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Rainer's Voyage
Posted By: Bloodcider<Bloodcider31389@hotmail.com>
Date: 29 January 2003, 1:01 am
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Part 1
Private James Rainer held his breath as the life boat came closer and closer to the landscape. It was like being on an out of control rollarcoastar ride. "I'm Loosing Her! Brace for impact!" he heard from the pilot, at the front of the small craft.
The exact words he didn't want to hear. The lifeboat slammed into the ground sending James flying from his seat and out the back doors. He rolled to a stop a few feet from the crashed lifeboat, which was partially hanging off of a cliff. He felt himself slip into unconsciousness.
He woke up to a loud buzzing. He look up towards the sky to see a Covenant Drop ship and two Banshees flying toward the site.
"They must be looking for survivors." he said to himself.
He looked next to him, there was a MA5B Assault Rifle lying near a corpse. "I'll just lye completely still as if dead." He thought to himself. It was better than making a run for it. If he did, he'd be dead faster than...he didn't want to think of it. The drop ship was setting down not to far to the left of him, up the hill. He saw a Red Elite accompanied by a few Jackals and a Red grunt. They walked down the hill, coming closer and closer. He could hear them talking to each other. One of the Jackals broke out in laughter. "They're just like humans...not just trained killers...they joke around" he thought.
"Humin" the grunt said, as it trudged up to him. It pointed its plasma weapon at his face. He held his breath, he put all his energy into not blinking. The grunt bent down and started to sniff him. "Its a dog, its like a dog" he kept thinking. The grunt stood up and waddled over to the Elite. It looked up at it.
"Food?" is said.
The elite shook its head and said something in Covenant Tongue. Obviously no, because the grunt slumped its little shoulders and trudged off.
"Nooooo!" he heard, a technician in blue, lying on his back with a Jackal pointing its gun at him. He must have been unconscious, and just woke. The technician whacked the Plasma pistol out of the Jackal's hand. He got up and took off across the field. A Banshee swooped by, firing two large balls of plasma in the technician's direction. They hit him in the back, burning away at the Cloth, flesh and bone. He fell to the ground dead.
The Elite started to bark orders, and the Alien Squad moved back to the drop ship. The drop ship took off, and flew away with the company of the banshees.
Rainer got up. He walked over to the life boat.
"Hey! Anyone here alive? They're gone!" he said.
No Answer.
He picked up the MA5B and a few clips for it. He also managed to find a few grenades. He stayed at the lifeboat for awhile, trying to radio for help. But there was no respond. The Pillar of Autumn must have crashed. He could be the only human left on this planet.
"I have to get out of here." he said aloud.
He walked up the hill where the drop ship had landed. There was a large valley beyond it. A small stream ran through the middle. Walking down the hill he spotted a covenant vehicle. A ghost. It was just lying there near the stream, a dead Red Elite near it. He checked the dead body. A few pistol rounds had taken up residence in the head of the alien. Rainer climbed into the Ghost. After a little while of practicing the controls he got the hang of it. It wasn't too complicated. Covenants were like humans, two arms two legs. But it was the hover capability that disoriented him. He zoomed off across the valley, following the river. It lead to some kind of Signal Station. A distress beacon. A large blue laser shot off into the air. There was a door leading into the structure. "Maybe whoever killed that Elite had found their way here." he thought. He went into the doorway, and walked down the hallway which was a ramp. Down inside there were a few dead Jackals on the floor. Their faces twisted with pain and surprise. There was a sniffing from the other side of the room. The same sniffing he had heard earlier. There he was, the Little Red Grunt, he wasn't armed and sat there in the corner hugging himself. He didn't realize Rainer was there. He walked over quietly, and put his foot on the Grunts chest, aiming his gun at its face. It let out a short scream. From what he knew Grunts could speak English so he thought for a moment and decided to interrogate it.
"What happened here?" He said in a demanding voice, trying to intimidate the little shit.
"Humins, Attak. Theys took my plasma from me.!" It said back, it seemed scared. "Please don shoot!".
"Humans? Where did they go? How did you get here?" He asked.
"We came for a rest and Rapier went for a ride on ghost! He never came back and then the humins come in and shoot us! It surrendad and they hit my face. I jus woke up. Please don't shoot me" He said quickly.
"Okay, I won't kill you but you have to come with me" he said to it.
It nodded its head quickly sniffing. He knew how it felt, his friends had died in that crash. This war was hurting both sides more than physically. Why did he have to be apart of it? He didn't remember going up to someone and saying that he wanted to kill for a living. Well, what could he do? He was a pawn in an ongoing war that seemed to never end.
"C'mon, were going to find those Marines." he said to the grunt.
Part 2
The sun was setting as Rainer and the captured Grunt trudged out of the valley, into the hills. The Ghost had an internal flaw, something about the battery. The Grunt didn't know how to fix it.
"You're a covenant and you can't fix your own vehicle!" he had yelled at it. "I'm not a mechanic!" he yelled back in defense.
So they were stuck walking. The grunt had been useful though, he now had a collection of three plasma grenades in his side pack. He had tucked them in near the 5 frag grenades he had from the crash. They walked for what seemed like hours before they got to another building. It was like the one where he originally found the grunt. He saw something move near the rocks in the corner of his eye. He raised his gun and pointed it in that direction.
"Show yourself!" he yelled out.
To his surprise a human head popped up from behind the rocks. A marine, there was a broad grin on his face. He was dressed like Rainer was, no armor. Just a vest, shirt and pants. Rainer lowered his weapon and walked over. Two more marines walked out from the building. They were dressed like the first. One, a woman, was armed with a pistol. The other, a man had a Shotgun.
"Private James Rainer, 102th Reconnaissance Group." He said.
"Private Philip Mendoza" said the first marine he had saw.
"Private Ralph Donovan" said the second male.
"Sargeant Deirdra Inacio, 101th Assault Division" said the female.
He rasied his hand and saluted.
"At ease soldier. Who's this?" she said, pointing the pistol at the grunt.
"I found him a few miles back, unarmed. I've been using him for information." Rainer said.
"Hey, that's the little shit I whacked. Thought he was dead" said Mendoza.
The grunt hugged Rainers leg and hid behind him.
"Humin" he said in protest.
Rainer was lucky he had stumbled upon them when he had, they we just about to leave. But Mendoza has to take a leak, that's why he was behind the rocks. So now they were off, fortunately they had a warthog. The Sergeant sat in the passengers seat while Donovan drove and Rainer, Mendoza and the grunt sat in the back. The chain gun had been broken, it wouldn't fire. The grunt was huddled next to Rainer, it trusted him he guessed, plus it was scared of Mendoza after the close encounter with the butt of his gun. They drove out to a small outpost in the middle of a large field. It was dark already and they needed to set up camp. Donovan got to work on a fire while Mendoza worked on raising help on the radio. Inacio and Rainer kept watch.
"So how did you get stuck in this mess?" she asked him.
"I was positioned on the Autumn less than a month ago." He said. "I had a hell of a time getting off of it."
He went on with his story of how he ran to the lifeboats and got smacked in the head by an elite on his way out. He still had the bruise to prove it. They talked for awhile finally they heard Mendoza speaking louder from the small structure.
"Rainer, get your ass in here and take the radio."
Rainer jogged over and grabbed the radio from Mendoza's hand.
"This is Pelican Echo 419, I Repeat this is Echo 419, any UNSC Personnel respond." it said.
"Rainer to Echo 419. Rainer to Echo 419, do you copy?" Rainer said into the radio. There was static. Then he heard the pilots voice break the static.
"Roger Rainer, This is Pelican Echo 419, I read you loud an clear."
"Pelican Echo 419, We are in need off immediate dustoff" Rainer said.
"Roger Rainer, I'm on my way. Echo 419 out." the pilot said back.
They waited for the drop ship, looking for something to do to kill time. They talked mostly. There wasn't much else to do. They told war storys and storys about their life. They told jokes and riddles too. It was only a matter of time before the Pelican came. But if that was an open broadcast radio, the covenant heard the same music as the pilot. It was midnight when they heard it. Not the drop ship, not the Pelican Drop ship, their drop ship. But a buzzing. A loud rumbling buzzing.
"Oh Man, Covenant Drop ship inbound, take cover!" Donovan shouted.
And there it was, a dropship heading full speed at them its doors opening and Elites and Jackals piling out.
"Open Fire!" Inacio shouted.
Rainer aimed his weapon and squeezed the trigger sending a few rounds flying towards a Jackal, impacting with its head sending bits of brain matter everywhere. The grunt he captured dived into the building with its hands on its head. He looked back and saw Inacio emptying rounds into another Jackal, large holes appearing in it's chest, the blood gushing out. He aimed his gun towards an Elite letting loose a few rounds, which struck it in the shoulder area. But were reflected off of its shield. The Elite let out a loud war cry. Donovan opened up on it, along with Mendoza. Bringing it down to the ground. Rainer charged a jackal, hit it in the face with his gun, cracking its frail skull open. He looked up and saw 3 balls of green plasma heading strait for him. He fell on his back, letting the plasma fly by. He looked back, and saw that Donovan was on the ground squirming. All three had hit his chest. He came to a sudden stop. He was dead. Rainer returned fire, bringing down two more jackals. Inacio was standing over and Elite beating it with the butt of her pistol.
"Hey!" He shouted and he threw her Donovans shotgun.
Mendoza took down the last three jackals in a volley of fire. He came up from his crouch and ejected his weapon. An Elite came from the shadows behind him.
"Mendoza!" Inacio yelled, but it was too late.
The Elite brought its huge fist down on the back of his neck, shattering the spinal column, killing him instantly. Rainer fired at the elite bringing its shields down. Inacio finished it off with the shotgun. A large gaping hole in its chest. The battle was over, they had won.
The Pelican flew from behind the large hill some twenty yards from the battlefield. It set to a stop in the middle of the field. Rainer dropped his MA5B. It was out of ammo. So he picked up Mendoza's pistol and holstered it. He climbed aboard the drop ship, Inacio was already in it.
And then there was a burning sensation in his back. He fell to his knees.
"We killed all of them what the hell." he thought. He brought his pistol up from the holster and turned, still on his knees. Thats when he saw what he did not expect.
The he was the little red grunt, standing there with a plasma pistol. Rainer fired three rounds. The first went high. The second sliced open the side of its neck. The third hit it between the eyes killing it instantly. It did a back flip, and came to a rest in a pool of it's own blood. The Pelican started to lift off of the ground. Rainer fell on his side. The pain from the plasma wound still surging through his back. Inacio rolled him on his side. He felt so strange. He was hot and sweating, yet his skin was cold. He was falling asleep, yet he couldn't be more awake. He took everything in like slow motion. It was so surreal. He looked out of the back of the dropship. The beautiful moonlit scenery flying by. The pistol slipped from his hand and flew away to the ground. Then he looked up. Inacio was looking down at him, a sad look on her face. She held his hand. He knew he was dying, he knew it and she knew it. Rainer took in everything he saw. He couldn't keep his eyes open, he was so sleepy. His eyes fluttered and came to rest. Darkness stole his hopes away and Rainer saw no more....
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