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Through the Eyes of a Soldier by Tygpj
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Life of a UNSC Marine Part I
Date: 9 March 2003, 10:39 PM
As through a Soldier's Eyes:
Life of a UNSC Marine
Prologue
These following pages tell the story of a soldier in a time of War. Be aware that their will be descriptions of blood and horrible deaths. Also, many obscenities are involved in this story. You have been warned. Their story is told as through their own eyes. This is his story...
Recruitment and
Assignment
"Martinson, Gates. Front and center!"
"Yes, sir!"
"The resume you sent to join the UNSC has been accepted. Welcome to the military life Private. You will be assigned to the warship Ironside and be under the command of Captain White. Of course, after you complete basic training. What's wrong Private?"
"Assigned so soon , sir?"
"The Covenant have been beating our forces back. We can use all the help we can get. Welcome to UNSC, Private."
This was my first conversation in the military. At last, a Private in the UNSC. It felt good to be somebody meaningful for a change. My name is Gates William Martinson and I was born a middle child on the colony Harvest. Luckily, my family was transferred just a few days before the Covenant wiped it out. My dad was in the UNSC too, and always wanted me to join. He was Captain John Martinson, a pride of the UNSC, and now I was following in his footsteps.
The quickness of the assignment was the only difference between my Dad's and my assigning. My Father waited two years to before he was assigned to the cruiser Prism of Knowledge. I, only three seconds. I could tell by what the recruiter said, that if I ever met any Covenant, I would be up for the fight of my life. But, I had no time to worry about this. For now I was off to Basic Training.
Training
"Sarge is waiting! Line up, double quick!" yelled the Assistant Instructor.
Just my luck. I had just gotten to the barracks, and was looking forward to a rest from the traveling, when I was to be one of the many who had to report to the Drill Instructor. After we lined up the Instructor started.
"Marines, My name is Sgt. James Day, but you can call me Drill Sgt. My job is to turn you lazy peace of crap Earth boys into real Covenant killing machines in any damn way I can. I, and the men beside you, are now your Mama, Papa, Siblings, and any damn friends you may have had. You will learn to depend on you fellow Marines, no matter who they are, to save you own lives in the heat of battle. Yes, as you may have heard, the next six weeks are going to be a living hell that will help you to understand, in the slightest way, of War is like. You will be pushed to your limits and pushed some more, until you will be able to take out any Covenant, laughing. Now report!"
After we all reported, we went back to the barracks to pick out our bunks. I bunked up with a skinny, red haired young man that look about 18. Young to me considering I myself was 21. He started a conversation with me and were soon fast friends. It felt like I knew him forever. He told me his name was Kevin Reichle and he was an American from Iowa. He said,
"I was always a farm boy because I lived in Iowa. I loved the clear fresh air and the warm summer nights. I even loved the farm work, too. Got a girl back home and her name is Katie. Yeah she's beautiful it. Almost nothing could take me from that. But after the Covenant appeared and killed millions of innocent people, I devoted my life to joining the UNSC and stopping the Covenant from destroying mankind. So what's your story?"
"Wow! That's hard to beat. Well, I was the son of a UNSC Captain that always had a desire for his only son to become like him and join the UNSC. I was very hesitant and despite what he wanted I did not join. No, not until..."
"Private Reichle!" Interrupted the Assistant Instructor. "Sarge want to speak with you!"
"I guess that's me. Later." Kevin then got up and left in a hurry. After all of that it was 2000 hours and lights out. As I climbed in my bunk and shut my eyes I wondered why Sarge wanted Kevin. I never saw him again for the next six weeks.
Life of a UNSC Marine Part II
Date: 16 March 2003, 11:08 PM
As through a Soldier's Eyes:
Life of a UNSC Soldier
Ironside
The six weeks of training went by fast and during the training I excelled in Battlefield Tactics and Basic Survival. Little did I know how important that would be for the what was going to be the most important event in my life. After I was dismissed from Basic Training, I left for the dropship that would take me to the Ironside.
"A198. This is it." I boarded the new 429 Pelican and locked in. The men with me were no older than 17. Ever since the Covenant, the UNSC has let in younger and younger men to their forces. These weren't men. They were just kids.
15 minutes past by and I arrived one the Ironside. I was greeted by a short, stocky, Lieutenant that quickly welcomed me to the Ironside.
"Welcome to the warship Ironside. I will lead you to the bridge so you can be welcomed by the Captain. He likes to greet every addition to his crew personally. After that you will be given quarters." We walked down a long hallway to an elevator and went two floors up. The doors opened up to a large semi-circular room with the Captain at the main display.
When I saw Captain White for the first time he looked about in his 50s, but still in his prime. His silvery, white hair complemented his eyes, which cut through me with great indifference. He talked like he was giving orders and started his welcome for me with the clearing of his throat.
"Welcome to the Ironside, Son. I am Captain Michael White and I hope you will enjoy your stay here on the Ironside. You will be working with some of the UNSC's finest while you are here. As of now, you and the other marines are on reserve." He paused. "Until we ship out tomorrow. Lieutenant Smith, show the Private to his quarters." The first man to speak with me on the Ironside then replied,
"Yes sir!" He then turned towards me. "Follow me Private." I did as he said and followed him to the elevator and went inside. He pressed the #3 button and we went down 15 floors. During the elevator ride he informed me of my duties. "Private, you will be assigned to the Orion Squad of the 2nd Platoon. That's in the 29th Company of the 31st Battalion. Your roommate will help you get acquainted with the Ironside and your squad members. Your squad has the 0800 hr and 1600 hr patrols, for two hours each, along the 3rd floor port side lifepods. Your roommate Private Paul Brecht, and if you have any problems, contact me or the Captain." The doors of the elevator opened and we walked down a corridor to a room with the number 004 on the door. "Good luck." And with that he left.
When I heard the name Brecht, it sounded quite familiar, but I couldn't remember where I heard it from. I calmly opened the door to reveal a dead man. Blood was spattered all over the room. I gasped in horror at the sight a drew a nearby weapon to be ready for an attack. Then the body lunged at me and tackled me to the ground. I started to laugh. It was "Ears" Brecht, my old highschool buddy. He had joined the UNSC a month before graduation and no one saw him afterwards.
"You crazy basterd!" I yelled. "Are you trying to scare me to death!"
"Hey! Gates! Is that any way to treat an old friend? Besides, I've been waiting for you to join for four years. Remember our old deal?" Paul was an Israel exchange student for our high school. He had dark hair that matched his skin and deep blue eyes. His big ears and extra sensitive hearing, contributed to his nickname. In all he was a warm funny guy, despite the cold look he has about him. He didn't change a bit.
"Yeah, I remember it. Haven't I held up my end?"
"Yep. Took you four years, but you came through." He smiled gently. "It's good to see you."
"You too "Ears".
"Hey, I hate that name. Call me Paul, ok?"
"Okay. So, what about the rest of the squad?"
"Follow me to the squad room." With that, he cleaned himself and we went out the door and to the left. All the way to the end of the hall. Paul opened the last door to a large room with four guys doing various activities. The room include a workout center, a shooting range, a bar with soft beverages, and a pool table.
"This is the squad room where the Orion Squad can train and have fun. See that guy at the bar. The one that looks like he just ate a Warthog. He's Jug, our Explosives expert. The blonde at the shooting range is Luke. He's our #1 sniper. The lady over there is Joan and she can drive anything with ease."
"She's pretty. Ever make any moves on her?"
"Yeah. Once I did but she put me in an arm lock and kick me in the balls. Don't get any ideas about her. She wants to cut off all of our penises and grow one of her own." We both look down at our own crotches. Simultaneously we said, "Ouch!"and laughed. Paul continued,
"And there is Zack, our Squad Leader, he can be a jerk sometimes, but would do anything for you on the battlefield. Oh yeah, I am the Engineering expert. What did you excel in during Basic Training?"
"I did well in Battlefield Tactics and Basic survival."
"Hmm... Maybe you can assist Zack if we ever go to battle. Here let me introduce you."
"No, that's okay Paul." He ignored me and got the attention of the fellow squad members.
"Hey you guys! Here is the new recruit that will be joining us. His name is Gates and he is an expert in Battlefield Tactics. Give him a nice welcome." All of the men came over to me, introduced themselves, and greeted me warmly. They were all in on the body gag and laughed hysterically when Paul told them about my reaction. Zack was the only on who continued his own business. He looked at me coldly and I knew he felt that I was a threat to him. He wasn't happy I was there. He snapped at Paul,
"Would you shut the hell up about that rookie and start packing up. We are shipping out tomorrow and the Captain will brief us on the situation at 0800."
"All right" Paul retorted. "Come on Gates. Lets pack up. It looks like we might just do some fighting after all."
Life of a UNSC Marine Part III
Date: 1 April 2003, 2:53 AM
As through a Soldier's Eyes:
Life of a UNSC Marine
The Covenant
After seven days sleep I awoke to a bright light and a burst of warm air. The cyro tube opened and I was helped out by some technicians who set me down on a nearby bench. I choked on the cryo inhalant with a demise for the taste. The taste and texture of it made me vomit.
I went to the showers and started thinking of how well the Covenant could battle and with such ruthlessness. The thought scared me. Upon suiting up in the cryo locker room, I met up with Paul and the rest of the squad. Zack informed us that the captain was to brief us on the situation and why we left Reach in such hast. I knew this would be interesting.
The crowd of marines began to get restless as they waited for the captain in the cargo bay. I noticed Pelicans were near the bay doors. Ready for deployment. After an hour of waiting on the marines part, the captain calmly walked into cargo bay and onto a platform. He cut to the chase and gave it to us strait.
"Marines, a week ago I was informed of a Covenant Fleet of two Destroyers and a Cruiser was attacking an outer mining planet of the Crest System, Vern, with ground forces. The Ironside was to join a battle group that would reinforce the current ships there and to find out why they had not glassed the planet. Upon the our battle group arriving we found the remains of the past UNSC military ships based here and that Vern was abandoned. After a scan of the system we found that the military planet, Crest, was under Covenant control and the only intact base left on the surface was being used send encrypted messages to a point in deep space. No translations were available or coordinates to where it was being sent was available, but one thing was recognized in the transmission. A set of coordinates. They were Earth's. Given the speed of the Covenant ships... We might be the only ones left. We must do all we can to find where they sent it and its coordinates. This might be what we need to find the Covenant home world, so we need to fight our hardest. The 2nd, 4th, and 5th Platoons of the 29th Company will be our strike teams planet side. They will retake the base and find the coordinates while the Rest of the company will pick some battles away from the base to draw away possible reinforcement from the base. The deploying troops will go at 0900. Any questions? No? Good. Dismissed." He finished and left the Company Leader to finish briefing the leaders of the platoons.
The armory had a vast array of weaponry with much ammo for its weapons. The whole squad filled up on grenades from a crate and picked up MA5Bs after we had received all of the details of the assignment. Only Jug and Luke picked up more munitions, and they were in coherence with their specialties. The base we had to take was Gemini. We were given a chart of the area with the number of our drop ship and where we would be dropped and dusted off. The objective was simple: Kill any Covenant and take control of the main Comm tower computer. Uncomplicated, but tough. After that a computer technician would be sent down to retrieve the sending coordinates.
Upon completing on arming up, we rushed to our drop ship through the tight corridors of the Ironside. I had only been on this ship for a week, and I grew a liking for it. As we ran and I looked at the Ironside. I felt I was to never see her again. I shook the feeling as I hopped into the Pelican.
The ride to the Crest was a short one. The Pelican we were riding had a Warthog on the back with its 50mm three barreled chain gun. Joan would be driving that without out any doubt and Paul a passenger for making repairs. "Maybe I could be the gunner" I hoped. When we landed, the rendevous point was one and a half clicks away.
"Stupid Pilot." Paul said, scorning the lack of piloting accuracy.
On the way to the rendevous point we found nothing much. A Covenant tank that had detonated a mine field was all that we saw of the Covenant. The forests were beautiful and reminded me of pictures I had seen in my high school history books. The pictures were of a rugged frontier Earth, when humans had no control of the weather, but also no pollution. The smell of pine and walnut trees filled the air of this warm day on Crest.
"Looks like we're the first here." Zack announced when we had arrived at the RP.
We set up camp for the quickly coming night and waited for the rest of our platoon to join us. The warm summer night with a fresh breeze comforted me even though I had thoughts that we were the last of the human race. It felt like home.
The next day the other two platoons joined up with us and we began our march to retake the nearby base. Now we had a Scorpion tank and two more Warthogs to add on to the rest of our forces. Well prepared we reached Gemini without any conflict. The Platoon Leader then gave Zack all the tactical data we were going to need to win this battle he then briefed us on what to do.
"Men, there are three hills surrounding the base and a wall that will keep us out. The hills are here, here, and here." He said gesturing marks on the map that was spread out on a rock. " The wall will be dealt with our C-12. A sniper will be on each hill and two other marines will stay with them to protect them. Luke you will be on this hill," He pointed to a hill with a crater from a Wraith.
"Jug, you will sit in the passenger side of our squad's 'Hog after you open a hole in the wall; and Joan. You will drive." The two Marines replied at the same time to the Private First Class' order, "Sir, yes sir!"
"Gates, for you I have given the job of gunnery for the 'Hog. Stay alert for air support and shoot any Banshees in range. Paul and I will carry out on foot and lead the rest of the platoon. Our platoon will be the first assault group and come from the South of the base. The other two platoons will cycle around and attack from Gemini's North and East sides when called for. Got it? Let's move out!"
We all got to our places and the battle began. Jug wired the wall with C-12. The explosion ripped through it like tissue paper. The blast alerted seven Grunts and three Elites. Luckily for us a piece of wall caught two Elites and cut them in half. Jug was already in the 'Hog and used his AR to tear the Grunts apart. I got my bead on the remaining Elite and opened fire. The 50mm projectiles took down his shields in seconds, then glued him to a rock. Joan charged in and began to run over most of the Covenant in the base. Tall structures jutted out of the ground and hid masses of Covenant. Sniper shots echoed as bodies fell from some of the towers. Zack came over the Comm and reported that the other platoons were attacking. I was glad we had some more backup. Before the snipers could get one grunt, though, he had activated a plasma grenade and dropped it onto the soldiers below. The blue orb stuck on a private who screamed at the pain and the fear of how he was soon to die. The explosion took out five marines in the process. Paul and Zack had managed to stay away from the blast with some luck.
The next amount of resistance was some fifty Grunts with thirty Jackals in front of them in a protective line. Behind both of the ranks were thirteen Elites.
"My lucky number." I thought as I counted the masses. We were only 100 meters from the tower and were not about to give up. Jug launch two rockets and was rewarded with the blasted bodies of two Elites and eleven Grunts, after the first rocket hit. When the second one made its mark, nine Jackals, seven Grunts, and an Elite were launched to the heavens. By now I was in firing range and singled my fire at the Elites. The jeep's tires ground the enemy with no concern for the species of Covenant it consumed. Half of the group had been killed by the vehicle. Joan drove as if she was on the to church. Gracefully. We dodged seven grenades and over fifty charged plasma shots. The on foot marines cleaned up the rest of the scum and we moved on.
We were now 30 meters from our objective. Joan quickly rounded a sharp curve after seeing some bogeys on the motion tracker. She had anticipated running over them, but when she rounded the curve she swore at the sight. Two Hunters with five Banshees for air support. I aimed the LAAG gun at the flying enemies, gave a little lead, and fired. The first two flew into the line of fire and exploded instantly. The other three turned in time to save themselves. Being so concentrated on the Banshees, I never realized that Joan had run over a Hunter and was chasing the other down.
The remaining Hunter dashed into a alley and charged its weapon. The beast fired the gun at the changing groung troops and killed over half of them. I feared the worse for Paul. The Banshees returned to pester us with plasma. My gun quickly met and tore up the rest of them. I jumped out of the vehicle and searched for Paul. He was flung across the entrance to the alley and into the surrounding wall of the base. I walk to him and with a heavy heart I found his vitals gone. My best friend was dead. Now the fear I had against the Covenant had faded and turned into a rage. Thirty Jackals had just come out of the now in view Comm tower. A charged them with my guns a blazing while the rest of the Platoon struggled to keep up. Tossing three grenades, I charged, and unloaded my AR on the aliens.
"Die, Son of a Bitches!" I yelled while tears streamed down my face. They killed Paul and I wasn't about to let any on this planet live. The grenades caught the Jackals by surprise and launched them ten feet into the air. The explosions caused an Elite to jump out of the tower entrance to investigate. He was soon met with chain gun fire and rocket explosions from my comrades. When I entered the tower I noticed that five Elites were killed in the blasts. The survivors of my squad had caught up with me by now and held me back from getting myself killed in a charge. My adrenaline was pumping at full speed. They held me until the rest of our and other platoons arrived at the outside of the tower. The snipers set up position in some of the surrounding, cleared strictures for extra support and my friends let me goes after much calming down. I had to get a hold of myself and complete the mission.
Almost to our objective, we did a scan of the area and found thirty blips in the 50 by 50 foot room. Zack had somehow survived the Hunter's blast and was here throwing a grenade to push the Covenant out of the room and on the outer platform for our snipers. The plan worked. Reports of the sniper's shells launching and destroying the target was a sound to enjoy. Luke reported over the Comm link that all of the bastards had been eliminated. The pocket motion scanner agreed. We continued and used the tower's powerful radio to send a transmission to the Ironside. No reply.
"Maybe the radio was damaged in the grenade blast." Jug suggested. I felt differently as did Zack.
"Here let me double check before we do anything else." Zack was trying to keep the marines and himself from panicking. It didn't work. As he shakily lifted the emergency radio for contact with the ship, we all held our breaths and prayed nothing happened to the Ironside.
"Strike Team One reporting to the Ironside. Do you copy Ironside? I repeat. Strike Team One here, we have taking control of the base and the rest of the Covenant are being moped up as we speak." No reply. Zack swore loudly as he slammed the radio down.
We were on our own.
Life of a UNSC Marine Part IV
Date: 9 April 2003, 1:54 AM
As Through a Soldier's Eyes:
Life of a UNSC Marine
Marooned
"They might be on the far side of the planet." I said to try to sooth the group's nerves. Luckily, only my squad was in the tower at the time, and was the only group that knew about this. Zack informed the Company Commander almost as soon as I had broken the silence. We were going to stay put until nightfall, when the Ironside would be back on the side we were on. I knew the chances I was right about why we couldn't contact the ship were nearly nonexistent. Yet, I still had hope.
The next day was clear of any Covenant until about 15:00. I was playing poker with Joan, Luke, and Jug at the time. We were assigned to guard the Comm tower in case of an attack. Joan was so good at cards she almost took all of our shirts and boots. The sound of a Covenant dropship rang overhead as I had just pulled a strait flush.
"Just my luck. Why couldn't the Covenant have attacked when I was out $50." I pondered.
At the sound, Luke was already outside of the tower and perched up on the guardrail, keeping the ship is his sights. Two more of the ships flew over head to land with the first.
"All right, we have three Covenant dropships inbound and landing to the North with two Wraiths coming out of a forest to the Northwest." He reported over the Comm link. "One dropship is down from the minefield and in flames. The other two are landing just outside of the mines. Us snipers can take out the ground forces, but the Wraiths ... You'll have to get those yourselves."
"Thank you, private. Orion squad, I am moving your forces out of the tower. You will be taking on the Scorpion out for a ride. Your activities in the assault have lead me to this decision. Command out." The Comm link to the newly formed Command Post went static as the Command Crew cut the link to our squad.
Luke ran back in the tower and followed the rest of Orion squad down the steps. Joan hopped in the driver's seat of the massive tank as Zack took control of the gun. I rode on the treads of the tank on the same side as Jug, while Luke was on the opposite side. We had just started to move as a blinding blue ball of plasma, with the diameter of a meter, touched down on the Comm tower. The tower melted into a puddle of boiling Titanium. Then another hit the Command Post, killing all of the officers inside.
One body flew out and landed on the tank right beside me. He was still alive, but had severe burns from the hot plasma. I had always loved history in my high school days and remembered things of the ancient wars. I was fascinated by the tactic used and how many battles were won with strategy instead of numbers. Always the men who died in the wars were just numbers in a book. "Nothing of concern," I once told my dad when he wanted to talk to me about my interest in historical wars. He looked at me like I was some creature he never knew before, some foul thing that came from a filthy cesspool.
He gave me a new book than on wars. An older one, I could by the color of the page. It was on the world's worst wars: World War I and II, the American Civil War, and the Vietnam War. The book even had pictures, oh the horrifying pictures it had. Then and there my amusement for war was now a fear and respect for the dead.
Then, in my arms, was a dying man and the pictures came back to haunt me. In the Vietnam War, napalm was used on the enemies of the Americans, and sometimes even the Americans themselves, by friendly fire. The napalm would stick to the skin of any person under the rain of liquid fire and melt the skin off of the body. This horrible sight reminded me of those pictures in that book of the napalm, but it was worse. His skin boiled and slid into his throat, suffocating him and leaving his skull to stare up at me. His eyes dried then shriveled up into his sockets. I checked his rank and name, then yanked his dog tags off with bits of melted flesh. Colonel Drew Teeter, our Company leader. The man who was just talking to us on the Comm link a few minutes beforehand.
Joan maneuvered the tank near to the Northern wall as Zack blasted it with the 90mm main gun. We exited out of the new opening as two more plasma motor shots land right behind us and on the rest of the 5th Platoon, along with one of the remaining 'hogs. The tank moved onto one of the hills that some of our snipers stood during the retaking of Gemini. Luke hosed down the infantry while Jug and Zack launched a barrage of rounds for the Wraiths. Plasma shots fell around us, but the higher elevation gave the enemy tanks a hard time.
"Yeah, try to catch that you damn monsters!" Zack yelled with a whooping war cry. The projectiles were dead eyed and engulfed the motor weapons in a plasma fire. "That'll teach 'em." Zack had never shown this much emotion before. The machine gun cut through all of the attackers like they were butter sticks.
The invasion only lasted 16 minutes, but 3/4 of our forces had been eliminated and the Comm tower was now gone. Along with any chance to defeat the Covenant and save the Human race.
"Now what do we do?" Joan asked our leader. We were now cut off from the rest of the forces as they retreated into the nearby woods. After all of that, who wouldn't retreat? "The Comm tower is gone with any hope we may have had to survive, all of our officers are dead, and we have lost the rest of our Company."
"What about Gates' plan? When did you lose faith in that?"
"We still lost the coordinates, it's over! We're as good as dead, and so are all of the other humans. Give it up." She was starting to get delirious with the thought of death and was losing hope. She drew her pistol and fired. The hit body fell to the ground in a heap of flesh and pouring blood. No one could understand why she did it, but the suffering was over for the victim now.
"No! Joan! Why did you have to do it? She lost hope. God, of the things to be taken from her, hope was one thing she did not need to have taken." Zack was in tears at her death. He never recovered from that blow. What we needed now was a miracle. A miracle, and what Joan did not have...
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