 |
About This Site
Daily Musings
News
News Archive
Site Resources
FAQ
Screenshots
Concept Art
Halo 2 Updates
Interviews
Movies
Music
Miscellaneous
Mailbag
HBO PAL
Game Fun
The Halo Story
Tips and Tricks
Fan Creations
Wallpaper
Misc. Art
Fan Fiction
Comics
Logos
Banners
Press Coverage
Halo Reviews
Halo 2 Previews
Press Scans
Community
HBO Forum
Clan HBO Forum
HBO IRC Channel
Links
Admin
Submissions
FTP Uploads
HTTP Uploads
Contact
|
|
|
Easy Company's Finest by Conrad Johnson
|
Hell From Above (Chapter One)
Date: 23 June 2006, 5:48 am
Hell From Above
"Alright men, we're going to drop in fifteen minutes!" Sergeant Randall called out over us as the heavy battlecruiser engines roared, then faded, then roared, and faded again. "Able and Baker are going to drop in first, then us, Rhino, then Delta." We were all Easy Company, made up of about five or six squads, around seventy men. We were a smaller company, but we were the marines, the guys that always went in first. "The Master Chief will be dropping with Able and Baker, so we shouldn't have to do much."
We got into our dropping pods and looked around a little bit. I had been in these pods before, they were used to drop down through space, then hit the planet core. Only we were going to be hitting a strange halo-looking object. There had been one before, but it was destroyed. Back then, Easy was barely made up of anything, we were just getting started. "Now, our job is to go down there, secure the area of about ten miles, and wait for the rest of the marines." Randall was a cool fellow, he was very tall, about 6'3, and had dark, brown hair. "Make sure your strapped in tight, we're going to be dropping in about ten minutes. God be with you men!"
Our sergeant then strapped in with the rest of us. I had my helmet on, so everything was a little dark. I wouldn't have to turn on the functions to it until I hit the ground. I had the straps across my shoulders, across my waste, my legs, my arms, and my neck. I looked as the first men went down a chute, then dropped off into space. I heard a little click as my pod zoomed down the chute, already picking up speed. I closed my eyes and then felt my stomach go up and I could barely breathe. I heard a few clicks indicating that the outer shells were burning off.
I opened my eyes and realized that I had just hit the ground. The pod opened up, enabling me to get out. I went to the other side of the pod and grabbed my Battle Rifle, pistol, and grenades. I turned the functions to my helmet on, a small map coming up as well as the microphone activating. On the map in front of my face, it showed little green dots for my other squad-mates, and small symbols that said what the terrain looked like.
I heard a whisper. "Green light, all men go, go, go!" Our sergeant told us as I nodded quietly to myself. The voice came through my helmet, so we must've had a little bit of a distance. I minimized the map so that I could see better, then started to walk quickly across an open field. In the briefing that we had earlier, we were told to meet up in squads, then go out. I was with Rhino squad, so I looked at my map quickly, then started to strafe, my rifle to my chest.
I came to a very old looking building overlooking a hill. I crouched down at the hill and looked up at it, I thought I could make out small turrets, but I wasn't sure. I checked my map and noticed a bunch of guys gathering not too far away from me. I ran slightly across the hill and the turrets opened fire. I slid across the last part and noticed a bunch of Rhino squad guys looking at me. I smiled to myself and Randall just shook his head. "You almost got us killed Johnson!"
The turrets stopped and I crouched up. "So what's the plan, sarge?" I heard one of the new recruits ask.
"Alright, Burch and O'Reilly, draw fire while Johnson, Hill, and I run to that rock formation over there." I leaned over to see what he was talking about. It was a bunch of rocks that spiked into the air, giving pretty good cover from the building. It also looked like you might be able to get a good shooting position there as well.
I looked back at the men as O'Reilly and Burch got into position with their light machine guns. I got ready to move. "Now!" They let their weapons open fire as I quickly ran, the turrets momentarily stalling, then picking up around us. I looked to my side as Hill went down. I kept running and made it to the rock formation, scared shitless. "Good job, Johnson."
I nodded, out of breath already. "Now, take out some grenades and pitch them on the top of the building." I peaked my head to the left to get a good view of the top of the building. I could see two turrets on each corner. I unhooked a grenade, then leaned my arm back far. I quickly snapped my arm up and let the grenade fly by the turret. The operator turned toward me as I looked at him, frozen. The grenade exploded and tipped the turret off the building, the alien inside of it crashing to the bottom with a blood splatter. Randall pulled me back as the other turret took notice and spun around, letting his turret spray the rocks.
Randall leaned out and let two rifle shots off, both bullets hitting the alien square in the face. "Move in!" He shouted so that Burch and O'Reilly heard him too. I quickly got into a standing position and ran into the building, my rifle scope at my right eye. I looked around the large room. There was nothing but vines growing. I looked at the stairs and went up to the next level. I saw a huge alien standing, his gun on a small table. He had a huge jaw that sprung out from his head, and he was blue. He grabbed for something at his waste. I squeezed my trigger and a burst of bullets hit him in the shoulder. He didn't seem to care as he grabbed something silver and hit it against the empty air. A sword made entirely of energy flung out from the handle. I squeezed twice more as the bullets hit him across the chest. He fell to the ground as I quickly put in a new clip. I walked to the balcony and saw the wasted guard in the turret that Randall took out.
"All clear up here!" I yelled and came down. We regrouped and looked around, we were going to get new orders from command soon… Very, very soon…
|
