Insertion: Chapter 1
Date: 13 May 2005, 10:59 PM
0900 Hours, July 17, 2533 (Military Calendar)/
Horn asteroid field orbiting planet 7 of the
Llenski system.
John was bored. He wasn't supposed to get bored, but after nearly two weeks of sitting in the asteroid they were using as a drop-ship he was. It wasn't really an asteroid though. The UNSC had put the thing together. It was made of pure steel with an overcoat that was molded to look like an asteroid. Tiny atmospheric jets had been placed on what the engineers defined as the aft of the asteroid. John didn't see how you could name the parts of an asteroid like it was a ship. The jets had been slowly moving them from the edge of the asteroid belt for the past two weeks. Their destination was the seventh planet of the Llenski system. The Covenent had recently set up a small facility on the planet. UNSC High Command wanted the Spartans to ascertain exactly what the Covenent were doing there and then eliminate the Covenent presence. Llenski system its self was barely populated, with only a few colonies on the second and third planets. The seventh planet was totally uninhabited, and had a climate that wasn't much unlike Earth's. The particular area the Covenent had decided to settle in was going to be fairly cold. John sensed movement behind him and ed his head to the right to see who it was. It was Kelly.
"Bored, eh?" she asked with a smile.
"You have no idea." he replied. Kelly just smiled at him.
"Don't worry, James say's we'll be entering the atmosphere in about two hours."
"Finally" John sighed "I'm going to be really glad to get out of here. I can't take it anymore." John pushed off the steel plated side. The small amount of gravity produced by the twirling asteroid was not enough to keep him completely off the ground. He d it. He liked having his feet placed firmly on the ground. Even the gravity on the warships he had been on was better than this. James turned when John stopped next to him. The tiny holographic display showed the seventh planet suspended in space. With a sudden jerk of motion the asteroid lurched forward. The final thruster phase had been initiated. The key to the entire infiltration was to be going fast enough, but not too fast, for it to look like a real asteroid was falling. They would land about seven miles from the target. On landing they'd seal up the asteroid as quick as possible and get away from the crash site as quickly as possible. If the Covenent were to discover them they'd immediately pick up and leave and glass the planet before the Spartans could get out.
"Two minutes." James stated over the comm. channel that went between each of the Mjolner suits. Each Spartan was strapped into crash seats at the back of the asteroid. There was suddenly silence, and then John was smashed forward. He grunted and bit back curses. There was a series of following impacts and then they were still again.
"My calculations might have been a little bit off there." James said a bit sheepishly.
"Only by a bit." John said dryly. "All right guys let's get out of here now. James, seal up the hatch on the way out." John and the others grabbed their assault rifles. James picked up his sniper rifle and Kelly her shotgun. John had opted for two large caliber pistols. John slammed his feet into the hatch, which came loose a little easier that John would have like. The engineers had assured them that the asteroid would survive the landing completely intact. There was a forest not more than a fourth of a mile away. He signaled the others and they headed out as one.
The Spartans were almost to the tree line when the approaching hum of a Covenent drop-ship dropped them to the ground. Elites and grunts dispersed from the drop-ship. They studied the rock with a certain amount of curiosity. Eventually they seemed to be pleased and stepped into the gravity lift. The drop-ship roared off into the ever darkening night. The Spartans resumed their march to the tree line. Nothing appeared on motion tracking. They entered the forest still very aware of their surroundings. Motion was useless now. The thousands of animals that inhabited the forest were spiking the motion detectors off the scale. They set up base-camp a little farther away from the tree line.
The next day they came to a shallow river that was less than a mile away from the target site. Kelly was the fastest, and John sent her out to do some recon on the target. She took James's sniper rifle and headed off. Kelly eventually came to a small ridge that overlooked the target site. What she saw was not good. She zoomed in to maximum to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She wasn't and it was even worse that she had originally thought. She signaled the others.
"This is not good guys."
Insertion: Chapter 2
Date: 26 May 2005, 3:01 AM
0900 Hours, July 20, 2533 (Military Calendar)/
7th Planet of the Llenski System
John wasn't worried. Not yet anyways. They had faced worse in prior missions. It was certainly going to be a challenge, a challenge that he was going to enjoy as much as possible.
He slipped his helmet back on, touched a few keys on his armor, and a small holographic display brought up the schematics for the facility. The facility its self was fairly new, though it already had the frosty sheen of ice on its walls that was characteristic to this part of the planet. The main portion of the facility was a large rectangle with all the usual Covenant architecture and muted purple colors. Jutting out from the center of the rectangle was a massive shaft that went up at least 20 stories to end in a massive sphere. Patrols of grunts and jackals were constantly roaming the valley the facility was embedded in. The three Spartans had been watching the patrols and the routes they took for the past three days. They had found a small gap in the patrol routes. Unfortunately the routes were sometimes sporadic and unpredictable. John had no doubt that they would be improvising on this one.
They would try to keep the mission as quiet as possible. No blowing holes in doors unless they had to. They would try to avoid any Covenant they came across, but John knew sooner or later they would get into a situation that would force them to kill. There was no rush in killing for him. It was simply his duty to protect the UNSC. He would never fail in his duty, unless he was dead. He was unique in a way that let him accomplish things that no ordinary soldier could ever do. It was his responsibility not to waste that gift. He didn't intend to.
The Spartans didn't know where the main Covenant computer would be. John was betting that it was at the top of the "skyscraper." He hoped fervently that he was wrong. In every previous mission the Covenant had always kept a main terminal that would have all the information one could wish to know about the location where the computer was kept. If they were able to remotely hack into the computers, then this information would be useful. As it stood they only got access once they got to the computer. By that time anything on there wasn't of much use.
He could feel the "snags" in the plan already. They didn't have nearly enough explosives to take out the entire structure. He could only hope to destroy all the critical parts, maybe even activate a self-destruct. He was planning on putting most of the explosives at the base of the pillar and allowing it to do his work for him by collapsing down onto the rest of the structure. The problem was that if he were the Covenant, he would have made that pillar as indestructible as possible. He would have to be physically on site before he could do anything else.
His eyes drifted over to the sleeping bodies of Kelly and James. He should be asleep too. He just didn't trust himself not to make an error during the course of the mission. He had to make sure that he would be prepared for any instance. He had the map brought back up into his helmet's HUD.
1200 Hours, July 21, 2533 (Military Calendar)/
7th planet of the Llenski System
John's eyes adjusted quickly to the glaring sun. His eyes still hurt a little bit. He liked the feeling though. It served to remind him that he wasn't by any means invincible. Being overconfident he had long ago learned could end your life as surely as a needler round exploding in your heart could. He had finally forced himself into sleep late the previous night. He rolled over onto his back and checked the mission timer. Two hours before it was time to hit the base. He woke Kelly and James. They made no complaints as they got up. Breakfast was a little less than gourmet. Simple military food that they had all gotten used to was the standard that they all accepted. They were utterly silent as they ate. Every now and then the occasional sound of an alien animal would break the forbidding silence for a second or two.
All three got up and began to get ready. They all started checking their gear silently. He disassembled his assault rifle and then reassembled it before firing a single round to make sure it was in complete working order. He stowed the rest of his gear: two heavy pistols, a combat knife and a third of the C4. He also had four fragmentation grenades. They would each be carrying what he hoped would be enough explosives to take out the base of the pillar. As one the three Spartans threaded silencers onto the barrels of their assault rifles. John slipped his helmet on and stood up waiting for the others. They stood up a second later and all three started off at a brisk pace through the woods.
The plan was for Kelly to go ahead of the other two. She was and had always been the quickest. Assuming the way was clear they would all move ahead as planned. They cleared the tree-line 20 minutes later. John and James lay prone in the tall grass as Kelly darted ahead of them. It took no less than five minutes before they received the blue signal light in their HUD that meant "go." The two Spartans moved as quickly yet as discretely as possible. They followed the NAV marker that Kelly had uploaded to their HUD's. Kelly lay on the edge of a small ridge. The facility was no more than 200 feet from where she lay prone. John hadn't truly realized how close they were going to be to the Covenant base at this point.
"Look's like we got lucky" Kelly commented. "Seems the patrols decided to ignore this area for the time being."
John nodded and quietly gave the hand signals to go. All three were a blur of motion. They barely disrupted the tall grass as they swept through it. Their feet barely seemed to touch the ground. Kelly made it to the entrance first. Half a second later John and James arrived. John gave another signal and Kelly moved toward the door with the tiny explosive that would destroy the lock. To all of their surprise's the door swung open on its' own accord. Pain suddenly shot through his back. Dimly he was aware of watching Kelly and James fall to the floor unconscious. He tried to reach for his gun, but blackness suddenly engulfed him.
|
