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Well, I'm back with Chapter Nine. Review! I'll do my best tofinish Chapter Ten soon. "-bring only an assault rifle and a pistol if you have been chosen to be with my team. Your suit is only for augmenting your strength, so don't overestimate its capabilities. That could mean the death of you. All other teams will stay at the base, in case the Covenant try something strange. Heavy weapons team Alpha will cover us and help if something goes wrong. If we don't come back, do NOT try to send more troops. We are already short on men as it is, and any heroic effort will make the problem worse. I repeat, NO heroics. We're here to take back this planet, not to win medals." The Chief finished his speech, and headed off the briefing platform to converse with several officers. "Do you think this crazy plan will work?" a Marine nervously asked several of his friends. Most of them doubted that they would pull it off. "I think the Chief has gone insane!" Another Marine commented. "You all shut up! I don't want to hear any of you whining like this. Now do something useful, or all of you with be assigned to night patrol!" The Sergeant finished venting his anger at the Marines and walked off, mumbling something about bad discipline in the corps. The Chief was checking his weaponry and armor integrity when Cortana spoke. Maybe you should check up on James. By the way, you might want to inspect you team before you start. There are many people that a skeptical about this. Taking Cortana's advice, he headed off to the medical bay. James was still in a bed, and there was an IV line in his arm. Most of his body was covered with burns from the earlier fight with the Hunters. His MJONIR armor was hanging in the air, and several technicians moved about, inspecting sections of armor and repairing wires. "There is a chance to win this fight, and I am going to conduct a stealth mission to wipe the Covenant clean off this planet. It's risky, so I don't want you to come. If you try to help in your condition, you will only slow us down. I might not be coming back from this, and the UNSC needs every SPARTAN they have." The Chief meant every word he said. James struggled to sit up and salute in his weakened state. "Good luck," With those words, he collapsed into the bed, breathing heavily. The Chief patted his friend on the shoulder and said, "Don't overdo it. Get some rest now." James said one last thing before MC left the room. "Go-and kick their alien asses." Soon after, he fell asleep and the Chief went off to finish preparations for the mission. The Chief headed out of the medical bay to check up on his team. They were all sitting in the armory, choosing their weapons. Four large ODSTs walked up, shoving him hard in the face. "This is suicide. We've been fighting the Covenant for 10 years now, and we know there is no way that 100 troops will beat an army Covenant. Yes, they are sleeping, but the slightest error could doom the human race." one of the ODSTs said. "Stand down, or I will have you court marshaled if you do not stop this nonsense." The Chief replied. "Oh yeah, and you're going to stop us, meat. Get him!" the four ODSTs lunged at the Chief, three holding him down and one grabbing his throat. Fifteen other Marines also took the chance to beat him up and held him down. The Chief was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Marines, and he didn't have his armor on, which made things worse. A very angry Marine charged the helpless Chief using an assault rifle as a ram, knocking the air out of the Chief. He was beginning to pass out from the lack of oxygen when a Lieutenant entered the armory. "Stop! This man has earned the right to some courtesy, even from you barbarians. After this, you're lucky that you get expelled from the corps, because you will be court marshaled if you don't." The Lieutenant ordered. The Marines backed off, some still giving glares at the Chief. They returned to choosing their weapons and checking their battle suits. The Chief headed for a small room next to the armory, where his MJONIR armor was being stored. The armor was being modified to generate an active camouflage field, to supercharge the shield for a short amount of time, and to increase general shield resilience. The last technicians finished the modifications on the suit, and walked away. He headed up to the armor to notice that there were not the scars of battle on the suit anymore. The techs also had repaired it. The Chief closed the door of the room and put the armor on. He grabbed Cortana's memory cube out of the base's computer and put her into the AI slot in the back of his brain. He then put the suit on, piece by piece. When he finished, he headed out of the room to the armory. The Marines outside were still quite furious at the Chief, but did not say anything. He picked up an assault rifle and a pistol off of a rack of weapons hanging on the wall. He also loaded up on grenades from a crate, just as back up in case the C-12 failed. Finally, in a corner, sat 1,100 pounds of C-12. Twenty grams of that stuff could make Swiss cheese out of a meter of Titanium-A battleplate. 1,100 pounds could easily turn a city into a smoldering crater. Each Marine would carry ten pounds of it on their backs. Thankfully, it would not ignite without an activation signal from a remote transmitter. The Chief held the remote that could activate all the C-12, as he was the group leader. Taking a quick glance at his suit's countdown timer, he suddenly realized that there was only ten more minutes before the operation began. Those ten minutes were reserved for driving to the Covenant base, so they had to leave immediately, or the Covenant would wake up, producing several problems. "Lets move, troops!" The Chief ordered. The Marines each picked up ten pounds of C-12 and headed for the vehicle bay. The Chief picked up his C-12 with his remote detonator from the weapons pile. He then walked out of the armory, heading toward the vehicle bay. The vehicle bay had 32 Warthogs modified for stealth travel. Each one had the engine covered in layers of soundproof insulation to dampen the loud noise. The headlights had also been removed. They had been replaced with infrared sensors, which projected the view onto the windshield. The Chief's Warthog even had an active camouflage device, although it consumed a lot of power. He climbed in and found Private Johnson and Sergeant Andrews inside. All around him, Marines were climbing into their Warthogs and starting their engines. They would use the Warthogs to go around the Covenant camp and park a few meters away from the patrolling Elites there. They would get out and silently kill those Elites. Everyone had silenced weapons to take down the Covenant that were awake. The Warthogs drove off almost silently, with only the soft sound of the tires crunching on the ground and the muffled engine being heard by the main group of Marines that were on guard in the base. The group of Warthogs split up when they saw the base. Half of them went around the left while the others went on the right. They met in the back. Silently, they got out of their vehicles and the five snipers in the group hefted out their rifles and took up positions. The coughs of five silenced weapons were barely heard by the Elites and the ones who did were dead before they could determine the source of the noise. A few more shots and all the patrolling Elites in site were dead. The Chief passed the order to power up the active camouflage devices. The dark shadows that were the Marines disappeared. If they were in daylight, an Elite could see the blurry area that was the squad if they got close enough, but in the dark, it was impossible. The Marines crept up to the slumbering camp, followed by the Chief, who carried 100 pounds of explosives. A few spiked their packs of C-12 into the ground where they entered, but most waited until they got farther into the mass of sleeping aliens to plant their explosives. When all the packs were planted, they quietly backtracked to their vehicles. As they exited the camp, a Marine sniper spotted two more Elites that were awake and walking right towards them! Hurriedly he whispered the news through the COM system. The Chief walked up behind the aliens and with a quick movement snapped both of their spines. The Elites crumpled to the ground soundlessly. The Chief joined his waiting squad and they walked back into their Warthogs. Back at the camp, the Marines on watch looked anxiously into the night for a sign of the Chief or his stealth team. In the tall sniper tower, a sniper used his night vision scope to look out for the squad. After a while they began to worry. Some were thinking that the mission had failed. Officers tried to reassure their troops but most of them were actually thinking the same thing. "I see something! It's the Warthogs!" yelled a sniper through the COM channel. The troops cheered. When all of them were safely inside the base, the Chief pressed the detonation button. Suddenly, the night became day with a huge flare of light from the Covenant base. A flaming ball rose into the air, taking with it debris and Covenant bodies. The roar of the explosion could be heard for miles as a wave of heat washed over the human defenders. The Chief looked though his binoculars at the former Covenant camp. Nothing remained at all: no vehicles, no troops, and no dropships. The Chief knew that a nuke instead would irradiate the area, making it absolutely useless. The C-12 eliminated the Covenant just as well as a nuke, without any side effects. He continued to ponder the outcome of the mission when a Marine sniper spotted something. "Sir, there are Covenant about 2 kilometers to the left of the original camp! They are about 2,000 of them and they are awake! I see some kind of elite, only that it is purple, not the usual Elite colors. It also carries some sort of fuel rod, but I can't really tell what. However, the Covenant aren't heading toward us, just yet." the Marine reported to the Chief. "Good job, soldier," The Chief commented. "Its time to bring the Elite" he said to no one in particular. After voicing his thoughts out loud, he ordered the Marine to take a picture of the Elite and he quickly opened a COM link to Admiral Stanforth. "Sir, I request that you send the captured Elite to the Mars shipyards. I have found a new type of Covenant Elite and I am trying to find out what it is." The Chief requested. "Right away, son. Just make sure that it doesn't escape. The scientists are sort of insane about that. Stanforth out." The COM link shut off as the Admiral finished replying to the Chief. Almost immediately, a dropship appeared in the sky. The dropship quickly descended, then swiveled its jets as it landed softly on a temporary platform. Five marines came out, carefully observing the area. The Elite came out, closely followed by two marines carrying high-velocity assault rifles mounted with grenade launchers. The Elite was bound with the plasma chains the Chief had used on it, and additionally bound with protitanium chains. The marines shoved and pushed the Elite into the briefing room and shut the door. I'll set up a translation program for it, in case it doesn't understand English. Also, I'm transmitting the picture from the marine's database to yours and the main computer's. From what battle reports indicate, Elite lives are valued in Covenant society, so a threat of danger should get it talking. Be wary, though, that the Elite may attack you. Cortana mentioned to the Chief. He walked to the briefing room, stepped inside, and took Cortana's memory cube out of his brain. Depositing the small cube in the base's computer interface, he headed on to the briefing stage. Two Marines walked up onto the stage and set a holographic projector in the center. The Elite sat in a metal chair, bound up by four protitanium chains. The scientist pressed a remote control and a picture appeared on the main viewscreen on the stage. It was the picture of the purple Elite the Chief had ordered taken earlier. The scientist left the room, allowing the Chief to interrogate the Elite. The Chief walked up to the Elite, then pointed to Cortana to start the transmission program. "What is this?" the Chief asked. Cortana closed her eyes for a moment, then repeated what the Chief had asked in the Elite's language. "Why should I tell you, human?" the Elite replied in perfect English. "You will die, and you will be sent to join your fellow warriors in hell!" the Chief yelled. "You are the one who will die." The Elite strained against the bindings that held it down. Quickly, the Chief pulled out his pistol out of its holster. He fired it about a centimeter above the Elite's head. The alien ducked, but it looked angry. The Chief yelled in the Elite's face, "I know that the Covenant value your life. So, tell me, or else your society will lose a warrior." "He is the Grand Priest. He has the power of the Prophets. The Grand Priest will soon free me." The Elite said unwillingly. "Take him away. He has no other information," The Chief pointed to the Marines. "Cortana, record this information. It may be valuable." The Chief strode toward the base's computer interface and withdrew Cortana's memory cube. He inserted it into the base of his brain. Quickly, Cortana's liquid presence filled his mind again. This Grand Priest is interesting. I'm going to use some of your brain's cycles to try and compare it to existing types of Elites. Cortana's presence in his mind disappeared as she finished speaking. The Chief headed out to one of the scout posts to check on the current status of the battle. "Marine, what are the Covenant doing?" the Chief inquired. "Sir, they are currently readying their forces. I count about twelve Wraith tanks and twenty Ghosts. No banshees, though. The current amount of infantry is hard to tell, but most of them seem to be Hunters. That Elite you saw earlier is moving about, and he is surrounded by ten Hunters that have their backs completely covered in armor." the Marine reported. "What about our forces?" the Chief asked. "We have mobilized all Marine troops. Twenty Scorpions are at your disposal. There are 41 Warthogs usable, including the ones from the stealth mission. Snipers are ready to fire, on your order. We have three advance strike Warthogs are engaging Covenant forces now. Sir, your personal Warthog is ready, and fully restocked with MAC rounds. The scientists have been able to extend the acceleration coil on the cannon, so the rounds go farther and have higher velocity. Also, the shots are charged with plasma, like the MAC guns mounted on ships. However, there is now a fusion reactor under the gunner's seat, so it might be a different configuration for the gun. You'll get used to it." The Marine returned to watching the Covenant. "Order the snipers to fire three rounds each at any targets they want. Have the Scorpions get ready to fire. They should fire at those Hunters guarding the Grand Priest. Don't hit the Priest itself, though. Whatever you do, don't kill it. Finally, have those advance strike Warthogs return," the Chief said to the Marine. He relayed the message to his superior officers and they sent out the orders. The attacking Warthogs retreated and the snipers started firing. A few Hunters and Elites fell. The Scorpions coordinated their fire against the guard Hunters. They spilt into two groups and fired one group at a time. This method kept up a continuous stream of fire. Some shots missed and hit the other aliens but the majority did. The guard Hunters were incredibly strong and resilient, but the non-stop fire soon dropped a few of them. More filed in to take their places. The Scorpions kept up their fire. The Covenant forces, undaunted by the murderous barrage, regrouped and charged. The Marines and Warthogs were ready. Fire lanced out from them and many aliens died in the first salvo. The returning fire was just as heavy, however. Plasma bolts flew thick in the air at the Marines. This time, however, it was the humans who had superior numbers. For every Grunt, Hunter, Elite, or Jackal, there were five humans. In just a few minutes, the Covenant group was lying dead or dying on the ground because of the tank fire. The Grand Priest and his had retreated out of the range of the tanks, and the snipers were preparing to fire when the Chief held up his hand. "Stop. Those Hunters can withstand a plasma-high-velocity round. I'll take my Warthog out to stop them. Besides, Cortana wants to see the Grand Priest." the Chief told the Marines. He ordered Andrews and Johnson to prepare the Warthog while he finished preparing his weapons. As soon as they were ready, Johnson slowly eased the Warthog out of the vehicle bay and drove off. The guard Hunters held their positions as the vehicle approached at high speed. They already had their special, more powerful Fuel Rod Guns charged and fired when the Warthog got in range. Johnson swerved to avoid being hit. The Chief swung his gun around, and fired it directly at a Hunter's shield. A supercharged round tore through the shield and knocked the Hunter to the ground, dead. The few remaining Hunters had surrounded the Warthog with their enormous bodies. A fuel rod bolt grazed the edge of the Warthog, burning off a side panel. They were trapped. He realized that he still had the grenades from the mission in a crate under the gunner's seat. The Chief set the timer on one grenade to 15 seconds and dropped the grenade into the crate. "Leave the engine on! Get out!" the Chief yelled. Johnson quickly leaped out of the driver's seat, but Andrews was having trouble with a safety restraint. The Chief ripped it off, pushed Andrews out, and leapt off himself. The Warthog continued speeding toward the Hunters as the grenade continued to count down. When the timer reached its end, a loud warning went off, and it exploded. The Warthog's fuel and the grenades also exploded, sending the vehicle flying into the air. All of the Hunters were killed in the blast by the force of the explosion. The Chief and Private Johnson were not heavily injured, but Andrews was the closest because he had gotten out last. He was thrown onto the ground, and a large piece of shrapnel had buried itself into his leg. Johnson was crawling away from the flames when an alien hand grabbed him. He was flung so hard that he disappeared from view. His body slammed into the ground, lifeless. The alien advanced out of the smoke. The Chief could tell that it was the Grand Priest. Andrews moved for his sniper, but two red plasma bolts engulfed him. He collapsed to the ground, two large holes in his body armor. The Chief had managed to tear off the mini-MAC gun with its generator, because it was expensive equipment. Moving quickly, he fired a round at the Priest. Amazingly, it had sidestepped the round and caught it. It dropped the round and continued to advance. You have to act first. This thing is unbelievably strong. Cortana yelled in his mind. The Chief grabbed his assault rifle off the ground and emptied a clip at the Priest. Every round bounced off its shield. The rifle did nothing but aggravate it. It sprinted up to the Chief. He punched at the alien as hard as he could. The Elite blocked every blow, and in seconds, it was squeezing the Chief's neck. "Well, bastard, just kill me now." The Chief kicked, but it just wasn't enough. "After many years, we have finally captured the humans best fighter. You are the ultimate sacrifice to the gods. I will bring you to the Prophets and they will sacrifice you on the homeworld, and your suffering, pain, and death will be watched by the whole Covenant race." the Priest replied. The world around the Chief spun as he ran out of air. Finally, he slumped to the ground, unconscious. The Priest began kicking the Chief into a dropship. It streaked into the air, with troops firing in vain from below. "Weak humans..." |
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