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Halo: In the Hands of the Enemy by Fluffmiester
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Halo: In the Hands of the Enemy
Date: 3 September 2004, 3:31 AM
Chapter 1: Terra II
Former Human Colony Terra II, Hydracordatus system, Rendezvous with crashed Longsword fighter squadron in progress…
The metallic silver a Pelican drop ship poked through dense snow filled clouds of Terra II. Sitting restlessly in the passenger compartment were ten Helljumpers and the Master Chief. When Terra II was glassed 15 years earlier it immediately plunged into a nuclear winter that would most likely never end. All of the humans, including the Chief, were in the whites and grays of arctic camouflage, except for the chain gunner, standing at the compartment opening, who swung back and forth nervously, more comfortable in a frigate then a drop ship.
"Landing in 1 minute," Called of the pilot over the ships intercom. Some of the Helljumpers checked their rifles and pistols for anything that would delay them that minuscule second determining life or death.
"Master Chief, I'm getting faint life signs about 5 klicks away from here, that could be the crashed Longsword squadron."
"Lets hope that's them, but that means that they were off course," he didn't stop speaking even though Cortana butted in, " Even in this weather their navigation would have told them that they were off course."
"True, but we have to assume a worse case scenario, could have been anything from a short in the fiber optics, to a large scale EMP."
"If it were an EMP then we wouldn't have picked up their homing beacons." The two could have gone on for hours but a jolt made them stop.
"Sorry about that, looks like we're getting some turbulence off the mountains, it's gonna be bumpy till we land," chimed in the pilot. The Master Chief started to get butterflies in his stomach, something that rarely happened, except when flying. He didn't trust the fact that his life depended on a person who was flying something, made by another person who could've made a mistake. Thankfully Cortana knew when to shut up and not taunt him about his uneasiness. There were more jolts causing the Master Chief, and a few others, to grip their seats.
"Landing in 5…4…3…2…pile out!" The Pelican set down and within seconds the marines were outside getting away from the metal behemoth. The Marines got in a defensive perimeter as the Pelican powered up it's engines. Some of the marines showed obvious discomfort towards the roar that was steadily getting louder. The rear engines were pointed straight down, melting the snow at an alarming rate as white flames licked at the ground. Then, as it almost looked like it would never take off the Pelican jumped into the air and roared into the thick clouds.
"Okay, form up," called out the Helljumper corporal, "Cortana? Where did you say the life signs were?"
"About five klicks to the north," she replied through the Spartan's speakers. The corporal turned to face north and was rewarded with a large mountain range locked in clouds.
"Dammit, we can't climb those," chimed in another Helljumper.
"Shut it, we need to get there as soon as possible. There are no other ways Cortana?" The Master Chief was being very quiet until he could gain the trust of the Helljumpers; they were still leery of him.
"Who said we had to go over? There is a mine that goes under the mountain chain. When we get to a vent tunnel in the middle of the mine we'll leave then, but this will be the hardest part; getting across this plain. There is almost no cover from any attack-."
At this the Master Chief spoke up, "I thought there were no Covenant forces on Terra."
"Well-uh-it's just for precaution," stammered Cortana.
"Don't give me that Cortana, if there were no enemies in the area you wouldn't have suggested that."
"That's not true and you know it," Cortana said, only talking to John, "You know that it could be dangerous anywhere we could be and cover is always something nice to have around." The Spartan had no come back and they both knew it, cover was an important element in combat.
"True, sorry, it seemed like you were hiding something from us."
"I'm dependant on you for the time being, I wouldn't sabotage our chances of survival for any reason."
"If you're done over there I'd like to get as much distance from this area, 'cause if there are any Covenant in the area, that Pelican was like a welcome mat to them," stated the Corporal. The Spartan nodded in acknowledgement and fell in line with the Helljumpers who were trudging through the foot deep snow.
It took about two days of almost non-stop marching to reach the foothills of the mountains. The eleven soldiers reached the summit of a small hill and saw the mineshaft a hundred yards in front of them. The snow that had been falling was steadily picking up, covering their tracks within an hour.
"We need to get inside the mine as soon as possible, this weather is going to hell," said the Corporal.
"Agreed, I could probably get the power on, but if not we'll have to use flashlights," replied Cortana. At that the group started towards the mine entrance."
"Cortana, if this used to be a colony why haven't we seen any buildings or sign of the colonists?" said John to Cortana directly.
" This part of the planet was very geologically active at the time and wasn't safe for hive colonies. But some expeditions revealed that there were abundant natural resources; so they sent mining teams to come and mine the area."
"Makes sense, but I don't even see living areas for the miners."
" It was automated, the human miners only came to set up the equipment then left." The Spartan just made a grunt of understanding and went back to concentrating on the mine in front of him. Within a minute the group had arrived at the entrance and were looking around cautiously. The mine entrance was at least thirty-five feet tall and fifty feet wide with a slow curve near the top. It was covered in metal plating to prevent cave-ins, but from the ages of neglect they were rusting and falling off.
"I don't see any kind of maintenance port nor any power readings from some kind of generator, we're gonna have to do this ourselves."
"Corporal, we're not going to get any power for the shaft, tell your men to get their flashlights out," said Cortana to the squad leader.
" Right, you five," he said pointing to a group of Helljumpers, "you're using your lights first, the rest of us will take over as they recharge. Got it? Good, lets go."
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