Fire Team Theta chapter 1
Date: 7 November 2004, 4:15 PM
Following the Covenant trail was tough. They had their Wraith Mortar Tanks in the rear of their formation. The Plasmalift system churned up dust and eliminated most of the tracks. Thankfully, the stolen Warthogs dug some deep tracks. I sat in the back of the lead Warthog. The modifications required us to remove the Chain Gun, sacrificing firepower for speed, but it made a good Command Vehicle.
"How much longer, Private?" Lieutenant Thomas asked me while still staring at the blank horizon.
"I dunno sir, maybe one hour, two at the most." I replied. I took the clip out of my Battle Rifle and set the Rifle on the steel floor. I thought back to the attack at New Mombasa...
Our squad, Fire Team Theta, was in a fortress originally captured by Covenant forces but we and Fire Teams Charlie, and Bravo cleared it. We were downstairs in a makeshift barracks. There were two others with our squad; Sargent Thomas' son Sargent Gabriel Thomas, and Private Gregory Van Owen. Van Owen was asleep in the corner, on an old mattress. Lieutenant Thomas was checking the weapons.
At the time, we had six Battle Rifles, each had two extra magazines of ammo; four Assault Rifles , one magazine each; three Sniper Rifles and a Pistol. Both of those had only what was already in the weapon, that was it.
The first shot came from a Covenant Grunt, shooting a Marine that stood at the top of the stairs. He rolled down the steps head first, well, neck first. The Grunt followed, not too far behind. As soon as I saw him, I sprinted toward the Weapons, and grabbed a Battle Rifle. My squad heard the shot, dropped their cards and grabbed their guns. Van Owen woke up and grabbed his gun as well. We ran up past the bodies to find that Fire Team Charlie was already engaged by ground forces. The Banshees above could not fire without eliminating more Covenant than Marines and their Wraith Tanks had to find their way through the labyrinthine hallways of the Fortress. That gave us time.
We ran through the crossfire between Captain Robinson and a few Covenant Elites. Three of our fifteen men were taken out. The hall that we reached across from the stairs was thin, making for a bottleneck attack against us, along with a blind turn at the end. I didn't care for the situation at all, but it was the only thing that we could do, short of turning back and taking on the elites that were being handled by Captain Robinson.
"Lets try somethin'" Private Van Owen said confidently.
He ran to the end of the hall, took off his helmet and tossed it into the open courtyard that lay beyond. A hail of Covenant gunfire made contact with the headpiece. I walked up to the end and readied myself. My safety was off. I peeked around the corner to find that the Covenant gunfire was coming from four Elites and twice as many grunts.
'Ok,' I told myself. I sprinted into the open and fired wildly at the Elites, when suddenly I stopped in my tracks. "Oh, hell no!" I exclaimed. It seemed as though the Wraiths had found a way in. There were four of them lined up behind the Elites. I didn't see how I could have missed them when I peeked. I continued to stare until I got my sense of reality back. My calm continued as I ran to the hall across the courtyard. All the while firing maddly at the Covenant barricade. I managed to take out three Elites and two Grunts before my line of sight was blocked.
The rest of my squad followed, and to my surprise, none of them were killed, and we managed to take out the rest of the Covenant. But the Wraiths remained. I decieded it was my job to take them out.
"Okay guys, you continue ahead under Sargeant Thomas' lead. Ramierez, you take the point. I'll stay and figure out a way to destroy those tanks." I said to my team, my friends.
The continued on and I stayed behind, eager to end this attempted siege. I ran to the walls where the dead Covenant lay. There were two grenades laying on the ground. I formulated my strategy and picked the Plasma Grenades. I began phase one of my plan: I sprinted at the two closest Tanks, and ran between them slowly. One fired at me, knocking me on me butt, but also taking out the Wraith across from it. I activated the first grenade and waited for my moment. I tossed it into the open hatch and waited for the explosion. It came and went by quickly. That lef the other two. I repeated the process, and it worked without a flaw. I began walking to the reported HQ.
I was greeted by Lieutenant Thomas. He informed me that the Covenant had retreated from the fortress, taking four stolen Warthogs with them. They were now halfway to the Divided Congo Republic. Fire Team Charlie was to assist some freak, Spartan or somthing like that. It was my squads job to retrieve the Warthogs and stop the Covenant Forces from reaching Congo. So here we were.
I looked to the horizon, and though I saw something on the empty desert. We were catching up...
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