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Escaping the Autumn
Date: 12 March 2003, 3:09 AM
"Everyone move out! We are being boarded!" 1st Lieutenant Joseph Orcutt yelled as he led his men down the halls of the Pillar of Autumn. His platoon barely made it off of Reach, and he wasn't about to die now. They were awaken from their sleep after they exited slip stream about half-an-hour before. Just a few minutes ago they heard Cortana's alerts over the loud speaker, and now they were on their way to one of the main boarding areas of the ships.
He turned the corner to the area where they were headed and began deploying his platoon around the hall, placing them strategically to halt any invading troops. As he started, the door where the Escape Pod had been exploded. The first fire-fight on the ship began as Covenant troops stormed into the hall. Orcutt made it away from the explosion, but a Private and Corporal took the impact and both were blasted back and into the opposite wall, dying on impact. Orcutt rolled away and made it behind some cover and began firing at the advancing Covenant. He knew they could hold the Covenant for some time, but as more boarded they would be squashed. He turned to 2nd Lieutenant Matthew Thompson. "Thompson, take Smith, Cardenas, and Gordy down this hall and secure the next entry. The rest of us will be there shortly." Thompson acknowledged and led the three men down the hall.
Orcutt's next goal was to get the rest of his men out of there. The Covenant split them into two, one on each side of the entry they were supposed to secure. He pulled the microphone on his headset to his mouth. "Sergeant Dresner, you read me?" Dresner was on the other side, trapped by the Covenant and the dead-end behind them. Orcutt heard his response. "Yes, sir, I read you loud and clear." Orcutt continued. "Sergeant, get your men ready to charge through to our position. You'll know when to go." He heard the acknowledgment. "Yes, sir!" Orcutt pulled over another Sergeant. "Peters, tell them to deploy grenades on the enemy position, specifically on their entry door. After they go off, let off everything you can at any surviving Covenant, and then concentrate the fire on the door. Now, go!" The command was relayed, and 15 seconds later their whole side threw a total of ten grenades into the Covenant position. The explosion was huge, and threw the Covenant in a state of confusion. An Elite stood up from the blasts, but was quickly shot down. As the smoke started to clear, Dresner and his men charged through the ruins and made it on the other side of Orcutt's barrier.
Orcutt grabbed Dresner and pulled him down as they ran by. "I want you and your men to head down the Hall and help Thompson secure the next entry. When that is done, booby trap it with some explosives. Wait in the next room until we arrive." Dresner acknowledged and ran with his men down the hall. Orcutt sent everyone but a small squad with Dresner, and they mopped up the remaining Covenant coming through the door. About two minutes later, they also ran down the hall to meet up with Thompson. Orcutt and the squad ran by the booby-trapped entry and towards the next room, a room that was identified by a stairway in the middle and a scaffold around the top. Thompson and Dresner were waiting with the rest of the men on the top floor. As Orcutt kneeled next to them, they heard the explosion go off at the entry they booby-trapped. Orcutt looked around the corner and saw smoke, but then saw a bunch of Elites charging their way. "There's more of them! Everyone get down!" he yelled out.
They all ran down the stairway, some simply jumping to the bottom floor. The fire-fight that came next was pretty much a stalemate, except Orcutt's platoon lost a few privates. They were using the stairway as cover, and it was working pretty well until more Covenant came from another hallway on the bottom floor. As they were about to fall apart, a warrior in green armor charged in. He killed all of the Covenant on the bottom floor, and charged up the stairs and eliminated the rest on the top floor. It was very quick, at most five minutes. The platoon held their position for a few moments, until they heard Keyes on the loud speaker telling all remaining troops to get off the ship. Orcutt was the first to stand up. "I want two columns moving down this hall, now! We got to get out of here!"
As ordered, the platoon ran down the hall in two columns: one on each side of the hall. Several minutes passed with little to no resistance. Orcutt lead the platoon around one last corner, where he saw about four Elites, six Jackals, and ten Grunts. The rest of the platoon turned the corner, and fire immediately broke out. Orcutt yelled for his men to take cover, and dove behind a barrier. He spoke over his radio again. "Dresner, have one or more of your men to smoke out the room. It'll give us some cover to start boarding the first pod."
Dresner, who was about 20 feet behind him, pulled his radio up. "Roger that, sir." Dresner turned to two of his men with rocket launchers. "I want you two to each send a single rocket a few feet farther than the first pod entrance." He turned to the rest of the men in his squad. "All of you each throw a single grenade after the rockets are shot. Understood?" The Marines acknowledged, and he spoke in his radio again. "Sir, my men are about to fire. I hope you're ready." Orcutt spoke back. "I am, Sergeant. Let it fly."
Dresner turned to the two Marines with the rockets and nodded. The Marines armed the rockets...then in one swift motion they both stood up, aimed, and fired into the Covenant squad. The first shot hit a few feet past the pod, killing an Elite and a few Grunts. The second shot blasted a few feet away from the first, and killed a few Jackals and injured another Elite. The following grenades dropped into the smoke, and in turn killed two Elites and a few more Grunts and Jackals. With the last blast going off, Orcutt stood and jumped over the barrier, leading his squad of ten men forward towards the first pod door. The squad fired into the smoke, hoping to finish off any survivors that they could not see. Orcutt pressed a few buttons on a panel, and the door opened. He set up a defensive position inside the door and started to signal the rest of the platoon to move forward. His squad filled up the first pod, and he moved along the wall into the smoke to the second pod. He reached another panel and pressed a few buttons and heard the door open. The smoke began to clear, and he shot down a few Grunts only a few feet away from him. He jumped for cover as more Covenant came into view and shot at him. More squads from the platoon moved up and started another shoot out. Orcutt pulled out a frag grenade and pulled the pin. He then rolled it into the squad of Covenant and ducked back behind cover again. The blast went off, and he swung out of his cover and shot at any Covenant he saw. The squads moved up and started boarding into the second pod. The last few squads slowly moved forward, and the last of the Covenant (A Jackal and a few Grunts) ran for cover. They were shot down, but one Jackal got away. They quickly loaded into the last few pods, and Orcutt was the last to step in...and all of the pods left at the same time, staying together as one unit.
"Sir! I think you're going to want to see this." Orcutt heard the pilot of the pod call out. He went over and checked on it. "What's going on, Marine?" The pilot pointed at the ring that they were headed for. "Should I try to land on that, sir?" Orcutt didn't know what to think. But it was the only option. "Yes, head for it. Go ahead and follow that pod up ahead there." Orcutt looked out the front window and saw one of the pods from his platoon. He smiled that it was still there, but then frowned when a blue-streak blasted it away. Not knowing what else to do at the time, Orcutt sat in the seat nearest to the pilot and strapped in tight. He was in one of these pods before, and they don't land smoothly. They entered the atmosphere of the ring...and as they neared the surface, everyone braced for impact.
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