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The Hell Of War Through The Eyes Of A Marine by Jaywhit10
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The Hell Of War Through The Eyes Of A Marine, Part 12: The Last Battle
Date: 24 May 2002, 7:24 PM
I had been sitting in a warthog that was away from everyone for about two hours now, just thinking. No one really knew where I was, I liked the privacy and the time to think to myself. What happened earlier today I would never forget. I noted that my new squad members should be arriving within the hour. Why did they choose me to be the CO, can I handle this, those and many other questions filled my mind. I thought I had myself pretty well hidden. But Sarah walked up and sat down next to me, she still held her MA6B in her arms.
"J.D. this is where you went. Pvt. Jamison is gonna be ok, he ripped open his arm on the warthog."Sarah told me but I didn't answer, I just sat there.
"They are almost done removing all the remains of the bodies from the base. There is one problem though, the Golden Elite is missing. The damn ODSTs are blaming us for him escaping by saying that we had left the cell door open, but most of the base thinks that the Stealth Elites rescued him."Sarah said that and that woke me up.
"God damn it, if I see that bastard anywhere im gonna kill him. The battle was just so chaotic that they were able to get him out. Those damn Covs took a few marines with them, they slaughtered Cpt. Clower's squad and took him too. I just have so many things on my mind like how am I going to lead the squad successfully."I told Sarah and I was starting to show some emotion from my unchanged mood.
"J.D. don't worry we are gonna find that Covie bastard and kill him. Im sure you will make a good CO J.D., ok you are a good leader when you need to be."Sarah told me
"Thanks for that comforting comment Sarah"I gave her a nod
My COM in my helmet went off "Sgt. Andrews your new squad's Pelican is inbound ETA 7 minutes report to the hanger immediately". I told Sarah to get Pvt. Jamison and Cpl. Stevens and meet me in the hanger. She got up and jogged off, I had gotten some nice comments from a friend and thats what pulled me out of this stupid slump. I climbed out of the Warthog and swung my MA6B over my shoulder. I started heading towards the hanger, wounded Marines were being tended to and others were removing the bodies. ODSTs were just doing what ever they were doing and were giving me strange looks. I payed no attention to them and walked by the still burning remains of the Scorpion. The hanger was bustling with life, Marines were being given MA6Bs from other dead marines. The Lieutenant in the black suit was loading things on a Pelican. A Corporal was waiting for me near where the Pelican was going to land. He told me that Commander Wilkins wanted to see me after I got acquainted with my squad. He handed me an electronic notepad which had all the information of my squad, even some about me. Sarah, Pvt. Jamison, and Cpl. Stevens soon walked in the hanger.
I looked out at the horizon and saw a Pelican being escorted by a Skyhawk heading towards the base. It took another minute before it arrived and landed. The first marine to climb out was Cpl. Mendez, she was toting her Sniper Rifle along with a duffle bag. Five other marines walked out and all six of them saluted.
"Welcome to your new squad I am Sargent Andrews. I know most of you are new and had never been in a "real" situation. Let me point out that most battles with the Covenant are bloody and viscous, if you listen to my instructions you might actually live. The only combat experienced marines in this squad is Pvt. Jamison, Cpl. Stevens, Cpl. Sheffield, Cpl. Mendez, and me. Don't think you are a hotshot because you did well in Boot marines. You will soon learn that it is much different out here. Two more things, 1. tell us your name and rank, and 2. is if we ever use a Warthog I am the gunner understood."I said to the marines giving them a nice view in words what life was like here, but words can never describe what I have seen.
A tall skinny marine stepped forward "I'm Pvt. David Anderson, nice to meet you Sir", an average sized marine stepped forward "Hello im Pvt. Steven Micheals", a Latin man with large muscles walked forward "Hola Sir, I'm Pvt. Miguel Rodriguez", a marine with pale skin walked forward and with a English accent "Good to meet you Sir, I'm Pvt. Brian Wallace", a marine stepped forward and acted like someone with an attitude who didn't seem to care what I thought "im Pvt. Harold Smith", the last marine stepped forward "Good afternoon Sir, I'm Cpl. Louisa Mendez". "Good nice to meet all of you, go grab some weapons and ammo I suspect we're going somewhere"Just after I said that red lights in the hanger started flashing and the loud speaker went off "All marines get to your Pelicans, pilots to your ships. We are commencing an attack prepare to depart in 15 minutes". I started running to Commander Wilkins's office. I ran past marines heading towards the hanger.
When I reached the Commander's office the MP let me in. I walked in panting and saluted.
"Hello Sir, what is this attack about and what does my squad have to do"I asked the Commander
"Well Sargent Andrews about 11 hours ago a 3 man team was sent in a forest in Grid 39/72 to look for the source of Covenant activity. 2 hours ago Lt. Foster sent us a message and a recording. He said that his team had found a very large Covenant base. I'm not sending you to there though. A small city named Le Clare 14kms east of there, evacuated of course, has some unusual thermal readings. Im gonna send your squad to Le Clare to investigate and if possible destroy what ever is causing those thermal readings. Good Luck"All I did was salute the Commander and left. I ran to the Armory and grabbed 4 Frag Grenades, 8 EX, 2 Shredder, and 5 AP clips. I ran through some marines trying to get to the Armory. I ran into the hanger and I saw my squad waiting for me in front of a Pelican with a Warthog strapped to the back. I smiled and climbed on the Pelican. As soon as my w hole squad got into the Pelican it lifted off and headed for Le Clare. I looked out the back of the Pelican and I saw other Pelicans, Skyhawks, and Longswords heading for the battle zone. How I longed to be there when we wiped the Covenant of the face of this planet.
"Okay squad we are heading towards the city of Le Clare. Our mission is to find out what the source of a very large Thermal reading and is possible destroy it. We aren't gonna be able to join in the large battle but we're gonna wipe out the Covenant in the City. One more thing im manning the Chain-Gun."I said to my squad and I got a bunch of "Yes Sirs" and some groans. "Sgt. Andrews ETA to Le Clare is 5 minutes". I heard from the pilot.
I asked who had brought explosives and Pvt. Rodriguez raised his hand. The Pelican shook and rocked a bit and I could see that we were being shot at. Plasma bolts were missing the Pelican and were fired into the air behind it. Some Plasma bolts actually came close to hitting the area where we were. I heard the Pelican's Autocannon firing and I saw some spots where the autocannon had fired at. Trees were ripped apart and Covenant were too. Five minutes later when we landed, the Warthog was dropped off and we got off the Pelican. The Pelican lifted off and headed back to base. I could hear the Pelican's Autocannon open fire again as it flew off. I climbed into the gunner's position and aimed the Chain-Gun ahead of everyone. Pvt. Jamison got in the driver's seat and Cpl. Mendez got in shotgun and steadied her Sniper Rifle so that it aimed ahead of us. The rest of my squad was on foot and that was the reason why the Warthog was moving slowly. I switched on my IR on my HUD and picked up 20 something cold spots a few hundred meters ahead of us.
"Sir, there are about 23 Special Ops. Grunts up ahead of us and I getting large thermal readings in the area to the right of the Grunts."Cpl. Mendez said.
"Alright Mendez thanks. Okay listen up marines, turn on your IR and head for the large thermal source. Move between the buildings to get there. Cpl. Stevens your in charge of that and Cpl. Sheffield you have the rear. We'll drive this son of a bitch up and mow down the Grunts, lets move people"I yelled to my squad as they all moved to the right side of the street. Pvt. Stevens put the petal to the metal.
Cpl. Mendez opened fire and four sniper rounds blew through 7 Grunts. I pushed the trigger on the Chain-Gun and let the bullets fly. The Grunts opened fire at us but all the plasma did was melt part of the armor on the Warthog. The Chain-Gun's bullets ripped through the Grunts as I turned the Chain-Gun and kept firing during which Pvt. Jamison made a left turn while running over 3 Grunts. Cpl. Mendez picked up he M6D and readied it as we made a turn. The Warthog fish tailed and spun. Pvt. Jamison was a good driver because the Warthog made two spins and the front faced the Grunts again. I screamed a taunt and opened fire once more. I aimed for a Grunt and it was pumped full of bullets. This time the combination of the Chain-Gun's bullets and Pvt. Jamison running the Grunts over finished them off. My COM flicked on and Cpl. Stevens told me that they were 43 meters from a Covenant Ship hidden between some buildings. I told them to hold on and then I told Pvt. Jamison to pull over to where the rest of the squad was.
"Sir, the Covenant Ship looks like the one that attacked HQ"Cpl. Stevens told me
"Alright here is the plan. Im gonna take 6 of you with me on board the Ship and we are gonna plant some C-12 on it's reactor. Pvt. Jamison, Cpl. Mendez, and Cpl. Sheffield stay on the Warthog and be ready to create a distraction so we can get off it. Cpl. Mendez I want you to keep an eye out for any Covenant that are coming aboard. The rest of you come with me, we're going hunting."
I snapped a EX round into my MA6B and so did everyone else. Pvt. Rodriguez had 10 blocks of C-12 and a detonator. I told him to give me the detonator after he planted the explosives. Pvt. Wallace was the only guy with a M90 but he seemed good with it. We started moving towards the ship in the shadows created by the buildings. Our Dark Blue combat suits made us blend in with the darkness. In about a minute we were almost at the entrance, I told everyone to switch on their IR just incase if we run into any Stealth Elites. I ran inside first then the rest of the squad came in by twos. I saw a small group of Special Ops. Grunts walking into another part of the ship. I checked my HUD and looked for any high level of radiation in the ship. I found it and moved ahead. Each member of my squad was covering each other watching for any possible trap. We ran into a lone Special Ops. Grunt sleeping at the reactor room's entrance. I smashed it's skull in with my MA6B. Pvt. Rodriguez broke open the crystal surrounding a cylinder filled with a glowing liquid. He attached the C-12 all around it just in case. We covered the door while he was doing it so nothing would come in and kill him or us. He climbed back out holding a tiny device and gave it to me, it was the detonator. I patted him on the back and something hot flew past my face. I turned and saw my squad firing at Stealth Elites. There was only two of them and we killed them fast, but I knew there was gonna be more. The Ship shook and rumbled.
"Sir, this is Cpl. Mendez. The Ship's hatch is closing, it's lifting off. My guess is that it's heading for the battle at their base."She told me over the COM.
"Oh hell, get HQ on the COM and tell them the Covenant Stealth Ship is coming. Pvt. Jamison drive towards the battle. Sarah don't worry about us and fire at it the best you can. Sgt. Andrews out"I told them over the COM.
We ran towards the hatch and we found a lot of Covenant waiting for us. There was 2 Hunters, 9 Special Ops. Grunts, 5 Special Ops. Jackals, and 12 Stealth Elites. We immediately opened fire. I aimed for a Stealth Elite and fired my MA6B which in turn blew it to hell. I primed a Frag Grenade along with Pvt. Micheals and Cpl. Stevens and then we tossed them. The explosions killed 4 Elites, 5 Grunts, and 2 Jackals. The Hunters fired and juts barely missed Pvt. Wallace. Plasma bolts streaked past us but one hit Pvt. Rodriguez in the head and killed him. The Hunters fired again and this time they hit Pvt. Anderson and vaporized him, there was nothing left of him. I fired my MA6B but the bullets just bounced off the Hunter's armor. I fired again and I hit a Hunter in the weak spot between it's neck and chest. Its blood splattered everywhere. The Elites charged us and two of them were blown away by Pvt. Wallace's M90. I fired my MA6B in a full-auto fusillade and mowed down the Elites. My gun ran out of ammo so I switched clips. The Jackals wouldn't die so I tossed a Frag Grenade their way blowing a Jackal away. Pvt. Smith switched his clips to Shredder rounds and finished off the Grunts but not without taking 7 needles. He blew into pieces and I couldn't stand seeing a marine die like that. Cpl. Stevens was firing on the Hunter keeping him occupied. Pvt. Wallace, Pvt. Micheals, and me concentrated on killing the Jackals. Our bullets pinged off the two Jackals's shields. I got lucky and hit a Jackal in the head. The EX rounds blew his into pieces.
The last Jackal kept firing at us and kept his shield up too. I was hit in the chest but I was okay. I heard the Hunter shriek as its neck was ripped into pieces. All four of us fired at the Jackal and killed it. We moved a bit forward and we all changed our clips for fresh ones. Pvt. Wallace reloaded his shotgun so we covered him while he was doing that. Then we started moving towards the other side of the ship and found two Banshees setting right there. This ship had everything but as soon as I thought that the ship shook. I looked and saw more Stealth Elites coming. We opened fire but Pvt. Micheals was stabbed with a Plasma Sword before we could kill most of them. The Ship shook and a wall exploded in flames engulfing 2 Elites. I could see Longswords and Skyhawks outside of the ship. Pvt. Wallace fired two rounds from his M90 and 2 more Elites were dead. I breathed a sigh of relief but that was short lived. 14 Stealth Elites appeared on my HUD and one Elite that was a Gold one. They were all holding Plasma Swords. They charged and we opened fire. EX rounds ripped apart the Stealth Elites with ease. I tossed a Frag Grenade and blew 3 of them to pieces. Pvt. Wallace was firing on the Golden Elite but to no effect were the rounds doing anything.
Pvt. Wallace ran out of ammo in his M90 and he screamed. The Golden Elite cut Pvt. Wallace in half. I fired my last two rounds from my MA6B and finished off the Stealth Elites who hadn't gotten close. I turned and saw Cpl. Stevens firing his MA6B at the Golden Elite. I reloaded my clip and fired on him too. Cpl. Stevens ran out of ammo and couldn't dodge the swipes from the Plasma Sword. He was stabbed in the chest, the Plasma Sword melting his armor on the way in. I fired my whole clip at him and cut down his shields. I tossed my MA6B at him while grabbing my M6D. I fired 3 rounds into his chest but he kept coming even with blood oozing. I dodged a swing from his Plasma Sword but he punched me in the face and knocked me down. I tried to get up but he kicked me and I flew right next to the hole. The Elite stabbed me in the shoulder, my thigh, and then through my other thigh. He was just toying with me and just torturing me. The Elite started laughing at me.
"Stupid human, how could you think to get revenge on me. I killed your friends and now im going to kill you like I should have."The Elite said that all while I put the detonator in my hand. I switched on my COM and made it that every marine could hear it.
"HA HA HA HA HA"I said to the Elite because he didn't what was gonna happen.
"What is so funny human"He said yelling at me
"Well you stupid idiot I am going to get my revenge." I held up the detonator "Burn in hell you stupid Covie bastard"I said and pushed the button. "Beep, Have a nice day asshole"
The Elite stared at me and screamed. The Gold Elite tried to get into a Banshee but fired my M6D and the bullets ripped through his legs. Longswords outside fired Archer missiles at the ship and knocked down it's shields once more. The Covenant Ship was hovering right over the base and it started to explode. I saw flames coming up the corridor and I knew my time had come. I started thinking of my family, my friends, and Alex. I would see them all soon. The flames came and I closed my eyes. The flames poured through holes all over the ship and something was blown out of a hole. The Ship listed and exploded. The Covenant Ship's burning wreckage fell on the Covenant base destroying most of it.
Down in the forest marines heard every word Sgt. Andrews had said. They saw the Covenant Ship explode and fall destroying most of the base they were attacking. Down in a warthog Pvt. Jamison, Cpl. Mendez, and Cpl. Sheffield (Sarah) saw and heard it all. Sarah started crying then Pvt. Jamison, Cpl. Mendez, and Sarah all saluted. After that happened the Covenant were defeated easily and slaughtered. Two days after the last battle they found Sgt. Andrews's helmet. After they went though the recording of what happened they finally knew what happened onboard the ship. They the burial of the marines that died that day. They put the Medal Of Honor on all of Sgt. Andrews squad's graves that had died onboard the Covenant Stealth Ship. They then presented the Medal Of Honor to Sgt. Andrews grave. All of the marines that had been at the battle saluted the marines that had died. Sarah just stared out at the sky "Good Bye J.D."
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