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Part 3-The Incursion
Posted By: Ultra Sonic 007
Date: 9 March 2003, 4:38 PM
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The Master Chief wiped some of the dust from his faceplate as he moved through the sandstorm along with Samus, who didn't seem to have a need to wipe away any dust from her face. Probably because there was none.
Groaning, he placed his arm in front of his face in an attempt to block the sand, but it didn't do much either way.
Samus didn't seem to be bothered by the sandstorm, as she kept walking along, hand on her Arm Cannon.
The howling winds were interrupted by Cortana's voice.
"Guys, I'm detecting a Covenant dropship lifting off from about 2 miles ahead of us! I suggest we take a different path."
The Master Chief nodded and he began to veer toward the left, but Samus kept walking straight ahead.
"Samus, I suggest you veer off course according to Cortana's instructions."
"If I recall, it was a suggestion and not an instruction."
The Chief sighed. This bounty hunter was either overconfident or arrogant.
"Samus, I ask of you! Change course now! You're heading straight for the Covenant!"
"I know."
"Fool."
The Master Chief shook his head as he kept going in the same direction, hoping that Samus would come to her senses and change direction.
After about several minutes passed, he asked, "Cortana, has Samus changed course?"
"Analyzing....no...she's still on her present course...and she's gaining velocity!"
What in the blazes was that bounty hunter thinking? There was no other alternative but to head for the Covenant position and try and get that bounty hunter out of the mess she was getting herself into.
----
Samus quickly rolled through the sand, zooming at high speed in her Morph Ball form.
This was much quicker than going slowly on foot, and the compact form would allow her to go unnoticed by most normal enemies.
However, a gut feeling told her the Covenant weren't normal.
She quickly got out of Morph Ball form and quietly stepped through the sand as the sandstorm slowly ceased.
She quietly stepped from boulder to boulder as the environment around her began to transform from a arid desert to a more tropical climate. Palm trees dripping with dew adorned the landscape, and rocky mountains were along the sides of the land.
Sure it was pretty, but it would mean nothing if she was spotted.
She quickly activated her Scan Visor, hoping to find anything worthy to scan.
The trees and the mountains could be scanned, but it wasn't worth her time at the moment.
The other figures that could be scanned were more valuable.
Covenant: Grunts
The Grunts are relatively weak compared to other Covenant forces, but they can easily overwhelm in large groups. They are roughly 5 feet tall, and although their armor offers some protection, its prime purpose is to offer the Grunts the methane gas that they naturally breathe on their home world. Armor indicates rank, and lowest to highest is orange, red, and finally black.
Interesting.
As for the other one...
Covenant: Elites
The Elites have a very strong frame and a large muscle mass. They are all roughly around 8 feet, 6 inches tall, and they are brilliant tacticians despite their appearance. They usually serve as commanders of any Covenant forces in the area, and they are the only Covenant unit that pilots any of their vehicles. Armor indicates rank, and lowest to highest is blue, red, black, and finally gold.
Samus could only wander what the other Covenant were like.
She quickly activated her Thermal Visor to pick up how many enemies were in the area.
There were seven small figures, and three taller ones.
So there were seven Grunts, and three Elites.
It was time to get to work.
She rolled back into her Morph Ball form and weaved through all the tress, advancing ever closer to the Covenant enemy.
Her sensors indicated that she was only several feet away.
Now.
She charged her boost ball and zoomed through, planting a power bomb and three regular Morph Ball bombs along her path.
The Covenant were caught by surprise, but they regained composure real quickly.
Some of them managed to dive away from the blast radius of each bomb.
When she quickly unrolled from her Morph Ball form, she looked through her Thermal Visor.
1 Elite was killed. Three Grunts were down for the count.
Time to engage in close-range combat.
She charged up her Power Beam and leapt through the air, shooting upon the Covenant troops.
The Elites looked up and rolled away. A Grunt was taken down by her charged blast which sent the others scurrying away in fear.
The Elites turned around and opened fire with their plasma rifles.
She got hit with some of the plasma, which depleted about twenty-five notches out of her 1st energy tank.
She had 13 Energy Tanks left, so her Fusion Suit's well-being wasn't a concern in this match.
Then she felt a sudden feeling of vertigo as a plasma grenade exploded right next to her feet. The rest of her energy tank was depleted as she regained her composure. The ones responsible were the Grunts, whom had returned to fight some more.
"They're more gutsy than I thought."
She then started locking on to each enemy individually before shooting them with a missile. The Grunts went down without so much of a struggle, but when her missiles exploded on the Elites, she noticed a white-colored field flicker around them before disappearing.
"They must have shields."
She then switched to her Wave Beam, and she began firing the electrically-charged blasts at the Elites.
The Elites' shields proved ineffective blocking the electric charge of the Wave Beam, which paralyzed them upon contact.
Switching to her Plasma Beam, Samus unleashed a horde of molten energy upon the Elites, watching as they slowly burned before slumping to the ground, dead.
"That wasn't too difficult."
She then began scanning the Covenant weapons and the pilot-less Covenant dropship.
----
Cortana's voice beeped through his head as he made his way out of the desert and through the brush.
"Covenant signals are gone. Maybe they defeated her and took off?"
Perhaps. Perhaps not. They would know soon enough.
As the Chief came running out of the thicket of palm trees, Assault Rifle ready to fire, he saw the bodies of dead Grunts and Elites piled up next to the disabled Covenant dropship, and Samus was simply sitting on top of it, looking down upon the Chief.
"Wow. She defeated all of them!"
Master Chief was very impressed. Even though it was possible for him to defeat the same number of Covenant, it would take a multitude of hit and run attacks. But to defeat a Covenant group like that in such a short amount of time was unheard of.
The bounty hunter hopped off the dropship and glared at the Master Chief.
"As you can see, I handle myself just fine."
The Master Chief nodded as he calmly replied. "I can see that perfectly."
"You don't have to be so snotty about it though."
"Next time, don't make such a quick judgment of one's abilities in combat. Now...where do we go next?"
Master Chief could almost feel the fumes steaming off from Cortana. She didn't like Samus very much.
"....the next signals of the Covenant are about thirty miles along this path. Signals indicate that a Covenant cruiser has set up there as a drop-back point for Covenant troops."
The Master Chief pointed towards the pass between the mountains, which were situated in the sand that stretched from the desert.
Samus followed by Master Chief's side, keeping her Scan Visor ready to scan for things.
"Why do you fascinate yourself with scanning?"
Samus wondered why the Chief would ask such a question, considering he appeared to be quite a competent soldier.
"So I can obtain more information that may come in handy later on."
"I only take things as they come, and focus on the now."
"A flawed philosophy."
John-117 glared at the armored bounty hunter, wondering if she just mocked him. "Why do you say that?"
"Information from the present can save your life in the future. It's happened to me before."
The Master Chief reflected upon that bit of advice with some considerable thinking. Samus did have a point, although he did not have the means of scanning things like she did.
He could see what his eyes saw, and react upon it.
However, he did appreciate reconnaissance info...when he could ever get it.
----
Adam was intrigued by the strange energy signals he sensed coursing through the ring-world.
It wasn't the energy of the plasma-based technology.
It was some kind of teleportation grid, spanning the entire ring.
"Interesting."
He had an idea...albeit a risky one.
"If I can tap into the teleportation grid...maybe I can use it to increase the range of my scanners..."
It would take too much power to teleport him. Besides, he couldn't be teleported anyway. So he might as well use it to increase his range of vision.
It would take awhile to work it all out though...
To be continued...
Next chapter, Master Chief and Samus come upon the Covenant cruiser Incursion. They fend off the Covenant troops before taking the gravity lift inside in order to try and find Halo's control center.
And what is Adam trying to accomplish?
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