Through the eyes of a Grunt Pt 3 of 6
Posted By: BansheeBoy<636tocool@yahoo.com>
Date: 30 May 2004, 8:46 AM
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Through the eyes of a Grunt Pt 3 of 6
06:42 Year 2552
Inside forerunner structure
On derelict ring-world
Covenant-controlled space
Bastip rested in the troop quarters of the covenant structure, wriggling about on a bed. He was having a nightmare.
The wreckage of the covenant dropship lay on it's side tipping over the edge of the cliff. Bastip wasn't sure whether it had been shot down or it had just had an engine failure. The latter seemed much more likely as there was nothing on the ring except covenant, as far as he knew anyway. Another grunt emerged from the wreckage. His name was Melip and he was in Bastip's special ops squad. The two had been sent out to check on the wreckage of the covenant dropship, to basically find out what the hell had happened.
" I can't see any survivors, but I can tell you it crashed because of an engine failure. It's repairable though" Melip announced.
" Repairable! Finally I can get off this ring and get back to my family!" exclaimed Bastip happily.
"What?" asked Melip.
" I can get off the dam ring!" answered Bastip.
" No, that's treason Bastip" said Melip.
" Since when have you been patriotic Melip" questioned Bastip.
" I don't care, I won't let you go!" bellowed Melip.
" You better let me!" yelled Bastip.
" I won't" shouted Melip. In a blind rage Bastip hit Melip round the head with his plasma pistol. Melip fell to the floor.
Bastip kneeled down and stared at Melip's body trembling. He hadn't meant to hurt Melip. His neck was twisted and Bastip could tell it was broken. Melip was dead. No, no, no thought Bastip, if anyone found out he'd be executed for murder. No, he had to play it cool. He'd bury the body and no one would ever have to know. And when he got back he'd say they'd split up and he hadn't seen him since. Yeah, that would work. He started digging a small hole with his claws. A few human minutes later Bastip had finished the quick grave. He lifted Melip up with effort and chucked him into the hole. He refilled the grave with the dirt and patted it to make it solid. He stood back and thought of Melip for a moment. Then he ran back, got on the ghost they'd rode in on, and sped of into the distance.
Bastip awoke with a start. A horn had sounded. A war-horn. Then a voice resounded over the speaker. It said :
" All special ops covenant to the hanger immediately". That meant Bastip. He hit his head against the bed and realised he was awake and it wasn't still his nightmare but it still felt like it was. He was back on the ring, the place he hated so much and he had to fight. Could it get any worse? He got up and made his way to the structure's hangar at his own pace.
The troubled Grunt rounded the turning and ran for the door to the hangar. A few seconds after leaving his room he realised his commander was an elite and if he was late his commander might decide that he was expendable. He ran through the door to the hangar and met up with the rest of his squad and was relieved to find that Anas Zitamee wasn't there yet. The squad consisted of five elites ( that was including zitamee ) , six jackals and eight grunts ( including Bastip ). Zitamee entered the hangar and the squad turned and saluted, even the honourable elites, though they were only rookies. Zitamee walked to the front of the squad and turned towards them. The team awaited the briefing before Zitamee begun.
" You are all the best of the best. That's why you're special ops, that's why you're in my squad. And that's why you're about to do the hardest mission the covenant have to offer. The downed Truth and Reconciliation has reported that the valleys beneath it are being attacked by a small band of humans. They believe that they are after a high-profile prisoner that was captured after the crash of the human cruiser. The only way aboard from down there is a gravity lift. We will guard the gravity lift" exclaimed Zitamee.
" Wouldn't it just be simpler to shut down the gravity lift?" asked a grunt.
" Once a gravity lift is shut down it can take weeks to be repaired and they need the time to repair the cruiser, replied Zitamee, and I think we can take care of a few humans, can't we?
The covenant dropship flew into the canyon below the Truth and Reconciliation. The gravity lift flickered in the distance and the command center aboard the cruiser began scanning the ship. They were accepted and began landing preparations. The dropship hovered in and landed behind the gravity lift, near the cliff. The squad jumped out quickly before the covenant dropship sped back up into the sky. Zitamee was met by the commanding elite of the canyon and they began chatting about the situation. Bastip stared at his surroundings. The team that had been set up here consisted of the commanding elite and four grunts manning shades. The rest of his squad had taken positions over the ridge above the gravity lift. This seemed like a good idea so Bastip ran over and joined them. Zitamee came over to his troops and announced :
" The humans are in the next valley, so get ready! The commanding elite here has called down a first contact squad and they should be down any second". As Zitamee had said the squad of covenant flashed down the gravity lift and set up in front of the gravity lift. The covenant were ready.
Bastip heard a sound of firing and managed to see three jackals of first contact squad have their head blown off. The rest of that squad ran to engage the enemy. He had a sudden rush of adrenaline when he killed a human but he still was scared of dying so Bastip took some cover behind a shade. The sound of firing continued in the distance and Bastip hoped they were winning. He couldn't tell but the assault rifle fire sounded louder than the plasma fire. Which couldn't be good. Suddenly a fellow grunt shouted " contact!" before his head exploded. The shades opened fire on the oncoming humans. The first wave of three humans was decimated by the barrage of heavy plasma fire, but within seconds snipers took care of the shades.
Zitamee yelled " man the shades". But Bastip wasn't going near it. The shades were a deathtrap. Instead he charged his pistol ran to the edge of the ridge and fired at the nearest human. It hit him in between the shoulder blades and he fell to the floor. Bastip was about to run back for cover when he saw the green-armored human. He began backing away further still. Bastip remembered the amazingly efficient shooting of that..that...thing! He had to hide.
All around him covenant fell. The elite commander turned on his radio and said : " We need heavy reinforcements now". Almost instantly two hunters dropped off the cruiser. While the humans were pre-occupied with the hunters, Zitamee bellowed : " Take cover, live to fight another day". This sounded very good to Bastip. He sprinted and hid behind a rock. The rest of his outfit also found hiding places. The humans finished off the hunters, thanks to the green-armored human, and although a little perplexed about the rest of the covenant disappearing, they flew up the gravity lift. Zitamee emerged from his hiding place behind a large shrub and shouted :
" Follow them".
The special ops squad landed with a thump in the loading bay. The room was covered in blue and purple blood and there was covenant bodies everywhere.
"What are these humans?" asked one of the grunts, not expecting an answer.
" It's all because of that green-armored human" said Bastip.
" I don't care how powerful he is, they'll never escape this cruiser alive" growled Zitamee. He let out a long laugh. Maybe Zitamee was right. Maybe the humans would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. But judging by the amount of damage in this room and not a single human corpse, that was becoming a big maybe.
The squad followed the trail of destruction through the ship, finding little but dead bodies. Covenant bodies. Finally they met a living elite.
" Where did the humans go?" questioned Zitamee. The other elite was obviously suffering from an injury but eventually he managed to force the words out of his mouth.
" To the...to the hangar" he stuttered.
" I will send help for you" Zitamee said. But the elite was already dead.
Upon arriving in the hangar, Bastip quickly spotted the humans. They were awaiting the opening of a locked door, possibly by a human A.I. The covenant had been all but wiped out, apart from a few heavily injured grunts. The special ops squad crept up upon the unsuspecting humans. The door opened and the humans sped through. Three were left to guard the hangar however. As soon as the door closed the squad jumped out. The marines bravely tried to fight back but were overwhelmed. They were doomed from the start of the battle.
"Let's get going" exclaimed Zitamee. They sprinted to the door to find that when it had closed it had locked itself again. Zitamee sweared in his native language.
" Open it!" shouted Zitamee to a tech-grunt he'd brought along. The grunt hurried and began to open the door.
Twenty human minutes later the grunt finally busted the door open, no thanks to the brutal beatings from Zitamee. Bastip thought why try? The humans will have gotten far away by now but Zitamee told his squad to keep going. A bit later Bastip, realised that Zitamee wasn't following the trail of destruction anymore. He was heading to the control them. Bastip didn't complain as he believed that they were being led away from the battle. He was wrong. The covenant burst into the control room, to see two panicked grunts.
" The humans are com.............
The grunt didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as the door blew away engulfing their bodies in flame. A firefight begun of plasma and bullets. The two groups shared equal casualties. The group of humans realising they might actually be beaten ran through the door to their left. The covenant were about to follow when an elite appeared from nowhere. He had been wearing camo gear and had been following the humans.
"They have the prisoner. Stop them!" he yelled. The elite joined their squad and the group chased after the renegade humans.
The humans had already boarded the covenant dropship when the special ops team reached the hangar. The humans had led them on a wild-goose chase throughout the ship and had finally led them here. Zitamee turned his attention to two hunters who had entered the hangar and said "stop them!". The hunters ran down the path jutting out into the middle of the hangar and charged their fuel-rod cannons. Just when they were about to fire the U-shaped dropship lurched into the air and turned towards the hunters. The two ends of the dropship crushed the hunters before they could shoot. It's job done, the ship turned round to the exit of the hangar and sped off into the night sky.
Bastip knelt down and whacked his head against the deck again and again. All that for nothing! He began to think maybe it would have been better to turn off the gravity lift. Then again that was his view from the start.....
Peace Out!
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