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The New Hannibal: Chap 1./Excerpt
Posted By: Halcyon-713<janet.johnson8@comcast.net>
Date: 13 September 2004, 1:10 AM
Read/Post Comments
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The New Hannibal
By Halcyon-713
Prologue/Excerpt
"God damn you!" barked the Master Chief, and spat blood onto the floor. The hull suddenly tilted at a fifty degree angle, and the Elite slipped on John's warm blood. It lost its footing, and slid out of the hull and plummeted to the ground below.
The Master Chief grabbed onto a handful of power conduits, and watched as the Elite hit the rapidly approaching earth. The front of the Ebro impacted the ground, and the Master Chief let go of the power conduits, slumping back to the rear of the bridge, and slipping into unconsciousness.
The Elite had been successfully damned.
Chapter 1: Snake and Bear Trap
0713 Hours, Thursday July 13th 2553 (Military Calendar/)
Damascus System, aboard UNSC Cruiser Zama,
Over UNSC Colony Tarsus
A dream, the Master Chief though. It's just a dream. A harmless dream. It's not real!
The Master Chief's eyes flickered open, waking him from his nightmare. The lid of the cryo-tube hummed open. Mist flowed gently out onto the floor. John turned his head back and forth, and felt the stinging coldness from the tube wear off.
He looked around crowded room of Cryo-Bay E. About three dozen or so regular Marines were stepping, naked and clumsily, out of their cryo-tubes. They each regurgitated a slimy green mucus-like substance, and started to dawn their clothes.
Over the intercom, the crisp voice of a woman spoke, ordering Fire Teams Zeta through Sierra to move to the Zama's bow. The Master Chief swung one pale, naked leg over the edge of the cryo-tube and stood up. The Marines paused and looked at the massive man, and then went back to waking up and prepping gear.
John walked to a separate room, and laid down on a medical bench. A pair of techs stood behind a computer console, activating machinery. Robotic arms reached from the ceiling of the room, and started attaching M JOLNIR armor parts to John's body. After the procedure was complete, the Master Chief donned his helmet, and stood in the middle of the activation platform for his armor. As the pillars began to turn and glow a bright goldenrod, the female voice came back on the intercom, spilling forth orders to Boarding Teams Bravo and Charlie.
After the MJOLNIR's shields read full charge, he chinned a control and a burst of static electricity ripped at his body. The shield bar dropped to a sliver, and the armor pulsed a warning. They recharged, and he left the room. Almost on cue, the crisp voice spoke again.
"Master Chief, report to the bridge. Repeat: Master Chief, Spartan-117 report to the bridge."
The Master Chief left Cryo-Bay E, and turned towards the elevator lift at the end of the hall. He rode it up three decks, and the door hummed open. Four Marines stood with their MA5B assault rifles leveled. The lead Marine waved the Master Chief forward, and the others went back to a delta formation, with the lead Marine crouching down slightly so that his squadmate behind him could have a clear line of fire.
The Master Chief turned a corner ahead, and strode onto the large bridge of the Zama. At the head of the bridge, seated in the Captain's Chair, was Commander Rebecca Dreyer. She was of medium size, and wore a standard UNSC CO uniform. Her hair was a dark red, with light grey streaks in it. She wore a pair of bifocal spectacles. Her eyes were a deep hazel-grey that made her eyes seem like pieces of coal.
Commander Dreyer turned, and the Master Chief saluted. She returned the gesture, and extended her hand. This gesture was odd to the Master Chief, and it took an extreme amount of control to not crush her hand with his super-human strength.
"Greetings Master Chief," she said in the crisp voice he had heard over the intercom, "It is unfortunate that we didn't meet under different circumstances."
"Ma'am?" John asked.
"The Covenant are here, Master Chief. We don't know why, but they are. Tarsus is an R&D colony. We were simply on patrol through the sector when they appeared on radar. They appeared at extreme range, but we're not fooled. We believe that they will attempt a pinpoint Slipspace jump."
"Ma'am, number of ships?"
"So far, we only count one. However, it is one of their flagships. More are probably on the way," she turned towards one of the bridge officers, a Lieutenant Commander, "Lieutenant Salvatore, status on the MAC cannons?"
The officer turned towards Commander Dreyer. The Lieutenant was male, strongly built, and had tan skin. "Ma'am, MAC cannon at 87% and climbing at a rate of 4% a minute."
"Good, rotate and arm all forward Archer missiles to coordinates 0.0798457113. Launch all Longsword squadrons and have them take a flanking position around us," Commander Dreyer ordered.
"Aye, ma'am," Salvatore responded, and turned back to his console.
An explosion rocked the ship. The commander fell forward, and the Master Chief caught her.
"Ensign Antonich, status report!" Dreyer barked.
"Captain, the Covenant ship, it just appeared on the port side and fired a pulse laser blast," the Ensign consulted his terminal, then added, "Ma'am, they've launched their boarding parties!"
"Goddamnit!" the Commander shouted, "Then we shall retaliate accordingly. Launch our boarding parties. She turned to John, "Master Chief, I want you on one of those parties. Go! GO! GO!"
The Master Chief darted off the bridge, and rode the bridge elevator down one deck. He got off, and dashed towards the nearest party. There were nine Marines in the party. Three had MA5Bs, and the others M9D shotguns. The Master Chief looked behind him, and saw a weapons locker. He reached out to get it, but a blast door sealed behind him, blocked him from weapons.
The blast door in front of them opened, to reveal a long, clear, Plexiglas tube stretching over to the Covenant ship. The Master Chief and his boarding part dashed ahead. To the left and right of them, more tubes stretched across, both human and Covenant. The boarding party reached the other side, and came across a large Covenant door. One of the Marines pressed a series of buttons on a control panel, and the doors happily slid open.
The Master Chief looked up after the door slid open, and stared directly into the smiling face of an Elite sitting in the seat of a plasma turret. The Shade turret fired, and the Master Chief lunged.
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