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By the Skin of our Teeth part III
Posted By: Kyle Stegerwald<poltava_7@hotmail.com>
Date: 25 November 2004, 6:02 AM
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By the Skin of our Teeth, part III
Anabasis
Author's Note: Sorry it took so damn long for me to finish this. It has been an incredible month for games- Half Life 2, World of Warcraft, and of course the further adventures of Master Chief & companions in Halo 2. So, forgive the delay, and I hope you judge this piece worth the wait. I've taken to heart the criticisms of my fellow forum members, and I hope that this is a much-improved piece. Hopefully it won't get lost in the barrage of fan fiction. Bonne chance, dear readers!
We were fading fast, heading up the steep valley east of the base. Our tanks ground slowly on the precarious shelves of loose gravel, our Warthogs sped past them, and the rest of us hoofed it up to the crest of the valley. I don't remember much of this scene- save that it was exhausting. We reached the crest of the valley and quickly moved on- apparently the Covenant had snipers watching all around the base for signs of fleeing humans. Seeing us moving out in such an orderly fashion must have startled them- but not for long. As soon as they saw us, we had to move quickly. Snipers began to pick of straggling marines- the plasma beams cut sharply through the night, blinding those of us that saw them and burning those of us that were hit.
We made it to the top of the valley and saw another valley stretching before us, with mountains in the distance. Even at night it was beautiful- the cold water flowed in a shallow river through the valley, the green grass rose high beside the water, and trees blanketed the far side of the valley- if we could reach those trees before the aliens crested the ridge of the valley, we would be safe. If not, well, we'd just have to pray that we had enough firepower to keep them at bay.
The tanks, of their own accord, turned their turrets around and fired volley after volley into the remnants of our base and covered the valley in machinegun fire. The rest of us stole away down the valley.
"Sir" whispered a marine as we plunged into the waist-deep water of the stream.
"Yes?" I said, pulling my gun up above my waist.
"How far is the base again?"
"Fifteen miles." I said, sucking in my breath as the cold set in.
"In this terrain?" He said, half groaning. I didn't answer.
The valleys were steep, the elevation was taking it's toll, and the landscape, when we reached the crest of a valley, seemed to stretch like a stone accordion into the distance. Banshees whined overhead, and we shot them down. Covenant dropships strafed us, let off cargo, and we blew them out of the sky. Snipers harried us, and we squinted through our scopes and drilled them through the head.
Things were tough, but we were doing well.
We reached one particularly large valley, with a cluster of rocks in the middle, and a river flowing to either side of them. A sniper next to me stopped walking, looked through his scope, and instantly dropped to the ground. He motioned for all of us to do the same, and soon dozens of men, all along the ridgeline, were hiding behind rocks and laying on their stomachs. In the early dawn, the aliens could hardly see us.
But we could see them. And we were scared out of our minds. An entire platoon of hunters sat in the rocks, their huge forms heaving softly and their eyes searching for us. Elite snipers crouched behind rocks, and, according to the sniper watching them next to me, one of them was talking to a small device. Soon, dropships appeared on the horizon, and landed in the valley- disgorging hordes of troops. Soon an entire Covenant regiment sat before us- with a full complement of armor.
I realized later that we should have pushed through the Hunters and Elites before they could call in support- but at the time it seemed best to wait for the Covenant to charge us.
Well, they were about too, from what I could tell.
Elites and grunts led off the assault on our position- they got halfway up the rocky slope, slipping on their own blood and climbing over piles of their dead comrades. We thought it suspiciously easy, until a scream rang out behind us, and we saw that the Covenant had dropped troops into the valley behind us, also. A battle raged hand-to hand, tooth-and nail on the ridgeline, until we finally threw (in some cases, literally) the attacking aliens back down the valley.
So, we now sat in the middle of two Covenant forces, one in front of us in the valley, and one behind us in another. Our men, ever resourceful, piled rocks around the tanks and Warthogs (those that had managed to make it this far), made little foxholes for themselves, and sniped the Covenant.
It got so hot and so calm that we could hear each bead of our sweat smack the granite of the ridgeline. I walked along our improvised defenses, and watched admirably as a Warhog team deftly fended off three Banshees at the same time. The triple-barrels were smoking and pouring out rounds for nearly three minutes- sending two of the Banshees flying into the ground in heaps of flaming, twisted purple wreckage, and sending the third one smoking, losing altitude, into the next valley.
I gave 'em all cigars- and they lit them with the gun barrel.
We were hit next by the Covenant at high noon- it reminded me of an old western. Except the cowboy was facing down two gunslingers at the same time, and was already bloodied and battered. I hoped fervently that our little story would have a happy ending, just like the cowboy's- and for a while it looked like I was right. The Covenant took heavy losses, and couldn't even gain the crest of the ridge without calling in air support to drop Elites on our position- they flew in, and we tore them to pieces.
One of them ran straight at me, raising it's plasma rifle to bash my skull in- I laid on the trigger, then threw myself at the Elite's legs. He tripped, and his body flew into a rock. He quickly recovered, sprang to his feet, and let loose with his rifle. I was already behind a rock, and he missed me. When I heard the telltale 'hiss' that a plasma weapon makes when it's overheated, I stepped out from behind the rock, pulled my pistol from it's holster- and let loose with an entire clip.
At that range I couldn't miss.
The attack failed, and the Covenant withdrew. We now had the initiative- and I quickly called an impromptu conference with the other squad leaders. One of them was not happy.
"God damn you. They'll slaughter us out here!" He screamed, blood on his face.
"You'd be dead already if it weren't for my plan." I said quietly. I hadn't put my rifle down. He glared at me and spit.
"So be it. I'd rather be dead then have to endure ten more miles of this bullshit."
"Fine. Stay here." I said. "The rest of you, listen up." He stalked away, and everyone else seemed visibly shaken. I was too- I think I was trembling.
"We need to move on- I say we attack down the north side of the ridge- and send al the armor out first." I looked around the circle- everyone was too tired and scared to say anything, so the plan passed. I told them to mark my shot, and then charge down the valley.
The tanks and warthogs went first- with sniper and rocket launcher cover. We pelted the alien positions in the middle of the valley- the rocks- with salvo after salvo of high-explosive shells and raked over it with machinegun fire. I dare say that those Covenant had never seen such firepower. Many of them didn't live to see much of it, of course, but there were still some hardy alien souls left among them- which we quickly dispatched in a close-quarters battle that raged afterward, when the troops followed the armor down the mountain. It didn't take long for the Covenant on the other side of the ridge to figure out that their brethren had been stomped into the dirt, but by that time, we had given them the slip.
Our numbers were thinned to the point where we could ride on the vehicles- it was a bit cramped, but as long as no one fired anything at us, we did alright. We fought off Covenant Banshees and individual landing parties, but nothing serious happened until we reached the base at last.
There were enough dropships here to accommodate all of us- apparently the skeleton crew that had abandoned the base before had left all of the machinery intact. It was something that could get them court-martialed and shot under normal circumstances, but we honestly didn't care. In this case, it was more likely to win them a commendation- for saving a few companies' worth of hardass marines.
While we loaded the dropships up and took the time to destroy the rest of the sensitive equipment in the base, the Covenant somehow found us. Ten dropships screamed in and disgorged their occupants right in the middle of the base, and Covenant forces were spotted by snipers on the roof of the hanger approaching from all directions. If we piled into the dropships now, we'd get cut to pieces out on the runway. If we drove the Covenant back for long enough, however-
We just might make it. I ordered all Marines to assume defensive positions, and soon there were guns sticking out from every window, Marines behind every doorway and on every roof. We were ready, and we had tons of ammo scrounged from the base.
The Covenant came in fast from the east through some maintenance buildings, but the never got far. Machine guns, grenades, and massed rifle fire kept their heads down, and they could never get past any of our ad hoc bunkers. The northern side of the base was a slaughter-field- waves of Covenant came at the hangar at a dead run down the runway- and they were slaughtered almost completely. I suppose they were getting desperate- or perhaps they just had an inept fool for a commander.
Either way, it was working for us.
Assaults in the south and west faltered after our Marines put up a stiff defense- and we had a brief respite. I immediately called everyone back to the hangar, loaded all of our gear and men on the ships, and got ready to bust through the hangar door and fly to freedom. The aliens came at our defenses again- this time with armor that crunched and destroyed the base buildings. But there were no Marines inside- and as soon as they realized this, they came surging after us in rage.
The aliens swarmed through the gap like a kaleidoscopic river of reds, blues, and pinks - they toppled over broken barricades made hastily of rocks, gutted tanks, and warped steel. They clumsily made over it all and came for our position. Screaming unholy war cries at the top of their lungs, filling the air with their rage and their fury, every one itching to get at us- every one striving to tear us apart.
They would never get us. We were as good as gone already.
We had made it by the skin of our teeth.
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