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Discovery of an Enemy, Chapter Seven: Part III
Posted By: russ687<russ687@hotmail.com>
Date: 30 June 2004, 6:15 PM
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1521, July 21, 2552 (Military Calendar)
System Designation Classified, Planet Codename Milestone
Ryder's head broke the surface. He closed his eyes as the motor forced him up, out, then along the mud to wherever the grappling hook stooped. He quickly fumbled with the controls and turned it off. He came to a sudden halt under a bush as the rain poured down on him.
He disconnected the line and threw it down the shaft towards the others, then he looked around at where he was. The area was surrounded by foliage; he was in the jungle.
He quickly brought out the LRISC headset and flipped the channel on. "Delta 4-1, this is Foxtrot Oscar, do you copy?"
There was a pause, then a crackled reply. "Delta 4-1 copies, glad to hear from you. Location?"
Ryder looked around. He had no clue where he was. "We're not in the field, but we're in the jungle somewhere, location is not known."
The pilot was calm in his response, even though they both knew the situation was bad. "Copy, pop some smoke and we'll find you."
Ryder almost reached back to grab and smoke grenade but stopped. This would give their position away to anyone with eyes; a good thing and a bad thing. "Are you sure? This will compromise our position."
"Roger, Foxtrot Oscar, do it anyways. It's now or never, Covenant Drop-ships are landing in the field."
Ryder wiped the mud of his face and grabbed the MK-SD smoke grenade. He pulled the pin and lobbed it into the bushes. A second later red smoke began filling the area. "Smoke out."
"Copy, standby for evac."
Ryder sighed and pulled out his rifle. He stood up and looked around, trying to see where they were. He moved toward a bush and peered around it, nothing but more jungle.
Noise originated from behind him. He spun around to see two grunts emerge from the smoke, their plasma pistols scanning back and forth. They had not spotted the lone Marine.
Ryder leveled the long rifle on them. The first shot killed the first, and the second shot killed the other Grunt. How did they Covenant get here so fast?
A yellow shield pushed aside some brush to his left, and he caught the sight of a Jackal out of the corner of his eye. It had not seen the Marine ether. Ryder quickly dispatched the alien with two rounds to its unshielded chest.
He then turned at the sound of something and saw Brooks pop out of the hole and get dragged in the mud until he shut it off. The Marine cursed and he got to his feet, mud covering him head to toe. Ryder made a slashing gesture at his throat and Brooks nodded, bringing his rifle to bear. He dropped the line back down the shaft for the next one.
A trio of Grunts emerged from the foliage, their weapons charged. Ryder and Brooks leveled their rifles and within seconds brought the three aliens down. The overcharges went harmlessly into the air, burning the leaves it passed along the way.
"How did the Covenant get here so fast?" Brooks whispered.
Ryder shook his head. "I don't know, maybe we just happened to come up in the middle of another scout party." He looked around carefully. "But I'll tell you one thing, this smoke is going to signal the Covenant like a bitch."
Brooks nodded and knelt down by the hole. They had better speed it up.
___________________________________________________________
McCollum helped Kren to his feet and secured the line to his belt. Kren stood, but only with the sergeant's assistance, and deep exhales of pain were evident as the lieutenant clenched his jaw.
The sergeant looked over at the chrome ball lying a few meters away. "What about that?"
Kren stared at it and grunted. "Stow it in a bag, and do not touch it."
McCollum nodded and handed the motor controller to him. Kren grasped it and hit the button. He started rising to the surface, holding his leg. McCollum watched him up, then turned his attention to the chrome ball lying in the muddy puddle. Surprisingly, it was not dirty at all. He walked over to it and knelt down. So this thing turned you into a ghost, he thought, pulling out a web pouch to slide it in. He carefully slid the bag around it, then secured it to his web vest.
He turned around and walked to the shaft as the line fell down. He grabbed it and attached it to his web belt. He then hit the controller and the motor started pulling him up. He took one last look around the room, not seeing much because it was so dark, but noticing a pistol lying near the dead Elite.
He hit the button again and the speed increased. The room disappeared as he moved into the shaft. If only they had time to look in all of those containers.
He looked up towards the light and waited as he was pulled up quickly by the motor. He kept going even though he starting smelling something burning. Halfway up he looked on himself and found it was coming from his gear. He checked the pyramid shaped object, it was still there. He checked the chrome ball; small slithers of smoke rose form the bag.
There was the sudden loss of weight as he heard the web bag rip. He fumbled blindly to catch the object but it left his grasp. He craned his head to look down and saw it disappear into the dark.
McCollum cursed loudly as he neared the top. He check the bag; the ball had burned through it. He sighed, another question added to the list.
He reached the surface and shut the motor down quickly. He climbed out of the hole to find Ryder and Brooks aiming their rifles around and Lt. Kren sitting up on the muddy ground.
___________________________________________________________
Abrams scanned the area for any sight of the smoke. He had evaded two Seraph fighters, and they did not detect him, but the airspace was quickly being filled up with Covenant ships. They had to get out of here.
The Blackspear flew in the clouds, the pilots using the FLIR to detect anything, but so far, they had come up with nothing.
"There's a Covenant scouting party half a click over there," Weisfield offered.
Abrams shook his head. "God, I hope they're not there."
"Listen we got to find them now or never, we'll never be able to investigate each IR feedback, we should drop out of the clouds and do a visual search." Weisfield said, checking the flight avionics.
Abrams had had enough IR searching blindly as well. He nodded put the craft in a quick descent. The Blackspear broke out of the clouds and into the rain and the two pilots looked around quickly. Half a kilometer away, where the Covenant scouting party was, red smoke filled the jungle.
"Oh shit," Abrams said slowly. "They're right in the middle of that Covenant group." He started heading for it. "Get them on the net, tell them to be ready for a line pickup in fifteen seconds."
Weisfield nodded and sent out the call.
___________________________________________________________
Ryder fired another shot into a Grunt who had wondered into the smoke and appeared before him when the LRISC cracked to life.
"Foxtrot Oscar, prepare for line pickup in fifteen seconds."
Ryder turned on the channel transmitter. "Copy, we are encountering resistance down here."
"We know, Delta 4-1 clear."
Ryder stowed the headset. "Sir, we're going to have to do a line pickup because were in the jungle."
Kren nodded, wishing he hadn't lost both weapons below.
"15 seconds!" Ryder yelled out as he fired, but missed, another Covenant Jackal moving in the brush.
The sound of the Blackspear originated and the craft pulled overhead. A few plasma shots left the jungle and impacted the armored underbelly of the black ship as it transitioned into a hover. The side hatches open up on both sides and two lines fell to the earth. Brooks was closest and grabbed one.
"Lieutenant, you first." He shouted above the roar of the downwash from the Blackspear.
Kren grunted, he usually said that to his wounded Marines when they were evac'd. Ryder helped him up and they hobbled over to the line while McCollum kept some Grunts from getting too close. So far they hadn't encountered an Elite.
Brooks secured the line to the lieutenant's belt and waved up at the drop ship. The line went tight and lifted Kren into the air.
"You're next, Ryder!" Brooks yelled. The downwash sent all the leaves into disarray as wind rushed around them.
Ryder nodded and went to the other line. He quickly strapped on and was hoisted into the air. Brooks ran over to McCollum and tapped him on the shoulder. He flashed a ten second gesture and pointed up. McCollum nodded and fired again until his clip went empty.
The two lines were thrown back down to the earth and the remaining Marines moved for them, one each. McCollum grabbed on and was hoisted into the air, Brooks began the process as something hot hit him in the back. He cried out in pain.
An Elite appeared through the clearing, coming straight for the injured Marine. McCollum looked down and pulled his rifle out, it was empty. He dropped it and pulled his pistol out.
Brooks ejected his back armor as the plasma engulfed it. His back was raw and he could feel the burns as the wind washed over him. The line went tight and he began to lift, but something grabbed onto his leg.
He looked down and saw the Elite grab hold of him, its eyes burning with hatred.
McCollum aimed carefully as not to hit the Marine on his way up, then opened fire at the Elite, now holding onto him. The first five rounds pinged off the Elites shields, the last seven tore into the Elite. But it would let go.
Brooks yelled, part anger, part pain, as the Elite defiantly held on even though it was now ridden with holes. He looked down and spit onto the face armor of the creature, then with his free leg kicked as hard as he could.
The Elite's head cocked sideways, and it loosed its grip just enough for Brooks leg to slip free. The Marine soared into the air quickly as Grunts began filing the area, firing wildly into the air.
___________________________________________________________
"Go, go, go!" Weisfield yelled, seeing that the Marine was now free.
Abrams pulled the collective stick and the craft jetted higher into the air. He then pushed the joystick forward and the craft shot forward, taking minimal plasma hits on its way. He looked at the passive radar receiver.
Ten Seraph's were closing in on them.
He pulled up and headed for the clouds as the fighters closed within firing distance. He jinked wildly as plasma impacted the rear of the ship.
"Armor is holding, but barely!" Weisfield yelled.
They disappeared into the clouds. "Call the Valiant Knight. Tell them we're inbound and need covering fire as soon as possible. As soon as we leave these clouds those fighters will find us again." Abrams said.
The copilot nodded. "Victor Kilo, this is Delta 4-1 inbound."
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