 |
About This Site
Daily Musings
News
News Archive
Site Resources
FAQ
Screenshots
Concept Art
Halo 2 Updates
Interviews
Movies
Music
Miscellaneous
Mailbag
HBO PAL
Game Fun
The Halo Story
Tips and Tricks
Fan Creations
Wallpaper
Misc. Art
Fan Fiction
Comics
Logos
Banners
Press Coverage
Halo Reviews
Halo 2 Previews
Press Scans
Community
HBO Forum
Clan HBO Forum
HBO IRC Channel
Links
Admin
Submissions
FTP Uploads
HTTP Uploads
Contact
|
|
|
Bang!
Martin, SPARTAN-011 dashed through the dust cloud made by the explosion of a scorpion and charged, firing his assault rifle. A grunt got caught in the face by one of the bullets, and it toppled over. He primed a M9-HE-DP hand grenade and tossed it to the ground. Bracing himself, he jumped into the air slightly in front of the grenade. The explosion tossed him forward and he rolled when he made contact with the ground. From behind, his shield generator was overloaded as a Covenant Elite punched him. Martin toppled over, but rolled to his side and put a burst of automatic fire into the Elite. It screamed in pain then keeled over. In the distance, he saw a Covenant Mortar Tank- a Wraith, bombarding some marines who were holed up in a small cluster of rocks. He dashed towards the Wraith, making sure he stayed out of sight. When he was close enough, he primed an adhesive plasma grenade, and hurried towards the tank. Martin reached inside the Wraith, found the Elite driving it and slammed it against the alien's face. There was a horrified scream, and then an electric blue flash as the grenade detonated. A spray of purple blood gushed from each opening in the tank.
From a distance, he saw a green flash, and his newly recharged shields depleted once again. He spotted his attacker- a Covenant Grunt armed with a Beam Rifle. He readied his SMG and pulled the trigger. The grunt yelped as his hand was ripped apart by the barrage of shots. He panicked and tumbled off the edge, his spine shattering on impact. Martin took a moment to take in the scenery- it was breathtaking, and he would have admired it longer, had he not been knocked off his feet by an explosion. As hydrostatic gel pumped into his suit, he blacked out.
He woke up looking at two concerned looking marines.
"Hey, sir!" The female marine shouted over the roar of something he didn't know. He sat up and saw he was in a pelican dropship. It was flying over a vast ocean, and he could see a large number of Covenant aircraft- he could see Phantoms and Banshees.
"How many other Pelicans are there?" Martin demanded.
"Not many- I remember seeing about 10 when we left." The female marine replied.
"What weapons do we have?"
"A rocket launcher, and a sniper."
"Give me them."
"But sir! You might damage the-"
"Give me the weapons, soldier."
"Yes, sir."
The non-com passed him the gun, and suddenly the Pelican gave a violent shudder. The young male marine was hurled from the back of the Pelican, and Martin tried to reach him, but he didn't reach in time and the young soldier fell, inevitably to his death in the water.
Martin aimed the rocket launcher, and sighted a phantom. He fired the rocket, and watched it impact on the ship's fuselage. The ship spewed flame and capsized, hurtling into the ocean. He grabbed the sniper rifle and activated the 8x zoom. He tried to get a decent view of one of the banshees, but the Pelican took another hit and jolted backwards. Martin lost his footing and slipped, falling almost entirely from the pelican. He grabbed for the ledge, and his gauntleted hands found substance immediately. He was dangling from the back of the pelican and he dropped the sniper rifle. A banshee broke formation and fired at Martin. He felt the back of his legs sting as the heated plasma struck him time and again. He tensed himself as he heard the fuel rod cannon discharge. Someone grabbed him and pulled him aboard, the heat of the fuel rod cannon shot just grazing his feet. He heard someone mutter something about 'not for me…' and then he turned his attention to his assailant. The banshee was in clear sight, not obstructed by the blocky rear part of the drop ship. He could see it, and the black armoured Elite inside it. Without thinking, he jumped from the Pelican, and landed square on the front of the Banshee's purple hull. He struggled to get a handhold as the Banshee plummeted. He managed to grab the side of the banshee then saw the pilot. The black armoured elite was enraged, and was fumbling for his rifle when Martin punched him, knocking the creature unconscious. It slumped against the controls, and the Banshee dived suddenly. He pulled at the elite, dragging it from the controls. Almost instantly, it rectified its course and continued going horizontally. He dived into the cockpit and managed to pull up as a handful of green flashes fell past him. He looked up and saw the squadron of banshees circling above him. Taking a deep breath, he started a sharp ascent and fired at the banshees. One of them got hit by the plasma shot and careered into another one, the resulting explosion destroying yet another banshee. He swerved to avoid a salvo of plasma fire, then returned the favour, creating black dents across the body of one of the banshees. He primed a plasma grenade, and opened the cockpit slightly. Still piloting the banshee, he attached the grenade to the side of one of the covenant aircraft and swerved away from it. There was a large explosion as the banshee exploded into a thousand pieces. He abruptly turned around and began to follow the Pelicans. The banshees were now very disorganized, and if he hurried, he could kill them off from a ground emplacement. He saw the pelicans' destination- an island, about 2km north. He activated the Banshee's energy boost and hurried to catch up with the pelicans. He could hear the covenant's radio chatter, and his armour's translation features made it into clear English- from the sounds of it, the Covenant had hardly any forces deployed, but if they stayed on the offensive the humans would not find out.
That was all about to change.
As he arrived at the island, already the humans had deployed themselves well. They had row upon row of scorpion tank, which had already been at the island, and a handful of warthogs. Machine gunners were perched in precarious parts of cliffs, and around a thousand marines were waiting for the attack. He landed the Banshee far from gently- jumping out before reaching the ground, and letting it career into the stone. He unslung his assault rifle and turned on his heel. From the beaches, you could see the main body of the covenant attack force and the still-disorganized banshee squadron. The ships got in range, and there was a deafening boom as all the tanks and rocket launchers fired.
In a matter of moments after the barrage of rockets, all hell broke loose. From the side, half a dozen Covenant Phantoms had landed and dropped off troops. Martin bore the brunt of the attack; there were two pairs of Hunters- "walking tanks", several dozens of grunts and a platoon of Elites. They all fired at Martin, almost instantly draining his energy shields. He fired his assault rifle, and put bullets in the heads of three grunts before they could reach him. A black, special operations Elite dived towards him and grabbed him by the neck. Martin was pinned down by the sheer weight of the beast, but he managed to free his right arm and put a whole clip of bullets into the face of his enemy. It toppled backwards, and then he saw the rest of the attack force. A Handful of the Phantoms had reached the beach and had let their troops out. Scorpions were being hi-jacked, warthogs were tipped on their sides and there were dead bodies- covenant and UNSC alike strewn all over the beach. He got to his feet and sent a grenade into the covenant ranks. It detonated with a meaty 'whump' and sent flesh and sand into the air. In a few minutes the first wave was destroyed. Before the marines could even manage a victorious cheer, the main body of the attack force arrived. Thirty or Forty phantom dropships were leaving off their troops. The disorganization of the banshees had slowly gone, and they were now picking off Marines very easily. Martin decided to take them out, and climbed the rocky cliff. He pulled out his pistol and activated the 2x zoom. He targeted the nearest banshee, piloted by an enthusiastic red-armoured elite. He put a bullet right up the right leg of the elite, and the bullet punctured his spinal cord, paralyzing him instantly. He turned to face another, which was too close to even see the pilot so he pulled out his assault rifle and emptied a clip onto it. It exploded into a momentary sun, then it tumbled lazily back to the ground. He pulled out a plasma grenade and hurled it towards the other banshee. It missed the banshee, but then when he looked again, it had exploded and killed the pilot anyway. The now out of control banshee shot towards a group of grunts, and crushed them all.
He climbed back down from the rock, and began to fire at a group of Covenant soldiers who had pinned down a handful of marines. He looked to the sky and saw a covenant cruiser. The radio chatter must have been to divert his attention. Though panicked, he continued to push the covenant back. He beckoned the marines away from the warthog then threw a grenade towards its upturned cab. The grenade exploded and tossed the warthog limply towards the covenant on that side of the beach. It crumpled and screeched, but it got the job done. He watched as line upon line of covenant were crushed by the still moving warthog. It came to a halt, and there was an enormous explosion. A massive layer of sand, mud, and flesh was hurled into the air, and blocked out the sun.
Martin had seen this kind of explosion before.
The covenant were glassing the planet.
He panicked and tried to motion the marines into the caves, but they were all too panicked and disorderly. The plasma cannons warmed again, and Martin cursed under his breath as he felt the ground shake. Suddenly, there was a blinding light, his shields went to zero and he felt like he was burning.
Moments later he passed out.
|
