 |
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
|
|
|
Ch 1: Theives in the Night
Date: 27 June 2003, 8:17 PM
The three marines dove for cover simultaneously, barely making it into the trench before the plasma shell hit. A giant explosion of azure fire leapt up from the ground, leaving a scorched black crater in its wake, the shokwave cracking the trunk of a large nearby tree. The three marines stayed down, and waited for the right moment. The wraith driver had already proven himself wreckless, and soon enough, his giant tank moved forward, at bare minimum speed. Private Enrique Vasquez peeked over the top, and instantly, a plan formed in his head. He dropped into a crouch, and started running down the trench, to the far east end. He made a sharp motion with his hands to his comrades, who quickly nodded, and switched to armor peircing rounds. They leapt up from the trench, and opened fire, spewing hundreds of rounds on full auto fire into the wraith. The bullets tore into its armor, but still didn't penetrate...but it certianly got his attention. He immeaditly shifted into reverse, his tank slowly floating backwards over the crisp ground. Enrique leapt over the side of the trench, and started sprinting for the tank, running as fast as he could, being he was the fastest of the three. He came to the tank, and in an amazing moved, scrambled up the side to where the shell projector was. It was open, ready to fire, which was its down fall. "Here's a little kiss for you!" he crowed in his spanish accent, throwing a full bandolier of grenades into the projector. He then leapt, rolled, and began to sprint. The elite driving the wraith knew he was dead, and opened the hatch to escape, but the frag grenades had other plans in mind. They detonated, and in a flash, a gaping hole was torn in the wraith. Vulnerable inner workings of the giant vechile were caught, and soon the blue fires of plasma could be seen. His comrades cheered, and saluted him by whooping and raising their rifles over their heads, dancing around in the thrawls of victory. Enrique took several bows before jogging over to meet his two teammates. They shook his hand, overwhelmed with relief at the defeat of the giant tank. Their vicotry didn't last long however, as they still had a mission to complete. Their pelican had been attacked from a pair of banshees when they were being inserted, and a lucky shot from the fuelrod cannons had smacked right into the pelican's cockpit glass, and incinerated the pilots. The pelican lost control, and had plowed into a cliff, then fallen backwards, smashing the already battered dropship to pecies. Somehow, the three had survived, and they HAD to complete the mission. Somewhere in the hawaiin islands, where there was still green, they slinked through bushes and palm forests, towards their objective...a covenant drop ship. They were to capture it, and bring it back for reverse engineering. Apparently, the covenent were very protective over their technology, and would spare no one or thing to protect it. Enrique, had once seen a good two hundred grunts stand in a big line and kill their own elite who was comprimising a damaged wraith...which was then destroyed by a large volley of plasma grenades. Enrique remembered this well...but the diffrence this time, was that they were after a dropship, one undergoing armor refit on one of the covenant's landing bases. They were to wait for night fall, then sneak into the base's hanger, steal the dropship using a starship AI they had brought with them. It was pure luck that it hadn't been crushed during the attack on the pelican. Enrique had that AI, and according to rumor, it was a "smart" AI, one that had a limited life span, but had limitless potential. Enrique gently put his hand to his pocket, feeling the chip there, making sure it was safe. They crept through the palm forest for a good hour, sweat beading on their foreheads from the humidity. They went on, until they saw blue and green sparks in the distance, signs of armor plating be welded on. Once they saw it, the three came to a stop. Enrique swept his assualt rifle back and forth, sweeping while Tom, the sniper, began modifying his rifle. He switched from a standard scope to an Oracle 5130, used for night ops, and he changed clips to incinderary rounds. Enrique doubled checked his rifle, made sure it was fully loaded, and made sure the freshly attached silencer was secure. James, the third marine, was assembling an M90 Shotgun, slinging it over his shoulder, and attaching a silencer to his rifle. James, being brittish in nationality, grinned. "Time to earn our pay boys." he said, while making a mock kiss to his MA5B. He cycled the bolt, and shook his tounge around in a mock physcopathic act. Enrique snickerd. "Hey man, you're pretty loco, you know?" he said quietly. Tom snickerd, but kept working, now changing the settings on the barrel, opting for more power but shorter range. When Tom was fianlly ready, he raised his scope, and switched from night vision to infared, making sure there approach was clear. "One grunt is napping by the back hatch of the ship. If we are quick we can knock him out before he wakes up, but make it quick and quiet, we've got jackels nearby, and what looks like a shade in a tower, elite operating it. Otherwise, we got a straight shot to the ship. Enrique, I think you should take point." he said slowly. Enrique moved infront of them, and with two deep breaths, started sprinting forward, rifle sweeping back and forth. James and Tom were right on his heels, Tom in the middle, searching for targets, James bringing up the rear. Enrique pulled his combat knife into his left, and seconds from running headlong into the grunt, dove, his left arm extended. The knife sunk right into the alien's throat, blood pouring from the wound, as the thing's eyes snapped open. Enrique slugged the thing hard in the head, and climbed off it. He pulled his bloddy knife, wiped it on the grunts armor, and sheathed it again. With that, Tom and James came up behind him, and James policed the grunts plasma pistol and supply of plasma grenades. Enrique pulled the AI out of his pocket, and inserted it against the seal on the hatch. Within seconds it was open. James unslung the shotgun, and pumped a shell into the chamber. He mouthed "Three, two, one" and then burst into the cockpit, sweeping the weapon back and forth. It was surprisingly empty, and most of the systems were offline. Enrique entered the somewhat spacious cockpit, and plugged the AI into the droship. Holo panels lit up, controls came on instantly, and soon enough engines hummed to life. Almost thrity seconds later, an alarm went off. Tom muttered a curse, and slammed the hatch. It sealed with a click. A smooth female voice came into their helmet radios. "Good job boys, objective complete. Now buckle up and let me take over." she said. They looked around confused, but strapped into the three chairs, however big they were, it appeared any number of covenant species could pilot a dropship. The ship rocked, and then was raising up. An alarm screamed on the panel, and Enruqie, who was seated behind one, looked at it. It brought up an external view, and showed covenant pouring from inside the base, plasma guns shooting blue and green bolts at the massive drop ship. A small stick and a targeting recticle appeared on the panel james had, and he grinned. He squeezed, and the overcharged tri-shot plasma turret on the bottom of the shit cut loose into the covenant ranks. Grunts, jackels, and an elite or two were mowed down before the rain of purple fire. The dropship slowly rotated, then, shot forward, away from the compound. James raised his hands. "Did anyone see me I KICKED ASS!" he said. Tom snickered and Enrique scoffed. "James, I think you're really losin it man, you're gonna like, kill somebody onea these days because theres no covenant around. You brittish are LOCO man!" he said, tyring to sound afraid. The womans voice came on again. "Don't relax yet, a flight of coveant banshees just took off from the complex. I need you all to man the gunnery stations." she said crisply. With that, she hammered off instructions, and Enrique ant tom changed seats. Atop the drop ship, two hatches opened, and two more tri-shot turrets emerged. "The banshees will be in range in about twenty minutes, so stay frosty, this dropship is no match for a full wing of banshees." The time seem to pass into nothing, and seemingly seconds later, James called out. "Contact!" and the ship thrummed with the discharging of his cannon. Tom and enrique soon had their own contacts, and soon, plasma shots were everywhere. The banshees plasma cannons opened up. Shots tore into the armor on the hull, melting chunks of it away, and slowly working their way down to the skin. The three marines thought all was lost, until a full wing of longswords came screaming out of the clouds, miniguns blaring. The banshees were forced to break off, and engage, thus buying more time. It all seemd like it was gonna be ok, until with a low roar, seraph fighters came from out of the clouds, cannons glowing with prefiring chagres.
|
