The Story of a marine; Chapter 5
Posted By: Ugly Wimp<uglywimp@gmail.com>
Date: 25 June 2007, 3:17 pm
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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.
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