suggestion, since before this cursed war began, that our races should be at peace but others have decided that your race is not worthy of the gifts of the gods. So, I suggest that both of our forces immediately declare a cease-fire."
"You're talking about a truce between the Humans and Covenant? You've got to be kidding!? My marines would never go for it, neither would I for that matter." Rennerd responded in a stunned tone.
"I suggested this kind of response. So, in exchange for a truce I and the other prophets on this planet have decided that we will willingly surrender ourselves to your forces. You will also be returned to your men."
Rennerd was shocked, up until now he thought he'd seen everything; he'd seen millions die when the Covenant mercilessly glassed a planet, he'd seen the ferocity and viciousness of Covenant troops, and he'd seen many of his good friends die right in front of his eyes.
"I'll give you 1 of your hours to decide, take him away." the prophet waved his hand and Z'arlemee dragged Rennerd back to his cell.
Back in the prophet's chamber, "Do you think he fell for it?" one of the lesser prophets asked the high prophets.
"I don't know. I wouldn't put it past the humans to see right through our plan." the high prophet responded.
"You honestly think that the humans are developed enough to understand the complexities of our plan. The High Prophet Almighty himself has said that the humans are under-developed. " the lesser prophet asked.
"You don't know what you're talking about. The High Prophet Almighty summoned the counsel of prophets before this war ever began, it was there that we decided to proliferate the idea that the humans were under-developed and lesser evolved than we are. It's all a lie, the humans could have been the greatest allies we would ever have if it hadn't been for that glory seeking fool that we sent to make first contact in the system the humans call Harvest."
"You mean that the humans could be..."
"Silence, those things are not to be discussed within these walls."
With that the high prophet sent everyone out of the chamber, leaving him with his thoughts. The high prophet thought to himself for a very long time, most of his thoughts were centered on whether his plan would work and if it did could the humans pull it off like he had planned.
Back in the holding cells Rennerd was still in shock over what he had heard not more than 10 minutes ago. "SIR, ARE YOU OKAY SIR!" Shandor continually asked.
In a flash Rennerd had gone from shock to anger, and stood up and grabbed Shandor's shoulders and slammed him into the wall. "If you don't shut the FUCK up I'm going to make sure that you don't get out of this alive. You here me soldier." Rennerd said through gritted teeth.
"I'm.....sorry....I...uh...." Shandor stuttered.
"Alright, we have to get out of here. Those Covie bastards are planning something...something big" Rennerd said, after having let Shandor fall to the floor.
"What are you talking about sir?" Shandor asked.
"The Covenant are trying to broker a planet wide truce. It sounds too good to be true, and it I think it is." Rennerd said.
"The Covenant want peace" Shandor said, in a rather loud voice. "Not so loud Shandor!" Rennerd whispered, "I don't want the rest of the men to know."
"What are we going to do sir?"
"You speak French Shandor?"
"Yes sir, why?"
*"First, we have to get out of here, where ever here is. Second, we need to 'requisition' us some weapons. Third, we need to find that nuke....I want to leave the Covenant a little present"* Rennerd said (in French), he then continued to outline his plan. It was a daring plan....actually it was an insane plan, and it might just work.
About an hour later...at least it seemed like an hour. The high prophet that had talked to Rennerd earlier that day came into the call block, beckoned all of the Elite guards out of the room and then floated over to Rennerd's cell.
"I'd like to talk to you" the prophet said.
"If you've come for my decision, it's NO" Rennerd responded in an insolent tone.
"I haven't come for that" the prophet hit a few buttons on his chair, "there, now we can talk. I've turned off the monitoring devices."
"What do you want now?"
"I want you to help me get out of here."
"How the hell am I supposed to do that, I don't even know where here is."
"You're in a Forerunner facility on the second largest continent on this planet."
"Then how do you explain the Covenant holding cells?"
"We've made some...alterations."
"I'm sure you have...."
"As a gesture of good faith I'm going to release you and your men." The prophet keyed a few more buttons on his chair and all of the force fields turned off.
"You really want us to get you out of here?" Rennerd asked, he was again shocked by the way this Covenant acted.
"Yes, I do. What I told you in the counsel chamber had been the truth; I do believe that we should have been allies instead of enemies. I don't believe in our reasons for fighting this war, I would like to offer my knowledge and services to your people."
Rennerd and Shandor, who had been asleep until the force fields went down, were standing there in complete shock. Again the prophet keyed a few buttons on his chair and a panel in the wall silently opened and a rack holding plasma rifles and plasma pistols emerged from the opening.
"Here are some weapons; with these I hope you will help both myself and your men."
"Alright, we'll help you....but first you have to tell me where they took our weapons when they brought us here, I've got a surprise in store for your old buddies" Rennerd smugly said to the floating prophet.
Next Chapter: It's like Christmas...without all the love and stuff
Croton 3
Date: 20 May 2003, 9:35 PM
"Okay" Renner said lets get to those weapons. In a split second the whole seen changed, twelve religious guard elites ran into the brig. "Your holiness" the head elite begain, but no more, thwack, twack, twack, "Ung." Was all the elite could get out as three green dart shaped crystals flew threw his body and imbeded themselves in the far wall. "You'll pay for that another elite yelled." The only response was a deep laugh and the clacking of mandibles.
Crap Renner thought this is going to get really ugly really fast we got to get out of hear. All he heard for the next thirty seconds was the high pitched whine of small projectiles and the scream of dying elites.
The prophet was amazed these were his high guard undefeated and damn near invincible being slaughterd like sheep. His thought of amazment were cut short, an elite dived infront of him but to no avail the projectile passed staigt through him and capped the prophet squar in the head, Damn those less prophets was his last though, for in that second he new who had orderd his death, but how these were definatly not there troops well to late to worrie about that, and he was sent to paradise.
Renner stood up out of his fetal position. "Well they are all dead, but what the hell just happened?" "
"Who gives a shit" Hillock said.
"Yes." Grater said as he ran over and put on the dead prophets crown. "Let us take it a sing from the gods." He said crossing his eyes and waving his arms around. "I want peace with humans."
"Bullshit" Hillock laughed.
At that point everbody started laughing, no sleep and fighting the covenant will do that to you. Then they heard the same deep laugh befor but not a sinister one this time. An elite in solid dark green armor appeared befor them.
"You aliens are really to much" He said in perfect english, " To bad I'll have to kill you."
"Are you sure about that?" Renner said
"Way to be our fearless leader that will show them" Hillock snorted.
The elite just laughed, and so did shandor.
"Whats wrong with that one?" he quetioned Renner.
"He's just a moron , if you are going to kill us kill him first."
"Gladly the elite chuckled."
His plans for torture and death were cut short, when three hunters bounded in, they were led by the big one.
"GRYOMT." The elite yelled. ( which means shit in his own language )
But nothing else the big hunters arm shot out and palmed his head, their was a breife pause then crunch the elites head poped like an over rip grape. The battle insude the hunter took multiple hits, the two smaller ones went down but the big guy just stood there. He drope his arm sheild paused for a split second, and shot a quick jab with his right 'hand' another elite appeard and went flying threw the air. Then all the shooting stoped
The doors opend and nothingness left the room. Then the elite stood up.
"NO FUCKING WAY!" Shandor yelled.
"Shut up you fucking retard." Grater said while simultaniuosly punching Shandor in the face.
"Everbody just keep quite so that we can get out of hear in one piece." Renner screamed.
The hunter couldn't belive it, there is no way he could have survived that he thought, by now the battle rush had run out and he was pouring blood all over the place.
The elite looked around to get his bearing, what the hell had just hit him, he touched his head part of it had been crushed and the left mandible hung shatterd from his jaw.
What Renner saw was a clossile battle, the two combatents begain trading blows.
The faster elite was just wailing on the hunter, sure he blocked a few but he was hitting hard enough to dent the hunters armor.
"Time to finish this," the elite said pulling a small blade out of it's sheeth."I agree he hunter said," cooler than a cucumber. He went to stab the hunter but could find and opening. ( you see religious guard hunters have overlapping armor which makes them damn near impervis ) I think not the hunter said and punched the elite square in the chest. He flew back and crashed into the pole, the hunter was on him in a second. The hunter grabed the elite twisted his right arm and broke it, them cluched the elites body in his other hand, grabed near the shoulder a proceeded to remove the elites arm from his body. Stop the elite yelled putting his arms up in surrender.
Renner finally getting his gonads up walks to the center of the room. "Lets get out of hear marines!" everbodt double time it out of the room.
"Who the hell were those green bastards?" Grater asked.
"MAYBE LEPRACHUANSE." Shandor said in all seriousness.
"No just no." Hillock said. " Look they were tough what ever they were and the only markings were a black ring on there back."
"Who gives two shits lets just find the nuke set it a blow this place." Renner said.
Resistance was pathetic at best almost the entire covenant crew had been wiped out by the black op elites.
" My baby." Grater yelled
"I see you found your thermonukler device."Duke chuckled.
They were cut short, for just then a covenant prophet cme through the door
"Who is you leader?" he commanded.
Renner quikly shoved shandor forward "He is!" Renner yelled.
"Something has gone terrible wrong we need to talk." The Prophet said holding down his disgust.
"SURE" Shndor screamed "anything we can do to help."
Comming soon episode four "The happy retard leads us all"
Battle for Croton 3.5
Date: 11 September 2003, 6:45 PM
Battle for Croton 3.5
So there they stood face to face with a prophet.
"If you truly wish to help us." The prophet began, but was quickly cut short from a plasma bolt hitting him in the head.
"No way" Grater said, "Shandor you actually did something right."
"It was an accident" Shandor whined "I didn't mean to shoot him it just kind of happened."
"No, no you did the right thing." Renner assured him.
"Or maybe it was a her," Shandor was going off in his own world.
"Let's just find away out of hear, Grater hold off on using that nuke we're not in the covenant ship anymore."
"Fine" Grater said kicking the floor a little depressed.
It took the better part of three days to escape from the forerunner structure; to the marines it seemed like one long hellish nightmare. They had lost only a few people since they tried their best to keep out of the ensuing chaos. Finally they reached the exit after fighting a tooth and nail battle to escape, Andrea came up with the casualty list.
"We lost Duke, James, Frank, and Shelly." She said showing no emotion.
'Guess we won't be seeing any girl on girl action now." Grater said, and gave Andrea a cat call. (This was regardless to say a bad idea.) All he got was a swift kick in the balls and a hard punch in the face. The remaining marines couldn't contain themselves they fell over laughing. This soon ended when Grater reminded them he was still holding the nuke.
"As I was saying we five are the only left." Andrea finished.
'Well shit" Renner said "I say we find the covenant ship it can't be to far away."
Just then static came over Shandor's radio and the familiar if not nauseating voice of Jamison the same asshole who had sent them on this stupid mission came over the radio.
Renner grabed the speaker. "Sir, sir we need help my team has taken heavy losses and we need evac." A different voice then came over the line. "Roger that well get you evac ASAP, but we have some major problems of our own."
The next five hours consisted of setting up the nuke, swimming in a hot spring, beating on each other and Hillock trying to get Andrea to take of all her clothes
"OH MY GOD" Shandor screamed as he was thrown non to lightly into the hot spring.
Hillock was still talking to Andrea and getting punched once in a while for his trouble.
Renner just sat thinking to himself, why couldn't it always be like this. No covenant, a roaring fire, friends to share stories with, Shandor getting the crap beat out of him regularly. He almost hoped evac wouldn't come, there was only one problem they were almost out of food they had two days rations left but at the moment he didn't care he was in heaven.
Jamison frowned "We've lost three recon bases in twenty minutes pull the rest of the recon bases back to more defendable positions"
"Yes sir" Micigger said. "Permission to speak sir."
"Go ahead" Jamison said "It's not like it's really going to matter."
"Well I would like to know were the hell the covenant got all these troops from, I mean we had them on the run and I doubt they have a ship in orbit or they would have glassed us so what's the deal?"
"I didn't want to tell you this but."
"But what?" Micigger said getting very impatient.
"Well this planet has (he ponders for a moment looking for the right worlds) formations from an advanced race, our scientist had been extracting and trying to adapt some of the technology."
"So that's why we had so many ships in orbit for an H class planet."
"Exactly," Jamison continued apparently the covenant was doing the same thing so we both slipped past each others noses, so it is possible to surmise that the covenant could still be slipping in troops or they had a lot more to begin with, either scenario is not good."
"Well it looks like the fighting has stopped for the night" Micigger said more to himself than anybody else.
The next morning a pelican touched down.
"Time to go marines" Renner barked.
They all came sprinting back, first came Grater he was in nothing but his boxers.
"Sorry sir was in the middle of trying to drown Shandor, and I didn't want to miss the bus."
Next came Shandor bruised, beaten, and soaking wet but somehow still in high spirits.
"ME AND GRATER WERE JUST HAVING A GOOD TIME."
"I'm sure he was" Renner said letting himself a small laugh.
Next came Hillock with a black eye and a bruised arm.
"I got her to take her shirt off sir."
"Good for you" Renner said.
Finally bring up the rear was Andrea.
"Your men are pigs" she said.
"Well at least they like you" he offered.
He hoped into the pelican and they were off.
Who knows what's next?
Croton 3.76 – The sea may be a cruel mistress…but trees hurt more
Date: 28 September 2003, 4:32 PM
Grater sat fiddling with what was left of his left arm. Then it suddenly hit him, like a bad case of Montezuma's revenge.
"HOLY CHRIST ON A CRACKER!!!! WE HAVE TO GO BACK!!!"
Renner looked up with a puzzled look on his face.
"What the hell are you blathering about now Grater?"
"BETTY!!! WE LEFT BETTY BEHIND!!!"
"Who the hell are you talking about?" Renner asked.
"THE NUKE...WE LEFT IT!!!" Grater responded.
A chilled silence fell over drop-ship "Spanky 123" save for the deafening roar of the engines.
Renner leaped out of his seat and ran to the cockpit of the pelican where he found the drop-ship's pilot, Vocar Felpings Emmanuel Geoffrey Wendell XIII, fast asleep at the stick. Upon seeing this Renner lessened his pace and began moving as stealthily as possible. And as gently as he possible could, Renner woke Vocar up.
"WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!!" Renner yelled at the top of lungs...which was significantly louder than the drop-ship's engines.
"WHA!!!!" was all Vocar could get out before he fell out of his chair.
"I said we have to go back. We left the nuke."
"I'm sorry sir but my orders don't say a damn thing about turning this bird around."
Upon hearing this Renner slipped into a blind rage, pulled his pistol from its holster and jammed it into the temple of the indignant pilot.
While all this was going on Grater was still whining about leaving "Betty" behind.
"I can't believe I left her behind. How could I have been so stupid?" Grater whimpered.
At this point tensions in the drop-ship had reached a record high. And wouldn't you know it Shandor decided he had had enough of Grater's whining. He got up, walked over to Grater, grabbed him by the shoulders and with all the strength he could muster which wasn't a lot, slapped Grater across the face.
"Get yourself together man!!!"
With no sign of hesitation, Grater grabbed Shandor by the neck, all the while mumbling about leaving "Betty," and quite literally threw him out the open back of the drop-ship. You could still hear Shandor yelling in protest as, with the grace of a dead carrion bird, he skipped across the pine canopy below.
He finally came to rest against the trunk of a huge tree that broke through the canopy like a monolith on the moon. Shandor had stopped, briefly. But gravity would not be denied its say. Therefore Shandor immediately fell, hitting every single branch as he plummeted toward the unforgiving ground. Fortunately for Shandor he happened to fall into the hands of a well armed Covenant patrol.
Back in the drop-ship Grater was getting the third degree from Renner and the rest of the squad.
"I can't believe you just fucking threw him out the back" Renner said.
"Well...he touched me" Grater responded, "but it was funny though."
"That's not the point" Renner said, "you just chucked him out the back."
At this point Andrea piped up.
"Do you think he survived the fall?"
"Not if we're lucky" Hillock added.
On the ground Shandor was just waking up from his unscheduled mid-flight nap.
"I hurt all over. I can't belie...uhh" he was cut short by the butt of a Covenant plasma rifle.
The Elite that had just relieved Shandor of his burdens of consciousness stood staring at the body of the human that lay on the ground before him. He then made an odd comment, which was overheard by a Grunt by the name of Belyap.
"Lucky little monkey...if anyone else had found you you'd already be dead."
In the pelican Renner was thinking about what course of action to take.
"Well that clinches it...we're going back" Renner said as he looked intently out the open hatch at the back of the drop-ship.
"WOO HOO!!! We're gonna get my nuke back. We're gonna get my nuke back!!!" Grater chanted as he jumped up and down like a small school boy.
"No...we're not. We're going back for Shandor. However if we somehow stumble across our misplaced nuke we will retrieve it...but we're not going to go looking for it.
"Hey Vo, I want you to..." Renner was cut off as the drop-ship's pilot leaped out of his seat and in a few moments was directly in Renner's face...well his chest anyway seeing as how Vocar was easily a foot and half shorter than Renner and looked remarkably like Shandor.
"MY NAME IS VOCAR FELPINGS EMMANUAL GEOFFERY WENDELL XIII!!! It's not Vo, or Felps, or Manny, or Geoff, or even Lucky."
"It's Vocar Felpings Emmanuel Geoffrey Wendell XIII and don't you forget it" he snapped.
"Alright...Lucky" Renner retorted as he raised his pistol, which he hadn't yet re-holstered, "get your ass back into that pilot's chair and find a clearing that you can set this flying tin can down in."
Renner then spun on his heals facing his company.
"We're going after our man."
This statement was met with half-assed groans of approval mixed with discontent.
"What's this...that doesn't sound like the kind of response a soldier gives" Renner said.
"YESSIR" the entire squad yelled as they snapped to attention.
"That's better, now let's go find Shandor."
"Sir, permission to speak freely" this came from Micigger, who had barely said two words since the squad was evacuated.
"Why don't we use Shandor's homing signal to find him, Sir?"
"You mean this" Grater interrupted, throwing Shandor's vest, which housed his homing device, at Mcigger.
"Well, when you put it that way" Micigger responded...slightly saddened.
"No, we're going to set this boat down and we're going to go find Shandor the old fashioned way."
"We're going to use satellites?" Hillock asked.
"No, we're going to go search for him using what God gave us."
"So...we are using satellites?"
Upon hearing this Renner walked over to Hillock and pistol whipped him.
"No, we're going to slowly walk through that pine forest looking for him."
"Oh, ok. I get it now" Hillock somehow managed to get out.
"Alright pilot, take us down" Renner yelled up to the cockpit.
"But sir, using the satellites would be a million times easier" Vocar responded.
"We can't use the satellites...because there aren't any god damned satellites" Renner said. By now it was obvious that all this talk about satellites was wearing on Renner's nerves.
Just then Andrea stepped in.
"But sir, there are satellites. I've got the uplink right here."
Renner just stood there completely silent for what seemed like a long time.
"You mean to tell me that all this time we've had access to a satellite network and nobody told me."
"I thought you knew sir."
Several grumbles that sounded remarkable similar began to rise from the rest of the squad.
"Alright then, we'll use the satellites."
"Lucky, get a fix on Shandor and get us as close as you can."
"Yes sir...oh shit."
"What's the problem" Renner asked.
"Well it seems that your man is being held in the middle of a Covenant base."
"That's impossible, the Covenant don't take prisoners."
At this point Hillock casually reminded Renner of what they've been through recently and was pistol whipped again for his troubles.
"Alright then, change in plan" Renner muttered.
"Lucky, I still want you to find us a landing spot as close as to that Covie base as you can without being seen."
"I'm going to take my squad and we're going to try and sneak into the base."
"This is where you come in"
"Where I come in sir?" Vocar asked unsure of what Renner had in store for him.
"Yes, I want you to buzz the base a few times with all the guns this thing has blazing."
Renner then turned to address his squad.
"In the confusion we're going to sneak in and, if all goes well, get Shandor and get out before anybody notices."
"Now, let's get this crate moving" Renner ordered.
The pelican began to slow down and then without any warning did a 180 degree spin in mid-air. This little maneuver threw everyone inside against the inside hull with a great deal of force. It then sped up so fast that everyone inside was forced to hang on for dear life for fear that they too might enjoy the same fate that Shandor had and be introduced first hand to the affects of gravity.
It was a short hop back to where Grater hurled Shandor out the rear of the pelican and wouldn't you know it there was a clearing nearby. Nearby being 3 clicks, but that's not important.
"Alright Lucky, set us down in that clearing."
"I'll signal you when we're in position for you to start your buzz runs" Renner yelled to Vocar over the sound of the engine.
Vocar let the pelican drop like a rock for the last 60 feet to the ground. This caused all of his passengers to go weightless for a second and then slam back into the floor as he hit the air breaks two feet above the ground. It was obvious to any mildly intelligent person that this was Vocar's revenge on Renner for calling him Lucky.
Renner's squad hopped out of the back of the drop-ship and quickly headed for the safety and cover of the tree line. Not only were they afraid of being spotted by any Covenant in the area but they were afraid that Vocar might decide to start his strafing runs a tad early...and on them instead of the Covenant. They then started making their way through the dense pine forest towards their objective completely unsure of what they may find.
Battle of Croton #6: Take your orders and shove em'!!!
Date: 30 October 2003, 7:29 PM
Croton 6: Take your orders and shove em'!!!
It had been five hours since Renner and his squad, heavy one brand spankin new Covie buddy, had returned to 'The Junkyard' and it had been nearly five hours since Renner's debriefing had started.
"...and that's why we were late, we had to go back and rescue Pvt. Shandor" Renner said, concluding the tale of the adventure his squad had just had.
"And that's where you meet this 'Elite'?" Jamison, Renner's CO, asked.
"Yes sir, as I said before, he's the reason Shandor is still alive."
"Alright Captain, we're through here, I want a written report on my desk tomorrow morning first thing."
"Yes sir."
With this Renner stood at attention and somehow managed a salute. He would have rather taken out his pistol and put a full clip into Jamison's head but protocol prohibited such things, especially when it was in your CO's office. Renner walked out of Jamison's makeshift office into the makeshift waiting room where his personal errand boy sat behind a makeshift desk. Everything was makeshift in 'The Junkyard'. Renner started the long cold walk back to the barracks where his squad was being housed, and of course it was makeshift too. Before Renner had made it half way across the compound a runner, who aptly enough was named Pvt. Runnings, began to yell for him to stop.
"SIR, WAIT SIR!!!"
'Maybe if I don't acknowledge him he'll go away' Renner thought.
"SIR, I'VE GOT ORDERS FOR COMMANDER JAMISON FOR YOU!!!"
Upon hearing this Renner stopped dead in his tracks.
'Great, just what I need, another assignment'
"Whew, I'm glad I caught up to you," Runnings said "I've got important orders for you from Commander Jamison."
Renner just stared at the young Pvt. like a cow stares at an oncoming train.
"Sir, are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm just fucking dandy" Renner said as yanked the envelope out of the Pvt.'s hand.
He opened the envelope and took out the orders that it contained. They read as follows:
General Orders from Commander Jamison to Squad Leader:
Your orders are as follows:
- Depart HQ via Pelican @ 06:00 hours
- Proceed to map grid A5
- Longitude: -81.4394
- Latitude: 41.0342
- Secure and inspect possible Forerunner ruins in the
vicinity.
Primary Objective:
- Secure any Forerunner technology by any and all means.
Commander Jamison
"You've got to be shitting me" Renner said out loud.
"Excuse me sir?"
"Just thinking out load, you can go now Private."
The private snapped to attention and saluted.
"For Her" he said with great enthusiasm.
"For Her" Renner said, with zero enthusiasm.
'For Her' had become a popular slogan with new recruits ever since the fall of Reach.
Renner continued the long cold walk back to the barracks, now he had to think of a way to tell his squad that their rest was about to be cut short.
When Renner got back to the barracks he found that his squad had found several ways to keep themselves occupied. In one corner Mcigger and Grater were taking turns punching each other, presumably to see who would be the first to pass out. On her bed, Andrea had a stripped down MA5A assault rifle. She appeared to be cleaning it, why she would clean a self cleaning weapon was beyond Renner's comprehension. Finally, in the center of the room stood Shandor, Hillock, and Yashoon they all appeared to be playing some sort of game with what looked like a Needler.
"Alright, so what you're saying is that if I can hit you with just one of these pink needle things I win?" Shandor asked.
"Yes, but you must do it within five of your minutes" Yashoon responded.
"That sounds easy" Hillock added.
Yashoon handed the Needler to Shandor and took a few giant steps backward.
"Go ahead, try and hit me" Yashoon said to Shandor.
Telling Shandor to shoot at something, in any case, usually ended up with him hurting himself. So, Renner just stood back a watched. Maybe he'd get a new radio-man out of this whole thing. Shandor stood and leveled the Needler at Yashoon and, in what could only be described as the dumbest thing he'd ever done, Shandor pulled the trigger. Shandor has barely even touched the trigger when out of what looked like the muzzle of the Needler dozens of bright pink crystal needles flew with mediocre speed. The needles flew in a tight group for about five feet then they started to separate, that's when the shit hit the fan. The needles broke their formation and began to spread out farther and farther. Several of the needles had 'locked on' to Yashoon and were streaking towards the big blue Elite at a lethargic pace. Yashoon easily dodged the needles that came flying at him, they were not a problem. The real problem was the other 75 needles that were flying about the inside of the barracks. Several of the needles embedded themselves in the titanium-A battle plating that made up the walls, ceiling, and floor of the barracks and exploded with tiny pops. The rest of the needles had broken off into several groups, each group having targeted somebody in the barracks. Everyone scattered as the needles flew towards them, beds were flipped over and used as makeshift barriers. About 30 needles embedded themselves into one of these barriers and exploded with tremendous force, the bed was torn to shreds. The needles that hadn't yet found their targets detonated in the air, each one with its own tiny pop.
"THAT WAS AWESOME!!!" Shandor yelled, still standing in the middle of the room holding the Covenant weapon.
Renner, emerging from behind the bed barrier, walked over to where Shandor was standing and with the coolness and level headedness that had earned him the title of Captain, he began to choke Shandor and showed no signs of stopping.
"YOU DUMB SHIT!!!" Renner yelled into Shandor's face.
"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING!?!"
At this point Yashoon pulled Renner off of Shandor.
"It is my fault, I allowed him to use my weapon."
Renner stood there in shock; he couldn't believe what had just happened. The Elite had saved Shandor's life, again. There were no words that Renner could think of to counter the alien's statement. There was dead silence in the barracks for about five minutes. Then, as though he were talking to a child, Renner finally spoke.
"Well, don't let it ever happen again."
"SQAUD, FALL IN!!!"
Upon hearing this, the entire squad, all five of them made there way to where Renner was standing and stood at attention.
"Alright ladies, we've got new orders from Jamison."
"We're going to recon a possible Forerunner facility 12 hours north of here."
Groans could be heard from the squad.
"Why us sir?" Andrea asked.
"Because the Universe hates me, mostly because Jamison hates me."
"We don't move out until 0600 hours, that gives you plenty of time to rest."
"Sir, what about Covenant activity?" Hillock asked.
"No intel has been provided, so we're going in blind, unless Yashoon can tell us something."
"I have no knowledge of this facility, it is likely that the Covenant don't know about it either" Yashoon said.
"We've been working on his English" Shandor added.
"Did I give you permission to speak?"
"No sir."
"Then shut the hell up."
"Alright, everyone get some rest and be ready to move out at 0530" Renner said addressing his squad.
Renner's squad immediately went back to what they were doing with the exception of Shandor, who had been ordered to clean up the mess he had caused. Renner on the other hand went over to the desk that had been placed in the barracks and began to fill out his mission reports, accident report, and proper requisition forms needed to get a new bed for Shandor who was forced to give his up after having totally destroyed Hillock's.
Next time: Croton 7: With enemies like you, who needs enemies?
Croton 9: Into the belly of the beast…and it’s not feeling too well.
Date: 18 February 2004, 5:21 PM
As Bif 101 led Renner and his not so merry band of misfits through the Forerunner facility he talked about the facility's functions, whether anybody was listening to him or not. After about an hour and a half of hearing the retarded TV monitor babble about how advanced the Forerunner were Renner finally got fed up.
"As you can see this installation was well conceived..."
"Would you please shut the tanj up for just one minute" Renner asked Bif in a slightly miffed tone.
Bif just sat there completely silent.
"Now, are we anywhere near the armory?"
"Oh, hello. I am Bif One Zero One; I am the monitor of installation Zero Two Five. I am so glad you are here as I have not had visitors in quite some time."
Renner just stood there not knowing what to say. After about five minutes Renner decided to ask again.
"Are we anywhere near the armory Bif?"
And again Renner's query was met with the same reply. So, in true human fashion Renner tried the only other way he knew to communicate. He spoke louder and slower.
"ARE...WE," he yelled pointing to himself, "ANYWHERE...NEAR," he yelled as he made a huge circular motion with his hand, "...THE...ARMORY," he finished with a gesture that looked like he was either having a seizure or firing an assault rifle.
"Oh no, we are not currently located near this facility's armory."
"Fuck this, I give up" Renner said in a huff.
Shandor had stood quiet the entire time, all 60 seconds of it. For Shandor this was an endurance trial, decided to speak up.
"Mind if I give it a try Sir" Shandor asked.
"Sure, go ahead, knock yourself out."
Shandor proceeded to set Bif down on the ground and began what would turn out to be a very long and very painful conversation to those within earshot.
"So, Bob, are we anywhere near the armory?"
"If you'll follow me I'll gladly show you the way."
Bif began to hum softly and spark from his dented corner. After about five minutes of this Renner walked over to Bif and kicked the retarded TV monitor as hard as he could.
"Shandor, pick up our 'guide' and have him tell us the directions."
Shandor followed Renner's orders and did what he said.
"How about you tell us how to get to the armory instead" Shandor asked.
"Oh, very well. You humans are a fickle species" Bif said in a new, if not poor, British accent.
"Go down this hall. It's the first door on the left. You can't miss it."
The trip to the armory lasted about 25 seconds. Renner and his team had been at the end of the corridor standing not more than 40 feet from the door the entire time. The funny thing was that the word "ARMORY" was blatantly scrawled above the door in English. When Renner reached the door nothing happened.
"Hey, aren't these supposed to open automatically" he asked Bif.
Bif said nothing.
"Ben, could you open the armory door please" Shandor asked.
"Ok."
With that the door remained closed. Bif 101 started to spark and make popping noises. After about 5 minutes he began to shake so violently that it caused Shandor to drop him, denting one of his 'good' corners. After about 10 minutes Bif stopped shaking and the armory door slowly slid open. Shandor walked over to Bif and picked him up. This apparently startled the dilapidated TV monitor.
"Oh, hello. It's nice to meet you. My name is Bif One Zero One. It's nice to finally have some visitors as I've not had visitors in quite some time."
After introducing himself for the umpteenth time, Bif and Shandor started talking to each other as if they had just met. Again, the conversation somehow ended up on the topic of how scary shadows were. Bif and Shandor's pseudo-intellectual conversation ended with a loud bang, a few pops, and the smell of burning circuitry. Bif 101 was fine, although how long this remained true was anybody's guess. The loud bang and the smell of burning electronics came from a small door about two feet above the armory door. From this door emerged five more machines resembling old TV monitors. The only difference between Bif and these new machines is that these new machines had a large, spinning, bulky block that protruded from the bottom of their cases.
"Ah, good, it's about time you showed up" Bif blurted out.
The only response Bif got were a few pops and an increase in the smell of burning electronics.
"What the hell are those" Renner asked.
"These my good sir are Mark One Sentinels" Bif answered in his faltering British accent.
"What exactly are these hunks of junk for?"
"Why, they are going to help you to combat The Flood of course."
Upon hearing this Renner took a step back.
"You're shitting me right?"
"I do not believe I am capable of that."
Hillock decided that this was as good a time as any to interrupt. So, he interrupted.
"Sir, what are The Flood?"
"Well The Flood is a macro..."
"SHUT UP BIF" Renner yelled.
"Imagine your worst nightmare," Renner paused, "...and then mix it with the shit they serve in boot."
Everyone in Renner's squad shuddered, that is everyone except Yashoon. Hillock noticed a slightly puzzled look on Yashoon's face, or at least he thought it was a puzzled look.
"They used to serve us this stuff that would take the rust of a Warthog's bumper back in boot camp" Hillock said to Yashoon thinking that this would clear everything up.
"No wonder you humans are losing the war."
"What do you mean?"
"You serve your troops such delicacies, it's a wonder you humans have lasted this long."
Renner was still talking to Bif completely unaware of the beating Hillock was taking at the hands of Yashoon. Apparently Hillock had insulted the Elite after hearing his comments about the human war effort.
"So, how'd The Flood get loose?"
"It seems that in my attempt to open the armory door I accidentally opened the containment area door by mistake."
"Troops listen up," Renner yelled, "I want everyone into the armory double time."
"I want everyone geared up for the fight of their lives."
Renner and his troops immediately moved into the armory. Unfortunately the armory was no bigger than a small walk-in closet with every square inch covered in weapon racks. Even with the apparent lack of space there were still several ooos and awes heard as Renner's team moved into the cramped space. Everyone was able to find some new kind of weapon in the tiny armory. Grater had found some sort of plasma gattling-gun. Bif 101 had informed him that the ammunitions backpack contained a small fusion power plant that provided nearly inexhaustible ammunition. Andrea found a plasma Sniper rifle and enough ammo to choke a person. Renner found what looked like a MA5B, the only exception being that this new weapon fired depleted uranium shells at a super high velocity. The best part about Renner's new weapon is that it was also capable of firing standard MA5B ammunition. Several of the other troops including Hillock and Yashoon found advanced versions of Covenant Plasma Rifles and Pistols. It wasn't until Shandor said something that Renner remembered something more important than the location of Earth.
"Under no circumstances is Pvt. Shandor allowed to handle, operate, or
in any way touch any alien weapons. He has a propensity to destroy
these weapons and poses and serious risk to his wellbeing and the
wellbeing of those around him."
"Oh shit" were the only words Renner was able to get out before a loudest explosion he had ever heard ripped through the tiny armory.
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