My Life Prolonged By Death of Them by Recent Flood Victim
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My Brother's Deaths for My Life:Prologue
Date: 17 April 2005, 9:20 PM
"Everyone is born with a purpose. But it is that persons own will to find out what that purpose is and fulfill it. And maybe in some twisted turns of fate will you find your own purpose and fulfill it all the same. Wither it be shifting a small stone or dieing for another's life; you will find your purpose for life."
01200 hours September 21, 2552/Standard Military Calendar
Aboard Human Cruiser Osiros, Unknown System
Jacob M. Higgins ran for cover behind a large Titanium-A 'T' beam. Plasma scores burnt away the metal until slag fell off onto the young Corporal's shoulder. He let out a panicked cry as the molten slag burned through his suit and scorched his skin.
Jake ran across the hallway to the other side, plasma fire reeling at his tail. He dove and covered behind yet another beam. This side however was accompanied by an unsealed blast door.
"Figures those Navy bastards would leave a door open." He grunted as he lifted himself off the ground and through the open hatch.
It slid shut after he passed through; he quickly typed in the auto-seal code and left the door. He walked down the passage which was smeared with blood, Human and alien.
The ship he was stationed on, the Osiros had been boarded by Covenant forces as they passed through and uncharted section of space. They had jumped from Reach whenever it fell; their Captain saying that they would not be of any help dieing.
This however was not any better than staying in system and fighting. Jake had already watched twenty men from his outfit die, and plenty of other crew. But he'd morn later, right now he had to think.
The passage he was in had lost all lighting and sparks shot from burned conduits. Bodies lied on the floor all around him. A rainbow of Covenant armor glistened from the light he's rifle built in flashlight emitted.
While along with the alien bodies came green fatigues doused in a dark red. Jake cringed at the sight of his fellow soldier's dead bodies. He knelt down and collected a dog-tag from each body. He also scrounged up personal letters from a few men and women he knew which he would, hopefully, later send off.
The passage led farther into the ship. He finally entered an illuminated section which had been boarded off earlier in the fight to prevent any further spread. But sadly the metal barricades had been melted and the men guarding had been killed.
"Damn it all to hell." He cursed under his breath as he knelt down to remove their tags.
Seven bodies lay on the deck. Three had been torn to pieces, a Needler barrage is all that Jake could think up, and the rest had multiple burns. As he removed the tags and any personal item of value he came across his Companies Lieutenant.
Jakes hands shook as he removed his metal I.D tag and a letter to his family from his breast ammo pocket. He put the letter into his hip pouch then closed the Lieutenants eyes.
Jake walked away from the massacre and said a little prayer for the dead and then himself.
He followed the passageway for twenty more minutes until it opened out onto the ship's main hanger.
The hanger was nearly one hundred meters tall and twice that wide. Twelve Pelican troop transports along with ten Longsword bombers. But the hanger however was now being used for something else.
A large scale firefight had been engaged near the far right end of the hanger. Marines and crew personnel were hunkered down behind old metal scrap piles and a burning Pelican.
The Covenant however were letting loose a hellish fire storm of super heated plasma at their position. The air hissed as plasma and crystalline needles flew through the air at the Human's location.
Jake scanned the bay for anything he could use. Then the open cockpit of a Longsword fighter caught his attention. Though not a Navy flier, he did have a few friends who were. And with those friends he learned many things; one was how to operate its 110mm chin-gun.
He dashed to the fighter's location and bound up the ramp. He quickly sat himself into the pilot's seat and flipped a series of switches, releasing the safeties on the gun.
Jake placed the pilot's helmet on his head and instantly an aiming reticule showed up in his left eye. He moved his head to where it was looking straight at the Covenant firing team. The gun moved with him and the reticule glowed a blood red.
"Eat this you sons of a bitches!" Jake yelled out as he pressed down the trigger; unleashing a wave of metal which engulfed the enemy. The numbers on the ammo counter drained quickly as each alien fell to their death.
After ten seconds of fire he released the trigger and exhaled sharply. With a shaky hand he removed the helmet and powered down the craft.
As he walked across the bay cheers arose in his honor. But all he could do is muster a blank smile as he saw the destruction the aliens had caused.
Fifteen bodies smoldered on the deck, and behind those some thirty others moaned from wounds or lie dead. The enemy was taking them out in high numbers, and Jake knew that they were losing fast.
"Attention all personnel. Evac procedure Alpha is now in affect. All hands report to Evac stations immediately. Captain Gambles out." The Captains voice faded from the ship-wide intercom. Jake turned to the faces of the crew before him.
They were all Navy pilots and crew, which meant he was going out the easy way.
"Okay ladies and gents! You heard the Captain; double time it to your ships." A First Lieutenant yelled out, pushing the men and women to their posts. "Hey Corporal you know how to fly that bird?"
Jake turned to the Lieutenant and shook his head.
"Then you're flying with me in that. Let's move." She ran across the hanger to the Longsword Jake used to save them earlier. Once inside she ran into the pilot's seat and went through all pre-flight checks. Jake found a seat next to the pilot's and strapped in.
"This is Longsword number Seven-Zero-Two requesting permission to leave the ship." The Lieutenants hands were a blur as she checked everything on her console. "Buckle up Marine. This might get hot."
"Roger that Seven-Zero-Two, permission granted. Sending rendezvous coordinates into your NAV computer now. Good luck Lieutenant." The Bridge came over her COM.
"Roger that." She flipped two switches on her COM console. "All pilots switch to encryption code Vero. Let's confuse the bastards as long as we can. Razor teams follow my lead. Cover those Pelicans. Let's kick the tires and light the fires boys!"
And with those ending words the ship lifted off the deck and shot out the opening bay doors into the inky darkness of space.
Chap.1:Feet First into Hell...Well Maybe Nose First
Date: 1 May 2005, 10:48 PM
01345 September 21, 2552 (Standard Military Calendar)/
Aboard Lonsword fighter, Unknown System
Jake was lurched against his straps as the Longsword went into another roll, resulting in straining gees. He tightened his harness as best he could, but the shoulder straps dug into the burns on his shoulder.
"Razor-Two through -Seven follow me. The rest of you follow the birds to the surface." Lieutenant Jenna Combs yelled over her team COM.
"Ma'am Seraphs are heading after the Escape pods. Recommend we move to intercept." One of her team pilots called out.
She pulled the joystick up and sent the ship into an upward spin. Jake's straps strained and he gritted his teeth together to relinquish the pain from his mind.
"Hold on there Corporal." She keyed her team's freq. "Move into intercept those bastards. Keep them pinned until the pods reach the atmosphere. Then peel off and make your own way to the surface. Combs out."
The Longsword fighters peeled out of their 'V' formation and went to intercept the new Covenant threat.
The Seraph class fighter was the Covenant equivalent of the Longsword fighter. But it was faster and much more powerful; it was also launched in great numbers. This made Lieutenant Comb's mission almost suicidal.
Warrant Officer Bradley Michaels fired four Anvil II missiles into the fleeing Seraph. Fire splashed across its shield, and it held for a moment before collapsing.
"This is from me to you!" Bradley's co-pilot yelled out as he fired the Longsword's chin-gun at the vulnerable vehicle.
The alien crafts hull shook violently then exploded into a glittering sun which instantly cooled in the darkness of space.
"Good work Brad. Now pull off and make your way to the surface. The pods are clear and the Osiros is making her way into orbit as we speak. Good luck, Razor-One out." Bradley smiled as he started to nose the craft through the skin which surrounded the planet which he had been ordered to land on.
As luck would have it they just happened to stumble into a system already housed with an Earth like quality. The Osiros's Captain figured it'd be a better place than any to get our bearings.
But just as Bradley entered deeper into the atmosphere a shrill alarm blared into his ear.
"What the hell?" He looked down at his monitor to see a ship-size mass headed straight towards his intended vector. He managed to just look out the port view to see the flaming skeletal body of his former station heading straight towards them.
"Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"
Lieutenant Combs only saw the plume of fire erupt as the Osiros plowed over Razor-Three. She shook her head then focused on their current situation.
On the way into the atmosphere a lone Seraph managed to land a plasma shot on her right wing. It had burned through the wing and was now causing a violent wake all around her. She tried her best to level it out but time was running short as the greenery of the planet began to grow larger by the second.
"Hang on Corporal this is gonna get ruff." She pulled back on the stick hoping to produce some resistance to slow them down. "We're moving way too fast. Corporal see if you can get those chutes deployed."
Jake looked down at his console and rapidly typed in control commands. A visual display showed the compartment doors for the chutes beginning to open then stopping suddenly. A red light flashed and a message scrolled across the bottom.
"Negative on that ma'am. The doors are welded shut and hull integrity is dropping quick." Combs silently cursed then went through several plans in her head, and only one stuck.
"Roger that Corporal. Hang onto your ass this is gonna be hell." And to put a period to the end of that sentence she ignited her after burners and pushed the ship faster towards the ground.
As she broke through the last of the clouds; Jenna pulled back on the stick hard and tried to level it out. And just as she had hoped the bird leveled out and the air speed slowed considerably.
Combs had hoped that by adding more speed to her decent she would be able to level out in the lower atmosphere. Luckily it had worked well enough to slow them down much past their original speed, and also make the Corporal afraid of flying with her again.
"Status Corporal." She ordered; trying to pull him from the shock. He quickly snapped to and skimmed over the Ops console.
"Hull temperature stabilizing." Jake scanned over the controls even quicker. His face twisted into a nervous stare. "Air speed has decreased past our entry speed. But were still dropping like seventy tons of bricks. All thrusters have been destroyed...all you can do is steer left or right ma'am."
And Lieutenant Combs did just that. She moved the aircraft into a sharp right turn and followed that up as she neared the ground.
"On my mark put your head between your ass and pray." She said through gritted teeth.
The Longsword fighter skimmed through the air, belly up, pushing itself against the wind. Though having been slowed considerably; the ship still had no maneuvering thrusters or landing gears. So the landing was going to be hell.
Jake watched as the largest trees scrapped the belly of Longsword as it quickly made its vertical decent to the ground. He held onto the side of his seat with his left hand and with the right pulled the harness as tight as it would go.
"Hang on!" Combs yelled out just as the fighter broke through the top foliage; crashing through trees and vines as it plowed to the ground.
The final crash was into the thick jungle soil bellow, which waved up all around the craft. The hull smoked through hundreds of cracks, and the occupants lay strapped in their crash seats unconscious.
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