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Draco Part 2
Posted By: Dispraiser<dispraiser@netzero.com>
Date: 19 August 2003, 12:22 AM


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To comprehend parts of this fanfics you might wnat to read Stowaway, another fanfic of mine. All will be explained, but it will be somewhat abbreviated, and in Spartan talk (e.g. what they think is going on), so it would be better to read Stowaway.

       "Sir?" the young man asked the large and dark chamber. A slender, sinister chair was the only decoration in the room. The open door cast a long shadow across the room, and only the man's silhouette was visible. He couldn't tell if the chair was empty or occupied.

       "What is it?" the room replied.

       "Sir, rumor has it that some of the Spartans escaped. Should we dispatch a squad of AEs to finish them?"

       "Excellent... I want you to tell the counsel that they need to step up AE production. If we can eliminate these Spartans it should make our cause seem all the more important."

       "Sir, what if there is trouble, the counsel will be furious, it could mean disaster for the AE project."

       "They are AEs. They don't make mistakes."




       I looked out the window of the old Ford truck as the distant sun of Lunar 4 slid over the horizon, melting the blue sky into a red color signature of times when the sun and horizon did battle. The noisy engine was the only noise in the truck despite that there were four of us. Jake rode in the back of the truck do to a lack of space, though. I looked down at the fuel indicator, still a half a tank left. The city of Awwek was just a brace miles away. I placed a hand on the primitive radio, probably over twenty years old. I twisted the radio knob and watched the display reflect my changes, 91.1.

       "Up." Jenna said. Instantly I was at 91.3, she repeated this till we reached 101.1. She was clearly a fan. The static cleared as we came from the shadow of a nearby mountain.

       "Now live on GUWE, we have a few new songs for ya comin up in three. Now we have a special broadcast alert, a car has been reported stolen by four escaped prisoners. It's traced going to Awwek via the Grand Ghandian Road thanks to the Peeper network, so, any police enforcers or vigilante civilians, try to take them. Careful, they are reportedly armed with machine guns." The radio continued to report about the car that was stolen. I couldn't help but notice that it was the same make, color and year as the one we were in, license plate number HPSG44F. It seemed to be an oddly familiar license plate number. I turned to Jenna, who was the most naturally observant of such details.

       "Jenna-14, I have a question for you. What was this car's license plate number?" I asked.

       "HPSG44F." she replied.

       "Oh... Great, just when we find a radio station we like. Draco, what's our next move?" Jake asked.

       "Awwek will be a good place to hide. We should be able to mask our body heat signatures in a building. The Creators taught us that we could hide from the satellites by hiding in buildings." I replied.

(Lunar 4 has an extensive Spy Satellite network after two centuries of civil warfare. This network was turned upon the planet to create the most efficient crime fighting network ever. The Satellites record a spy satellite image of every second of passing time on the planet. To solve a crime the recording is simply rewound. Heat signatures can also be detected to solve crimes in buildings. This system tracks Draco and his squad in this scene, but Spartan-IIIs have a much lower body temperature than humans (around 72.1 Degree F), so they can hide from detection in buildings.)

       "The City is pretty far away, do you think we can make it?" Jenna asked.

       "Do you think you can throw em off?" I asked Jenna.

       "Not without a computer."

       "Can you hold em off?"

       "Of course." Jake nodded, grabbing his rifle and smashing the back window of the truck out, sliding into the back of the truck. Jenna and Jimmy followed and I threw my ammo to them.

       I continued driving down the road only to soon realize that three police cars were trailing us. Jenna, Jake and Jimmy were smart enough to keep their rifles hidden, the longer the cops didn't fire the longer they didn't have to waste ammo.

       "Pull over with your hands up!" the police loudspeaker boomed, "You will not be harmed if you surrender now!" I turned my head back to the others and looked for any hesitation, seeing none. I slammed my foot down on the accelerator and felt the truck lurch forward as out speed suddenly near to doubled. I watched the speedometer hover around 120 miles per hour as a sign whirred overhead, alerting me that Awwek was only a mile away. Police cars accelerated behind me, but I was in the city by the time they managed to get to within a dozen meters. As we entered the city I couldn't help but notice the huge defensive wall, one hundred and twenty feet tall, fifty feet thick. As we passed through the gate our truck fell briefly in the shadow of its magnificence. I was in the castle of the enemy. I swerved between cars as I entered the city, and turned left immediately wrapping around the building, the truck near to rolling. The truck hit the sidewalk and leapt into the cement, bunker like wall of the building before bouncing back to the road. The tires howled as I rounded another corner to the right. I looked in my rear view mirror to notice that there was no one sitting in the back of the truck. Suddenly struck with panic I looked backwards, the others were braced against the sides of the truck. I breathed a sign of relief, and decided to give them the pleasure of doing so, dropping the speed of the truck significantly. I swerved right again, suddenly falling under another shadow, the shadow of the second deck of Awwek. The impressive sight fell short as three black cars slid around the corner before me, each of the three slowing to a stop in an attempt to form a blockade. I swerved to the left and skipped over a curb and down to another level of the roadway. As I hit the bottom level of the roadway I was facing sideways. I turned quickly in an attempt to face the correct direction, but the slow turning of the truck sent it flying into the median. It skilled over the median, but barely and joined traffic on the other side, which was going the opposite direction that I was heading, thanks to my attempted alignment in the other lane. Instead of trying to turn again I merely continued to drive, cars swerving as they realized that I was barreling the wrong way down the road. Suddenly the random gunfire of rifles began to disturb the peace of driving. Bullets raked a path across the windshield of the truck as more of the black ONI cars attacked out truck. Jake carefully aimed his rifles for the drivers of the cars, and killed them. It seemed that for every one he killed two more would join in the pursuit, and driving along the straight road in the trench was not the greatest way to lose anyone.

       "BRACE YOURSELVES!" I yelled, suddenly pulling the emergency brake and spinning. The rest of my team shot to the back of the truck, hitting against the tailgate. The black government cars suddenly whirred past me. I noticed that the roads were clear of all civilian traffic. For some reason ONI wanted to take us no matter what the costs... I spun the car to the right and turned into a small market, slamming the horn. The car flew up the staircase and landed near a small hot dog vendor. The man screamed as we slid into his small hot dog stand, the umbrella and food flying everywhere. I accelerated as the car stopped spinning, the screaming crowd parting for our passing. Suddenly the government cars began to jump over the staircase, smashing into buildings as they rounded the corner to follow us. Again gunfire raked the ground, plumes of dirt shooting from the ground to my side and raking a path across my vision. A shadow dawned on the truck and I looked up in awe as a Pelican lowered in front of us. Suddenly the others started to scream, and I heard a crane lowering in the back of the Pelican. They leaned away from the center of the truck as the large magnet hit in the center of the bed and immediately clipped. Everyone's rifles slid across the truck to the magnet. I felt my dog tags rip off and fly to the magnet. Suddenly the back of the truck began to ascend and Jenna crashed through the back window, hitting the windshield. She clambered to the dash and braced herself. I looked towards the back of the truck to see Jake and Jimmy hanging from the tailgate.

      I spun my back to the steering wheel and kicked out the remainder of the window and climbed out of the truck. I looked into the Pelican and saw a set of Marines controlling the lift. Each grinned with equal delight as we ascended further, past 100 feet. I looked down as the market became tiny. If it was the lift that was our problem I knew that it had to be stopped. I saw only one solution...

       I sprung from the back of the truck and grabbed onto the back of the Pelican. I heard nervous voices before feet began stepping on my fingers. I continued to pull myself up. As my forehead crept over the back of the Pelican a foot suddenly met my forehead. I fell backwards, dangling from one arm as the three Marines shouted. I dragged myself up again, this time expecting to be kicked in the face. As the boot swung at my head I grabbed the man's pant leg. The other passengers yelled in terror as I threw the man out of the Pelican. His body hit limp against the truck before sliding into the front windshield, dead or at least unconscious. I pulled myself into the Pelican as the other two Marines ran to the cabin, locking the door behind them. I ran to the door and kicked it, using fear to keep the Marines from coming out. The Pelican continued to ascend as I looked at the controls to the Pelican. In a horrible change of luck the writings were in Mathean. Only Jimmy knew Mathean well enough to read the instructions.

       "Jimmy, get up here and read this!" I shouted. Jimmy leapt from the truck's tailgate to the back of the Pelican. "I'm going to the back of the thing to grab the guns when the magnet gives out. Drop the truck!"

       "Alright, just a minute or two..." he replied. I leapt across the gap and hit the truck, sliding down to the Marine. I reached inside the holster on the side of his leg and grabbed his pistol. I pulled four grenades from his ammo belt too before kicking his body free from the truck. I continued to climb up the truck, carefully keeping my newfound weapons away from the magnet in the bed. I then reached down towards the magnet end of the crane to grab the butt of one of the rifles. I would grab it before it fell. Suddenly the Pelican rumbled as the cargo hold door began to close. Jimmy looked up from the controls, but it was already too late to stop it. I heard a sudden loud crash as the back door of the Pelican dented outward. It was struck again and again at a slowing pace until it suddenly stopped.

       "Damn... DAMN IT!" I shouted. Now our rifles were stuck, and all we had was a pistol to take the Pelican and force the pilot to lower the craft. Suddenly and idea struck me. I grabbed one of the grenades I had pulled from the body and tossed it loosely in my hand. "Jake, Jenna, to the top of the Pelican. Brace for impact, I'm taking this bitch down here and now! Climb fast and grab onto something solid!" I waited for Jake and Jenna to scale the outside of the Pelican before climbing to the top myself. I looked down at the dizzying heights, staring at the entirety of our car chase from five hundred feet upwards. I watched as Jake and Jenna braced themselves near the back of the Pelican, and I pulled the pin from my grenade. I threw the grenade into the engine. A sudden flare of sparks assured its entry into the blades. I dropped to the body of the Pelican and grabbed one of the fins atop it, hoping to the creator that I wouldn't die. I felt a new emotion... Was it fear?





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