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The Renegade Marines Part XIII - The Escape
Posted By: Shadow<Shadowolf16@aol.com>
Date: 18 April 2002, 2:36 am


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Kroeger smiled as he walked out into the hall after speaking with the general. It seemed he was a renegade. Now he knew exactly how Shadow felt. Maybe that's why he had rejected his offer to go back to the military base with him. Kroeger realized that when you're a renegade, you can't trust anyone except for those who are renegades with you. Only the ones that were renegade with you were the ones you could honestly trust. He sighed and exited the hallway through the doors. He was out in the night sky now, and he breathed in the fresh air. He looked up at the stars, and watched them twinkle. He looked back down at Earth, and started walking into the small town a few steps away from the military base. AS he walked into the town, he looked around at all the civilians going about their life. They had no idea of what was going on in this world. The only thing they knew were the lies of the media and the government. He turned away, and walked into the bar. The once silent night became loud and boisterous as the red and yellow lights flooded his pupils. He looked around as the soft music played in the bar. The 113th and his other squad that was ambushed were already there, talking and gossiping. He walked up to the tables, and sat down quietly in the back, listening. As he sat down, he heard a main conversation, apparently, they didn't realize he hadn't arrived yet.

"Hey, hey! So listen to this. We're about to get our asses whooped by at least a hundred golden elites."
"Bullshit!"
"I'm not kidding. When the commander comes, you can ask him. Anyway, we're getting our asses kicked as the elites are rushing us. We take cover behind some rocks, but are hopelessly outnumbered. We're about to blow our own explosives, then some elite dude pops out of nowhere and blows the elites away with some type of rail gun. His accuracy was amazing. The cool thing was that the commander just walked up to this guy and walked to him as if he knew him. It's amazing, the two best soldiers I've ever seen knew each other as enemies. Could you imagine that?"
"Bah you 143rd troops, you guys don't know any action compared to what we had with Kroeger. We've had plenty of close battles."
"You 113th's, all you do is brag. You may be the elite group in the military, but that doesn't give you the right to brag."
"I wasn't bragging dipshit!"
"Yea you were, you asshole!"

The two men stood up, and it seemed a bar fight was about to start. Kroeger had sat a listened long enough. He stood up, and yelled out.

"Stop it you fucks! Sit down, and cool off! We don't need this shit! You guys are fighting the Covenant, not yourselves. You're soldiers, not civilians. You need each other, or humanity has no chance. Got it?"
"Commander? Since when did he come in?"
"Since you started acting like a dumbass!"
"Fuck you!"
"No! Fuck you!"

They were about to start again when Kroeger broke in again.

"Stop it! You guys need to work together even more than ever now! Things are going to change. You'll need to learn to work together. It may be the last time you guys fight."
"Sir? What are you talking about? Is it a mission we have together?"
"Look, just remember that we're on the same side. Now cool it."

He walked away as the troops calmed down, and began telling stories again. He walked up to the bar and called the bartender.

"Yavo please."
"You got it commander."

The bartender went to go get him his drink. Meanwhile, Kroeger sat at the bar chair, thinking. He wondered if the troops and him were going to ever make it out alive. If they didn't, humanity was doomed to die at the hands of the Covenant. How could the government trust those shit bags? They were too trusting. You never make an alliance with your sworn enemies, especially when they want you dead for a religious cause. He looked down, and saw his green drink sitting in front of him.

"Put it on my tab."
"Yes sir."

He didn't know why he was doing that. He would never be back to pay the tab. He was leaving tonight. Hehe...he had gotten out of paying his tab, this time for something legitimate. He was about to drink his Yavo, when his TAY-20 transmitter went off. He took it out of his pocket and looked through the screen.

"Kroeger, what is it?"
"It's time."

Kroeger nodded in understanding, and closed up his TAY. He turned to his troops.

"C'mon boys, we're leaving for our mission tonight."
"Hey! What about sleep! And briefing?"
"You'll get both of those on the dropships. We need to leave now. The other 370 troops are waiting for us at the hangar."
"380? What kind of mission is this?"
"A big one. Lets go."
"Yea baby! We're going big time now!"

The troops were still confused, but followed Kroeger as he walked back to the military complex. As he entered, his TAY beeped again, and he opened it.

"The government's here. You need to move now. All the other troops and weapons are already in the air, and en route to your spot. Looks like they want you dead tonight. You must hurry. Your ship is in hangar 2."
"Alright. Thanks for everything."

The general nodded on the viewscreen, and it went blank. Kroeger put it away, and walked into the hangar, and looked up at the two dropships. He turned to his troops.

"Get on, we're leaving now."
"Sir! What about our weapons?"
"Fine, get them now. But quickly."
"But sir, where are the rest of our squad and the 143rd's?"
"They and the rest of the troops are already en route to the mission."

The troops quickly picked up their Assault Rifles, and as Kroeger picked up his, he heard the whirring sound of automatic doors opening. He turned, and his eyes turned white with fear. The elite government troops were on the other side of the hangar, with the dropships in the middle of it. Kroeger looked at them, and yelled to his troops.

"That's the government! Hold them off until we get on the dropships!!"

The troops did so, and almost immediately, fire began to break out between the two sides. Both sides were equipped with ARs, so none of the bullets had any critical damage. The troops fired quickly as they made a run for the dropships. The government soon caught on, and began firing at the dropships.

"Sir! We're taking fire!"
"Jen? Is that you?"
"Yes, I'm your pilot."
"You know what to do."
"Yes sir."

In the cockpit of the dropship, Jen smiled, and pressed a few buttons, and fired the guns attached to the dropships. A bay door lowered at the bottom of the dropship, and twin guns lowered into place and locked on to the government troops. Laser pulse beams came out of 3 feet guns, and blew away the enemy troops. They had no chance. Red blood was everywhere, as well as explosions from cracked grenades. All of the marines got on the dropships, when the hangar doors closed, blocking the dropship's entrance out.

"Sir! They locked the doors shut!"
"Right, I'll fix it. Just hold out the next wave of government troops."
"Yes sir. 2nd and 4th squad, I want you to disembark, and provide fire support for the commander."
"Ma'am, Yes Ma'am!"

The troops got out and kneeled down, as Kroeger dashed for the lift at the wall of the hangar. He activated the lift, and it began to rise. He looked up as the lift make a quick rise to the hangar control center. He reached the top, when he heard radio chatter.

"More troops coming in!"
"Just four of them. We can hold them for a while."

Kroeger walked through the control center doors, and saw a government official, working hard on keeping the bay doors locked. Kroeger walked up to him, and lifted his AR with one arm.

"You chose the wrong side soldier."

The soldier made a grab for his sidearm, but Kroeger pulled the trigger and sent a bullet through his skull. He looked out the window.

"Sir! We're running out of time!"
"Roger that."

He quickly unlocked the doors, and jumped out to the lift, as it began to make its descent.

"Sir! We need to leave now!"
"Get the troops back in the transports."
"Roger."

A few seconds before the elevator his the ground, Kroeger jumped off, and landed in a forwards roll. He immediately recovered, and began a mad dash to the dropships. As he ran, the first dropship made its escape, and Jen's lifted off the ground, it's landing skids pulling up. Kroeger knew time was out, and he ran like crazy. The government saw his crazy dash, and began firing on him. He saw the bullets land around him, but he continued to run. A bullet hit his arm, and another at his shoulder, but he continued to run. A grenade landed right in front of him. His eyes widened, and he dived off to the right as it exploded. He managed to escape unscathed, and started his run again for the dropship. He pulled out his AR, and fired in the random direction of the enemy troops. Sweat ran down his face like each drop was racing to reach the bottom of his chin. He finally made it to the dropship, and jumped on, right as the dropship boosted off, leaving the government officials in the dust.

Kroeger smiled, and dropped his AR. He sat down and buckled up.

"Sir! You made it! To be honest, I thought you were going to go out in the blaze of glory!"
"Yea. So what's with this mission anyway?"
"I'll tell you all when we get to the landing site."
"How long is that?"
"20 hours."
"Damn Commander! That's long! What am I gonna do? Look at Larkin's ugly face for 20 hours?"
"Hey! I resent that!"
"Shut up, both of you. I'm not going to listen to you guys bicker for 20 hours. What were the casualties?"
"We didn't lose anyone Commander. We were lucky."
"Good."

He sat back, and looked at the now closed bay doors of the Pelican. He looked through the large window, out at the military complex. For some odd reason, he knew he'd be coming back to that old place.





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