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Shadow Ops, Chapter 5: Rescue
Posted By: Agent Shade<Agent_Shade13@hotmail.com>
Date: 24 June 2003, 12:07 AM
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Shadow Ops, Chapter 5: Rescue
~*Author's note*~
Just so no one gets confused, here is the Shadow Ops 1 squad...
Lieutenant Alan "Shadow" Pearson, Squad leader (assault, Red team)
Master Sergeant Jonathan "Dusk" Henderson, second in command (assault, Blue team)
First Sergeant Paul "Specter" Howe (assault, Blue team)
Lance Corporal Colin "Shade" Thompson (sniper, Blue team)
Corporal Fredrick "Spirit" Owens (assault/medic, Red team)
Private First Class Daniel "Wraith" Clarkson (support/radio, Red team)
Shit, I made a very huge mistake when I first posted this. Colin "Shade" Thompson's rank is actually supposed to be Lance Corporal and Private Daniel "Wraith" Clarkson is supposed to be a Corporal. Sorry everyone, can you all just pretend that Shade was a Lance Corporal and Wraith was a Corporal all along lol? Enjoy...
~*End note*~
"We're clear"
"Roger, move out!" Shadow Ops 1 emerged from their hiding spots surrounding what looked like an abandoned Covenant base camp. Lieutenant Pearson, crouching low and with his assault rifle up, motioned to his left. Master Sergeant Henderson and Private Clarkson both moved out of their linear formation and flanked the camp. Pearson stopped abruptly, weapon scanning the camp in front of him. He pointed in front of him, and quickly, Corporal Owens and Lance Corporal Thompson rushed into the camp, weapons raised. Pearson then stood and waved First Sergeant Howe forward. Pearson then covered their rear as they explored the depths of the camp.
The various structures of this Covenant camp were so packed tightly together, Pearson had a hard time keeping track of his team as they explored the area. Luckily, the visor that he wore around his helmet showed where his team was on his HUD. He continued moving through the camp, following Sergeant Howe. They passed a few dead Covenant, and had to step over large pieces of wreckage, or blown up Covenant tents. They eventually met up with Owens and Thompson, who were checking the pulses of two human marines that lay on the grass. Owens looked up at Pearson as they approached and shook his head. The Lieutenant nodded and took their dog tags, before motioning for the men with him to continue to move. They continued weaving in and out of various Covenant structures, then met up with Henderson and Clarkson, who were standing right in the middle of a blood bath.
"Pee you" said Owens, plugging his nose as they approached the two members of Shadow Ops. There were lots of bodies and even more blood. Pools of it had formed in the grass and around bodies. The stench of the dead was dreadful and even Pearson had to cover up his nose. The bodies were mainly Covenant, but they found three marines, all still holding plasma rifles. Henderson, who was kneeling beside these marines, looked up.
"You don't think these marines are responsible for this mess?" he wondered. Pearson nodded and pointed behind his second in command. Henderson turned and literally jumped up. The remains of four dead Flood combat forms lay sprawled out around the ground, in pieces. From several of the bulky remains, Pearson could tell they had been infested Elites. He sighed, and then stood.
"There's no one here, let's move out" he said, and without a word, they all left the circle of death and exited the camp, moving quickly to gather into the forest. They stopped and crouched low behind an encirclement of dead logs. Pearson grabbed Private Clarkson's radio, and as he switched the frequency dials, he looked at his men.
"Perimeter, I got to see how 'Favlor is doing" he said. As his men fanned out, Pearson raised the small radio telephone to his head.
"Field Master 'Favlor, come in, this is Lieutenant Pearson" he said. Before the Lieutenant had left, he had shown the Covenant Elite how to use a human portable radio. He had caught on fast and his deep voice entered the ear piece.
"Yes Lieutenant, what is your situation?" he asked.
"Base camp #2 is a no go Field Master, the Flood got here first before we did, everyone's dead" he said sadly. He could make out the Elite sigh.
"It is the same over here Lieutenant. We found two wounded Covenant, but they were both to injured to move. Base Camp #3 is dead" he said. Pearson swore to himself.
"Right, we'll stick to the plan though. We'll rendezvous at Base camp #4, roger that?" he asked.
"Confirmed Lieutenant, see you soon." And with that, their radio conversation ended. Pearson handed back the telephone to Clarkson, and then addressed his squad.
"Base camp #3 was all dead too. Let's move out to the last camp and see if anyone is alive" he ordered. Without a word, they all stood and formed their usual "Flying-V" formation. Pearson fell into line behind Thompson and kept his eyes peeled. Not only were they looking for the second base camp, but they also had to find the hidden weapons cache that the Outpost marines usually hide in case situations became huge problems. Not only that, but the weapons that the Shadow Ops had come with were completely useless against the Flood. From past experiences, the MA7B battle rifle was just like its brother, in that the bullets fired at the Flood just went right through it. After half a clip or so, it would go down, but then it would just get back up and you would have to empty the clip. Clarkson's SMGs weren't bad, but those two guns weren't enough to take on a whole Flood army. The pistols were good, but like the SMGs, they didn't have enough. They were already low enough on ammo, so they had to move quickly.
Suddenly, Lance Corporal Thompson's hand went up in a fist and they all stopped and dropped low. Pearson suddenly noticed his motion tracker had painted a huge blob of red dots off to the left of their current position. Thompson turned to look at him and Pearson nodded.
"Specter, check it out" he ordered into his radio. Sergeant Howe crawled through the vegetation and observed their enemy. He radioed back in.
"Shadow, we got a large squad of Flood combat and infection forms gathered around our required weapons cache. Terrain is similar to that of when we found the Pelican. The cache is located in a small ditch, where most of the Flood are located" he said as he crawled back. Pearson took a look for himself.
Howe was right. The cache sat in the middle of a small ditch and the main majority of Flood combat forms were all standing around it. Several other forms patrolled around the cache, all holding Covenant weapons. Pearson clicked his radio.
"Specter, Dusk, grenade on my mark. The rest of you, fire at will as soon as those grenades detonate. Take them out fast" he ordered. The rest of his team came up around him, fanning out. Howe and Henderson grabbed fragmentation grenades and held them. Pearson nodded.
"Mark!" he yelled. The pins fell and the grenades flew. The two of them successfully detonated beside the weapons cache and the Flood around it were tossed around, dead. The patrolling Flood forms turned and received a hail of bullets from the concealed Shadow Ops team. After using up two clips of ammo each, the remaining Flood were put down and they emerged into the open. Pearson and Henderson went down to inspect the crate, while the others formed a perimeter. Henderson successfully popped it open, and the contents inside spilled out. Pearson grinned.
"Forty M9 HE-DP Fragmentation grenades, twenty M6D Pistols, twenty MA5B Assault rifles, fifteen SMG 900s, twenty MA7B Battle rifles, twenty M90 Shotguns, five S2 AM Sniper rifles, five M19 SSM Jackhammer rocket launchers and too much ammo for all" grinned Henderson as he observed the contents of the crate. The other members of Shadow Ops stood in awe at the amount of power that lay on the ground in front of them. Pearson stood and looked at them all.
"Remember, our new enemy is the Flood, not the Covenant. Take weapons that capable of destroying those things" he ordered. One by one, his team changed weapons. Master Sergeant Henderson exchanged his battle rifle for the shotgun, and then grabbed a few extra grenades and some ammo for the three weapons he carried. First Sergeant Howe seemed to be their demolitions expert at some times, and this mission was one of those times. He grabbed one of the Jackhammer launchers, and also a shotgun. Because of the bulk of the rocket launcher, he couldn't carry anything else. He made sure he took four extra rockets. Lance Corporal Thompson was always one for sniping; however, the 14.5 armor-piercing rounds the sniper rifle fired were no good whatsoever against the Flood, so he got rid of it. He decided to keep his battle rifle and picked up a shotgun, along with extra ammo and grenades. Corporal Owens picked up all the medical supplies he could carry, and then settled for a shotgun and his pistol. Corporal Clarkson decided to keep his SMGs. His reason was that in case they ran into a huge pack of Flood infection forms, he would be able to wipe them all out. All the Corporal did was grab some extra ammo and grenades. He kept everything he had originally come into the mission with. Lieutenant Pearson was the last to choose. He naturally took a shotgun, but exchanged it with his battle rifle. He kept his MA5B and pistol, and then picked up extra ammo and grenades. He climbed out of the ditch and activated his radio.
"Sergeant McKinney, come in" he said.
"Roger that sir, what can I do for you?" came the voice the Texas sergeant they had recovered from one of the base camps.
"We've located the weapons crate and marked it with a NAV point. Get your people together, get out here and gather what's left of the supplies, then head over the Base camp #4. We should've secured that area by then" he said.
"Roger that Lieutenant, we're rolling. Out" replied the Sergeant. Pearson nodded, and then looked at this team.
"All right, let's move" he said. Thompson lead the way once again into the depths of the jungle. Far ahead of them, the Lieutenant could hear gunshots and screaming. This worried him and he ordered his team to speed up a bit. The six humans were soon sprinting threw the jungle, jumping over logs and pushing their way through bushes. Suddenly, a lightning bolt flashed out in the sky and thunder quickly followed it. Rain started to platter around them and within a few seconds, it was pouring like there was no tomorrow. Pearson kept his visor down and spat out rain water as he sprinted with his team.
Without warning, a Flood combat form jumped into the area and tacked Lance Corporal Thompson to the ground. Immediately following that, several other combat forms jumped out of their hiding spots and landed among the Shadow Ops. Pearson rolled to avoid a cluster of tentacles that were thrown at him.
"Open fire!" he managed to scream, before pumping two rounds into the Flood form standing over him. Behind him, Thompson rolled on the dirt to avoid the Flood form's tentacle wipe that had grown out of its right infested arm. His shotgun lay behind the Flood form, which wasn't moving and fired several bullets from its captured MA5B assault rifle. Thompson was able to dodge the bullets, but behind him, First Sergeant Howe took a bullet to his left leg. He fell. Pearson was up immediately, and fired at the Flood form chasing Thompson. It dropped dead and this allowed the sniper to recover his weapons. Corporal Clarkson was wiped from behind by a Flood form, and he screamed out and fell forward. The Flood form was about to finish him off, but Henderson quickly turned, fired one round, but then took a plasma needle to his shoulder. Owens was the only one who actually didn't get attacked. He stood there, shotgun ready. When it was confirmed there was no one left, he rushed to the groaning humans on the jungle floor. Pearson swore and ordered Thompson to cover Owens while he fixed everyone up.
"Spirit, Shade, sit tight, I'm scouting ahead" he ordered into his radio. He saw Thompson nod at him from his hidden spot, then Pearson turned and jogged off into the soaked jungle. He hadn't run even two minutes before he reached the edge of the tree line and entered a large valley. There was a small hill in front of him and when he climbed it he got his first glimpse of Base camp #4.
Like the other base camps, it was circular and had a perimeter of Shade gun turrets and shield barriers. From what Pearson could see, it was mad mayhem inside the camp. Covenant and Flood forms ran around the camp, hunting each other down. He could even hear the sounds of marines yelling at each other. Suddenly, a fresh wave of Flood forms emerged from the forest and charged into the camp. A single Shade gun turret turned and started firing at them, but the Flood overwhelmed the operator and blew the turret up. However, as the new wave of Flood joined, Pearson watched Field Master 'Favlor and his entire Covenant squad emerge from the opposite side of the valley and help out their comrades. Pearson turned to see the rest of his squad running toward them. Three of them were limping slightly, but were able to climb the hill and stand around him.
"Do no shoot the Covenant, they are our allies. There are marines in there too. Let's go!" he yelled. The Shadow Ops charged down their hill and rushed to the camp. Pearson slipped two cartridges into his shotgun and blasted an infested marines running towards the camp. His squad fanned out around him and engaged the Flood. As Pearson blasted away two infested Elites, he could see the Covenant off the base camp stop and look at them. However, without saying a word or raising a weapon, they continued to fight. Pearson suddenly found himself in the middle of a circle of Covenant, fighting off Flood forms charging at them. As he fought them of, Henderson and Owens flanked them. Pearson let them deal with them and proceeded deeper into the camp. He rounded a corner and ran straight into a Flood combat form, which raised its tentacle wipe back. Pearson ducked, and fired right into the grotesque's deformed stomach. It fell over dead. Suddenly, another Flood form flew into the air and was about to literally crush the Lieutenant, when several volleys of plasma fire struck the form and it fell, dead. Pearson greeted the marines who had saved his life.
"Lieutenant, Corporal Owen Barnes. Me and my boys here had been trapped in this camp" a marine with a large scar on his cheek said. Pearson nodded.
"Marine reinforcements are on their way Corporal. Let's help the Covenant fight off the Flood" he ordered as he killed two Flood forms approaching them from behind.
"With pleasure sir" Barnes said, and then tossed a frag grenade into the middle of a pack of Covenant infection forms heading towards a group of wounded Grunts.
Pearson continued moving throughout the camp, killing the odd Flood form. He eventually reached the spot where 'Favlor and his Covenant team had entered the battle. Most of the group was still alive, and several Covenant greeted the Lieutenant as he ran towards them, killing Flood forms rushing at them from the trees. Field Master 'Favlor stepped out of a line of Covenant Jackals. He was covered in the blood of his comrades and his enemy. The Elite grinned with its mandibles.
"Good to see you Lieutenant, how's it looking?" he asked. Pearson shrugged.
"I honestly have no idea. We found the weapons cache and ordered the marines back at the base camp to gather what they could and come help. Looks like the Flood have many more warriors to spend" he said. The Elite groaned at this, and then cut an infested Elite in half with his plasma sword.
"We'll hold out for as long as we can" he said. Pearson nodded, and then ran to Corporal Clarkson and Sergeant Howe, who were taking up a position near the perimeter. Clarkson's SMGs were cutting down several Flood charging at them from the valley. Howe unsung his Jackhammer launcher and fired off a single round which landed right in the middle of the lot. Pearson supported them from the rear, as Flood forms appeared out of the camp. He killed two, and then blew up four more with a grenade. Eventually, Thompson limped out of the camp and knelt beside the Lieutenant. His one eye was literally gone and the armor around his collar bone was shredded open. However, he was able to pull the trigger of the shotgun and take out a Flood form. He nodded at Pearson.
"You all right Shade?" Pearson asked, tossing another grenade. Colin nodded, and stayed with Howe and Clarkson. Pearson ventured back into the camp, helping out Corporal Barnes and several Covenant who were rolling around, trying to avoid Flood infection forms. One form launched itself at Pearson, but he smashed it to pieces with his shotgun. Suddenly, as he crushed another form with his boot, his radio beeped.
"Dusk to Shadow" came Henderson's voice.
"What's up Dusk?" asked the Lieutenant.
"Marine and Covenant reinforcements inbound from the north sir" he said. Pearson's eyebrow rose.
"Acknowledged" he said. Sergeant McKinney was coming with his marines. Where did these Covenant come from?
Pearson motioned Corporal Barnes forward, and they moved towards the north perimeter wall, fighting off several Flood along the way. Sure enough, a combined force of Covenant and Human were charging into a wave of Flood reinforcements coming at them from the north. Pearson looked around him and could see the other members of the base camp defenders emerging. The interior of the camp was secure.
"Charge!" roared Pearson and he sprinted towards the battle in the valley. Like a wave of destruction, the defenders of the camp and the rescuers wiped out the remaining Flood and gathered in the valley. Sergeant McKinney and a red armored Elite approached Pearson and 'Favlor. The Field Master grinned.
"Ivan 'Nosumlee" he said happily. The red armored Elite clicked its mandibles.
"I greet you Field Master 'Favlor" he said, raising a clawed hand. Sergeant McKinney grinned and saluted.
"Marine-Covenant reinforcements reporting for duty" he said. Pearson looked around. He had left around twenty or so marines back at the base camp, however, in this wave of reinforcements, there was over thirty of them.
"Welcome Sergeant McKinney. Where did you get all this man power from?" he inquired. The Sergeant grinned.
"They are survivors from the other two base camps sir. Not everyone was killed. These blokes were hiding out in a cave together. We found them, and they helped us take out the Flood here" he explained. Pearson grinned. Field Master 'Favlor nodded.
"Looks like we have enough to take out that Outpost now" he said. Pearson nodded.
"All right, let's regroup at base camp #1 and plan out our attack plan. Move out!" he ordered. The large force of Covenant and Human forces jogged off into the jungle. It was still raining out and thunder boomed into the night air. Pearson fell into the middle of the huge army, allowing several of his Shadow Ops to lead. Thompson had slipped into coma, and Owens was forced to carry. Luckily, the sniper wasn't that heavy. They reached Base camp Alpha and began to plan out the destruction of the Flood...
TO BE CONTINUED
By: Agent Shade
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