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The Renegade Marines
Date: 01 March 2002, 2:29 am

It is 6 years after the last human frigate was destroyed, and the last Spartan II was presumed dead. The humans and the covenant had fought a hard war now on Earth's surface. The sky was dark purple with the site of the sunset. The green grass was wavering in the wind, and the placid waters rippled gently to the windy day. The alien covenant had recovered from the shock of The Flood, and had returned to attack Earth. So far, the Earth has lost many battles, and fewer than a 100 battalions remain to protect the great blue planet. As Earth began losing the battles, they enlisted mercenaries to aid in the defense of the world. Unfortunately the teams of mercenaries were untrustworthy and constantly abandoned the main earth military forces. Thus, Earth's military was on its own. As things became more and more urgent, many of the lead commanders began to operate more autonomously. The government, not liking this, decided to put an end to it by killing one of the lead officers that lead the autonomous reforms...
A Pelican transport glinted in the distance, as it came closer to the peninsula infested with an alien command center. As the lead transport came into site, 5 others arrived as well. This was the Fire Angels, one of the elite battalions. With no aliens in site, the transport unloaded their force. 50 soldiers unloaded and each moved to their designated squad. 5 squads were designated. 3 Assault squads, and 2 support and strafe squads. This was a huge battle. If the humans could win this, they could gain control of a huge alien weapons depot. This battle could turn the tide of the war. The leader of the battalion was only known as Kroeger.

"Jennings, you take your squad and Pucci's squad around for recon. The rest of us will move up in warthogs to assault the main area. Once you are in position, report in. Now move, move move!"

The two battalions of Pucci and Jennings left to go for reconnaissance. As they left, a huge transport arrived carrying 10 warthogs. Everyone moved into place as the warthogs were dropped. Again, Kroeger yelled out...

"Ok boys, lets move."

The warthogs started, and the move was on. The warthogs sped on, in a V formation, staying tight in formation. 4 Warthogs had rocket launchers attached to the hardpoint of the warthog instead of chainguns. They would be used to handle the enemy armor emplacements, and tanks that were placed at the command center. They moved onto the hill overlooking the enemy command center.

"Here we are, lets just wait for Jennings to report in."

As soon as Kroeger spoke, a ratio transmission sounded in...

"Sir we are in place, and ready to attack the enemy compound from the rear. We're ready to go on your command."

"hold steady soldier, attack on my command."

Kroeger turned around towards the main attack force.

"We are the World's last hope in hope of the destruction of the Earth. We are to turn the tide of the war. For years, we have been struggling for our rights to live! ARE WE GOING TO LET THESE ALIENS TAKE THAT AWAY FROM US?"

"No SIR!"

"Good. Lets GO!"

The warthogs turned to the side, and the machine gunners and rocket launcher men on the warthogs began laying fire. The covenant, being taken by surprise immediately took heavy losses. Almost immediately, though, 6 alien transports arrived to support the enemy base. They really wanted to keep this position on Earth. Without this command center, the covenant would have to retreat to space to plan another attack, giving Earth more time to regain more forces. This battle was important. All of a sudden, two huge blue spheres began making an arc towards the line of warthogs.

"Everyone! Break position! Charge!"

But it was too late. The mortars of the enemy tanks destroyed two warthogs in the charge. There was blood and carnage all over the place.

"Jennings! You hear? Jennings! Attack from the rear! We'll have them now!"

Jennings reported back in with a sly voice.

"Sorry sir, our squad is being taken out of battle. We are leaving. You can fight without us."

"Jennings, what are you doing! We can't win without you!"

"The government assured our escape from the execution of our battalion. Good luck sir."

"What? Execution? What?"

Suddenly, a large swarm of human soldiers began to appear on the huge hill overlooking the command center. They had come to extinguish both the aliens and the Fire Angels. Suddenly it all became clear to him. The government had betrayed him and his troops. They were to be killed either by the government or the aliens.

"Troops move BACK! Move back! We are leaving! Move, move, move!"

There were 4 warthogs left, and of the original 30 loyal soldiers, 18 were left.

"Foe Hammer2, this is Kroeger! We need extraction immediately, we are taking heavy losses and need evac now!"
"Roger that sir! Looks like we've been cut off by the government. I've found an extraction point. The coordinates are 30-3-East. Hurry...we won't be able to hold ground there for very long with both the alien and government air forces patrolling the area!"
"C'mon! soldier! we are leaving through the eastern pass!"

The soldier managed to escape through the narrow valley, as the chasing aliens and government forces got caught up with each other. But Kroeger knew that they would be killed quickly if enemy forces attacked from above. It was a bad vantage point, but it was the only way out of this hellhole. Suddenly, a group of elites came at the marines. The battalion fired continuously, but the bullets had much diminutive damage against the alien shields.

"sir, we're dead! Sir, we're dead!"

"Calm your head and keep shootin"

"sir! We lost Clarker!"

"leave him!"

They retreated slowly, gray and blue trails traveled between the two forces were grenades that exploded in hellish flames. A lone alien broke ahead of the others and made a break for a veteran marine holding him back.

"SHIT! Outta bullets!"

Kroeger shouted to the veteran to fall back, when all of a sudden a huge flash hit him, and forced him to close his eyes from the light. When he opened them again, the veteran marine was still alive, and the charging alien had a huge gaping hole in his chest.

"Wow, you surprise me man!"

"I didn't do it!"

"What? Then who killed the enemy alien?"

He looked around him when he saw two streams of white hit two more aliens elites. Both of them fell down with holes in their dead carcasses. Kroeger looked up at where the sniper shots were fired. He looked up and saw a lone sniper waving to him. He looked.

"Hmmm...a renegade marine...much like this battalion is now."

The marine squads had been deducted to 12 men left. They continued running with their backs towards the enemy, as sniper shots continuously took out both human and alien enemies. The sniper hadn't missed one shot yet...he was amazing. All of a sudden he heard a familiar engine sound...the pelicans. He turned around and there they were, 3 of them.

"Marines get in!"

The sniper was behind the rest of the group and had strapped the rifle on his back in a diagonal fashion. He ran like lightening, but had no fear in his mind.

"Hurry up renegade! C'mon!"

The sniper stopped right in front of the pelican and emptied his sniper clip as if he were firing a pistol. Not one shot missing. The aliens elites were all dead, but the humans continued to come.

"C'mon soldier! We don't have time!"

The sniper turned and looked at him, and the loaded up marines, and spoke for the first time.

"Ok commander."

He came in, continuing to fire his pistol until he was strapped in. Kroeger looked down at the mercenaries hired by the government firing at the pelicans. He heard something on his com system.
"Hang on boys, we're in for some chop."

He looked down at the enemy forces, and the pelicans were away...

The Renegade Marines Part II - The Revolt
Date: 02 March 2002, 12:35 pm

"So, soldier what's your name?"

The lone sniper looked up at Kroeger.

"My name is Shadow."
"Shadow? What kind of name is that?"
"It's an alias."
"Oh."

The soldier was as cold and distant as the void of space itself. Kroeger knew that the troops were all saved by him, and he needed to find a way to thank the soldier. He decided he would try the traditional way.

"So, you saved our men out there."
"As you saved mine by getting me a lift from here."

Well, the conversation didn't go too well, but Kroeger knew that if the soldier stayed with the battalion, they would have a much higher chance of surviving until they returned to the military complex. At the complex, all of the military would know of the government's betrayal, and would put an end to it. There were 3 Pelicans left, 2 of them being occupied. All of sudden Kroeger heard a message from the pilot.

"Sir, we're out of fuel, we'll need to set down here along the shore, or we'll never make it back to the military complex."

"Alright, set them down."

The Pelicans began a slow hover over the ground, and eventually lowered to drop of distance. As the soldiers evaced the transport, a warthog was released. As Kroeger jumped out of the Pelicans, the 3 ships sped off a few hundred meters to set down until they could refuel.

"Listen up soldiers, intel tells us that there is an abandoned military bunker here. We're gonna move in quick and move out quick. The fuel cells are first priority. There has been a lot of Covenant activity so keep sharp. I'll want Torge to lead the troops around the cliff to the front. There you'll wait for my command. Meanwhile, me, Tethro, and the new soldier will go on the warthog for recon. You got that soldiers?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

The troops moved out and the warthogs sped away. As the warthog drove along the cliff to find a back door way to the top, a blue flash hit the ground directly in front of the warthog leaving a gaping hole right in front.

"SHIT!"

The warthog attempted to stop, but the nose of the vehicle went right into the hole, and Shadow was thrown out of the passenger seat. Meanwhile, Kroeger and Tethro fired from the crashed warthog.

"Dang! 2 elites and numerous grunts detected. Incoming Covenant as well!"
"Just hold them off...I'll radio for backup."

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM...*click*...*click*...

"Crap, I'm out! Taking cover behind warthog, cover me!"
"Roger that."

Kroeger hid behind the warthog grasping for his extra clip. Meanwhile, he could hear the muffled sounds of the mounted chaingun fired continuously. He could hear Tethro say something:

"Hehe, got one! Wait! Inbound Jackals, get ready!"
"Coming Tethro, look out!"

A charged up plasma pistol fired and blew Tethro clear away from the gun, blowing him into the sand along the shore.

"No!"

Kroeger knew they were done for, when he saw 5 loud blasts in succession, and the elites, and the jackals fell to the ground as if they were deactivated robots. He saw white trails coming from the left side of his position. Then he saw Shadow slowly walk out to take care of any remaining grunts. Seeing that Shadow had everything under control, he ran to Tethro, who got up with some minor burns.

"Don't worry sir, the gun took the brunt of the force."
"Good to hear that soldier, we'll move out on foot. Lets go soldiers!"

Shadow was already ahead atop a small hill, sniping out the elites that were ready to charge the commander. Too bad they never had the chance, for Kroeger wanted some of the action. The two ran up to Shadow for a status report.

"What's going on?"
"I took out all the patrol teams, we'll be able to get into the bunker from the back door there. It's fused shut, looks like the few elites that escaped were smart enough. A well placed grenade should take it down."
"Good job soldier, lets go."
"I'm not a soldier..."
"er..right, but lets move out anyway."

The three soldier moved into the front, slowly scanning for any remaining patrolst aht Shadow missed. Suddenly blue flash came from the top of the bunker, hitting Tethro in the arm.

"Watch above!"
"Got it..."

BLAM!...the elite fell to the ground headless from a sniper bullet.

"Tethro you alright?"
"I'm fine, lets go."
"we'll need more support."

Kroeger opened up a com system and spoke loudly into it.

"Torge, get to our position at 3-55-x24, we need support. It seems we found a back door."
"Roger sir, we saw the entire Covenant force move into the bunker, it seemed they were running from something. Was it your team?"
"Yes, but we need you for fire support."
"Roger, we're on our way."

Kroeger looked up at the sky and saw the once purple sky turn to a bright orange as the sun began to fall into the distance. He saw glint in the sky.

"Damn, looks like the government is still after us, we'll need to get into the bunker ahead of time, and Torge can give support when he gets here.
"Roger."
"Whatever."

Tethro and Shadow backed up as Kroeger placed a grenade on the ground, after lighting the fuse. He dived out of the way as the grenade blew, spewing rocks and pieces of melted steel into the sky. Covering his head for a while, Kroeger saw that the door was down and moved in.

"Go, Go, Go!"

The team moved in. Nothing was in there. They moved into the bunker, and down the ramp, deeper into the abandoned building.

"Shadow, you got six."

Shadow moved back, sniper rifle still up on his shoulder with his sweaty eyes looking through the scope. Eventually they came to a wide open area, with crates strewn all over the place, and two large cargo doors at the opposite side of the cargo bay.

"The fuel cells are in one of these crates. Tethro, help me find the fuel cells quick before the Covenant realize that we're already inside. Shadow tell Torge to wait outside the back door and provide support as we leave this place."

Shadow radioed to Torge, and kneeled down, rifle pointed at the cargo doors. Kroeger looked through crate after crate, finding clips, grenades, and weapons, but no fuel cells.

"We're running out of time commander."
"I see that Tethro."
"Hey! Hey! We got movement, coming for cargo doors."
"Damnit! Lets find those fuel cells."
"Incoming, brace for contact!"

Kroeger and Tethro took cover as an elite flew out of the opening cargo doors on a ghost. BLAM! And the elite fell to the ground with the ghost still coming at Shadow. He waited until the right time, and jumped on the ghost as it was about to hit him.

"Shadow cover us while we find those damn cells!"

Shadow lifted his arm and put his sniper rifle on his back, and it automatically strapped in. He then took control of the ghost, and started firing at a newly entering ghost. The firefight was fierce as both pilots were very talented, and each shot was dodged perfectly by strafing. Shadow stopped moving, and fired a good aimed shot, and blew off a wing from the elite's ghost. Out of control, the elite couldn't fire back, and Shadow drove his ghost at full speed right at the enemy machine. Jumping out right before the two ghosts collided, Shadow landed perfectly on his feet and began sniping some grunts that had wandered into the area.

"Can't hold these things off for much longer! Running out of sniper bullets."
"Found them! Tethro, take 6, and put them in your pack, I'll take the rest. Shadow we're getting outta here."

"fine."

The two soldier ran out at the renegade slowly backed up, sniping as he went.

*static*...."Sir, this is Torge, we're...off from you, we...n't hold them off! We're pulling out to the evac point, w...can't...old any longer."
"Roger that soldier, we'll handle it ourselves. Good luck to you."

"I'm out."
"Shadow forget them, just run!"

The three dashed out of the bunker, as Shadow tossed a plasma grenade in, and it bounced, down the ramp into the bunker, as the elites dove out of the way.

"Enemies coming out of the bunker!"
"It's already taken care of"

They kept on running, as a loud plasmic explosion blew the elites sky high.

"There they are! The pelicans! Lets go!"

Kroeger and Tethro replaced the fuel cells and activated them.

"We're good to go!"
"Sir get in, the government is coming in fast."
"Wait! This is Tethro, we got a problem with the fusion generator, we'll need some time."
"How much do you need soldier?" asked Kroeger.
"5 min. at the most."
"We can give you 30 seconds." replied Shadow.

Shadow took some sniper clips from the pelicans and started firing his rifle while the rest of the marines got off the grounded pelican for holding off the elites, and the government. BLAM! *chic* BLAM! *chic* BLAM! *chic* BLAM! *chic* BLAM! *chic*. Shadows eliminated the enemy elites with extreme precision and efficiency while the others held down suppressing fire. All of a sudden, the Covenant looked at the battalion and made a run for it.

"Haha! Those chickens, we got 'em spooked now!"

Shadow turned around, "I don't think they're scared of us..."

The others turned around...

"SCORPION TANK!!!"
"Damn, the government really wants us dead."
"Shit, Tethro get those generators ONLINE NOW!"
"It's done sir, everyone get in."

The marines piled in, while Shadow laid down sniper fire upon the enemy mercenaries.

"Get on Shadow!"
"Coming."

Shadow kneeled down...aimed perfectly...and fired straight into the barrel of the scorpion tank's gun. The result was a huge explosion that took out the tank.

"We'll have no problems getting shot down by tank fire."
"Foe Hammer 2, lets get outta here."
"Roger that sir."

The pelicans made another narrow escape as the enemy machinegun fire bounced off the armor of the transports. The sky was black now, and the Pelicans disappeared into the night sky...

The Renegade Marines Part III - The Evac
Date: 9 March 2002, 9:52 pm

"Sir, we're coming up to the military complex right now sir."
"Roger that."

Kroeger was tired and beat, but he knew he had to explain the entire story of the government's betrayal to the officers of the military. The military operated separately from the government, as the government was responsible for intel and keeping control of the population, while the military, operating independently, was responsible for keeping the aliens at bay. It was only a matter a time before the two sides would clash and huge civil war would break out. Such a war was on the verge of breaking out, but the alien invasion postponed that, and brought the two sides together to get rid of the invasion of the Earth. But, even though Earth is still desperate to stand its ground against the aliens, the government deemed it to be the right time to start the invasion.

"Sir, we need you at the front of the ship to speak with the military officers."
"Alright."

The Pelicans were flying low now, enough for a soldier to deploy from the Pelican. b As Kroeger got out of his seat, and began to walk towards the cockpit, an earsplitting explosion sounded from the right wall. He looked over and saw that the wall had collapsed into nothing more than molten slag. Through the gaping hole, he saw two of his marines fall out of the hole, screaming for their lives. Before he could attempt to grab them from their death, a rocket blew right through the hole and slammed into the opposite wall causing a huge explosion that expanded throughout the entire ship, engulfing all the other marines with its huge flames of death. Knowing there was no other choice; Kroeger jumped out the back hatch of the Pelican, hoping to land in something soft...

Torge and Tethro were in the other Pelican, and saw the whole thing.
Torge saw the flaming bodies fall off the ship as rocket after rocket tore through the Pelican. The Pelican they were on, and the empty Pelican sped off out of range of the government's rocket launchers, and cleared the danger area.

"Jesus Christ, they took out the commander!"
"We're all that's left now. Just the two of us."
"Man! What are we gonna do man! Man!"
"Relax, we're going to do what Kroeger was going to do. We're going to tell the military about the government's betrayal. Apparently, the government attempted to dispose of us before we could tell the military, but they failed, and we have to take advantage of that."

The two Pelican's sped off towards the military docking bay. Hopefully, they weren't too late.

Kroeger fell farther and farther in the sky, he caught a glimpse of where he was landing, and it was a patch of trees.

BAM! SNAP! BAM! BAM! Pif.

Kroeger slowly got up after slamming into branch after branch of pain. They slowed his fall, but were nonetheless still painful. He needed to get to the military complex by foot. That wouldn't be easy considering that the complex was on a high cliff. Also, the government undoubtedly saw him fall out of the Pelican, and they would send troops to kill him if he was still alive. He knew he would have to move quickly and without causing any attention. *click* Kroeger took out his pistol and readied it for battle. Hopefully Torge and Tethro would make it to the military complex alright. He limped away from his fall and walked towards the complex.

"Sir, we're coming into the docking bay now. We'll land in t-minus..."
BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM

A Pelican was blown to pieces for the second time, as machine gun fire and shotgun fire raided the Pelican. Torge and Tethro looked out of the bewildered, as they saw government mercenaries firing from the military complex's bay. As the first Pelican was reduced to ashes, the second reversed its boosters, and backed away from the fire, and eventually pulled up and flew out of firing distance.

Kroeger looked up at the complex in the distance, and took out his binoculars to see what was going on. He looked through and scanned the area, and saw that Torge's Pelican was destroyed. It looked down, apparently, the only one left. He slowly walked through, into a clearing. As the clearing started, the ground sloped down into a circular valley with the vantagepoints being at the edge of the clearing, where there was higher ground. He looked down and saw two warthogs heading straight for him, battering machine gun fire in his direction. He backed away and fired his pistol simultaneously. He hid behind a group of trees, but heard a sound coming from the direction he came. He frantically emptied his clip at the direction of the sounds, and quickly reloaded his clip. The trees he was hiding behind were getting shredded by machine gun fire, and he turned around and ran from his cover, firing his pistol at the same time, taking some other trees as his new cover. The bullets glanced off the front of the warthogs, and he knew he was finished.

"Hehe, you guys got me, but I'm not going out without a bang!"

Before Kroeger could jump out in the blaze of glory, he heard two loud sniper shots. They sounded somewhat heavier, and he saw that the sniper shots had blown up the warthogs, killing the drivers and gunners in the process. The sniper shots must have been explosive bullets, and he was glad to whoever was helping him, but he had other things to worry about for the time being. He had heard some more sounds coming from the direction of his fall, and saw 5 marines come out, each holding a machine gun to his head.

"Drop your weapon soldier, and put your hands behind you head. If you disobey, we'll kill you."

Kroeger dropped his pistol, and put his hands behind his head. He looked up at his enemies, and smiled as he saw a laser dot form on the soldier's forehead. As fast as a soldier could fire pistol rounds, sniper shots were fired each landing their spot. As he saw each soldier crumple to the ground he took his binoculars out. Only one man could fire as accurately as that...and sure enough, on the other side of the binoculars, he saw a Shadow, waving his hand at Kroeger, and motioning for Kroeger to make a run through the valley the Shadow's position of the clearing. This would be a problem, as there were two other warthogs in the valley, unaware of the ensuing events. Shadow signaled for him to make a move, and he dashed, hoping the warthogs wouldn't notice. As he neared the warthogs, they blew up in fiery flames, engulfing its residents in an inferno of destruction. He smiled as he ran up the valley wall, and made it to Shadow, who was holding a detonator, and had apparently bugged the warthogs with explosives.

"How did you..."
"No time for an explanation, we need to find the Foehammer II as soon as possible. The government has taken the military complex, and the military has retreated to a backup location. We gotta move!"

Shadow tossed a fully loaded shotgun at Kroeger and turned around and began running through the brush, snapping his sniper rifle on a strap on his back and pulling out a machine gun rifle for the close quarters combat that was to soon ensue.

"You got six."
"Right."

Kroeger faithfully listened to Shadow's judgment and closely followed Shadow. All of a sudden, two mercenaries popped out from the sides right in front of Shadow. Shadow ran up to one of the mercenaries and whacked him with the butt of his gun, while kicking the other in the face. He shot a few rounds into the mercenary that he hit, and spun around to finish off the second. Easy enough he finished the job without remorse and kept moving on. After what seemed like hours, Shadow spoke,

"We're almost at the extraction site"

As he spoke, a grenade was tossed between the two soldiers. Shadow and Kroeger immediately dove to opposite sides of the brush and the grenade went up in a huge explosion, burning Kroeger. Too stunned to fire back, Shadow dove out from his cover, and tossed two grenades into the barricaded mercenaries. They went up in smoke, and Shadow ran on. Kroeger, still stunned, stumbled out from his cover, and ran to catch up to Shadow. They entered the clearing, only to see nothing but dust and a scorpion tank.

"What? Where are the Pelicans? We're dead! That's tank is gonna kill us!"
"Relax, the Pelican's had to get out of range in fear of the scorpion tanks. They'll be back."

Shadow tossed the communications headset to Kroeger.

"You tell the Pelicans that the area is clear, I'll take the scorpion tank."

As he said this, Shadow dove into the clearing, dropping his assault rifle, and taking out his sniper rifle. He calmly loaded his gun as the scorpion tank slowly aligned its main cannon at Shadow. Shadow took aim, and fired into the cockpit of the scorpion tank, killing the pilot. Shadow calmly got up, and walked into the clearing next to the disabled tank. Kroeger, although surprised, was able to get on the headset, and radio in the Foehammer II. He walked out into the clearing, as two Pelicans immediately came down. One lowered so that Shadow and Kroeger could get in, while the other, attached itself to the disabled tank. Shadow and Kroeger got in, and the Pelicans were away...

The Renegade Marines Part IV - The Truth
Date: 12 March 2002, 2:52

"So what do we do now?"
"We find where the military relocated and we go there."
"Sounds like a plan..."
"You know Shadow, you're a very sarcastic person."
"Shut up."

After the sour conversation, Kroeger looked out the window. He thought of the past battles. He thought of the traitorous government. He thought of the attacking Covenant, and how he wished he could kill them all. He thought of the battles lost, and all his troops lost...no...not troops, more than that. They were his friends, and seemingly, all he had left was Jen, the pilot of Foehammer 2, and this mysterious guy named Shadow.

"So, Shadow, where do you come from."
"Earth."
"Right...what battalion were you in before you became a renegade."
"I was never part of the military."
"What? I thought you were a renegade marine."
"No, I said I was a renegade, nothing less, nothing more."

After the second conversation turned into a disaster, Kroeger thought of where Shadow could have learned such great sniping abilities. He sighed again and looked out the window and waited for them to arrive at the military base. The Pelican inside hummed with efficiency and power, as it sped past numerous islands as he looked out the window. The islands brought back the memories of their attack on the Covenant barracks. Boy, was it a show there. He pulled his head away from the window, and looked at his rifle. What would they do when they got to the military base? Would he be reassigned? And what would they do with Shadow? His thoughts were interrupted by a radio call from the cockpit.

"Sir, we have a radio report telling that the military has relocated to the abandoned base called the New Edwards base. Should we change course to that location?"
"Yes Jen, lets do it."

When the Pelican came in, Kroeger was called to the cockpit to give clearance codes into New Edwards. Meanwhile, when Kroeger was up front, Shadow loaded his sniper rifle, and cocked his assault rifle, for he had his own plans. As the Pelican came into the hangar, Shadow got ready. Kroeger looked at Shadow with his guns in his hands.

"Shadow! What are you..."

Shadow immediately whipped Kroeger with his sniper rifle, and jumped out of the Pelican. As he surveyed the area when he landed, he realized that there were two warthogs, still unmanned. That would soon change. No one had realized what he was going to do yet. He had to find a way out of here. Suddenly marines came pouring in through the cargo bay doors that we located all around him. Kroeger must have radioed for reinforcements. The only visible way out was the hangar entrance, which would take him a few thousand feet to the ground. That wouldn't be a good move. He looked down. Ah...the lower level of the hangar, perfect place to give me some time.

Shadow immediately pointed his assault rifle to the ground and began firing on auto, while he used his other arm to fire the sniper rifle. With his sniper rifle, he aimed for the heads. He was no hero, he was a renegade, and he wasn't going to risk his life by not killing his attackers, even if they were humans. The floor finally gave way, and Shadow jumped through the hole to land on the lower level of the hangar.

Kroeger jumped out of the Pelican right as Shadow jumped down the floor. He knew that Shadow would get away. He was too well trained to get caught by the military. He looked away, and began walking to the control center, while the marines chased the renegade. He opened the doors, and walked up the stairs. The walls were white and the lights were bright, but everything seemed dull and droopy to him without his battalion at his side. He walked up to the control center, and a secretary told him that he was expected earlier, and that he was to attend a meeting.

"It's ok...I'll get changed into some respectable clothes, and then I'll go join them."

He was led by the secretary to his quarters, and given a commander's ceremonial dress. As the secretary left, he immediately got dress and left to go to the meeting.

"We need to strike now, before the government finds us."
"Yea!"
"Right!"
"Yes, Yes, but without the government funding now there's not possible chance that we..."


In walked Kroeger, and all chatter stopped. They looked up at Kroeger, expecting a story. The general spoke out.

"Kroeger, I'm glad that you survived, and we all very distressed at the loss of your battalion. Without that Covenant base, and the lost of your battalion, the military is going to be hard-pressed to fight both the government AND the Covenant. What do you suggest commander?"

Kroeger thought immediately of revenge. He noticed that he was still standing at the door entranceway, and decided to sit down at one of the empty seats at the discussion table.

"I think we need to take out all the traitors to the military, which includes the soldiers that were a part of my battalion. Though they were once good friends of mine, they were one of the causes of the loss of my battalion, and I wish for revenge. Please supply me with a 30 man squad, and we'll take out those traitors for good."

As he said this, one of the councilmen spoke up.

"We all know that you are bitter from your loss Commander, but we simply can't spare the troops."
"But the traitors know much about the military tactics, and can be a valuable asset to the government. If we take them out now, the government will be blind without the intelligence provided by the traitors."

Then, the general, a very good friend of Kroeger, spoke up.

"I think Kroeger is correct, if we strike quickly and decisively, we'll be able to strike a powerful blow to the government, and maybe turn the tide of this war. Commander, we'll supply you with troops from your old squad, the 113th. Because you guys know each other so well, you'll probably be the most effective. Good luck, and we'll meet for briefing at 0400 tomorrow morning."

Kroeger saluted and exited. He had finally got his chance for revenge. He smiled and walked to his quarters, ready for the battle the next day.

The next morning, Kroeger woke at 0330, and decided to go to the briefing room to make assault plans. They already knew where the traitors were located, but Intel reported that the enemy was 50 men strong. It would be a tough battle when out manned like that. He would have to make a superior assault strategy. As he thought, his soldier piled in, one by one. By 0400, all 30 had arrived, and were all greeting their old commander.

"You were great, our new commander died in the first battle!"
"Yea! He could barely give any orders to us!"
"So! Commander! Where've you been? Out at the beach? Haha."

There was much laughter and joking like that until briefing started.

"Ok boys, we'll be split into 3 groups. Each group will be 10 men strong. One group will be responsible for the main assault. The main assault is actually just a diversion for holding the traitors at the front gates. Meanwhile, the other two groups will both enter at a back entrance, to take the enemy by surprise. It's simple, but the enemy will be expecting an all out assault, based on how this detachment normally fights."

After saying this there was some muffled laughter, and everyone piled out to move into their respective Pelicans. As the soldiers ran, Kroeger walked slowly, getting ready to fight the traitorous bastards. As he got in the Pelican, the warthogs were attached and the Pelicans were away. The fly was only an hour, and when the Pelicans set down, there was no one to greet them. The moved into position, as the warthogs were detached, and the Pelicans departed. Kroeger looked into the forest, and was ready to take on the enemy.

The Renegade Marines Part V - The Assault
Date: 14 March 2002, 3:57 pm

"Sir, we're ready to go when you are."
"Roger that soldier."

The island was somewhat of a pyramid when looked at. They were at the bottom at the shore, while the enemy compound was at the top of the huge hill. The entire island was covered with trees, making visuals of the enemy much harder. But this difficulty of visuals would go both ways. The problem was that the enemy stronghold was the top of a cliff, and there was no way up except for climbing. Climbing would put the enemy in a perfect position to take the squad out. Kroeger decided to take a different approach.

"Ok boys, we have a change in plans. Goth and Maclice's teams will move up the center for an all out attack. This will be the diversion. Your guys' job is to hold the enemies out long enough for my team to get into position, and then you guys break off."
"Sir, what's your team gonna do?"
"We're going to air drop at the top of the base through the Pelican."
"Great sir!"
"Alright, you know the plans, MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"

Goth and Maclice's teams moved up into the trees, and fire almost immediately started. The two warthogs were manned and moved up to the tree line to provide whatever support they could. As the fight started, Kroeger took his team into the Pelican and the ship was off. In the air, Kroeger took out his infrared binoculars, and surveyed the area. It seemed that the main force of the enemy was out in the trees. This was good. Goth and Maclice would have a lot of trouble though, with 40 enemies versus their 20 men.

"Goth, I want a status report!"
"Sir, we're doing ok, the enemy seems to be keeping their position, and they don't seem to know that they outnumber us yet. But when they do, they'll charge, and we'll be in real trouble."
"Good job, just keep holding them off."
"Roger."

The Pelican came around and lowered to the height of the enemy stronghold. It slowly came down, with no signs of anyone realizing of the sneak attack. The Pelican lowered, and as the troops got out, Kroeger spoke to Jen.

"Foehammer 2, when you drop us off, we need a scorpion tank at Goth's position ASAP. Otherwise they'll get crushed."
"Roger that sir! We already have one on standby as you requested before the beginning of the mission."
"Alright lieutenant, good luck."

As the Pelican was away, Kroeger's team was in position on top of the stronghold. So far there was no one to realize this, and the team began finding a way to break in.

"Fan out on the roof, and look for an entrance point."
"Sir, yes sir."

After looking for about 30 seconds, they realized that there was no entrance here.

"Alright boys, place 4 grenades on the ground right in the center, we're breaking through."
"Roger."

One of the soldiers placed 4 un-initiated grenades on the ground, and backed off to where the rest of the soldiers were. When the soldier was back in position, Kroeger took his assault rifle and fired at the grenades.

*BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, KABOOOOOOOSH*

The resulting fire exploded the grenades at the same time, creating a huge gaping hole in the middle. Kroger ran up to the hole, and dropped 2 more grenades down; to make sure no body was down in the immediate area to give them a welcome. There was another explosion, and he could hear the scream of two men as their bodies were engulfed in the hellish flames.

"Alright boys, two by two, MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"

The team moved out 2 by 2, and landed down in the interior of the enemy base. As 6 of the soldiers landed inside the base, there was radio chatter.

"We got company, we need the rest of you guys down here now!"
"Roger. C'mon you heard the man, get down there."

As Kroeger spoke, he jumped down as well. Surveying the area, they had landed in a large open area, with 5 enemies at the entrance to the room. As the last 4 troops landed, what was left of the enemy retreated through the doors, and locked them. Kroeger was disappointed in not having any action yet.

"Status report."
"We lost no one, but Gird got shot in the left a few times."
"Soldier, can you move?"
"Don't worry about me. I'll get up to the roof, and call for evac of from the Pelican, after it drops the Scorpion Tank."
"Roger that. Good luck."
"You too sir."

"Goth, I want a status report."
"Sir...we're getting wrecked! We lost 7 soldiers, and we're backing out to the shore. The warthogs can give us better support there."
"Roger that soldier, make sure you keep them busy. You have a scorpion tank coming your way for support."
"Thank the Lord!"

The transmission was over, and the remaining 9 soldiers inside the base were ready to go. Kroeger tossed his last grenade at the locked doors, and blew them open.

"Boys, according to intel, the enemy has 50 soldiers. If 40 of them are occupied in the fight against Goth and Maclice and we have killed 2 soldiers here, then we have 8 soldiers to take on. It shouldn't be too hard."
"Sir, yes sir."
"All right, lets move. Debney, take six."

As he said this, Debney took his position, and the troops moved out. The stronghold was a maze of hallways and doors. The décor of the place wasn't militaristic at all. IN fact, the interior looked much like what the interior of a fine castle would look like. There was carpeting on the ground. The walls were decorated with paintings and photographs. There were a lot of chairs and tables as well, many of them having not been used for many years. The hallways all looked the same, and it seemed that no one could find their way through here. Fortunately, Kroeger brought along his motion tracker. The good news was that the entire enemy force was inside one room. The bad news was that there weren't 8, but 14 enemies inside.

"Boys, we have 14 enemies inside, we're outnumbered."
"What do we do?"
"Well, considering the rest of the décor of this place, there should be a table inside. If there is, we'll overturn it and use it for cover."
"Roger."
"Lets move soldiers."

As he said this, they moved to the front of the locked door, where the enemy was.

"Lets do it."

At this, two grenades were thrown at the door, blowing it away. The soldier rushed in to find the enemy already barricaded behind two tables, firing away. There were two tables; one on the left side, and one on the right side. Half the team took one table while the other took the other. As this was done, the troops were constantly pelted with enemy fire, the troops lost a soldier while getting the tables in place. This was strictly a traditional fight were the two enemies were on each side, and each were dug in with defenses. The fight raged on, with grenades being tossed each way. Each time though, the grenades would just bounce of the table and explode, causing no enemy damage at all.

"Sir, we're screwed."
"Yes, I realize that soldier. But we need to keep on fighting."
"What do we do?"
"I have a plan. Goth, is your scorpion tank here yet?"
"Yes sir it is, its providing great protection, and it's ridding us of the enemy with extreme prejudice. Why sir?"
"I want you to have the scorpion tank to fire at the coordinates of the enemy base. 25-29-389ner. Got it?"
"Yes sir. Expect the shot in 10."
"Boys, get ready to charge when the scorpion tank fires."
"Yes sir."

As he said this, Kroeger saw two more men fall to the ground, lifeless. All of a sudden, and huge blast hit the wall of the fortress that the enemy was near. The wall was blown to smithereens. The blast hadn't done much damage to the enemy forces, but it confused and distracted them. Meanwhile, the entire marine team charged the confused enemy. The team jumped on top of the table and fired down. The fire continued for about 10 more seconds, as the enemy was destroyed.

"Sir we got them all."
"Status report."
"We lost 4, that leaves 5 of us."
"Give me the names later."
"Hey! Look, I found a hidden stash here! It's got assault rifles, shotguns, and even a sniper rifle!"
"Take what you need boys, but leave the sniper rifle to me."

All of a sudden, Kroeger got a radio from Goth.

"Sir, the enemy is coming in more force now. The warthogs, and the scorpion tank are holding them off, but we're losing forces quickly. We have 6 manning the warthogs, and have 6 men firing from ground position. The scorpion tank came to us manned. Even with this firepower, we are severely outnumbered, and cannot hold them out much longer."
"Don't worry, we'll provide fire support from the enemy stronghold through this gaping hole that the scorpion tank made."
"Roger that sir."

Kroeger walked to the stash, and picked up the sniper rifle and loaded it. It reminded him of that renegade, Shadow. Too bad he'll never see anything of that person again. He walked to the hole, kneeled down and smiled as he looked through the scope. He took aim of the enemy, and fired.

The Renegade Marines Part VI - The Surprise
Date: 17 March 2002, 12:25 pm

Kroeger pulled the trigger, and the sniper rifle fired. There was a bright flash, and the enemy he aimed for exploded into a red pulp. It pained him to kill fellow humans, but it must be done. He fired again, and again. The enemy became confused and had no idea of where the shots were coming from, became dispersed, and out of formation. He smiled again, as he saw his plan was working. The enemy began to back out towards the stronghold, which only made aiming easier for Kroeger.

"Sir, they're backing away...there seems to be about 10 of them left. Should we pursue?"
"Yes major, we're in the stronghold now. All ground troops are to pursue. All vehicles are to hold position until extraction. When they retreat to this position, we'll be waiting."
"Roger"

After the radio transmission, Kroeger fired one more shot, and took out a straggler. He then turned and motioned for his squad to move out. He waited at the hole, then dropped the sniper rifle and took out his MA5B, and took the rear of his squad.

"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! We don't want to keep our guests waiting. Do we?"
"No Sir!"

The troops moved downstairs to the entrance of the castle-like fortress.

"Jekon, we need 2 Jimmy 5s at the entrance, and hold the detonation until my call."

One of the soldiers, apparently Jekon, moved up to the entrance doorway, and placed down two small satchel charges. The troops backed away; while Kroeger stood at the entrance, ready to give the order for the detonation. Through the window of the door, he could see the retreating enemy troops make a dash for the stronghold. Their eyes were white in terror, and some had already dropped their guns. As they came in, the doors automatically opened, and the remaining enemies piled into the area. The leader of the traitorous squad looked around, confused at how their enemies had gotten into their base. He smiled, and signaled for the detonation. The traitors were standing right on top of the satchels, and got blown sky high. Kroeger had a sense of satisfaction as the sight of the fools dying a painful fiery death.

"Ok boys, our job is done here. Lets do one more sweep of the woods, and meet back up with Goth and Maclice's teams and move to the beach for extraction."
"Sir, yes sir!"

All of a sudden, Kroeger got a radio message from Foehammer II.

"Sir! Sir! we got 3 bandits coming in fast! If they drop before you guys are extracted, you'll be pinned down!"
"Roger that Jen. Boys! We got 3 enemy covenant dropships coming in. I don't know why they're here, but our job is done anyway! Let's get to the extraction point. I want someone to radio Maclice and Goth about this!"
"Yes sir!"

The men ran out of the base, in formation, and into the woods. Kroeger was at the front, and the troops ran like maniacs to their destination. Yet, the dropships were coming in fast, and they would be finished if they didn't get to the beachhead.

"Sir! Maclice and Goth are already on the dropships. The scorpion tanks and warthogs are being evacuated as we speak. It seems that the dropship's only target is us now!"
"Roger that. C'mon boys...lets survive this!"

The men moved quickly, with gun still in hand, and with the dropships in sight through the clearing. They were almost there. They would make it. Suddenly a big shadow came over the troops, and Kroeger's heart dropped.

"Sir, Sir! We got a bandit landing right in front of us! It's gonna pin us down until the other two arrive. We're done man!"
"Stop yer belly aching, and get ready to fire."

They saw the dropship come down to the ground as it fired its attached cannon, blowing away one of the marines.

"Hold steady boys."

Kroeger held up his assault rifle, sweaty from fear. Some of the marines were shaking as the dropship doors swung down. All of a sudden, the dropship rocked as if hit by something, and it's left "wing" was blown to pieces, sending fragmented parts of metal everywhere. The dropship was heavily injured and all troops aboard were killed. The dropship rocked again, and exploded, creating a huge mushroom cloud as if fell to the ground, motionless. As it fell the scorpion tank could be seen in the background, with its cannon smoking from its last blast.

"C'mon boys, the tank bought us some time. Lets go!"

The troops didn't bother to say 'yes sir'; they were too frantic to do so. The arrived on the beachhead, and the troops dived into the Pelicans, as the other two covenant transports landed next to the first dead transport. Kroeger was last, and waited for the troops in the scorpion tank to get on. He turned around and fired.

GEGEGEGEGEGEGGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEEGE...

Kroeger could hear in the background:

"Sir! We're not going to beat them! Lets get outta here!"
Kroeger turned to the Pelicans, and jumped on, firing at the same time. He looked out the bay doors, as the covenant made a last minute desperate attempt to attack. Fortunately, the attempts were futile, and the Pelicans were off, leaving behind the abandoned tank and warthogs. He looked in satisfaction in a job well done.

"Boys we did well, I'd like to..."

Then a message sounded from Jen.

"Sir! We got Banshees right on our tails! If we don't do something, we're done for!"
"Shit! Man! We're screwed! We're done for man!"
"Shut up and start firing at those things...or we're fish bait!"

The marines started firing, but they were no use, as the Banshee was out of effective firing range. The banshees started firing at one of the Pelicans, and blew out one of its wings. A huge explosion sounded as fire flowed profusely from the hull of the Pelican. The ship fell, and created a huge splash as it fell.

"Damn man! 10 men gone! That was Maclice's team!"
"Shit, they're firing at us now!"

Kroeger looked at the frightened troops, and knew the sad truth...they were finished.

The Renegade Marines Part VII - The Return Home
Date: 19 March 2002, 10:59 pm

Kroeger's widened in fear and denial as he saw Maclice's dropship fall to its untimely death. He looked at the now calm waters, and thought of his friends drowning under water. The fire lit up his infrared eyepiece as he looked down. All of a sudden he looked up at the Banshee firing upon them, and his face turned from fear, to revenge. He fired his MA5B constantly out of the bay doors, at the Banshee, but with apparently no use.

GEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGEGE
"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"
*click* *click*.

He dropped his gun, and looked down at the floor, while the rest of the marines continued their assault. All of a sudden he remembered.

"Jen, do we still have that new weapon model?"
"Yes Sir! Take them out with that! We don't have much time! Our armor is..."

Kroeger didn't stay to listen. He walked back from the door leading to the cockpit, and walked to the locker door on the side of the ship, and took out his pistol. He fired a couple rounds into the hinges of the door. After weakening the door, he lifted his leg and kicked the door in. He searched through the contents of the locker, throwing out what was not needed.

"What's the commander doin? We don't have time for this!"
"Maybe he has a plan, just trust the guy. We've always had before."
"Both of you just shut up and fire!"

Kroeger continued to search through the locker as the enemy fired, excellently dodged by Jen. He finally found it, and his eyes lit up with recognition. He smiled, and loaded a big weapon with rockets. He continued loading, putting in rocket after rocket. After loading up 35 rockets, he ran up to the bay entrance.

"I'm out, we're finis...whoa! Go get them commander!"

Kroeger stood at the entrance, and carefully aimed, when all of a sudden, the Banshee turned it fire at the bay doors, blasting the marines inside. One marine fell to the ground with his chest blue from the burning of the plasma. Kroeger looked back at the Banshee just in time to see his leg get blasted by the bright blue energy balls. His leg buckled from beneath him, and he fell to the ground. Blood was everywhere, both from the dead marine who got shot in the chest, and from Kroeger blasted leg. Kroeger knew he was their only chance. He got off his back, and spun onto his stomach, with his rocket launcher in hand. The new model was a different one. It was very boxy, but with 6 launch tubes, and it was very heavy, making it hard to aim. A targeting pad appeared at the side of the weapon as Kroeger put it up to his shoulder. The targeting reticule appeared, and he fired. Huge barrages of 35 missiles were fired, six at a time. The weapon fired a total of 6 blasts were fired from the rocket launcher, blowing him from the entrance of the bay doors to the cockpit door, headfirst. He slammed his head into the door, and could hazily make out the Banshee's exploding in a huge waterfall of flames. He smiled as he saw them fall to the water, and then everything went black.

Kroeger slowly opened his eyes. Hazy white shown through the slits he made with his eyelids. He looked through, blinded by the light that he wasn't used to. His leg felt as it was about to fall off, and his head felt like a warthog had been dropped on it. In the background, he could make out a doctor talking to the general.

"General sir, he's sustained a huge blow to his leg, as well as a major concussion. He'll definitely make it. I can't say the same about that other marine. If we operate on his leg now, we can give him anti-AO45 injections, which will allow his leg to heal within a matter of days. Modern medical care has come a long way since the Covenant invasion."
"Good work doctor, I look forward to a good outcome to the operation."
"Yes sir."

As he heard these words, his eyes closed, and he blacked out again. He woke up again in a dark room. He looked around. His head didn't hurt anymore...but his leg felt like it was on fire. Maybe the injections didn't work. He sat up, and took a look around. An old R25 type light dimly lighted the room, and he could barely see. He managed to limp over to the door, as it automatically opened. He stumbled out the door, but tripped over his half-functioning leg. He landed on a soft carpet in the hall; and saw a nurse with her back towards him, talking to a secretary. The secretary noticed Kroeger, and pointed to him, speaking to the nurse, apparently telling her that there was an injured soldier in the hall. The nurse immediately spun around and ran to his aid.

"Commander, you really mustn't walk on that leg, you'll only make it worse. You need one more day of healing before the leg will be healed perfectly."

She lifted him up with surprising strength, and managed to help him back in his room and into his bed. He looked back at the nurse and sputtered.

"Wh, wh, where are my men?"
"Sir, what's important to you right now is your sleep, and rest."

At that she turned the lights off, and the room went black. He laid down in his room, and drifted off back to sleep.

The Renegade Marines Part VIII - The Return To Memories
Date: 27 March 2002, 12:17 am

Kroeger woke up in his quarters and looked around. His leg didn't hurt at all, and he could move it around perfectly. He smiled, and got up in his dimly lit room. He walked out of his quarters and took a look around the hall. To his left was the infirmary, where the other marines were surely stationed. To his right was a maze of other hallways. He decided to visit his friends, and then go talk to the general. He swirled to the left, and walked through the infirmary doors. As he walked through, he was immediately flooded with light, and it took him a while to adjust. He looked around and saw a lot of familiar faces, as well as many familiar voices.

"OW! Don't do that! Hey! That's the commander! Hey boss! You made it!"
"Wha? Hey!"
"Wow! I thought you were finished when the Banshee shot ya!"
"Glad to see all of you marines. Who did we lose?"
"Hey, we have a list, I'll give it to you."
"Wait, it's ok. I'll take a look later. I gotta go see the general."

Kroeger left the room, and walked through the halls to the assembly room. He walked in, and as always, the assembly members were arguing over something. As the doors automatically opened, they all looked at him, and chatter stopped. Kroeger walked up to the table, and took a seat.

"It's good to see you made it through commander."
"Yes, and we're also glad that you were able to accomplish the mission."
"But we hear that the Covenant came to attack you after you finished your mission. What do you think?
"I don't know. The Covenant could not have had ANY idea of our staged attack on the traitors, but apparently they somehow knew. I'm guessing that one of the traitors is in league with the Covenant and leaked some info to them."
"Or commander, it could be that the entire government is in league with the Covenant."
"Nonsense assembly members. Even though we are at war with the government, they want to destroy the aliens as much as we do."
"Well, what do we do now?"

Kroeger was becoming confused with the assembly members arguing back and forth, until the general broke in.

"Ok, well I think that the government is officially blinded, so we'll attack the Covenant this time. Remember the covenant base that Kroeger attempted to attack before the interruption of the government? Well, we have info that that the base is lightly defended as of now, with the Covenant going on the offensive. We can acquire a multitude of enemy technology and enemy weaponry. I recommend that Commander Kroeger lead this attack."
"I agree, he did it once, he can do it again."
"Yes, plus he is familiar with the battlefield."
"Ok, It's set. Kroeger, we'll supply you with your old marine team."
"No sir, I think that they are still a little shaken up by the previous fight. I wish for a new squad, I don't want any of my old marines getting killed anymore. I think they've seen enough for a while."
"Ok commander. You'll be assigned the 185th, and 186th detachments. That gives you about 60 men at your command. You can give briefing at the drop site, and your mission starts now commander. Get suited up."
"Thank you sir."

Kroeger saluted and left the room, the doors opening and closing automatically for him. He quickly walked to the barracks area of the military fortress and put on his equipment: uniform, boots, gloves, backpack, helmet, IMDS sensor attachment, and the new pulse rifle. He smiled as he loaded the new weapon with a 130-bullet clip. The new rifle was experimental, but was being apparently being issued to all the troops. The new rifle shot out bullets that were about 3 times size of the MA5B Assault Rifle, but charges them first. These bullets move faster, and more accurately with the electron charge, as well as giving a small electrical shock to the enemy. The pulse rifle was different in that it had less accuracy than the already inaccurate MA5B, but it packed much more power. The pulse rifle was larger, and thus would be slower in tracking the enemies, but the new targeting system should help. He snapped his pistol in place, and walked to the hanger. As he walked in the huge behemoth of a room, there were tanks being attached, and rocket-warthogs being outfitted. He smiled as he saw the marines already piling in. He jumped in the 3rd of the 5 Pelicans, and waited. Elevator to the launch tunnel raised the first Pelican. Then, the 2nd, and then the 3rd were raised, and now it was their turn. The Pelican jerked a little with the rising of the elevator. The elevator brought the Pelican to the launch tunnel, and gizmos attached to the Pelican, throwing the ship forward with extreme force. He seemed to handle it ok, but the force was about 7 Gs. His sight became a blur, and all of a sudden, he looked out the hatch, and the Pelican was in the sky, heading towards the enemy base. He smiled, and fell asleep as the Pelicans flew in the sunset sky.
Kroeger woke up to jerking, and saw the ship slow down, and begin a vertical landing. The Pelican soon came to a halt, floating in the air, like a butterfly...and big heavy metal one. He readied his pulse rifle, and looked at the other marines.

"Marines, are you ready?"
"Sir, yes sir!"
"Let Go!"

He was the first person out, and he landed in a kneeling position with his pulse rifle up, and his IMDS scanning reticule doing a RPT search of the area. Everything was clear, and motioned it as the other marines jumped down. He looked at the Pelicans as they detached the 3 warthogs, and 2 scorpion-tanks and disappeared into the sky.
"Commander, we'll be on standby for your extraction if needed."
"Thanks Jen."

He looked at the marines, moving into formation.

"Alright boys, this is a straight up assault. There will be no strategy, other than follow the in battle orders. I want squad 3 to man the tanks and the warthogs. The warthogs will move first, and provide a reconnaissance. The marines will follow up, with the scorpion tanks providing support. Now MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"

The warthogs became immediately manned, and the warthogs drove on, while Kroeger led the marines and the tanks behind the warthogs. It was a quick run to the top of the hill, and bad memories flooded his mind as he remembered the last battle he had here.

"Sir, we're all in position."
"I want a volley of missiles from the two warthogs with rocket launchers, as well as a full blast from the tanks. Hit the troops and vehicles. The general wants the building intact."
"Yes sir!"

Kroeger braced for the loud blasts, and they came. He looked up and saw the orange-yellow muzzle flash from the tanks and warthogs. He looked over the hill, and saw the frantic Covenant run for cover. He got and smiled, as he began firing his pulse rifle.

The Renegade Marines Part IX - The Base
Date: 30 March 2002, 3:24 pm

Kroeger watched the carnage of the covenant being blasted away by the tanks and warthogs. He continued to fire until his pulse rifle clip was out. He looked down into the valley and saw the enemies being blown to hell, and their blue and purple blood spurting all over the valley grounds. He then took out his IMDS scanner and scanned the area for any survivors down in the valley. The eyepiece made his vision reddish, and enhanced his heat seeking and movement scanning abilities. After looking for a minute, he deactivated the eyepiece and called to his marines. It seemed that the Intel from the general was correct. There was a much smaller force occupying this area, from last time he had come here.

"I think we got them all."
"Wow, that was easy."
"Yea, we really took it to them!"
"It's not over yet boys. We still need to go inside the base and make sure there are no enemies in there."
"Oh man!"
"Crap..."
"Alright boys, I want warthogs to secure the entrance, followed by the troops. The scorpion tanks will stay atop the valley wall for vehicle support in case we need it."
"Roger."

The warthogs sped off ahead, while the troops ran down the valley wall, careful to make sure there were no more enemies in the area. When they got to the entrance, one of the warthog gunners gave Kroeger a status report.

"Sir, it seems that there are still some 'o them Covenant in there. They sealed the main doors shut with some of their tools."
"Hmmm, alright. Jehdon, I want a TEG52 remote on that door pronto!"
"Sir, yes sir!"

The marine moved up quickly to the doorway, dropping his gun at the same time. As he neared the door, the took out a large satchel charge with two exhaust pipes coming out of one side. He attached the satchel charge upon the door, and backed away to the main marine group. He took out a remote, and detonated the charge. The charge's exhaust system ignited, and started melting the sealed door. As the door was almost melted, Jehdon pressed a second button on the remote that caused the TEG52 to explode, sending the melted fragments flying in all directions. All that was left of the main door was bits of slag in the entranceway. As the door exploded all the marines held up their guns, ready to get flooded with enemy Covenant. But all they saw was an empty hallway, with echoes of the loading of their pulse rifles. Kroeger stood up and looking suspiciously at the hallway, then turned to his marines.

"Alright, I want Keg's and Irok's squads to go into the base, and make sure there aren't any enemies left inside. I want Gibdon, and Tobday's teams to stay out here and provide cover if they need it. My squad will go in and take six right behind Keg's and Irok's team."
"Sir, yes sir!"

Keg and Irok immediately led their teams through the hallway, and Kroeger took up the six with his squad. As they ran in, they looked around, but there was still no Covenant. Blue Covenant lights lit the hallways. The hallways had the normal geometrical shape of all the Covenant buildings. There were numerous control panels along the walls. They lit up the hallways with neon flashes as they ran through. Kroeger didn't pay attention to the distractions though, he wanted the Covenant, and he wanted them bad. They ran through 3 sets of doors, but with nothing. They kept running, still finding nothing in the hallways but empty echoes of their shoes slamming into the ground. They soon came up to an intersection, and Kroeger signaled for the team to stop.

"I want a formation-6 at 3, move!"
"The first 18 men broke off, and moved up to the intersection. The 18 men split up into 3 groups of six, with each group moving into and scanning each of the 3 passageways. They kneeled down, looking around, but there was still nothing.

"Sir, nothing here."
"This is left side, nothing."
"This is forward side, I think this is where we're supposed to go."
"Roger, move forward team!"

The group scanning the forward passage ran up ahead for reconnaissance, while the main group followed them up. The 12 troops that were scanning the left and right passages, took up the rear. As the team continued to move, Kroeger started getting a bad feeling in his stomach. He knew there was something wrong with this mission, something very wrong. He looked up and saw that they were coming up to a fork. Unlocked doors blocked both the left and right hallways. Kroeger signaled for the team to stop, and he turned around to them. He took out a GP07 scanning device and tooled around with it for a while, and then looked up to his team.

"I've scanned the area with the GP07. There's a main control center on the other side of these hallways. If we can get there, we can scan the area for the Covenant team. Both hallways lead to the control center. I want Irok's and Keg's teams to move through the left passage. My squad and me will take the right passage. With these thick walls, we won't be able to communicate until we meet at the control center. First team there wins."
"Yes sir!"

Irok and Keg immediately took their teams through, and their hallway was clear. As they moved through, Kroeger went through the other hallway, and led the team through. As they got through part of the hallway, they started moving up a ramp. As they neared the top, Kroeger saw an unsightly gold, and his heart dropped, he looked up and saw 2 gold elites pointing running at them. He kneeled down, and yelled out.

"Elite class-5! Hit the decks!"

The marines immediately kneel down, and started pummeling the elites with pulse rifle fire. The Elites were unaware of the new technology and were smacked back by the new weapons. Their shield held out for a split second before they were blown away. Their blood flew out of their bodies and splattered all over the place. Kroeger ran up to the dead elites, with small sparks of electricity running through their bodies. It seemed the pulse rifles were extremely effective.

"Sir, I think we got 'em good. Downed 2 elites without 1 casualty!"
"Well, if we have gold elites patrolling the area, then who knows what is waiting for us in the control center. We need to keep moving, or we're toast."

The marines started moving again, leaving the ripped up dead bodies where they were. The troops kept on moving, but met no more enemies until the GP07 began to beep. Kroeger immediately grabbed for it and took a look. His eyes lit up at the screen and he smiled.

"Hey boys, looks like we made it to the control room. Let's stay frosty though."
"Yes Sir!"

Kroeger slowly walked through, and saw the doors were locked. He examined the locking mechanism, and turned back to the marines.

"Jehdon, I want a TIR48 deactivation system here on the double!"
"Yes Sir!"

Jehdon ran up to the locking console and pulled out a small console system, and attached it to the locking mechanism controls. He twiddled around with it until the door unlocked.

"Got it sir."
"Troops secure the area."
"Hey, I wonder what happened to the..."

The marine's words were lost as he saw the interior of the control room. The entire room was littered with human bodies. Some were on the floor, while some were sprawled on the control panels. The room was full with red blood like some sick painting. He looked around in disbelief and finally was able to utter some words.

"I want a quick check of the bodies. I wanna make sure we're not leaving any of our men behind."

The marine team made a quick check of the bodies, while the rest of the members kneeled down, flinching and twitching at every sound or movement that they saw or heard. After the marines finished checking the bodies, Jehdon ran up to Kroeger.

"Sir, looks like they're all dead. We found Irok's body, as well as the other marines. It seems they got here first, but they didn't make it."
"Sir! Wait! Keg's alive!"

The seemingly lifeless body of Keg, started moving and stood up. He slowly walked up to Kroeger and smiled.

"You guys made it. I was knocked out in the middle of the firefight. The Covenant must have thought I was dead. Look, we need to get out RIGHT NOW."
"Alright Sergeant. Boys, lets get going."

As the marines turned to leave, a blue light shone through a marine's body. The light went through his body like a hot knife through butter. Warm blood feel to the ground as the marine's body fell lifeless. Kroeger turned around and yelled, as he fired his pulse rifle.

"DAMN YOU!"

The rifle tore right through the elite, but as soon as it was blown away, 3 other energy swords were activated. He looked around, and the only exit was the way Irok's team had entered.

"Marines we are leaving!"

There were two marines that were still in the middle of the room as the main group got out.

"Sir! Lock the damn doors! Don't wait for us! Get out! Get the tea..."

The blue blade chopped his body in half as the other shot the control mechanism of the door, and it swung close. Kroger looked in disgust in their fateful death, and began to run to catch up to the main group.

"The door should hold them for a while."

As soon as he finished his sentence, the door was blown clear off of it hinges, and flew into the hallway.

"As you were saying Commander?"

As the door flew out, a golden elite jumped through the doorway
The marines turned around and pelted the golden marine with pulse rifle rounds. The elite's body went limp with hundreds of bullets in his electrocuted body. The marines turned around and started running again. More gold elites came jumping out of the ceilings ahead of them. The elites were equipped with needlers, and they fired their entire clips into the marine group. The marines took some heavy damage, but fired back with heavy pulse rifle fire. One of the elites lost both of his arms, and fell dead, with his purple blood flying out of his body. The second one, ran up to the group, and whacked two of his men. He heard a 'snap' of the necks, and he knew they were dead. The remaining marines yelled with absolute hatred, that they pumped the elite with enough clips that it made it explode into a million electrocuted pieces.

"Sir, lets get the hell outta here!"
"Sir, enemy g-elites, coming in from behind, we need to get out now!"
"Alright. Move boys!"

The marines ran for their lives, no longer in formation. Kroeger, still in fear, knew there was something wrong with this. The most g-elites he had ever seen in a battle would be 1, maybe 2. Even in the huge battles, he would come toe-to-toe with one or two. But this was at least 20 of them. This must have been a trap. There was no other explanation. The marines kept on running, almost out of the compound. All of a sudden, the roof above them caved, in with golden elites standing on top of them. They fired their plasma rifles, and blew holes into the first 3 marines, and Kroeger felt a splatter on his face. Something wet. He wiped his cheek, and saw that it was human blood...and then he looked down and saw three of his fellow marines limp and dead. As he looked down in terror, the other marines took out the golden elites.

"A few more feet men! Lets move!"

The marines moved at full speed, when two golden elites with plasma swords showed up at the intersection, and started causing havoc. The first two marines were ripped in half, while the other marines tore through the elites. Their golden bodies were stained with both red and purple blood that created an unsightly pink along the hallway walls.

"Everyone out!"

The marines turned around and started for the entranceway. All of a sudden, a backup door closed into position where the TEG52 detonator had blown the other set of doors.

"Damnit! Trapped like rats!"
"We're finished man!"
"Relax. Tobday, get these doors open."
"But sir, we don't have a TEG detona-"
"RIGHT NOW!"
"Sir, yes sir!"

The marines started welding the doors open, while Kroeger and the trapped marines turned around ready to fight to the death. He heard thunderous hooves hit the ground up ahead. He knew what was coming. The full force of the golden elites was coming. He twitched in fear as his sweat rolled down his cheeks. His slippery hands held tight onto his pulse rifle.

"No matter what boys, we're gonna go down together!"
"Sir, yes sir!"

The men were all sick to their stomachs in fear of the golden elite troops. All of a sudden, the walls in front of them exploded with blue fire. They were Covenant grenades.

"Fire! Fire! They're here!"

As soon as the blue mist cleared, blue energy orbs came rushing at the group. Two men fell as the rest continued to fire. The battle was intense. Kroeger's IMDS scanner read that there were at least 30 of them on the other side of the hall.

"Sir, we're losing numbers fast!"
"Just fire!"
"Tobday, where's the doors!"
"Almost done!"

The troops continued to fire, but with the long range, the pulse rifles did minimal damage. Troops fell like butterflies in a nuclear explosion.

"It's open! Get out!"

The doors were pulled open by Tobday, as the troops backed out of the base.

"We're retreating to the tanks' positions. Go Go Go!!!"

Kroeger ran out of the doors, shooting his pistol while running away. The warthogs were the last to leave, but the drove off, and caught up with the marines immediately. The golden elites weren't giving up, and they were running straight at Kroeger and the marines. Firing at the dwindling force.

"We're dead."

The Renegade Marines Part X - The Return
Date: 9 April 2002, 2:56 am

Kroeger and marines were continuing to run for their lives, while the golden elites were catching up behind them. Absolute terror radiated from Kroeger's eyes as he ran in full sprint. As he looked back, he could see the elites getting pelted with chain gunfire, and tank shells. But there were too many. Kroeger and the marines were finally up the hill, and got up to a position next to the other marine squads, and turned around, and began to get their minds back on the fight. Kroeger's hands were full of sweat as his pulse rifle's muzzle flash made brilliant colors. There were at least 30 golden elites coming up the hill, and the tanks and the warthogs weren't taking the enemy out fast enough. He fired multiple pulse rifle bullets into the hide of the first golden elite, but the elite's shields held up. All of a sudden, his body was engulfed in a huge flame that consumed his body, sending charred flesh, and blood all over the battlefield. He smiled as he looked up and saw the smoking cannon of the scorpion tank. He looked back at the enemy lines, and saw they were right on top of him. Shock, and fear came into his mind at the same time, and he froze for a second. He could here the voice of a marine in the background.

"Here they come boys! Get ready!"

The elites came up, blue swords brandished, and plasma rifles, glowing with each blast they made. Marines after marines fell, as the elite casualties were become smaller and smaller. An elite came up to a marine right next to him, and tore him to shreds with his energy sword. Kroeger looked in anger as his marines fell to the ground in ribbons, and he turned and fired his pulse rifle right into the stomach of the elite, blowing out all of his vital organs. The elite fell to the ground, lifeless as his energy shield went blank, and deactivated. Kroeger then turned back to the enemy front lines, and saw an elite coming up to slam him with his plasma rifle. He immediately fired back with his pulse rifle, his rounds going out fast.

*BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**
BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**
BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM**BLAM*....
*click* *click*, *click*

Kroger looked in horror as the reading on his gun ready 0. He looked up as the elite came for him. He closed his eyes, ready to embrace the pain, when suddenly; he felt a wet spray of something all over his body. He opened his eyes, and saw the elite fly off his feet as the warthog's chain gun blew holes through his body. Kroeger had no time to acknowledge that, and immediately began pelting the next group of incoming. He saw marines fall, one after another, and looked around as their group was being slaughtered. He immediately took out his radio.

"Jehdon, Keg, Everyone. All troops and vehicles fall back NOW! Get your asses back now!"

As soon as he said this, he himself began to step backwards, reloading his gun at the same time. The tanks, warthogs, and troops stepped backwards, down the hill, but never turning their backs to their enemy. The troops were falling back, and the elites were slowing down, and came to a stop at the top of the hill. The ones with the plasma rifles began to stand at the top of the hill, and fire at the troops below, while the ones equipped with plasma swords seemed to smile as they saw the marines fight desperately, and hopelessly for their lives. Kroeger knew they were finished. He looked behind him, and saw a group of large rocks.

"Troops fall back behind the rocks. I want tanks and warthogs to continue to back up behind the rocks until Covenant has confirmed a loss of visual contact with your vehicles."

The troops did so, and the rocks proved to be a steady source of cover. But the marine forces were reduced to 16, and the Covenant had the higher ground. There was no way they could evac with the huge Covenant force, and if they retreated farther, they risked losing their cover. He sighed, and looked at the other frightened soldiers. He peeked his head up, and fired a few rounds from his pulse rifle, landing a few hits. He continued to look up. This was hopeless, for the troops were finished. They might as well detonate the explosives that they had.

Suddenly, a blue beam of light shone from a cliff overhead.

*VEW* *click* *VEW* *click* *VEW*

The beam was unlike he had ever seen. It seemed to be similar to a sniper rifle's blast, but with a blue aura surrounding it. He looked in confusion, until he saw that the elite's body was in two pieces. Another blast was fired, and the elite was torn to pieces. The blasts were fired, again, and again, and again, and again. The Covenant was apparently as confused as the marines were of the source of the attacks, for they had lost formation, and were running for cover. Another blast tore through an elite, sending a spray of purple and blue blood all over the others. Another blast went right through an elite's sword, and right into his head, exploding it into millions of pieces. Kroeger finally got up from the shock, and looked up at the cliff. There, standing was a lone warrior, firing his blasts from some sort of new prototype weapon. Elite one, by one, fell. Finally, the last one fell to the ground with lifeless eyes blown out of its sockets. The accuracy and the power of the warrior was unmatched by anyone he'd ever seen. It was amazing. The lone warrior turned his gaze to the marines. He was dressed in complete black, masked, and had a sensor system attached as an eyepiece suspended in front of his right eye. He looked at the soldiers with cold eyes, and for a second Kroeger was afraid he'd turn his fire on them. But the lone gunner jumped down the cliff, and slid down the side with his feet keeping complete balance. He landed perfectly and walked up to the bewildered commander. He snapped spun his prototype weapon, and flipped it to his back, attaching it to a strap around his shoulder. He looked up to Kroeger and took off his mask, with his eyepiece simultaneously lifting. It was...Shadow. Kroeger looked at the renegade warrior with nothing to say. He was speechless. Finally, and marine broke the silence.

"Thank you for the help you gave us. We would have been toast if it wasn't for you."

Shadow nodded to the soldier and turned to Kroeger. Kroeger was about to shake his hand, when he remembered who he was. A wanted man.

"I should arrest you right now for treason against mankind. Give me ONE good reason why I shouldn't arrest you right now."

"Well, I got 2 good reasons for you commander. One, I just saved your sorry ass from getting fried from a group of 20 golden elites. And two, you know you and your soldiers wouldn't be able to stop me."

Kroeger knew it was true, and smiled. He held out his hand for a handshake, but instead, he got an assault rifle placed in his hand.

"Hold this, I need to reload."
"W-What?"
"We don't have much time. Covenant have already radioed for reinforcements. We need to get your Pelican to evac your troops now."
"What about you?"
"I'll find my own way off this place."

All of a sudden two dropships appeared in the distance coming closer and closer.

"Shit! Sir, we got 2 bandits coming in fast!"
"I got it."

Shadow held up his sniper rifle, and took a shot. The shot went right through the first dropship, sending it hurtling towards the ground. As it hit, it created a huge fireball of flame that rose into the air. He fired a second shot, and the second ship exploded in midair, sending shards of metal flying everywhere.

"Hurry and get out. They have ground troops already heading this way."
"Right. Jen, we need a pickup."
"Roger that sir. Should we get that other..."
"No. Just us."
"Yes sir."

Almost immediately, 3 dropships came down from above, and the troops filed in. Kroeger looked down as Shadow looked up at the dropships, and they flew away, leaving the lone warrior to fend for himself.

The Renegade Marines Part XI - On The Run
Date: 13 April 2002, 3:36 am

NOTE TO ALL READERS: First, the Rail Gun and the sniper rifle are the same thing in this story, the rail gun happens to be a type of sniper rifle. In the past, I've done the story from Kroeger's perspective, but in this particular episode, I'm doing it in the perspective of Shadow. ™


Shadow looked up as the Pelicans sped away, and his only military friend leaving without him. As they faded away into the distance, he could hear the trembling of the ground beneath him. He looked down at the ground, and it shaking violently. What could be causing this? Then, a glint caught the corner of his eye, and he spun around. For the first time in his life, his eyes became white with fear. He was frozen in place for a second, as he saw hundreds of golden elites coming at him. He immediately stepped back as soon as he got his nerve back. He turned around, and began climbing the cliff behind him, hopefully losing the elites. As he started climbing, a blue streak flashed in front of his face. He moved back just in time to let the streak fly right by him. He jerked his head to his left, and saw the elites were firing upon him. Another few streaks headed his way, all slamming into the wall he was climbing. Pieces of rock and dirt fell onto his head, and he started losing his grip. He looked back at the elites. There were only 10 now. What happened to the others? Either way, he could take 10 elites. He dropped down from the cliff, and unclipped his rail gun from its strap. He looked up as the elites all had swords and began running towards him. He smiled, and lifted his gun, and took aim.

*BLAM* *click* *BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click*

All the shots were perfectly fired, as each of the elites slumped down on the ground headless, blood flying out of their necks like water fountains. Shadow walked up to one of the bodies and kicked it. This was too easy. All of a sudden, he heard plasma rifle blasts from above him. Before the bolts could hit him, he dodged to the right as they made a huge crater where the body of the sword elite once was. He looked up, and the cliff he was climbing was now infested with all of the other elites. He stepped backwards, and began running backwards. He fired his rail gun randomly in the direction of the elites, while running into a crevice in the wall. He looked around him, and the crevice seemed like a path of some sort. He flipped his rifle, and clipped his to his back, and ran at full speed to wherever the path was taking him. Sweat ran down his face as his head jerked left, right, and up and down. His eyepiece scanned the area for hostiles, but none were present. He kept on running.
      This was a nice predicament he had put himself into. Why didn't he go with Kroeger? He knew why, because he only had himself to trust. Every time he had trusted someone, they turned on him in some way or another. He had learned from his experiences that the only person that is competent and loyal enough was himself.
      He continued to run until he came to an opening. He ran up a large hill, constantly looking back to see if there was anyone stalking him. He reached the top of the hill, and saw three elites standing there, on guard. Those fools. They will never know what hit them. He kneeled down, and took out his rifle, when all of a sudden his motion tracker beepers. He swung around, and fired.

*BLAM* *click*

      The shot went right through one elites leg, and into the head of another. The second elite fell down, as his head was still flying in the air. The first elite yelled out in pain. Shadow smiled, and fired again.

*BLAM* *click*

      The elite lost his entire chest, and what was left of his body, fell into two pieces onto the ground. The body pieces slide down the hill that the two elites were climbing up, leaving bloodstains along the grass. His tracker beeped again, and he swung around. And elite was right in front of him. The elite yelled and slammed Shadow with his rifle, causing the renegade to slide down the bloodied hill. His sniper rifle flew out of his hands and tumbled down the hill. As he slid down, rocks tore into his unarmored back, and red blood began to mix with the blue and purple blood. He groaned as he continued to slide, and reached over his bloody shoulder and pulled out an Assault Rifle. He pulled the rifle over his shoulder, and locked it between his legs. Before he reached the bottom, he fired an entire clip into the elite's head, breaking the shields, and killing him. Shadow hit the bottom of the hill, and dropped his AR. Instead of giving up, and yelling out as any marine would have done. He closed his eyes, and slowly got up. He stood on his knees for a few seconds and hope was gone in him. Things were hopeless; he had no reason to live anymore. He just sat on his knees, waiting for his execution. The world was better off without him. All of a sudden he heard a war cry of an elite, and it brought back memories of his past; memories that gave him hope. He stood up slowly, and grabbed his AR, and started to run up the hill again. On his way up, he picked up his sniper rifle, and loaded it as he ran. Another elite poked his head up on the other side. Bad move. Shadow shot his rail gun, and the elite became headless.
      Shadow got back up to the top of the hill, and looked down below him. He activated his scanner, and searched. There were 3 elites, unaware of his presence, and 2 ghosts stationed right next to 2 purple elites. He took aim and fired twice at the two elites next to the ghosts.

*BLAM* *click* *BLAM* *click*

      The two elites fell into pieces, as the other elites looked around in confusion. All of a sudden, a pain slammed into his back. The pain was like thousands of needles shoved into his spine all at one time. He was blown forward, and slid down the hill towards the confused elites near the ghosts. As he was sliding, he gained control, and got on his feet. He continued to slide down the hill on his feet, with his rifle in hand. As a moving the target, the elites couldn't track him.

*BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click*

The elites fell to the ground lifeless and in shambles. One lost his arm, and yelled in pain before dying of immediate blood loss. The second was shot in the groin, causing his legs to fly off, and his abdomen to fall on the ground. The third one fell in half as his gut was blown out of his body. Shadow cringed as each of them died gruesomely, but this was a war, and wars were gruesome and violent. He sighed as he landed at the bottom of the hill, and looked down at the dead bodies. He looked to his left, and ran up to one of the unmanned ghosts. He looked at the console, while he strapped on his AR and RG. He studied the console, and activated the ghost. This ghost seemed to have a different interface from the ones he had used in the past. Perhaps not the entire Covenant spoke the same language. The once silent ghost began to hum and the grounded Ghost began to rise off the ground. He looked up the hill, and saw some more Covenants coming his way. He grinned, and sped away, leaving the elites firing blindly and randomly at the speeding ghost. The scenery seemed fly by him like a blur, and he could barely make out where he was going. His scanner beeped, and he activated it. It showed that there was an old Longsword ship still based at the other end of the peninsula. He set the coordinates on the Ghost, and it went into autopilot. It was going to be a long ride.
      After hours, the Ghost finally came to a stop, and Shadow jumped out, his AR in his hand. He looked around, his scanner scanning for anything. There didn't seem to be any energy readings, or any life forms in the immediate area. Well, at least one of those facts was good news. He saw a small mound in front of him, and he emptied his AR clip into the mound, revealing a hidden black piece of metal. Well, well, well. It seemed someone had came here prepared to make a quick escape. He pulled off some more grass to reveal the entrance to the ship. All of a sudden he heard the familiar hum of Ghosts. There were three elite piloted ghosts coming straight at him, firing their plasma gun attachments.

*FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW* *FHEW*

He dived backwards into the bay doors of the Longsword. He was about to activate the engines, but he knew that the Ghosts were going to blow up the ship. It was his only way out, and he needed to destroy the Ghosts to get out of this hellhole. As the Ghosts littered the bay entrance with plasma fire, Shadow held tight until their fire stopped. When they did, he dived out, sniper rifle in hand. His eye looked through the scope as he fired three quick blasts.

*BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click**BLAM* *click*

The first blast took out the incoming elite, making his body fly out of his seat and backwards, while the ghost continued forwards. The second blast blew off a fin on one, and it span out of control into the third ghost. The two ghosts slammed into the ground, with their hover systems deactivated. The third blast sent the deactivated ghosts into flame, blowing the elites sky high.
      He was about to fire again, when his scanner beeped. As the scanner sent out information on its HUD, his eyes widened. It was a...Covenant tank. Shit, this was bad, VERY bad. It was still out of range, and would be within range in about 5 minutes. He needed to get the Longsowrd off the ground before the tank blew it apart. He ran through the main bay, and up to the control panel. As he ran up, he unstrapped his AR and RG. They fell down in a *clank*, as he sat down and his hands moved like lightening as they activated all the necessary systems. The hum of the Longsword started up, but was cut short as the system made a clanking and a stalling sound. For the first time since he saw Kroeger at the other side of the Peninsula, he said a word.

"SHIT!"

      He immediately got out of the seat, and took the elevator down to the engine room. He looked at the engine, and made a few adjustments, but the engine still wouldn't start up. He looked to the right of the engine, and saw the batteries were damaged, and unrepairable.

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"

      All of a sudden, he realized that all Longswords had a backup energy reserve. He walked to the other end of the engine room. As he ran, he looked up in his scanner, and saw on the HUD that there was about a minute and a half before the tank got within range. He ran to the backup energy supply, took out the power cord and attached it to the engine. He felt a huge shock as the energy from the battery ran to the engine. He was blown back from the electricity, and he fell to the ground. He slowly got back up, when his scanner beeped again. 30 seconds. He immediately ran back to the elevator back up to the Longsword. 10 seconds. He jumped out of the elevator and headed towards the console. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. He dived at the console, pushing the lever.

Outside, the tank adjusted its cannon towards the Longsword, and the commander spoke with the gunner in their language.

***I want that Longsword destroyed. Put all your power into this blast.***

The Longsword slowly lifted off the ground as the mortar blast was sent over in its direction. Shadow activated the boosters, and the Longswords sped away, avoiding the mortar's explosion. He pulled up on the joystick, and the ship was up and away. Shadow smiled to himself, as his scanner gave him a count of the amount of elites he had killed. The HUD read 21. He smiled again, as the Longsword left the atmosphere of Earth, heading towards a colony in space, never to see the marines, nor the Covenant again.

The Renegade Marines Part XII - Back Home
Date: 16 April 2002, 3:16 am

Kroeger watched sadly, as his former comrade was left to the Covenant. Had he made the right choice by letting an ally die right then and there? But he was a renegade, an enemy to the human race, right? No. Kroeger had been constantly trying to convince himself of this, but deep in his heart, he knew that Shadow was not the enemy. He had constantly helped the team out. Why did he do that then? He had condemned one of his own races, one that had saved their lives time, and time again. He looked down, and pulled off his half operating scanner, and threw it to the ground. One of the surviving marines noticed, and spoke out to the commander.

"Sir? What's going on? You ok?"

Kroeger looked at him with a grim look, and then looked back down at the floor of the Pelican. That Shadow was a renegade he had to leave him. It was the right thing to do. Or was it? Damnit, he had so many things on his mind. He grunted, and stepped on his half-broken scanner, sending pieces all over the floor. All of a sudden, he heard a radio signal for the marines.

"Guys we're gonna be in for some chop!"
"Yeehaw!"

Kroeger continued to look down, not even acknowledging Jen. Where had Shadow come from anyway? How did he learn such good sharpshooting? Why didn't he join the military? Why does he hate the military? So many questions, yet none would be answered. He decided to put all of them out of his mind for now, and think about the recent battle. He had lost so many men, good soldiers, noble soldiers. What the hell went wrong? As with Shadow, he tried coming up with many different excuses for what was happening, but he knew in his heart that it was the general's fault. The general was the one that gave them false intel. How could intel be as false as say that there were less than 20 troops stationed, to being more than a hundred golden elites? Something was wrong. Either the general had wrong information, or the general was doing something fishy. His thoughts were interrupted as a soldier yelled out.

"Hey, we really whooped those damn Covenant asses!"
"Are you kidding me Joder? We got our asses kicked until that soldier came and saved our asses!"
"Hey! We were doing fine before he came. We were just having some complications."
"Complications? More like desperation if you ask me!"
"Well, I don't ask you!"
"Well, I'm telling you."

Kroeger had enough.

"Shut up both of you!"
"Sir, yes sir!"

The rest of the ride in the Pelican was slow and dreary. A tense silence was in the air, and no one dared to break the quietness. Kroeger still looked out of the open bay doors at the deep blue sea. He looked up to the sky, blue as ever, and not a cloud in a sky. He smiled, and soon drifted off to sleep.

He woke up as the Pelican began to bump and slow down. He looked out the bay doors, and they were back at the military complex. He sighed, and looked up. All the other soldiers had started chattering about their fight, and the ones they had lost.

"Did you see how Darto died? I can't believe he's not here with us."
"Yea, he was a great guy. These times of war are so sad."
"you guys, this is war, you guys are marines, stop feeling sad for yourselves."
"Ah, shut up Roda."

Kroeger started getting a headache from the constant bickering, but being so close to docking, he let them fight all they wanted. Another message came over the intercom from Jen.

"Alrighty boys, strap yourselves in, we're making a landing."

As the Pelican flew towards the hangar, the boosters went into full reverse, and then into neutral position, effectively stopping the Pelican perfectly over the hangar elevator. The Pelican's hover boosters slowly lowered their activity, and the Pelican made a descent to the ground. The Pelican opened up its landing skids, and hit the hangar floor with a thud. The marines unstrapped themselves from their seats, and jumped out of the dropship, chattering to themselves about various things. When Kroeger, the last man out, jumped from the bay doors, the elevator began to lower, bringing the Pelican down to the lower hangar.

"Jen, I'll see you at the bar."
"Roger that sir."

The marines slowly walked out of the hangar through some automatic doors, to the debriefing room. The doors swung open, and all the troops piled into the debriefing room, Kroeger being last. Everyone soon sat down, and when Kroeger took the stand, everyone quieted down. Kroeger began his speech.

"So, as you all know, our battle was a failure."
"Failure? We wrecked about 30 golden elites down there!"
"And your point private? We lost about 48 marines. You think that's a fair trade?"

The marines shut himself up, and Kroeger continued.

"So boys, what happened out there?"
"We didn't expect such a shitload of enemies to be int here waiting to wreck out asses!"
"Yea!"
"Ditto with that!"
"Quiet down boys. Yes, the intel was bad, and I need to speak with the general about it. But what else went wrong?"
"We split up! That screwed us over big time!"
"Yes. Correct private. We split up, and our forces became weaker, and thanks to that, we lost a whole squad without even knowing it."
"Well, I'd say we really screwed up then. Eh?"
"Yes. Alright. I know you guys are tired, go wherever you want. I'm sure I'll see most of you at the bar after I speak with the general. Dismissed."
"Sir, yes sir!"

The fidgety troops soon got out of their seats and loudly filed out of the room. Kroeger smiled as they left, and he was by himself in the debriefing room, in total silence. 113. All of sudden, the doors swung open again, and a familiar voice could be heard.

"Commander? Commander! Kroeger! You made it. I heard from the other squad in the battle that you guys were ambushed. I'm glad to know that my favorite commander is still alive and kicking."
"Thank you Johey. How's the old 113th doing?"
"We're doing alright. Our new commander isn't that great. We'd love for you to come back and command us."
"I don't think you do. The past few battles have been complete hell for me."
"Don't worry. Remember, we're the 113th, the elite of the elites man. We fear nothing."
"Guess you guys don't."
"Well, I gotta scoot. I'll see you at the bar. Ok?"
"Alright man."

As the old friend left, Kroeger picked up his pulse rifle and holstered it, while he walked out of the debriefing room to have a little talk with the general. He walked out into the hallway, through a few security doors, and into the general's room. He was angry at the guy, and wanted some answers.

"What the hell was that?"
"Commander Kroeger, I don't know what you mean."
"Don't know what I mean? This is what I mean!"

Kroeger shoved a list of casualties of all the troops he had lost.

"I am sorry for your loss, but what does this have to do with..."
"You gave me the shittiest intel I've ever seen. You told me no more than 20 troops. What we got was more than a hundred golden elites. Either you're intel is screwed up big time, or we need to talk about how honest you're being to an old friend."
"All right Kroeger, you're right. There is something wrong. I'll tell you. I just learned recently, but it seems the highest levels in the military complex are being run by government agents themselves. I'm not supposed to know this, so I'm making a big risk here telling you this. We could be monitored right now. Look, the government gave me the wrong intel on purpose to lead the best commander into a trap so you would be killed, and the major threat to the government would be gone. The sad truth is that the government wants peace, and they're doing it by making an alliance with the Covenant. No one but you me, and the highest government officials know. The elites were planted there for your execution. Fortunately for you, an old acquaintance of mine showed up to save your ass."
"You know him?"
"Lets just say we've met in the same way you met him."
"So the government and the Covenant are in league with each other. Never would have guessed it. I mean, the government is corrupt and all, but I never thought they'd stoop as low as to ally with the enemies just to save their lives."
"I know, but the important thing now is that you get out of here. The government wants to kill you directly now. They want to assassinate you as soon as you move to your next mission. I can't do anything for you, my power is limited. All I can do for you is give you 4 battalions. That gives you 400 troops, 10 scorpion tanks, and 20 warthogs, plus plenty of ammunition for your troops. I will give you a mission for you to be sent to attack a huge Covenant base with your 400 troops, but instead of going to your mission, I will upload a spot for you hide low for a while, until you feel that you can come out and fight against the Covenant and the government. I can't do anything more for you other than give you those troops and equipment as well as dropships to ship all the hardware. I'm sorry it had to turn out this way. I'll try to contact you once in a while. Good luck Commander."
"I see. Thank you. You're doing too much already."

The two shook hands, and for some reason, Kroeger felt it was the last time he'd see the general.

"Now go to the bar or someplace for now, until I can get everything prepared."
"What about the 113th, and my other squads?"
"Don't worry Kroeger, I haven't forgotten about them. All your loyal troops will be sent with you. I'm not sending you with any strangers."
"Thank you sir."
"Don't call me that. You don't have to anymore, you're a renegade, just like Shadow."
"Right."

Kroeger was very surprised that the general even knew of Shadow, let alone his name. He smiled, and walked out of the general's room, contemplating how his escape would turn out.

The Renegade Marines Part XIII - The Escape
Date: 18 April 2002, 2:36 am

Kroeger smiled as he walked out into the hall after speaking with the general. It seemed he was a renegade. Now he knew exactly how Shadow felt. Maybe that's why he had rejected his offer to go back to the military base with him. Kroeger realized that when you're a renegade, you can't trust anyone except for those who are renegades with you. Only the ones that were renegade with you were the ones you could honestly trust. He sighed and exited the hallway through the doors. He was out in the night sky now, and he breathed in the fresh air. He looked up at the stars, and watched them twinkle. He looked back down at Earth, and started walking into the small town a few steps away from the military base. AS he walked into the town, he looked around at all the civilians going about their life. They had no idea of what was going on in this world. The only thing they knew were the lies of the media and the government. He turned away, and walked into the bar. The once silent night became loud and boisterous as the red and yellow lights flooded his pupils. He looked around as the soft music played in the bar. The 113th and his other squad that was ambushed were already there, talking and gossiping. He walked up to the tables, and sat down quietly in the back, listening. As he sat down, he heard a main conversation, apparently, they didn't realize he hadn't arrived yet.

"Hey, hey! So listen to this. We're about to get our asses whooped by at least a hundred golden elites."
"Bullshit!"
"I'm not kidding. When the commander comes, you can ask him. Anyway, we're getting our asses kicked as the elites are rushing us. We take cover behind some rocks, but are hopelessly outnumbered. We're about to blow our own explosives, then some elite dude pops out of nowhere and blows the elites away with some type of rail gun. His accuracy was amazing. The cool thing was that the commander just walked up to this guy and walked to him as if he knew him. It's amazing, the two best soldiers I've ever seen knew each other as enemies. Could you imagine that?"
"Bah you 143rd troops, you guys don't know any action compared to what we had with Kroeger. We've had plenty of close battles."
"You 113th's, all you do is brag. You may be the elite group in the military, but that doesn't give you the right to brag."
"I wasn't bragging dipshit!"
"Yea you were, you asshole!"

The two men stood up, and it seemed a bar fight was about to start. Kroeger had sat a listened long enough. He stood up, and yelled out.

"Stop it you fucks! Sit down, and cool off! We don't need this shit! You guys are fighting the Covenant, not yourselves. You're soldiers, not civilians. You need each other, or humanity has no chance. Got it?"
"Commander? Since when did he come in?"
"Since you started acting like a dumbass!"
"Fuck you!"
"No! Fuck you!"

They were about to start again when Kroeger broke in again.

"Stop it! You guys need to work together even more than ever now! Things are going to change. You'll need to learn to work together. It may be the last time you guys fight."
"Sir? What are you talking about? Is it a mission we have together?"
"Look, just remember that we're on the same side. Now cool it."

He walked away as the troops calmed down, and began telling stories again. He walked up to the bar and called the bartender.

"Yavo please."
"You got it commander."

The bartender went to go get him his drink. Meanwhile, Kroeger sat at the bar chair, thinking. He wondered if the troops and him were going to ever make it out alive. If they didn't, humanity was doomed to die at the hands of the Covenant. How could the government trust those shit bags? They were too trusting. You never make an alliance with your sworn enemies, especially when they want you dead for a religious cause. He looked down, and saw his green drink sitting in front of him.

"Put it on my tab."
"Yes sir."

He didn't know why he was doing that. He would never be back to pay the tab. He was leaving tonight. Hehe...he had gotten out of paying his tab, this time for something legitimate. He was about to drink his Yavo, when his TAY-20 transmitter went off. He took it out of his pocket and looked through the screen.

"Kroeger, what is it?"
"It's time."

Kroeger nodded in understanding, and closed up his TAY. He turned to his troops.

"C'mon boys, we're leaving for our mission tonight."
"Hey! What about sleep! And briefing?"
"You'll get both of those on the dropships. We need to leave now. The other 370 troops are waiting for us at the hangar."
"380? What kind of mission is this?"
"A big one. Lets go."
"Yea baby! We're going big time now!"

The troops were still confused, but followed Kroeger as he walked back to the military complex. As he entered, his TAY beeped again, and he opened it.

"The government's here. You need to move now. All the other troops and weapons are already in the air, and en route to your spot. Looks like they want you dead tonight. You must hurry. Your ship is in hangar 2."
"Alright. Thanks for everything."

The general nodded on the viewscreen, and it went blank. Kroeger put it away, and walked into the hangar, and looked up at the two dropships. He turned to his troops.

"Get on, we're leaving now."
"Sir! What about our weapons?"
"Fine, get them now. But quickly."
"But sir, where are the rest of our squad and the 143rd's?"
"They and the rest of the troops are already en route to the mission."

The troops quickly picked up their Assault Rifles, and as Kroeger picked up his, he heard the whirring sound of automatic doors opening. He turned, and his eyes turned white with fear. The elite government troops were on the other side of the hangar, with the dropships in the middle of it. Kroeger looked at them, and yelled to his troops.

"That's the government! Hold them off until we get on the dropships!!"

The troops did so, and almost immediately, fire began to break out between the two sides. Both sides were equipped with ARs, so none of the bullets had any critical damage. The troops fired quickly as they made a run for the dropships. The government soon caught on, and began firing at the dropships.

"Sir! We're taking fire!"
"Jen? Is that you?"
"Yes, I'm your pilot."
"You know what to do."
"Yes sir."

In the cockpit of the dropship, Jen smiled, and pressed a few buttons, and fired the guns attached to the dropships. A bay door lowered at the bottom of the dropship, and twin guns lowered into place and locked on to the government troops. Laser pulse beams came out of 3 feet guns, and blew away the enemy troops. They had no chance. Red blood was everywhere, as well as explosions from cracked grenades. All of the marines got on the dropships, when the hangar doors closed, blocking the dropship's entrance out.

"Sir! They locked the doors shut!"
"Right, I'll fix it. Just hold out the next wave of government troops."
"Yes sir. 2nd and 4th squad, I want you to disembark, and provide fire support for the commander."
"Ma'am, Yes Ma'am!"

The troops got out and kneeled down, as Kroeger dashed for the lift at the wall of the hangar. He activated the lift, and it began to rise. He looked up as the lift make a quick rise to the hangar control center. He reached the top, when he heard radio chatter.

"More troops coming in!"
"Just four of them. We can hold them for a while."

Kroeger walked through the control center doors, and saw a government official, working hard on keeping the bay doors locked. Kroeger walked up to him, and lifted his AR with one arm.

"You chose the wrong side soldier."

The soldier made a grab for his sidearm, but Kroeger pulled the trigger and sent a bullet through his skull. He looked out the window.

"Sir! We're running out of time!"
"Roger that."

He quickly unlocked the doors, and jumped out to the lift, as it began to make its descent.

"Sir! We need to leave now!"
"Get the troops back in the transports."
"Roger."

A few seconds before the elevator his the ground, Kroeger jumped off, and landed in a forwards roll. He immediately recovered, and began a mad dash to the dropships. As he ran, the first dropship made its escape, and Jen's lifted off the ground, it's landing skids pulling up. Kroeger knew time was out, and he ran like crazy. The government saw his crazy dash, and began firing on him. He saw the bullets land around him, but he continued to run. A bullet hit his arm, and another at his shoulder, but he continued to run. A grenade landed right in front of him. His eyes widened, and he dived off to the right as it exploded. He managed to escape unscathed, and started his run again for the dropship. He pulled out his AR, and fired in the random direction of the enemy troops. Sweat ran down his face like each drop was racing to reach the bottom of his chin. He finally made it to the dropship, and jumped on, right as the dropship boosted off, leaving the government officials in the dust.

Kroeger smiled, and dropped his AR. He sat down and buckled up.

"Sir! You made it! To be honest, I thought you were going to go out in the blaze of glory!"
"Yea. So what's with this mission anyway?"
"I'll tell you all when we get to the landing site."
"How long is that?"
"20 hours."
"Damn Commander! That's long! What am I gonna do? Look at Larkin's ugly face for 20 hours?"
"Hey! I resent that!"
"Shut up, both of you. I'm not going to listen to you guys bicker for 20 hours. What were the casualties?"
"We didn't lose anyone Commander. We were lucky."
"Good."

He sat back, and looked at the now closed bay doors of the Pelican. He looked through the large window, out at the military complex. For some odd reason, he knew he'd be coming back to that old place.

The Renegade Marines Part XIV - The Welcome Committee
Date: 21 April 2002, 9:11 pm

Kroeger woke up as the Pelican began to jolt. He looked out the bay window doors, and saw they were over land. He looked up at the other marines in his Pelican. Some were sleeping like he was, and some were talking. Others were just looking out the window like him. He was about to join in at the conversations, when another jolt made him jump in his seat. He looked around him, and the other marines felt it too. All conversations were halted, and they looked around at each other. As the second jolt hit, a voice came over the intercom.

"Hey boys, we're in for some chop, but we're almost at our landing site, so don't fret."

The marines instantly began gossiping and talking about again as Kroeger looked to his right. On his right was his AR, locked in and stored nicely in its little spot. So...he was a renegade now. 400 soldiers versus all of the thousands of covenant soldiers, and all of the thousands of the government troops, many being elite soldiers. What were their chances of getting through this war alive? It was second to none, if not none. He laughed to himself, for they had almost no chance of surviving, even within a hidden spot. The government would find out somehow. They always did. All of a sudden, he felt the Pelican slowing down, and beginning to lower. He jumped out of his seat, and looked out the bay door windows. He could see all the other troops making camp already. Looks like they made it too. The Pelican soon hit ground, and Jen yelled over the coms of all the soldiers.

"And...touchdown boys! You're home free! Get yourselves off of my ship so I can park this thing and get something to eat."
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

The soldiers dumped out of the Pelican, Kroeger being the last one, of course. All the soldiers had their weapons on safety. Kroeger jumped out of the Pelican, and watched it, as it left to dock with all the other Pelicans. As he walked forward, he realized that there wasn't a camp there of all the other troops, but more of a solid base. There was a steel building right in front of him. It was small and had slots in it, apparently being a bunker. He and the troops with him walked up to the bunker.

"Halt! Oh! Wait. It's your commander! We thought you didn't make it out of the military complex in time! Wow, all the sergeants will be happy that you made it. Now we have a leader! Here."

The guard lowered his gun, and turned off the intruder alarm, and began walking down the pathway with his troops, toward the main base. He looked around him, misty mountains, animal life, grass, green ferns, and pine trees surrounded them. He hadn't noticed it in the air, but the place was beautiful. He stopped moving, and took a look around him.

"Troops, looks like we're hiding in the mountains. Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?"
"It's perty."
"It's BS sir."
"Shut your mouth soldier, or I'll kill you now, and drag you into the woods."

The soldier knew he was kidding, but knew that Kroeger was a powerful soldier, and decided against talking back any more. The troops walked along the grass pathway, in the canopy of the trees. Beams of light shone through the holes in the treeline, and Kroeger and the troops finally got through the forest to a clearing in the trees. He walked through, and saw a decently large base standing right in front of him. There were warthogs moving around, Scorpion tanks at the top of the base. Lord knows how they got them up there. He looked around.

"Well boys...get to your respective sergeants now. I will have a meeting with all you guys soon."

With that, he ran ahead of the soldiers to speak with the sergeants inside the base, who were probably planning strategies and battle plans. He walked through the guarded doors, the soldiers saluting him as he walked through. As he walked through the doors, he found himself in a small maze of hallways. He turned around and poked his head back outside, addressing the guards.

"Hey, you know where the sergeants are?"
"Yes sir. Make the first left, then the second right, then go forward for two intersections, then make another left, and then a right. After two more intersections, make a left, and the sergeants should be on the fifth left."

Perplexed by the complex architecture of the base, he nodded, and tried remembering all the directions. He went back into the base, and after 20 minutes of searching around, confused, he found the sergeants' room, and walked in. The sergeants were watching the news as he walked in. They were leaning back, intent on getting all the info they could out of the little TV set.

*ahem*
"Huh? Oh! It's Commander Kroeger! We thought you didn't make it out! We're glad you're here though. We'll have some leadership now."

The sergeants lined up in front of him. There were 7 of them, each responsible for 50 troops. He looked at each one. There was Nava, a vet from 123rd, and a very good strategist. Then there was Gevy, who he had known from 143rd. He was a great leader. Then there was Kalik, once a mercenary, but soon befriended Kroeger, and holds all his loyalty to him. A bit of a cynical person, but a good strategist nonetheless. Then, there was Golan, from the 166th, who was just an overall good soldier and leader. Then there was Vero, a close friend of Kroeger's from the elite 113th. Then there was Servo, a good friend of Kroeger that had served a long time, and had come out retirement to help the renegades. Then there was one he had never seen before. He walked up to him, and nodded.

"So, sergeant, who might you be? I thought I wasn't going to be sent with any strangers."
"Well, I am Derelic. I am from the 153rd. The general didn't have anyone else, so he chose me, sir."
"Good. I'm glad he chose you. You look like a respectable soldier."
"Thank you, sir."
"That's another thing guys. I don't want you guys calling me sir anymore. We're not part of the military any longer. We're just renegades, and as long as you respect me, you can call me whatever you want. No more sirs, or ma'ams or anything. Ma'am in Nava's case. You guys got it?"
"Yes...er...Kroeger."

He smiled, and looked around the room.

"Well, it's a nice setup you guys have here."
"It was a recently abandoned human base, and it was forgotten by the government. So we chose it as our base."
"I see. Well, it seems you guys have everything together. I'm going to go outside, and work on my sharp-shooting. By the way, how much ammo and supplies do we have?"
"We have more than enough ammunition and military supplies. As for food, we seem to be pretty set, but if we run out, we can always just forage or something in the forests."
"I see. Well done Golan, and the rest of you guys."

With that, he walked out, and heard everyone jump back in their seats to watch some TV. He went to the barracks to pick up a clip of ammunition and his AR. As he walked in, he saw Jen.

"Hey Jen. What's up?"
"Heya sir. Parked the Pelican with the others. I was jus' going to the mess hall to have a bite."
"Alright, and don't call me sir anymore, we're renegades now."
"Yes...commander."

He smiled and turned around to pick up an AR, but decided to test his abilities with the shotgun. He picked on up, and stored 8 extra shells in his pocket. As he was leaving the barracks, he could see a warthog in the distance, driving at full speed. He heard a radio transmission.

"Commander! We got incoming hostiles! The bunker has been overrun. We don't have any casualties yet, but there's a large Covenant force coming at us!"
"Roger that soldier. Hold them off."

He strapped in his shotgun at his side holster, picked up a flare gun and ran outside, loading it at the same time. He pointed the flare gun into the sky, and shot a huge red flare up. He smiled as a warning alarm sounded as soon as the flare went up, and soldiers came pouring out to attack the covenant threat. Troops came out of the barracks, mess hall, main HQ, and the hangar. The retreating warthogs skidded right in front of him at the barracks.

"Status report."
"We loss one while we were retreating. There are about 40 grunts and 8 elites."
"Hehe, that's bad odds for the Covenant. It's gonna suck for them. Let's go."

With saying that, Kroeger jumped in the passenger seat and the warthog drove off back into the battlefield where all the other soldiers were already fighting. He got a radio transmission from Kalik.

"Sir, the 2nd, and 3rd are outside already taking on the enemy. I'm getting my troops out there was we speak."
"Good job Kalik. Let's move. I don't want too many casualties."

The warthog kept driving forwards, the chain gun firing constantly. All of a sudden, the warthogs stopped.

"Sir, we're too close, we need to back out."
"No...we're driving right through them."
"But s.."
"Don't but me. Drive through."

With that, the Warthog's engines roared to life again, Kroeger loaded his shotgun, and shot while the warthogs ran right into the Covenant ranks. Blue blood splatter onto the windshield, and all over the three in the warthog, thoroughly soaking them in blue goo. The warthogs ran through, and sideswiped around to make another pass. Again the same thing happened, where wet blood got all over the troops all over again. As the warthog came out at the front ranks of the Covenant again, Kroeger noticed a grunt up against the windshield, still alive. He smiled, and pumped a shot through the warthog windshield, blowing the grunt off the Warthog. The dead body landed smack dab in front of the moving warthog, and was crushed as it went through.

"Kalik, status."
"Sir! you just took out 34 grunts by running through them!"
"Good to hear, we're coming back to help you mop them up."
"Alright."

The transmission was killed, and Kroeger reloaded his gun as the warthog turned to its left to take potshots at the enemy. The warthogs stopped right in front of the enemy ranks, and the driver and Kroeger jumped out, firing in the Covenant's direction, blowing away grunts, left and right. Meanwhile, the warthog gunner stayed in his place, firing upon the elites, providing suppression fire, while the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th took out the distracted elites. The elites were able to dodge most of the chain gunfire, but were mopped up by the battalions. Kroeger finished up blowing away the grunts, and looked up just in time to see the last elite explode in purple goop. He smiled as the troops grouped up together, waiting for further orders. Kalik walked out of the crowd of troops and up to Kroeger.

"We had the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th out here, giving us 150 troops. They were fucked. We still had one casualty. It's better than I predicted though."
"Thanks Kalik. We did much better than expected. Where are the other troops?"
"We feared this was a diversion, and decided to send enough troops to be able to kill the Covenant without losing too much, while keeping the bulk of the men at the base just in case we were right. But, so far, I have no transmissions of any invasion at the baseside."
"Good. That was good thinking."
"Troops, I want all of you to make sure these fuckers are dead. When you're done, return to barracks and get yourselves cleaned up. We're having a big party tonight."

There were loud cheers and yells. After a small celebration, they turned to their duties, and made sure each Covenant soldier was dead. Meanwhile, Kroeger turned around, got on the Warthog, and drove back to the base with the gunner still at the helm of the chain gun. He looked at the mountains and the trees as he drove back.

"Maybe we'll make it after all."

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