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Clean Sweep 3
Posted By: aussie_spartan<aussie_spartan@hotmail.com>
Date: 27 June 2008, 7:07 am
Read/Post Comments
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>To open file press enter. To delete press delete.
>ENTER
>>... please enter password...
>> "the-doctor"
>>Please wait...
>>Thank you for waiting, welcome Captain.
>>NOTE: Destroy this document after use.
File start:
Operation: CLEAN SWEEP
Access Level: None
Access code: N/A
Receiver: Prowler Silent Fury , over South Africa (Ensign Jane Minchin)
Sender: Dog Company, 2nd Platoon, ONI Operative #008-76BC (2nd Lieutenant Ben Crosshaw)
Recording location: Prowler Silent Fury
>Begin Transmission:
>>Receiver: Crosshaw, do you copy?
>>Sender: Yes Fury. What do you want? (Explosion) I'm a little busy right now.
>>Receiver: We were sent information pertaining to an attempt by Covenant forces to hack into Station 6's com. We need you to verify by finding the equipment. Sending coord-
>>Sender: Fuck you.
>>Transmission ended. Cut off from source.
>Press enter to continue and delete.
"Who was that?" Scully asked.
Crosshaw looked at his superior officer and made a face then continued yelling at the troops.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He yelled at a young private sporting a rocket launcher "How the hell do you expect to kill anyone with that thing pointed at the floor?"
The private jumped, startled by the sudden attention given to him by Crosshaw and raised his launcher confusedly looking for something to shoot at. "What am I firing at sir?" The private yelled.
Crosshaw was about to turn the private into paste when Scully interrupted him by calling out to the entire company "Everyone who can move get those who can't onto the 'hogs! We are rolling out of here now !"
There was a rush of movement as people started loading the wounded onto the two transport warthogs and while they did Scully noted that he had underestimated how many people were incapable of moving themselves. Eventually though Dog Company, complete with two heavily burdened transport 'hogs, slowly rolled back in the direction of Station 6.
"Transports in the middle. All the other 'hogs up front with the rockets, blast us out of here!" Scully bellowed.
Instantly Crosshaw and the other leaders started implementing Scully's orders and arranged the company accordingly. It soon became apparent to Scully that at their current pace very little of D company would make it out of this forest alive but there was little that could be done about it. He had all his firepower up the front blasting a hole in the Covenant blockade for them to escape through and it would be impossible for Scully to regain a connection with 6 to call in an airstrike.
Almost as if he could read Scully's mind Crosshaw screamed to the drivers of the transport warthogs "Get those damn 'hogs into gear people. The rest of the company is not interested in waiting for you!"
As per usual Crosshaw's rage did what Covenant firepower and several yelling sergeants never could. The drivers of the transport warthogs picked up speed, finally moving into the holes in the Covenant defence created by the rockets. Scully was about to congratulate Crosshaw when he felt the heat of a massive orb of plasma heading toward their position soon followed by an explosion that rocked the earth. Scully clenched his teeth and hit the dirt, dodging a stray plasma bolt by mere millimetres. Looking at the patch of ground now superheated by the plasma bolt Scully spared a second to imagine what would have happened if it hadn't missed. What life would be like for people without him.
Pushing those thoughts aside Scully picked himself up and looked around, immediately he found what he was looking for. Standing atop a hill their three o'clock was a black armour clad Grunt shakily clutching a smoking fuel rod gun, the poor bastard stood out like a sore thumb. If Scully allowed this Grunt to live then there would be every chance that the Grunt would rain plasma hell down atop D Company using his devastating weapon. There was no doubt about it; he would have to be killed now.
"Oi! Light!" Scully yelled to the aspiring Rambo.
"Yes sir?" Light yelled back.
"Put your sniper to use. See that Grunt with the fuel rod gun?"
LCPL Joseph Light, grinning from ear to ear hefted his bulky rifle and got a bead on the Grunt. He was still smiling while he put three rounds downrange into the Grunt, knocking the diminutive alien onto the floor.
After watching to make sure the Grunt was indeed dead Scully turned his attention to damage control "I need a sit rep! Who was hit?"
Someone's voice crackled over Scully's com "Sir, one of the 'hogs have been hit! She's on fire... everyone's dead. There's nothing we can do."
The bottom dropped out of Scully's stomach. "Which 'hog soldier? Which 'hog?"
As Scully said this he turned around, frantically looking for any sign of the smouldering wreck signifying where a warthog once was. He saw the smoking gauss before he got a reply. "The gauss sir. It was Rudd's 'hog."
Filmore slipped in and out of consciousness. He vaguely remembered being lifted off the ground and moved into a vehicle. He didn't know what kind of vehicle it was and his mind was too groggy to take a guess as to what he was being carried away in. All that Filmore could remember for certain was that Glen was dead.
"Just sit back and relax soldier. We're getting you outta here."
Filmore couldn't see the person speaking but he recognised the voice as the one belonging to Sergeant Potts. Filmore wanted to respond. To tell him that Glen was dead but he felt something cold slip into his veins and Filmore realised he was being drugged up for the ride.
"We're almost home." Potts said reassuringly. "We're almost home."
The last thing Filmore thought before falling asleep was that he wasn't going home. Station 6 was very far from anywhere Filmore would call 'home'.
When Filmore woke he was surrounded by white, disorientation made him scared but slowly memories of where he was came flooding back in. He had spent much time in the med lab of Station 6 while he was in South Africa. Glen often said that-
Filmore banished the painful memory from his awareness as best he could but tears still began to well at his eyes. No longer wanting to be left alone with his internal turmoil Filmore tried to get up and move around the lab to find Doc Tyler but the moment Filmore's feet hit the floor a sense of vertigo hit his head so he had to lie down again.
"Woa there! Sit down. You're not going anywhere soon." said Doc Tyler as he swiftly moved to the marine's side.
"You can't tell me what to do." Filmore muttered under his breath, desperate to get out of the lab.
Doc Tyler smiled. "You can't tell me what to do sir ." He corrected.
Tyler had tried to force some humour into their conversation but, miraculously, Filmore wasn't in the mood for jokes and doubted whether he ever would be again. He had seen comrades die before but Glen... Filmore wanted to voice his outrage to Tyler at his attempts to make light of the situation but every time he tried to open his mouth he felt like he would burst into tears. He tried several times but each time resulted in the same failure. Filmore's throat felt like it was closing up; no words were strong enough to punch through so he just settled with an angry glare directed towards Tyler.
Tyler's smile faded when he realised he wasn't making any progress "You can get as angry as you want but it won't bring him back. So if you want to make that hatred count... save it for the Covenant."
At those words Filmore was finally able to rasp "What do you mean? The Covenant are still out there?"
Doc Tyler nodded "Lucas is trying his best but we can't seem to contact anyone. So for the time being... we're on our own."
Specialist Alex Cornet surveyed all that lay before her. She saw the Pelican dropship and two Shortsword fighters assigned to Station 6. She saw the wide expanse of lush green grass stretching towards the southern horizon. She saw the remaining warthogs still melted in some parts from where plasma scoring had warped their chassis. Most important of all, far in the distance, she could see the jungles she had been raining hell down upon for the better part of a day and where D Company had lost more than a few good soldiers.
Cornet stood upon a hulking behemoth of a gun still as a statue, almost daring the Covenant to leave the forest and challenge her might. She had been given the order by one of the lieutenants, the cute one with an English accent and a strong hatred or all living creatures, to monitor the jungle and destroy anything stupid enough to make the mad dash across the plain to Station 6. She was happy to oblige.
Turning to the rest of her group she yelled "Where the hell are the Covenant? I'm bored."
Some smiled but most saw her talk for what it really was, talk. She was just as scared as the rest of them but was better at hiding it than they were. Currently Station 6 was in a bit of a tight spot, the Pelican couldn't take them all away and they couldn't contact anyone to send them more so they were pretty much stuck in the middle of hostile central. They knew they had Covenant to their north just not exactly where north and how far north meaning that Covenant could literally just walk into their camp at any moment. They only had one pilot left and he had used to last of their Shortsword's heavy ammunition on his last run, the foolish bastard. To cap it all off although they had too many to transport in a Pelican they had too little to properly defend the base after the little incident in the jungle.
D Company consisted of four platoons. These platoons made a total of 160 combat personnel to guard Station 6 along with a HQ and other support staff including people such as Cornet. However, after today there were only 102 soldiers on base and 22 of those were in the med lab with injuries too bad to allow them back into combat. Cornet mulled over the logistics and probabilities of defending Station 6 with only 80 combat troops but quickly gave up. With those numbers the Covenant would have them overrun in moments in even the most suicidal attack.
Turning to her group once more Cornet realised the importance of not letting everyone else know this and guessing the burden of leadership here to be her responsibility she took it upon herself to reassure everyone.
"What the hell are the all you moping about? There's work to be done! Rescan the area and then do a visual check with the binoculars. Make sure no one with invisibility is sneaking up on us, watch for the waving air."
Watching her subordinates scuttle about to follow her orders and realising the need to keep herself busy as well Cornet scrutinized the person scanning with the radar to make sure he was doing it right. This part was the most dangerous part, the waiting game. Now they had to keep busy and keep aware of what was going on around them. The marines were good but they couldn't have eyes everywhere so it was important that she lend a hand in watching for Covenant lest their enemies get the drop on them. Ironically, as well as being the most important part, the waiting game was the part Cornet found the most annoying.
"God, just attack already so we can blow you to hell." Cornet muttered low so that only she could hear.
"Mud! I am sick to death of this stupid mud!" moaned Gir-tar turning her vulture-like head towards Yarrh. "No human bounty is worth this!"
Although Yarrh was inclined to agree he knew better than to return to the Jiralhanae without having, at the very least, tried to kill the human they were supposed to. They had been crawling through the slick mud for hours now thanks to their new leaders.
After the Jiralhanae Chieftain had met an unfortunate demise along with the rest of the pack leaders the only ones of high enough rank left were not really those who should be in power. Picking up on the idea left by their predecessors the Jiralhanae had decided to attempt an electronic attack against the humans but this had catastrophically backfired. Yarrh was unsure whether the blame lay on the Jiralhanae supervising or the fools doing the hacking but Yarrh did know that, one way or another, the guilty party would pay. If it so happens that the human they were to kill had something to do with the death of their kin then that would be a bonus along the way.
"Silence! We are nearly there. Prepare the beam rifle." Yarrh hissed.
Gir-tar obediently did as she was told and removed their sniper rifle from its casing, being very careful not to make too much noise or to let too much light reflect off its surface. They had slowly been making their way around the large field south of the human base so that they could get a decent view of the human's encampment. The Jiralhanae had told them to only fire upon one particular human who they believed to be the leader. Once he was dead they were allowed to take out any more targets of opportunity they wanted then retreat... so long as that particular human was dead.
"What can you see?" whispered Gir-tar eagerly. Yarrh could tell she was desperate to kill this human and leave, Yarrh was too.
"Nothing yet, I haven't gotten the viewfinder out yet." Yarrh snapped unzipping his own rucksack.
After a few minutes of quiet fumbling they were finally set up and ready to shoot, unfortunately they did not have sights on their target yet. Yarrh took another long look at the image of the human they were to kill. He had no idea as to how the photo had been captured and couldn't really care, all that mattered now was memorising the black tuft of hair, the pale white skin, the brown eyes and the disgusting nose. Yarrh found all humans vile to look at and this one was no exception though, Yarrh thought, it probably wouldn't matter for much longer as he intended to blow that face away.
Taking another look through the viewfinder Yarrh scanned the human encampment for any sign of this human but all he saw was their warrior class walking around searching for intruders like them. "Just try and find us," Yarrh whispered with glee "I would be just as willing to kill one of you in a close combat fight as by distance."
Although he could not see her while looking through the viewfinder Yarrh knew that Gir-tar heard him and was now smiling. He doubted she would have any regrets about getting into close combat with these creatures; she loved using her claws up close and personal.
"Don't engage them unless you absolutely have to." Yarrh warned.
Gir-tar smiled dangerously "But I do absolutely have to."
Yarrh sighed. "Not too long ago you were desperate to get out of here and now you can't wait to fight them? Slow down, I can't keep up with your constant mood swings."
"I'm always in the mood for killing." Gir-tar said almost cryptically.
Yarrh sighed again; Gir-tar was a real puzzle. One moment she could be complaining about the little things and the next she could be focused completely on the problem at hand, not that Yarrh was annoyed that she had finally decided to commit herself to the mission. Snorting and racking it all up to just another bad day Yarrh returned to the viewfinder hoping to spot the human, maybe today wouldn't have to be all bad.
Lucas hit the monitor with his fist but the reinforced metal and screen easily took the pressure without cracking. Rubbing his sore hand Lucas stared angrily at the screen as if the pain was its fault and swore some more. He immediately stopped when the door to 'The Com Bunker' opened and Captain Wall stepped into the threshold. If there was anyone more unpopular amongst the soldiers than Lieutenant Crosshaw it was Captain Wall, the man was not fit to lead troops. His mistake earlier in the day had cost many lives but he was the highest ranking officer at Station 6 and due to the com crisis there wasn't any way of changing that.
"Any luck punching through the static?" Wall inquired.
Lucas had the carefully moderate his voice in order to keep out the frustration but he didn't do a very good job of it. "No sir. I'm still having trouble."
Wall just stood in the doorway and didn't say anything for a while until "Could this be the Covenant jamming our signal?"
Flushing red at his impotence Lucas replied "There's no other explanation sir. This static is too strong, too inconvenient. It's the Covenant messing with us."
"That leaves us with two options. We can either send someone out on a mongoose to make contact with the nearest station or we could find the Covenant in the jungle and destroy the machine they're using." Wall said simply.
Lucas sighed explosively.
"Is there something I should know lieutenant?" Wall inquired.
"It would be pointless to send the marines back into the jungle. This signal isn't being sent from there." Lucas explained "Only a Covenant ship would have the capabilities to do something like this."
Wall raised an eyebrow in an attempt to look incredulous but all it did was make him look like a bigger idiot "You mean to tell me that there is a Covenant ship above us right now that has not bothered to glass us?"
Lucas gave Wall a condescending look "Their troops are still groundside sir."
Wall's face blanked for a minute and he just managed an "Oh." Before leaving.
Captain Wall found Scully in his quarters near the barracks. The moment Wall walked in he was almost overwhelmed by the stench of vomit, vaguely curious Wall studied Scully more closely trying to discern from his demeanour whether his sickness was due to a bug or to the failed operation.
"Are you ok Lieutenant?" Wall asked.
Scully opened his mouth to respond but quickly ducked behind his desk and started a dry heave which ended in a wet splat that made Wall visibly shudder.
Scully waited another moment before he came back up from behind his desk. "Do I seem ok Captain?"
At that remark Wall bristled. How dare Scully talk to a superior officer like that? "I hope that in this dire situation Lieutenant that you are not undermining my authority because this situation may warrant more severe consequences than the norm."
Suddenly a spark flared in Scully's eyes, something Wall had never seen before "How dare you." He snarled "You send God knows only how many troops into a combat situation without any recon or any information and then lecture me on the consequences of my actions? You are the highest ranking officer here and so it is your job, no... your duty to protect those under you. You've failed. Captain."
The last word was filled with a hatred Wall had not heard Scully reserve even for the Covenant. Touching the pistol at his side reflexively Wall chose his next words with caution "Are you sure this is my fault? I'm sure that while in combat leadership of 3rd Platoon is yours not mine. Not trying to cover for your own incompetence are you?"
The taunting subliminally laced into these words was not lost on Scully and he stood up now fully enraged. "You foolish bastard!" He roared "We have lost contact with everyone-"
Now Wall was yelling "We have not lost contact! At this moment I am searching for a scout to send out to the nearest Station to call for backup."
Scully leaned over his desk towards Wall and it was now, when they were face to face that Wall could see how sick Scully really looked. His cheeks had hollowed, his eyes were bloodshot and his breath was rancid. The once respectable looking officer was now more like a corpse than some of the marines lying in the mortuary. Scully waited a moment to let Wall drink in his features before he responded, no longer yelling. Scully's voice was a deathly whisper so soft that Wall had to lean closer to hear it.
"There is no station left within riding distance Captain. The last messages we received instructed us that air blockades are to our North, South, East and West. We have Covenant to both our North and South and they're closing in. We are truly alone now Captain. We are truly dead now Captain. And it's all your fault."
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