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Earth Part 1: Arrival
Posted By: Inept Zombie<pcksu@swbell.net>
Date: 5 January 2004, 1:03 AM
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Note: This is part one of a new series I am writing. I tried to fix the errors that were pointed out in my first fan fiction. I hope you enjoy.
Note to those title-impared readers: This is not the series I started a few days ago. It just isn't.
0736 Hours, September 15, 2552(Military Calendar)/
Brooklyn, New York, Earth
Private First Class Ray Bernard took a sip from his coffee cup. He was sitting in his house, a small building in the suburbs of Brooklyn. He was in his late twenties, had shaggy brown hair and an athletic build. He reached the height of about five foot eight.
He looked out of his window and saw a luxurious limousine hover past him.It was black and particularly ornate. It had a flag on either side of the front of it that contained the UNSC emblem. The limo was followed by two M12 class warthogs, but instead of the usual mounted machine gun, the back was empty. Ray had seen this limo before, he recognized it as a general's escort vehicle.
Ray slouched back in his chair and took another sip of coffee. A few moments later his wife walked into the kitchen and sat down with a newspaper.
"Morning," she said, "how'd you sleep?"
Ray sipped at his coffee again. "Good."
She nodded in agreement.
Ray looked out the window once again. The street was empty, save litter blowing around in the morning Autumn wind. He sighed humbly and his gaze met the sky. He could faintly see stars moving around inconspicuously among the upper atmosphere. Ray spotted a strange star that was moving awkwardly toward him. He saw another one of these strange stars. Another. And another. He squinted his eyes to make sure the weren't playing tricks on him, and he made out a very faint purple tint to the stars. He drew his head back and there were hundreds of them in a cluster. They were all moving toward the Earth. Something in his brain clicked and connected these things together: the purple stars, hundreds of them, moving towards earth. One thought sat fresh in his mind: The Covenant were attacking Earth.
Ray rushed along the streets of New York in his electric Mazda-Sedan hybrid. He quickly punched into his car's video screen the number of the New Plymouth Military Base. A message scrolled across the screen, followed by a smooth female voice.
"The phone number you have dialed is currently busy. Please try again later."
" 'And thank you for using Verizon Auto-Cell.' " Ray mocked along with the voice in a snide tone.
He muttered a curse word under his breath and pressed harder on the acceleration pedal.
After about a mile, he came to a magnetic word display sign.
"Now leaving New York. Have a pleasant time in New Plymouth," it said.
Ray hesitantly rechecked the stars in the sky. They were closer now, and he could easily discern that they were not stars.
He grimaced at the fact that finally the Covenant had located Earth. He always knew it would happen sooner or later, but he preferred the latter. The thought of humanity being wiped out was discomforting to him. He reassured himself that he was a Marine and would fight them off, but he realized he would be among the first to die.
He sped past the New Plymouth welcoming display and turned left. He was headed toward the military base and could see it vaguely.
Old-fashioned barbed wire lined the perimeter of the building. It was six stories tall, and had high security doors that required a pass card to open. Old statues of World War II soldiers were set up in the registration lobby. Truthfully, New Plymouth MB was thought of as an antique, or a landmark, more than an active base.
Ray slid his card into the slit and the doors clicked magnetically in approval, and before entering the building noticed the black limousine parked in front of it. He stepped in.
He made his way quickly up the stairs to the third floor and greeted the secretary.
"I need to speak with the General, immediately." He said to her testily.
She nodded and pressed the classic button on her desk.
"There's a man here who wants to see you." She said stupidly.
Ray flashed his card to her.
"Ray Bernard." She added.
The doors swung open to reveal General Coston, and an admiral who Ray hadn't seen before. He walked in and saluted.
"At ease." The General said.
Ray lowered his hand sharply. "Permission to speak freely, sir."
"Granted."
"Sir, I have reason to believe the Covenant are invading Earth."
The General looked seriously at the admiral. "So it's true." He said.
He looked up at the sky and saw the ever-closer fleet of warships.
"They want a fight, then fight we shall." He said conclusively. "Private, you're in charge of alerting the marines about this. Don't tell any civilians until those ships get closer, we don't want any chaos here. Dismissed."
Ray saluted and walked out of the room, down the stairs, and into the main lobby. He shoved the secretary aside and tapped in a COM channel on the microphone. He pressed the speak button and talked into it.
"The Covenant are attacking Earth. All available units proceed to nearest military complex. Repeat, Covenant attacking Earth, units proceed to nearest complex."
The channel he had set up was to the COM radios of every marine in a forty mile radius. He hoped they would come. He prayed.
0815 Hours, September 15, 2552(Military Calendar)/
New Plymouth Military Complex, Earth
They came. Hundreds of marines spilled into the base, minutes after Ray's call.
Ray met them outside the main building as they were briefed. Holding a microphone, General Coston paced outside the ranks of the marines.
"As most of you know, the Covenant are on their way to Earth, hundreds of warships strong. They plan on destroying the human race entirely. Well, today we're not going to let them. What is left of our space fleet is engaging the Covenant in the air. It's your job to fight them off on the ground."
He strolled to a huge map that had been placed outside.
"Half of you will be flown directly to Europe to defend large cities of important countries such as the UK, Germany, France, and Spain. You will have to evacuate and escort citizens to a bomb shelter. The others will stay here and be in charge of evacuating the city to the bomb shelter in this complex."
He stroked his mustache in thought.
"The Airborne divisions will proceed to the pelican docking bay on the other side of the base. Soldiers that are staying here, report to the Manhattan outpost and get started. Sergeants and Lieutenants, gather your squads and move out."
Without anything more to say, Coston added strongly, "Give 'em hell, marines."
He smiled as the entire group cheered and started moving to their assigned positions. Ray struggled through the crowd and met up with his team.
He saw Corporal Richmond, a damn good driver, skilled in everything from a Warthog to a dune buggy. Richmond was a bit taller than Ray, and had spent more years in the service. All in all, Richmond was a tougher fighter than Ray was, and Ray admired him.
One of the team's snipers stood straight, next to Richmond. Marie was her name, and killing Covenant was her game. She could hit a pill and the person who through it from 150 meters away,before they had time to think. Because of many family deaths from the Covenant, including her parents and brother, Marie had a passion for slaughtering Covies.
Jason was the heavy gunner. He was uncannily strong and hefted a machine gun that had been detached from a mount, along with an MA5B on either leg. Jason was known for completely gunning down groups of Covenant soldiers, but was useless in a stealth mission.
Sergeant Colski stood with his arms across his chest, and a cigar hung unlit in his mouth. He was notorious for being extremely enduring and hard to kill in battle. He had very high will power, and even stronger manpower. He had a shotgun slung over his back and an AR on a hip holster.
The teams second sniper, James, stood next to the Sarge. His cocky attitude was noted by authorities, but in battle he was brilliant. He was as good a sniper as Marie was, and often stole her kills, which isn't a big deal, because Marie gets enough kills on her own. James didn't have anyone to avenge, and was less determined.
There were two marines next to the Corporal, but Ray had never seen them before. They must've been knew to the squad. Ray sighed. If we're going to get through this war, we're going to need a lot more than two rookies on our squad, he thought.
As for himself, Ray was a scout. He carried a battle rifle from the base's armory, one pistol, and an SMG. Ray didn't think he was that great at recon, but he was told otherwise.
"Okay, here's the deal." Sergeant Colski said. "We're goin' up to the outpost first and we'll come up with a plan there. Let's go." He started walking towards a troop-carrying Warthog. Richmond hopped in the driver seat, and Colski took shotgun. The rest of the team piled in the back.
Richmond peeled out and turned away from the base. He accelerated and along with sixteen other troop 'Hogs, treaded down the streets of Brooklyn.
For a few minutes, the Warthog was silent. Everyone was clearing their minds, checking their armor, and loading their guns, preparing for the battle ahead. Jason broke the eerie quiet.
"Anyone got a cig?"
James nodded. Jason stuck his hand out, ready for the cancer stick.
"Yeah, I got a cigarette, but you can't have it." James said, He would need all his to steady himself while sniping.
Jason hung his head and shivered, it had gotten colder. He crossed his arms to shield himself from the wind.
Ray was sitting nearest to the Sarge, leaned to him, and quietly asked him why rookies were on the squad all of a sudden. Despite Ray's effort to remain unheard, the Sarge answered loudly, so the whole team could hear.
"Those 'rookies' make one hell of a scouting team, and if you don't like it, you can leave."
The new team members looked at him oddly. Great,he thought,just what I need, two people scouting with me, and they already hate me.
A few minutes later, they came upon the outpost. It contained a guard tower, and a small strategic building. The tower was taller than most buildings, so observers could see a distance. At the top, a speaker was on each side of it. They would use these to contact the civilians.
The men piled out of the Warthog and entered the small building next to the tower.
Inside, there was a projector, six eight-person tables, and a desk. At it sat a middle-aged man in a gray uniform. He stood up to greet them.
"Welcome. I'm been expecting you. In the tower are three guards, just tell me and they will sound the alarm."
Ray noticed on his uniform that he was a major, and saluted along with his comrades.
"At ease, men." The Major said. He saw Marie frown and added, "and women." She smiled and lowered her hand. The Major continued. "I have to fly to a board meeting, so this outpost is now under your official control. I'll be going now." He exited the building.
Lieutenant Moruko prodded through the marines and sat at the desk. He motioned for someone to turn the projector on. A marine stood up and did so. Moruko drew on a paper a small plot of the city and arrows and circles pointing in various directions. He placed in on the projector, and the map appeared on the other side of the room at large scale.
"Two squads will set up on Main street, guarding one of the large ways in the city." He looked at the group of marines, "That'll be Marin's squad and Colski's squad. Another main route in is Intersate-38. Three teams will cover that. Mine, Johnson's, and...Washington's squad. Seven squads will evacuate citizens to the shelter back at New Plymouth, those would be Smith's, George's, Polaski's, Warren's, Judd's, Seths, and Lawhon's. The remaining squads will stay here and redirect any civilians that the evacuators miss. Move out, Marines!"
The Marines gathered their squads and came out of the building. They got into the Warthog and drove to their assigned positions. On the way to Main Street, the Sarge told them what to do.
"Marie and James, as soon as we get there, find a good sniping post." The snipers nodded. "Scouts, seek alternate routes or alleys that the Covenant could use to sneak in. Jason, find a good place that won't get you killed, but you'll be able to shoot out of. Richmond, take the Warthog and find out where they are. Ray, I want you as the passenger."
Ray opened his mouth to protest, but Sarge stopped him.
"That's an order." Sarge said. Ray slouched back into his seat.
"Yes, sir." He said solemnly.
The Warthog halted, and the marines jumped out and found positions. The snipers sat in adjacent buildings, Jason hid behind a closed alleyway, the scouts walked away quickly in search of their objective. Ray, on the other hand, walked to the passenger seat of the Warthog in solemnity.
Immediately, the 'Hog sped off on Main Street.
Ray sat back in the passenger seat and looked idly to the sky. He gasped as he saw dozens of Covenant dropships closing in on New York. He sat up hurriedly and cocked his rifle.
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