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III's Company by Tom Edlin
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III's Company
Date: 8 June 2009, 10:21 am
III's Company – Prologue
The dark, damp jungle pressed in on them from all sides, swallowing them up as though they were never there.
They had left their crashed Long Range Stealth Orbital Insertion Pod covered in leaves as camoflauge to hide it from the enemy's aireil vehicles and set off into the depths of the unforgiving jungle in search of their target.
The mission was simple; the squad of five had been dropped from a UNSC stealth ship and had crashed into the jungles of Plag'Silva undetected in order to assassinate a high-ranking Elite general (Or "Field Master" as they were known to the Covenant). The general had been transferred to this remote planet after a previous attempt on his life by UNSC forces had failed.
The squad to which this suicide mission was delegated to were a crack team of Helijumpers and a Mark III Spartan, Chris 074. They had stared death in the eyes before and were not afraid to die for their race. The team was lead by Sergeant Robertson, a battle hardened war vet who had seen many of his teammates die before. Then there were two privates, Greening and Torrance, and a corporal, Hatfield. The mission was suicide, and they knew it.
As the group moved further into the darkness they maintained total silence, they knew about the sensors onboard the enemy's phantoms that could pick up the slightest noises. They also knew what the Covenant would do if they were discovered.
Something caused Chris to stop in his tracks without warning.
"What is it?" whispered private Greening
"I thought I heard something ahead of us"
"Do you think it's them?" asked the sergeant
"Hard to be su…" The Spartan was cut off in mid sentence as he ducked to avoid a stream of burning plasma fire as a group of three jackals burst through the trees towards them.
"Shit, contact left, get into cover!" He shouted as he landed behind a fallen log.
The Jackals carried semi-automatic plasma pistols that would burn straight through his light armour and prevent his photo-reactive plating from working. Using his instincts he brought out his battle rifle and blind fired in the direction of the enemy, he knew he must have hit one because he heard a pain filled shriek. Robertson pulled a grenade from his belt.
"Frag Out!" He yelled and lobbed the grenade over his head. The grenade landed perfectly behind the Jackals cover, forcing them to jump out of the way to avoid the fate of their patrol member. 074 seized the opportunity and took careful aim, severing the two remaining aliens head's with two controlled burst of his rifle.
The rest of the squad emerged from cover to inspect the damage and Robertson put his hand on Chris' shoulder.
"That was some good shooting son, those bastards could've ruined this mission" The Spartan pushed his hand away and reloaded his weapon.
"I was only doing what I was built to do" he retorted "We better hide these bodies and hope they don't send more troops to find their missing patrol".
With that he pressed on into the jungle leaving the sergeant with a bemused expression on his face.
The Covenant stronghold was located in a clearing within the depths of the jungle planet. The planet itself was on the border edge of the Covenants vast empire and it was originally going to be used for shipbuilding. But the planet was too far away from any of the resources needed and the factories had been left unused. When the Covenant-Human war broke out the aliens realised they were facing a weak yet resilient force that they had underestimated, many of their high-ranking officers were being killed in suicide missions. So the ancient factories were converted into underground fortresses to hide their officers that were feared to be under attack. On the surface theses buildings appeared to be just small encampments, but underground there were complex maze of tunnels.
*******
The idea was to wait until nightfall when the guards changed shifts, 074 would cut through the fence behind the guard post with his photo-reactive plating activated, at night he would be impossible to see. He would take out any guards as silently as possible and signal for the rest of the squad to enter. They would place the Thermite-Carbon cord next to the base's main generator. This explosion would disable the lights and cause confusion within the complex, allowing them to enter, assassinate the Field master while he rested and escape unharmed. It was a seemingly flawless plan, but often it is the best-laid plan that goes wrong.
As Chris 074 sat in the treetops, looking through his field glasses, he felt a sense of dread towards the mission ahead. He had done many suicide missions like this before, yet for some reason, he sensed that this could be his last. He looked down at the Helijumpers below him, his comrades, brothers in arms and envied them. They had families back home on their colony worlds; they had people to care for them when the made it back home, to mourn for them when they didn't. When he died he would be forgotten, he was just another expendable soldier.
As the large sun set over the horizon the jungle seemed to come to life, a cacophony of bestial cries, The Spartan hoped the noise would mask the sound of him cutting through the energy fence as he set to work.
The elite guard looked up at the blood red sky "The setting of the sun signals the end of our shift brother" he said to his companion.
"Something does not seem right this evening" the other replied "There is a smell of fear in this jungle, something has disturbed the forest's creatures".
"Relax brother, those prisoners we captured three days ago have made you uneasy, I do not know why Kal' Rahaga does not simply kill them and be done with it".
"I agree my friend, it is an affront to the Gods to keep such wretched vermin alive".
Whilst the guards had been talking 074 had cut silently through the fence and crept towards the guardhouse, undetected thanks to his photo-reactive armour. As he walked forwards he could see that the two guards were still there, he wondered if the shift times that had been given to him had been wrong and lost concentration for a second, catching his foot on a dry twig which emitted a loud crack! He swore under his breath and hoped the guards hadn't heard.
"What was that?" exclaimed one of the elites
"You are just paranoid my brother". Replied the other
"The first lot were sent to kill 'Rahaga, what if more have come to finish the job?"
"There is nothing to worry abo…" CRACK!
The Spartan silently cursed his clumsiness and looked up to see one of the guards step out with its energy sword activated.
"Come out vermin!" It bellowed in English.
Chris crouched down as far as he could go, looking up to see the elite standing no more than five feet in front of him. The elite stepped forward. Four feet. He could see the ferocious alien's mandibles coated in saliva and the marks on its armour that depicted its kill count. It took another step forward. Three feet. Now he could hear the energy sword crackle and hum and imagined how quickly it would cut through his armour. Under his helmet his hair was soaked with sweat. The guard took another step forward, directly towards Chris as though it could smell him. The knife trembled in his hand as he calculated his odds against this slavering beast.
"Brother, we were supposed to change shifts some time ago" called the second guard from inside the guardhouse. The elite with the sword turned to face his companion.
"I thought I heard something" he muttered, but followed the other guard towards the barracks.
074 breathed a sigh of relief and stood up slowly, his heart hammering, but he knew he had to open the gate quickly to let the others in and before the guards came back. He rushed into the guardhouse and looked for a switch that would open the gate. No good, they were all written in an alien language. With a cry of frustration he realised all his efforts had been for nought, he would never fin out which switch opened the gate before the next guards came back and the Helijumpers would never get through the fence undetected.
Before he could think about what to do he heard footsteps behind him and turned to see two towering elites standing before him. He jumped backwards and grabbed his knife. But the elite was too fast and threw him to the floor, putting an energy sword to his neck.
"Our glorious Field Master wishes to have you alive, if it were not for him your head would no longer be attached to your body vermin" the guard sneered. The other knelt down and closed it's claws around 074's neck, crushing his windpipe and stopping the oxygen flow to his brain. As his eyes went dark he saw the two beasts leering at him like two vultures getting ready to eat their prey.
The light slowly came back to him and he saw the two figures still standing over him. He leapt up and punched one in the face, throwing it to the floor and he smashed the other one against the wall. They were a lot easier than he expected. As rounded on the first one again he soundly realised that he was no longer in the guardhouse and the elite he was punching wasn't actually an elite. In fact neither of the figures he was attacking were elites and as his head cleared and his vision came back he realised in horror that he had just been beating two other Spartan Mark III's.
"What the fuck are you doing!" shouted one of them with a strong Scottish accent.
"It's alright, he's obviously a little shaken" this one was a woman judging from her voice.
"Well now I'm a little fuckin' shaken" replied the Scot "Anyway, we've got enough to worry about without killing each other"
"I'm Alice 187 by the way and that charming character over there is Tony 136, we came here to assassinate that elite general, it didn't go too well"
"No, my attempt didn't go to well either, my squad are still out there" replied Chris.
"They won't stand a chance, they're probably all ready dead" 136 angrily retorted.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that" Chris fired back
"Wanna bet, it was hard enough us getting in before the guards got all paranoid, do ya know how hard it will be now?"
"Listen mate, I don't know how you can be so blasé about the safety of my team-mates, these are human lives you're talking about!"
"Yeah well, their deaths are gonna be merciful compared to what we're gonna have to endure"
"Would both of you shut up!" The room fell silent as 187's voice rang in their ears "We aren't going to get through this by shouting at each other, maybe now there's three of us it will be easier to escape and fight the guards.
"Don't mean to burst your bubble Alice but the last time I checked we didn't have any weapons unless moody over there has got a pistol shoved up his ass, that would explain his pleasant introduction" said Tony, indicating towards Chris who was silent, deep in thought.
Without warning everything stopped. It was as if noise simply ceased to exist and time moved in slow motion. Chris looked up in alarm to see smoke filling the air and dust filling his nostrils and lungs he felt and saw Tony dragging him up to his feet but heard nothing. As his ears began to recover and he felt the ground trembling he smiled as he realised what had happened. His squad must have gotten through after all and planted the bomb next to the generator as planned. The generator! Suddenly the lights went out. Shit.
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