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Last Hope part 1
Date: 1 may 2002, 11:26 pm
It has been a month since the Pillar of Autumn disappeared. Reach is gone, and earth is all that is left. With only bits and pieces of data on the MJLONIR system, the UNSC has made a last ditch effort to even the war with the Covenant. The MJLONIR system has been applied to every marathon class ship from earth. Rather than shield individual troops, we can now shield entire ships.
With the next group of SPARTANs still in development, ONI has improvised armor for the UNSC forces. Rather than basic combat armor which melts too easily, the UNSC now issues us plates of super heat resistant material. A combination of re-entry shield plating and super heat resistant composite plastic is now standard issue.
I have seen my fair share of plasma burns, many of which were fatal. Hopefully this stuff that doesn't burn will keep me and my men alive long enough to kill as many Covenant as possible. I will not have to wait long before I get the chance to field test the new armor. Tomorrow my fire team and I will depart on the new marathon class cruiser "The Absolution".
We are headed towards Epsilon 5, the last human stronghold in deep space. Ten new shielded cruisers are coming with us, and me and my squad are part of the division of Marines being sent to aid in the fight. Perhaps it is time to introduce myself, Major Aleksandr Kolotov. Lietenant Jake Aldon, my demolitions expert, and my best friend, along with Sergeant Dave Erikson, my Recon specialist, have been with me since the beginning. Unfortunately the rest of my squad is straight out of basic. One of them, Lance corporal Megan Feldon, shows some promise of success, she is the best shot in the squad aside from myself.
As far as I was concerned, this new armor we were given would greatly help my team stay mobile, as well as alive, if it failed, we were all meat, dead meat. I had only a few hours to organize and acquaint myself with my squad before we left. I took the time to assemble my entire unit, and not being one for great speeches, made my points quickly and clearly.
"Listen up ! We are going to Epsilon 5 to help the forces there hold off the Covenant. As far as we can tell, nearly a fifth of the Covenant armada has been devoted to destroying her, and they are on their way now. If we dig in and open up shop before they get there, we will be able to engage them on our terms. The new combat armor you are getting is supposed to neutralize the heat of plasma fire. This does not mean you are invincible, it will hold for a while, but once it is gone, it is gone so do not be stupid. I do not want my squad dying because they were idiots. Double time it to your quarters and saddle up, we move out in 2 hours. "
This mission's importance could be measured by the equipment we were getting. Several warthogs and scorpion MBT's were being loaded onto "The Absolution" along with Pelicans and marines. This was going to be an all out war. As "The Absolution" headed away from Earth, my squad and I settled in. The ship was large and designed with boarding defenses in mind from the beginning. The number of ships lost to boarding parties was almost as high as the number of ships shot down. Hopefully we would arrive at Epsilon 5 before the Covenant, and not have to put the defenses to use.
"The Absolution" was fitted with the latest engines, so a trip under normal travel which would have taken us a month, should take us a week. My squad and I had the chance to get a little closer before the fighting would start. I couldn't say whether this was good or bad. While I wanted a tight, well cooperative group, sentiment clouds judgement, so I had to take what I could get. So far we hadn't had any problems, I figured if they could live together, they could fight together.
The shipboard AI, Loren, came over the ship's comm link. "Combat teams, report to your action stations, we will be entering Epsilon 5 space in one hour. Commanding Officers report to operations room for final mission brief." I left my quarters and headed to the op room for final briefing, maybe now I could know what the hell was going on. As I entered the room and took my seat, the ship's captain, Aaron Blazko entered the room. After the usual attention and at ease, we all sat down as Loren's holographic display came up in the center of the table, along with a projection of Epsilon 5 and surrounding space. Something told me this was not going to be a simple FYI session.
Last Hope part 2
Date: 8 may 2002, 12:08 am
Loren began laying out the battle plan. This whole operation would hinge upon some success in space. Hopefully our new shielded cruisers would even the odds.
"The ten ships will set up a defensive perimeter at 500 kilometers from the surface. Nuclear mines are to be laid approximately 250 kilometers from the planet. Once the defensive net of ships is established, ground forces will depart and secure the surface. When contact is made with the Covenant fleet, the net will collapse forcing the covenant together, draw them into the mines and when possible, drop ships are tertiary targets. Flag ships and destroyers take priority."
Hearing those words from Loren, I knew that we would have our hands full. The drop ships would most likely be left for us to handle. Only a few would be picked off in space. A division of marines against the ground forces of an entire Covenant battle group, this was going to be fun.
Loren's voice snapped me back from deep thought as she began explaining details of the ground force's operations. She highlighted various points on the map as key defensive positions, giving each point a coordinate set. It was Covenant strategy to secure the poles and largest land mass of a planet first. That is where the marines would set up shop.
"By setting up a defensive ring around the Covenant drop points, we will be able to strike as they unload, and deny them the chance to dig in. Set up mobile positions here, here, here, and here." Loren really was a nice piece of AI, and had worked this plan out to the last detail. I almost had the faint idea that this operation would succeed.
As I walked back to my quarters, A private informed me that my unit was ready. I would lead fifty marines, and be allotted five warthogs. I wished for a scorpion, but those were allotted to stationary positions. Loren had designated my unit fire team Beta. I was also informed that I had half an hour before I was to brief my unit for departure. As the metallic door slid open, I walked into my room. Pressing the thumb pad on the wall, my personal effects bin slid out of the wall. Inside I found the reason why I had signed up for this war. I picked up the miniature holopad and turned it on. An image of my wife, Elizabeth, appeared, and a voice recording of her played.
"Alek (which she called me for short), No matter what happens I love you. Come home safe." This is what I was fighting for. My wife lived on Earth, and If we couldn't slow the Covenant here, they would be one step closer to Earth, and my wife. I must not let that happen.
I kissed the holopad and put it back in the bin. Then I knelt in prayer, asking God to be with me and my men. That finished, I walked to my unit's briefing room.
Walking into the room, everyone stood and saluted. I returned the salute and stood behind the podium. I never was good at public speaking, so I decided, as always to be brief and to the point.
"Here's the situation. We are designated fire team Beta, we will set up a mobile recon point on the eastern edge of the center land mass of the planet. Our area is designated zone 341. We will be part of a ring, or noose if you will, which will tighten around the Covenant as they land, this will allow us the offensive, and it will prevent them from digging in. By circling and collapsing them together, we will force them to create on large target. As a contingency I have requested one HAVOC nuke if we fail to contain them, they will be close enough to get nuked, but most of us will go with it. If I am forced to declare a last man standing, whoever is left will detonate the nuke. Don't expect much help from space. The space forces have labeled drop ships as tertiary objectives, so we will certainly have our hands full."
As we lined up to board the pelicans, I noticed Jake carrying regular grenades, but they had a little box on them. "Jake what is that ?" He looked at me as if he finally had a chance to show off his new toy. " Sir the box is packed with highly concentrated acid, along with a CO2 pack" Myself one to trust only in my sniper rifle, I asked him how he thought that would help. "Well I noticed how even with energy shielding, elites still get blood all over them, then I thought if liquid could pass through the shield, why couldn't acid ?" Seeing his logic and finding humor in the thought of melting an elite, I asked him if I could have one, he pointed behind us to two privates carrying a large crate. He looked at me with a wry smile, " Christmas comes early on Epsilon 5." If only I could tell you how much I love this job.
As the pelicans took off, I took one last look at "The Absolution" and had a funny feeling like I would never see her again. It had been my experience that gut feelings were always warnings of things to come, and I blocked the image of the ship melted away by Covenant plasma. Our pilot, Jenna, informed us that we were ten minutes from the planet's surface. There was no turning back now. I gazed down at my rifle, and ran my combat glove over the word engraved on it. "Liz". I did not cut notches in my gun, after all, I had lost count of how many Covenant I had killed.
Jenna came over the comm and informed us that we were about to enter Epsilon 5's atmosphere. After a bumpy entry, it was another five minutes before she came over the comm again. " The LZ looks clear, I'm setting her down over there." It was time to set up shop. As I stared into the nearby star, which acted as the sun of this world, I wondered how long we would have before the covenant arrived.
Last Hope part 3
Date: 9 may 2002, 12:52 am
As we stepped off the pelican, I took in the surrounding terrain. The area we had landed in was a fairly large plateau. There were few trees, and the occasional boulder. This was not easily defendable, but that did not matter. Once everyone was together, we got organized to move. All fifty marines, including myself, now had to hurry up and wait. We were on standby, and ready to move at a moment's notice. We set up communications with the space forces, and double checked all weapons and supplies. The pelicans stayed with us, marines stationed on the ships had life pods. I hated waiting, and I knew that we would loose the edge if we were idle to long. Little did I know we would not have to wait very long. It had been three days since the UNSC forces set up shop around Epsilon 5. The ground forces were all ready and waiting, the space forces doing the same. Running 24 hour long range scans, the fleet would only have a few minutes at most to prepare once the scanners picked up the Covenant. All ten ships were holding position, waiting, watching. It was the middle of first watch when a marine passed by a sailor stationed at a view screen. The marine looked over the man's shoulder and said " Hey what is that ?" referring to a large red blob on the screen. The sailor, looking up from the notepad he had been reading, dropped the pad. He stared at the screen like a deer caught in the headlights. Suddenly, training and discipline kicked in, and he immediately screamed into the comm. "Contacts ! Scanners show multiple Contacts !" Immediately the sleeping giants came to life. The captains and AI's of each ship giving out orders, preparing for the inevitable, the Covenant were on their way. It had only been three minutes, barely enough time to raise shields and charge the MAC cannons, when large, nebulous green clouds appeared in the middle of space. Nothing could have prepared the fleet for what they saw next. Seventy Covenant ships appeared, their sides glowing bright blue. No sooner had they arrived than the UNSC fleet unloaded every single MAC round from it's guns. A full broadside hit the Covenant fleet, which immediately returned fire. The Longswords swooped in on the incoming seraphs, and only ten seconds after the two fleets met, all hell had broken loose. The UNSC ships spread out, and the Covenant ships let go with volley after volley of blue plasma. The shields on the UNSC ships held just long enough for them to fire, move, and charge again. The Covenant ships began heading towards the planet. The UNSC fleet had only disabled ten cruisers, while one ship "The Firestorm" had been boarded by covenant forces. The nine remaining ships suddenly stopped as the covenant fleet sailed into the mines. The covenant had been so busy maneuvering to flank and broadside the few covenant ships, that many of them were immediately vaporized by the detonating mines. Even the Covenant's shielding could not withstand point blank nuclear explosion. Archer missiles and plasma exploded everywhere, Seraphs and Longswords darted about like small birds, while the cruisers thrashed around like whales. MAC cannons fired white hot rounds into covenant ships, tearing holes and punching gashes into into their hulls, plasma fire erupted into the sides of ships, causing shields to fail and melting away chunks of armor. Surprisingly enough, the sorely outnumbered UNSC was holding it's own.
The Covenant's fleet admiral was at a loss, he could not understand why the pathetic human forces of this planet were not dying. He refused to accept the possibility that the humans had figured out to make shields. Suddenly a jackal manning a screen turned to him. "Admiral Dresgar, our dropships are progressing toward the planet unimpeded." This pleased the admiral little, as he still was losing too many ships. The covenant fleet of seventy, the mighty Dresgar fleet, had been cut in half, and for what, a mere successful boarding of one ship ? This could not be, no human had the right to stand before the Covenant and live. Absolutely irate at the human ship's ability to take fire, admiral Dresgar formulated a plan. " Order all our craft to fan out, then concentrate fire on one ship, which will be chosen in order of greatest threat." As the UNSC traded shots with the cruisers, both the captains and AI's wondered where the Covenant ships were going. Only thirty percent of the nuclear mines placed around Epsilon 5 were in a position to do damage to the covenant fleet. The mines were ordered to the other side of the planet where the fighting was going on. Some had small retro rockets, but that would take too long, the UNSC decided it best to lead the Covenant into the remaining mines, while moving the rest by pelican closer to the fray. In the midst of all this fighting, "The Firestorm" was dying, she had been boarded and nearly overrun, her captain made a final decision. Captain Arlan Silden of "The Firestorm" radioed the other ships to inform them of the plan. His voice had resolve, yet despair at the lack of damage they had done. " This is captain Silden, we have been boarded and are being overrun, we will jump away from here and take as many of the covenant with us, once they have come within range, we will load our HAVOC missiles into longswords, and autopilot them into the pursuing ships. We will abandon ship and have it self destruct, hopefully taking the pursuing ships with us." The remaining UNSC ships could only look on as "The Firestorm" jumped away, to the relief and surprise of both the captains and the AI's, ten of the covenant ships immediately sped off in pursuit, exposing them to fire. MAC rounds and Archer missiles pounded the Covenant cruisers from behind. Caught in the middle of trying to jump, all but one of the pursuing ships exploded, sending blue clouds of plasma and metal chunks everywhere. The Captain of " The Hellion" stood in amazement as the body of an elite smashed into the bridge window. The frozen body shattered into a million pieces, and a sailor manning a view screen let out a cry of pure joy. The captain could only smirk as one more murdering bastard was erased from the universe. We had been in contact with the fleet since the battle started, I was constantly informed with enemy movements and strength. As I predicted, most of the dropships were headed right for us, eighty was the count. The scales were slightly tipped in their favor, this meant that the ten squads of fifty marines would have to deal with 16 dropships. Most of the dropships would be carrying ghosts, wraiths, and there were also reports of banshees escorting the dropships. As I ordered the men to saddle up, I took shotgun in one of the warthogs. We took off, two pelicans and all ten warthogs, some marines riding shotgun had rocket launchers, others carried assault rifles. I overheard one marine as he hopped in the back and manned a LAAG scream " Let's give those Covenant bastards a head full of lead and a pile of our shit to die in !" I could feel the rush of battle overcoming me, This was it, I stood up from my seat and faced the marines taking formation. A little more public speaking from yours truly. "Kill everything you see !"
Last Hope part 4
Date: 11 may 2002, 8:13 pm
As we headed for the nearest covenant drop point, I noticed a very important change. The terrain had shifted from a wide open plateau with trees and rocks to a vast, flat plain. The plain was about fifty yards below us, and thankfully it was a shallow hill down to the plain. The upcoming battle was sure to be a shooting match. I noticed a large dust cloud in the distance. The Covenant were trying to dig in. This was unusual for them because they usually set up a temporary base, then spread. This change of tactics had me concerned, but not worried. If they wanted to stay put and get picked off that was fine by me. It took us a few moments to tally them all. All sixteen drop ships were hovering just over the ground, acting as stationary turrets, there were four wraiths, all acting as mobile defense, and twelve ghosts already patrolling a loose perimeter of plasma shields and boxes. While I was sure they knew we were coming, I was certain they had not spotted us yet. The wraiths could have easily advanced and opened fire, but they were so busy trying to get organized that we had the total drop on them. I ordered the two pelicans to swing wide to the left and right, and set down flanking parties. Then I ordered one warthog with each pelican, and a sharpshooter to ride shotgun for each warthog. In order to catch them with their pants down, we had to hit them hard all at once. As the two pelicans took off, I ordered the remaining eight hogs to form a v. Once the pelicans had reported their drops and All my hogs were ready to go, I radioed my entire team, " Flanking parties, wait for my hogs to draw the attention. Pick off the wraiths first, then hit the ghosts. Sharpshooters you know the drill, hunters and elites go first, then jackals. Only fire on grunts when you can hit two or more at a time. Don't waste bullets." The barrage of "yes sir"s hit me all at once. It was game time. As we advanced down the hill, I took one last look at my advancing squad. Megan and Jake were with me, but Dave had gone with the flankers, I wanted it that way, his expertise would keep his detachment alive. As we advanced, I could see some of the wraiths turn. They had bought it ! My flankers were now free to move in quickly, the entire Covenant position had turned to face my advancing hogs. We were half a click away when the wraiths opened fire. Thank God that the wraith's plasma mortar is so slow. All the hogs easily juked and zigzagged to avoid fire, all we needed was another hundred to two hundred meters, then we could be effective. By now I could see the ghosts streaking towards us, I raised my rifle and took aim at the lead ghost. The elite had on red armor, so he must have been someone important. I set my cross hairs right on his split chin and squeezed the trigger. The lead Elite snapped backwards and fell off the ghost as his skull exploded like an oversized rotten eggplant. I could hear the other hogs opening fire as well. I then heard the LAAG of my own hog opening up. I saw a nearby ghost explode after being riddled with bullets, tracers running the length of the vehicle. As we were now within a few hundred meters, the flanking parties had now caught up, and were picking the Covenant apart. Rockets and plasma flew everywhere, and I could now hear the elites yelling orders. I set my eyes on my armor for a split second, for I knew we would all be taking some shots before the battle was over. No sooner had this happened than our hog ran over an elite who had left the Covenant position to deal with the flanking parties. I looked right at him as he raised his gun in a last act of defiance and fired. The plasma round hit me right in the chest. It felt like I had just been hit by a brick dropped from a few stories up. I had the wind kicked out of me and I doubled over clutching my rifle. But I noticed something right away, there was no burning. Plasma was hot, it was supposed to burn, as I caught my breath I leaned up and checked out my armor, a three by one inch hole was dead center in my chest, and the hole was smoking a little. The two and a half inch armor had held up ! I was elated, overjoyed, here we were killing Covenant and now some of us would live to tell about it. I guess I spoke too soon. A hunter had worked his way from the center of the Covenant position and opened up with it's fuel rod cannon on the passing warthogs. After three shots, he managed a direct hit on a hog. The armor we were given was not designed to stop an exploding vehicle, Beta company had it's first three casualties of the day. Something told me they wouldn't be the last. Vengeance was ours, for as the hunter turned to lead a warthog, he opened his back to another, and was cut down by hundreds of bullets. We had been attacking for only a few minutes, by now everything that was in the open was dead, save a few panicking grunts. The ferocious, dog like little bastards were now running about like chickens with their heads cut off. LAAG fire penetrated into the group of grunts and mowed them down. Now it was just us, the elites, a few jackals and a hunter. Mind you a few of those elites had wraith tanks and ghosts. Once the wraiths started firing into the circle we had formed around our position, I ordered the hogs with jackhammers to swing wide from the circle and take them head on. As powerful as the plasma cannon was on a wraith, it was shit for leading targets. A few moments later I saw the body of an elite fly over my hog. As I looked to the direction where it came, I saw a flaming wraith. A ghost headed directly for my hog, my gunner was already focused on a wraith, so I lined the head of the elite in my sights and fired. The head of the elite flew back as the bullet smashed through his cranium and turned his head into a crushed egg. The ghost, now without a pilot, fell silently to the ground. My driver juked accordingly, avoiding the ghost, and smearing a jackal who had turned to fire on us. "Wraith down !" " Eat that !" " burn fucker !" Various comments bursted over the comm channel as my marines cut down covenant after covenant. The drop ships were being pelted by LAGG fire and jackhammers. There were four down, and the rest were now making strafing runs like fighters. I looked over in time to see a group of marines in hand to hand with the last few elites. I raised my rifle and sent a slug right through the head of an elite with his hand raised, ready to brain a marine. Suddenly a marine yelled "major check your six !!" Having no time to reload my rifle, my driver mad a tight U turn, fish tailing the warthog. My gunner opened up on their position, but was knocked off the hog when he was hit in the chest by the elites. As I rolled out of the hog, I reached for one of my modified grenades. I pulled the pin and lobbed it over the boxes which the elites were using as cover. The grenade detonated, and two of the five elites flew over the boxes screaming in alien tongues. The hogs stopped and we advanced on foot to the boxes. The covenant weren't returning fire, but we could still hear noise. I sent a private to check it out. We had killed every single Covenant here, save a few dropships which fled the scene. All we had to do was clear this last position until we could report our success. The marine edged closer to the boxes, his AR trained on the source of the noise. He advanced slowly, then stopped suddenly. One of the three elites stumbled forward. The bastard was crawling on his hands and knees, covered with the acid Jake had concocted. It was obviously in pain, so I ordered my men to hold their fire. It was a red elite, and he had now been reduced from crawling to rolling across the ground, it was as if he had been set ablaze by an invisible fire. His body was literally melting away. A slow and horrible death. Good. I looked around at my squad, I saw the looks in their eyes, and in their faces. Too many of their friends and family had died not to savor this moment. A look of vindication was on all their faces. We had won the day, and with minimal losses. I would have to thank Jake for his little toy, and send word around that the armor worked. I ordered the radio set up so I could contact the fleet.
Last Hope part 5
Date: 16 May 2002, 12:20 am
Once the radio was set up, I got on the comm. and punched in the frequency for the nearest ship, "The Hellion". Once the ship was raised, I asked for the captain. " This is "The Hellion" we are currently engaged, we are down to eight ships, "The Rapier" rammed the enemy flagship, both are destroyed, we are now mopping up the last three destroyers now." Finally, success in space. The shields had worked so well we had won with 70-10 odds. I could hardly believe it. My joy ride came to an end when the captain spoke up. " I am transferring this comm. over to "The Last Stand". They have the details for your next mission. This is the captain, over and out." I turned to my squad and informed them of our status in space, which was followed by cheers of victory. While waiting for "The Last Stand" to come over the comm. I surveyed the battlefield, there sure were a lot of covenant weapons laying around. Covenant weapons were hands down more effective than ours. " I want you to load your weapons on the pelicans, those with jack hammers and sniper rifles keep your guns, hold on to your pistols, but trade your AR's for Covenant weaponry. That is an order !" My men dispersed to gather their guns. "Heavy weapons assemble on me." With that ten marines came up to me, half with sniper rifles, the other half with jack hammers. No sooner had they assembled on me than "The Last Stand" came back over the comm. I did not get some radioman, I got the captain himself. " You are to head to coordinates 135 by 223, Alpha squad was not as lucky as you are, they are currently getting their asses kicked, Loren tells me you can make it in ten minutes if you hustle. Get moving !". Alpha squad, sure they were rugged, but against the covenant, rugged didn't cut it. I ordered my squad to move out, but I noticed three next to some wreckage not moving, I was about to yell when I saw they were taking the LAAG off the wrecked warthog. Smart thinking, we would definitely need it later. "Get that on board the pelican now !" Everyone was ready to go, and I took shotgun once again. I pulled out my little command handheld, and punched the coordinates in, this way it would be on everyone's HUD. As we took off, it was getting dark, this was bad, because the only night vision we had came with the sniper rifles. I came over the squad comm. " When we get there, spread out. I want jack hammers and snipers to hang back, use your NV to point out enemy positions, jack hammers hit them hard, hogs swing wide and fire inwards, circle and destroy. Cleanup, on my mark crash up the middle. No grenades until all friendly positions are known. We didn't know if any Covenant could see in the dark, we would find out soon enough. I could see the explosions ahead of us, we were close. " Alright people we are getting close, stick to the plan and stay smart. No charges unless ordered. We will do a lot more damage keeping our distance." As we approached the fighting, I took in the surroundings. Three down drop ships, the rest nowhere to be found, and the covenant using them for cover at the top of a hill, the marines covered by a down pelican and boulders. The Covenant held higher ground, not good. I ordered the pelicans to keep a few marines to provide cover fire, and then to make passes over the covenant positions. If nothing else they would get the Covenant to look the other way. " Ok, snipers point out the Covenant behind those drop ships, jack hammers lay it to them, no one move until that happens. We will fire once the pelicans have gotten their attention." A few moments later, the snipers came over the comm. They had chosen their targets and guided the jack hammers to the right firing spots. No sooner had the jack hammers acquired their targets, the pelicans flew past the covenant, one with several marines firing plasma rifles, the other firing the LAAG. The covenant behind the drop ships immediately stopped picking off marines in the rocks to open fire on the pelicans. " Jackhammers fire !" The streaks off the rockets were barely visible in the night air, their burning tails speeding towards an unaware enemy. The explosion of five rockets nearly made the ground shake. " Snipers BDA now !" A split second later, all five snipers came over the comm. "That blast took out about a third of them. They are scattering, permission to fire" Good, they were now leaving their cover. " Fire at will snipers, jack hammers reload and hit them again." The second volley did as much damage as the first. I wished we could have moved faster, there weren't many marines left in the rocks. Contrails from the snipers were barely visible, but I guess the covenant must have traced them back to us, shots were now headed our way. "Warthogs move ! Circle, fire inwards, kill them all! " For some reason this very basic tactic worked well against the covenant, I never did figure out why. I suppose it is because they were used to just running over the enemy, the odds were in our favor so long as they stayed put. And stay put they did. As we circled raining plasma fire, rockets, LAAG shells and sniper rounds, the covenant were so baffled that they didn't know which way was up. The few grunts were running wildy, just as before, the elites were charging blindly out of pure rage, and dying just as quickly. The Jackals seemed a bit more level headed, they had a phalanx formation covering for a few elites. This little group put fire on one of the pelicans, knocking out one of it's engines, it caught fire and limped away. I tried to raise the pelican. " Pelican Bravo229 are you ok ?" I had to wait a few seconds for a reply. " Sir we are ok, I'm setting it down about 500 meters from here, just over the ridge, we will be fine. I'm sending the marines on foot to help." No sooner had I heard this than the pelican disappeared over the ridge. I didn't hear any secondary explosions. I didn't hear much of anything over the fighting going on around me. I noticed one gold elite using a panel off the drop ship as a secondary shield. He had his sword at the ready, and that sword could cut through several marines with a twitch. This one was mine, I raised my rifle, and aimed. He was holding still, crouched and deflecting bullets with the drop ship panel. Easy target. I squeezed the trigger and watched as the bullet flew right at his left knee. I knew his shields would stop the first round, maybe the second, but not the third. His shields must have been special, he hardly flinched. I fired again, and this time watched a whitish blue wave cover his body. His shields were down, and I was ready with my third shot. I watched through my scope as the round blew his leg off from the knee down. He fell, dropping his panel. The rest of the marines were engaged elsewhere. "No one fire on the gold elite, he is mine" A simple request met with the sight of an elite, rolling in pain, and screaming in his language all sorts of mean things. The rest of the Covenant were dead, the last elite aside from the gold one had just died gurgling up it's own blood. They were on mop up, so I hopped out of the hog. I ordered my driver and gunner to help the others, I wanted some one on one with this elite. He was screaming out loud as I walked up to him, his sword was still glowing bright blue, he look up at me and snarled, I was shocked to hear it speak. This one spoke English ! I approached with my rifle at the ready as it screamed at me " Evil human, my brethren will kill you all !" I laughed at him spitting on him and replying, " your brethren are dead, and my marines are shooting their dead bodies. As for you, I am going to kill you myself, you will die slow for the millions of innocents your kind have killed." He responded by yelling at me in Covenant, and his next move about made me cringe, he raised his sword, and brought it down on his bleeding leg, frying the stump, and cauterizing the wound. I backed up a little, my rifle trained on the hand that held the sword. "Ok so now what you bastard ?" It looked at me with a glare that chills me to this day. " By Dakshalath I will see to it that you die a slow and horrible death human ! " It lunged at me, and I fired a round into the hand holding the sword, blowing it off. The gold elite immediately knelt in pain. It grabbed the bleeding stump where it's hand used to be, and raised it's eyes to me, and with it's split chin uttered, I will see you in Alkar human ! May the gods bring you the worst death imaginable !" With that he reached behind his back and pulled out a plasma grenade, and stuck it to his shoulder, he lunged. I backpedaled and fired, putting a round in his other leg, he stumbled, but got me in a bear hug. I thought my ribs were going to break. He screamed at the top of his lungs "DIE !!!" At that very second, his head blew back and shattered into a million pieces, he fell away from me, and I dove as the grenade went off. Crawling to my knees, A hand in a combat glove lowered to help me, I grabbed it and pulled myself up. My blurred vision halted as I stared into Megan's face. "You can thank me later Major," she said with a wry smile. " No I'll thank you now, thank you." I dusted myself off and ordered my squad to assemble. Out of the original fifty, forty were left, the leftovers of Alpha were in no condition to fight, I ordered our only pelican to take them up to the nearest fleet vessel. "Be sure to come back with LAAG shells, jackhammer rockets and plenty of sniper rifle ammo." I radioed as the pelican sped away. Time for some morale boosting. " Every single one of you kicked ass. I want contact with fleet established, so we can get our next mission, but not until after we get some rest. Before we rest, I want us to gather weapons just like last time. Everyone get some sleep and chow, we're just getting warmed up down here. My marines were tired, as was I. As I found a soft spot on the ground, I dozed off to sleep.
Last Hope part 6
Date: 18 May 2002, 4:29 pm
I awoke at home, in my own bed. I sat up startled, and looked over to see my wife asleep. It was already sunny in our bedroom, and it was a warm day. The perfect summer, the perfect dream. So many times I had thought of her before doing my job, before going to war. Thinking of her was the calm before the storm. My storm. How many times had I killed these alien things bent upon killing me, my wife, and every single human being ? I had stopped counting. Over two years of my life had been dedicated to protecting the lives of my men. Most importantly, protecting the life of the woman I loved.
I was surprised to see Megan staring at me once again. I awoke with a start and immediately grabbed my rifle. " Whoa major, chill out, fleet is on the comm. for you." I had only slept for four hours, the standard shift of sleep. "Thank you lance corporal." I stood up and walked over to the comm. array. " This is major Aleksandr Kolotov, go ahead fleet." I waited a few seconds until the captain of "The Last Stand" came over the comm. "We have picked up reports of another Covenant offensive against Solitarius seven. Aside from "The Last Stand" and "The Hellion" the rest of the fleet is taking off to help there. Our two ships can hold all ground forces, and we are fully stocked with everything you need. The faster you clean up down there, the faster we can high tail it to Solitarius seven.
In the mean time, Good work saving Alpha, but only half of the men you airlifted survived. Save half a dozen the rest are combat ineffective. I am sending them down to replace your losses, along with a full resupply. You are to stay put until you are reinforced and re-supplied, then you will move over to coordinates 202 x 444, Charlie squad has found the Covenant HQ, and are waiting for backup before moving in."
Outstanding. Without a solid command structure, the Covenant would be at a serious disadvantage, from what we know about them, military structure is very rigid, and I doubted they had a contingency plan for losing their HQ. I let my troops in on the plan. "Ok men listen up, we are going to hit the Covenant on their own ground. We have found their HQ and are going to team up with Charlie squad to hit them hard and fast. Victory here will make the rest of our stay mop up. Do not, I repeat do not think this will be easy. Their HQ is sure to be bristling with defenses, and crawling with Covenant. Nothing less than your absolute best will keep you alive."
Two pelicans appeared in the sky over our camp. As they set down, six marines hopped out, each one pushing a hover cart full of supplies. As they stopped, the carts opened up and revealed everything I had asked for. I grabbed as many cases of APFSDS ammo as I could carry, and there were dozens of jackhammer rounds. Two crates were full of LAAG shells. I guess Christmas comes twice a year on Epsilon 5. We split up, manning the warthogs and pelicans.
As we mounted up, I looked down at my rifle. Once again my hand brushed over the three engraved letters that always reminded me why I was fighting. I will survive, I will kill as many Covenant as I can. Very simple rules, to a very serious game. We were roughly half an hour from the rendezvous point with Charlie squad. We were traveling in a line abreast formation, and were covering ground fairly quickly. The terrain once again changed. Rather than hills, plains or ridges, this terrain was simply horrible.
Jagged rocks, mountains, cliffs, boulders, the worst combat terrain imaginable. Fighting would be a question of stealth and mobility, all the firepower in the universe wouldn't save us if we were pinned down here. As we entered the foothills, we encountered Charlie squad. We dismounted from our hogs and formed up. Their squad leader, also a major, addressed me with a salute, which I returned. " I am major Geirich Wetzer, here is the recon we have of the base." He then laid down the situation for me and my men. Producing a small hologram display of the area, he pointed out key points, as well as the Covenant HQ.
I was amazed at the detailed reconnaissance of the Covenant HQ and the surrounding area. The Covenant were not stupid, the had chosen an almost mesa like mountain, with full fields of fire from dozens of stationary guns. Surrounding infantry would have full defilades against us, and the obvious advantage of high ground. My suspicions were right, it would take our best to knock out this base. The terrain didn't allow for enemy wraiths, but banshees were all over the place. Between our two squads we had 19 warthogs, and three pelicans. We agreed not to use the pelicans in air to air, rather let the LAAGs deal with them. Our warthogs would hit from all sides, all at once, then circle while firing inwards. Major Wetzer seemed hesitant, but when I explained the effectiveness of this tactic he agreed.
Aside from the major, Charlie squad only had three sharpshooters and three jackhammer gunners. After grouping the two squads, I asked the major to have half of his riflemen trade arms with mine. This way an even half of our total force would have covenant weaponry. I hoped this would even the odds, we would need all the help we could get. Wetzel agreed, and the trade was done. Wetzel and I decided to hit the base while there was the least activity on the outside. We could not stay hidden for long, the Covenant would start patrolling this region shortly. We were only going to get one shot at this. My marines would make it a head shot.
When only grunts in stationary guns and forty elites were covering the base, Major Wetzel and I gave the order to move out. Warthogs, pelicans, snipers and jack hammers would hang back and give cover fire. The rest of us would sneak up and get as close as possible. I was positive hunters would come out to play once it got thick. I would find out soon enough. As we crept over the hills, I could feel the absolute rush of battle. The proper mix of testosterone and adrenaline had me wired to kill. I was absolutely itching to waste everyone of these horrible nightmares. The Covenant were just that, nightmares, but in a few minutes, they would be dead nightmares, at the hands of myself and ninety marines. We crept over the mountains, the hogs would hold off until we had lost the element of surprise.
Slowly, closer to the base we crept, yard by yard, careful to not be observed. We absolutely had to get the drop on them. I took a quick count, no more Covenant had exited the base. We were roughly two hundred yards away. " On my mark, open fire, then everyone rotate to the left, we will circle them and fire inwards, do not form one target, move quickly and stay low. Snipers and jack hammers, hit those stationary gunners first. Then move in a wide circle, stay on the guns and pick off the elites, but hunters get priority if they appear."
The base was a large semicircle, like a bubble coming right out of the ground. Stationary guns were everywhere, and elites were walking back and forth between boxes and small stationary shields. A series of rods and cones stuck from one side of the base, probably a communication system of some kind. A sniper from Charlie squad radioed me informing me of a gold elite which had exited on the other side of the building. The perfect opportunity to hit their command structure. " All marines halt. Jack hammers and snipers open fire on my mark, sniper, do you still see that gold elite ?" The reply made me grin. " Head shot on your command sir." It was go time. " Sniper fire ! Marines, mark !!" I heard one shot, a second, it had to have been a head shot. It would have taken three shots to kill from center mass. No sooner had the echo of the shot been heard, the streaming trails of jackhammer rockets, along with the contrails of sniper rounds filled the sky. The explosions were met by the cries of elites, and the screams of grunts.
" Snipers and jack hammers move in a circle to your right hit them again !" The advancing Marines opened fire, a rain of bullets and plasma fell on the Covenant base. The elites immediately hid behind boxes and shields, while the grunts fired from stationary guns and charged our position. As we moved and fired, stationary guns fell silent, grunts hit the ground burning and bleeding. My marines were burning and bleeding as well. The elites here had deadly accuracy, even our composite armor was trashed, and marines started dying. They hit only stragglers, and yet that was one less gun aimed at the Covenant. My worst fears came true, ten hunters came out from shielded doors, their glowing fuel rod cannons a warning of death to come. They opened fire.
The first volley fell right behind us, hot rocks and sparks covered my men. " Jack hammers and snipers hit those hunters now, drop all targets and engage the hunters !" I then radioed major Wetzel. " Major we are in a world of shit unless we take out those hunters." When my call came with no reply, I got worried in a hurry. The comm. came to life, and my hopes rose, only to be cut down. " Major Kolotov, Wetzel has been hit, he's critical, took some plasma right to the chest. We are taking him to the rear. You're in charge sir." Great, not only was our assault losing steam, but major wetzel was probably gonna die. With only seventy marines left, I had to act fast. " Where are those hogs !?" I screamed into the comm. I was met by the sight of warthogs clearing the ridge, roaring into the fray with guns blazing.
The hunters stopped killing my men long enough to engage the warthogs. The hunters were now advancing out into the battlefield, and the elites were getting wise. They too moved out and began circling, firing outwards. Our tactics had met, a total strategic stalemate. Accuracy and numbers was all that mattered now. I raised my rifle and blasted a hunter in the back, hearing it roar as it died. In a few moments, we would be in point blank range. At one hundred yards apart, both sides started trading grenades. Grunts ran right into our blazing guns, not caring about the bullets riddling their bodies, totally consumed by the desire to kill. I saw some movement behind a large rock. I leveled my rifle and blew the head off a blue elite who was about to toss a grenade. The hot plasma grenade fell to the ground. Three red elites and a few jackals ran from behind the rock. The last jackal was caught up in the blast, and was incinerated, the others had fallen directly into sniper fire and hundreds of AR bullets.
Screams of dying Covenant, screams of dying marines. This was hell, I was in hell. The devil himself rushed at me, not with a pitchfork, but with a long blue sword. I fired three rounds, and dropped the nightmare coming towards me. Fifty yards, in a few minutes, had to hand would break out. I took aim and fired into a group of grunts pinning down some marines. My one round entered and left the bodies of several grunts. The rest ran away screaming, only to be killed by a passing warthog. As I ducked to reload, a flaming warthog flew over my head, spinning on it's axis. The burned bodies of marines flew from it, and I heard the horrible laughter of a hunter. Anyone could get angry, anyone could experience rage. I felt something beyond that, I ascended beyond rage. I didn't want to shoot that hunter, I wanted to tear it to pieces with my bare hands. I slung my rifle over my back and pulled out my combat knife. It was only ten yards from me, on the other side of a large rock, the bristles on it's back gave it away.
I turned the corner and was met by the odd, glowing back of the hunter, this spot was a dark red. I immediately pulled out a grenade with my free hand. I Wrapped my arm around it's neck and hopped onto it's back. It turned and ran, bucking trying to throw me of, swinging it's arms wildly. I jammed my knife as hard as I could into it's exposed back. The hunter roared in pain and tried all the harder to fling me free, it's shield missing my head my inches. I cut as deep as I could, blood ran all over my hand and forearm. I the traded arms around it's neck, once my arm was around, I slashed at where it's eye should have been. At the same time I felt a horribly hard punch on my back. I had caught the attention of an elite, who was trying to kill me without hitting the hunter.
Hunters must not have been too smart, it turned again, shielding me from the elite. I reached with my free hand for one of my modified grenades. One more explosion would join those going on around me. I jammed the grenade as hard as I could into the hunter's gaping wound and hopped off. I rolled behind a rock, and bringing my rifle up, took aim at the elite who fired at me. Head shot, dead, done. I turned to see how my hunter was doing. I felt pure vindication at what I saw. The hunter ran blindly, and the grenade went off. The exploding grenade literally split the hunter in two ! Acid coated chunks of hunter, along with an absolute cloud of blood covered an area no smaller than twenty feet. Only one bloody leg of the hunter was left standing. The head of the hunter rolled into a group of marines.
As we advanced closer toward the base, the Covenant were abandoning strategy and relying on brute force. Good, let them rush us. They weren't even bothering to dodge or weave through our fire. The shrieks of jackals me the chatter of AR fire, the roars of hunters and elites was forever silenced by LAAG and sniper fire. Judging by their ferocity, this must have been a last stand. If we held them here then the base was ours for the taking. Elites were now taking swings at marines, and marines were laying into them with bayonets and combat knives. This was it, right here, the most primal form of combat. Agility and strength were all than mattered here. As marines fell with crushed ribs and skulls, elites fell with slashed chests and cut throats.
An elite powered up a plasma sword, only to be run over by a warthog. I looked up at the base, zero activity. Truly this was their perimeter's last defenses. I turned to fire on an elite who was charging a group of marines, my shells ramming through his body, it fell gurgling blood. Another hard knock to my back, I staggered forward and ducked into a roll, turning as I did so, met by the eyes of a jackal. I let fly with the last bullet I had, and put a football sized hole in the jackal. Through the hole in his chest I saw a group of marines pinned down by plasma fire. I then slung my rifle to my back and pulled out my pistol. I headed over to help them.
As I neared their position, I eyed where they were taking fire from. A few elites were taking cover behind a large rock. I pulled my last grenade out, and lobbed it right into the middle of them. As it detonated all three elites defied gravity for a few seconds, only land on the ground covered in acid. I hollered to the marines " Don't shoot !! Let them die slow !!" As they looked on the three elites crawled across the ground and sure enough, they died really slow. A sniper came over the comm. " Sniper 501 reporting clear !" I was still wary, I replied over the comm. "Stay sharp, they could be hiding. Some elites might be playing dead, if you don't see any blood, let them have it."
My orders were met by the occasional fire from AR's and plasma rifles. I sat down on a small rock. We had cleared the perimeter. " Ok marines, head count." Bursts over the radio let the count stand at fifty marines. I asked "What is the status of major Wetzel ?" hoping to get some good news, I didn't. "Sir, Wetzel is KIA" Damn it. Now It was entirely my show. As my remaining marines rallied around me. I stood to speak." Members of Charlie squad, major Wetzel is dead, I am now your acting commander. I don't know how things were with you and the major, but you will certainly get a chance for revenge. We are taking that base. We are taking it now. Officers with me, we need to make plans."
The Covenant would pay. They would all pay.
Last Hope part 7
Date: 21 May 2002, 4:01 am
The officers huddled around me, and I began drawing my plan in the dirt. " There are two doors. They may have several levels, and now that they know we are here, traps are a certainty. Exercise extreme caution. There are fifty of us so I want five ten man teams. Three teams designated gold black and white will crash the front door. The other two teams, red and green will sneak up behind them through the back door. First entry team unload the jack hammers and grenades. Soften them up, wait until all the heavy stuff has been used before entry. Some elites will be using plasma swords. I want a sniper in each team to deal with them. Snipers are not expendable until all elites are dead, especially sword carriers. Once the all clear is given, we will destroy the base. Capture a live one if you can, and take any computers or data systems you find. That is all, now let's get some." Megan handed me some ammo as soon as I stepped away from the huddle.
The officers dispersed to relay my orders, we were ready to rock in five minutes. As we approached the outside of the base, the front door slid open. A single red elite was disassembled by no less than a thousand bullets. They would have to try harder than this. " White and gold mark !" With that grenades and jackhammer rockets flew into the open door. A series of explosions was followed by a few screams, and once the smoke cleared, I saw the result of kicking down their door. A welcoming committee of bodies and blood greeted us as we advanced inwards. I could hear footsteps coming toward us. As we moved up the corridor, we came to a hard right turn. The footsteps were really loud now. A marine did a quick peek and moved quietly back to me. " Uh, Major there are two hunters and ten elites that just got finished setting up shop. They have lots of cover, they're just waiting for us."
Great, a regular covenant Alamo. This I had to see for myself. I moved out of the middle to the front and set my rifle on the floor behind me. Sure enough, they had a defensive semi circle of tipped boxes and shields. Right in the middle was another gold elite, plasma sword blazing. There were two side rooms with the doors open, but I couldn't tell what was in them.
This called for some heavy artillery. I fed the video feed from my helmet to the marine toting the jackhammer and instructed him to hit the hunter on the left then right. " The rest of you move back, fuel rod shots will be coming into this corner. Alright soldier, let em have it when I call mark." He hefted his jack hammer and stood with his back to the corner. He turned and loosed both rockets, and in exchange got two plasma shot right to the chest, he fell over, his armor was gone.
I bolted over to him and grabbed him by his collar, heaving him with all my might away from the corner. I then dove away myself, a split second later, a fuel rod shot slammed into the floor right where we had both stood. I heard the bellows of a hunter, followed by the sound of metal hitting the floor. I edged forward to check it out. Both hunters were now laying there, and the elites were gawking at them in what I could only describe as disbelief, the gold elite roared and pointed to me with his sword. The others turned and fired, I felt the heat wash over my face as I pulled back around the corner. Enough of this cat and mouse bull shit, it was go time.
I came over the comm. " Teams red and green the enemy is in a semicircle with it's back to you, when you blow the door aim to the center of the room and fire. Aim rockets at the floor or they will fly into the hall opposite you and hit us. Aim low, do not cross fields of fire with us, we will come out fifteen seconds after I call mark. No frags after I call mark, understood ?" That said I turned to my men and repeated the plan. I made a very quick peek of the room jsut to make sure they hadn't moved. They didn't even fire at me. " Mark!" With that an explosion cut across the room. The distinct sound of jack hammers unloading was heard right after the initial blast. I screamed " Get down !". The floor shook with the impact of the rockets. I could hear an elite yell and heavy footsteps, followed by thud of a body hitting the floor. I counted to fifteen and sent ten marines in. " Clear !" "Clear !" Good, we got them, I turned the corner just in time to see the doors of the two side rooms open, two elites dove out and started shooting. These ones were different, they had on black armor. Special ops, dammit. No sooner had I registered this and ducked behind a box, five marines dropped to the floor with craters for faces, two seconds of exposure and five head shots, these two elites were good.
Marines fired frantically at the two elites, who were so fast they seemed to blur. Dodging left and right, jumping rolling, putting head shots on marines diving for cover. Marines kept shooting, one even hefted a jackhammer, just in time to get his head blown off. We couldn't take much more of this. I jumped back through our entry door, taking a round of plasma to the helmet, it fell on the ground smoking and my vision blurred as I turned the corner. " Marines fall back !" on my command the rest of the marines moved back through our entry points. We had them surrounded, but they were too good to just rush. Blindly tossing grenades wouldn't work, the elites would just roll out of the way. Leave it to me to come up with a plan.
I thought to myself on how to deal with this, they were fast, accurate and had plenty of cover, each one had an entrance covered. "Keep them covered and stay put, I need to go check something. I ran outside and looked up at the dome. Nearby was a dead elite still clutching his plasma rifle. I picked it up, and pointed the rifle at the dome. Three shots melted part of it. That gave me an idea. I fired it until it over heated, and melted a hole clean through the dome wall. I had found my solution. " This is Kolotov, send green and black to gather plasma grenades from the enemy dead, then wait outside for further orders, I have an idea." Five minutes later, both teams radioed in. " We have the grenades sir, now what ?" I took another look at the dome and responded. " Green and Black assemble on me, I'm at the front door." A minute later twenty marines were standing there, each holding a few grenades. I hoped it would be enough.
Place all of your grenades except one at the very top of the roof, the elites are right underneath it. I want a jackhammer standing by as close to the top as possible without being hit by the blast. This thing is pre fab so it should blow. Once the hole is made, fire a rocket right down to the center. I hopped on the radio " Red, white and gold, on my mark turn and loose jackhammer rounds into the center, we are going to blow the roof to distract them. Hold your fire until the roof blows." I then had three marines scale the roof, one with a jackhammer, the other two with the grenades. They placed them all together at the very center. The marine with the jackhammer was about twenty feet away, I had him move back an extra five to be careful. "When I call mark, activate one and drop it in the middle. Then clear out." I waited ten seconds before giving the order. "Mark !" with that the marine lit one and dropped, it fell neatly in the center, burning brightly.
The whole ground shook with the impending blast. Just as I had hoped, the roof caved in under the blast pressure. " Hit em !" I called over the radio. The marine on the roof poked his jackhammer down the hole and fired. Two more rockets crashed into the center of the room just after the first one hit. A marine came over the comm. " Sir, one black elite's dead, the other one is alive, he dropped his gun and he isn't moving." Maybe we would get a live one after all. I radioed back, " Keep on him, if he moves, incapacitate him, do not kill him, he may have intel we need. Wait until I get there." I hustled back in the room, and sure enough, one of the elites was a smear, the other was laying against a box, bleeding, staring up at the marines encircling him.
I walked over to it and looked into it's burning yellow eyes, " We got you, you son of a bitch." I turned to some marines standing by and asked for some restraints. All we could come up with was some titanium wire from a warthog. It would have to do. "Bind him hand and foot, and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, if he does, kick his wounds." A marine spat at the elite, "Play nice you little bastard or we'll fuck you up." The elite lost consciousness and went limp. "Get him aboard the pelican and keep him covered, we are getting out of here. Set up the comm. I need to tell the fly boys that our entire region is secure. I don't want to nuke this place either, a team can come by and research all the covenant junk laying around."
With that we cleared the building. Using some grenades, C-1000 ( the latest version of a very old explosive, I think it's called C-4) and left over plasma grenades, we set the building to blow. Once the comm. was set up I radioed "The Hellion". Once again the Captain came over the comm. " Captain this is Aleksandr Kolotov, we have secured our region and await evac. We have a live covenant special ops elite. He is wounded an unconscious, if you want to pick at him for intel, I suggest you get us out of here, we need two more pelicans to get everyone back in space."
The captain was clearly pleased. " Outstanding major, your pelicans are en route now, eta five minutes. As for the elite, keep him alive. We need him for interrogation. Good work Major, I'll see you soon." I was then handed over to a radioman who gave me pickup details. I thanked him and ended the comm. link. " Alright men, evac in ten, keep the elite alive, we are out of here, now blow that damn base." The fireworks of the base were impressive, chunks of it flew everywhere.
We had beaten the Covenant, strategy had prevailed, and yet something felt unfinished, the feeling came from the elite. Something told me he knew something important, a gut feeling almost. I hated gut feelings, they usually came true. I sat in a hog and sipped some water. Then I saw the pelicans coming down. Everyone loaded up, and we headed for "The Hellion". I took one last look at Epsilon five and thanked God for our success. We had bigger fish to fry though, the offensive at solitarius seven was sure to be tougher than the one here. I only hoped we would be as successful there. As much as I hated the covenant, we may very well end up relying on this one, provided he talked. Our "questioning" specialists would make him talk. Whether he wanted to or not.
Last Hope part 8
Date: 28 May 2002, 10:52 pm
Once all the marines were aboard "The Hellion" we headed for Solitarius Seven. It would take us three hours to arrive by slipstream. I feared that the battle would already be over. All we could do was wait. I decided to get some sleep, and I wondered if "The Absolution" was still in tact, all my personal stuff was onboard. With an hour left to go before we arrived, the shipboard AI, Yisa came over the comm. " All combat teams report to your action stations, we will enter Solitarius Seven space in one hour." The captain insisted that the sixty four surviving marines of Beta and Charlie squads form as one. The new unit would be designated Omega. I was now the acting commander of Omega squad.
As we exited slipstream, we were met by the wreckage of Covenant and UNSC cruisers. It was obvious to everyone that some serious shit had gone down here. Scans weren't showing any friendly craft, there was too much debris. I had my squad report to action stations and be alert for boarding parties. Boarding craft could be hiding in the floating wreckage surrounding us. Yisa ordered long swords out to check the area. Suddenly a flash of light passed the ship's bow. A disabled Seraph fighter took one shot at us, before being blown in two by the archer missiles of one of the long swords. Yisa immediately spoke over the comm. " Covenant forces sighted, all marines report to defensive positions, boarding craft on intercept course. Eta five minutes."
"The Hellion" plowed through the wreckage at top speed. Once we cleared the debris, our scanners worked clearly and we saw what we had been missing. The battle in space was not over. The UNSC and Covenant were on the other side of the planet, fully engaged. The Captain came over the radio, requesting a situation report. Our scanners showed three UNSC ships and seven Covenant cruisers. A fourth ship showed up on the scanners a thousand kilometers ahead of us. Whatever it was, it was still in slipstream. The Captain ordered the MAC cannon trained to that position. A sliver of light appeared, then a whole ship came in to view. "The Last Stand" came in right in front of us. We would need the back up. We headed for the far side of the planet, ready to jump into the fray.
As we turned the corner, the battle on the screens was now right in front of us. We came in, guns blazing, our MAC cannon fired, punching a hole right through a Covenant cruiser which had turned to broadside another UNSC ship. The purple craft exploded in blue fire. The small victory soon faded. I looked at the monitor in horror. "The Absolution" and a Covenant ship rammed head on, and began to fall closer to Solitarius Seven. My heart sank as both began to fry in the atmosphere. My sadness was turned to concern when the ship shook violently. A huge, metallic thud was heard all over the ship. Boarding parties. Yisa came over the comm. " Boarding parties have attached to air locks November through Tango. Marines, move to engage." Finally I could do something to stop the Covenant. I grabbed my rifle, and an M6-D pistol. My men were waiting at their positions, time to go to work. I felt a sense of loss and rage like no other, the only thing I had to remind me of my wife was probably gone for good. Aside from the memories in my head, I had nothing left. The Covenant would pay, I would make them pay.
I turned the corner and ran to the nearest air lock. The sound of gunfire and yelling led me to my first group of marines. They were pinned behind a bulkhead, with two elites and five grunts firing plasma as fast as they could. I grabbed one of my special grenades. " Frag out !!"
I let the grenade go and dove across the hall behind the bulkhead with the rest of my men. A second later the hand of an elite flew past us, hissing and melting. That acid was wicked stuff. "Alright men, we're done here, let's move !" As we moved down the corridor, grunt and elite dripped down the walls, men were slipping on chunks of Covenant. We rounded the corner and came to the next air lock. An elite had his back turned to us, he was firing at a group of marines around the far corner. With my other grenade, I sent the bastard flying. As we cleared the hall, I grabbed the three plasma grenades the elite had dropped in flight.
We kept moving, kept fighting. I brought my rifle up, my shots would have to be center mass or they would go right through and possibly frag a marine or two. Our next bunch of dance partners comprised of four grunts, all running around the corner, firing like mad. I dove to the floor and fired one round. It blew the leader in half, and the rest turned and ran, screaming something in covenant. My men mowed them down in seconds. We kept advancing, firing, killing. We were making steady progress until we encountered a hallway coated in blood. Plasma scoring was everywhere. Whatever had come through here cut down the fire team waiting for it like nobody's business.
I heard the heavy thudding of a hunter. In all the space combat I have been through or heard of, a hunter on a boarding party was something new. I did a quick peek around the corner, it's back was to me, good. I pulled out my rifle and sent a round flying straight through the red spot on it's back. It roared as it died, and the last sound it made was it's metal shield hitting the deck. As we moved up the hall, we saw the hole it had boarded from. The entire airlock seal was blown away, and the enemy boarding craft was still attached. A marine tossed in a frag, just to be sure. I had nothing against being cautious. We moved on. I was curious, why would the covenant only send a hunter in a boarding craft big enough for a platoon ?
I had bigger things to worry about. We approached the next airlock and took cover. I switched to my M6-D pistol, this corridor was too narrow for my rifle. The whole hall shook when the boarding ship blew the air lock away. The door slammed into the opposite wall propelled by bright blue plasma. I barely had time to yell "Fire !!" when elites started pouring through the hole. As we opened up, the elites either pressed our cover spots or ducked back into the hole. "Frag out !" The elites who pressed us were now pressed against the ceiling, walls, and deck. Three marines had fallen keeping this area secure. One leaned to me, screaming "Major !!!" as he held up his M6-D, holding it so I could take it. "We'll kill them all." I said as I took the pistol. In the heat of battle time seemed to stand still as I watched the arm of that marine fall. I will kill them all.
Armed with two M6-D pistols and my rifle clipped to my back, I led my marines to the last air lock. We came to a T intersection, and we met with another group of marines coming the other way. There were two bulkheads and a barrier in the center of the corridor. As we set up shop, we felt the same thud as the last few air locks. The blast from the air lock nearly knocked us down. The plasma burned the door into nothingness before it could come at us. Grunts came out carrying needlers. Their armor glittered jet black. As I rolled to the center barrier, I hollered to the marines at the bulkheads " Frag em !" My order was met by two grenades thrown right into the airlock. The grunts with the needlers took the blast head on. They blocked the hole into the boarding craft, covering the rest of the Covenant. As they fell to the deck, two more grunts side stepped into the open. These two were different, they had some kind of shoulder mounted fuel rod cannon. The same kind of cannon hunters carried. I swear I heard one laugh as he fired. I rolled behind a bulkhead just in time to see my little barrier blasted into nothing. A marine lobbed a grenade out. After the blast he did a quick peek to see if he got anything. A flash of blue came from the corner of my eye, and the marine dropped from a head shot. This meant there were elites too.
His body fell into the hall and was immediately vaporized by a fuel rod shot. The grenade had done nothing. I had to figure out how to keep them pinned long enough to think up a way to kill them. I needed a plan so I could think up a plan. " How many frags are left?" The marine across the corridor turned to his squad. The marine behind me tapped my shoulder, "Six sir " The marine across the hall from me shouted the same number. Now I had a plan. "Hand the grenades to the second man in line, he will arm them. The first in line will throw them. Aim for inside the boarding craft. Toss half of them in the ship, then half into the corridor just past the air lock.
"Do it when I call mark, everyone ready ? Mark !" Upon my orders the men handed off grenades and threw them in rapid succession. As the first one blew, I did a quick peek. All of the covenant had ducked to the edge of the airlock. As the chain of explosions pushed them forward, they gave up their cover. Before the last two could go off, I ordered my men to open fire. With the covenant out in the open they had no chance. A monsoon of bullets crashed into the group of covenant, tearing them down one by one. As good as the Covenant Special Ops were, they bled just like any other Covenant bastard, and died just as messy. The last elite roared in rage and charged our group. I rounded the corner kneeling, and fired from both pistols, I felt like one of the " gunslingers" I had learned about in history class as a child. Ten M6-D rounds pounded the elite in the chest and head, and it dropped to the deck oozing purple, foul smelling blood.
We had fended off the Covenant boarding parties. As far as I was concerned, we were finished here. I radioed the captain asking for battle status. "Major it is now three to ten, the enemy flag ship has crashed on the surface, along with "The Absolution". Knock out the covenant forces setting up shop on the surface. I want you to get Omega squad together and head to muster bay four. It has everything you need. Now get moving !" As my men and I moved towards the muster bay, I wondered what the chances were of getting my hologram back. Perhaps I could kill two birds with one stone and gather intel on the Covenant home worlds as well. We loaded up on supplies and hopped into the pelicans. As we headed for the surface, space was ablaze with gunfire, I prayed we wouldn't get picked off en route.
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