 |
|
|
|
The year is 2558 and the Covenant have found and stationed themselves on Earth. After the Pillar of Autumn's crash landing on Halo, no contact was made between the UNSC and the PoA. The people of Earth, as well as the people of the few remaining Inner Colonial Planets, have lost hope for their race with the demise of the SPARTAN IIs and the recent turmoil between the diminishing UNSC army and the mercenaries who offer their services (sometimes falsely) to the cause of protecting Earth. The government of Earth has behaved strangely since the first landing of the Covenant upon Earth's soil, causing Earth's people to mistrust it. - Genesis - Date: 5/10/2558 İİİİİ"Chief, I've finally found earth," Cortana announced. Under the visor the Master Chief's eyes widened in surprise. It had been six long years since the destruction of Halo, after which he and Cortana drifted through space in their Longsword, unable to find any planets to land on that had not already been wiped out by the Covenant. "Set us on a course straight for it," ordered the Chief. "Gladly," Cortana responded. Date: 5/10/2558 İİİİİSergeant Craven pulled out his MA5B Assault Rifle, already loaded for battle as a scratched, silver bird, the Pelican dropship, soared through the sky toward him and his squad, landing on the Pelican-Pad (similar to a Helo-pad.) On the side of the Pelican were painted the numbers "007," after the famous agent of the Hollywood past. The Pelican dropship had seen its years of usage, and so had Sgt. Craven as he set his black, torn up boot on the lip of the back, climbing into the Pelican and seating himself on the right side bench of the small room used to transport soldiers into battle. His squadmember, Pvt. Kuhlman, was the last to get on the Pelican, his cobalt eyes looking the inside of the Pelican over, spotting blotches of blood in one corner and then a puddle of it in the opposite corner slowly oozing toward the exit of the Pelican. Private Kuhlman's eyebrows slanted inward as he became distressed, hoping he'd make it home after today to see his newly wed wife, pregnant with their baby boy. The rest of the squad had already loaded onto the Pelican and were checking their weapons for the last time before they ran into battle just outside of Stuttgart. Private Kuhlman looked toward his sergeant asking, "How many Covies do you plan on killin' this time, Sarge?" Sergeant Craven replied, "Son, as many as I can get my dirty hands on." Private Kuhlman let a grin run across his face, knowing today would be a good day, as he was in good hands. Date: 5/10/2558 İİİİİPelican dropship 007 flew toward the battlefield at a mediocre speed. The pilot of the Pelican only saw towers of red and orange erupting from the ground and little grey dots running toward smaller red ones with specs of blue scattered over the field. He could see the blood on the ground, knowing that the Marines were charging the Grunts and Elites, each side losing heavy numbers as plasma bursts and bullets rang through the air finding random targets and laying anyone to waste. Stationary guns were poised to take out the troops of the Pelicans as they jumped off, but were soon detained by fragmentation grenades and Marine fire. The pilot thanked God for that. As many as ten Pelican dropships, including Pelican 007, landed on the battlefield, deploying over fifty marines, forty of them armed with fully loaded MA5B Assault Rifles and ten of them armed with S2 AM Sniper Rifles. The squad of P-007 hit the ground running, staying together as they ran for a piece of what use to be a banshee. Their boots tore up the dirt that laid on the ground, causing it to fly as they all ran, bucking and weaving from grenade explosions and even friendly fire. The squad finally made it to the banshee, with Pvt. Kuhlman peeking over the crest of it to survey the battlefield. "What do we have, Kuhlman?" yelled Sgt. Craven. Just as Pvt. Kuhlman was about to respond, a plasma grenade flew over his head and landed 10 yards from the squad's location. Even at 10 yards, the plasma grenade would send the squad flying over the banshee and right into Covenant fire where they'd take an unparalleled beating like no other. Private Smith instinctively got to his feet, dropping his MA5B Assault Rifle as he did so, and began running for the plasma grenade. His boots lifted off the ground, his arms reaching out in blind faith for hope of anything to hang on to, even though there would be nothing to hang on to. His body landed on the plasma grenade just as it went off, snuffing out the full explosion of it, even though his skin bubbled on his back, showing signs of intense scorching. Private Kuhlman's eyes narrowed and his mouth opened in fear, frightened that he was just three seconds away from blowing up, and saved on the fourth second by his fellow comrade. Sergeant Craven screamed, "No time for cryin' Marines, lets move!" Each squadmember stood up and ran from behind the banshee, holding down the triggers to their MA5B ARs, squelching out Grunts left and right as they did so. Date: 5/10/2558 İİİİİSeveral marines were lifted off the ground by a plasma grenade while at the same time five different Elites scattered across the battlefield dropped from the 14.5x114mm APFSDS rounds that went through their chests and heads thanks to various snipers outside the battlefield. The Covenant and Marines were equally losing numbers, the only difference was how they lost those soldiers. A banshee flew over a warthog, launching a proton torpedo right into the front of it, causing the warthog to fly backwards, flipping several times as its engine fused with the body of the warthog, its driver and passengers vaporized. Soon after, a rocket streaked across the field toward the banshee, making dead contact with it, resulting in the banshee to erupt in flames and fall to the ground, the Elite inside of it having already flew out of it due to the impact of the rocket. Marines and Elites with Grunts charged each other relentlessly, absolute chaos. There was no sanctuary. Date: 5/10/2558 İİİİİ"I've lost control of the engines," yelled Cortana. "Not good. But we can still make it, we'll just have to brace for impact," said the Chief. "Where are we going to crash? Can you find out, Cortana?" "Let me check. Alright, we'll probably land somewhere in southern Germany," she answered. "What do you mean by 'probably' and 'southern Germany?" asked Master Chief. "We'll soon findout," Cortana answered. Date: 5/10/2558 İİİİİThe battle continued as Private Kuhlman ran behind an Elite, hoping to shoot it from behind as to kill it quickly. The Elite, aware of his surroundings, turned around to face Pvt. Kuhlman. Private Kuhlman shrank in his skin, never seeing an Elite before, especially up close. It damn near killed him just to look at the Elite. The Elite, covered in blue armor, raised its arm high, ready to strike down Pvt. Kuhlman in a single blow. A white streak blazed across Pvt. Kuhlman's shoulder as he watched the Elite fall over, landing on its back with a loud thud. Private Kuhlman turned around slowly, afraid to move at all, petrified almost, to see toward the direction from which the round had came. He waved slowly toward the shrubs he saw, thinking the sniper must be using those same shrubs for cover. Private Kuhlman noticed he had stopped breathing from fear, and then his body slacked letting out some of the tension, as he was thankful to be alive. A screeching sound, almost like that of a banshee, but much louder was heard. At first no one paid attention to the sound, neither Marines nor Covenant. Then it became louder. Sergeant Craven seemed to be the only person looking at the sky as the battle raged on. A fireball that seemed to be spinning out of control was about to land directly in the middle of the battlefield. About twenty Grunts charged at a small squad of Marines, ready to overpower the small group of humans with their numbers. A loud thunder erupted from nowhere, drowning out the plasma bursts and the gunfire. Marines and Covenant alike flew into the sky, as well as many being squished under the UFO that landed. After the thunder, all was quiet like the eye of the storm. Sergeant Craven didn't know if he was alive or dead. He soon noticed that not a single soldier was moving, Covenant nor Marines. They all stood still, gazing toward the small crater made in the center of the battlefield. The blue and red chrome color of the Covenant armor mixed with the dull grey of the Marines looked like one massive abstract painting. A rather loud hissing sound was heard. One of the doors of the UFO opened. The object couldn't be identified because it was burned halfway open, but Sergeant Craven was pretty sure it was a Longsword. The keyword was "was." A humanoid figure in scratched up, dull green armor hung to the side of the door, before taking a few faltering steps and then passing out as it tried to climb up the side of the crater. It's visor reflected the sun as it laid on its back, its right arm raising and its hand grasping for something, anything. The Covenant slowly backed away from the battlefield, walking as slowly as possible. Grunts scattered all over the battlefield started yelling "It's him! It's him! Get off the field!" Elites were looking to their left and right not knowing what to do. They had obviously seen this figure from visual images sent by senior soldiers or heard of him from transmissions. Marines' mouths gaped wide open yelling "It's the Spartan! I thought he died!" In the midst of it all, Sergeant Craven took the opportunity to turn toward an Elite and whack it with the butt of his MA5B Assault Rifle with all his might, then pull back and start firing at it. At the sound of the Assault Rifle fire, the Elites turned tail and ran toward their base, with the Grunts soon following after. They didn't care where it came from, all they knew was that the most hated figure of all Covenant history was in their wake, and they didn't know what was going to happen. The Marines were astounded that the Covenant had retreated. They knew that soon, though, they would return, most likely with more numbers. It wasn't like the Covenant to leave and never show up again. Soon medical evacuation showed up and took the armored body away. Obviously someone had called for evac. Pelican ships landed on the battlefield as close to troops as possible. The troops climbed in the Pelicans and were lifted off. Date: 5/10/2558 İİİİİSergeant Craven checked and re-checked that what remained of his squad was on the Pelican. He looked to Private Kuhlman and asked with a grin, "Wasn't that grand for your first day? You just witnessed the return of our last hope. Tell your friends all about it." And with that the Pelican soared back to Stuttgart, Germany. |
|
 |