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Highlander's War : Cp3 : Reinforcements
Posted By: sam_fisha<sam_fisha@yahoo.com>
Date: 5 February 2005, 3:24 AM
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Chapter 3, Reinforcements:
The two Pelicans slowed and landed on the cold purple metal of the Covenant station. Ten Marines disembarked from the first Pelican and started scouting the landing bay. From the other five of the elite ODST emerged.
Lieutenant Stat walked to the abandoned Pelican that had inserted the first team to see that the door to the cockpit had been wrenched open and that both the pilot and the copilot were burned beyond recognition, their skin transformed into a black cinder like that of a marshmallow caught on fire. By his feet laid a plasma rifle of a dark red hue. Stat exited the Pelicans and rejoined the men who were unlocking the airlock which hopefully lead to the Marine force.
He vividly remembered a mission which had started similar to this, he remembered seeing twenty Marines lying on the ground, their bodies ripped apart and their organs out for display. That was the first time Stat had encountered what was being called a Brute, the large gorilla like beasts.
Stat snapped from his daydream at the sound of his team informing him the airlock was open. "Red team come with me, blue secure the area and wait for my signal to enter." Stat said as he walked into the cramped airlock, followed by his ODSTs. The door slid closed and the small room began to pressurize as jets of thick gas streamed from hidden vents and created a light fog, which quickly settled.
The doors of the airlock slid open with an audible beep and revealed the large room beyond. A winding ramp led around the room up to the airlock doors, sloping down the walls of the circular room. It the center there stood a small garden filled with brown plants which seemed healthy despite their sick color. Stat noted that at the end of the ramp the small black disk of a grav lift stood innocently.
After surveying the room and being sure there was no other way in Stat jumped onto the grav lift, which slid open to reveal a bright light. Stat was hovered a few inches off the ground before being zipped down with a whoosh . Somewhere below Stat could hear the rhythmic sound of repeated Battle rifle fire. When the lift dropped him off Stat saw there were only four Marines left of the eight sent in.
His FOF tags identified them with clean green text. Standing near him was a tall man with several scars and blood dried to his armor, Corporal Hayes. To his left, shooting his rifle into the dead body of an Elite, stood Private Keel, a short man who, judging by his lack of scars, seemed to be straight from boot. Propped up by a crated was Private Wilkes, who was badly injured with several plasma burns on his chest. And the other marine was Private Freddy crouched on the machinegun, he was also injured but seemed to be doing fine.
Corporal Hayes turned to Stat as his squad dropped through the grav lift. He was clearly happy to get reinforcements and showed little effort to hide it. "Glad you made it, the Covenant don't want to give this station up." The Corporal said as he studied Stat's armor, his arm hair standing on end from some invisible static force.
"Get your men on the Pelican, the Captain has ordered a mission abort." Stat said as the Corporal helped Wilkes to his feet. Then he nodded and looked back to the other Marines. "You heard the man, to the Pelican and double time it, grab some new vac suits." The Corporal ordered the Marines who quickly hobbled to the lift and were whisked away.
"My orders are to get every body out sir, which includes you." Stat repeated as the Corporal glanced around the room. "Not so fast, I understand that a Private Bert crawled through that access way to find a means of escape, until his condition is confirmed this mission continues." The Corporal said as he pointed to a small tube, barely big enough for a man in armor to crawl through.
Lieutenant Stat hated taking orders from a Corporal but he had orders straight from the Captain that Hayes was his commanding officer. "Yes sir." Stat said reluctantly.
Five minutes later the Corporal and the ODSTs were crawling through a dark cramped tunnel. The Corporal rounded a corner and found a small grate leading straight into a square room full of hovering chairs and holographic panels.
The Corporal punched out the grate which landed with a clang onto the floor a few feet below. Then he crawled out into the room and quickly readied his rifle, suspicious of the empty room. The other ODSTs followed him and fell into a tight delta formation. He walked over to a holographic panel and saw it showed a picture of the Highlander, and attached to it near its engines stood a long purple tube with two prongs latched to the ship.
"Bastards, landing ships." The Corporal said as he leaned closer to the holographic display, studying the ship. "Get a man to the Pelicans and contact the Highlander, tell them they have a boarding craft attached." The Corporal ordered Stat.
Sergeant Jorgen volunteered and quickly re-entered the access way and began wriggling his way back to the Pelicans. Stat noticed another Grav lift sitting behind some stacked crates. "I'll go first." He volunteered before anyone else noticed it.
Stat was whisked up by the grav lift and followed by the ODSTs and the Corporal. They landed silently behind an over turned Covenant table. The Corporal peered over the table and almost saw his soldier, Private Bert, splayed out on the floor, with his blood soaking a rug he was laying on. Bert's head was down at the floor even though his body was pointed towards the ground, showing his neck had been snapped. His ribcage was ripped apart at a ninety degree angle so they stuck out like pillars from his chest, and his organs were fried to a black crisp by plasma fire.
The Corporal peered about the room and noticed a giant mat of fur bundled into the corner. To the Corporal's surprise the fur abruptly snorted and began to snore. In the corner lay a Brute, sleeping contently after his feast. The ODSTs also peered over the table. Without a word Stat drew a frag grenade and armed it. With one sweeping motion he threw the grenade so it rested between the Brute and the corner it was facing in its sleep and flung himself under the cover the table provided. The Corporal and the others did the same, crouching behind the table as the grenade detonated, sending ribbons of flesh and thick fur flying throughout the room.
The Corporal stood, watching the last of the gore drip from where it stuck to the ceiling. "I guess we can go home now." He said to the ODST as he headed towards the door at the far end of the room. "Wait, take a look at this." Sergeant Henson said from where he stood behind a holographic display. "I just pressed a few buttons and this popped up."
The Corporal and the ODST walked over to stand beside Sergeant Henson. On the screen in front of him stood the holographic display showing several solar systems with representations of ships floating around them, Covenant ships. And several of the Ship groups had color coded lines leading to other systems, a chart of Covenant ship movement. The Corporal checked to make sure his helmet recorder was on as he watched the screen intently. "Ruwoor!" Everyone turned to see an Elite in brilliant golden armor standing in the doorway, a plasma sword in his hands. The Elite lunged at them with his dazzling sword outstretched.
The Corporal leapt out of the way leaving Sergeant Cordon in the path of the sword. Blue and yellow shields flared as the two locked in hand to hand combat, the Elite swinging his sword and the ODST using his Battle rifle like a bat. The Corporal raised his own Battle rifle and fired at the Elite. The bullets reflected from the shields harmlessly. The others did the same, the onslaught of bullets ate away the Elites shields and ripped its flesh apart. It fell to the ground and struggled to swing its sword as its life drained from it as fast as the blood draining from its wounds.
The Corporal looked at Sergeant Cordon to see he was enveloped in a yellow field of energy, a shield. "Holy...You're Spartans?" The Corporal stumbled as he watched the field strengthen.
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