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HELLJUMPERS CHAPTER 10: The Beginning of the End
Posted By: Havok<snayperskaya@hotmail.com>
Date: 8 October 2002, 12:11 am
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Sorry about the delay. My friend said that he wanted to write the next chapter. The characters I have used in this story are real people. John, the demo tech, decided to write this chapter. It was so long we had to split it into two parts. Here is the first part. Enjoy! "Sirs, Captain Perov requires your presence in his office immediately," the page frantically departed, not wanting to know what this was about. Rob and I hurriedly put on our field fatigues and ran toward H.Q. Since returning from our last assault, life had been pretty mellow. Now it was 1:00 am and we were being rushed to our posts.
"Gentlemen, I am going to make this short and sweet," the commander barked as we entered the room. "We have two marines on a recon mission in quadrant C reporting a host of Covenant troops gathering on a plain. We have never seen this kind of behavior before, and ultimately don't know what to expect. The marines are in grave danger, the armored units are tied up, and you are the best we've got. You two will be accompanied by John and the new guy, Richard. Save the marines and report back."
Bleary eyed and half asleep, we nodded our heads and sighed. "When do we leave?" I asked.
"Immediately," came the reply. "Oh, and by the way, eliminate as many of those bastards as you can. Now, get your guns and get the hell out of here!"
We jogged to the armory where Rob grabbed his shotgun and assault rifle, and I picked up my sniper rifle and a few extended clips. I slapped my knives in their sheathes, grabbed a few grenades, and ran for the drop ship already warming up on the dock. We entered to see Richard, clutching a cup of coffee in his trembling hands, looking anxiously around in anticipation. Richard had just been assigned to the 229th, and was not quite battle-hardened. He lacked in courage and strength, but was cunning and always obeyed orders.
On the other side of the ship was John, playing with some sort of contraption in his bag. John tended to make his own versions of ordinance, and it wasn't surprising to see him fiddling with another one. "You sure as hell better not drop that thing and blow up our asses before we even take off." Rob smirked. John subconsciously gave him the finger, never taking his eyes off of the silver disk in his hand.
"If I drop this thing, not only yours and mine will be blown to hell, but most of this compound will also be vaporized," John said coolly. "I don't recommend that you distract me." Robs face went white as he sat down, and Richard began to shake where he sat.
I laughed. "Don't worry Rich, if John were a klutz, this HALO base would have been incinerated long ago." He didn't look calmed.
With a lurch, we were in the air en-rout to our destination. At first it seemed like hours, then seconds when the pilots voice radioed that we were over our drop sight. We would have to parachute in under the cover of darkness, as we forgot our active camo in the rush to leave. We were going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. We all landed in a small clearing 3 kilometers from the signal beacon of the marines.
The four of us gathered in a small clearing, donned our night-vision glasses, and started toward the signal. I was at point, with John bringing up the rear. John was packing an old-fashioned 308 hunting rifle, his munitions pack, and a modified flame-thrower that would incinerate anything within 200 meters. He was un-healthily obsessed with destruction, and loved to take out hordes of covies in a single blast. He's also renowned for his traps and tricks he plays with his explosives.
We had traveled no more than 50 meters when I found a Marine helmet lying on the ground. I reached down to pick it up, and found two hallow eye sockets staring through me. I gasped and dropped it, the bloody stump of a head rolling away. It didn't look good as far as the rescue went. I took a step, and felt a string pop on my boot. "Hit the deck!" I screamed as the woods around us came alive.
"Stay down!" was shouted from behind me, and a searing blast of heat flew over my head. For what seemed an eternity I hugged the ground, not daring to move. "Alright, it's clear," John stated. I looked around and saw that the forest was nothing more than burnt stumps, with the blackened forms and skeletons of almost 200 grunts on both sides of the path.
"Looks like a welcoming party," Rob mumbled. "They know we are here. They were expecting us."
"Alright, everybody listen up. Turn off your radios, beacons, and anything else that has a signal. We are going old-school this time." I knew that they didn't intend for that trap to stop us, but what king of a host can afford to throw away 10 score of grunts like that? I didn't like the looks of what we were getting into. Further, we could all see how they treated our marines. It was going to be tough, and we couldn't risk radioing for help.
I sent Richard and Rob ahead to scout for a place to camp for the remainder of the night, while John and I tried to figure out our situation. We were deep in enemy territory, obviously filled with Covenant troops, with only four men. This was easy enough. What I couldn't get out of my head was the report of "something strange, something never seen before." We were rushing headlong into something, and I just hoped we could figure out what before it was too late.
"Andreas, you better take a look at this!" gasped Rob as he came running into the clearing. "We found the other marine."
John and I jumped up and ran up to where Richard was trying to compose himself, a pile of human refuse at his feet. "I meant, we found what was left of the other Marine." Rob sighed. Small bits of red flesh littered a bare patch of ground, stained red for about twenty feet in each direction. An occasional body part was recognizable, but the only identifying mark was a HALO unit patch pinned to a tree. Grey brain matter covered the base of the tree, with a hollow patch of skin stretched tight over a pair of genitalia, cut with holes to look like a face. It was too much to bear, and we all looked away.
Richard pulled out his knife and moved to cut it down. "Stop!! Don't touch anything!" John screamed. "Its another trap, and I doubt we will be as lucky as last time. Lets just turn and walk away. Watch your step, and shout if anything happens." We proceeded slowly from the clearing. As we got back to our designated camp sight, John slipped away and began moving in the trees around the camp. We still had about three hours before daylight, and it was decided to take a little nap. I was about to take first watch, when John returned and said not to bother, we wouldn't need a watch. I gave him a sidelong glance, and he returned with an almost evil ear-to-ear grin. What the hell I thought, and propped my back against a tree for some sleep. ***CRACK*** I was awake and on my feet in seconds, knife in hand. I looked around to see Rob turn on his night vision on his assault rifle. John and Richard both were still asleep. Richard was new, so he wasn't expected to be so alert, but John was battle-hardened and a veteran. I would have to have a talk with him in the morning. ***WHOOSH***
***BOOM*** I was thrown to my feet by the force of the explosion, as a circle of flame erupted around the perimeter of our base. Rob recovered and started firing into the darkness, as I groped for my sniper rifle. "Save your ammo, there is nothing left to kill our there right now." John said from behind me. The explosion had roused John and had sent Richard into a panic, trying to load his gun.
"Dammit boy, you didn't even have bullets in your gun? What the hell were you going to fight with? A fucking rock?" If there was one thing I hated, it was being un-prepared.
"Sorry sir, I was just doing what they told us in training sir; never leave your gun loaded and unattended."
"This isn't some fucking military compound you fool!! You better learn what to forget from boot camp real quick, or you're a dead mother!"
"Yes, Sir! It won't happen again Sir!" If Richard looked scared before, he was in tears now. John and Rob had already started packing up our camp. We were done with any hope of rest for tonight. As we moved out, the perimeter of our camp was littered with body armor, unexploded munitions rounds, melted plasma guns, and small pieces of orange, green, and purple goop. John giggled with delight from behind as he saw how well his new little toy had worked.
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