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Above and Beyond the Call of Duty by pj-NYkr90



Above and Beyond the Call of Duty: Part 1
Date: 27 April 2003, 1:07 AM

0947 Hours, Camp Gaia, (Military Calendar) July 5th, 2553
Lance Corporal Zachary Denison crouched against a wall and then sat down. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and then had one to soothe his senses. He had just seen two of his men die to the maelstrom of Covenant fire and his best friend fatally wounded. War is hell, he thought to himself as his cigarette dwindled down to just the butt. Zach tossed the cigarette and then got up. He grabbed his MA2B and another extended clip from the armorers. He marched over to a squad of Marines talking on the airbase's field next to a column of Warthogs.
Zach was just 19. He was trained over a period of two months at Ft. Benson on the moon of Llunett. He weighed in at a mere 178lbs and was nearly 6'tall.
The conversation was apparently just beginning. The fire teams all looked at eachother and listened to the briefing. The team commander, a sergeant, was apparently an experienced warrior and a fierce fighter. He was scarred with plasma burns and cuts. His hair that was traditionally gray was now matted and looked as if it were brown (so much for Rogaine). As for the rest of the team, they all looked very green.
Zach was not green. He had seen combat before and knew the Covenant's tactics. Since they knew they had superior numbers and strength, they would run in head on charges. Explosions went off in the background and in the measly base's defenses and trenches. Everyone except for Zach, the sergeant, and another guy in their little crowd winced and flinched at the booms. Zach could see the Longswords off in the distance commencing gun-runs on the Covies; their advances cut down from rivers to streams to trickles. The Marine's snipers would finish off the rest of them. This process had continued since 0450. The Covies seemed to be slacking off now.
The team commander then commenced his speech. "The Covies will undoubtedly take this position by force and they by doing so will achieve the ultimate victory. But it's our job to prevent this event from happening. By our intell, the Covies will be comin' up through the ridge between those two mountains. From our knowledge, they have three elements of twin Ghosts out on their recon picket. The rest of the bastards are on foot. The terrain through them hills is rocky and hazardous; making it the perfect place to set up ambush. We'll have two elements of three 'Hogs'. Corporal Maddox's colomn will take the adjacent side of the mountain while we take the left." "Where's Corporal Maddox," piped out one Marine. "His column is makin' its way through the masquerade to this base. As soon as he gets here, we'll depart and head out."
Zach walked over to the base's armory and got out extra frags and clips for both his assault rifle and his pistol. Zach's assault rifle was a special kind. On Llunett, their base had been attacked by a Covenant patrol. It wasn't much but it took the base by suprise. The Covies had managed to take out a couple of ODSTs. In the furry, he picked up a SOMA-2B and had used it ever since. On the front, instead of a light, it had a laser aiming module and a shotgun. The gun used 5.56mm carbide green-tip ammo that pierced right through the Covies shields, not counting the Hunters though. The gun was about half as small as standard MA-5B and was lighter too. But it packed a punch. Anyway, Zach felt blessed to have the little demon by his side.
Maddox arrived with a full team of Marines and his column of Warthogs. Every-so-often the lead 'Hog's passenger would fire off a rocket at a passing Banshee. The new heat/thermal lock systems destroyed all of the comers. "Alright, let's mount up!" Zach ran up to the lead 'Hog' in the Sarge's colomn. He got behind the 'Hog's new 25mm chain gun. The jeeps began to speed off and rumble down the rocky trail and roads.
While they sped down the old dirt road, Zach asked the Sarge, "What's your name sir?" "Sergeant Elias." "Yeah," replied Zach. The driver in the lead jeep in Maddox's column spotted Covenant Shades. "Look! Up on the ridge!" Zach opened up with shredder rounds and destroyed most of the Covies computing systems. The Grunts manning the position were ripped apart while the others screamed and ran away. Before the ridge ended, a little atrium sort of thing came out above them. A squad of red armor Elites released a hail of fire on the convoy with the Covenant's newest rifle, the Bolt Rifle. The Bolt Rifle fired a concentrated burst of energy at the target at a maximum velocity. The gun also had a scope. It was their version of a sniper rifle.
The first bolt hit Sgt. Elias's last jeep in the column. The wheel imploded in a sound-shattering burst while the axle grinded against the gravel and rock. It sounded like a woman screaming while giving birth. The other bolts concentrated themselves on the jeep's body the way a wasp would an intruder to their home. The bolts burned through the jeep's door and were a luminous green color. The jeep finally came to a halt while the convoy came to a screeching stop. The men jumped out while the gunner laid suppressive fire. The Elites fired again and hit the jeep's gunner. He fell in a pool of his own warm, red blood. His uniform stained and his consciousness seemed just to slip away. That was the last he would see of the Covenant. The rest of the convoy halted while the gunners shot up the atrium and the gunners and drivers got out to fight. Zach ran out and toward the crippled jeep and its crew. He wouldn't let these men die in vain.
"Give me a jeep Elias, and me and my men'll wait until the freakin' air cover arrives." "Dammit Maddox! Get this man a freakin' jeep!" "Yes sir," he replied while he pointed to a crew to get over to his position and hold out with him. The Elites took another volley of pot shots at the convoy. They all missed thankfully for them. "Alright, Denison we're outta here. The rest of the convoy gotta secure that ridge," said Elias. "Alright," said Zach. The convoy mounted up and sped away.
Zach turned to watch as he saw two fuel rod bolts speed for the convoy's first vehicles. He looked confused. He didn't see where they came from. Then he saw the green glow from up on the atrium. The jeeps flipped. He saw the driver of Maddox's lead vehicle watch his own death. The jeep came down; the windshield beheaded the poor man. After that all hell broke loose.
Two black-armor Hunters came down from the atrium, their metal armor rattling. The ridge had been penetrated. There was no holding the enemy wave back. The picket of Ghosts came in and beamed up the 'Hogs' with plasma. The infantry wasn't too far behind. There must have been more than 5,000 Covies; the rumble of their footsteps shook the very earth upon which the squad was. Zach got up and manned a chain-gun. The Hunter's armor was still too strong. So Zach switched to shredder rounds. They tore through the armor plating. The Hunters fell and died. The mass of infantry advanced in huge phalanxes. Zach continued firing. The Grunts in the front were all falling over one another, falling over dead comrades. The Elites, who were a bit more agile, didn't fall easily. The Jackals quickly moved up to cover the advancing Covies. "I need artillery at coordinates 9,0 elevation 250," yelled out Zach over a 'Hog's COM. The artillery zoomed overhead. Explosions launched up the interiors of the advance.
Zach hadn't stopped firing the chain-gun since the Hunters came. The barrel was too hot to fire anymore and the ammo supply was running low. He got out and prepared for close in combat. The artillery continued firing. But it wasn't enough to stop the Covies from advancing. "Bring it in 100 more sir! Fire for effect!" The artillery kept firing like a shield. The enemies fell like flies. But they kept advancing.
Zach ran forward and butted a couple of Elites with his rifle. He shot up one that got too close for his liking. He ran to a grove of trees and started picking off Jackals and finally he ran back into the fray. He put a ton of buckshot lead into a Grunt and then devastated a Jackal with a kick that indented its skull. He threw a grenade into a cluster of Elites and watched as they bled and lost their limbs. The artillery kept on splashing the Covies advance. Zach ran forward and shot up a hoard of Grunts. He reloaded the rifle but before the clip was in all the way, three Jackals assaulted him. They came in on three sides. They all began charging their plasma pistols. Zach fired the shotgun and hit the Jackal on his left. He crumpled to the ground. The charged bolt in his plasma pistol hit the Jackal in front of him. He fell down and died immediately. The one behind him though, fired a bolt into his back. Zach yelled out in agony. The pain was immense and nearly unbearable. Zach turned around and shot two shotgun shells into the Jackal. The hoards around him were advancing and closing in on his position. He spoke again over the COM, "Bring it in on our position, sir!" "Alright! We gottcha Mack!" The artillery came in even closer and banged up the Covies.
Zach was horrified when he saw a large 10' tall Brute. The large denizen of the Covenant assaulted him. He used his rifle, which Zach had never seen before, and launched a 'Hog' right at him. Zach rolled out of the way just in time. The jeep crumpled across a boulder. Zach got back up and expended all of his shotgun ammo and all of his assault rifle ammo too. But the beast still charged. He threw down the rifle and picked up his holstered MD-6F pistol. He expended the clip but the Brute still got past. He came up and whacked him with his arm. Zach fell to the ground on his burnt back. He cried out in agony. The Brute hunched over him and was about to finish him off when a shell of artillery blew him up. The shrapnel scarred his right ear. The battle seemed to drain off. Zach looked and saw a Marine. He had no legs. The blood stained the soil and the tree's roots. Zach crawled over to the man.
He had plasma wounds all over and blood was leaking. It was no use to try and save him. But he was tied by his creed to never leave a man behind or to suffer a death of pain. When he got there, the man was a mess. His face was unrecognizable. He pulled the pistol out of his holster and put it to the man's head. He gently squeezed the trigger. The bullet ripped through the man's skull. Zach fell back and leaned up against a tree. He wanted to die and let the killing around him to cease. He wanted the nightmare, the maelstrom, and the hell, to stop and end. He pulled out his cigarettes and smoked another one. He remembered no more.


10 hours later...

"They beat the shit out of 'em sir." "That's nice to know." "Sir, mop up of enemy forces completed." "Good." Zach opened his eyes and saw a group of three people in green armor. He knew exactly who they were; SPARTANS. Another group, a platoon of Marines and a general all marched up to the position. "How is he," asked the general. "He's ok." "That's good. Now young man, you've done an excellent job here and you deserve this." The general walked up to Zach and handed him a Silver Star. "Thank you sir." "No problem. You deserve it. You and your guys killed over 3,000 of them rotten bastards! I've even recommended you for a detail on Earth, Sergeant."
Zach walked on to the beach and stared at the water, holding onto his award. He couldn't wait to go back to Earth, his home. The Master Chief walked up and talked to Zach. "You had a good day today Sergeant." "Yeah. All nice and shit, but did anyone else make it?" "No, sir." Zach yelled and threw the Silver Star into the ocean.



Above and Beyond the Call of Duty: Part II; The Gambit
Date: 31 May 2003, 1:56 PM

0012, USN Centurion, Cryo Section B, (Military Calendar) July 6th, 2553


Zachary Denison along with nearly 5,000 other Marines were aboard the ship. The ship itself was the same as the Pillar of Autumn in several respects such as size. She could however hold over 7,000 troops to carry them anywhere in the system. It was a very prized target though. But on it's own. This was a special troop carrier though. Her crew, respectfully, termed her 'The Shield Ship'. She was. She was armed with three of the same MAC cannons that the Pillar of Autumn had; Shredder MAC or SMAC. Alone, she had accumulated at least three kills, and two probable kills of Covie destroyers. All in one shot. Fifty-two Anvil V Missile Pods were on here sides.
Zach was awakened in the cryo section. The rest of his squad came out of their tubes. "Comn' squad. My AI tells me that we've got 30 minutes to get ready and get onto that damn ship, somethin' like that. But ya know what; I want ya'll ready in 10. You hear me? 10 minutes. Let's go. Hoah!" The rest of the squad replied in unison with a Hoah. Everyone was prepared to take out the Covies on their own soil from the sound of it.
'The Shield Ship's purpose was obvious; to land on Covie soil and bring the hurt to them. But she was drawn away by the need for humanity to survive. Earth was being attacked by the Covies and these troops on the ship were not rookies. They weren't about to have some alien scum and shit take their most prized possession from them. Most of the Marines were Helljumpers. They had experience in their field, killing assassinating and destroying. But the Regulars were not at all bad, dumb or stupid. All the Marines aboard were professionals. Professionals in killing the aliens. But having all of these troops on this ship means that a serious risk was involved. If the Covies took it out, they would be out of a whole lot of troops. There was a severe risk involved in this. If the shield ship were destroyed, the Humans would loose all hope of survival and retaliation. If the ship were destroyed, the SPARTANS would surely go with it, dying to defend it.
As of now, they were near the last remaining planet in the Jericho system, Jericho VII. The troops were preparing to assault the planet. Weirdly enough, the Covies had not yet glassed the planet, even though there were 20,000 Marines. This was one of the largest concentrations in the Epsilon Ridden System. They could all be wiped out in three salvos. Twenty Covie battleships loomed over the planet, their porous heads made the ships look like giant whales, like the blue whales that are nearly extinct. The Covies didn't seem to notice the USN 7th Battle Group enter the system through a hole in Slip Space. Their Shaw-Fujiwaka engines cooled down and stopped.
On the Flagship, the USN Cobra , the bridge crew moved and hurried getting orders to one another as well as Marines. The captain was responsible for reporting any opposition to 'The Shield Ship'. He did so. "Captain Ridgewood," said Captain Marks, the commander on the Cobra . "Sir?" "We have multiple Covies on our scopes. We suggest best course of action is opening up with the MAC's and then lobbing in some Archers, or in your case, Anvils." "Nah, to obvious." "What," replied Marks, seemingly astonished at what the Captain said. "Plus, we could use the help." "What!? I don't get it! What are we doing?" "I say we let those bastards have a piece of their own medicine. Get me coordinates on their two biggest ships." "Huh? Oh yes, sir."
A couple of moments later, Marks replied with the coordinates. "Here they are. The 0349, Plight of Doom and the Falcon of Death . First is at the coordinates 356, 090. The second one is at 034, 180. What did you want to know this for? What you got up your sleeve Captain?" "You don't have to worry about that Captain. You'll see soon enough." Ridgewood cut the line. Lieutenant General Larry Barnes, the Commander-in-Chief of all the Marines on board the shield ship, asked the one important question, "What are you doing Captain?"
A while later?

"James, you ready?" The Master Chief was standing next to his friend, James. James was on his right, Linda, on his left. "Yep." He raised his good arm and patted the Chief on his back. I'll see you later. The MC ran forward and mounted up on a Pelican. James and Linda split up and got into separate Pelicans. The rear hatch on James' Pelican closed and lurched forward to take off.
Bridge Master 'Unselee, moved around and checked out all of the view screens and holo panels on his bridge. 'Unselee paced back and forth when a pitiful Grunt came towards him. It squeaked with every motion and his face was tense and low to the ground. "Bridge Master, we need you to look at these reports." "Why, must I?" "Um, I'm afraid so. It's pretty important?it says here that it's from the Prophets." "The Prophets? they are weak. The useless little bastards don't know how to fight. They ha?" His audio ended abruptly. The grunt looked around abruptly. 'Unselee grasped his throat. The Grunt turned to see a Prophet. His headdress, studded with weird rocks and gems, streamed energy across the little 'canals' rooted into it. A second later, Prophet Guard 'Methu, stated, "You may want to change that statement Bridge Master 'Unselee. The Prophet is not pleased at all with your statement." 'Unselee tried to speak, but his throat was tangled and choked. He nodded. 'Unselee managed to gasp, " Yes 'Methu ." Energy streamed across the Prophet's headdress again and then 'Methu replied. "Unfortunately, for you, that will not do for Master Prophet. Your apology was not accepted." 'Methu drew a plasma beam blade and listened joyously as 'Unselee squealed and writhed in pain due to lack of oxygen. More energy streamed across the Prophet's head. "As you wish my lord." 'Methu raised the blade just as 'Unselee blacked out.
"Are you ready Marines?" "Sir, yes Sir!" "I said, are you ready?" "Sir, yes Sir!" Sergeant Zachary Denison sat along side of the SPARTAN named James. His gold-tinted visor was like a wall, a screen of deception. "Sarge, where we goin'?" "To the Plight of Doom . Covie cruiser. Home of the scum. Essentially, to hell and back." Yeah." "We gonna get some fun in before we die though Sarge." "Right," replied the Sergeant. "I don't see why ya'll so afraid of death," said Zach's second-in-command, Corporal Darby Huttchins. "I mean, you won't know when you die and it's quick and painless, so, what's wrong?" "Never seeing tommorrow," replied Private Sanchez. "Well, there's a heaven right?" Sanchez nodded. "Well, then you've got nothing to worry about. You can jes' chill while watchin' us, your homies, kick Covie ass!" "You've got an ample point their Hutch!" "I know. I'm always there to be counted on. So what's up Zach, have you got any idea of what we are supposed to do?" "Yeah. I do, but why should I tell you?" "I'm your friend?" "Nah, I need a better reason than that to tell you." Their conversation was abruptly ended when the pilot yelled over the COM freq, "We got bandits on our six. We could use a little bit of help here." "I got it." James, who hadn't said a single thing throughout the entire conversation, was the first to volunteer to save the rest of the Marines he hadn't even been aquainted with yet. James entered the gunner's mount and fired off a salvo of rounds from the chain-gun.
"This is Talon 348, deploying the package." Linda listened in on the COM transmissions. She was the only SPARTAN not involved in actually taking the ship. Ten other Marines were aboard, all with EMP (External Motion Packs) and EVAs (External Ventilation Apparatus). They were all trained snipers and were about to go into the depth of space. They would provide cover fire for the two squads appointed to assault the actual battleships. "Opening hatch," informed the pilot. The hatch opened just in time to see the squads moving into the launch bays of the Covie cruisers. "The Shield Ship" had dropped their shields so that they could only be turned on manually from inside the shield generators. Linda and the other snipers began unleashing hell on the Covies in the launch bay. It was a 3:1 ratio over the number of Covies killed by the snipers than by the ground-ponders.



Above and Beyond the Call of Duty: Part III; Turncoat
Date: 31 May 2003, 2:03 PM

0134, Falcon of Death , Brig Facility A, (Military Calendar) July 6th, 2553

Bridge Master 'Unselee, or should we now say, Prisoner 'Unselee was in the brig of the Falcon of Death . His eyesight was blurred; he could barely see two feet in front of him. His eyesight then straightened out. He saw the grunt that was on the bridge earlier. He didn't seem to notice 'Unselee in the brig room. He tried to identify the noise that had aroused him in the first place. It wasn't too long until he heard another loud boom. He thought things over in his mind and finally denounced that it had to be a Human invasion of his ship. He didn't care anymore. Finally, he leaned back up against a wall and saw a view screen in the far corner of the brig. There was a simultaneous beeping and then an image popped up on the screen. 'Methu. 'That bitch has taken command of my ship,' was the only thing that went through 'Unselee's head. Then, slowly, a plan was devised in his head. He began to think of a way to get back at 'Methu and the Prophet.
"MC, we need fire support over here!" John, the Master Chief, opened up with an MA5B. He let loose a flurry of 7.62mm rounds at a squad of Jackals firing on the jungle of supply crates his squad was taking refuge in. Two Jackals lost their balance because of the power of the bullets. Two rounds ripped open the first one's head and one round pierced the jugular of the next. Two more Jackals came in through an access-way and began adding their fire into the fray. One Marine popped off a Jackal but the MC knew they were no match for the whole squad. As the Major Jackal leaned down to tend to his wounded buddy's aid, the MC primed and tossed a frag grenade into their little phalanx. Before anybody noticed what happened, it exploded and sent the Jackals' limbs and blood flying. "Yeah, right on Chief. That's the way it's gotta happen."
The Sergeant stood up and was immediately cut down by enemy gunfire; he vanished into the haze of blue and green bolts. "We need to get out of the docking bay. There's a maintenance pass up to your left. Cover the Marines while they make a run for it." Cortana always helped the Chief out and it really paid off. Without her (in the MC's eyes) he would never have made it off of the ring-world, Halo. So he did as he was told. "Corporal," yelled the MC. "Yes, Sir!" He replied while popping off a couple of rounds. He took down two Grunts with a single round. "You're the Sergeant of this squad now." "Thanks!" "Don't thank me; thank the Covies. Anyhow…" his speech was cut short by the sound of two Marines yelling out the warning of a plasma grenade coming in for their position. "Incoming!" The plasma grenade stuck to the Corporal's helmet. " HELP DAMN-IT! HELP ME! " Thinking quickly, the MC ripped off his helmet and threw it up onto the landing. Three Elites roared in defiance. The commander lost his head and blood gushed up through his neck veins. The crimson-Elites lost most of their extremeness due to the force of the heat wave and shock. A Grunt was blown down to the bottom floor. The Sergeant was traumatized about his near death experience. The MC had to carry him to the safety of the maintenance access-way and then slapped him. He looked at him. "We need to take this ship. Let's go all right. Let's finish the mission."
"Captain, MAC guns charged and firing solutions have been put in. Prepared to fire." Captain Ridgewood was preparing to take out all other ships except for the two cruisers that were being raided at the moment. They would be a nuisance to his ship and could get in the way. "Fire." Nine rails alone from 'The Shield Ship' and others from the destroyers, carriers and frigates in their fleet took out the competition in seconds. One round gutted a destroyer from bow to stern. Two Covie corvettes exploded on impact with the rails. The Covie carrier's shields shimmered several times and then finally failed. Two more rails from the Cobra finished it off. "How long until we can reload and be prepared for another shot," asked Ridgewood. His Armory Chief replied, "Two minutes at max. It won't be long. Why? They're all finished off." "Well, just in case." The Captain thought to himself. He was happy. He had just added nine kills to his ship's statistics. Fourteen kills all told.
His fears of another ship were confirmed when a 'sniper ship', like the one he had seen at Reach, appeared almost out of the blue. Then another. Ridgewood, at the time, was a Commander. He was second-in-command of a large destroyer. He watched their brutality, as they sniped USN ships from more than 1,000 meters away. He wanted to get his revenge for that stupid ship at Reach taking out his friend's ship, the Arizona .
Before he could give the order to fire, he saw the Cobra explode in a shimmer of light. "Alright, I've had about enough of this. Open fire when ready. I want AV Pods A-E readied to fire at the first one. Blow him open with two MAC rounds first. Get the Goliath on the line. Tell them to MAC the other one and then hit 'em where it hurts." "Gottcha." The 'sniper ship' got off another shot before it's ultimate death. It hit 'The Shield Ship'. Her shields, developed from captured Covie technology, drained down to the last drop. It would take a long time for it to fully recharge. During that time, she was venerable to enemy fire. "Fire." Rails streamed out of her MAC guns and then exploded on the enemy ships' hull. Then missiles hit and blew her insides out and gutted her. The same goes for the second ship. It was destroyed. On the bridge, the crew yelled out a cheer. Everyone was happy that the larger ships were destroyed. Even the troops on the ground were happy. Their battle seemed to be getting better by the minute. Now, all that remained of the original Covie's attack were the two cruisers that were being raided. 'The Shield Ship' had attained a total of fifteen kills throughout all of her battles.
"Linda, your job is done. Your squad should split up. You go to the Falcon of Death , the rest of your squad goes to the Plight of Doom . Here we go." Linda was taking aim on more targets. She hit a Grunt in the head and then another round blew an Elite away. The Pelican seemed to be speeding for the ship. She was ready to go and get into the fray. All she had done since she was 'resurrected', was fight from far away. Not much fun at all.
James was advancing on a motionless security squad, waiting in ambush for Sergeant Denison's squad. The fun was just about to begin. James threw a frag grenade into their rear guard. They all flew forward, except for those in the very front. They jumped forward out of the way of anymore attacks. But, when they turned to face James, they were mercilessly cut down by the Sergeant's squad fire. "Yeah, that's the way I like it. Let's move out Marines." Zach was proud of his troops. They had been through hell with him. He didn't like them going through it some more. But they did. " James, this is Linda. I'm comin' up to your position. Hold there for me, out. " But they couldn't hold position for long. A bond of Hunters came through the hallway. One screamed in his native tongue. He opened up with a fuel rod round and launched one of Zach's squad-mates into the air. He hit the ceiling and was killed on impact. James remembered the bastards and wanted his revenge for them taking his arm. He opened up with his assault rifle and then went on a malicious physical assault. Using his good arm and then his feet, he mercilessly kicked the first Hunter. It's armor dented inward. He felt good letting his anger vent. The Hunter fell down and was almost dead. Before his bond brother could get a round off, Sanchez and Zach teamed up on him. Zach tossed a frag grenade that blew up in its face. He fell to the ground.
Then, a squad of Grunt's heavily armed attacked the squad. They made pot shots at the squad. The demolition expert was hit in the head and died instantly. His blood spilled all over the floor. Sanchez expended his pistol clip on two Grunts and then threw a frag. The Grunt squad's limbs flew out the corridor and hit the adjacent wall. But the blitzkrieg didn't stop there. A bunch of Elites stormed there little home. They started to run. "Let's get out of here," exclaimed Huttchins. "Agreed," replied James. He turned around every so often to take a shot at the advancing aggressors. "In here," exclaimed James. He busted open the closest door that was unlocked. It led to the brig.
The gunfire was getting louder and more numerous. It was also getting closer. Now, it was in the room. The very room that 'Unselee. "Stand guard right here." James instructed for the machine gunner to hold position at the door. 'Unselee saw the man he had seen before. The very man who was in charge of killing a countless amount of his men of the ship they called the Pillar of Autumn . But he remembered that man with two arms, not one. But who cares. This person was a very powerful person. He could kill him instantly.
James was ready to kill any prisoners he found in the brig. But this one was odd. He spoke to him. " I think he's trying to say something. Let's see how well the interpretation software works. " Aeries, James' personal AI, turned on the CIS (Covenant Interpretation Software). The Elite said again, "I am 'Unselee, Bridge Master of this ship. I can help you out. I wish to join you." James gave him a thumbs up. "I'll get the holo panel." Now, all of his speech came out of his speakers. But it was also sent to the Marines through the COM. 'Unselee nodded. James ran over and then turned off the electric jail bars. 'Unselee stood up and then walked out. He reached out a claw to shake with James. "What the hell are you doing!" Zach didn't understand the whole situation. "It's okay, he's a friend. He's gonna lead us to the bridge." "Why not ask John?" "We can do this on our own." "Fine, but when he stab's you in the back, don't come crawlin' to me." "Fine, I wont." James ran outside to find out that the Elites were ready to storm the room. James let loose a flurry of bullets. Zach, Sanchez and Huttchins all opened up with pistol rounds. The ballistic weapons drowned the whine of plasma fire out. 'Unselee jumped into the fray. He knocked an enemy Elite in the face and stole his plasma beam blade. He turned it on and sliced through the Elite's body and cut off his arm. The blood poured onto the floor.
"This will do for now," stated 'Unselee. "Follow me. This is the way to the bridge."
***
"We seem to have an insurrection. The little bastard has been spared by the big ones Master." 'Methu had since taken command of the ship. He was going to kill 'Unselee in combat. He wanted to kill him badly. Ever since they were young in the schools, he was always his major opposition. He was the person to beat. But 'Unselee always won. This angered him. So now was his chance to strike back.
The Master Prophet of the ship was angered that 'Unselee had turned on him. He wanted to kill him also. It was the last stand. He undoubtedly would die in the ensuing fight. But he would take many with him.
"Let's go." Zach busted open the door to the bridge. They were awed by the amount of technology put into the bridge. But they weren't thrilled with the guards. Zach's squad opened up on all the positions. Like the Master Prophet, as he guessed, did die, but he took no one with him. Sanchez was hit with a needler round. It exploded before the 'Doc' could pull it out. He too got hurt. But then the Doc got hit with several rounds in the back. They exploded simultaneously. He flew foreword-knocking Sanchez down.
'Unselee pulled out his sword and jumped up onto the platform. "So, we meet again, 'Unselee? Are you ready this time?" 'Methu licked his teeth and prepared for the fight. "Of course. Only this sort of competition will settle our little dispute." 'Unselee taunted with his hand. He wanted to get it on. "Methu raised his blade to strike. In the split second that it was raised, 'Unselee slashed his gut. 'Methu staggered backwards. "Do you think that's it; did you think that was all it would take. You're wrong." 'Methu sliced from the side this time. His blade was met by 'Unselee's. They clashed for a period until finally 'Methu kicked 'Unselee in the calf. He fell to his knees and then raised his blade yet again. 'Unselee rolled and then sliced off 'Methu's leg. 'Methu fell to the ground in agonizing pain. He screamed endlessly, grabbing at the leg that was not there. He writhed in pain. Blue blood gushed out onto the floor. "This is the price you pay for your insurrection." Unselee picked up 'Methu and tossed him into the depression on the bridge floor. 'Unselee followed him down. The sword was aimed down. It pierced through his gut. 'Methu screamed his last words. Blood bushed out onto 'Unselee's face. The blade had 'Methu pinned to the floor. It had gone straight through the floor. 'Unselee turned and just left the blade there, inside 'Methu's body.
At that same time, John called in from the Plight of Doom . "We have secured the ship, preparing for further orders. Linda made it to the bridge finally. "What the hell. Who is he? What happened?" "Nothin' much," said James. "This is 'Unselee, he is the Bridge Master and will be piloting this ship back to Earth for study." "Fine." Zach was pleased to finally be going to Earth. No more detours. It was a beautiful day.





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