Victories Last Hope Ch10 Bring your own Bodybags
Posted By: me<gumdosword@comcast.net>
Date: 21 July 2006, 7:36 am
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An: Okay another chapter uh after you read this if you have any tips for a protracted one on one battle please tell me
The two opposing figures stared at each other; the silence was a stark contrast to the violence that had preceded the confrontation. Fear, respect and undercurrents of hatred flowed freely between Fear, respect and undercurrents of hatred flowed freely between the human and his opponent. Finally the silence was broken by one of the Elites under his opponents command.
In answer his opponent said in an accented form of English "No, you shall not interfere. This is a matter that does not concern you." The Elite then said to him "Are you happy human, you shall lose your life by my hand alone. You shall have your chance to avenge your brethren."
The Elite looked surprised to find no fear in Greg's answer. "You seem to be under the illusion that you will be the one who doesn't end up dying today you alien son of a bitch." As he spat the last few words he charged his enemy.
As he charged he activated the plasma sword in his right hand and drew a knife with his left. Immediately he had to dodge around a strike that would have opened him from shoulder to hip. His slash was similarly countered and soon both of them were dancing around each others blows. Finally he threw himself forward into a wild lunge. The Elite quickly sidestepped and whipped his sword around. Greg barely spun out of the path of the sword then planted his foot and sprung towards his opponent. The Elite instinctively brought up the Plasma sword to block.
The two swords met, for a fraction of a second they held against each other, but suddenly they melded together. They stood joined together by the plasma swords when the swords containment fields suddenly dropped. A spray of hot plasma created a cloud between the two warriors stalling any offensives attempts.
They both quickly dropped the swords and reached for other weapons they carried. With their new weapons in hand they paused for only seconds as they tried to divine their opponent's next move. When the cloud dissipated the Elite struck first. With lightning fast movements it struck twice at Greg. He responded by dodging the first slash and countering the second by stepping into the Elites dead side. From his new position he stabbed towards the base of the Elites spine using the knife in his left hand, but the Elite managed to move making the knife miss its mark and plunge into its hip instead.
Moving fast the Elite pulled itself away from the knife. Its leg collapsed as the blade cut into the muscle effectively disabling the Elites limb. As Greg lifted his blade for the final strike he sensed movement in the corner of his eye. He quickly turned his head to be greeted by a glowing bolt of plasma.
Many Sangheili were greedy, a fact that was proven by the number of assassinations recently, yet even the greediest among them didn't want their commander to die. Even though many of them would stand to gain from his death, their current commander was blessed by the gods in the way he lead his troops. His stratagems saved many Sangheili, Kig-Yar, and even Unggoy lives, and the gods seemed to bless the troops under his command with safety as long as they were loyal.
This very loyalty caused the Elites holding the other heathens prisoner to disobey an order. Many saw that the other around them were of the same mind, yet they only acted when their leader was gravely wounded. The first to act was a minor who drew a plasma pistol and began to charge it.
The Elite holding Sean loosened its grip as it reached for its sidearm. As it brought up the plasma pistol its grip became loose enough for him to point a strange device on his right gauntlet towards the Elite's leg. Finally before the Elite fired he managed to depress a button at the base of his palm, suddenly an electric arc jumped from his gauntlet and into the Elite's leg. The Elite's shield dropped as the arc mad contact and the electric current flowed directly into its leg disabling it, and the pistol was brought out of line by the Elite's falling body. The plasma still launched from the pistol but it was no longer pointed at Greg.
The plasma bolt flew over his head as the Elite that fired it suddenly dropped. He threw the knife in his left hand and watched as it lodged itself in the Elite's throat, yet he still had to dive as second Elite brought its pistol to bear. He shoulder rolled as he hit the ground, and came up next to another Elite knife hand already speeding up towards its neck. The knife pierced its throat and was ripped out as it flashed towards a third Elite. When that Elite had died he shoulder rolled towards the first Elite that still had his knife buried in is neck. He grabbed the knife and saw an armored leg standing over him; an Elite was standing above him with its back turned. It was defending itself from Sam as he went on a wild offensive designed to keep the Elite from brining its extraordinary strength and speed from coming into play. Greg quickly sprang up and slit its throat from behind. When he turned he quickly saw that the rest of the Elites were being beaten down by marines who had broken loose from their captors.
When they had finished off the remaining Elites they quickly picked up their weapons and finished off any wounded Elites. They noticed that the Elite's leader was not among the newly deceased.
"Looks like we missed one," Sam finally said.
"And I really wanted ta kill that one," Greg replied.
"At east they're the dead ones," Daniel interjected.
"Shouldn't you be hiding in a corner," Greg said "like you were the last few fights?"
As they once again began running for the grav-lift the Elites commander had reached the control room and told his tale to the commander of that ship. They decided that the only way to handle the heathen incursion was by contacting forces outside the ship. When they raised the Battle-Net they only received a deathly silence, yet the transponders marking the other living Covenant remained lit.
"I wasn't hiding!" Daniel yelled as they entered the room containing the grav-lift.
As they descended and exited the ship whatever powered the crystal that had frozen time around sensed that they entering the frozen area. Before they touched the ground it began a process that returned everything to normal.
"So what were you doing observing the battlefield using your keen mind and obvious intelligence," Greg said sarcastically while they were descending.
When they finally reached the bottom of the lift Lucas immediately grabbed the comm. he was carrying and tried to raise command. "Command this is bomb team three from squad one from Beta platoon checking in," Lucas said into the comm.
As soon as the commander heard the unit designation he immediately grabbed the comm. on his end. Before he said anything he checked his watch, they still had four minutes and fifty nine seconds to check in. He could already tell that his subordinate was smiling behind his back. "This is command, what is your status, position, and who the hell do I hear talking in the background," he said into the mike. He had distinctly heard a feminine voice in the background saying something about observing something other than the battlefield. That was strange because as he didn't remember and females being in that squad, but from the sound of the voice he didn't want to be right about that.
"Sir most of the squad is gone killed in an ambush, all that's left is Sean and I. We've been temporarily boosted by several POWs we met on the way out; they seem to be the remainders of first squad Alpha platoon. We are currently directly beneath the Covenant Cruiser and in desperate need of Evac," Lucas yelled into the comm.
"Rodger, a squad from Delta platoon same program as you guys are due north of your position. They are your only Evac option the pelican was chased off by several hostile aircraft. We've already asked the Deltas to contact us when you get to them, good-luck."
"Rodger, Oh Crap Hostiles! Sir gonna have to cut this short Out!" Lucas yelled into the comm. as he opened fire on a large group of Covenant that had ambled into view.
Greg emptied the carbine into yet another Elite that had decided to try and use his blood to buy honor. Oh shit that was everything he thought as he began to reach for more ammo. He reached for the plasma pistol he had taken from the armory aboard the Unrelenting Fury as several grunts decided they might try and be brave for the first and last time in their lives. Sam sprayed the area with his plasma rifles decimating the grunts.
"Nice shot Sam," Greg yelled over the roar of the battle around them.
"You owe me," Sam yelled back when a barrage of carefully aimed plasma shots flew over his shoulders killing the Jackals that were trying to blind side him. "Okay let's call it even," he yelled again.
Greg smiled and once again began shooting at the enemies charging him. They had fought a running battle over the last few hours when an ambush had forced them to a halt. They were now behind a hastily erected bunker in the middle of an intersection trying their best to survive. When his plasma pistol overloaded he ducked below the cover of what had once been a pillar one of several that had once lined the roadway.
He quickly surveyed the defense they had erected. Manning north half was Spencer and Sam. The south half was manned by Lucas, Sean, and himself. In the middle Molly was firing on whichever side seemed to need more help, and of course Daniel was cringing in whichever corner he deemed safe. Unfortunately many of them were now grabbing for their secondary weapons as they ran dry.
He popped back up and began concentrating his fire on a red armored Elite who had decided to present a large target and raise the morale of his troops. Unfortunately when its head melted from intense plasma fire the troops around him were incited to greater levels of ferocity instead of despair. They were all using secondary weapons now and were growing desperate. Finally the aliens were barely being held at the barricade itself.
Greg overcharged his plasma pistol and melted a grunts face with its last charge, and reached for one of his knives and slashed the methane tubes of three other grunts. Sean grabbed a plasma pistol from a rabid grunt and used it to destroy it and the gaggle following it. Sam was now using his fists to pummel several grunts then grabbed their weapons to use on an Elite that was charging his position. Lucas had somehow obtained a carbine which he was now using as a baseball bat to defend his pat of the circle. Molly was now shoving her sniper into the face of whatever she wanted to shoot.
The conflict had grown so bad that Daniel had finally found the courage to open his eyes and fire at the enemy. His fresh weapon was actually decimating the enemies within the sphere of combat. Despite the ferocity of the battle each human was still keeping the friendly banter that seemed to be the only thing that kept them sane.
Greg sliced open the bellies of five different Grunts, Jackals, and Elites as they jumped over the barricade. "Seventy-eight, Seventy-nine, eighty damn they don't give up do they," Greg yelled as he finished off another three Jackals.
"Only eighty you're losing it Greg," yelled Sam as he choked a Grunt and hurled it into an upcoming group of enemies.
"I'm only countin knife kills Sammy Boy."
When they were about to be overwhelmed battle rifle shots and the booming presence of M90 shotguns made themselves known. Men clad in black armored suits began decimating the left flank. When they had finished off that side Greg and his team was finally able to concentrate on one side and one side only. Finally the last Elite fell to an overcharge bolt and a burst from a battle rifle. The leader of the new arrivals walked up and said, "We fire team alpha of Delta platoon here to rescue your sorry asses."
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