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Cry for a Hero part 4: Touchdown on Mars
Posted By: el_halo_diablo<funkmonker3lite@hotmail.com>
Date: 20 August 2002 1:15 am


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      ~I leaped out of the dropship onto the red planet. The place was barren and dusty. I looked around to find no one else present. I was alone in a hostile area, I had to move and find someone to aid me. I ran and ran until I came to the bottom of a hill. The wind was blowing hard, as crimson dust blew through the air. I made out figures up on the top of the hill, coming towards me. I reached for my radio: no radio, I reached for my binoculars: no binoculars. The figures were becoming visible and they appeared to be hundreds of humans in black robes and black masks runnning towards me. I heard their battle cry from 500 yards away and I decided they were hostile, I reached for MA2B: no MA2B. I panicked, and while I watched them running towards me, I let my hand run down to the holster of my pistol: the holster was empty. I was unarmed and alone and I decided to stay where I was. I raised my arms in defeat hoping they would take me as prisoner. They got within 100 yards, and they all opened fire on me. Dust sprayed everywhere as bullets hit into the ground. During all this violence, everything was silent, all i could hear was the wisper of the wind. They got close to me and there bullets were hitting their mark, passing through my vital organs, though...I felt no pain. I finally fell to the ground, where I lie awaiting to die. I listened to the wind blow into my ear, i figured this would be the last thing I would hear. I lay looking up into the dust filled sky, as my eyes became filled with blood. I heard footsteps coming towards me as my eyes started to close. I opened my eyes and saw one of the masked men standing over me. He grabbed his mask and took it off, revealing the face that would doom humanity: The Covenant.
      "GAHAHAHAHAHA," this alien laughed over my bloodied body. my eyes started to close, and my body became limp as the laughing voice echoed in my ears...~


      "Hey...hey...COOPER!"
      "Huh? what?" I woke up to see that I was still in the dropship. I looked towards the hatch to see a lond corridor.
      "Wha...where are we?"I asked to the face of Hopkins appearing into my clearing vision.
      "Well we just borded the UNSC 'Pheonix' troop transport vessel. Are you alright?" he looked at me strangely.
      "Yah...why?" I replied in confusion.
      "You were shaking in your sleep and moving around, whats up?" He looked worried.
      "Nothing..nothing." I assured him as I climbed out of the seat and stood upright,"where's everyone else?"
      "Well we were all told to go to the briefing chamber ASAP to get us ready for the fight against the activists that have taken over a contingent of Mars territory."Hopkins said.
      "So why are the Marines and us being sent to do this?" I asked.
      "The police on Mars' surface have broken off radio and com link contact." Hopkins said, his face grim.
      "Ok, well we better go to the briefing room." I said, changing the subject.
      We found our way into the briefing chamber, and looked down to see hundreds, mabye thousands of police officers and marines standing in a large space, awaiting instructions.
      "Welcome everyone" A voice boomed in the large room,"you have all been told about what has happened on Mars, and you know what you must do. Eliminate as many rebels as you can, avoiding civilian casualties. The sector that has been attacked is this one." A large holo-map appeared in front of everyone. A large section of the planet was highlighted,"All that has been allegedly taken by the rebels known as the 'Activists'."
      I looked around at all the police officers: most of them looked scared. I then looked at the large groups of marines and saw they were anctious to go into battle.
      "There is a current count of 250 police officers and 775 Marines Participating in this campaign. The police officers are inefficiently equipped and armed so they will be sent to the armory and will be trained on the new MA6B and will be equipped with the latest armor."
       I ran down into the large group of people, and saw as the Marines walked to a different doorway than what the police were walking into. I followed the police into the doorway to find a large room filled with weapons and armor.
      "LISTEN UP SCRUBS!" A UNSC officer barked to us,"You'll be given the latest equipment used by the Marines: Titanium B armor plating, and the MA6B. We have to hurry up, so I'll run through the basics. The Titanium B armor plating you will be suited in looks a lot like the original armor plates, but can withstand blasts from pistols, machine guns, and most importantly: LAAG fire. There is a small screen that will be close to your right eye, that will aid you in communications, important news on the field, and has many viewing aids, like infared, zoom capabilities, and many other uses that you will discover on your own." He put down the armor that he was holding up, and picked up a sleek looking gun,"These are the MA6B's. they have enough power to take out a Warthog's armor, with less recoil than any other MA class. The magazine holds 80 bullets." He placed down the rifle,"Oh I almost forgot!" He picked up a standard 8 inch combat knife,"thanks to the covenant, we were able to make a plasma dagger." He switched it on and a luminescent blue glow surrounded the blade.
      "Bridge to troops," the intercom came to life,"this is Captian Sinfelt, Prepare to board the pelican dropships in loading bays 1, 2, and 3."
      "Ok suit-up, you dont got much time!"the UNSC officer said to us.
       Everyone ran out of the room suited with the armarments that the UNSC personell gave us, and followed the arrows to the loading bays. We stopped running when we came to the massive loading bays.
      "YOU!" A marine shouted at us, standing next to one of the many pelicans,"2 more in this one!"
      I ran over to the dropship and took a seat. I watched as another police officer climbed in with me.
      "ok hold tight!" The pilot radioed in, as the pelican immediatly rose into the air.
       The pelican's back hatch closed as the airlock opened up allowing us into the void of space. We continued en route to Mars and then the pilot said,"Ok we're reaching Mars' atmosphere, ETA 15 min."
      I watched the two marines each on the end of the hatch prepare their sniper rifles in case of a hostile LZ. I looked around at all the people: all of them were shining their rifles or fiddleing with the plasma daggers.
      The hatch opened and the snipers pointed their guns out the back and flipped the saftey off.
      "ETA 5 min. hold on...Im getting some activity at 3 o'clock!" the pilot informed us
      I gripped the handlebars in fear of us getting hit.
      "ETA 3 min. Activity ceasing."
      I squinted behind us but saw nothing in the dust filled air.
      "There's a dust storm going on right now, so it'll be hard to land safetly." The pilot said.
      I heard an explosion coming from the ground and then suddenly the tail of the Pelican exploded into shrapnel and flames,the warthog on the end dangled from a single hook, still intact.
      "SHIT! WE'RE HIT! We've lost our main accelerators! Switching to hover rockets!"
      The rockets that are supposed to be used to make a safe landing roared to life in order to maintain flight.
      "Reaching LZ, but there's activity everywhere!"
      The com channels came to life, and there were screams of pilots and marines being downed by enemy fire.
      The snipers turned on the infared vison and let lose on magazine after magazine of sniper rounds.
      "OK LZ has been reached, landing..."the pilot said shakily. The warthog started to swing as the pilot slowed down. finally, the hook that was holding the warthog broke, and the warthog fell down and out of sight.
      I looked at the back of the hatch, past the continuous fire from the sharp-shooters and saw dozens of other pelicans landing. When we reached the ground everyone ran out of the pelican. It was mass pandimodium, as Marines and police scrambeled for vehichles. I looked to the side of me to see a hovering pelican get hit by a rocket. The heat from the explosion bruned against my face as I ran past it.
      "WE NEED TO GET OUTTA HERE!" a marine screamed just before he was ridden with bullets to the back. A spray of bullets hit me in the chest, but the armor saved me, and knocked me backwards into the red sand. there were explosions, gunfire and cries of fellow men. Some marine lifted me up out of the sand,"Do you know of any other vehichles that we could access?"
      I thought back to when the warthog fell out of the pelican,"YES!"
      I thought to where it would be and ran in that direction. I arrived to the warthog, and luckily, it was intact, and ready to be used. Marine came up to me with two other marines.
      "ummm...theres only room for three" I said.
      "Can you hold on?" The marine asked me while jumping into the driver seat.
      "ummm..."
      He grabbed my arm, and threw me into the warthog, and sped off into the barren Mars desert with the four of us. I still heard screames and explosions from where the landing zone was. The cries for help on the com-link channel grew silent as we sped off into the vastness of Mars.





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