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A Series of Weird Events - Sequel, Part One[COLD BLOODED]
Posted By: Hunter_Killer<jlp8118@sbcglobal.net>
Date: 10 January 2004, 9:52 PM


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-- As told by CoLd BlooDed --




      CoLd BlooDed, one of the five members that made up November squad was strapped into one of the Pillar of Autumns lifeboats chairs. No one in the lifeboat made a sound or an effort to make conversation while Mainevent was piloting the evacuation vehicle. Goatrope, Wado, FOrunnER, and 'Nosolee all peered out of the cockpit window to see the giant ring world that loomed ahead.



       "Entering the atmosphere in 5!" yelled Mainevent over the squads frequency.



       "That's what they said in the game." informed FOrunnER only to receive a grumble from the squad leader.

      The lifeboat lurched as they hit the protective atmosphere of Halo, no one bothered to brace themselves. Goatrope said what everyone else was thinking.



       "Shit."

      Mainevent had the only UNSC armor that could hold an AI chip inside of the helmet, the artificial intelligence that the leader held was named Maxell after the Floppy disks. The AI had uploaded landing points into Main's neural lace; pointing out the places which were the safest to land.



       "We're landing here, it's the bottom of a snow-covered valley; we can take shelter in one of those caves and call for evac." pointed out Mainevent, "Looks like there is some minor movement south of our landing zone, lock and load people."

      The earth-like terrain had gotten closer, they could now see the snow on top of the mountains which they were coming in over. They entered the valley, it was at least 3 miles long and caves dotted the high walls of stone, some lit up by unknown reasons. Hopefully some survivors, thought CoLd BlooDed, they could help us out a lot.



       "We're coming in fast," said Main calmly, "but not fast enough to kill ourselves like our friends in the game."

      Soon the brakes of life pod were released and the pod slowed down considerably, they were now grazing the snow, still slowing down at a significant rate. The pod touched the ground but the snow was icy, a small error that the Forerunners overlooked. Though this was a small error, it almost claimed the lives of the affiliates of November squad. The life pod started skidding as it touched the icy snow; it began sliding on its side and just came to a stop before the outcrop of stone at the end of the valley.




       "Another smooth landing by Mainevent." sarcastically said Wado who had stepped out of the life pods exit, he shivered. "Where's the Covenant?"

      As if an answer to his question an explosion rang out somewhere above them, several Covenant bodies, an Elite and four Grunts, flew over them and fell into the snow. The team grabbed weapons and ammo which lay on the ground before them. 'Nosolee, Wado, Goatrope, and FOrunnER didn't need an order from Main who had already started up the slope which led to a cave. CoLd BlooDed trailed behind everyone until they reached the entrance of the cave. Each member of November squad had their backs up against the stone wall, more sounds of gunfire echoed off the walls of the cave. There was a hearty roar which came from an Elite and the members of November squad entered the cave with weapons at the ready.

      Main, who was the first in, went prone along with 'Nosolee to give a clear line of fire for CoLd BlooDed, Wado and FOrunnER. MA5B's rattled along with the pistols; once the smoke produced by the weapons cleared the bodies of an Elite and five Jackals lay in front of them with bullet holes riddled in their carcasses. A weary looking soldier came out of a group of four marines huddled in the back of the cave which was dimly lit by a lamp.



       "CovieKilla, glad to be at your service." the Marine introduced himself.



       "How long have you been here?" inquired FOrunnER.



       "An hour at the most, "replied CovieKilla, "We're lucky you came, this piece of shit plasma pistol is almost depleted; we wouldn't have lasted much longer."



       "How did you get down here, anyways?" asked CoLd BlooDed.



       "I was in the Pillar of Autumn with these guys," he gestured behind him, "and then when we were retreating from the Covenant we stumbled upon some of the HEV's that the Helljumpers used in the novel. We used them to drop into the ring and this is where we ended up, only one or two of my men didn't make it through the drop."

      There was a brief moment of silence until Mainevent interjected.



       "We need to get back to the command center where H_K is, that would be the best place to go right now."



       "How do we get there?" asked CoLd BlooDed.



       "A pelican came by a little while ago, we tried to contact it but I think our COM devices aren't working." said CovieKilla. "They dropped two Warthogs and a Scorpion in an attempt to make their load lighter when escaping from the Covies. We can drive into the mountains; I think a UNSC outpost was set up on a ledge somewhere on the outside of the mountains."

      Mainevent motioned everyone out of the cave 2 by 2; CoLd BlooDed was standing beside Wado who was behind Mainevent and 'Nosolee. They filed out of the cave and down the slope, then made it across a frozen lake to the UNSC vehicles. Main hopped into the driver seat of a Warthog and Wado hopped into the gunner seat and CoLd BlooDed hopped into the passenger's seat. In the other 'Hog CovieKilla was driving, and FOrunnER was in the side seat, 'Nosolee was a gunner. Goatrope had taken the role as a driver in the tank; the four marines that accompanied CovieKilla had taken seats on the sides of the Scorpion.



       "Ready to rock, sir!" Goatrope's voice came in clear over the command freq.



       "CovieKilla here, lets boot it!"

      Mainevent radioed back and then hit the pedal to cause the 'Hog to spin and then shoot off with speed. He was following CovieKilla who was about ten meters ahead, Goatrope trailed directly behind Main, it was like a convoy.



       "Hostiles to the left." CoLd BlooDed's voice echoed over the COM channel.

In response the Scorpion opened fire; a small group of Elites had hopped down a rocky slope. An explosion echoed throughout the canyon as it tossed the dead carcasses of the Elites elsewhere.



       "Score one for Goatrope." Goatrope chuckled over the freq.

      They were nearing a tunnel at the end of the snow covered valley, but two Hunters came out from behind a large boulder. The LAAG controlled by 'Nosolee and CoLd BlooDed started to fire. It wasn't much use, in response to the useless attack the Hunters managed to fire from their fuel rod weapons. The first one missed by a long shot, but the second came closer and closer to the 'Hog that CovieKilla was driving.

      In a doomed effort, CovieKilla did a fishtail maneuver to avoid the incoming plasma.

      The explosion would've killed CovieKilla, FOrunnER and 'Nosolee if he hadn't tried to dodge the attack. But CovieKilla's vehicle resumed its course as the tank once again sent a shell to the Hunters position, it exploded with much better results. Orange blood sprayed the boulder and snow, the Hunters had only been tossed a meter or so from where they were standing. They made it to the tunnel; it was just wide enough for the Scorpion to fit in. The passageway looked a lot like the tunnel in the level Assault on the Control Room, except it kept on going up, randomly twisting left or right.

      Soon they emerged out of the tunnel and onto a large cliff; about a kilometer away was a UNSC outpost. A makeshift road (snow melted so the dirt showed) led them to the base, and November squad and CovieKilla made it to the outpost in less then two minutes. They parked outside of a large beige tent; UNSC soldiers came to greet them.



       "Why 'ello, and wot are you doing 'ere, then?" asked a burly marine with a heavy British accent.

      Mainevent didn't answer him; instead he asked a question of his own which was where the commanding officer was. The marine led him into the beige tent, inside there was a man sitting on a wooden chair behind a makeshift desk. He wore the UNSC high ranking officer's uniform and stood up from what he was doing as the squad moved into the tent.



       "Can I help you?" the man asked with a rough voice.



       "We need a lift to the UNSC command center, a friends waiting for us there." replied CoLd BlooDed.



       "Oh, ok, so you just come to this outpost looking for a free ride? Well sorry buddy, but that I'm afraid is not gonna happen." said the noncom calmly.



       "Oh and why not?" asked Mainevent angrily. "We need to get to command center now. You can ask for H_K, he'll tell you that we're needed there."



       "I won't bother," said the officer grouchily, "I just got in touch with him, he said watch out for you guys, but I didn't know if you were the ones he was talking about. McGregor!"

      A skinny marine ran into the tent panting, "What is it, sir?"



       "We need to give these men a ride to the command center, get a Pelican ready on the double." the noncom ordered, the marine nodded and ran out of the tent. "Now get out of my sight."

      Mainevent and his squad mates didn't like the attitude of the officer, but they couldn't change anything about it unless they'd like to be court-martialed. The soldiers walked out of the tent and were lead by the British marine who had greeted them in the first place to the "Landing Pads". It wasn't too far away, maybe a minute away from the beige tent. They stood waiting at the landing pads waiting for a Pelican to be started up.



       "Hey, Main, how did you get off the Pillar of Autumn? I bet that ---" CovieKilla had tried to make conversation but two stray magenta-white needles attached to the soldiers arm. "Holy shit!"

      The projectiles exploded shortly after they glued themselves to CovieKilla's arms, the team backed away, they knew it was needler shots. Blood sprayed the ground, behind them the Grunt that had shot CovieKilla jumped out behind a tent accompanied by several Elites. CoLd BlooDed dropped to one knee and opened fire, the other members followed suit. An alarm started to blare; the UNSC outpost was under attack.



       "The Pelican's almost ready to go, it just needs another load of gas before we can take off!" yelled the technician who was readying the aircraft.

      Goatrope primed a grenade and tossed it into a fray of Jackals who had hopped out from behind the Pelican; it exploded sending charred bodies everywhere. CoLd BlooDed took out his pistol and shot down a Grunt, he needed a sniper to show off his skillz.

      Mainevent hopped into the Pelican's cockpit as several fights had broken out at the base, he yelled: "I'll get everything operational, this technician is too damn slow! Get in as soon as I say!" CoLd BlooDed stuck with Wado and 'Nosolee, FOrunnER was attending the wounded CovieKilla as plasma bolts went past his head as Goatrope covered him. The technician screamed and ran away as an Elite stepped out from behind a stack of UNSC weapons and ammunition.

      CoLd BlooDed took three head shots on the creature to take away his shield, but the alien dodged the forth and fifth shot. 'Nosolee took out his five-inch metal knife and threw it with deadly aim (as mentioned in Mainevent's story), it struck the slit in the Elite's armor where it opened up for the eyes. Blood sprayed out of the back of the alien's head, it toppled backwards, dead. 'Nosolee calmly walked over to the bleeding carcass and yanked the knife out of the creatures head. He wiped both sides of the knife on some snow near his boot.



       "Gotta keep it clean," 'Nosolee said with a smirk on his face, "its bad luck if you don't."

       'Nosolee turned around and walked back to where Wado and CoLd BlooDed stood; they were impressed with his knife throwing skills. Goatrope yelled with an Assault Rifle in each hand and firing, bodies of Grunts and Jackals and the occasional Elite lay on the snow covered ground in a three meter radius, he was on a "Killing Spree".



       "Get into the Pelican pronto!" yelled Mainevent from the cockpit over the team freq.

      FOrunnER attempted to lift up the injured CovieKilla who now had a biofoam-filled arm, CoLd BlooDed took the legs and they both took the marine into the Pelican. Goatrope hopped into the back along with Wado, 'Nosolee and the other four marines, the belly jets ignited and soon they touched off. Below them a battle raged, but it seemed like the humans were winning, they would contact them once they reached the command center.



       "First in and only out, eh boss?" said CoLd BlooDed as the Pelican rose higher.

      The twin turbine engines were given power and they disappeared from view of the UNSC outpost, a little while later the battle was won.





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