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The Rookie by The British Commando
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The Rookie - Chapter 1 - The Pillar of Autumn
Date: 3 April 2002, 4:50 pm
| Location: | Deck-E (Pelican Bay) UNSC Pillar of Autumn
301 km from Ring-World "Halo" | | Date: | June 14th 2054 (Earth time), 0400 Hours. | | Status: | Combat alert - Alpha. |
I stroked my rifle and prayed while the Sergeant gave us our orders.
"... and I don't care if it's God's very own anti son-of-a-bitch machine or a giant hula-hoop!" he continued, "It's our mission to make sure that those Covenant bastards don't get it! Instead, we are gonna' give 'em a belly full of lead and a pool of their own blood to drown in! AM I RIGHT MARNIES?"
"Sir, yes sir!" I shouted along with the other 11 marines in my squad. "Dismissed!"
The ship shook as another ball of super-heated plasma slammed into the hull. I wondered why so many ships from the Covenant battle group had followed this small Cruiser from the Reach system. I was even more curious about what this giant artificial ring-planet that we were being sent to was. It seems a bit too coincidental that a blind jump would land us right next to an item of such curiosity considering the infinite vastness of space.
Another ball of plasma hit the ship, somewhat closer to deck-E than before. The ensuing explosion caught me off balance and ripped up a coolant pipe suspended just next to my head. Pain racked through my body and I fell to the floor. I couldn't see for the smoke and I had the hot metallic taste of blood in my mouth. I tried to get up and head for the pelican with my squad mates but I collapsed to the floor again when I tried to get up. I tried to look down and inspect my wounds but blood and smoke were stinging my eyes. When I was just about ready to give up and ready myself for the sweet release of death, I felt strong arms hoist me up and start to move me. Through my semi-conscious delirium I heard the deep husky voice of Corporal "Bubba" Johnson. Bubba was the biggest guy in the squad at 6'7" and all of 300lbs. At that point I passed out from the pain.
"How is he?" said a distant voice.
"He suffered a concussion, four bruised ribs and several lacerations to the right arm and leg" replied another far away person "He lost a lot of blood, but he will be fine in a day or two..." The voice trailed off and I fell unconscious again.
My eyes ached. I rolled them about under closed lids and decided that I wasn't dead. I coughed to make sure. "Ah, back with us I see?" said the voice that I recognised from before. I opened my eyes gently to reveal that I was in a dimly lit tent, punctuated by the occasional storage crate and electronic gizmo. To my right was the source of the voice. I recognised him as the squads' medic, who I only knew as "Doc". I was new to the squad, as I had only finished training the week before.
"Wh-Where am I?" I asked, still lying down on the foldout medical bed.
"You're at base camp on the "Halo" world," replied Doc, who was checking the bandages on my leg. "How do you feel?"
"Not bad I suppose" I replied, noticing a bandage on my head. I sat up, and was greeted by a piercing headache.
"There is nothing seriously wrong with you anymore, so I recommend that you return to your squad, I have many more wounded to treat" said Doc. I got outside, and into a beautiful sunlit day. If I didn't know better, I would have thought it to be Earth. There were trees, grass, and I could hear the song of birds in the distance over the sound of Marines going about their business.
I was in the middle of a complex full of tents like the one I just left and I had no idea how I was supposed to find my squad, but it was reassuring to see that many other marines found their way off the Pillar of Autumn.
"Hey" said a familiar deep voice. It was Bubba. " Follow me, the LT is waiting for us"
"Bubba...You saved my life... I don't know what to say..." I replied.
"Save it for later, we're late," Said the big guy as he started to walk towards another of the tents. "C'mon Private"
To be continued...
***Authors' note*** This is my first fanfic, so if it sucks, please tell me. All constructive criticism welcome.
The Rookie - Chapter 2 - The Calm Before The Storm
Date: 4 April 2002, 9:45 pm
| Location: | Briefing Tent - Military HQ
"Halo" World
Unknown system (Cole Protocol) | | Date: | June 17th 2054 (Earth Time), 1830 hours. |
The familiar faces of alpha squad turned to face Corporal Johnson and myself as we entered the makeshift briefing tent. It was good to see that we didn't lose anybody in the escape from the Pillar of Autumn. The Lieutenant was standing at the other end of the tent, next to a topographical map and a laser pointer.
"Good to see you back on your feet, Private Collins," said the LT.
"Take a seat".
"Yes sir." I sat down in an empty chair at the back of the tent and Bubba sat down next to me.
"Now that we are all here, I'll get started" said Lieutenant Pliskin. "Our mission will be a short range patrol. This will be the first patrol since "Halo HQ" went up, so I don't need to remind you to be double careful. Our route will be as follows" He continued, outlining a path on the map with the laser pointer. "We will leave at 2200 hours standard time under cover of darkness, so you will be issued with NVG's along with your standard MA5B assault rifles and minimum ammunition loadout. We will rendezvous at the armoury tent at 2130 hours to grab your shit. Your orders are to engage any Covies with utmost caution. The more experienced soldiers among you know what they're capable of. That's it. Marines, dismissed!"
| Time: | 2125 Hours | | Location: | Outside armoury tent
"Halo" Military HQ |
The bitterness of the night was surprising compared to the warmth and almost semi-tropical environment of the daytime. The calling of the birds had stopped and everything was deathly silent apart from the muffled speaking of the Marines already inside. I had an odd feeling about this HQ. Supposedly it was built hastily, but I had seen rows of Warthogs and even Scorpions. I felt like something was amiss here, but it was probably nothing. Just my imagination running away with me again. It happens.
As I went into the armoury, I noticed it was larger than any of the other tents I had been in. There were rows of lockers along both sides and a rack in the middle full of the o' so familiar weapons I had come to adore in training. I love armouries; they always make me feel like a kid in a candy store (figuratively speaking, anyway).
I walked along the lockers on the left side to check if I had been designated one. I slowed down when I reached the "C" section. Carmen... no, Chester...closer, Collins... yep, that's me. I put my thumb on the scanner and the locker sprang open revealing my armoured vest, helmet, thigh and arm pads. The helmet also had the night-vision visor already attached. Looks like somebody had thought ahead for me. I strapped on my armour and collected an assault rifle plus four magazines of ammo from the rack closest to me.
With my armour strapped on, I headed to the door of the tent to meet with the squad. I was the last to join the group and was greeted with grunts, the occasional mumble and a slap on the back from Bubba which nearly knocked me clean out of my armour!
"All right, Marines. I trust you all remember the mission plan? ... Hm, good, lets' move out!"
Alpha squad stepped out into the cold, and I remembered my headache.
To be continued...
Authors Note: Sorry for this one being a bit slow, but I promise lots of action next time. Honestly...
P.S Any constructive criticism/suggestions welcome.
The Rookie - Chapter 3 - First Blood
Date: 9 April 2002, 2:21 pm
We walked silently through the middle of a shallow valley with gently sloping sides. Everything was quiet apart from the sound of footsteps and the clinking noise of equipment in our packs. The twelve of us were walking in two-by-two formation with two recons, Smith and Harrison, thirty metres in front.
A crackling came over the radio in my headset. My display on my night vision visor showed that the frequency was 195.49, our squads' frequency. "Lieutenant, Covenant patrol spotted two-hundred metres from our position, and they're heading right for us!" came Harrisons voice, sounding urgent.
"Okay, recons, get your asses back here!" replied the LT. "The rest of you, split into two teams and head up either bank and take cover. We're gonna ambush those sons of bitches when they come past, stay in radio contact. Go go go!"
I ran up the bank to my right side and got into some cover behind a large rock with two other marines. Everybody was silent and I listened intently for what seemed like an eternity. Nothing. Then, I heard the heavy footsteps of what I thought to be an Elite and lots of smaller footstep sounds masking it. "All right marines, they're close... on my mark" came the Lieutenants voice over the radio. Another eternity passed, and the footsteps got ever closer, they must be less than twenty metres away now. "Mark! Fire at will, marines!"
I looked over my rock and readied my rifle. There were at least a dozen grunts, an Elite, headed by a couple of Jackals. They were only about fifteen metres away, and would have walked right past us when I pulled the trigger. My MA5B assault rifle came to life and started spitting out vicious yellow tracer rounds towards their hapless targets. The recoil tried to pull my gun skywards but I held it fast against the closest enemy, a grunt in yellow armour. The bullets tore through the almost unprotected and soft flesh of my enemy, puncturing several organs and continuing out the other side. Bright blue blood leaked out of the fresh holes and dribbled down the body onto the ground, staining the grass. The little grunt looked at me quizzically for a second, its head tilted to one side, and then it collapsed limply onto the ground. It was my first ever kill, and I didn't intend to stop there.
The other marines had targets of their own, tracer rounds and bolts of green and blue plasma streaked the darkness with a deadly rainbow of light. Several other grunts had fallen, along with one of the Jackals. The Elite was moving up the other side of the valley, towards my squad mates, its shield flaring bright white when the 7.62mm AP rounds struck it. I turned my rifle towards the group of confused and frightened grunts and pulled the trigger again. I sprayed the tightly knit mass of grunts with full-automatic fire and slowly moved my rifle left to right until my ammunition in that clip ran out.
I ducked back behind my trusty rock to switch magazines and saw bolts of plasma streak the air just above me, exactly where I had been. Some of the plasma had hit the rock, and melted a small part of it. I suppose it was funny - I had never seen lava before. I finished changing mags and looked back above the rock the deal out some more pain, but there was nothing left to shoot. Corpses littered the ground ahead of me, and a dead Elite was rolling down the bank which it had worked so hard to climb.
"Good job Marines" came the LTs' voice over the radio "Lets head home".
The walk back to HQ was as silent as the walk away from it. I was listening to the ever present sound of footsteps and equipment and mulling over the events of a few minutes before. I was proud of myself.
HQ was just over the brow of the hill we were walking up, and nothing prepared me for what I saw.
"Holy shit." I said.
To be continued...
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