Insertion: Chapter 1
Posted By: Jester<jre333@bellsouth.net>
Date: 13 May 2005, 10:59 PM
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0900 Hours, July 17, 2533 (Military Calendar)/
Horn asteroid field orbiting planet 7 of the
Llenski system.
John was bored. He wasn't supposed to get bored, but after nearly two weeks of sitting in the asteroid they were using as a drop-ship he was. It wasn't really an asteroid though. The UNSC had put the thing together. It was made of pure steel with an overcoat that was molded to look like an asteroid. Tiny atmospheric jets had been placed on what the engineers defined as the aft of the asteroid. John didn't see how you could name the parts of an asteroid like it was a ship. The jets had been slowly moving them from the edge of the asteroid belt for the past two weeks. Their destination was the seventh planet of the Llenski system. The Covenent had recently set up a small facility on the planet. UNSC High Command wanted the Spartans to ascertain exactly what the Covenent were doing there and then eliminate the Covenent presence. Llenski system its self was barely populated, with only a few colonies on the second and third planets. The seventh planet was totally uninhabited, and had a climate that wasn't much unlike Earth's. The particular area the Covenent had decided to settle in was going to be fairly cold. John sensed movement behind him and ed his head to the right to see who it was. It was Kelly.
"Bored, eh?" she asked with a smile.
"You have no idea." he replied. Kelly just smiled at him.
"Don't worry, James say's we'll be entering the atmosphere in about two hours."
"Finally" John sighed "I'm going to be really glad to get out of here. I can't take it anymore." John pushed off the steel plated side. The small amount of gravity produced by the twirling asteroid was not enough to keep him completely off the ground. He d it. He liked having his feet placed firmly on the ground. Even the gravity on the warships he had been on was better than this. James turned when John stopped next to him. The tiny holographic display showed the seventh planet suspended in space. With a sudden jerk of motion the asteroid lurched forward. The final thruster phase had been initiated. The key to the entire infiltration was to be going fast enough, but not too fast, for it to look like a real asteroid was falling. They would land about seven miles from the target. On landing they'd seal up the asteroid as quick as possible and get away from the crash site as quickly as possible. If the Covenent were to discover them they'd immediately pick up and leave and glass the planet before the Spartans could get out.
"Two minutes." James stated over the comm. channel that went between each of the Mjolner suits. Each Spartan was strapped into crash seats at the back of the asteroid. There was suddenly silence, and then John was smashed forward. He grunted and bit back curses. There was a series of following impacts and then they were still again.
"My calculations might have been a little bit off there." James said a bit sheepishly.
"Only by a bit." John said dryly. "All right guys let's get out of here now. James, seal up the hatch on the way out." John and the others grabbed their assault rifles. James picked up his sniper rifle and Kelly her shotgun. John had opted for two large caliber pistols. John slammed his feet into the hatch, which came loose a little easier that John would have like. The engineers had assured them that the asteroid would survive the landing completely intact. There was a forest not more than a fourth of a mile away. He signaled the others and they headed out as one.
The Spartans were almost to the tree line when the approaching hum of a Covenent drop-ship dropped them to the ground. Elites and grunts dispersed from the drop-ship. They studied the rock with a certain amount of curiosity. Eventually they seemed to be pleased and stepped into the gravity lift. The drop-ship roared off into the ever darkening night. The Spartans resumed their march to the tree line. Nothing appeared on motion tracking. They entered the forest still very aware of their surroundings. Motion was useless now. The thousands of animals that inhabited the forest were spiking the motion detectors off the scale. They set up base-camp a little farther away from the tree line.
The next day they came to a shallow river that was less than a mile away from the target site. Kelly was the fastest, and John sent her out to do some recon on the target. She took James's sniper rifle and headed off. Kelly eventually came to a small ridge that overlooked the target site. What she saw was not good. She zoomed in to maximum to make sure she wasn't seeing things. She wasn't and it was even worse that she had originally thought. She signaled the others.
"This is not good guys."
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