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The Story of a Marine by Ugly Wimp
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The Story of a marine; prolouge-ch. 1
Date: 5 May 2007, 11:34 am
One thing that happens from playing just Halo and Halo 2, and not reading the books, one forgets how tough the Covenant are. To you or me, three Jackals are a piece of cake, but to a squad of marines alone, it is a major challenge. One has to remember that in the games. I wrote this to answer my question, "What would it be like to figt along side the Master Chief?"
Prologue
1326 Hours, April 11, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Zeta Corliss System, Lars Grannus II Theater of Operations
Kruger Planetary Wildlife Refuge
Private First Class Andrew Waldron caught his breath behind the tree. He didn't know how long before the whole thing burned down. It was taking a lot of plasma fire. He assessed the situation in a second. To his right, Roberts, another man from Andrew's squad, was blasting away at an elite on a warthog chain gun. To his left, Sergeant McKinney and Ray Beavers crouched behind a wrecked `Hog, occasionally peaking out and firing. He fired another two bursts with his assault rifle and sent a grunt sprawling. They were doing better. Roberts had just finished a Jackal that he was sure would finish them. He hated their shields; it made them basically impossible to kill. It looked to Waldron like the battle would not last much longer.
It was then he saw a grunt arm a plasma grenade. Andrew quickly brought up his assault rifle, aimed, and fired. The grunt fell but it was too late. The glowing blue ball adhered to the warthog. Roberts saw it and jumped, but the explosion of the fuel tank threw him into a rock, where he lay, motionless.
"Waldron, over here now!" Sergeant McKinney shouted. The last grunt had been killed, so he ran over without any fear of being shot. "Alright," McKinney continued, "both our `Hogs are destroyed and who knows how long before their reinforcements arrive. Let's get out of here."
"How?" Waldron couldn't help but ask. "I mean, without transport, we'll be sitting ducks." Just then there was a loud rumbling and a Scorpion Tank drove over a hill. A single Marine sat on one of the tracks.
"Hey, pile on! Command says we need to get out of here." They needed no further encouragement, and piled on. "Command has ordered everyone be evacuated off the planet," the soldier continued.
"Excuse me," Waldron said, "but I was monitoring the com channels and it seems like we're winning."
"In case you couldn't tell, he's a new kid who just came in a week or two ago," Beavers chuckled and said to the Marine who had ordered them on the tank.
The Marine smiled, "Yeah, I figured that. Look kid, most of the news you get is not exactly the way it happened. See, we can kick ass down here, but once the Covenant take out our fleet, which they do with great ease, they come over and glass the planet. They can kill our fleet quicker than you can spit with their plasma torpedoes and with their energy shields they can take a helluva lot of damage. If we don't get off here, we'll be fried."
It did make sense, the news always showed lots of ground fighting, where they Marines always won, and ever since the Battle of Dawson V, there had hardly been any reports on space battles. Why are we even fighting, there is no stopping the Covenant—he immediately shook that thought from his head. He hoped that maybe, just maybe, they would find the one weakness of the Covenant; or at least some way of stopping them.
Chapter 1
1200 Hours, October 13, 2551 (Military/System Calendar)/
Sol System, 18 Bridge Road, Highland Township, Kennebec Territory,
Planet Earth
Six months earlier
Andrew Waldron stood on front porch and out at the landscape. He was going to turn seventeen in a half-hour, and kept glancing at his laptop, waiting for his draft notice. It was not impossible that he would be able to stay out of the war, but highly unlikely. Every friend he had that had turned eighteen had gotten a draft notice, and so he would get one too. Or so he kept telling himself. Still though, he could always hope, and so he did.
There was a "ding," which meant a message had come. He dashed to the laptop, but saw it was only from one of his friends who was a gunner's mate on the destroyer Mackinaw. Still, he read it:
United Nations Space Command Serviceman to Public Message
Encryption Code: N/A
From: UNSC/14thFleet/UNSCMackinaw Gunnar's Mate second class Ian McGraff
To: Andrew Waldron (civilian); ID: 0578-249936-AS5
Subject: Victory!
Classification: Serviceman to Public Message
Victory!
Andrew,
Today we won a major victory. It was my first combat experience and it was pretty cool. We were all set to jump into slipspace near Dawson V when three Covenant frigates and two destroyers jumped in. Our captain always keeps our MAC gun and Archer Missile pods hot we opened fire as soon as we saw them. Several other ships did the same and both destroyers and one frigate were destroyed before they could even bring their energy shields online. Only one was able to fire and did minor damage to one of our cruisers. It was simply amazing. I am sure it will be all over the news.
Happy Birthday! Let me know where you go when you get your draft notice.
Ian
/end file/
It was all over the news. There was footage of Covenant detonating in a blue cloud, and of one ship dodging a plasma torpedo by firing its emergency thrusters. He thought he might join the navy. But still, if he was a marine, he might meet a Spartan. He would never forget that day when, sitting in their classroom, all eyes had been turned to screens, when the government announced their "secret weapon," which had been in operation for many years, when the marines, who were about to be overrun by Covenant forces, were saved by the tall men in green armor. He would never forget that day.
He would also never forget the events of earlier that day. News came that Borealis Damascus had been glassed. Not only was it one of the most heavily populated planets, it was heavily defended, and this meant many students came that day without a parent. But the unveiling of the Spartan II project lifted many spirits.
He looked at the clock. He was eighteen. He heard a "ding" and saw the sender was the UNSC. He clicked on the message and read what he had expected to read:
United Nations Space Command PERSCOM Draft Notification
Encryption Code: N/A
From: United Nations Space Command Office of Personnel
To: Andrew Waldron; ID: 0578-249936-AS5
Subject: Draft Notification
Classification: Draft Notification
Draft Notification
Dear Mr. Andrew Waldron,
You have been selected to be drafted into the UNSC. You may join any branch of the United Nation's Military. Please contact a recruitment office sometime within the next seven days. Failure to do so will result in a violation of code: 58-45852-55, and you shall be punished accordingly.
/end file/
He decided that the Marines would be the best option, since he was unsure what else to be, he signed up for basic soldier. On the day he was to leave for training, there were tears shed throughout the family, luckily, his father had been able to secure a desk job and successfully survived till the mandatory retirement age, but all Andrew could think about was what lye ahead.
The Story of a marine; Ch. 2
Date: 28 May 2007, 12:32 pm
Chapter 2
0912 Hours, October 19, 2551 (Military Calendar/)
Epsilon Erandi System, Reach Military Complex, planet Reach
"Pushups, pushups, go, go, go!" the drill sergeant screamed at the recruits again.
After being taken to a former passenger ship, the recruits went to Reach, and arrived at the training facility. They were woken up with buzz batons and had not stopped moving since. Andrew was not a weakling, but this was insane. They just kept going and going, and he himself did not know how he was able to keep bringing himself up after feeling sure that he could not do any more, and would have his face smashed in by the sergeant.
His training was just like every other soldier who had ever passed through Reach. Various exercises, obstacle courses, weapon training simulation, and everything else that would make an ordinary civilian into a top-class soldier. The training was more abbreviated; the UNSC needed twice then men in half the time to replace all those lost in combat, but very few people actually knew this.
Like most foot soldiers, he would be equipped with an MA5B Assault rifle, two fragmentation grenades, and an M6D Pistol. But unlike most soldiers, he was sent in as an individual replacement, rather than a new unit, and was sent out to the Zeta Corliss System, where he was stationed on the only habitable planet, Lars Grannus II.
"I don't understand you," Ray Beavers, a member of Andrew's new squad, said with a laugh. "I have never seen anyone so obsessed with birds. Seriously, do you ever look at anything else?"
"They said the Jackals look kind of like birds. I'll watch them," Andrew replied with a smile.
"Look," Sergeant McKinney said, "the important thing here is that you don't do anything stupid. That means don't try to be a hero and use your assault rifle full auto. It's a good way to die. Use controlled bursts, they are the most effective. Other than that, listen to me and to me only. Also, ignore Roberts."
"Hey!" Roberts said with mild indignation. "I think we should ignore you Sarge.
They were stationed in Kruger, the Planetary Capital, and Waldron was surprised at how little action there was. There were reports from other planets on occasion. Target practice, some drills, but other than that, they had a lot of time to themselves. "This is kind of boring," Waldron said one day.
"Boring?" Roberts asked. "Well you haven't been in real combat. You'll be glad for moments like these. You won't understand until the Covenant come. But I wouldn't worry about it. We are one of the farthest planets, so they should be here soon…"
April 11, 2552 dawned like any other day. Andrew stood outside the barracks, watching some of the planet's native birds, when a private ran out and shouted, "The Covenant, they've been spotted in space!" Soon a similar message was broadcast over the loud speakers. A chill ran through Waldron's blood. He ran to the locker room, put on his armor and helmet, and realized he was shaking the whole time.
"Platoon 54 and 56, you are to move out to the motor bay and take a convoy of Warthogs to escort a Scorpion MBT to destroy a Covenant heavy plasma turret in the Kruger planetary wildlife refuge," said the voice over his helmet speakers. They moved out and mounted up.
The `Hogs set out and made decent time to the refuge. About halfway there, they received a report that a Covenant unit was closing in on their rear, so several `Hogs stayed behind, and Andrew was in one of them. They set up a defensive perimeter, and soon the Covenant came calling, arriving in their odd U-shaped drop ships, charging, and getting beaten back. It did not take long before the battle was over…
[If you have not, read the prologue now]
The Scorpion drove down the congested causeway, swamped with civilian vehicles, all attempting to make it to the city and off the planet. Andrew was not in the mood for another battle. The whole thing was way to frightening, and he did not want to do it again.
"What happened?" Sergeant McKinney asked. "To everyone else, I mean."
"Well," The marine said, "we got to the gun, and it hit the fan. There were heavier defenses than we thought, so we had to send the `Hogs in first, and pretty soon they were all blown up. Well, the four of us came in, only I came out. We hit the gun and picked you up. Not much more than that." There was silence.
They drove along, and soon came in view of the Lars Grannus II Planetary Library of Records. The once majestic building was embroiled in combat, and even at a distance of a mile, he could see the flying bullets and plasma bolts. Suddenly, a stream of Pelicans flew in, and began air lifting troops, while Short swords, Long sword, and Sparrow Hawks provided cover.
"That's the plan of our guys," the marine said. "The Covenant landed on the planet to try to get info from that planet side database. But the Cole Protocol says planet side data base are to be cleared, but we were fightin' like it was important. Now we spring the trap." Then, a stream of 30 Archer missiles shot from the sky, and impacted on the building. The explosion was enormous, the sound, deafening, and then a swarm of bombers and fighters mopped up the survivors.
"We don't have long before they check a personal computer, and see it's clear too," the marine whispered. They pulled off the road onto an exit ramp, and headed down an empty side street. Empty was an understatement. Abandoned was a better word.
Soon though, two shadows rounded a corner. A split-second later, the tank fired, and one of the vehicles exploded, and sent bodies flying. After a series of clanks, a second round fired from the tank gun, and the second shadow blew up. Then, a wraith came around. "Get off the tank!" Beavers shouted as an orb of plasma issued from the top of the odd vehicle. It came down, right behind the tank. The other marine was dead.
They ran. The tank fired one shot, as did the wraith. The tank's shot hit the wraith, and the vehicle smoked, but was not destroyed. The Scorpion fired again, and this time, the wraith exploded. But the wraith's second shot came down a split-second later, and hit its mark. The Scorpion detonated.
"Come on," Beavers said, "We have to get out of here," They ran down the street, toward the center of the city. Then, they came upon a group of Covenant soldiers, slowly advancing on a group of marines.
"Hold up," McKinney said, "arm grenades, and throw on my mark. Then mop them up while they're confused." They each pulled out a frag grenade, and got ready to throw. "Now!" McKinney shouted. Three grenades landed at the feet of the grunts and Jackals, and exploded, sending bodies flying and blood spurting. Then, they opened up with a barrage of AR fire, which cut through the survivors. But they were too late. All the other marines were dead.
"Look!" Waldron said. "There's still a Warthog." They got in, and it was a short ride to the city center.
The place itself was crowded with Pelicans, Albatrosses, and the civilian freighters were all being loaded with civilians and military personnel. An annoyed looking staff sergeant walked up to them, "Unit?" he asked them.
"Platoon 54, though this isn't our `Hog. Everyone else in our and platoon 56 is dead." Sergeant McKinney said without even the slightest wavering of his voice.
"Damn," the staff sergeant muttered. "Command was hopping for no complete KIA's. Alright, get on transport 45." They found their way to the pelican, and found it loaded with children. The pilot heckled them about children being more important, but McKinney showed him the orders, so they got in and took off
The pelican climbed rapidly into the outer atmosphere, and soon joined up with the carrier New York. It was a massive ship, and the loading bay was filled with people. As the bay door opened, a private on personnel control grimaced at the sight of another heard of children. "Go into barracks 256S, get settled there," was the command they were given. They quickly dashed to the location, where there was a view screen, with many men clustered around it.
"What's happening?" Andrew asked.
"The Covenant are closing, maybe attacking," someone said. Everyone watched attentively as a group of odd shaped sleek white ships closed on the ten destroyers that surrounded the carrier. There were only four Covenant ships on the attack, but another two were hovering near the planet. Then, six more Covenant frigates exited Slipspace, and turned toward the human fleet.
Then, all the ships shuttered as Magnetic Accelerator Cannon rounds fired from their guns, and pounded the closest four ships, their shields sparkled and died, and two were destroyed in the barrage.
Suddenly, the carrier and tree destroys turned around, and fired their Archer Missiles. The camera view switched to the aft camera. The two remaining Covenant ships opened fire, and two destroyers were destroyed. A salvo of Archer missiles from the departing ships finished them off, and then the carrier jumped into slipspace.
"Do you think they'll win?" Andrew asked.
"Win?" a marine asked quietly. "They are going to hold the Covenant long enough so they can't follow us into slipspace. They might take a few of them with them though."
Silence followed. Waldron lay down in a bunk, and was surprised he was alive.
The Story of a marine; Chapter 3
Date: 11 June 2007, 11:02 pm
Chapter 3
1035 Hours April, 20 2552 (Military Calendar/Estimate)
Location: Unknown, somewhere in slipspace on randomized vector
Andrew had come out of the shock that had followed the battle. It was not the serious form of shock; he was merely silent and kept to himself. It took a good nights sleep to bring him back to normal. He walked over to one of the table where Beavers and McKinney were sitting. "I suppose I should be able joke about this now?" he asked.
"Just wait a little while," Beavers advised.
"I wouldn't calling 'joking' myself," McKinney put in. "Its more, speaking about with a lighter tone. Regardless, it will make you feel a little bit better about everything." The Sarge sighed, and they all remembered how there had been two billion residents of Lars Grannus II.
Eventually, they came out of slipspace over Sigma Octanus IV. The refugees were to be settled there, and the Marines would be posted with the local garrison.
Andrew's first thought was the place was huge. He, along with McKinney and Beavers, was stationed in the area around the HQ and hospital complex. Further on, there was another base from a different battalion, and several other companies were stationed around the planet. As Beavers said, "ONI must be expecting an attack, over wise they wouldn't put us on a planet already fairly well defended."
It did make Andrew rather uneasy, but it would be easier now that he had some experience with the Covenant. In other wars, it seemed the new recruits always died first. This war though, everyone was just as likely to die as anyone else. It was fair, but Andrew would rather have a higher chance of survival now that he was a veteran.
Soon, July came. It was hot on Sigma Octanus. The base had been carved out of the jungle, so it was often brutally hot. July 17 was no different. Andrew was off duty, lying in his cot, holding his data pad, and composing a message to home when the alarm sounded. "Attention all personnel, report to your briefing rooms and prepare for combat. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill." Andrew flew up, and ran to armory. He dawned his armor, and load up on ammo and grenades, than ran to his companies briefing room.
"Four Covenant ships came out of slipspace not long ago, and the brilliant tactics of Captain Keyes destroyed three of the ships," said the company commander brusquely. Then a diagram appeared, showing the "Keyes Loop." Unfortunately," he continued, the remaining ship was a carrier, and it has deployed a lot of drop ships. We are assigned to defend Head Quarters, and are to take up positions in bunkers 3-14."
They moved out. The headquarters defense was based on two lines of bunkers, which roughly formed around a right-angle. On the other sides, there were steep mountains where it would be impossible to land any sizable force. In front of the bunkers was a large field, ideal for landing troops. Beyond that was a large valley, heavily forested. Further on was the primary marine base, the first line of defense. Andrew arrived in bunker, loaded up with ammo, his AR, pistol and frag grenades.
The bunkers were two stories of concrete reinforced with titanium A. Several wraith shots couldn't penetrate, so Andrew felt secure. The lower level was 10 feet square, and the upper level was 5 feet square. Andrew peered through the firing slit, but couldn't see anything. They waited in tense silence for half an hour. Then, a fleet of specks appeared on the horizon. They soon proved to be the Covenant U-shaped drop ships, and there were a lot of them. Missiles fired, and blasted some to smoldering cinders, but more broke through and released groups grunts, who soon charged in a mad dash toward them.
"All standard personnel, hold fire; snipers, machine gunners and tanks: fire!" Bullets and shells exploded forward, sending many grunts tumbling, but still they charged, firing though they were out of range. Their numbers dwindled as they drew closer, but they then came in range. Very few plasma bolts actually made it through the slit, and most were misses, but one shot did hit Ray Beavers in the face, and he fell dead. No had time to even look. "All standard personnel: fire!"
Soon, the Covenant forces pulled back to the first line of bunkers, many mere charged piles of rubble and waited. Nothing moved. Then, a series of loud explosions rocked the surroundings. "They glassed the barracks Command office!" said another marine. Then, the grunts returned.
Hundreds of Assault Rifles fired, ammo counters dwindled and spent casings and empty clips hit the floors of the bunkers. Wave after of grunts charged, and slowly, more and more soldiers fell. Andrew kept firing. As wraith blasts came down on Warthogs, flipping them and turning them in smoldering hulks. As Seraph fighters bombed Scorpions, and were sometimes shot down by Longsword interceptors. As jump jets and Short Swords pounded the Covenant and as the grunts kept coming, and coming, and coming, he held down the trigger, removed spent clips and dodged plasma fire.
He was out of AR ammo shortly after McKinney went down, and picked up his ammo and began firing again. He threw one of his four grenades, and the bodies of grunts, some of whom were already dead, others who had just died, went flying. It had been 70 minutes before the last Scorpion and was destroyed, and survivors were ordered to retreat to the second line of bunkers. These bunkers were one story, and not nearly as sturdy. To get to them, Andrew ran across 50 yards of unbroken ground. Many men fell beside him. Once he was able to grab a clip off a dead body, adding it to the other two he had.
He dived into the bunker, threw a grenade and began firing. The three clips were used up in the space of minutes, since Andrew had to fire full auto. He threw another grenade, and pulled out his pistol, and began unloading rounds into the grunts.
Andrew knew he had to retreat when the other man died, and grunts began crawling over the bunker. He took his last grenade, and threw it at the entrance, and took cover. After it exploded, he charged out, fired his last two pistol rounds, picked up a plasma pistol and a plasma grenade, and retreated to the trench in front of a wrecked building. He found thirty survivors there. He dived in as green plasma bolts flew over his head. He peaked up, firing the plasma pistol.
It was depleted in ten minutes, so he picked up one of the many lying in front of the trench. In five minutes, Covenant stopped coming. Then, a red elite charged over the hill. Andrew held down the trigger, ready to fire when he noticed the pistol had built up a ball of energy. Bullets pinged of the elite's shields, and it jumped into the trench, smashing a marine with its plasma rifle.
The elite was right in front of Andrew, standing eight feet tall it roared at him. Time slowed. The elite raised its rifle and Andrew fired. The bolt of plasma corrected itself, and flew into the chest of the elite. Its shields failed, and it appeared stunned. Andrew pushed the overheated plasma pistol into one of the unarmored areas on the elites. The heat melted through, and jammed the top open. The elite staggered, struggling to raise its weapon. Andrew removed the plasma pistol, and fired at the elites head. The alien gurgled and fell.
The grunts, at seeing their leader die. Turned and fled, getting shot as they ran. Drop ships picked them up, and all was quiet. Andrew looked around. There were only 14 marines left, and many were wounded. There was no cheering, the men collected ammo and moved up to one of the few surviving bunkers.
"Hey, the munitions bunker, it hasn't been hit!" a marine shouted. They all looked, and sure enough the bunker was still standing, but a fire was spreading toward it.
"We'll need that ammo. I'll go get a fire fighting suit and get it. I need four others," four men left, but Andrew leaned against the bunker and sighed. He could not have cried. There was too much adrenaline in him and, he knew that if he started crying, he could not stop. So many had died that day. Some that he didn't know, some that he did. But on the inside, a part of cried. A part that was pushed back and left alone.
Eventually, a warthog pulled up, with four marines, one wounded. The survivors of the base were informed that the nearby base was destroyed, but they were able to get SATCOM, and they said the marines would get help.
When the single Pelican arrived, Andrew knew that there was no way they would be able to stop the Covenant with one Pelican of marines. But there were no marines in the Pelican, there were Spartans.
The Story of a marine; Chapter 4
Date: 20 June 2007, 3:34 pm
Chapter 4
1100 Hours, May 24, 2545 (Military/System Calendar)
Oak Ridge Middle School; Room 245
Six Years Earlier.
Andrew sat at his desk waiting for the teacher to begin the next lesson. "Well students," their teacher said, "before we continue, the administration wants everyone to see the press release that the prime minister is making, so please pay attention. I know it's boring, but apparently you need to see it." Everyone groaned. UNSC press releases were notoriously long, and ever since the students had been forced to watch them, they learned that there was something more boring than studying.
The screen turned on, and the solemn face of Prime Minister Fiorentino, standing at the podium, appeared. "People of the United Nations, it is with pleasure I announce a project that has been taking place for years, and has been keeping you safe from the Covenant."
Andrew had to shake his head at that. Every month, it seemed a kid came into school teary eyed, and they went straight to the guidance office. Later that day, everyone would learn how there father, mother, aunt, uncle, or cousin was killed by the Covenant. It seemed even to be getting worse, sometimes there were two or three cases, and the news was always reporting on how another planet had been glassed.
"The SPARTAN II Program, has been going on for since 2525, and has been hugely successful. Spartans are chosen from the best and the brightest of the UNSC military, and given special MIJOLNIR armor, which can take multiple hits before even singeing. It also enhances the user's strength and reflexes, making Spartans nearly invincible. They played a large part in the recent victory on Outlook colony, and here is footage, taken in combat, showing Spartans in action."
The screen cut to a somewhat grainy image, showing several marines, taking cover behind a low wall at the top of a building. The building overlooked a courtyard, filled with civilians, surrounded by Covenant. They occupied the ground and the nearby roof tops, but had not detected the marines.
"Sir," one marine said in a whisper over his radio, "I don't see how any size force stop them from killing those civilians."
"Just hang tight," a voice replied over the radio, "help is on the way."
Then, there was a sudden hail of fire. All the rounds were those from a sniper rifle, and 16 Covenant soldiers, mainly Jackals and a few of the tall ones with shields. Three green shapes jumped up from places where they could never have been seen. When they landed, the ground shook, but they were in motion again in a split second. Their weapons fired, grunts and jackals fell to the ground, those who lived ran, arms in the air, obviously in sheer terror.
Everyone sat riveted, staring at the screen. There were no bored stares, nor sleepy yawns.
Five ghosts entered the courtyard. Four of the drivers were taken out by a sniper who not revealed herself. One of the armored figures jumped onto the vehicle, kicked the driver out and spun the craft around. Its plasma cannons let loose a stream of fire on the tall alien driver, who quickly fell, dead.
Three pelican drop ships landed, and began picking up human survivors. Not a single Covenant so much as twitched.
Andrew could not believe he was staring at these same Spartans. They told him and the rest of the marines to stay behind. Once the beings left, everyone talked at once.
"I can't believe they sent Spartans; we must be important."
"Damn, at least we don't have to worry about the Covenant anymore."
"I knew they tall but…"
They rambled on for a little while, then finally quieted down. They talked though, on what they had heard about the Spartans. The general consensus was that not a single Spartan was KIA, and that most Covenant ran at the sight of a Spartan.
After a while, there was a tremendous explosion. Everyone ran out of the bunker and saw a mushroom cloud over where Cote d'Azure was. The Spartans had nuked it, evidently, and with reports of a victory in space, the Covenant were all but out of the system.
A few days later, Andrew was watching the construction of new bunkers and the unloading of reinforcements. Then, a private, one of the few who had survived, walked up to him. The new general says we need to meet him in his office.
They walked up to the prefab structure that was serving as the temporary command. They walked in, and found the other survivors standing in front of the general's desk. "Everyone's here sir," and MP reported. The general was looking out a window at the construction. He turned around and saluted, as did all the marines.
"Well gentlemen, I would like to congratulate you on a job well done. I know that is an understatement, but there isn't much more I can say. Now, I am sure you can all figure out that now that the Covenant knows the location of this planet, they are sure as hell coming back. So, I would like some experienced men to help reinforce this place. But I received orders straight from ONI section 3 that you are to report to Reach for a special assignment. Well, good luck to you all."
There was silence. Everyone knew that ONI section 3 special assignments were suicide missions. Andrew would have liked to have said he would gladly die to save the UNSC, but he couldn't. He honestly would have rather lived than go on an ONI mission, but he didn't have much choice.
Over the next two months, Andrew got extra training in standard combat, but also a lot of zero-gee combat instruction. That was new. All UNSC trainees got some instruction in low gravity environment, but this was the kind of training that a specialist got. Finally in September, he learned where he was going.
"Alright marines, listen up," said the Master Sergeant who was briefing them, "I know you have all been through hell, but this assignment could mean the end of the war. I would just like remind everyone that this is classified information, and giving it away would be considered treason and is punishable by death. Now, you will be stationed on board the Pillar of Autumn, which will be sent on a special mission. All the remaining Spartans will also be aboard, and they will attempt to disable and capture a Covenant ship. The idea is to get a Covenant vessel to attempt a boarding action, so you will need to defend the Autumn, while the Spartans do their thing. I can't reveal anymore of the Spartan's mission, because it's classified, but the important thing is that you keep the ship from falling into enemy hands. Understood?"
"Sir!" everyone answered. But Andrew wasn't sure that he was ready. But, given the choice, he thought he might never be ready. But he had no choice; had to do it, and this might be the battle that would save humanity.
Afterward, the marines who would be aboard assembled, and Andrew saw a familiar face.
"Well I'll be damned, if it isn't Andrew Waldron. What did you survive so they put you on this outfit? I think we have a collection the luckiest marines in the entire galaxy," It was a friend of his from training, Joseph Walker.
"Well, the Covenant landed at Sigma Octanus, attacked my position. I was one of the few who survived, how about you
"Well, our ship was boarded by the Covenant, we fought them off, but very few of us were left."
"Well, with our luck, we might make it through this," Andrew said with a chuckle. They moved back to the barracks.
"Sergeant says we have to load up. We'll be getting on the ship tomorrow. We'll be leaving three days after that." Three days—Andrew thought. He didn't think that three days was a very long time. But now was not the time to be scared. He had to fight!
The Story of a marine; Chapter 5
Date: 25 June 2007, 3:17 pm
Chapter 5
0430 Hours, August 30, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Pillar of Autumn, Epsilon Eridani System's edge
Andrew finished putting away his supplies, and pulled out his reader. He began typing a message to Ian McGraff.
United Nations Space Command Serviceman to Serviceman Message
Encryption Code: Green
From: UNSC/ONI Special Ship/UNSC Pillar of Autumn Marine Corporal Andrew Waldron
To: Ian McGraff; in transition after displacement; code 18564-6395-H
Subject: Current Situation
Classification: Serviceman to Serviceman Message
Update on me
Ian,
I heard your ship was destroyed over Sigma Octanus, that's too bad. At least you were able to get away in the escape pod. I was reassigned after surviving the ground battle to the Pillar of Autumn. Our mission is highly classified, and comes straight from ONI Section III. We'll be setting off soon, and the details are classified. I heard that you and some other crew stayed on the ship, and used what charge was left on you MAC gun to get off a last shot. That is brave. Braver than anything I've done. I suppose though I'm on the Pillar of Autumn because of bravery though. Whatever, keep me informed on what happens.
Crap! I am hearing that Reach is under attack! I have to go. This is definitely bad!
/end file/
Andrew hit send and jumped up, and ran to the briefing room for his company. The room was already half full. A screen showed a zoom in of the Covenant fleet. There were so many ships that the camera had to be zoomed far out, so it appeared each ship were no more than an inch long.
"How many ships are there?" someone asked.
"About 300," said the officer. Everyone gasped. 300 ships. Even with the orbital defensive grid and the 100 other UNSC ships, there was not way the humans could hold up against a force that size. They watched the battle, as slowly the fleet was destroyed, as the Covenant swarmed the planet.
They watched as MAC rounds from the orbital guns cut through Covenant ships. Groups of five or six ships attacked the a MAC cannon. The gun would fire, but it could not fire fast enough, and at least one of the ships was able to fire. This usually either destroyed the MAC gun or made it vulnerable to another attack. Soon, all the cannons were destroyed.
After what seemed like an eternity, the ships began retreating. A few slipped into slipspace, and many more were destroyed. Eventually the ship entered Slipspace, and the crew went to their cryo-chambers. On the way their, Walker said, "I'll be damned. I'm no quitter, but, without Reach, I don't know how we can win. We'll see."
"Maybe we can do something when we get out of Slipspace," Andrew said, but he didn't think it was true. It seemed there was no way the humans could win with Reach gone. The Covenant had skipped many of the other colonies. How long until they reached Earth? He decided not to worry about it. Just to fight when ordered, and let the admirals worry about the tactical situation.
Andrew awoke from cryo-sleep. He hated it, especially the part where he had to cough up all that serum. "We got one helluva situation on our hands," were the first words he heard when he sat up. It was the Sergeant. "Get your stuff together, and get ready for combat."
They had gotten away from Reach, so why would they be fighting? Perhaps they had been followed through slipspace. He ran to the ready room once again, and on screen was a big ring. It appeared to be metal, yet there was an environment on the inside.
"What the hell is that?" A private asked.
"That," the Sergeant said, "is what we hope to find out. We're going to be landing on that ring, and we're going to take the fight to the Covenant. This will be one of the first human offensives of the war. And by the time its over, the Covie bastards will wish they never had never heard of human beings. Now let's go. The Covenant have launched boarding craft, and we're going to need to fight them off the ship before we can get to the surface. Go, go go!"
They ran, but Andrew glanced at the ring. He had a feeling, he might be spending a lot of time there. The only thing he was sure of though: something big was about to happen.
The story of a marine; chapter 6
Date: 20 November 2007, 8:53 pm
[It has been a while, but I have been busy/lazy. I hope to get back a somewhat regular schedule. ~Ugly Wimp]
Chapter 6:
0345 (Ships Time), September 19, 2552 (Military
Calendar)/ UNSC Cruiser Pillar of Autumn, location
unknown.
Private Waldron braced himself against the bulkhead and peaked around before firing another burst into the group of grunts. It was surprising, he hadn't seen any Jackals, though they could usually be found leading the grunts. Instead there was a preponderance of elites, which was, in many ways, worse. At one point the Master Chief burst into the battle, but he was gone again in a flash.
Waldron's squad moved on, and when the evacuation order was given, they headed for a life pod bay. Halfway there, the squad heard, "I smell something…" in a high, squeaky voice that could only belong to a grunt. They all stopped.
"Of course you smell something! There dead everywhere," this was from a second grunt.
Then came a strange sound, which was obviously an elite. The marines still did not have translation software for them yet.
The marines were silent. The enemies were obviously right around the corner. A marine walked up and flattened himself against the wall, and crept toward the corner. He got out a grenade, pushed the detonate button, and threw the grenade around the corner. Evidently there were quite a few grenades lying around in the next corridor, for after the first explosion, there were more and more until the whole hallway was lit by blue and yellow fire. Those Covenant who were in the hall were practically incinerated. The marines moved on quickly, and avoided looking at the gore for too long.
Several empty halls later, the group of marines came upon a life boat and got on board. "Let's get out of here!" Someone said.
"I don't know…" Andrew said thoughtfully, "there are still some open seats; we should wait a little longer."
After a little bit, a scared crewman ran up. "We have to get out of here, the Covenant are right around the corner!" No one argued. They strapped in, the doors of the life boat closed, and the pod exploded from the side of the Autumn.
It was not long before fire began to glow on the front of the vehicle, and soon it was bouncing its way through the ring's atmosphere. There was a crash, and the lifeboat began bouncing and shaking as it tore a swath of fire into the landscape. Finally, Bumblebee Human Escape Vehicle thudded to a stop. The rear doors slid apart, and the shaken men and women, many who had never seen each before, stumbled out.
"Shit!" was the first spoken word. "Damn it," Walker said. "Of all the places to land, we land here!" The area was blanketed with thorny bushes that were seven feet tall and very thick. The only place where there were no bushes was in the large path cut by the life pod when it crashed.
"Did anyone bring a machete?" Andrew asked.
"What should we do?" asked a nervous looking crewman.
"It looks like we are in a bowl shaped valley," a marine said. "Though there could be more of this bush outside, but I think it's worth trying to get to the top."
The sergeant, a man named O'Shea, nodded and pulled out a field scope with range finder, and surveyed the terrain. "Shortest distance to the rim is two klicks that way. I guess we better move out." If was not for the plants, the marines would have been out of the valley in no time. However, they had to crawl the distance, because the spines did not grow down near the base of the plants. An hour later, the tired men and women pushed through the bushes and climbed the last few feet to the rim of what now appeared to be some sort of crater. They looked out upon nearly barren flats with the occasional butte sticking out of the ground. There were no thorny plants here, just a brown grass that stretched on forever.
"Phew, look at that view," a corporal named Ryan said.
"You think that's something, look up," another marine said. Everyone did, and gasped. Above them, the ring continued to stretch toward the sky, and they could faintly make out the opposite side in the distance.
Suddenly, the radios inside the helmets of the marines crackled. "This is UNSC AI Cortana contacting all active radio transmitting units. Does anyone copy?"
"This is UNSC marine Sergeant Grade 2 O'Shea, I copy. I have ___ marines and crewman with me."
"Roger," Cortana replied over the sergeant's ear piece. "What is your lifeboat identification number?"
"#65974-5DJ9; we are approximately two kilometers away from it over."
"Understood, I am sending a drop ship to pick you up. Over and out."
"Over and out. Alright people you heard the lady, sit tight, help is on the way."
"Hey, I think I see them on the horizon," a crewman said as he put his hands up to shield his eyes.
"God dam it!" O'Shea cursed. "That's a drop ship alright, a covenant drop ship!"
"What do we do?" the crewman asked.
"I think we are going to have to go back into the brush," Andrew said.
The story of a marine Chapter 7
Date: 23 December 2007, 8:59 pm
Chapter 7
0726 hours, September 19, 2552 (Military
Calendar)/ Halo Ring surface
Andrew Waldron steeled himself for the fight ahead. The marines backed down into the thick, thorny brush, as the whine of the spirit's engines got louder and louder. The drop ship had seen them, because it set down right where they had been standing. The clutch of grunts and the elite in command of them disembarked. They did not see the marines lurking in the shadows underneath the thorn bushes. The elite warbled something to a red armored grunt, who wearily led his orange clad comrades toward the bushes. They would not have had to crotch to get under the bushes if their methane tanks had not been so cumbersome. The grunts crawled forward, toward the marines. As soon as the alien got a little closer and the marines would open up.
But then, a nervous crewman fired first. The shot missed, and the grunts jumped back. "Fire!" shouted Sergeant O'Shea. Two grunts were killed, but the element of surprise had been lost, and now the covenant soldiers were content to fire into the bushes where ever they saw muzzle flashes.
Plasma burned the bushes, and Waldron was concerned they'd start a fire. To prevent this, he tried to take down the Covenant as quickly as possible. It wasn't long before the elite staggered back under a hail of bullets, lowering its shield and allowing it to be finished off. A marine crawled out, but quickly dived back under the bushes again, as the fire from the turret underneath the shadow dropship reigned down toward him.
"This pelican Charlie 217, I have sighted a Covenant dropship hovering over your position, over."
"We are aware of it, could you take it out?" O'Shea growled back into the radio.
"Negative," the pilot said, "we don't have as many rockets as we would like."
"Look damn it," O'Shea, having lost all patience, shouted, "it's not gonna leave. Just take it out!"
"I'll try to wound it so we can move in," the pilot responded. There was a whoosh and a rocket struck the side of the Shadow. The dropship shuddered and flew off, leaking plasma that turned the soil to glass. The pelican hovered over their position, and the tired marines and crewman climbed in.
"I knew you can spare one missile," O'Shea said with a grimace. "Let's go before they get reinforcements." The pelican took off and flew toward another lifeboat beacon, where the occupants had just finished fighting off more Covenant, but had not faired as well. Only three marines and a single crewman boarded the pelican, filling it to capacity.
"We are approaching Alpha Base," the pilot said an hour later. "The ODSTs were nice enough to take it off the Covenant's hands." The pelican touched down on top of a butte, with many ancient looking structures on it. They appeared to be made of a shiny grey metal or stone, meaning they were not Covenant, or else they would be the only color the aliens ever used, purple.
A master sergeant walked up and said, "Listen up marines; this is going to be your home for a while. Most of Autumn's crew is on the ground here, and we plan on being a pain in the ass to all the Covenant on this ring. We're eventually gonna get off this place, but until then this will be our base of operations. Go over there and see Petty Officer Turovlin. He'll tell you where you will be bunking."
O'Shea led the men over to Petty Officer Turovlin. "Sergeant O'Shea reporting for a place to sleep, sir" he said with a slight chuckle.
"You boys are lucky," the man responded. "We are all out of cubicles, so you will be inside that structure." He pointed a building on the far side of the butte that looked no different than the others. "It has natural rooms," he continued, "just hang these sheets in front." He gave them several tarps and some line and hooks, and went off to check on some supplies.
The marines walked into the building, and saw that half of inside had been tarped-off. "Hey," one of the resident marines said indignantly. "They didn't say that we'd be sharing this place."
"Well, why do you think they told us to be on one side only, dumbass?" a sergeant, obviously the platoon leader, said to the marine. "Name's Petrola, and you?"
"O'Shea. Hope you don't mind if we bunk on the other side."
"Not at all, make yourself at home."
"Well looky here," a marine in Andrew's squad said. "They gave us a view." There was a rectangular piece of the wall cut away that gave a view of the surrounding territory. "On second thought," he added, "what happens when it rains?"
"I don't think you are going to have to worry about much rain around here," Waldron said observing the lack of trees and other tall vegetation. That statement was wrong of course, after the chief and the ODSTs left to rescue Captian Keyes and get supplies from the Autumn, it started to rain. The water did in fact come through the hole in the wall, but it was stopped by a tarp hung over the "window."
Waldron laid down in his "area" as the marines called them. The building was little more than a covered hallway with three rooms built off to each side, and a wall separating them. The walls were covered in strange symbols that Waldron stared at while he waited to fall asleep. Little did he or any of the other defenders of Alpha Base know that they would soon be faced with the greatest threat the galaxy had ever known.
The story of a marine chapter 8
Date: 6 January 2008, 6:13 pm
Chapter 8
September 24, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Halo surface, near Silent Cartographer
Andrew Waldron sat in the seat of the pelican as it roared over the glassy sea. "We are coming up on the LZ. It's hot!" the pilot of pelican Charlie 217 said over the radio. The dropship roared up to the beach and turned around. Ahead, there was a hill of sand from which the Covenant was counter attacking. A marine at the front of the pelican threw a grenade at the forces, blowing several grunts into the water.
The pelican touched down and Waldron got out along with the other marines. He fired his assault rifle into the mess of grunts and elites, all the while trying to dodge sizzling bolts of plasma. A green charge hit dead center in his armor, but since it was the thickest part, he only got a few small burns, and felled the grunt who hit him. A frag grenade arched over his head and landed in the middle of the hill. The explosion all but wiped out the grunts and caused an elite to stagger backwards, its shields depleted. The Master Chief ran up and fired two shots from his pistols into the aliens head, causing it to fall with a mighty roar.
The marines moved ahead, where a large structure created an arch over the beach, and more Covenant were on the other side. An elite jumped out an slammed a marine next to Andrew with its plasma rifle. It issued a mighty laugh, but soon had its skull crushed under and assault rifle, being wielded by the chief
That was close, Andrew thought, I'd better watch out, these Covenant really mean business. He moved up, sprayed a grunt with fire and scanned the area.
"Area clear, all hostile forces eliminated," O'Shea said.
"This is echo 419, somebody order a Warthog?"
"Hey I didn't know you made house call foehammer."
"You know our motto, we deliver."
The pelican touched down and dropped its warthog. The chief ran jumped into the driver's seat. Waldron followed and got on the gun, and a marine named Ryan Link got into the side seat.
"Let's roll," Waldron said. He was happy to face more Covenant; as long as the chief would be facing them as well.
The Warthog drove off along the beach, and soon Andrew spied the green shield of a jackal.
"Jackals!" he yelled and fired the gun at the aliens. The heavy slugs tore through the aliens, and both were taken down. But not far ahead, there was a group of grunts and their elite commander. Andrew fired, pouring lead into their position, flattening grunts and, after a sustained burst, the elite.
The `Hog went up a hill, and a Covenant dropship flew past. Ahead there was a structure, and it was well guarded. The Chief positioned the vehicle so it could provide the most fire and got out. He joined the marines in taking care of the enemies outside the structure. The chief drove the `Hog inside, and they were met by more Covenant. Once they were taken care of, the Chief drove the `Hog down the hallway and turned right, and brought the vehicle slowly down a steep ramp. To the left was door in the wall. The Chief turned the `Hog and got the front wheels through, then the back wheels.
"This may be a tight squeeze," he said. The Warthog shuddered and sparks flew as its wheels made contact with the sides of the passage way. The `Hog exited the tunnel and bounced off the wall. To left, there was another ramp, and at the bottom there was a door… and a more Covenant.
The grunts obviously didn't expect a Warthog to come through the door because they panicked, and were cut down, as was the elite trying to command them. The `Hog drove down the ramp toward the door where a gold elite with a plasma sword stood waiting. The Chief was about to flatten him when the door shut, and the `Hog crunched against it.
"Shit," Waldron muttered as he regained his footing.
"Cortana to Keyes…" buzzed on his helmet radio.
"Go ahead, Cortana. Have you found the control center?" responded the captain.
"Negative, the Covenant have impeded our progress. We can't proceed unless we disable this station's security system."
"Understood. Use any means necessary to force your way into the facility and find Halo's control center. Failure people, is not an option. Good luck, Keyes out."
The Master Chief backed the Warthog up and slowly brought it to the top of the ramp. He drove it down a slope toward the beach, and headed left. Andrew gave little thought to the captain's words, but little did he know it would be last time he would ever hear (or see for that matter) the captain again.
The Story of a Marine; Ch. 8
Date: 17 June 2008, 9:58 pm
Chapter 8
0145 hours, September 24, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Halo Surface, near Silent Cartographer
The Warthog's tires threw up clouds of sand as it made its way down back onto the beach. Andrew Waldron clutched the triggers of the chain gun, and scanned the horizon for Covenant soldiers. They rounded a bend and came up to several fallen tree stumps. Waldron saw a horde of Jackals and grunts standing in behind the trunks. They heard the `Hog's engine and brought their shields to bear. Waldron fired the gun and the bullets bounced off their over lapping shields. This wasn't going to work. The Master Chief jumped out of the driver's seat and chucked a frag grenade behind them, as did Ryan Link in the passenger's seat. The twin explosions tore the Jackals to bits and sent blood flying. Waldron turned his attention to the elite and grunts running down a past, away from him. He hit several grunts, but the elite's shields saved it from taking too much damage. The Chief followed the retreating enemies up the path, and soon the sounds of gun fire were heard, as another group of Covenant was brought down.
Waldron wasn't anxious to relinquish the power provided by the Warthog's cannon, but he had been standing for a while. After a few minutes, when the gunfire could only be heard in the distance, and seemed very far off, he stepped down and leaned against the rear fender. He only considered speaking with private in the passenger seat for a moment, and then remembered what happened when one made friends in this war. They died. Everyone from his original squad had been killed, as had many of brave men and women he had known. It was at this point that the thought first crossed his mind, What if we can't win? Even after he joined the marines, he and the others were still fed what he now had begun to realize was propaganda. Perhaps they couldn't win, but humanity could not go down without a fight. That sentiment was easy to follow when one stood behind a large gun that sent enemies sprawling should they have that misfortune to wander in its field of fire. But if there was one thing Waldron knew, it was that no one was invincible. When facing the horde of alien aggressors, many drooling with a desire to spill his blood, it was hard not to just run. Stop thinking about this, just worry about right now, he thought, this place was not built by Covenant, and may even hold secrets to defeating them. Right now, just survive. It was, he realized, much more manageable than going down fighting, and so he decided to stick with it.
The minutes ticked by ever so slowing. Andrew looked at his watch. Nearly fifteen minutes had passed, and there was still no sign of the chief.
There was a rumble in the distance and a warthog drove up and Master Chief jumped out with a rocket launcher on his back. "Mount up," he said without offering an explanation. The marines looked at each other and shrugged as they entered the Warthog. The tires spun and the LRV drove back along the beach the way it had come.
The vehicle approached the structure. Andrew thought he saw he large rocks that had not been there before. He squinted, but couldn't make out what they were. The `Hog drove up a hill as two Jackals hissed and turned their shields toward the approaching threat. The Chief splattered one and Link threw a grenade which detonated behind the other and tore him to pieces.
Suddenly the Chief jammed on the gas and the `Hog jerked away just in time to avoid a green orb that detonated where they had just been. Grunts with fuelrods, Andrew thought and began scanning the area behind him. Then he saw them: two lumbering behemoths crouching behind massive chunks of metal. Hunters. He had heard stories about their ferocious tenacity, near invincibility, and tremendous strength.
There was a sudden swoosh and a rocket struck one of the beasts head on. It fell to the ground with a metallic clunk. The second hunter turned its attention from the `Hog to the Chief and roared. But by this point it was too late. A rocket struck it and blew it to pieces, oranges worms regaling on the ground.
The Chief re-entered the `Hog and drove back to the structure. After another wave of infantry, the vehicle returned to the thin hall. This time the door was open. The Chief jumped out. "Watch my six," were his only words as he made his way down a corridor.
After another long wait, Andrew began to wonder if the Master Chief was injured, and if they should rescue him; or worse, if he was dead. The two marines heard footsteps coming down the hall. Both turned, when suddenly a gold armored elite, equipped with plasma sword, rounded the corner and charged toward them.
The Story of a Marine; Ch. 10
Date: 9 July 2008, 7:41 pm
Chapter 10
0448 hours, September 21, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Halo Surface, Alpha Base
Private Andrew Waldron joined the group of marines running out to meet the Covenant threat. It was then he remembered he had no squad. He was going to be assigned in the morning. Well- he thought- at least now the rest of my squad can't be killed, I have no squad. He headed toward the firing pits, but saw that the soldiers in those were already retreating. He jumped into a trench and began putting down covering fire. There was a flash and a loud boom to his right. The Scorpion MBTs had begun to open fire.
The battle was pitched, as Covenant forces charged forward, but most were cut down by the concentrated fire. Few marines were actually hit by any shots from the ground forces. The spirits in the air were a different story. They circled overhead and their ball turrets fired on the trenches. Many were by this barrage. However, a lucky hit with a rocket destroyed the ball turret of one of the ships, and another was blown apart when fired upon by the scorpions.
Waldron shouldered his assault rifle and fired short controlled bursts at on coming targets. This was pitifully easy compared to Sigma Octanus. The combined fire easily cut down approaching targets. At one point, two industrious Jackals got within ten feet of the trenches, but a frag grenade dispatched them both. An elite jumped out of a crater and made a mad dash toward the line and was blown apart by a tank.
And with that the battle ended.
Waldron stuck with a group of soldiers as they began the cleanup operation. They removed bodies, fixed the defenses, and recovered weapons. It was long and tedious work, but work that had to be done.
As Waldron was just about to drop the last plasma pistol his group had picked up into a bin in the area designated as the armory, the fatigue set in. His head suddenly ached, and his muscles protested to merely standing. He dropped the weapon and slumped against a wall. He stood up, willing his muscles to carry him back to his bunk. Andrew had been in combat all day, had slept very little, and then fought again nearly all night. He shrugged off his armor, and flopped on his cot, and was instantly asleep.
The rest of the day was pretty quiet. The Helljumpers went off and set up an ambush somewhere, but for private Waldron, that meant little. He, like everyone else, heard the rumors that the Helljumpers encountered something strange during their ambush, worse than Covenant, but it was just a rumor.
In the meantime, Waldron was once again assigned to a new squad. Sergeant Wyckoff was the commander, and Privates Frank Jones and Jeff Miller made up the remainder of unit. Andrew was not feeling social, and so didn't bother to try to learn any more. He was afraid they too might all die, and so he didn't care about the families they may or may not have. It was callus, he knew that, but this was war. Besides, with each passing day their chances of getting off the ring seemed to get slimmer and slimmer.
Not much later, the news spread. They were taking the Truth and Reconciliation. It would be their ticket off the ring. Waldron's squad also had a special task. Private Miller would take part in the assault on the ship, but Waldron, Jones, and Wyckoff would be dropped off in a Warthog a kilometer from the ship. They would be scouts for the attack, dropped in covertly twenty minutes before the marine's banshees attacked, and picked up immediately after the ship's gravity lift was disengaged.
When Sergeant Wyckoff heard this, his response was something to effect of "Yee-haw!" only stated a bit more eloquently. Waldron was not so enthusiastic. First in and last out sounded a lot like suicide mission to him, but orders were orders and had to be followed. Not only that, but evidently, the Helljumpers had encountered something during their ambush. They were called "Flood" and seemed like pretty nasty buggers. That greatly complicated matters, and didn't make the mission any more appealing.
They mounted up in a pelican as the sun set. Well, the sun was actually being blocked by the planet, Threshold it was called, and so wasn't exactly the same.
The pelican picked up a Warthog and flew away from the butte. Waldron realized it would be the last time he saw Alpha Base. He did not feel sad about that, but the butte had a certain character to it. The combination of alien architecture and the amenities that had been built in gave the place a feel that was highly unique.
One disadvantage to the pelican's design was that anyone in the rear hold could not see what was in front of them, only what was behind them. That seemed prophetic to Waldron, though he could not say exactly why. One thing he was sure of, he could see what was in store for him about as well he could see what was directly in front of the pelican.
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