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Flames of Perdition Chapter 3
Posted By: Colossus<xhalcyon713x@yahoo.com>
Date: 30 June 2006, 6:54 pm
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Chapter 3
Day 26
Corporal Langley crawled through the underbrush on his stomach, pine-needles and twigs poking uncomfortably into him. Ahead, there was a large pile of fallen sticks and twigs, creating the perfect spotting post. He flipped the enhanced targeter down over his eye, and focused on the enemy Covenant at a distance.
A dozen Covenant patrols, the first line of defense for the gravity lift of the hovering Covenant destroyer, milled about absent-mindedly, completely unaware to the ambush set up all around them.
The corporal leveled his modified pistol at the patrols. The pistol automatically adjusted to the enhanced targeter's sight. A bunch of patrols broke off, leaving a pair of Grunts and a Jackal standing alone. Langley slowly targeted the Jackal's head. It turned it's back, and Langley fired. A silenced bullet tore through the Jackal's neck. It clutched to it, making muffled gurgling noises. Then it collapsed into the thawing snow.
The Grunts wheeled around, making high-pitched yelping noises that felt like rape on the corporal's ears. Another pair of bullets flew out, and the two Grunts fell silent. Langley motioned for the rest of his team, four marine privates, to move up to his position.
"Red One, this is Blue One. Over," Langley spoke into his headset. There was a ten-second delay, and then Captain Zadeka spoke in. "What's your position, Red One? Over."
"Sir, in position and ready to roll. Three Covenant sentries are already neutralized. Awaiting further orders. Over."
Another pause. "Sit tight, Blue team. There's going to be a gap in the Covenant patrols in about three minutes. When it comes, I want you to bolt through the hole in their line and start destroying vehicles. When you're out of rockets and demo-charges, start capturing vehicles. I'm sending your team the piloting specs for the Covenant vehicles now. This is Red One, over and out."
Langley read over the information that scrolled down his targeting enhancer. He put a timer countdown on his targeter, and waited. The three minutes ticked by slowly. He looked left, and right. Not a Covenant patrol in sight. He waved his team forward some more, then leaped over the pile of debris that was his shooting post. He ran forward, pistol still in one hand, and a hand-held demolitions charge in the other. The four privates behind him dogged it with their rocket launchers slung over this shoulders.
The team reached the Covenant vehicle lot in just under a minute at a breakneck run. There were only a few Grunt patrols around the lot, and Langley quickly silenced them with his pistol. He slapped one of his demo-charges against the side of an enemy Banshee, and set the timer for 10 seconds. He ran like hell back the other way, and the Banshee detonated in a ball of fire, sending a flaming hot invisible fist against the corporal's back. The other men under his command were working on the other Covenant vehicles. Seven Ghosts and four Banshees were already out of commission. Then the corporal noticed something that chilled his bones.
Where were the Wraiths?
A burst of static broke in over Langley's mic. "This is Red One. Corporal, we need you to take out the enemy Wraiths. They're just over a ridge north of your position. Red One, out."
"Okay, men, you heard the Captain. Up that ridge, set your charges for remote detonation. Now move!" the corporal bellowed. The five man squad bolted up the steep ridge in front of them, scrambling over the top and back on their feet in just under forty seconds. In this part of the camp, the snow had melted, leaving fresh, green, springy grass in it's wake.
The Wraiths were dead ahead in front of them. The men ran up and slapped demolition charges onto the sides of the Wraiths' stubby anti-grav wings. "Fall back!" Langley bellowed. The team triple-timed it back and jumped, sliding down the ridge back to the vehicle park. As soon as they were clear, they hit the remote-detonators, and a wave of scorching heat broke over the ridge, and shards of flaming metal flew over their heads. However, the Covenant patrols were back in this position, making runs for their vehicles. A dozen Covenant were in the park, several of which were Elite's.
Langley yelled into his mic. "Captain, this is Blue One. Enemy artillery eliminated, but now we've got enemy reinforcements in the vehicle lot. We need immediate support here. Over." The corporal was slumped against the rocky ridge-line. He holstered the pistol, and shouldered the MA5B slung over their backs. His men switched to assault weapons, too. The fired down into the enemy, bullets scything through the Grunts. Combined fire removed the Elites, but more enemies just kept coming.
A pair of Hunters lumbered into the lot, and leveled their left arms, fuel-rod cannons glowing sickly green. A pair of rockets connected dead center on each of the Hunters. Corporal Langley glanced to his left, where the rockets had come from, and saw a trio of rocket jockeys, led by Sergeant "Tank" Gaunt. The tired Marines climbed down from the cliff they were slumped against and ran double time to the sergeant.
Corporal Langley looked up into Gaunt's coal-grey eyes. The Sarge stood head and shoulders above the rest of the men.
"Damn, Sarge, are we ever glad to see you," Langley burst out.
"Mhmm, damned right you are. Now follow me, double time. We need to remove the Covenant's grip on the grav-lift area."
"How are we going to do that, sergeant?" a private inquired.
"We're going to charge right into them. The Captain and the rest of Red and Green teams are at the only opening to the lift area. We're going to provide them covering fire from the cliff above them. Now let's move it out, double time. Go go GO!"
And with that the sergeant took off in a straight bolt, shotgun hugged against his chest.
"You heard the sergeant!" Langley shouted at his squad. "Now let's go!" and the rest of Blue team charged off.
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