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On A Pale Horse: Last Resort
Posted By: Silent Hunter<silenthunter18509@yahoo.com>
Date: 16 August 2003, 8:05 PM
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-Last Resort-
0000 Hours, December 23 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Battlecruiser Atlantic
The sailors have already been revived. The Spartans were still in cryo sleep. The ships AI sounded the alarm for General Quarters. They were about to exit the slipstream. The screen began to focus, and a large blue-green planet began to come into view. Twin stars in the background also came into view. The planet had 3 moons, and many rings, about half as many as Saturn. A voice came over the intercom. "All ships, Rally around the large moon, and Await further orders."
0013 Hours, December 23 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Battlecruiser Atlantic
John still felt a little groggy going through the checks after being thawed. After his shields were charged, he did some stretches. "Spartans, I need you to follow me to weapons storage." Said an Ensign
"Yes Sir!" said everybody in unison. They followed the Ensign to long, and narrow room. He keyed in some numbers on a keypad in the wall, and the wall lowered into the floor, revealing a spacious room stocked with weapons, and tons of ammo. John cocked an eyebrow, and someone whistled.
"Take your pick...you will be split into several teams, so plan accordingly" the Ensign said. John took a Battle Rifle, and a Shotgun, 5 fragmentation grenades, 4 smoke bombs, a clip of rubber bullets, 9 clips of regular bullets, 20 breaching shells, 80 standard shells, a pair of binoculars, and a 5x scope. He walked over to the tanks stacked in the corner. He took three, and attached them to his belt.
The alarms blared. The overhead lights changed to a bright red. "All hands, to General Quarters, this is not a drill." The voice seemed like it belonged to an AI.
"Shit...we better get you on your way"
0005 Hours, December 23 (Military Calendar) /
Pelican Dropship, En Route to Covenant World
The Spartans were silent. John couldn't sit still. He stood up ,and stared out the cockpit. He couldn't see anything as it disappeared into the blue clouds that surrounded the planet. The ship began shaking violently. "We're getting close to the surface!" a pilot said. The Spartans put their helmets on, and took the safeties off of the guns. John sat down, and pair of doors closed off the cockpit. The shaking stopped, and the ship stopped suddenly. The rear doors opened, and John stepped out. His jaw dropped...
Dozens of buildings could be seen. They had the most serene archetecture he had ever saw. They extended up, and disappeared into a bluish fog. They didn't appear to have windows. "Stay close" John said. The "streets" looked to be paved with a bluish metal. John saw what appeared to be ghost, and phantom variations. Some with wings, some enclosed, some appeared to be like a pair of wraiths fused to a small pod. John led the team down the road. John noticed the Spartans staring at the buildings. What appeared to be an elite without armor came around a corner, and froze. The Spartans aimed their weapons at it. It's eyes darted from Spartan to Spartan, and it turned and ran. "Cortana, where are we going?" John asked, "Cortana? Cortana?!"
"what? Oh sorry...this is amazing!"
"Yeah, I know, now, where the hell are we going?"
"um...the best I can tell, the entire planet knows we're here, and everything is locked down. Intelligence reports a building one click towards the nearest magnetic pole, that seems important to the covenant...go there..."
"OK" He led the team down the street.
"sir?" One of the Spartans said
"Yes?"
"This...this is wrong..." John felt uneasy, he was thinking the same thing. He looked down the street. The bluish fog prevented him from seeing over a kilometer. Everything was dimly lit, which reminded him of pictures of total Solar Eclipses on Earth.
"Right..." He responded, then shouted "Everyone, be on your toes!" John slowly continued down the road. When the reached an open field, they froze. They could barely make out pyramidal building in the distance. There were fountains, and gardens. Some had weird looking plants, some had plants that looked like something he'd saw on Earth. There was a blue-green grass, everywhere else. It was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. "Damn, can't make out anything in this fog...everyone, switch to thermal"
John pressed a button on his helmet. His view changed to solid Black. It was useless, everything was freezing out there. He pressed the button again. "Nevermind, It's useless..." John proceeded to lead the team out into the open field. He approached the building. About 10 meters of steps led to a door leading inside. John climbed them, and when he reached the door, something dressed in a gold cloak was standing there. John raised his weapon....it spoke.
"Humans...drop your weapons...you are out numbered..." John was bewildered, he was never spoken to by the Covenant before. He wasn't sure what to do.
"Sir!" a Spartan shouted out. John looked back, hundreds of covenant soldiers had the Spartans surrounded, pointing their plasma weapons at them... "...what do we do sir?"
"You have no chance of survival" the tall thing said...
"Sir? Orders? Sir?" the same Spartan said
John clenched his teeth..."until death!!!"
...To be continued...
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