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Defense of Fire Base Epsilon Ch.3
Posted By: S7NN3R<janet.johnson8@comcast.net>
Date: 19 April 2005, 12:01 AM
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Chapter 3: Skillets and Butter
"Contacts dead ahead!" Sergeant Towers announced. "Lots of 'em," he added. A team of Grunts and Jackals were stationed in the garage, they turned and shouted in surprise as the six Marines entered the room. They fired their plasma weapons, and boiling plasma hissed through the air. The Marines ducked back around the doorway. A plasma grenade exploded and destroyed the metal door.
Private Vendanski through a grenade around the corner. An explosion was heard, followed by a dozen sharp shrills. Sergeants Corisca and Towers spun around and opened fire on the room with a pair of SMGs. Grunts fell like grass in a mower, but the Jackals created an impervious shield wall. Corisca emptied his clip and threw a frag grenade at it. It exploded, and body parts went up in the air like confetti.
"All clear in here!" Corisca announced with a grin. "Now let's get to those Warthogs," he added. There were two Warthogs in the room, one had a standard chain turret, and the other had a gauss rifle turret. The gauss rifle one seemed to have more armor, and it had spikes on the front of the chassis to impale troops unfortunate enough to get in its way.
"Oh!" Private Deshcain said, and walked over to a corner.
"What are you doing, private?" Sergeant Towers asked.
"Getting' one of these babies!" he announced, and hefted up two rocket launchers. He handed one to Private Delgado, and kept the other for himself. He hopped into the passenger seat of the chaingun Warthog. Sergeant Towers got into the drivers seat of the Gauss Warthog, Delgado got in its passenger seat, and Corisca took the gunner position. Vendanski and Valdez got in the other Warthog.
"Okay men!" Corisca shouted. "Let's move it out!" Towers revved the engine, and they drove out of the garage.
"How far is it to HQ?" Corisca asked Towers.
"We're not going to HQ just yet," Towers said?
"What!?" Delgado exclaimed.
"We're going to the landing docks to see if they've got any Pelicans, then we go to HQ.
"Okay, whatever," Corisca said. He swiveled the turret around to check for enemies. The other Warthog caught up to them and matched their speed. Corisca shouted over to Vendanski.
"We're heading over to Headquarters," they rounded another corner, "follow us."
"Roger that," Vendanski acknowledged.
"Hate to break up the party," Towers announced. "But we've got trouble!"
Directly in front off the two oncoming Warthogs was a convoy of Covenant Shadows, with a pair of Phantoms close on their tales.
The four Marines opened fire with their turrets and rockets. The first Shadow exploded under the combined fire of Gauss Rifle, chaingun, and rocket fire. A plasma bolt whizzed directly over Delgado's head.
"Oh hell," Delgado screamed. "We're going to die!"
"We're not going to die, son," Sergeant Towers said calmly. He rounded a corner, and spotted a pair of Hunters in the middle of the street.
"Then again," Towers added. "I could always be wrong about that."
Corisca and Valdez fired on the armored behemoths. One of them fell only after sustaining four Gauss Rifle hits to the front. The second one charged forward, and smacked the Warthog Vendanski was driving. It spun out of control and smashed through the window of an office building.
Towers turned the Warthog around and drove back towards the other Hunter. It roared a battle cry, lowered its shield, and charged. Corisca fired off two Gauss shots before Towers drove over it. There was a sheering sound, followed by a bump, and they rolled over the Hunter. Towers looked back around at the front of the Warthog.
"Damn," he cursed. The iron spikes at the front of the Warthog had been bent at a forty-five degree angle. The trio remounted the Warthog, and set off towards the building where the other Warthog had crashed.
Private First Class John Vendanski awoke in a daze.
"What the hell?" He muttered. He looked about the destroyed room he was in. Shattered fragments of glass littered the floor. Fires sparked in several places. A T-shaped beam had collapsed to his left, and the blue carpet was blackened with ash and dirt. Ferns in the corners of the room, and several paintings were melting on the floor.
Vendanski sat up amidst the chaos and confusion, and got shakily to his feet. He took a step forward, and collapsed in agony, clutching his left leg.
"Oh God, it hurts!" he moaned aloud. He could feel by the way it was bending it was broken. He crawled over to the partly destroyed Warthog. He looked in at the passenger seat, and saw that Corporal Lechins was dead, slumped over, clutching his Rocket Launcher in a death grip.
He looked under Warthog and saw a pair of camouflage pattern fatigues sticking from underneath the Warthog's front left tire, no doubt belonging to the crushed body of Private Valdez. Terror gripped him as he observed his fellow soldier's horrible fate.
Vendanski crawled along the ground, cutting himself on broken glass. He pushed aside a small piece of rubble in his path, and crawled outside to the open air. He saw the other Warthog speeding towards his area.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Hey guys, I could use some help over here!"
Sergeant Towers acknowledged him and parked the Warthog nearby.
"What happened to the other men?" Corisca asked.
"Dead, Sarge. And that Warthog isn't going anywhere either."
"Okay. Shake a leg, Delgado, let's get Vendanski into the back with me." Corisca said.
Corisca and Delgado helped lift the injured Vendanski into the back of their Warthog. He crouched there, holding an SMG.
"Let's get down to the landing docks and get a Pelican before the Covenant blow em' all up," Towers said. Towers did a U-turn and drove toward the dock yards. It was a short, one-half kilometer drive to the docks. A pair of Pelicans remained when they arrived. Two scores of burning rubble marked the spots where the small fleet of Pelicans and Longsword fighters had been. A team of seven Marine regulars were guarding the entrance to the docks. There was another thirty men behind the entrance, in the main dock.
* * *
Alka Akazomee' donned his shining black armor. He selected weapons from his personal armory. He selected his favorite plasma pistol, and three extra batteries for the weapon. He picked up an energy sword, and clipped it to his waste. He took a stealth-field generator as well.
The last thing he selected was his custom built Carbine. Modified to hold extended ammo clips for longer firing, an upgraded scope that zoomed to 2x, 5x, 10x, and 14x magnification, and a silencer to make sure that his victims never knew what hit them. He grabbed a double-handful of clips for the weapon, and dropped them into a bag attached to his hip.
He turned on his shield system, and moved into the docking bay of the cruiser, the Inquisitor's Blade. A pair of Phantoms hovered on each side of the bay, and a quartet of Banshee escorts were parked on the ground. He took the grav lift to the lower level, and stood at ease next to his Banshee. It was his job to infiltrate the headquarters of the human colony and find information that might lead him to the holy artifacts buried deep within the planet.
"Attention to Attack Squad Alpha," a voice said, emanating from speakers on the walls. "We will be entering the atmosphere of the planet in five minutes. Get to your vehicles, soldiers."
A minute later, the Elites of Alpha Squad had assembled in the hangar bay, a total of twenty of the warriors. Also in the group were four Hunters. Alka stood facing them, waiting for the leader of the raid to show up.
A tall figure moved into the hangar. The Elite walked with a relaxed, almost arrogant stride. Its golden armor reflected the lights of the hangar, making it seem like he was cloaked in a halo of light. He stood next to Alka Akazomee', and began a speech to his soldiers.
The Elite was Carna Carkaz'umaa, leader of a thousand battles, each one victorious. He had shed the blood of hundreds of humans, and even boasted that he had once killed one of their mysterious Demon warriors. Of course, these claims were unfounded without proof.
"Warriors of the Covenant!" Carna barked. "We are about to embark, on a glorious mission. We will clean the taint that the humans have brought to this planet. We will obtain the holy artifacts that the Forerunners left for us. This battle, will be woven into your family's battle tale, and will be sung about for years to come."
The warriors roared mightily, and it filled Carna with pride to be leading such an elite group of soldiers.
"To your posts, warriors," Alka barked. The Elites entered their Phantoms and boarded their Banshees. The cruiser was hovering roughly a kilometer above the surface of Zephyrus. The blast doors of the bay opened slowly. Clouds raced past outside the bay door. Alka climbed into his Banshee and boosted out of the room.
Alka piloted the flyer straight down through the clouds. He bloodstream was filled was adrenaline as he plummeted through the atmosphere. He cleared the lowest layer of clouds in seconds, and could clearly see the human city below. He checked his radar and saw the Phantoms and Banshees behind him in a Delta formation, with a Banshee in front, and both Phantoms and the other Banshees in a straight line behind it.
Alka continued spiraling through the air. He was filled with exhilaration as the sky rushed past him. He could clearly see singular targets at that point, buildings, bunkers, tanks. The ground seemed to be rushing up to meet him. His Banshee howled audibly as he moved with one hundred meters of the ground.
Down below, the unwary humans began to notice him. They looked up at the sky. Marines that milled about the Zama complex stared gock-eyed at sky as Alka approached them.
Seventy five meters.
A Marine jumped into a nearby Scorpion tank.
Fifty meters, Alka thought. The tank began to track the free-falling Banshee.
Twenty five meters, and the Banshee was dropping fast. The tank operator rolled into a good firing position.
Ten meters.
Alka pulled the Banshee out of the spiraling dive at the last possible second, and brought it skimming parallel to the ground. The tank operator had been about to fire when the Banshee pulled up. The operator had begun to hastily correct his aim, when the fuel rod round hit the cockpit of the tank. The tank exploded in a shower of sparks, instantaneously killing the Marine inside.
Alka's Banshee screamed over the tank even as the fuel-rod round hit. A dozen Marines looked up and fired at the aircraft. A thousand rounds whizzed past the Banshee, but non of them hit the fast flying craft.
Alka felt the gravity on him double as he banked sharply and came back around to fire at the other Marines. He closed on them in seconds, fired his fuel rod gun, and unloaded both plasma cannons on them. A score of bodies fell, and he fired his fuel rod cannon again just as he pulled out of the bombing run. The second shot destroyed a communications tower, which fell and crushed three Warthog LRV's below it. Alka zipped over the destruction and turned to re-join his squad.
He piloted his Banshee above a Phantom. They descended over the headquarters of the military complex. He landed the Banshee on top of the building. The two Phantoms emptied their loads of troops onto the top of headquarters.
Alka un-slung his carbine, and swept the area, looking for targets. Satisfied that the area was clear of targets, he motioned for his troops to move over to a hatch leading into the building. He opened the hatch. It lead down a double flight of stairs into a wide corridor.
"Activate your active camouflage. Use your comm. channels only when necessary."
He received several acknowledgement signals. He activated his camouflage, as did his soldiers, and they all but faded from view. Alka moved cautiously down the stairwell, sweeping left and right with his carbine. He reached the bottom of the stairwell and moved through the corridor. There were several doors in the hall, and he didn't know which one to take.
Alka called up a display of the complex on his HUD. From what he could tell, there were two routes to the control center of the room. One was an air vent that led to the room, and the other was a slightly longer route through the hallways. The path through the hallways would likely be filled with hostiles, not to mention they'd have to move slower. It would be the most dangerous, so he'd split his forces and lead the hallway route.
"Teruka'," he signaled one of his subordinates. "Take four warriors and get to the control room through the air vents. The rest of you," he selected six Elites. "Follow behind me, engage enemies on sight. But try to keep it quiet," he said.
His team acknowledged. Five Elites moved through the air vents and disappeared from Alka's motion sensors.
"Alright team," Alka said. "Let's move out. This way to the control room."
The team of Elites moved cautiously down the hallway, moving in a slowly in a crouch. He rounded a corner, and saw three doors, one to the left, one to the right, and one in the center.
He detected faint blurs on his motion tracker behind the doors to his left.
He put away his carbine and brought, and activated his energy sword. He motioned for the others to do the same. Six other swords flashed on. A veteran laughed deeply as his sword flickered on.
"Shhh..." Alka cautioned. He thought the fact that he was cautioning his people for the massacre that was about to occur was amusing.
Alka bashed through the wooden door to his left with the sword. A thousand splinters sprayed in a terrifying explosion. The dozen unarmed Marine regulars in the room turned in surprise, there former stoic faces collapsing into absolute terror. The seven Elites flooded into the room, energy swords flashing as they cut through armor and flesh. Five Marines fell in the first ten seconds. Four more were bi-sected from lightning fast attacks a moment later. Another Marine was ripped to shreds by the iron hard nails of a very brave Elite veteran. The two remaining Marines made a break for the door, but were cut down before they got within five feet of it.
A commando Elite laughed as the red human blood ran off his shimmering shields. Alka deactivated his sword and shouldered his carbine. The Elites exited the room in a hurry. Alka heard footsteps coming from the middle room. Alka signaled his men to be at their ready. The footsteps grew louder, and then the middle door burst open. A trio of Marines with shotguns ran screaming into the room.
"What's all the hub-up, bitches?" One of them inquired as it fired its shotgun, dropping one of the Elites behind Alka to the ground. Alka fired off three shots from his carbine, hit the offender in the head, and put him down in exchange. Another Elite went down under multiple shotgun rounds. A Marine fell under a barrage of plasma fire. The final Marine died in the explosion of a pair of plasma grenades.
More footsteps thundered down the stairs behind the middle door. Two more Marines came pounding into the room, both armed with a pair of SMGs. Bullets and plasma filled the air. An Elite fell under the heavy fire of four SMGs. One of the Marines stopped to reload both SMGs. Alka seized the moment, grabbed his energy sword, and lunged. The blow eviscerated the Marine, his guts spilling to the floor. Alka spun left, grabbed the second Marine by the wrist, and twisted. The Marine fell to ground, screaming as his wrist broke. Alka brought his sword down onto the Marines neck, severing the head from the body. Blood sprayed out of the Marines jugular and carotid.
Alka signaled his remaining troops to take a minute to reload. He gave himself a minute for his long suffering shields to recharge, and slapped another extended clip in his Carbine. He checked his mission clock. Total Elapsed Time: Twenty-three units. He radioed in to Carna.
"Excellency, this is Alka Akazomee'."
There was plasma fire on the other end, followed by a burst of static. Carna's voice finally came on. "Go ahead," he said.
"Excellency, we are en route to the control room of this facility. Hopefully they will have information leading us to the Holy Relics in this system."
"Understood, Carna out," the COM snapped off.
Alka faced his remaining warriors. "Spread out and search the building in pairs of twos. We should regroup in the control room in no more than thirty units," he said. "Forward warriors! And fear neither pain nor death!"
The Elites split up and moved away like ghosts. A crimson armored veteran followed Alka down the center stairs. Another pair moved through a nearby air vent, and a last pair entered a room to the right.
Alka and his partner crept down the stairs, looking for any humans. A window at the bottom of the stairs overlooked a courtyard of stone below. A score of dead Marines lay dead in the courtyard, dead eyes staring blankly into the sky. A Phantom touched down in the courtyard, and emptied out a pair of Hunters and several Elites.
Alka continued down the stairs. It seemed to take forever before he reached the bottom. An insta-crete blockade had been hastily erected in front of the door to the control room. A trio of Marines crouched behind the barrier, carrying BR55 Battle Rifles and MA5B Assault Rifles.
"Open fire! Open fire!" One of them shouted. Bullets filled the air, and pinged off of Alka's shields. He threw himself behind a wall. The veteran Elite he'd traveled with took a full clip from an MA5B to the chest. His shields broke, and he staggered under multiple bullet impacts.
The Elite grabbed his energy sword, and roared a battle cry.
"No!" Alka shouted, but it was too late. The other Elite ran screaming at the Marines, but died as a trio of rounds from a Battle Rifle knocked his helmet off, and sent him spiraling to the ground.
Alka grabbed and primed a plasma grenade, swung around the wall he'd been hiding behind, and threw it at the center Marine. The grenade adhered to the Marines helmet. The human grabbed at his helmet, trying to rip it off. The other two Marines jumped away in time. The grenade detonated, and blew a huge chunk out of the insta-crete barrier.
Alka targeted the nearest Marine with his carbine, and fired five shots into the Marines abdomen. The human collapsed to the ground, his face already growing white. The other Marine turned, grabbed a frag grenade, and threw it straight at Alka. The grenade detonated in front of Alka's face, sending dust and grime into the air.
The Marine yelled in triumph, and was shocked to see Alka charging at him with his energy sword. The Marine fired off his Battle Rifle, but the shots went high and wide, screaming over Alka's head. Alka leaped over the barrier, pounced on the Marine, and drove his sword straight into the soldiers stomach. The Marine's eyes widened, and his body went limp. Alka allowed the human's body to slide off his sword. He opened the door on the other side of the barrier, and found himself standing in the control room.
Several Elites stood guard. A dozen human bodies littered the ground. A black armored commando approached him.
"Excellency," the Elite said, his head lowered. "We have found the locations of a human held facility. It is likely the Holy Artifacts we were looking for are located below the facility."
"Below the facility?" Alka inquired.
"Yes, Excellency. It appears that there are mines below that particular facility. The mines continue downward longer than any mineral deposits could be located. We are positive that that is where the Artifacts are."
"Indeed," Alka said. "Okay then, let's get down to the ground floor, there's a Phantom located outside. Let's move, warriors of the Covenant!"
"Yes, Excellency," they answered in unison.
Alka radioed Carna. "Excellency, we are en route to the Artifacts as we speak. I recommend we rendezvous there."
"Indeed," Carna replied. "Very well, meet you there."
"Of course, your Excellency," the channel snapped off. Unbeknownst to Alka, Carna Carkaz'umaa laughed deeply. It was to be his finest hour. And nothing, not the humans, not the Flood, not even his own men, nothing, short of the hands of the Forerunners themselves would stop him.
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