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Rise To Honor - Part 23: Plans
Posted By: Shadow<Shadowolf16@aol.com>
Date: 1 September 2002, 5:18 pm


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Shadow tended to the wound on his arm. A plasma bolt fired by a grunt grazed it, but it wasn't too bad. Just tore through the skin, and blackened the rest of the skin that wasn't totally torn off. He could have had the wound completely healed, but he didn't have time to go to the infirmary. Besides, that place was already crammed full of people that were injured during the enormous battle. They had won it...for now. After a thorough investigation did they realize that the lack of communications and loss of three leaders had put their forces in utter chaos. Without anyone to command them, the Covenant leaders felt that they should retreat and gather their forces for another attack later that night. That would mean that the humans had a few more hours before their absolute annihilation. He looked around him. Cal was just landing his ship. Shadow just finished wrapping up a white bandage around his arm when he noticed the ship landing at the pad. He didn't bother to go greet Cal.

He looked down to the grave that he had just dug. It was Geb's grave. So ironic that he was the only one who didn't want to go to battle, because he was afraid for the others. When he did go into battle, it wasn't the others, but he who had fallen. He looked to the grave, the shovel he used still alongside the lump of dirt. He kneeled down right in front of the grave, and folded his hands together. He bowed once and stood up. He held Geb's dog tags in his hands. He had always refused to take those dog tags off, even after he escaped from the military base. The dog tags were simple.

The first one was as shown:

Name: Gebrard Donerd
ID Number: XF-34552

The seconds one was as shown:

Rank: classified
Position: Group Leader

He nodded to himself and place the dog tags on the simple unmarked stone that he had stuck in the ground. He unstrapped his gun, and slammed the butt of it into the first dog tag. With his extraordinary strength, the dog tag dug itself into the rock, and effectively created a little niche for the tag. He did the same with the other one. The dog tags were fully locked into the rock, and made a little description for the grave. He nodded and strapped in his rifle. He heard the crunching of leaves. He spun around. It was Az Jan and Cal. He lowered his head.

"I will never forgive myself for making him come with us."
"Shadow, it wasn't your fault. You know that in his heart, he truly knew the right thing to do. And he chose it. He died like he wanted to."
"I will never forgive myself."

With that, he walked past them, and decided to take a walked around the RC. Before he could get very far, he heard some arguing in the commander's tent. He slowly walked in, silent and unnoticed. It was the Spartans arguing over their next move.

"We'll never be able to stand up to their second attack. They'll arrive with reinforcements, and none of us can stop them."
"No, we have intel that the planetary shields have been reactivated at Norad VI. We won't have a problem with new dropships or any more destroyers coming in. And with the government now on our side, we won't have any of those shields sabotaged any longer."
"But we still have a force that is about four times as powerful as ours, and just as numerous."
"Well, there's a huge Resaq generator at their base. It's highly unstable, but only a tank shell class weapon could puncture its armor. But if it is punctured, the generator will go critical and the Resaq crystal will explode, taking out their entire base, and the bulk of their forces."
"We also have the problem of getting to it. Going with an all out attack would not work. And a stealth attack would be immediately detected with their higher class patrols. Especially after that Dark Wolf's sabotage. The only way to stop them is to destroy them from the air. That's where the weakness of the shields are, and that's the only way we'll get a clean shot."
"But how will we get a tank shell in there? Get a tank to fly?"
"No. We can rig a sniper rifle to fire a tank shell."
"Linda, do you want to do it?"
"I can't. My armor is too heavy. I'll never stay up with the jumpjets I have or the parachute I'll be using."
"Why not take your armor off?"
"Because I will never be able to calibrate myself quite enough to get a good enough shot off. I've grown to rely on the armor. Without it, I'm sure my aim will deteriorate past the abilities of a normal sniper. I'm not reliable enough."
"Well, are there any other good snipers?"
"I am."

The Spartans all turned to Shadow's direction when he responded.

"You? Do you think you can do this Dark Wolf?"
"Yes."
"You DO realize that this is a suicide mission. You will be firing from a parachute position in the air, and you'll need perfect aim. And if you destroy the generator, the explosion will be large enough to consume you as well."
"I have perfect aim, and I'm prepared to sacrifice myself for our race. You still think I'm a selfish assassin?"
"Maybe. Well, we'll have the rifle rigged up for you in no time."
"Right. Come and get me when you're ready."

He sat down in a chair a little while outside the tent, mostly thinking about Geb's death and the upcoming attack he must make. After what seemed like a half an hour or so, the Spartans came out of their tent, and an engineer handed them his sniper rifle. It was completely updated and rigged with a large shell. He eyed it a little and lifted it up. It was heavy, so he'd have to use both hands to get the right aim. John stepped up to him.

"You need to go now. We have intel that the Covenant forces are preparing for their final attack on us. You need to destroy that generator. It will therefore create a huge class-D explosion. It will consume all their forces and you as well."
"Alright. Where's my dropship."
"Your Dark Wolf friend will be taking you."
"Fine. Let's go."
"Oh, Dark Wolf. If you destroy this, you're saving the human race. You're saving all of us."





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