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Halo 2- The saga continues, Chptr 1
Posted By: Andy<eagle41366@hotmail.com>
Date: 12 April 2003, 6:25 PM
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Major George Rembrel stood before 200 armed troops, inspecting them with the utmost dignity, pointing out flaws in each man's uniform, weapon, or supplies. The elite 105th airborne divisions' Delta company Shock jumpers were standing at attention on the cold and dusty tarmac at 3:00 in the morning, local time. The local time was not eastern standard time, or Mountain time, though. It was lunar time, and they were about to make an orbital jump onto a planet held by hostile forces. That planet was Earth.
"Private!" roared Rembrel.
"Sir, yes Sir!"
"Your vest son! It's unzipped!"
"Right...Sorry sir!"
The shaken Private zipped his titanium-Kevlar flak vest to his neck, where he double-snapped it into his HUD helmet, and flipped down his visor.
"OK, Mr. Secretary, we are ready for our sortie. If you would step back into the tower with me, we can monitor the situation on our command screens..."
"No, I'd rather stay and watch the dropships off, if you please, Major."
"Of course...Corporal, assemble your troops, and prepare for departure.
"Yes sir." the young Corporal said, "Troops assemble!" His voice echoed over the immense, dimly lit base, and the 200 men Automatically turned and marched toward the 4 towering air lifters.
The UNSC Secretary of Defense Marshall Jordan stood by, watching wearily as the troops were swallowed by the gaping ramps on the back of the J-120 jump jet lifters. His designated security, which consisted of 14 MP's, shifted anxiously at his side, watching the raging battle take place through the dim haze of the artificial atmosphere. A few miles above, a Covenant frigate was peppered relentlessly by a tremendous barrage of small caliber MAC rounds, fired from the base's defensive guns.
As the last troops filed onto the jump jet lifters, Major Rembrel flipped on his COM headset, and said "Zulu base tower, do you read me?" his headset crackled in response...
"We read you, Major, go ahead."
"Alert the escort Long swords that the package is on the doorstep, I repeat the package is on the doorstep."
"Negative, negative, Major! Fleet Com just scrambled the last Long swords against an approaching covenant battle group. There are no escorts available. I say again, the entire fleet is engaged!"
"Roger that, Zulu tower. We will have to proceed without escort."
"10-4, sir, we will give them the go codes momentarily" A brief lapse followed this transmission, and then the controller came back online.
"Major Rembrel, sir, we have 4 inbound Covenant dropships! Major, clear off the tarmac, and get the Secretary out of there! The dropships have already penetrated the minimum traverse rate of our cannons, and are flying low toward your position! I say again, get out of the area!"
"Copy that Zulu tower. Over and out." Major Rembrel turned, thoroughly shaken, towards the secretary, and managed a smile."
"Mr. Secretary, I'm afraid we will have to cut this short. The tower informs me that the escorts have been scrambled already, and your security here has been compromised."
As he spoke, the jumpjet lifters in the back-round rose slowly of the ground, and fired on their engines at full blast. They rocketed away from Zulu base, and left the moon's "atmosphere", finally disappearing from view, en route to earth, where the battle raged on.
"Ok, major, I understand...Men!" he addressed the MP's "Move out!"
"Sir, yes sir!" they replied in unison, and they ran across the tarmac, where the Secretary's personal sedan was parked next to 4 especially battered looking warthogs.
Two more MP's ran to the Secretary's side, and covered him with their pistols while he and Major Rembrel ran back to the convoy.
The Secretary and Major jumped lightly into the Audi sedan, which promptly accelerated and lifted a few centimeters off the ground due to the electromagnetic fields generated by the car. The Warthogs all followed, although fell behind the sleek Audi.
"So, Major, I suppose you are going to tell me why we just let 200 Orbital Drop Shock Troopers fly off into a slew of covenant fighters and capital ships, without so much as a toothpick for air cover?"
"Marshall, don't worry, they will make it. Those pilots are the best this base has, and they should be able to launch the troopers right into Siberia, where I am confident they will retake their objective. They are the only hope we've got. We couldn't not send them. They may be able to turn the tide on the ground." The Secretary sighed.
"I suppose your right, as always, Major. They must need reinforcements down there. We haven't had communication for over an hour." Secretary Jordan paused as two banshees whistled overhead, being pursued by cannon fire from the ground.
"I just hope those damn flyboys don't let up." The Audi, pursued by the warthogs (now almost a kilometer behind) finally approached the main base, where a tight ring of security had been formed using four scorpion tanks, eleven warthogs, and nearly one hundred marines that had been stationed at fire-base Zulu.
The Sedan was let through the ring, and past the main gate without question, and two of the warthogs followed, the other two being stationed on the perimeter to bolster the base's defense. Finally, after driving through a maze of underground tunnels, the 3 vehicles arrived at a door marked with a large arrow, indicating the lift to the command center.
The Major, secretary, and 8 remaining MP's walked briskly up to the door that slid noiselessly open to allow the men through to the lift. They were thrust quickly up to the command tower, where they found a disgruntled group of men, manning their stations without much emotion. They seemed to be in shock at what they were seeing.
"Sir!" said one of the controllers. "Two of the Covenant dropships were shot down en route to the base, but two are reported to have put down just outside the perimeter. We should be able to repel this assault, but we don't have enough firepower to hold them off for much longer."
"Thank you, Lieutenant Turner" Rembral said. "I will need a personal evac for the secretary, and if we could, get a goddamn escort from the fleet."
"Sir, The Secretary's evac group has been engaged by the enemy. It landed a short time ago, heavily damaged. That ship won't make it to the bunkers on the other side of the moon. Your safest option is to take a Pelican dropship up to one of the ships in orbit. The destroyer Embassy is unengaged as of now, and holding position approximately 900 kilometers from here above the terrenes crater region. They won't be able to stay much longer."
"Very well, then, Major, if you insist that I run away, than I suppose I must, although I believe you should come with me." He gestured towards a radar screen, showing several red dots approaching Zulu base." The Radar operator, realizing he had noticed, spoke up,
"Sir, 6 more Covenant dropships, inbound with reinforcements, as well as a frigate coming in at bearing nine, zero-six-two. We are running low on ammunition out there!"
"Very well, prepare to evacuate this base, and make sure that we get the vehicles off too. They will be valuable elsewhere."
"With respect, Major, if we move aboard the embassy, what exactly are we going to do if that ship is compromised?" The Secretary glanced out at the now visible shapes of the dropships, and the frigate, activating a grav-lift down to the surface under heavy fire.
"We will have to die, like the rest of them." Said Rembral, "and take it like men, not children crouching in a hide-and-seek game."
Suddenly, a blaring sound issued from the base's loudspeakers, followed by the shaky voice of the radio operator, sitting a few feet from Major Rembral,
"Attention all personnel, attention all personnel, be advised, we are under attack, and we need to evacuate the base, now, I repeat, this base is under code EXIT evacuation as of now. Move to a dropship and prepare for dust-off immediately."
The loudspeaker went silent, and a sudden rush of motion appeared on one of the motion sensors. The marines scrambled off to waiting pelicans, and boarded quickly, while the dropships loaded the vehicles onto their cargo holds.
"Come, Major, we will need to hitch a ride on one of the Pelicans. My corvette is too heavily damaged. It will be left behind."
"Yes, Mr. Secretary" Major Rembral was staring out the windows of the control tower with a glazed sort of look in his eyes. "I'm coming".
"The two men and the MP's joined the rush out of the control tower as two more banshees passed overhead, this time, unchallenged by ground fire, and free to open fire on the base.
"We've got to get out of here!" shouted the Secretary over the noise of the explosions, caused by the suppressive fire from the enemy dropships.
The Major and Secretary finally reached the lower story of the base, where Pelicans were lifting off every few meters, with marines literally hanging out of the back. They clamored into the last one, which lifted off, and swerved evasively, causing a white-hot jet of plasma to miss its mark. The dropships accelerated, some, slower than others (due to the 3 ton trucks latched into their cargo areas) and thundered away from the base, still avoiding ground fire.
"Well" The Major sighed "I guess we need to report to Fleet Com that Zulu base has been evacuated, with minimal casualties. Pilot?" He said
"Yes sir?"
"Set course for the Destroyer Embassy. The others from Zulu will move on to the bunkers."
"Yes, sir! ETA for arrival at Embassy is 24 minutes. As soon as we are on board, they have orders from FLEETCOM to move into geo-synchronistic orbit around earth to defend the orbital MAC's. We should be safer there than anywhere else on the fleet."
"Thank you, Lieutenant, that will be all." The pilot saluted from his seat, and then turned to continue flying the Pelican. "I just hope we're not too late."
* * * * * * * *
Master Chief Petty Officer Spartan John 117 looked out the window panel beside the pilot's seat of His Interceptor. A massive explosion, triggered by the Wildcat destabilization of his ship, The Pillar of Autumn's, Fusion reactors sent a shockwave around Halo, and shredded it into pieces. He watched as one particularly large section of the ring smashed into another, shattering both pieces into oblivion. The Water from Halo's oceans stood in suspended animation out in space, hanging there like a cup of water that froze as it was being spilled.
"Did anyone make it?" John asked Cortana shakily.
"Scanning..." said the voice that spoke in his head, "Just...dust and echos." Cortana replied with a tone of unmistakable sadness in her usually calm, collected voice.
"We...did what we had to do." Her voice was now positively guilty, like that of one who isn't sure they made the right decision, and others suffered from it. "For earth! An entire covenant armada destroyed, and the flood!" She stopped, having talked herself into silence. Then she began again.
"Halo...It's finished."
"No," John replied hoarsely, "I think we're just getting started." He snapped off his helmet for the first time since he had been back on Reach. Reach. This reminded him off the hopelessness of his case. He was alone, in who knew what sector of the galaxy. Likely uncharted, in an Interceptor without a cryro-chamber. He was in for a long ride home, and even then, he could never really get home. Reach had been his home. His brothers and sisters had lived there with him. Now Reach was probably a giant sphere of glass, floating lifelessly away from it's system. His Comrades were probably melted into that glass, or else millions of light-years away, unable to help him now. Whatever way he looked at it, he was in a pretty bad fix.
"Cortana?" he asked after a minute.
"Yes Chief?"
"I want you to prepare to jump to slipspace in 5 minutes. makes sure we are not being traced or followed, because I want you to plot a course for earth. There has never been another time when earth needed Spartans as much as they do now. With Reach gone, It is likely the Covenant have found earth's location, and it is only a matter of time before they have enough firepower to finish her too. This is our only hope. we need to get back there."
"Ok, Chief" Cortana said softly. "scanning for tracing beacons now....she paused, and then "nothing. Just upload me into the Long swords data port and I can get us of here."
The Chief snapped Cortana's construct chip out of his helmet's neural uplink, and placed It lightly into the data port beside him.
"That's better." She said, "No offense, but your suit isn't that roomy for little old me to be cramped up in for days on end."
"Well, I'm glad to see your sense of humor survived. Now get us going."
"I've already begun." She said, as the Long sword's engines kicked back on.
John suddenly felt the ship jolt, and recognized the feeling in his stomach of moving millions of kilometers per hour blindfolded. Actually he was moving closer to a billion kilometers per hour, and Cortana had just started the slipspace sequence.
"Engines at 89% burn rate, chief, locking onto the Alpha Sol's maneuvering beacon...." Cortana lapsed into a momentary pause, "...Oh Hell...Chief, the vectoring beacon closest to earth...It's not responding. It doesn't exist anymore!" Cortana hopped up and down on the holographic panel in anger. "This must have been their plan all along!" She was no furious, and her slim body glowed white hot, with numbers and calculations streaming down her. John only looked on with the same white hot fury coursing over his body, but it wasn't visible
"I can't believe I didn't see it before. They must have known earth's location before the assault on Reach. Reach was just one giant diversion! That's all they've been doing since Sigma Octanus!"
"Now Cortana, are you sure they are in Earth's sector?"
"YES!" she shouted, we need to get back there now!"
"How exactly can we do that without the slipspace maneuvering beacon?"
"I can make a very well calculated jump without it, and come out of slipspace 3 times further way from earth."
"What's the ETA?"
"Calculating" Cortana's body overflowed with mathematical equations as she put her hand on her head "3 days, 4 hours and 21 minutes if we go now.
The chief nodded, accepting the fact that in three days, four hours, and 21 minutes, there may be no more earth to go back to. He had to hold out hope though.
"Well, what are you waiting for, lets get home!" Cortana gave him a patronizing look.
"I was waiting for you, Chief." She shook her head, and said something about brawn and brains, but she also gave a small grin, knowing that they were going to soon be back in a fight, where she and John were meant to be.
Secretary Jordan and Major Rembrel looked up at the unbelievable battle that raged above them as they soared over the moon. What Major Rembrel recognized as Admiral Stanforth's flagship, The Battle Cruiser Anteitem, as it fired 3 MAC rounds simultaneously into space, where seconds later, a flash appeared on the horizon. Where a covenant Carrier had been moments earlier, Only shards of the blue hued material remained.
On the other side of the battle, a massive covenant cruiser had just released it's final weapon, which was a supercharged plasma torpedo, that traveled slowly across space, until it met it's target. The plasma struck a destroyer in the mid section, over penetrated it, and then finally made it's way through to the frigate it had aimed for originally.
The Pelicans that had evacuated Zulu base continued their flight-path past where the Embassy was stationed. It was waiting to depart the moon and join the fray in the atmosphere. The destroyer loomed up before them, over 2 kilometers long.
"Clearance for immediate landing in docking bay 4 granted, Sir!" The pilot called back to Major Rembrel.
"Excellent, get us aboard, will you, son?
"Right away, sir!" The pelican veered sharply upwards, and flew lightly into the open docking bay, which quickly pulled the pelican inside the cavernous ship.
The Major and Secretary stepped off the drop ship and walked across the access corridor with the marines that had been aboard their drop ship.
"Major Rembrel! Mr. Secretary!" A disembodied voice echoed across the vast corridor, and the group that had just exited the pelican looked up.
"My name is Lawrence. I am this ships main AI construct. The captain wishes to see you on the bridge. He expresses his relief at seeing you both alive and off the moon."
"Thank you, Lawrence." The Secretary said. We will oblige the captain as soon as we make sure the rest of Zulu made it safely to the bunkers.
"I can confirm that 96% of the division that evacuated from fire-base Zulu made it unharmed to the lunar emergency bunkers, Mr. Secretary."
"Fine. We will be there in a moment, Lawrence." And with that, the party moved through the hanger and onto the lift, which brought them to the central corridor.
Here, the Secretary and Major parted company with the MP's who had been with them for the entire trip. They were called off to secure all the lifeboat bays incase they needed to abandon ship.
Finally, the two men entered the bridge, that had a distinctively tense atmosphere, like a group of runners seconds before the start of a race.
"Major... Mr. Secretary, glad to see you alive." Captain Freeman, a UNSC leading officer, stepped up from his post, and shook the secretary's hand, then returned Major Rembrel's firm salute.
"We are departing the moons atmosphere now, and are about to enter orbit around earth. We have orders to protect the orbital cannons. The covenant lead forces have been targeting them for over an hour, and if those ODST's we sent take back Epsilon base do their job, those damn aliens won't be near the main fusion generators for the cannons."
"I'm glad to here it captain. This might just be a battle we can win." The secretary sighed, and looked onto the view screen, which showed earth like a giant marble, clouded over with black dust, and slowly turning on it's axis. Most marbles, though, weren't dotted with nuclear explosions, as this one was. It was an awful sight to watch.
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