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Meanwhile....
Date: 5 April 2004, 1:32 PM
The Spartan was hidden at the top of a nearby hill concealed completely by the surrounding vegetation. Looking down below through his sniper rifle's 2x zoom, he could make out the seven or so Covenant sentries guarding the building that they needed to storm. The Spartan, Ben, checked his rifle's ammunition via his HUD. Next he checked his shotgun. Even though he had checked countless times before in the last ten minutes, he couldn't be too certain. He looked down and to the East of the building. He could barely make out the silhouette of Spartan-150. Ben noticed that he was also checking his ammunition. The Spartan quietly slung the rocket launcher across his back and pulled a slim knife out of its sheath. "This is Aaron. I'm ready." There was a brief moment of static as the he cut the team frequency. The Spartans rarely referred to each other by their code names. Ben thought bitterly of his "code name", Spartan-027. Their superiors always called them by code name.
Ben sent a blue light signal through his HUD to acknowledge Aaron. Now all we have to do is wait for Jim to get back.... Ben thought. He had sent Jim ahead to make sure there were no extra Covenant hiding in the area before they moved in. he wasn't worried about Jim; he could sneak into a room full of covenant and tied their shoelaces together if he felt like it. He saw movement 50 meters off to Aaron's left and shouldered his sniper rifle. He zoomed in with the sniper's 10x zoom only to find his crosshairs resting on Jim's visor. He breathed out and set down his rifle. "There are two Hunters guarding the back entrance. If we can pull this off quick enough we may not need to worry about them."
"Acknowledged," Ben said. "Operation Green Dolphin in progress. Move in." He shouldered his rifle and once again hit the 10x zoom and looked down unto the group of covenant. Two Elites, three Jackals and two Grunts. Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! One of the Grunts turned around to see that four of his squad had found a new way to breathe through their heads. That was the last he saw before a slim, black knife was slit across his throat. The remaining Covenant, a Jackal and an Elite were left. The Elite shouted an order and the remaining Jackal raised his shield and stepped in front of his commanding officer. What the two hadn't thought of was that there may have been more than just two of the Spartans. The Elite felt the cold metal of a pistol barrel on the back of his neck. The third Spartan pulled the trigger and the explosive round from the pistol hit the Elite's spinal cord and literally blew the head off from the Elite. The Jackal whipped around only to be clobbered from behind with the hilt of Aaron's small knife. Ben was already down the hill approaching his two fellow Spartans. "Good job. Now let's get inside before those two Hunters realize they're seven short of their original squad."
They moved to the closed door. Ben pressed a series of buttons, but the door wouldn't budge. "Figures as much..." Jim said as he continued to wipe Elite blood off from his visor.
"Aaron? Would you please offer your services to the needy?" Ben said with a grim smile which lay hidden behind his visor.
"I'd be happy to oblige." Aaron replied as he began to un-strap his rocket launcher. At that moment a blob of green whizzed by Ben's head. He looked to the left and then to the right to see that the Hunters had decided to investigate from both side of the structure. He threw his sniper into its harness and drew his sidearm, the same kind Jim had used to take out the Elite. He started to charge the Hunter that had come from the right of the building, but at that moment a rocket appeared out of no where and all that was left of the Hunter was a big smouldering mess.
"Nice..." Ben muttered to himself. He turned around ready for the next Hunter, but he only had time to see it fall to the ground. The panel next to the door began to glow a light blue and the door opened to reveal a single, very confused looking grunt. The next moment there was a knife quivering in his forehead. Aaron walked forward and pulled the knife out of the collapsed grunt. He wiped it clean on the grass.
"Well at least the door's opened." He said as he sheathed his knife. They each walked in single file with Ben leading at point with shotgun drawn, followed by Jim with Battle Rifle shouldered. Aaron brought up the rear with Rocket Launcher at the ready.
Their mission was to take back the building the Covenant had stolen from the humans. The building was an important research facility on the actions of the Covenant. If they lost this to the Covenant they would lose everything they knew about the Covenant, which wasn't much but enough to give them an edge to the war. Further more, there was a human AI they needed to retrieve. So in other words, they had to move into the building, kill lots of Covenant, retrieve AI, and call in back to base.
They moved through the dimly lit hallway. From the outside the building had seemed small. It looked like a fast food restaurant but with satellites. The main part of the building was underground. The top floor was just one big hallway with an elevator at the far end and a handful of doors leading into storage rooms. Each door was kicked open and the room searched. They avoided the elevator to keep away from potential traps, and took the stairs instead. The stairs were winding, so you never knew what would lie beyond the next corner. At about the sixteenth bend, they could hear a loud steps ascending toward them along with barking noises heard from several Grunts. The three Spartans stopped in their tracks and backtracked to the top of the previous bend. Aaron primed a grenade and deftly rolled it down the stairs and around the corner. BOOM! The walls around them shook and the scream of an Elite was heard. They continued to wait for a few more seconds. Nothing. They moved onward, aware that the Covenant probably new they were there from the mini explosion set off by the grenade. They reached the first landing and met a welcoming committee of three Elites. One of them yelled a war cry before it disintegrated thanks to one of Aaron's rockets. Aaron hid behind a nearby pillar to reload his rocket launcher. Ben shouldered his shotgun and set to work on an Elite clad in red armour. The Elite was still looking at where his buddy had been standing seconds ago when Ben brought the butt of the gun down on his head. The Elite's shield flared a whitish colour and it also sprung into action. It turned around and clubbed his assailant across the head making the Spartan see stars. Ben brought himself to together and put the barrel of the shotgun to the Elites stomach and pulled the trigger leaving a gaping hole in the wide-eyed Elite. It snarled one last curse at the Spartan before quietly slipping to the floor dead. Jim had the other Elite in a deadly headlock, both of their weapons lying on the ground nearby. There was a loud crack as Jim snapped the Elites neck. The alien scum fell limply out of Jim's death grip. Jim got up, picked up his weapon and looked at the small crater where the first Elite had been taken down compliments of Aaron. "They want us to destroy the Covenant, Aaron, not the building."
"Sorry, my bad..." Aaron said. Ben could have sworn he heard a faint chuckle. The three Spartans looked at their new surroundings. The room was huge. Easily larger than three football fields. The ceiling was only about ten feet tall which would make seeing another Hunter less likely. They spread out and searched the room for more covenant. It was unnaturally empty. Just a few marble supports coming out of the ground and a desk in the middle of the room. Ben walked up to the desk and turned on the computer that was there. Through the computer he tried to make contact with the AI, but there was no luck. He did, however, find a program that unlocked all of the doors in the construct.
"Aaron, you're out of luck. You don't need to blow open any doors; I've unlocked them all through this program I found." He searched through the desk. He found several extra clips for his pistol. Aaron and Jim joined him at the desk.
"It's all clear." Aaron reported. Jim accepted some of the ammo Ben gave him. "So what do we do now?" Ben pointed toward the stairs.
They continued toward the stairs. These stairs weren't as long as the first flight, but after a few quiet minutes they made it to the second landing. They took a glance at the room before taking cover behind yet more pillars. There was more Covenant in this area but none of them even seemed to notice that there were three killing machines in the same room. The layout of the room was more filled than the last room. There were cubicles all over the place, much like an office building. It was swarming with Covenant, there were, however, no Elites. Or none they could see in that first glance. Ben nodded at Jim. Jim unlatched a thin dagger from his boot. The dagger wasn't as good as Aaron's, but it could get the job done. Jim silently crept in amongst the Covenant. All Ben and Aaron could do was to wait and give Jim cover fire if he was spotted. The minutes dragged by until a scream from a Jackal filled the air. Jim cursed heavily over the intercom. Ben and Aaron rushed in with shotguns shouldered. Ben's eyebrows rose as he saw the amount of Jackals and Grunts slumped over at desks and the sentries that were drowning in their own blood in the hallways. The two Spartans met up with Jim and found that he was pinned down by five Jackals at the end of the hall. "They've got my shield down and I forgot to grab grenades before we started this mission." Ben pointed at Aaron and then down a hallway and then rose to fingers. Aaron nodded and disappeared down the hallway. Ben jumped out from his cover and charged the Jackals and dodged two overcharged plasma shots. He fired off a shot at an exposed part of a Jackal, mortally wounding it, and then rolled behind a pillar. He waited a second and charged the Jackals again. He was only about six meters away and fired off another shot. At the second shot Aaron came out of nowhere and blew one Jackal to bloody ribbons and brought the butt of the shotgun down on another Jackals head in succession. The remaining Jackals turned away from Ben for a second to face their new threat. That one second gave enough time to Ben to deliver a solid kick to a Jackal's head. The other two were taken care of by a few more shots from the Spartans' shotguns.
"Thank God I saved you." Jim said as he jogged up to Ben and Aaron.
"Right..." Ben muttered, "Spread out. Search the rest of this place." This looked to be the last floor. Ben walked up to the computer in the middle of the room. He knew it was the one with the AI because several Grunts and Jackals had been seated around that one computer. He accessed the computer and typed in a series of numbers and letters.
"About time you guys showed up," The AI said. "If you're interested; there are two more those Elites and another Grunt hiding in the supply closet to your right." The Spartan looked to his right and sure enough there was a door leading to a closet with moving shadows underneath the threshold of the door.
"Organize yourself to be pulled...uh..." Ben trailed off.
"William." The AI ended Ben's sentence.
"Right. Anyway, get yourself ready to be loaded into my neural lace." The Spartan walked silently over to the closet and primed a grenade and rolled it under the door. He backpedaled to a safe distance and heard the scream of the Grunt. BOOM! Ben didn't bother to see the results. Ben went back to the computer and pulled a small chip out of a tray and inserted it into the back of his helmet. There was a cold chill that ran up and down his spine for a small moment.
"Hmmm...pretty roomy up here isn't it?" The AI asked.
"Keep it up and I'm leaving you for the Covenant, and I'll tell them to do anything painful you can to an AI." Ben replied. He liked this AI. It had a sense of humour unlike the last AI he had to work with. "Alright guys I've got the AI. Let's move outside and call for a drop-ship.
"I'm bringing your radars online. Surprised they weren't on to begin with." A small, translucent circle appeared in the bottom left hand side of Ben's HUD. He watched two yellow blips move around as Aaron and Jim searched the remainder of the area.
"Oh, cool," Aaron said of the team com. "New toy." Ben guessed that they too had their radars turned online.
"William, can you scan the rest of the building before we move out? We were assigned pest control too." Ben asked the AI.
"You would think there would have been more Covenant, but I'm not picking anything up. So I guess we're home free." The three Spartans moved up the stairs and then up some more to until they got to the top floor. Ben sent the elevator down just to see if he was right, and sure enough, a minute going down there was a sounding of the whole thing breaking apart and crashing to wherever the bottom was. They moved outside cautiously and called for a drop-ship to come pick them up. The Pelican arrived with a handful of Marines who, Ben guessed, were assigned for clean-up duty.
"Don't worry guys," Aaron said to the Marines. "We left a nice sized mess for ya." There were a few Marines who threw evil looks at them but followed it up with a grin. They knew that the Covenant that were there, still didn't know what hit them.
Meanwhile...Part 2
Date: 10 May 2004, 3:38 PM
Ben laid his head back against the uncomfortable cushioning of the Pelican and tried to fall asleep. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep his eyes shut. Something didn't feel right. He looked outside at the sky. Nothing. He looked down at the ground. Countless trees flew by, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He dismissed the feeling and tried to get some sleep; it was a three hour ride back to base. He looked up and around at the other people onboard. There were several tired looking Marines seated in the back of the Pelican. They took occasional glances at the three Spartans. Ben guessed they were also being picked up from a mission somewhere. Then there were himself, Aaron and Jim. Aaron and Jim already looked to be sleeping. Ben once again rested his head back and tried to sleep. At last he gave up and sat looking straight forward. Then out of the corner of his eye he noticed movement down below in the trees. He sat up and leaned outside to get a better look. He alerted Jim and Aaron through the intercom. They too looked outside. Down below there were several Wraith tanks, and close to twenty five Ghosts. They all seemed to be heading towards the city of Carrul. Ben alerted the pilot. She hadn't noticed the Covenant until he had said something. She then reported that her radar wasn't working. Ben checked his radar and discovered that it was all static.
"William, what's going on?" Ben inquired of the AI.
"They seem to be using an electromagnetic field of some sort to conceal themselves from your radars."
Ben told the pilot to set a new course to Carrul. They needed to alert the city and bring it up to arms. "How long do we have before they reach the city?" Ben asked.
"At that rate they should reach it in close to five hours." William responded. "As soon as we get close enough, I'll establish a connection to the city and alert them in advanced."
"Thanks." And with that Ben finally fell asleep. He knew he was going to need it.
Ben came to an hour later to find out that they were only half a mile from the city. "I made contact with the city an hour ago and they said they were expecting an attack but they didn't know when it would come." William reported.
"Thanks." Ben Sat up and stretched his cramped legs. He checked his ammo count on his shotgun and sniper rifle. There was only one shot left in his rifle so he released the clip and slammed a fresh one home. He was full on shotgun. He took some extra supplies from the ammunition storage compartment and handed them out to Aaron, Jim, and the three Marines. When he handed grenades to Jim, he was sure to give him a kick to the shin.
"We'll make touchdown in five minutes." The pilot told them. Ben walked into the cockpit and stared through the windshield. Ahead, Carrul loomed into view. It wasn't a very large town compared to some of the cities Ben had seen, but it was still pretty big plus it was surrounded by a forest. He couldn't figure out why the Covenant would want to attack this city. It didn't matter; they needed to help protect it regardless of the reason. A formation of Longsword fighters flew past. They must have been ordered to search and destroy all drop ships and Banshees. A male voice came over the intercom and gave permission to land. Ben left the pilot to her job and went back to his seat in the back where he could see the Longswords Fighters disappearing into the background. Aaron and Jim looked ready to go as did the Marines. They started to descend towards the ground and after several seconds they were out of the drop ship and shaking hands with, who looked to be in charge.
"Welcome to Carrul gentlemen. My name is Sergeant Hathcock. I'm the lucky man who was put in charge of this situation. Anyway, we have reports that the Covenant are only an hour away from us...way ahead of schedule. The group you saw is the main group. There are two other groups transporting troops and there are more reports of drop ships. We sent some Longsword fighters a few minutes ago to take care of them." Hathcock looked down at the ground and shook his head. He looked up at the Spartans and smiled. "I almost feel sorry for the Covie scum.
"We have about seventy-five of the toughest Marines out there. Then each of you equal up to around ten I'm sure..." The sergeant trailed off and thought for a moment. "I'll have you boys do what you want. If you wish, I'll give you some Marines if you want and any weapons or supplies you need. I don't have any other orders for you. Any question?"
"Where were the two transports coming from?" Ben asked. "Also, can you get us two of your best demolitionists and a Warthog; my buddy here can take out some of the Ghosts and maybe a Wraith given the right equipment and men."
Hathcock looked at the Spartan Ben had pointed at and nodded. "The two transports should hit the city from the south and the west.
"As for the Demo experts...yeah, I have the prefect guys for the job. They know their explosives. They should be finishing up with a job I gave them earlier. You can probably find them by 13th street, ask for Ardin and Yolando. They'll have access to any supplies you need and they'll know where to get access to a Warthog." The sergeant looked around. "Hey, Lucavi! Give this guy a ride to 13th street." A tough guy around 27 jogged back to a Warthog and pulled it up to the three Spartans, not sure which one he was giving a ride to. Aaron nodded his thanks to Hathcock and jumped into the passenger seat and the two drove off.
Jim wanted to talk to Hathcock so Ben went to the three Marines that were in the Pelican with them. The Spartan walked up to what looked to be the leader of the three and shook the man's hand.
"Hey, what's up?" The Marine asked. "The name's Moritz Llednar."
"Sparan_027." Ben replied. Moritz raised his eyebrow. Ben paid no notice. "So what were you guys doing before me and my men got picked up?"
"We just got done from another attack on a city. It wasn't intended by the Covenant, they just happened to stumble onto a small town swarming with Marines. so yeah, this is getting pretty old."
Ben looked at the other two guys. They were double checking ammunition. "How are you guys with sniping?"
"You're looking at three decently perfect snipers right now." Llednar said with a grin. The other two looked up.
"Great. You guys can come with me. I need to find a spot where I can get a view of both the south and west entrances to the city. On the way in I saw a likely looking building, so get set to move out." The two other Marines looked up at Moritz. He nodded and the three of them started strapping on ammo.
The Warthog barreled down the back roads and snaked around the turns. They would have been taking the main road but defenses were being set up through them. They pulled up to a small construction crew that was digging a hole in the ground that was probably being dug for a Scorpion. Aaron jumped out of the passenger seat and walked up to the five or so Marines.
"Which of you are Yolando and Ardin?" He asked. Two burly looking Marines with shovels stepped forward.
"That'd be us, mate." The taller of the two said. "The name's Ardin and this here is Yolando. How may we be helping you?"
"Spartan_150," Aaron said shaking their hands. "I was told that you two were good with explosives."
"Aye..." Ardin said.
"Great, I'm going to need you two on a small mission. We have to set some traps for the convoy that's coming our way. Sergeant Hathcock said you two would know where to get supplies." Yolando nodded. "We need four or five anti-grav mines and a Warthog. Can you guys get it?"
Yolando nodded again. "I know a guy that can get us a Warthog. As for the explosives, Ardin and I make our own custom mines. We should have more than enough for what you need."
"Alright, you guys go get the stuff and I'll find out where we have to set up the trap. I want you back seven minutes ago." Aaron said. Ardin and Yolando called Lucavi just before he sped off and got a ride from him. Aaron queued the com. "Ben, this is Aaron. Can you ask the AI where the convoy is bound to hit?"
A voice came over the com, but it didn't belong to Ben. "This 'AI' has a name. My name is William. Anyway, the convoy should enter the city from the way you came in. My guess is that they'll use a road that has an old radio tower next to it. I'll put a NAV point on your HUD." An orange triangle appeared on his HUD pointing towards the North where the three Spartans had entered the city. "You'll have 45 minutes to get there, plant the mines, and get back to the town. Good luck." The transmission ended leaving static. Aaron leaned back and started formulating plans in his mind.
A few minutes later Yolando and Ardin pulled up in a Warthog that had a small mound of explosives strapped into the back next to the LAAG. "Good job guys," Aaron said, walking towards the Warthog. "I'm driving." Ardin got out of the driver's seat with a frown and got into the gunner seat. Aaron jumped into the driver's seat and put the 'hog into gear. He was keeping mental time and he guessed they had 37 minutes left. They weren't too far from their destination, so it wouldn't take too long to get there. Aaron looked ahead, saw the radio tower that they were supposed to see, and pulled up to it. He looked around, saw a place where the trees started to bottleneck, and headed in that direction. He slowed the 'hog to a stop and jumped out.
"Start unloading guys. I want to see what you have." The two pulled out and an arrangement of explosives and set them on the ground.
"Where do you want them?" Yolando asked.
Aaron looked around and pointed at a few likely looking spots. There was a few of the mines that Aaron had never seen before, but Ardin and Yolando gave a quick summary of how they worked and what the blast radius was. Static cut through Aaron's headset and died out. He stood up and put his hand to his helmet. "Watch the Jackal on your left!" a Marine yelled through the com. Aaron looked to his left and saw only trees. The Marine must have accidentally spammed their freq. "Ben? William? What's going on? I thought we still had half an hour?"
"The first transport has entered the city and we're still fighting them." William replied. "You should get moving on the trap; the convoy should reach you in five minutes." Aaron swore loudly. "Hold on, let me scan...Yes. There seems to be a clearing off to your right where you can hide for right now. After the convoy moves by, come up from behind them and attack. Good luck." The transmission ended.
"Alright guys, we have five minutes to pack up and move to a clearing that way. Finish up and get on." Aaron said. He helped cover up the explosives so that they wouldn't be obvious. They then put the extra charges into the Warthog and drove off. On the way to the radio tower, Aaron had seen a trail the, he guessed, led to the clearing that William had spoken of. He quickly found the trail and started to go head down it. In the distance the whine of the Ghost could be heard and the quiet engines of the Wraith tanks. There was a small clearing not far from where they had planted the mines; they could just barely make out the road. They tookl some branches from some nearby trees and covered the Warthog so it couldn't be seen, then the three humans hid amongst the trees themselves to watch the show.
Meanwhile...Part 3
Date: 27 May 2004, 3:56 PM
Field Master 'Oglamest was in charge of this whole operation of trying to gain control of a small human town. He was never told for what reasons it needed to be obtained, but orders were orders, especially if they came from the Head Prophet himself. So far nothing had gone right; one transport had tried to attack the wrong city and was massacred by the inhabitants. Then just a few minutes ago, another transport had attacked the right city, but not at the right time, and they weren't doing to well for themselves by the sounds of it. Plus, there were reports of several of the "super humans." 'Oglamest had only thought these were rumours and wouldn't believe them until he had the head of one in his own hands. He snarled just low enough so that it wouldn't be heard over the drone of his Ghost by his companions. He had a sense completely new to him eating away at his stomach; he was nervous, almost afraid. He shook off the feeling and stared ahead. BOOM! The Ghost that had been riding next to him for the last hour was no longer a Ghost, but a charred missile flying through the air. Several more explosions rang through the air around the area followed by screams from the unfortunate Elites that had once been the commandeers of the now non-existent vehicles. There was one more final explosion; bigger than the rest and followed by a succession of smaller explosions. He looked back to see that half of the Ghosts that had once been part of this transport were no more. The last explosion had reduced one of the Wraith tanks to scrap metal. It took him several seconds to realize what had happened; the trap had only lasted three seconds. He looked to his comrades. They had fear in their eyes and looked ready to flee. 'Oglamest snarled threats at them and cautiously moved on. The other Elites followed their leader warily. 'Oglamest couldn't fail this mission or it would cost him his head.
When the convoy moved on, Ardin and Yolando stood up and hit there fists together. Aaron raised his eyebrows; those were good explosives. "Good job guys, let's get moving. We're going to flank the enemy from behind as the reach the city and engage the Marines." Aaron jumped into the passenger seat and unlatched his rocket launcher. Yolando jumped into the driver seat and turned the ignition while Ardin jumped up behind the LAAG. They waited for several minutes and Yolando pulled out of their concealment and drove after what was left of the convoy.
'Eerthumen was looked down at the pathetic human; the Elite and the human had been in hand-to-hand combat for the last three minutes and the Elite's brute strength had given him the advantage through the fight. The human's face was bleeding from where 'Eerthumen had kicked him. The human stood back to his feet and crouched down ready to dodge the Elite's next blow. The Elite feinted a punch and kicked the feet out from underneath of the Marine. 'Eerthumen laughed and stared at the human as it got up on a knee. 'Eerthumen had had enough and was beginning to bore of this fight. He locked his two hands together and raised them above his head and started to bring them down on the humans head. A report from a sniper rifle was heard and 'Eerthumen buckled over and brought his hands to his chest. He looked down at where his heart would be and found that there was a gaping hole over it from where the bullet had exited. The human stood up and picked up his sidearm from the ground. He held the gun in one hand and pointed it at the Elite's head. The Elite looked up and snarled a curse at the human. The Marine smiled grimly and pulled the trigger.
From his vantage point, up on top of a tall building, Ben watched Sergeant Hathcock limp over to his weapon and pick it up. Hathcock looked up towards Ben and gave him a thumbs up. Ben released the clip in his rifle and slammed a fresh one home. That was the last of the first transport, or of what they saw come from the transport. They had sent a search and destroy team to scour the area and make sure there were no Covenant with active camo. The Spartan looked towards the two snipers that had been helping him. "Nice job. Let's get to the next vantage points and get ready for the next wave." They had been positioned on top of an old business building about 100 meters off the ground. They entered the building went back down to ground level via the elevator. They jumped into a Warthog and drove off to next two buildings they were going to snipe from. "Luetze and Smith, take the building that is on the right side of the road, Moritz and I will take that apartment building over there. Get moving." The Spartan and Marine moved to the apartment and climbed to the roof using the fire escape. They found a spot to snipe from and waited.
Jim had command of a small group of Marines. One of them was badly wounded so Jim had him sit out in a nearby restaurant where some medics were stationed. Jim had the rest of his men set up at various points on the street for an ambush. "Enemy sighted. Hold your fire, Marines." Jim heard Hathcock say over the com. There were close to 30 Marines up and down the streets and in buildings waiting for the command to fire. Several large Covenant ground cruisers came roaring down the street. Each was about two times the size of a Pelican, allowing thirty or so assorted Covenant to be carried. "Fire at will!" Hathcock said over the com. A barrage of bullets hit the front of the Covenant vehicles which caused them to slow. They were still 100 meters off when the transport in the back stopped and unloaded two Hunters and ten Jackals. The Jackals formed a wall and the two Hunters ran around behind them. The two transports in the front moved off to the sides of the road allowing the Hunters to lob green blobs of sizzling energy from the fuel rod cannons that were integrated into their arms. One of the rounds from the fuel rod cannon took a direct hit on top of an unsuspecting Marine leaving a small mound of burning flesh. The second shot was off and took out part of a nearby building.
"Ben, we need you to take those things out now!" Jim said in a private channel to Ben.
"Acknowledged." Ben replied. A shot rang out through the air leaving a vapor trail leading right towards the neck of a Hunter. The shot, however, bounced off from the Hunters armour leaving the alien safe from harm. Which was not what Ben wanted. He fired another two shots at the alien, but they were also deflected by the Hunters armour.
Jim queued the freq again and asked, "Can't you take him out?" Another green blob landed right next to Jim's hiding place. "We need those things out now."
"Negative," Ben replied. "We're going to have to wait until the sergeant gives the command to retreat. You're going to have to hold until then. I'll keep an eye on them and wait for an opening."
"Alright. Over and out." Jim said cutting the freq. The Spartan saw the vapor trail from one of the sniper's rifles and looked over at the Hunters. Ben must have sighted in the Jackals that were forming a wall because three of them fell over, either dead or mortally wounded. Another shot from the Hunters soared through the air right towards him. He jumped back behind the wall and waited for the round to hit something before going back out again. He looked around the corner again. The other two vehicles had stopped 75 meters away and were starting to unload troops.
"Frag out!" A Marine yelled. The young Marine primed a grenade and pitched it towards the first vehicle. The grenade rolled underneath of the first alien vehicle and took out a huge chunk from the front rendering it useless for any further transportation use. Some Grunts charged forward firing their plasma pistols, bloodying up one Marine and killing him. Sniper fire rained down from the apartment building, where Ben and Moritz were stationed, and killed the Grunts. Jim jumped around the corner and started firing his battle rifle at an Elite that had a couple Marines pinned down behind an upturned Warthog. His fifth round snapped the Elites neck and dropped it. He looked down the street and dodged to the side just in time to miss getting hit from a fuel rod round. The Hunter that had fired at him fired again but came short. A shot from the second Hunter blew up the Warthog the two Marines Jim had saved had flipped over. The explosion killed one of the Marines and crippled the other. The Marine lay screaming on the ground. Jim ran over to him and killed several Grunts and a Jackal that were firing at him.
"Hey buddy, calm down, it'll be ok." Jim said. He looked down at the Marines leg and noticed that a piece of shrapnel had torn a huge chunk of muscle and skin out of his leg. Something tells me he ain't gonna be alright, Jim thought. Against his better judgment, he started wrapping the Marine's leg with a field med kit. If he didn't wrap it now, there was no way the Marine would survive.
"God! It hurts!" The Marine screamed. Just then a plasma bolt came out of nowhere and hit the Marine's neck killing him. Jim cursed heavily and turned around. He was face-to-face with an Elite about a foot taller than himself. The Elite yelled a battle cry and charged the Spartan. Jim swung the end of his rifle around as a club and knocked the Elite to the ground and fired three rounds into the Elites face. Jim looked up from the Elite's disfigured head and looked to see how the Marines were fairing. About ten had fallen casualties to the Hunters and another three to plasma fire. He took a look at the Covenant and found that, even though their numbers were dwindling, they still had at least forty units left.
"Hathcock, we need to retreat now!" Jim said on a private channel to the sergeant.
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Hathcock replied. On the open frequency Hathcock yelled, "Alright guys, retreat back to the Scorpions. Let's give 'em hell!" The remaining Marines started back-pedaling back to the next street and firing at the advancing Covenant. They were now out of range of the Hunters and didn't need to worry about being mortared by them while they retreated. The Hunters didn't know that though. They took a couple more shots which destroyed about six Grunts that were bunched together. They noticed their mistake and gave pursuit after the humans. Jim turned around and gave the Marines as much covering fire as he could; but the onslaught of plasma forced him to turn tail and retreat as well. They only had fifty meters to run before they rounded the corner at a street intersection. As Jim ran, a round from a plasma pistol flew over his shoulder and struck a Marine's leg, forcing him to fall over. Jim scooped up the Marine in one arm and fired a series of rounds over his shoulder with his rifle. He rounded the corner and ran to a bunker that was set up 20 meters from the intersection. Jim set down the Marine.
"You think you'll be fine here?" Jim asked. The Marine winced and nodded. The plasma round had only grazed the Marine's leg. The Spartan looked down the street they were on. Five Scorpions were dug into the street and there were two turrets taken off from some Warthogs and put to the side of the street where they would have a good firing angle. Jim jogged over to one of the turrets and manned it. The first few Grunts rounded the corner and got torn to ribbons by the two turrets and another six Marines that opened fire. The next few Covenant came around the corner hiding behind the last of the Jackals that they had left. There were ten Jackals serving as a wall and several Grunts and Elites ducking below their shields. The Marine Jim had saved primed a grenade and tossed it towards the Covenant wall. The explosion killed three of the Jackals leaving a big enough opening exposing an Elite clad in red armour. The Elite charged forward and attempted to slay the Marine that had let loose the grenade. Jim swiveled the turret around and opened fire.
Meanwhile...Part4
Date: 10 June 2004, 1:43 PM
Off in the distance, the remaining Ghosts and the one Wraith could be seen entering the city limits. A report of an explosion set off by a destroyed Ghost confirmed that the Marine resistance had engaged them. The whine of plasma fire could be heard in the far distance as the Covenant returned fire.
Urging the 'hog to go faster, Yolando closed the gap between them and the enemy. When they got within reasonable distance, Aaron stood up in the passenger seat and took careful aim with his rocket launcher and fired. A Ghost that had been staying stationary and acting as a turret burst into flame as the rocket scored a direct hit. When the trio got within 600 meters of the fight, Aaron could see that the humans had set up rocket jockeys on the sides of the street. There were also two gun emplacements on top of two separate two-story buildings, high enough to where the Ghosts' plasma weapons couldn't reach. The Wraith soon realized this problem and fired upon the nearest one. The orb of fire lobbed through the air and narrowly missed the building the turret was on. The mortar tank began to charge another shot when Aaron sprung into action.
The Warthog had just caught up with the fight when Aaron primed a plasma grenade and jumped out of the passenger seat. He ducked and stuck close to the ground while the momentum from the Warthog carried him underneath of a Ghost. As he rolled under the Ghost he reached his hand up, placed the plasma grenade inside of the vehicle's engine, and in the same movement rolled onto his feet. The fall had caused 60% of his shield to drop, but was slowly starting to recharge. He reached to his belt, grabbed two fragmentation grenades, and held them in both hands letting them cook. After counting to three, he pitched them in quick succession underneath of the Wraith. The grenades detonated and there was a rewarding third explosion from the tank as something important blew. Somehow, his rocket launcher had managed to stay in the harness on his back and survive through the whole ordeal. The Spartan dove to the side to escape being run over by a run-away Ghost, the driver hanging limply off to the side. A volley of rockets, all targeted on one Ghost, flew by in front of Aaron and promptly blew up their target. Aaron quickly unslung his own launcher and set to work on the few Covenant that remained.
'Oglamest roared in fury. This was a huge failure; he was going to die either way. Then he saw the "super-human." The primate was easily seven feet tall, but extremely agile. In a fraction of a unit, he had blown up a Ghost and very easily taken out the Wraith; all in one quick movement. If he was going to die, he was going to take that human before he did. Since he was already on the ground, (his Ghost being blown from underneath of him when the Wraith blew) he charged.
Aaron was busy sighting in a purple vehicle from Hell, when a series of plasma bolts, coming from his left, grazed his helmet. The barrel of his launcher took a direct hit and promptly melted rendering it useless...for firing. The Spartan grabbed the former weapon by the barrel and turned to face his assailant. Aaron dodged to the side as the Elite brought its plasma weapon towards his head. The human swung the launcher like club and nailed the shield generator on the alien's back. The shield flared, but held. The Elite stunned by the Spartan's quickness back-pedaled and rained plasma on the human. Aaron's own shield flared and was dropping rapidly. Ducking behind a downed Ghost, he drew his sidearm and, momentarily, allowed his shield to recharge. He jumped up from his hiding spot and looked through the M6D's scope. The alien had had just backed into a wall. No where for him to run. Aaron opened fire on the unlucky Elite. The first two rounds broke through the Elite's armour and tore two huge holes in its arm. The third took the alien in the chest and the fourth penetrated the alien's curved skull. Aaron sighed. Some of this was just way too easy.
The Spartan looked around at the carnage that had resulted from the battle. Only half a dozen human live had been taken. Not too bad considering what could have happened.
The sound of battle rang out from near the center of the city. Some of the rocket teams had already started toward the moise. Yolando and Ardin pulled up in the, now beat-up, Warthog. Ardin had a long burn mark across his face and was looking pale. Aaron had Ardin take the passenger seat and then took residence behind the LAAG.
"Alright guys, let's smoke this joint." With that, Yolando set off toward the ongoing battle. They had some soldiers to save.
Author's note: I know this is a bit short, but my next entry should be bigger. Untill then, enjoy.
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