 |
About This Site
Daily Musings
News
News Archive
Site Resources
Concept Art
Halo Bulletins
Interviews
Movies
Music
Miscellaneous
Mailbag
HBO PAL
Game Fun
The Halo Story
Tips and Tricks
Fan Creations
Wallpaper
Misc. Art
Fan Fiction
Comics
Logos
Banners
Press Coverage
Halo Reviews
Halo 2 Previews
Press Scans
Community
HBO Forum
Clan HBO Forum
ARG Forum
Links
Admin
Submissions
Uploads
Contact
|
|
|
Unknown Contact: Chapter One
Posted By: juble<josh_davis1@adelphia.net>
Date: 20 July 2007, 3:34 am
Read/Post Comments
|
Chapter One
0325 HOURS, September 21, 2525 (Military Calender)/
UNSC frigate Astrollo en route to Planet Cyran 2,
Iguanas System
Private Nick Rose sat quietly in his D77-TC Pelican Troop Carrier. The dropship itself was fairly large, and could hold up to fifteen people in its rear bay, which could open up so the troops could exit out the back. The bay itself, also known as the "blood tray", had ten seats, five on each side, and weapons lockers in the walls.
The nose of the ship had a 70mm chin gun, and the wings had 102mm rocket pods installed on the bottom of them. In Nicks oppinion, it was the most effective way in and out of a battle.
Nick checked his rifle for the third time, now completely board. Staff Sergeant Nathan Bates had ordered them to stay put in the Pelican, left with Corporal Darren Casto, and was taking forever.
"Damn," Jason said, "How long is it going to take for them to come back?"
Nick looked at his clock, which was digitally shown on his HUD via his eye piece connected to his helmet. They had been gone for ten minutes, and it already felt like an eternity.
"The only thing worse than going into battle," Nick replied, "is waiting to go into battle."
"You sure?" Jason asked, an odd look on his face.
"Well, yeah. Sitting here knowing you're getting ready to go fighting is way worse than going right into battle."
"No way," Raheem cut in, "Being in battle is way better than waiting to go into battle."
"Yeah," Jason said, looking over to his squadmate, "and I think you're just insane for thinking that."
"I can't help that I'm addicted to combat," Raheem said, a smile on his face.
"I still think you're just a freak." Jason contorted.
Raheem turned to Jason, and met his eyes. "So, how do you define, 'freak'?"
"I define freak as the best damn soldier I personally know!" Jason replied cheerfully.
Raheem laughed deeply, then continued looking out the back.
Nick looked out the bay doors. "What do you see that's so interesting?"
"Nothing" Raheem said, not even glancing at the young private.
Nick stood up, caught the attention of the other two marines in the dropship, and calmly stepped out of the back of the Pelican.
"Where are you going, Nick?" Jason called from the Pelican.
"Just takin' a look around." Nick called back, facing away from his team.
"You know Sarge is gonna' kill you when he finds out, right?" Jason called, still sitting in his seat.
Nick walked away from the ship, and left his team mates dumbstruck. Raheem looked out one of the viewports to look for him. With no trace of him visible, Raheem sat down, laughing slightly.
"Sarge is going to slaughter him," Raheem laughed, "Oh, man! He's also gonna' be real hungry."
Jason laughed, and heard footsteps approaching the dropship. He looked out, and saw Sergeant Bates and Darren approaching the dropship. Jason looked over to Raheem, both of them smiling. The Sergeant stepped onto the back canopy.
"Where is Private Nick?" he asked in a calm voice.
"I think he said something about the bathroom, sir." Jason said, wearing his poker face.
"I told you all to take care of that before we got on the ships." the Sergeant retorted.
Jason threw his hands up in a shrug, "Take that up with him, sir."
The loudspeakers located on the corners of the pelicans' holding bay fuzzed on.
"All troops, this is Captain McClanahan. All squad leaders report to the theatre for new orders. On the double."
With that, the speakers fuzzed off, and Sarge looked at the deck.
He looked up to Jason and Raheem. "You two, find that damn private and keep him in the ship, understood?" He spoke with his jaw clenched, meaning he was extremey angry.
"Yes, sir!" The two Marines in the Pelican said, saluting.
"Then move it!" He ordered, pointing out of the ship.
The two soldiers jumped down onto the deck, and ran off without looking back.
Private Nick was wandering around the Pelican bay, trying to find his way back to his dropship. He was glad that all the group leaders had been called out, that gave him even more time to attempt to find his ship.
All he wanted to do was go to the bathroom and take a piss before they left. That was it.
"But no," Nick thought, "I had to get lost getting back to my freaking ship! Dammit! Just my freakin' luck!"
He decided to go into a jog instead of walking, and began speeding up through the Pelican ship bay.
The bay itself was huge. It held 300 hundred Pelican dropships, and was five stories tall. Each Pelican had its' own slot on the tall shelf-looking area, as well as a number stamped on the side of the slot, to identify which Pelican belonged there.
The actual ship he was in, the UNSC Frigate Astrollo, was very large for a frigate. The outside of the ship made it look like a small destroyer. It had several warhead launchers, anti-air guns, missle pods, and a small MAC cannon. The ship's interior had enough weapons in the arms lockers to hand out to every everyone in the ship, even the non-combat crewmen, with plenty to spare.
Nick broke into a panicked sprint and ran down the hallway. He turned the corner, and ran right into another soldier. They both fell to the deck.
Nick looked up to see who he hit, and saw three Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, clad in black camouflage, staring down at him, angry expressions on their faces. He looked down, and saw another ODST rubbing his head, sitting on the ground.
Nick began to stand up. "Oh man, I am so-"
One of the ODSTs shoved him back to the ground.
Nick had heard a lot about the ODSTs from Sergeant Bates, who seemed to ultimately hate the ODST branch to the core.
They are an elite unit in the UNSC Marine Corps. They take high-priority missions usually, and instead of go to the field in a Pelican, they are dropped off in a one-man Human Entry Vehicle. They are great soldiers and brialliant tacticians, but hate everyone and everything outside of their 'elite' unit.
The ODST that ran into Nick stood up, and looked down at the private.
"Next time," the dark tanned soldier began, "Don't be runnin' around no corners, ya damn sack of shit. Got it?" He spat on Nicks' chest.
The ODSTs laughed casually, and began walking off. Nick stood up, and faced the soldier who had bumped into him.
"I didn't hear you, private." The ODST said, a smirk on his face.
Nick balled his hands into a fist out of anger. As a child, Nick was always picked on and beat up by bullies. He was used to them, and knew how to deal with them.
"No, I don't."
The man pulled his fist back, and swung right at Nicks' face. Nick ducked under it and jabbed him in the stomache. The ODST stepped back, looking a little surprised.
"Oh, so you're going to hit a superior officer, eh? You realize I'm a Sergeant, right?" The Shock Trooper bragged.
Nick kept quiet, and stayed on his toes. He gave a nasty look, and realized that the other three ODSTs were now behind him. He spun around in time to get hit in the helmet, followed by two hard blows to the chest and stomache. He doubled over and fell to his knees, trying to catch breathe.
The ODSTs backed off, and started to laugh to eachother.
"Hey, look. He's on his knees already!" one of them mused.
The Sergeant ODST kneeled down next to him.
"Listen, I wouldn't go picking a fight with us elites, got it?"
"Fuck you." Nick spat out, his breathe almost caught.
"Spunk!" the Sergeant laughed, "Hell, that'll get you nowhere, pal."
Nick stood up and raised his hands in a fighting pose.
"Whatever." The ODST Sergeant said, as he and the others calmly walked away.
Nick quit holding his breathe, and lowered his hands. He took all of that in for a moment, then laughed.
"It's not everyday that someone gets into a fight with four ODSTs and they just walk off."
Nick thought about the situation a little more. That was quite possibly the quickest fight he's ever had in his life. But, he wasn't complaining. He was just glad it didn't take a lot of time.
Nick panickly checked his timer, suddenly remembering his goal to find his dropship. He turned to go back around the corner, and saw Raheem and Jason running down a hallway.
"Hey!" Nick called, "Raheem, Jason!"
The two Marines stopped, looked in his direction, and then looked at eachother.
"Nick!" Jason shouted, "Get your happy ass over here, now!"
Nick ran to the two Marines, and they filled him in. After a quick run, they were back onboard the Pelican.
Once inside, Darren greated the soldiers. He was laying down on the seats, reading a STARS magazine.
"About time." he said, not even looking up from the book.
Jason punched Nick in a joking manner, "Where the hell have you been?"
Nick smiled and looked over. "Just making some friends."
"Bullshit." Raheem said, looking at the private.
"Why would you say that?" Nick said, recalling his quick little skirmish.
"Cut the chatter, ladies!" Staff Sergeant Bates yelled, as he and several other non-coms came out of a doorway by their Pelican.
The Sergeant strode to the Pelican, and took a seat next to the exit.
Nick was surprised he didn't say anything to him about not being on the dropship earlier.
"So," Darren said, putting his magazine in his backpack, "New intel?"
Bates looked at his squad. "No, you all remember everything from the briefing on Operation: Quelter, right?"
Nick was fully aware of Operaton: Quelter. The planet Cyran 2 has been known to have rebel activity for a long time, but no one could show proof of it. Two weeks ago, a pirate team of rebels led an assault on a UNSC destroyer, and successfully disabled the crew, and took it for themselves down to Cyran 2.
The destroyer they had captured was the Gigantum. It was only a prototype ship, which was meant to be able to use a ship-board Super MAC cannon. It already had all of its' armaments at the time it was attacked, but the systems were still under construction. The rebel ships passed right through its' radar zone with stealth ships, and docked at the far end of the ship. After a quick raid, they had captured one of the most powerful ships in the UNSC fleet.
Their mission was to go ground side, and neutralize the rebellion from there. Two other ships, the destroyer Atlas and the frigatePlateum had grouped up with the Astrollo, and had enough men to go right in to the battle.
The rebels, unfortunately, knew they were coming. All three UNSC ships sent on Operation: Quelter were built in space, and could not enter the planets' atmosphere without risk of breaking apart. So, each ship was going to send out all of their dropships, bombers, and transports from space to the planet.
"Yes, sir." the Marines said.
"Of course." Sarge said as he took out a cigeratte. He pulled off the lighting sleeve and the tip began to glow. He took a deep puff.
"The only changes to the mission, is that those damn ODSTs are going in first, that's it!"
Nick recalled his quick brawl, and almost laughed at the thought of such a fast fight. He then realized why Sarge didn't chew him out for not being there earlier-he was so upset about the ODSTs going in first that he forgot about Nicks' absence. Just his kind of luck.
"So," Jason asked, "they called you all there to tell you that? Jeez, why couldn't they just say that over the loudspeaker?"
"It's not that simple, son." Sarge began, "You see, you have to-"
His voice was cut off by the sound of the ramp leading to the blood tray began to lift up, closing off the only entrance.
Sarge quit talking, and walked up to the pilots' canopy. The two men flying the craft and Sarge began talking, but no one in the Pelicans' back could hear it. The sound of alarms raising echoes through the Pelican Transport Bay, and the engines of every dropship burst to life.
Sergeant Bates walked back to his seat, and continued smoking his cigeratte.
The pilot clicked on the enternal speaker. "Hang on, folks. This is going to be a little crazy."
The outside speakers on the corners of the Pelican Holding Bay blared with static. "Opening the pressure seal, all personel on board find a secure spot and stay put."
Hissing rang through the bay, followed by the sound of metal turning. "Opening main doors." was heard, and the doors that were right in front of the Pelicans opened up, to reveal the emerald-green planet of Cyran 2.
Nick looked over to the squad, who was dead focused on the mission. Not one soldier said a word. The ship began to turn, and faced the outside of the frigate.
Raheem broke the silence, "Man, I should have gone to the bathroom."
NOTE: Okay, here's chapter one. This was horribly rushed, and I feel bad for rushing it, but I want to have this released at a weekly pace. For those who don't know, last chapter I wrote about a gun, the MA3B, which is all mine, those who think it isn't are thinking of the MA5B from Halo 1. Again, this was rushed and much worse than last chapter, but oh well, this one at least had a fight. Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate it.
Thanks again,
Juble
|
