halo.bungie.org

They're Random, Baby!

Fan Fiction

Invasion of X41 by CoLd BlooDed



Invasion of X41 (Chptr 1: Invaded)
Date: 11 October 2003, 6:37 AM

Invasion of X41 (Chptr 1: Invaded)
0200 hours, October 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Bottom Floor of Military Fort X41


      The Covenant was reported to have been heading their way, straight to the biggest military fort of Mexico. They were screwed, one way or another, the hundreds of soldiers that usually roamed the compound had disappeared to fight off the Covenant. General Endez walked around the bottom floor hallways of the fort, glancing at nearby crewmen to check up on their duties. He was nervous, literally shaking in his boots. Endez was afraid he'd lose the fort and worse lose his life. If the Covenant would take this stronghold then they'd use all the new weaponry that they had created. And the weaponry they'd created was strong enough to take out the hunters in two hits, including if they hit the shields.
      The General came to the shiny metal stairs, only to be greeted by a nervous looking soldier.

      "What's going to happen when they get here, sir?" asked the marine.
      Endez didn't answer, instead he just shrugged and walked up the stairs and came to a weapon testing lab. Inside was the PR-W20, the largest rocket/machine gun the UNSC had ever created successfully. He looked at it, his hand gliding around the edges of the metal plating. Then he cocked the massive gun, and rolled it towards the room opening. The sun hadn't yet appeared above the hills, and all was still dark. Already he could hear and see the gunshots from the marines, and from the screams they weren't winning the battle.
      The rocket end faced towards the opening, he looked through the 50x scope and focused it right in the middle of a Covenant squad.
      "Fire." he whispered to himself before he pulled the trigger.
* * * * * *
0207 hours, October 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Fields Outside of X41


      "Here they come, marines, fire at will!" André heard Sargent Loda shout from in front. He was nervous that the Covenant had chosen to attack this place, but then again he had chosen to work there.
      André was full of action when he heard of the doings of a SPARTAN II back at New Tatley, surprisingly the super-soldier managed to bring down an Orbiter. Then the blue light of a plasma grenade flew onto the soldier in front of him, everyone cleared from the victim leaving him to blow up into a million pieces. André was showered with blood, he took out his top of the line battle rifle and aimed at a Grunt that had thrown the grenade.
      But before he had a chance to shoot his aim was disrupted as the ground exploded behind the Grunt. A Hunter, several Elites were blown to oblivion, the Grunt went flying to the ground and was immediately shot in the neck by André. The whole squad had now spread out and was firing at random targets. A frag grenade could be seen in the darkness through the night-vision the squad had been assigned. It landed right in between a soldier and a hunter, the man jumped backwards while the grenade exploded. André winced as the heat wave passed him, then he looked back towards the base. Something was shooting from the top floor, it sounded like the PR-W20 they had currently made. He wheeled around only to be greeted with plasma fire; it missed him and burnt through the leg of his comrade.
      He shot at the Elite that was shooting at him, the shields burst and the Elite fell to the ground with no leg. Another explosion rang out; the blast erupted right beside him that time. André screamed in pain, the inside of his leg was burning, he collapsed to the ground. The pain was unbearable, he dropped his weapon, and the last thing he saw was a Grunt come up to him and raise his weapon. Everything went black as soon as he heard a gunshot.
* * * * * *
0235 hours, October 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Weapon Testing Room Overlooking Battlefield


      General Glen Endez had concentrated on wiping out the Covenant, but the more he killed the more had come. All he could see now was the Covies killing everyone he sent out, and fewer gunshots were heard. Now everyone was either bleeding or dead, they were unstoppable; it was hard to believe that they had put so much into taking this compound.
      The general closed his eyes; there was no more use in shooting, what seemed like seconds the Covenant was shooting at the gigantic metal gate. He calmly walked out of the room, pulled and loaded his pistol and came down the stairs. Workers frantically scrambled past Endez with total fear in their eyes. Glen had only one thought, to take out as many of the alien bastards as possible. He came to the door leading to the front yard.
      Endez opened the door and wasn't even noticed by the horde of Covenant troops, he zoomed in on his pistol and aimed at the head of an Elite which was shooting at the remaining soldiers. The general fired twice, the first round knocked out the shields and the second exploded the head. The walkways above held several soldiers, who were moving back and forth firing into the conflict. Grenades flung everywhere, alien and human, which blew up inflicting casualties on both sides.
      The General moved to the right and walked up some stairs, he kept on shooting until his clip emptied. On the ground lay several dead bodies of the Covenant, oozing with their alien blood. The hiss of a something familiar grew closer, and he turned around only to be greeted by the blistering heat of a plasma grenade. It stuck to his face, he tried to scream but the melting skin had melted over his mouth. And in the next few wretched seconds the grenade finally went off. His head exploded and his body was thrown over the wall.
* * * * * *
0700 hours, October 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
New Tatley High-Class Sleeping Quarters


      The Master Chief woke with a start, he was out of his suit, and was still in the town he had saved, and was recognized very highly throughout the town. He had a dream, but he no longer could remember what it was about. When he was tracing back in his memory there was a sudden knock on the door. In came Sargent Lubz, he looked like he did when he had been told that an Orbiter was ready to drop a bomb on his town.

      "Good morning, chief, hope you slept well. If you don't mind I'd like to have a word with you in the meal hall. Sorry to disturb you but its urgent." and with that he left and the automatic door shut.
      The Spartan got out of his bed, walked over to his dresser and took out his uniform. It was in perfect condition and it sparkled with all its awards and medals. He dressed quickly, and left his room. The meal hall was only a minute away from his dorm, and he made it there in no time. Sitting down was Sargent Lubz along with Corporal Walse. Master Chief sat down.

      "Hello, Master Chief, but war is still upon us. Although it's somewhere else on this planet, it's probably more or less important than Z23." said the Sargent.

      "Just spit it out, Lubz." impatiently said the Spartan.

      "What the Sergeant means to say is that another one of the most important factors to this war is under control by the Covenant. X41 has been taken over." said Corporal Walse grimly. With these words Lubz shrunk back and groaned, he obviously did not like the news.

      "When did you find this out?" asked the Chief.

      "To be honest chief, we just found out a few minutes ago, but we do know it happened around 0400 hours---"said the Sargent only to be interrupted by the Corporal.

      "---0500 hours, sir, and there were many important projects that had been completed, all to destroy hordes of the strongest Covenant. And we brought you here because we wanted to ask you, since you did such a good job taking back New Tatley, can you go to Mexico to take X41 back?" asked the Corporal, he looked confident that Chief would say yes, and so the Spartan nodded.

      "Great! We'll send a high-class Pelican for you to cross the ocean. Meet us in the hanger in 2 minutes." said the Sargent, and with that he left.
      Chief got up, the Corporal followed the Sergeant. The Spartan went back to the equipment lockers and got his MJOLNIR armor on. Then he hastily went back to the hanger and was loaded with Cortana, he got into a Pelican and was accompanied by the Sarge and Corporal. During the trip he noticed the battle field, forest and the docking bay he had been too. The only thing different was the docking bay, which was half destroyed, bodies littered the ground from what he could see.
      He rested for most of the ride across the ocean, and woke up when they landed at Pâscabosa, the city closest to the X41. They had not yet been attacked, only minor skirmishes had occurred but nothing heavy. This place was massive, and he didn't feel as welcome here as he did at New Tatley. Apparently the Chief had been heard of his doings here in Pâscabosa since he heard people whispering about him as he got out of the Pelican.
      The Corporal waved to him, Lubz was nowhere to be found, and the Chief calmly walked over.

      "Ok chief, we need you to come this way, we just need to brief you and you will have to stay here the night." said the Corporal quickly, and then walked away in which the Spartan followed.
      They passed through the city streets; everything here was beautiful, untouched by war. How long it would stay that way was unknown, and the people looked prosperous and carefree. The Corporal led him the base of a tall building, an automatic door silently opened as Walse and the Spartan walked in. It now reminded him of home, the planet he was snatched from to become a super-soldier. But then he thought it was better that he had become a Spartan or he wouldn't be here today. Inside was a large room, crowded with soldiers and people, along the right was an information booth that stretched across the room. And at the end there was at least five elevators, small windows covered the walls and marble pillars extended to the roof.
      Corporal Walse walked with the Chief to the front desk, everyone was now staring at the Spartan but the Chief just ignored them, he was used to it now. The Corporal muttered something to the secretary, who nodded and then pressed a button unseen. The Master Chief was then led to the elevators and taken up to the 74th floor, nobody else got on the elevator so it was a quick ride up. The doors opened, and in front of them was a long hallway with metallic doors on each side, then at the end the hallway branched off the right. Large windows covered the walls at the end of the hall and continued down the corridor to the right.
[ident]Walse brought the Spartan to the last door on the right, it opened silently, and they both stepped inside.

      "Get a good nights rest, sir." and with that he left.
      The Chief walked over to the bed, sat down and took off his helmet; he was exhausted, and fell down on his bed fast asleep.
      He was walking on the bottom floor around hallway A-23 with the other marines, it was quiet. André tapped the Chief on the shoulder, he spun around, and André mouthed something but the Spartan couldn't hear. But as if he did he turned to a door and they went inside, and immediately they were assaulted with plasma fire. The last thing the Chief saw was the blue light of the plasma.
      He woke up with a start and felt a long low rumble, and then he heard an explosion. The Covenant was here, the place where he could finally get some rest was being attacked. The Chief put on his helmet and ran out the door; he looked out the window to his right. It was still dark out, besides the explosions and buildings on fire that lit up the night. Another explosion rang out, and this time it was much closer. Suddenly behind him the metal doors of an elevator blew open and one flew towards the Spartan, he ducked and it crashed through the window.
      He turned around, one of the elevators were on fire, he glanced back and then looked in awe as he saw hundreds of Elites, Grunts, Hunters and Brutes massing around the city streets...



Invasion of X41 (Chptr 2: War Zone)
Date: 18 October 2003, 8:08 PM

Invasion of X41 (Chptr 2: War Zone)
1343 Hours (City Time), October 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ UNSC Sleeping Quarters, Floor 74.


      ...He glanced back and then looked in awe as he saw hundreds of Elites, Grunts, Hunters and Brutes massing around the city streets...

      Couldn't he have a moment's peace without having to fight the Covenant? This the Spartan thought as he ran down the hallway to the elevators. He looked down the shaft of the one that had exploded, decided there must've been an easier way and pressed the button of another elevator. The Chief waited, then the doors opened and he was about to step forward into the lift when there was another explosion and the winch snapped. The elevator disappeared from sight, and he looked down the shaft and saw it fall to the bottom, it exploded sending debris everywhere.

      "You could take the other elevator shaft Chief, the pulley is still intact and you could slide down it easily." said the AI, with once again another plan of escape.
      The Master Chief didn't say anything, but walked over to the other elevator shaft and steadied carefully on the pulley. This building obviously had the older fashioned elevators compared to the anti-gravitational elevators that the UNSC had now invested in. But right now this kind of elevator would save his life, if only there was no other way to get out though. He focused, then jumped and grabbed on with one hand onto the metal wire. Then he put his leg around the wire and since he didn't have a weapon he just slid down the wire with both hands.
* * * * * * *
1349 Hours (City Time), October 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ UNSC Sleeping Quarters, Lobby Floor.

      Boom. The explosion rumbled all the way through the building, Corporal Walse had already woken up; the sound of machine gun fire could be heard from the streets. He of course had his Battle Rifle and his M6D Pistol, a couple of Fragmentation grenades and a knife. Already he had killed several Grunts that had attempted to come in through the windows that were broken. The blood of the aliens had splattered the floor and walls, and the bodies had been dragged to get out of the way.
      The Corporal was with seven other marines; even though he hadn't had enough time to learn their names he still knew they were good fighters. Some of the best fighters as seen back at New Tatley. In the midst of the rumbling of the explosion an Elite jumped through the window unnoticed. It shot at the nearest marine who fell back with a scorched arm, he was still alive but bleeding heavily. Corporal fired until it shredded the alien into pieces, its purple gore showered Walse and his comrades.

      "This blood don't taste so good." then he spat out a purple stream of the Covenant gore. Then he wiped his mouth and coughed.
      The Corporal looked at the marine that was hurdled on the floor, who was clutching his burned and bleeding arm. Walse told someone to stay behind with him, and he then he turned to the window. He saw three soldiers crouching and walking slowly in the streets and then suddenly one of them was shot with a plasma shot. The others returned fire and hid behind two cars that were parked on the street. Corporal Walse went into the next room which could be entered right beside the elevators. Through that broken window he could see the enemy; it was three Elites and several Grunts. They were all standing in the street not aware that a handful of humans were aiming at them with Pistol through the window beside them.
      Several gunshots rang out as the Corporal gave the signal, the first two heads of the Elites exploded. Then a frag was tossed into the fray, and it bounced off a Grunt who kicked it to the last Elite, it exploded sending the alien into another street. The final four Grunts turned to the window, and then were assaulted by the other marines that were down the street. Perfect flank, thought the Corporal.
      And it was perfect, for the moment.
      Suddenly a Shadow came down the street, came to the window, and opened fire. There was a full load of people in that vehicle, and they all opened fire through the broken window. The blood from a marine behind him sprayed all across the Corporal's body, and the marine beside him gurgled as a shot hit him in the face. Walse ducked, and the other marines had opened fire. Another soldier was hit, and it fell forward and speared himself on the broken shard of glass.
      The other four marines had taken cover too and walked over to Walse who had his back pressed to the wall. Then the bright blue light of a plasma grenade came in and fused itself to a marines head. The grenade turned a blue white and the marine screamed, two seconds later it exploded. All vision disappeared as the Corporal was thrown out the window, ripping open his stomach on a sharp piece of glass on his way out.
* * * * * *
1350 Hours (City Time), October 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)/ UNSC Sleeping Quarters, 3rd Floor.

      The Chief had an obstacle in the way; the elevator had frozen on the 3rd floor and he had simply had to open the top of the elevator and walk out of the shaft. He had just started going down the hall when all of a sudden, the windows down the hall shattered as the hull of a Covenant drop ship rammed it. The hinges of the ship dropped open, and five or six Jackals jumped into the building.
      They immediately started firing at the Chief; his shields were nearly wiped off his HUD before ducked and rolled. When he got back up he charged the nearest Jackal, rammed it, and sent the creature flying out the window. The second he grabbed and threw into another firing alien, blue blood spilled all over the floor as the Jackal shot its teammate and was hit by the flying dead body.
      The Master Chief grabbed a plasma grenade and chucked it at another Jackal who was retreating along with two others. It stuck its body, which was no more as it was tossed out the window and hit the side of the drop ship. The explosion also killed the other Jackals that were with the other, and their body parts had been strewn across the hallway.
      Then the Spartan grabbed another grenade and tossed it at the drop ship, it exploded which must've caused some serious damage because the ship went into a nose dive and crashed into the street. He looked out the window, and saw that it was leaning against the wall vertically, and it was just close enough to jump to without getting hurt.

      "My readings indicate that you are welcome to jump, although it will hurt on the second jump to the street." indicated Cortana.

      "I'll take my chances." said the Spartan, who had grabbed a Plasma Pistol and a Needler.
      Before the AI could reply, the Chief had already jumped out the window, landed on the top of the drop ship, and jumped down to the street. He rested and let his shields recharge, the last jump had taken away all of his shields without taking any health. The Spartan sighed, and Cortana said to go to the lobby where he had first entered the building.
      He agreed and made his way there; he heard shouts from troops in nearby streets and saw a couple of marines run across the street in front of him. They didn't notice him; they were trying to get somewhere quick and were best left alone. The Spartan turned the corner and saw a Shadow moving down the street, but it was far ahead and wasn't considered a threat.
      Bodies of the Covenant littered the street, and a body of a human soldier was lying with them. The Chief approached the body and flipped it over; and he winced behind his reflective visor. It was Corporal Walse, his stomach torn open and face half melted possibly due to plasma burns. Then he looked behind him and saw the broken window, another marine had been impaled by a long sharp piece of glass and was bent over hanging over the wall below the window.
      The Spartan looked inside the window; all over the walls was blood, plasma scoring and a large black explosion mark. On the floor were several bodies who were probably accompanied by the Corporal, and either they were missing a head or arm or some ligament was torn open. He continued down the street, and stepped over another two marines who had been killed in a skirmish most likely by the Shadow.
      The Master Chief walked inside and there laid a soldier who was huddled on the ground holding onto a scorched arm. Beside him there was another dead soldier who had been peppered with needlers, you could tell because he was missing half his arm and leg. The Spartan approached the injured marine, who in turn stared at him.

      "What happened here, marine?" asked the seven foot soldier.

      "The-I... As you can see I've been shot in the arm, they left me with this guy who was supposed to protect me..." he gestured towards the fallen marine beside him. "Then the rest of the squad disappeared through that room, and pretty soon I heard gunshots and explosions. A few seconds after that a Shadow came into view and shot that guy until he collapsed, they must've thought I was dead because I'm still here."
      After that story the Chief told him to follow him and helped the soldier stand on the ground.

      "Do you think you can still carry a pistol?" asked the Spartan, the marine nodded and was given a Plasma Pistol and the Chief grabbed an M6D, "Let's go then."
      "Chief, we should probably get to the Barracks, we have to find Sergeant Lubz and he is most likely there. If not then we can find where he went there too." said Cortana as he head down the street.
      Ahead he could see a lot of marines gathering around one spot, and they were all shooting at a specific target. When he got closer he could see several Hunters, shields raised along with their Fuel Rod Guns. Some of the massive beasts were shooting at the clusters of human soldiers, sending dead bodies flying towards the running Spartan and marine. Raising his Pistol, zooming in with the 2X, he shot the exposed fleshy orange spot of a Hunter, the luminescent blood sprayed on another alien before it dropped to the ground.
      More explosions rang out, and several more marines were sent flying. Finally the Chief got to a marine, who was firing at the Hunters.

      "Where can I find Sergeant Lubz?" the Spartan had to yell. The soldier turned from the battle to face the Chief.

      "What?!" the marine had to yell, Private Oranno scrolled across the Chief's HUD. The Spartan repeated himself.

      "Sorry, I wouldn't know, why not ask somebody in the barracks!" he pointed a small building which was blocked by the Hunters. "You will have to take care of some of them Hunters though!"
      Then a blast came from another Hunter, hit a marine flat in the stomach and the explosion tossed the upper half of his body into the air. The legs collapsed to the ground spewing blood over the other troopers. They ignored it, continuing to fire at the oncoming aliens. The Chief quickly primed a grenade, threw it at a group of Hunters, and watched it explode. The blast sent one of the monsters flying a few feet which landed on top of a dead marine.
      One of the marines broke loosed from the wall formation, and tried to run past a Hunter who turned around, leaving his exposed skin to be shot at. That's exactly what the Chief did; he squeezed the trigger and a large hole in the beast's skin. Then another turned to the soldier and was about to hit him with his humongous shield but was stopped with another bullet. Then before he could shoot out another Hunter it had already smacked the running marine and paralyzed him. The soldier was still alive when the massive alien raised its gun and shot the marine in the head.
      But to do that the alien had to turn around, and was assaulted with bullets then fell forwards, dead. The Spartan now had a section he could run through; the alien flank had broken apart. So he picked up the wounded marine he was with, put away his weapon, and sprinted through the slowly closing hole in the alien wall. The Hunters barely had time to respond when a green armored seven foot soldier dashed through.
      He had made it, although the Hunters were firing at the Spartan he had already made it into the barracks, Fuel Rod blasts rocked the building as they hit the brick wall. There were three marines in this one room, all wounded and looking nervous, he put the soldier he was carrying down. Then he went to the General's office.
      Inside this room was a grim looking man, he bore many badges on his chest and held an SMG, looking at it carefully.

      He looked up from his gun. "What are you doing here?"

      "I need to know the location of Sergeant Jacob Lubz." responded the Chief.

[      "Oh... He disappeared a few minutes ago, something about going to the downtown area and bringing back the civilians who are locked up in some safety bunker." answered the General, who gave a map of the city to the Spartan, then pointed out: "It says where we are and where the civilian bunker is, if you go there than you can help bring them back."
      The Chief nodded and exited the room, then exited the barracks. His new missions were to find Lubz, get back with the civilians, and then find out what to do next. He wondered how long it would take to get to X41, and with that he opened the door of the barracks...
...To Be Continued





bungie.org