 |
About This Site
Daily Musings
News
News Archive
Site Resources
Concept Art
Halo Bulletins
Interviews
Movies
Music
Miscellaneous
Mailbag
HBO PAL
Game Fun
The Halo Story
Tips and Tricks
Fan Creations
Wallpaper
Misc. Art
Fan Fiction
Comics
Logos
Banners
Press Coverage
Halo Reviews
Halo 2 Previews
Press Scans
Community
HBO Forum
Clan HBO Forum
ARG Forum
Links
Admin
Submissions
Uploads
Contact
|
|
|
An End To All Wars by FuzzyTerror15
|
An End To All Wars: Prologue
Date: 14 April 2005, 2:37 AM
In the year of 2547 a time of peace and prosperity existed for the planets in the Derimus system, but unknown to the general public, there is more of their race, more of humanity than just in their system, and if one enemy hates one of your kind; you had better prepare for a war or just accept defeat.
Derimus Orbital Defense Station, February 26, 2548
Admiral O'Neill sat hunched over at his desk pondering over the course of actions and events from the previous mission. He had just finished reading the basic mission report, which lacked serious detail. This particular mission report had the standard bright red lettering on the top marking it as classified, meaning the public would never see this document. After a few minutes of critical thinking and rereading, he realized that the Derimus Special Taskforce (an elite group of combat ships designed for advanced recon in dangerous enemy territory) did the right thing even if it meant... his thoughts trailed off as someone approached the door.
"Sir reporting as ordered, Sir." A middle-aged man announced, standing just outside the finely polished wooden doorframe.
"Ah, I was hoping I'd see you soon. It's been far too long since we last met," said O'Neill with a pleased look in his eyes.
"Sir, cut the flattery, I have urgent news for you from Fleet Admiral Jordan." The Captain told him, his right hand still forming a crisp salute.
"At ease son. Now if you don't mind tell me what exactly happened to your taskforce before you give me the news." He said patiently.
"Sir? I thought you had gotten the mission reports."
"Of course I got them, but I wanted to know what actually happened from someone who was there."
"Understood Sir, but this could take some time, if you don't mind may I take a seat." He said, his face showing the expression of being Exausted, the bloodshot eyes and the wrinkles across his face gave it all away... war is hell.
"Not at all, please take a seat." He said generously.
As the Captain sat down he made sure not to ruin his finely ironed military uniform. "It started of as a routine run, but we didn't realize..." the Captain paused for a moment trying to find words that would describe the DST's fate. "That we fell into a trap of some sort, a false SOS buoy from one of the navy's ship was going off so we decided it would be best to check it out. As we neared the Navy ship it sent out a hail. If I can remember correctly it was Captain Browski who sent it and warned of an unstoppable force that couldn't be beaten. Every one knew he was a very trust worthy man, but the crew of our ships was skeptical. Shortly after three unknown vessels came out of slipspace just out side the asteroid field around Derimus IV. Little did we know that Captain Browski was being targeted by these "whale like" vessels. Sorry Sir, you probably already know this."
"Not at all, it gives me a better description that I can picture, please continue."
"Shortly after the unknown ships discharged their weapons and his ship was reduced to debris; some sort of advanced plasma weapon, definitely not of any human make. We followed all the protocols for finding new ships of unknown design even though we knew it would be futile. I think we hailed them about 5 times... before the incident." He said cautiously scratching his nearly bald head. "These unknown ships were larger than most of our recon frigates or even the destroyers." He described to the exact detail, it was all too fresh in his memory. "By the looks the ships were armed to the teeth. Then it happened, out of nowhere the strange "organic" like ships started to glow a faint blue around their weapon ports, the lights illuminated the whole entire asteroid field we were in." He took a long pause, staring coldly into the Admirals eyes. He asked "Do you believe there is a way to avoid any actions that can lead to war?"
The Admiral peered deep into the eyes of the Captain and found only one thing out, that this incident was far worse than what the reports had told him. "I believe in many things, one being that there is never true peace, no human being can ever agree on the same thing, and that my friend leads to wars, great loss of lives, but worse than both is the hatred that rages on after the war has been won. You see if people from the losing side are brought back to the winning sides territory there will never be equality, peace or even sanity. The people, who lost the war, not only lost their pride, but now they are not even treated as equals, and this leads to either small unorganized revolts, or massive rebellions. Either one brings back the war that originally separated them." The admiral paused a moment and took a sip from his cup of water that was on the right of his desk.
"Now if you don't mind, can you get back to what happened to the 'whale like' ships." The Admiral demanded, but kept his anger concealed because he could tell that the Captain had been through a living hell over the past few months.
"Sorry to keep you waiting Sir, as I was saying, as those unknown ships glowed, my weapons officer a Lieutenant by the name of..." he said feeling a little woozy and unstable.
"Son, are you all right?" The Admiral said worriedly.
The Captain's only response was a few garbled words and he fell limp in his chair.
"Son of a ..." The Admiral said angrily, but with the utmost respect to the under ranking officer, as he would never been able to coupe with the knowledge the Captain had. O'Neill jumped up and spilled his glass of water on the Captain's finely pressed dress suit. "Ah crap he's going be pissed when he wakes up." He said so loud the people in the waiting room heard them. In a matter of seconds the Admiral was at the entrance to his "private" room. He pressed a few buttons on a wall panel that emitted a faint blue glow. A few seconds later an image of a young doctor by the name of Jennifer Mariano appeared on the panel.
In a soft soothing voice she said to the Admiral "How can I help you, sir?"
"Ma'am, Captain Johnson has passed out and is probably in shock, he needs immediate medical treatment" The admiral said with urgent speed.
"Roger that Sir, I will have a medical team down there to check Johnson out." She said with a more serious tone.
The Admiral made a quick movement with his hand and the panel turned off. He thought to himself what could have gone so wrong that Johnson would have passed out. As he thought the doctors and nurses (including Jennifer) were on their way to the Admirals quarters, running through the tight unlit corridors of the Derimus Orbital Defense Station.
Jennifer turned to her friend and probably the best doctor onboard besides her and asked "I think something is going on that we shouldn't know about, something so serious that only a select few know the truth." Her friend answered with a mere nod and kept running as if she was trying to save her child from a burning fire.
-End Prologue
An End to All Wars: Chapter one - Civil War
Date: 19 May 2005, 2:21 PM
October 29, 2546
Thor's Hammer
Orbiting Derimus IV
Captain Johnson sat at his command chair watching the command crew of the Thor's Hammer; all of whom were working vigorously to get the ship ready for combat. The Thor's Hammer was one of the few remaining capital ships from the twelfth system war, its hull dented in many places and two out of the four MAC cannons were inoperable, but it was after all made to dish out and recieve punishment. The mighty ship hefted quad MAC cannons able to turn opposing ships into Swiss cheese and it was last ship left in the fleet to carry four super weapons.
Johnson's fingers fiddled with his newly acquired brass bars that signified new position; Captain. The highly polished brass bars shone brightly against the standard grey issue Captains uniform; catching the jealous eyes of the senior officers. He watched as his crew worked on the various tasks he assigned: navigation, communications, and most importantly at stressful times: weapons.
His second in command, and his most favored, was the timid young Lieutenant Andrew Nelson. Nelson was the current weapons officer for the Thor's Hammer; if orders were given to destroy a target, he would not think twice about his orders. His knowledge of explosive weapons was highly known around the fleet; only out matched by a few special weapon experts that remained after the twelfth system war. Although fresh out of the lunar academy orbiting Derimus I; the Captain saw his potential and had personally requested that Nelson would be assigned to his ship. The process had been long and arduous, but it was worth it having one of the best weapons officers onboard. During Andrew's time at the academy, he had been called upon to help defend against an uprising at the capital of Derimus, so the Captain knew if things turned ugly, he could count on the Lieutenant's prior experience in close combat.
In front of the Captain sat the blonde haired 2nd Lieutenant Nicole Parker. Her sandy blonde hair always kept to the exact length of 10 centimeters; as for the military protocols. She graduated in the same class with Nelson, but her studies took a more peaceful route in communications. Nicole had little experience in close combat, but what she lacked for in fighting she made up for in geographic knowledge. The Captain knew that she was also a person of high intellect; she knew more about the first two system wars between Derimus I and Derimus II than any other Lieutenant in the fleet.
More problematic to his crew was the navigations officer, Lieutenant Mark Hiroki. Although he was the finest pilot the Captain ever saw, but Mark always bent the set military protocols of space traveling: no smoking and drinking. As long as he kept what he did to the minimum, the Captain was not going to report the new recruit only because he would be able to get them out of a tight spot.
The Captain relaxed in his leather coated command chair, another one of his personal request; after all, he was famous among the fleet. The previous battles still raged in his mind; he could not get rid of them even after the hypnotherapy. Explosions roared on in his head, brutally eradicating forgotten adversaries. The loud noise from the MAC still rang in his fragile skull like the constant fire from the old M-16s.
Every time he saw the gigantic bullets soar across space; he saw death, the bullets always hit their mark. They would impact the enemy vessel creating a hole of utter destruction and a fiery end to all the unfortunate souls on the ship. The slaughter of fellow human beings was unnecessary, the Captain knew this, but at the same time, he knew it was necessary for his own survival.
The Captain knew out of the deepest confines of his brain why he had been sent, on the so-called diplomatic missions. Every time he had been sent with a fleet of warships and he knew the meeting was all just a lure to bring the rebel leader out into the open and assassinate him. Still bothering him was why the Human Republic Association broke off from the government; the aristocratic political devils always wanting their way, and if they couldn't they would try to bring down the entire government.
At the same time, he knew it was because their party representative wasn't elected as president of Derimus; without the position of President, they would not be able to hold any true political power. It had been with almost all the previous system wars, but this one was different, this was the twelfth system war and most costly on human lives. He had heard about the experiments the HRA conducted, only a few of the victims were left to tell about what actually happened, about the beasts. These beasts weren't your average killers, they would invade your body to make the poor soul another one of their collective. All because of the HRA, Derimus XIII was lost to the beasts; billions of lives lost, all for their helpless crusade.
Johnson had known that with every war there was to be death of soldiers and pilots; that was to be expected, but when the HRA started bombing civilian cities the Captain signed up for the DST, for revenge. Already holding the position of Lieutenant and carrying many battles under his belt, he requested to transfer to the DST, were he could do damage to the HRA. After two months of wait he finally transferred to his first command ship, a frigate designated the Devastator. Although an outdated frigate, he was pleased that he would finely be able to command his own ship.
He knew that every action had consequences and he was about to make the rebel pay for bombarding his home city and his family. The vivid orange explosions still dotted his mind as he remembered watching helplessly as the rebels bombed Herdonion, the Capital of Derimus I, from a nearby orbital defense station. He could remember the anger boil at him; the helpless feeling just standing there and watching made him swear revenge.
A sudden chirping noise arose, but the Captain failed to realize it was the communication alarm; he was still too deep in his thoughts to pay attention to it. The alarm continued to ring, louder with each second. The crew of the Thor's Hammer watched in amazement as the Captain just sat there unaware of the communiquŽ; they had never seen a ship commander ignore the communiquŽs.
"Sir, we have an incoming message from Fleet Admiral Jordan." Said 2nd lieutenant Parker; her sandy blonde hair swayed as she turned to look the Captain in the eyes.
"Parker, put the Fleet Admiral on my personal view screen," said the Captain finally snapping out of his weary thoughts. Horror shone in his eyes, the bridge crew looked away from their leader; they knew that he was in despair.
"Roger that Sir." Parker said with the slightest bit of sympathy; she knew what the Captain had gone through during the previous war.
A few seconds later the Captain's view screen flicked in, a blue light illuminated a small area filling the air with an aurora of significance.
"Good afternoon Sir, how may I be of assistance?" The Captain asked calmly.
"We just got word of rebel uprisings on Derimus III. We need you to go there drop off a squad from the Mobile Infantry or the Shock Troopers, hell I don't care send them both in and have them collect some intelligence. Once they give us enemy locations, we will send in some Special Ops Marines to take out the large encampments and to retake control of Derimus III's capital Torlan.
"Understood sir, but if I may ask, how strong is this rebel uprising and what do they want?"
"To our knowledge the rebels have only 100,000 soldiers on the planet, but they have reinforcements arriving in a matter of days so we need to squelch the rebel filth and take back the city, and for their reason we don't know."
Only 100,000 enemies on the surface with more arriving in 2-3 day, kind of makes me glad I signed up in the navy, the Captain thought. "Well Sir, if we are to end this uprising then we need more troops than just the Derimus Special Taskforce and their Special Ops Marines. Is there any way to know if there is any of Derimus III's Army is left down there?"
"At this moment there is still fighting going on between the Derimus III's remaining army and these rebels. The Derimus army is suffering severe loses due to these unknown forces so if the army already on Derimus III is to be of any use we need to go in soon."
"Roger that sir, I will make plans for the insertion, Johnson out." As the Captain flicked off the view screen, he noticed that there was someone else was in the room with the Admiral. Strange the Admiral is normally alone when he gives out missions. Some things up and I don't think I got the whole side of the story. He thought keeping his opinions to himself.
"Lieutenant Parker, contact the destroyers Archangel and the Reaper's Vengeance and tell them to have them and their battle cluster to rendezvous with us 300,000 kilometers outside of Derimus III."
"I'm already on it Sir." She said with forced enthusiasm.
As the time passed on their way to Derimus III, the Captain thought about how they were expected to win against these odds. Hmm even with all three of the destroyer's dual MAC cannons and the 9 frigates under them only being equipped with single MAC cannons, we don't know how big the reinforcements will be...his thoughts started to fade as he realized that no amount of rebels would have over 6 ships in their command. The Captain turned to his view screen and pressed a few buttons to access the armory. Once again, the view screen had a faint blue glow, except this time Lieutenant McCafrey appeared on the screen.
"Lieutenant McCafery I need you to get a six man squad ready, you're going in hard to get some intelligence for us. I just sent you what little information we got."
The Captain noticed the Lieutenants eyes scanning the data that appeared on his view screen. His dark brown eyes vigorously tore through the information and in a matter of seconds as McCafery had finished the short document.
"Roger that sir, I will get right on it." The Lieutenant said without a single bit of concern of going up against 100,000 enemies with only five supporting men, after all its only recon not an assault op.
Just as the Lieutenant finished his line, the Captain turned off his view screen and contacted the Archangel's ship Captain, Commander Bond.
"Good to see you Commander, I have a few things to tell you."
"What is it sir?" the Commander asked
"I've got a funny feeling that this mission is going to go south pretty quick."
"Why do you say that?"
"There is no way rebels could have gotten to Derimus III from another system without being detected, and it couldn't have been the citizens of Derimus III or it would have been put down by Derimus 3's Army by now. So just keep on your toes, I got a funny feeling about this op."
"Understood Sir, I will be on alert." Bond said with a slight bit of fear and frustration crossing his face.
Thor's Hammer
Armory
Lieutenant Mcafery had already hand picked the men and women that would be traveling to hell and back with him on this recon op. Although he trusted all of the Mobile Infantry soldiers he still had a bad feeling about this mission, so he decided he'd only bring the best that the DST could offer. Still carrying the pre-mission jitters, he reread the list of people that he was going to send to Captain.
To: Captain Johnson
From: Lieutenant McCafery
Date: 9/15/2547
Classification: X-ray
Name: James "El-Tee" McCafery
Rank: 1st Lieutenant
Age: 28
Height: 6' 4"
Weight: 150 Lbs
Weapon layout:
XM-127: Ammo: 10mm, clip capacity: 20 rounds, Scope: 3x
Silenced Maverick (2X): Ammo: 45 Caliber, clip capacity: 12, Scope: no
Armor: Trident Mark II Battle Armor (medium armor)
Special: Squad Leader
Name: Jacob "Death Scythe" Griffen
Rank: Master Sergeant
Age: 24
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 140 Lbs
Weapon Layout:
XM-103: Ammo: 7.62mm, clip capacity: 30 rounds, scope: 2x
Maverick: Ammo: 45 caliber, clip capacity: 12 rounds, scope: no
Combat knife: length of blade: 10 inches
Armor: Diplomat III (heavy armor)
Special: Point man
Name: Kiera "Guardian" Smith
Rank: Sergeant
Age: 22
Height: 5' 7"
Weight: 130 Lbs
Weapon Layout:
MA7B Battle Rifle: ammo: 9mm, clip capacity: 36 rounds, scope: 2x
Silenced Maverick: ammo: 45 caliber, clip capacity: 12, scope: 2x
Armor: Trident Mark II Battle Armor (medium armor)
Special: Medic
Name: Chris "Cycelest" Butcher
Rank: Corporal
Age: 25
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 160 Lbs
Weapon Layout:
M-90 (modified): ammo: 8 gauge explosive rounds, ammo in gun: 8, scope: no
XM-75: Tri-barreled rocket launcher: ammo: high explosive rockets, clip capacity: 3
XM-7: Ammo: 5mm, Clip capacity: 60 rounds, scope: no
Armor: Diplomat III (heavy armor)
Special: Demolitions expert
Name: Mark "Shadow" Snipes
Rank: Private
Age: 27
Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 140 Lbs
Weapon Layout:
S2-AM (modified): ammo 14.5mm, clip capacity: 6 rounds, Scope: 5x, 10x, 15x
M6D (modified): ammo 9mm, clip capacity: 18, Scope: 2x
Armor: Raptor Mark VIII Armor (light armor)
Special: Stealth
Name: Jenny "Saber" Williams
Rank: Private
Age: 23
Height: 5' 8"
Weight: 150 Lbs
Weapon Layout:
XM-150: ammo: 5.56 mm, clip capacity: 200, Scope: no
Maverick: ammo: 45 caliber, clip capacity: 12, scope: 2x
Samurai Sword: Length: 36 inches
Armor: Raptor Mark VIII Armor (light armor)
Special: Communications
As the Lieutenant finished reading the personnel list and took a quick glance at his silver watch. To his surprise, it was 1250; ten minutes before the Mobile Infantry left on their classified mission. With a quick motion of his arm, the holo panel next to his desk emitted a faint green glow, a slight humming noise protruding from the speakers. "Mobile Infantry" he told the holo panel with quick haste.
In a blink of an eye each member of the Mobile Infantry appeared on the view screen. Every single one of them already prepared for the mission ahead, their armor glistened in the low light of the destroyer. "Ladies and Gentlemen I've got some good news for ya'll." He took a quick pause to examine their facial expression, which he already knew would be excited. "We will be leaving this god-forsaken ship and dropping into the frying pan in a matter of ten minutes. So get off your sorry asses and move to Launch Bay 6." He said continuing with a sarcastic tone.
In response, all of the Mobile Infantry shouted "Roger that Sir."
"Oh if I might add, you won't be getting that Navy comfort like those wine-drinking bastards, you will be going down feet first." The Lieutenant spoke as a grin emerged across his face; every member of the Mobile Infantry had trained with the drop pods and preferred them over the slow drop ships in use by the navy. He was still looking proudly at the members of the Mobile Infantry each; giving a slight nod of approval to everyone of them. With a final message, he said "McCafery out." He turned back to his desk and the holo panel automatically deactivated; the faint humming eliminated from existing and the room fell into complete and utter silence.
Chris Butcher sat in his finely decorated quarters, already geared up for their next mission. His leather chair swiveled back and forth, as he thought about the mission, but more importantly what he was going to do on the mission. He would finally be able to complete his true mission. Butcher stretched out his arms, yawned and finally got the will and headed for the launch bay. At the doorway he took one last glance at his accommodations, fore he knew it would be the last time.
An End to All Wars: Chapter 2 - Drop Zone
Date: 3 July 2005, 9:33 pm
October 29, 2546
Thor's Hammer Launch Bay Six
Orbiting Derimus III
Lieutenant McCafrey leaned on the metal panel lining his drop pod; he stood upright looking at each of his soldier, all of whom were equipped for war, which was to be expected. They easily stood out against the ships crew, their jet black armor made them look like the god's of war instead of humans. Even without their armor, his squad lumbered over the crew, easily standing a good head over them. Their weapons lay cradled in their arms; they would not let them go, like a mother to her child. He noticed that the majority of them were in a tight circle laughing the minutes away; probably on some stupid Navy joke they heard years ago.
"Attention drop in three minute, please make your way to your drop pods and remember buckle up for safety." A voice over the loud speaker said; giving the usual three minutes left speech. It was all accustomed to the Mobile Infantry; they suited up, they launched, they annihilated every thing in their path and came home for a nice DST turkey dinner.
As he stepped into his pod, McCafrey noticed a quiet humming noise from the inside of his pod. With a grunt and most of his strength, the Lieutenant ripped off one of the panels guarding the noise and found a locater beacon.
Odd, still keeping his thoughts to himself, the DST never installed a homing beacon into their pods before. I need to get to the bottom of this.
As he closed the hatch on his pod, he heard the relaxing sound of the drop announcer.
"Thirty seconds and counting to drop…twenty seconds to drop… ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one drop initiated good luck and give them hell." The announcer said with a soothing monotone voice.
The Lieutenants fingers ran down his prize possession, an old XM-127, one of the best medium range assault rifles. He always checked his weapons on the drop, never before; it brought luck to him. Strapped to both of his thighs were dual silenced Mavericks, if fully loaded could take down a minimum of sixteen rebels. As he finished checking over his finely polished weapons, he flipped the communications switch in his pod and sent a message to his squad.
"We hit dirt in 2 minutes, so prepare yourselves and check your weapons. If things go south, we will fall back to the city of Cyras.
In unison, the other members of the squad replied with the standard "Understood Sir!"
Time seemed to race for the squad, adrenaline rushing through their veins. All they could think about was if the landing zone would be clear when they hit the ground.
"Squad twenty seconds till impact make sure you have your safeties off in case the enemy is near the drop zone," the Lieutenant shouted. As soon as he said that a bright red warning light appeared in the drop pod, accompanied by a loud blaring noise; a warning signal to tell they had less than 300 meters to solid earth.
The Lieutenant felt the pod shake and finally crash as his pod hit the ground. McCafery's legs trembled at the force of impact, but with urgent speed the Lieutenant made a swift kick to the door that was sealing him in and it went down with a loud thud.
"Shit" the lieutenant said to him-self so quietly he didn't even realize he said it.
"Ok the fun parts over ladies now let's regroup then move out and find the rebel filth's main area of concentration!" McCafery shouted over the com.
Once again in unison the squad said "roger that."
As he saw the first member of his squad appear over a hill to his right, he made a quick hand gesture; a signal for him to approach carefully, as if he knew he was being watched.
"Shadow" he called to him, "they are about a thousand meters north of here, they might have seen the pods. Go up ahead and give me an estimate of what were facing.
"Alright I'll scout up ahead while you wait here for the rest off the squad"
The trees of the leaves swayed as the remainder of the Mobile Infantry made their slow advance to the Lieutenant. The branches on the ground cracked ever so softly as they walked over them trying to avoid being detected.
"Man all I know is this is going to be easier than stealing candy from a baby." Griffen said to Butcher, a slight smirk appeared on his face. "I mean to send only one squad down on recon how hard can it be?"
"Well for one we're up against 300,000 rebels armed with some of the finest weapons known to man and second they never said anything about us being the only recon unit to be dropped" Replied Butcher.
"Maybe your both wrong" a soft gentle voice interrupted. "Maybe they aren't rebels and they are some sort of alien race that is set to destroy humanity."
"Kiera, if we were overtaken by a bunch of aliens then I will stop believing in God" Jenny said.
"Jenny you and your religion" Chris said. "The only religion I'll ever use or need is my M-90 shotgun." A smile appeared on all their faces, they all knew that jokes would help the mission pass faster.
"Shhh" Jacob whispered. "I hear footsteps approaching, form a rough delta pattern." With that the squad dispersed into the military classic V shape pattern known as Delta Formation.
Jacob could hear the footsteps getting closer, for a minute he felt the rush of fear. His heart pounded like that of a drum, sweat ran down around his eyes, building up at the top of his mouth. Suck it up I'm no normal DST marine, I'm a member of the Mobile Infantry, the Master Sergeant said to himself. He finally had the courage to look around, but all he noticed were the tree's leaves and branches swaying in the cool autumn wind. Still his eyes scanned the general area of the footsteps came from, but failed to find any mark of an enemy.
A cold armored hand grabbed him from behind and pulled him back, covering his mouth so the screams couldn't be heard. In a deep sadistic voice, the captor said, "guess who."
"Damn you McCafrey always sneaking up on people like that, you scared the living shit out of me." Jacob said, relieved that it was his Lieutenant, but his heart was still pounding rapidly, the sound oblivious to everyone else but Griffen.
"You left yourself exposed so I thought I'd teach you a lesson" McCafrey said half laughing. "Anyways I got Shadow up ahead scouting the area where heading to first."
"Sir, are you sure it was a good idea to only send one of us to scout out the region up ahead." Jacob said as worry filled his body, he wasn't ready to lose a squad mate.
"Son, Shadow is a grown man he can take care of himself, you know that." The Lieutenant said trying to lighten up the mood. "Plus, what is the worst that can happen? Maybe a couple hundred rebel troopers charge us, but we've taken down more then that in multiple missions."
"Yea I guess you're right, we'll just have to show these rebel scum who is in charge now!" Griffen said with a boasted enthusiasm.
"Sir, this is Shadow speaking I think I might have hit a snag."
"What do you mean by snag Shadow?" The Lieutenant already knew what it meant, but he had to make sure.
"Well Sir, do you remember our good friends the United Space and Weapons Confederation?"
"Yea they are the leading manufacturer of the Derimus Special Taskforce's weapons and combat ships and our drop pods.
Please don't tell me they have something to do with the rebel uprising."
"Sorry Sir, but there are no rebels, there are only the United Space and Weapons Confederation soldiers down here and by the looks of it they aren't going to give up this planet without a fight."
"So that how they knew where we landed, but why would they do a thing like this, the slaughtering of civilian its just plain absurd and plus they have been allies for numerous decades."
"I don't know Sir, but what I do know is that..." Shadow took a long pause to view the area around him. His eyes glared over every detail from the pale bark on the trees to the concrete building a few hundred meters ahead of his position. Then he heard it, the sound of footsteps, they grew closer by every second. With an audible click, Mark turned the safety on his modified S2-AM sniper rifle and peered through the scope and quickly started scanning for anything that would give away the enemies position; he then noticed it, a group of ten heavily armored soldiers, all wearing standard USWC armor, were slowly advancing to his position.
"Sir, I think I hit another slight problem." He said; the rustling of leaves barely visible while he made his slow retreat backwards, detection was not an option, especially since the incoming onslaught was shooting to kill.
"How slight of a problem is this Shadow?" The Lieutenant said; worry clearly showing on his face. If his visor had been open, his squad would have seen his eyes enlarge in concern for one of the best friends he had ever had.
The only thing that could be heard was the rapid succession of six loud bangs from Mark's Sniper rifle. "Son of a bitch; squad regroup on me we're going to save Shadow." Quicker then lightning the remaining members of the Mobile Infantry formed up around the Lieutenant, their guns cocked and safeties off; ready for the kill. Their eyes raced back and forth to make sure the enemy couldn't ambush them.
The squad raced towards the general location of the gunshots, their leg muscles ached as they pushed themselves harder. "We need to move faster if we are going to be able to rescue him." Jenny said in fear of losing one of her closest friends. Gunshots now echoed around the forest and stray bullets zoomed passed the armored heads of the Mobile Infantry.
"Oh crap, I got to make these last six shots count, but since when was the last time I missed." Mark said under his breathe in a failed attempt to calm down. With a satisfying click Shadow slammed the clip into the sniper and leveled it at the closest soldiers head. He steadied his aim at the closest soldier; the aiming reticule on his golden visor appeared dead center on the soldier's armored head.
He willed his finger to move and a loud bang resonated, making the forest echo from the 14.5mm slug, the rifle smoking at the barrel. The unfortunate USWC soldier never knew what hit him as his limp body fell over; headless, blood spewed on the three remaining soldiers. The adrenaline in Shadow's blood peaked as he watched, with a certain satisfaction, the soldier die; he would make all of them pay with their blood.
"Shit we need to move faster." The Lieutenant said still trying to quicken his pace. Their legs pushed to an all time high as pain soared through their legs; they wouldn't lose a member, not after three years of no casualties. Then in a matter of seconds two distinct sniper shots were fired; the forest fell silent.
|
