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The Rise of the 88th Squadron by Kyle



HALO: The rise of the 88th squadron, chapter 1: Fight for our Lives!!
Date: 10 March 2004, 12:46 AM

"Marines, covenant dropships detected, and closing in fast!!" Sergeant Gregor yelled as a cluster of sleek, purple aircraft appeared over the horizon.
"How many of them?" I asked as I squinted to see. Gregor zoomed in on the approaching ships.
"What I can see, three dropships and two banshee escorts."
"Shit!" Yelled Corporal Evan Heller. Heller was my buddy in the squadron. "We can't take that many!"
"Hell yeah we can." Gregor said, a grin coming over his face as he tightened his grip on his gun.
We were all scared to death. We had seen the Pillar of Autumn go down in flames, we witnessed Covenant troops tear apart marines and crewmen, and now here we were, on a ring-shaped planet that was swarming with millions of these alien bastards. We were running scared.
And then there was Ensign Lovell, a crewman who came with us when we escaped from the Pillar. He was always running around like a frightened lab mouse screaming "YIKES!!" Hell knows why Keyes chose him to serve on his command crew, but one thing was for sure. He was frightened to death on the ground.
Another crewperson boarded out lifepod too. Her name was Lieutenant Amelia Hall, the operations officer aboard the Pillar. She was a lot more confident than Lovell, and always was ready for a fight, whether it was up in space fighting the Covenant Navy, or on the ground, fighting their infantry and air assault teams. She never screamed in terror or cowered in the corner.
"Marines, they're in bounds! Lock and load!"
"What? Covenant? Oh shit, we're all DOOMED!! They killed Keyes, they killed the chief, and now they're going to kill US, TOO!!" Lovell turned to Hall. "This was all your idea, Amy!! I should've never come with you down to this god-forsaken--OVERSIZED HULA HOOP!! Now we're all going to die!"
"Relax, Bill. We have a better chance of survival down here than we would have had back on the Pillar. On the Pillar we would've been killed right away.
"AT LEAST IT WOULD'VE BEEN QUICK AND PAINLESS! NOW I HAVE TO PUT UP WITH THOUSANDS OF COVENANT TORTURING ME AND ELECTROCUTING MY PRIVATES!!! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!! I've seen them take prisoners, and I've seen those prisoners tortured."
"Just shut up." Gregor said.
The dropships moved in closer and finally deployed right next to our lifepod, sending out a full brigade of 14 grunts, 6 jackals, and 4 elites, plus a ghost transport. An Elite boarded the ghost and moved in towards the metal structure we were taking cover in.
"They're coming in fast, marines! Let's give them a warm welcome."
"You mean actually go down and fight them? No way man, I'm only 27. Too young to die." Lovell was stuttering in terror.
"Fine, stay here. Let the vultures devour you." Said Pfc. Peter Chavez.
"Vultures? What vultures? WAIT!!!" Lovell ran to catch up with them.
"Down on the terrain, the Covenant were surrounding the structure, preparing to open fire on the marines. A dark shadow enveloped the area suddenly, and a dark purple figure loomed over us.
"Dammit, it's a Phantom!" Heller yelled. The Phantom was the covenant's main heavy transport, used for deploying large amounts of troops and/or small vehicles, and for deploying Wraith tanks, the dreaded Covenant mortar tank that was the scourge of the UNSC marines. The Lifter's cargo doors opened, and twelve grunts emerged, as well as a Wraith. The Lifter ominously closed its cargo doors, and silently took off. The Wraith's mortar cannon started to glow, as if to fire, but the earsplitting whistling of a banshee suddenly filled the air, followed by a crossfire of plasma bolts, and the Wraith exploded, the force of the blast killing several of the grunts around it. There was a blue flash of light, and the lifter burst into flames, plunging to the ground. A banshee aircraft appeared behind the lifter, and flew towards the marines.
"Morning, marines." A low voice crackled over the radio. "This is the master chief, ready for action."
"He's alive? HE'S ALIVE!!" Lovell exclaimed, a grin on his face.
"Morning, Chief." Gregor replied back, grinning in a relieved way. "You think you could give us a hand?"
"Absolutely." The Chief said. "I'm ready for some real action here." Let's go.
"Marines, we've got company."
The banshee swerved towards the structure, and made a swift landing on the roof. The chief went down to greet the battle-weary marines. "Where's the battle?"

***Next chapter: "Right Where You Left It"***





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