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Stranded at Home Part 6
Posted By: Dispraiser<dispraiser@netzero.com>
Date: 23 August 2003, 5:53 PM
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"So.... Do we have a plan for this room?", I asked.
"Yes. Kill them all. Leave no survivors. Rescue prisoners Jenna and 'Crazy'" He replied. I felt that it was a suicide mission but saw no alternative.
"Well, let's go. Draw straws to see who goes first?" I asked.
"No. I'll go." I watched as the man flipped the safety off his weapon and paced down the short purple hallway to the door. It spun open and he instantly threw a grenade down the cell block that landed directly below the feet of the Golden Elite. "Hi guys!" he shouted. "Who dies next?" the prisoners sat up, hearing a human voice and turned to face their savior. The bright flash of the grenade was nothing compared to the glory of the soldier. A Golden Elite's mangled body fell to the ground, dead as two more Elite converged on his position. He raised a duo of pistols from his pockets and fired three shots from each pistol. A second later there was an odd resounding silence as the two Elites fell to the ground, three bullets in their heads. I stared at the man in awe as he spun the pistols to his right and fired a shot from each, an invisible Elite falling a second later still half cloaked as it hit the ground. Before its body was able to hit the ground another invisible Elite was killed, purple blood spurting from large wounds in its skull and shoulder. Two Grunts turned and ran in fear as the man casually walked through the room. A needler bold lurched nervously at the man and just as it was about to strike he swept it from the air with a swift motion from his hands. The bullet spiraled to the side of the room where it exploded. The Grunts stared in awe as the man continued to walk forward at a constant speed, drawing his pistol again. The room was overcome by an eerie silence as the pistol released two bullets, both of which hit the Grunts squarely between their eyes. They tumbled to the ground, dead before impact, and the man continued steadily and confidently walking through the room. I walked to the Marine, uncertain of what to say as he activated the holopanel to release the prisoners. At first I looked on, uncertain of what had just happened when something caught my eye. The back of his palm had a large scar on it in the shape of a D. Draco. Draco was a legendary and rumored Spartan terrorist of a decade or so past, and supposedly resided in Awwek. I silently thanked god that he was on our side. He carefully reloaded each pistol and began to distribute guns to the prisoners as I stood, still in awe of his feats.
"You. Marine." The voice echoed at me, Draco's voice oddly eerie.
"Yes, sir." I replied, saluting Draco.
"I need your rifle, you can use your sidearm. I have a friend that needs it." I looked up to see that Draco was standing next to a woman who seemed to be of equal power. Jenna. He handed his two pistols to another man, gangly hair dangling over his eyes, cuts and purple blood on his fists. Clearly he was a fighter.
Complying instantly I handed my rifle to the Spartan. "Alright, Marines, we need to take control of this ship and ram it into the ground. We must make sure that we gain and keep control of the ship until then."
The resounding agreement to Jenna's speech was amazing, "Yes Ma'am!" the Marines shouted in unison. It was our time for us to take our Alamo.
The door to the control room slid open, the familiar chime of its release echoing through the room. Inside the room a half dozen Golden Elites and at least 3 dozen grunts turned to face the Marine pocket. They seemed to instantly recognize the two Spartans in their midst, every one of them running for cover in the small control room. Suddenly the air sizzled as a series of blue bolt lurched from the Marine lines to the Covenant, a Grunt clipped by two shots in the face. Its singed skin splattered to a wall as the faceless Grunt fell to the ground. Within a second vollies of gunfire passed between us and the enemy. Draco and Jenna were already over enemy lines, bodies flying as they began to rip the enemy apart, almost literally piece by peace. I would see one of them jump to kill a grunt and as they split its skull the other hand would fire a few rounds into an enemy Elite, felling both within a second. I fired into the horde and clipped a Grunt in the shoulder, nitrogen spewing from his shattered shoulder plate. I fired another pistol shot at him only to see him become a fireball along with a few of the other nearby Grunts. The fire roared in the center of the room and the Marines stopped firing, a smokescreen blinding their view of the enemy. All we could hear was horrible screams of Elites and Grunts. A grunt body tumbled out of the fire and there was a moment of silence. Suddenly from the billowing fire stepped the silhouette of two tall figures. Spartans. The Marines cheered as Jenna walked up to the control platform.
"All of you this is not the end of the road, we have to destroy the cruiser. Guard the control room while I crash it!" Jenna yelled. Marines loosely assembled near the doors into the control room and raised their mixed arsenal at the doors. "I'm going to try to lock the ship, every door on it, make sure you're all in here in three seconds or you'll be stuck."
I watched the indicators over the doors turn red. Draco looked at Jenna, "How long does that lock buy us?"
"Ten minutes, at best. The attack on the bottom of the ship didn't go unnoticed, and there are probably teams of Covenant in every hallway. No doubt they are all waiting to help unlock or destroy these doors." Jenna replied quietly to Draco. Her voice spoke of great danger but remained calm and almost drone-like. "Marines, I want one person against each door. Put the back of your hand against the door. Tell me if any start getting warm."
I stepped up to Jenna. She was eight feet tall, and seemed scarily lethal. "Jenna, I have a question."
"What is it?" she replied, oddly friendly.
"Well, you are gonna crash this ship, right?" I asked.
"That's the plan."
"Well, I think I've got a better one. Awwek is in big trouble. As we left the base three cruisers were dropping near it. Well, I think it would be better to take this ship and run in there using the element of surprise to fire on them, maybe damage them, and ram this ship into another. We can take down at least one other and this one that way. Also, jettison all of the Elites in the launch pods. They won't do much good in the desert."
"Draco?" Jenna asked. Draco nodded in acceptance. "Looks like you've proved your worth. Grab a plasma rifle and start melting a hole in the door on the left, use it as a fire port to hold the Covenant off on that side once they get to the door."
"Got it." I tossed my pistol to a nearby Marine and pulled the Plasma Rifle from his hands. I aimed it at the emblem on the door and started firing, testing out my new toy on the Covenant ship. The door was tougher than I had expected, and it took a long time for the door to begin to glow and melt, but it singed through the thin door very quickly once it started. I fired for around a minute before there was a hole large enough to fit an assault rifle or grenade through, and waited another two minutes before it was cool enough to peer through. I leaned towards the hole and looked into the other room. It was a small corner, basically, and led to another door immediately.
The door dented outward suddenly, and I heard some low pitch grunting on the other side of the door. I wasn't sure what creature could do such a thing. The other Marines seemed to have heard the noise as well and were trying to peer through the hole. I pushed against them, curious of the monster. Suddenly the door exploded inward, and from the fire and smoke of the destroyed door a large blue figure paced into the room. At first I believed it to be a small tank, but it was like nothing the covenant had used before. My instant reaction was to pull the pin from my grenade and force it through the hole in the door. It dropped into the room and I shielded the hole in the wall with the plasma rifle, lest any shrapnel fly towards it. Following the roar of the grenade I slid the rifle from the hole and looked into the room. It was peppered with shrapnel embedded in the walls, and orange blood lightly speckled the room. The blue creature stood, undeterred. Suddenly one of its arms began to glow green, and I threw my gun against the hole again, to defend the marines against whatever happened. I pressed against the gun with my chest, praying that the green light meant it was dying. Suddenly I was lifted across the room by the rifle, a trail of sparks and flames following my arc. I could hear a hail of gunfire and screams, and through my blurred vision saw what I thought was Draco rushing to the door. I could think of only one thing. I must live to see another day, and I must fight to live.
I sat up and hurled the destroyed rifle to the side. It had been one hell of a day, but nothing was gonna get away with throwing me across a room. I straightened one of my horribly mangled fingers and watched as Draco suppressed the creature and relaxed for a brief moment, before beginning to fire again. Soon he threw the spent plasma weapon aside and grabbed the next weapon in the line, needler. He fired it through the hole and pulled the needler away after a dozen shots. A blinding flash ensued. Draco walked away after looking at the enemy through the hole, who was ripped in half by the explosion. An alien alarm suddenly sounded and Jenna began yelling orders, apparently the Covenant were attempting to disable the ship's reactors manually. Doors near the reactor had been breached. She unlocked a line of doors to the reactor for us and sent everyone bar Draco and herself to the reactors. The other Marines, terrified, ran forward towards the reactors nonetheless, and I wasn't one to be the coward of the group, and I followed along, pretending to be zealous of the mission as the others were. I wished we had Draco with us...
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