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Liberation Part IV: Don't pout, there's dropships about
Posted By: Hoju<hojuu@hotmail.com>
Date: 14 October 2002, 12:43 am
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The Spartans bounced erratically inside the small corridor. Whatever had hit them had hit them hard.
"Spark, what's going on?" Teff yelled as he attempted to right himself.
"New Covenant vessels have entered the area! They have yet to fire on the Heracles, and are focusing all their fire on us! We must get out quickly!" Spark yelled fanatically.
"How many ships are there?" Teff asked, hoping the numbers were smaller then he knew they were.
"My last count was two destroyers, a carrier, and a cruiser destroyer," Spark spoke quietly. "There were still more coming out of slipspace, I didn't have the time to verify what they were, but I believe they were two medium cruisers." Teff floated and thought for a moment. The power of the destroyers could easily wipe out the leftovers of the stealth cruiser, but that was not what he was worried about. The carrier was most likely to attack the Heracles, as it would be the least effective at destroying the stealth cruiser. The two medium cruisers were also probably meant for the Heracles, but these were not what worried him. It was the cruiser destroyer. There had only been one documented battle with them, that of Reach. The cruiser destroyer was what it had been called, as it seemed to resemble most. It's weapon was what frightened Teff, the laser that had been tearing ships apart left and right. Two shots would be more then enough to destroy the bridge, and certain strategic areas of the ship, the leftover fusion generators. One resided in the front of the stealth cruisers for emergencies, to give an extra thrust to the ship if it had to escape battle. However, if the cruiser destroyer's weapon hit the fusion core, they would not have time to worry about how much it would hurt.
"Spark, did anything on this ship survive the explosion?" Teff quickly asked, knowing he was low on time.
"Well, there should be various life pods directly beneath the bridge, but from what I saw in the bridge, there were only two that would operate. And that isn't enough to try and get all of the Spartans out," Spark told the Teff, his panic-laden voice dwindling to that of acceptance. He thought he was going to die.
"Spark, but me through to the Heracles, priority Alpha," Teff said. "We're going to the life pods, Spartans. We may yet get out of this." As Teff said that, another explosion, this one much smaller, vibrated throughout the ship. Most likely the anti-tank mines. The Covenant had just entered the ship now, as it was being torn apart? Teff thought to himself. They had a very low price on the life of their soldiers. The Spartans began moving their way to the lower portions of the bridge, moving in slow motion without the gravity they were so used to operating in. Finally Bates' voice came over Teff's comm unit.
"Teff? How is it going down there? We need to get out of here fast. There is no way we can take on a force that size. We're having enough trouble with their Seraphs as it is," Bates voice hinted at anger, or even panic.
"We have retrieved the coordinate data, and need immediate extraction. As of now, we have no way to return, as you know our Pelican was destroyed. There is no way we could all survive the trip back to the Heracles with only thruster packs with those Seraphs swarming you," Teff explained.
Bates sighed, and his voice disappeared for a moment. Seconds later he returned. "The Covenant forces on the ship have all been eliminated - they sent a surprisingly small force. The Spartans are on their way to extract you."
"Good, have them meet us where we came in, it's the only place we have a certain exit," Teff told Bates, Spark transmitting the set of coordinates and nav points that would flash up onto the Spartan's HUDs. "Thank you, sir. Okay, Spartans, you heard what we have to do. We are going to fight our way out the way we came in, hop in the Pelican, and hope we are not blown into the vacuum before that happens. Sounds good?"
"Yes sir!" They all responded. As the Spartans said that, they caught their first sign of a Covenant soldier. The jackal came down from above them, the way they most go to be extracted. Boarders fired one burst, hitting the jackal in the eye before he could react. The jackal's body floated away, its vacuum suit decompressing sending blue blood in every direction. Teff took point and led the group around the corner, to find a large group of jackals waiting for them. There were eight, four of them at the end of the long corridor, another four scattered about the room. Teff floated behind the only piece of cover, the large sunken in beam that they had passed earlier. He was by himself, with Boarders looking at him from the way they had come. If it was not for the zero gravity, there were thousands of things Boarders could do to help, but with the lack of gravity their options were limited. Boarders kicked off the wall, sending himself flying toward Teff. He fired four bursts, killing one jackal with three, and the last ricocheting off of the small alien's shield, the power of the burst sending him flying backward. Boarders was now with Teff. The closest jackal, who obviously wasn't used to fighting in zero-g casually floated down the hall. He probably did not even realize it, until he could see the two hiding Spartans. They fired in unison, hitting the stunned creature all over his body. Teff then took out a grenade, and threw it as best as he could in zero gravity down the hall, hoping to take out the group of now five jackals. He counted to three to hear after he threw the grenade, knowing he would not be able to hear it while having no atmosphere, then stood along with Boarders and opened fire at the remaining jackals. Two remained, one at the end of the hall and one right by their position. Boarders hit the one to his left, and Teff fired down the hall. Both were headshots, sending more alien blood throughout the corridor. They were almost back to where they were to be extracted now. They reached the end of the corridor, and Teff slowly peeked around the corner. Two elites floated there, their plasma rifles moving slowly and meticulously through each path the Spartans could possibly come through.
The Covenant had set this up to stop them from exiting the ship as well, they must really want us dead, Teff thought. The two elites seemed to relax a bit, not noticing the Teff's head peeking around the corner. Teff readied a plasma grenade, and threw a jackal's corpses into the elite's view. They both fired at it, spilling blood everywhere. Teff saw one of their mouth's move, and point down the hall. The other elite nodded, and began to float slowly down to Teff's position. It had nearly reached the corner, when Teff stuck his arm out and threw the plasma grenade, which he hadn't activated, at the elite landing on its stomach. Teff then pushed himself to the back wall, and launched himself forward, hitting the elite square in the stomach, activating the plasma grenade and sending the Covenant soldier hurtling down the hallway. It reached the other elite, and detonated, making the vacuum a haze of purplish-blue blood. Just as that happened, a Pelican moved in front of the life pod opening.
"How you boys doing in there?," Dawson yelled over an open channel.
"Just fine, Green Leader," Teff replied. His soldiers instantly began moving toward the Pelican, following his lead. They had all just gotten inside when a wave of heat crossed over the Pelican.
"This is going to be a lot bumpier then we thought it was, sir!" Dawson yelled back to Teff.
"Yeah, but that's never stopped us before!" Teff responded. "Move out, Green Leader, and take as many of those Covenant bastards down as you can."
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