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Scope (Chapter 3, The Day Hell Froze Over)
Posted By: The Silver Spartan<Crazy_Carl_6@hotmail.com>
Date: 27 March 2004, 3:46 PM
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Chapter 3, The Day Hell Froze Over
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0824 Hours, September 26, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Location Unknown/[Fatal System Error 13] Scanning...
New Approx. Loctn. 28.3 km west UNSC Base / (Compound 022)
Off. Des. (Alpha 2), Located / (Inner Colony 18), (Planet Tylon)
Diego struggled in and out of consciousness, he sensed Corporal Moore lying of to his left in a clump of brush. Diego lifted his head and tried to clear his mind; it was hard to think straight. He felt a white-hot, stabbing pain surge through his temple; his head hit the ground like a rock. He realized that he had to get to some cover or the Covenant would find him and annihilate him. He tried to think... Some lush, green, prickly bushes directly in front of him looked like an appetizing hiding spot. He tried to crawl to the bushes but collapsed several times. When he made it there he rolled underneath them and almost lost conciseness. He played over today's events in his mind...
He remembered the vehicle assault he had taken part in but tried to think were it went wrong... He remembered rushing out of the front gate, eager to kill some Covies...
"Lets roll!!" Moore and the Radisson shouted in unison. The gates opened and the Warthogs rushed out into the early morning, a wave of retribution crashing against the shoreline of fury of the Covenant.
Diego's 'Hog was among the first to react the Covenant. Eager for the kill, Radisson unleashed a hail of 12.5mm bullets into a Grunt that was standing not more than 15 feet away; it was holding a plasma grenade high in the air, ready to throw it right onto the windshield of the LRV, when the bullets hit it. The midsection of the Grunt disintegrated into a swirling mass of bone, armor, and blue gore. Diego swung the 'Hog to the left and headed to his objective, the Wraith mortar-tanks.
Ikto 'Lectoramee watched contentedly from his ship, The Clarity of Perfection, as the human fools started to crest the hill in their primitive vessels. They had taken the bait and went to destroy the 'Wraiths' he had ordered there as a lure. What the human scum did not know was that a wave of what would later become known as Phantoms, Shadows, and Brutes was descending upon them. The Clarity of Perfection was a Super-Carrier, the largest in the Imperial Fleet; it was seven-and-a-half units long (nine 'human' kilometers). The ship had eighteen plasma-turrets and an extremely strong energy shield. The ship was a prime example of the Covenant's superiority to the human's big 'hunks of metal.' As for the Imperial Fleet, it was the Covenant's newly assembled fleet of six hundred of the best spatial tacticians commanding the newest and most effective ships. It was created to destroy 'Reech,' after they captured the holy light of the Forunners. The fleet was also to destroy the rest of the human 'inner'-colonies and find the location of Earth. Now that Earth's location was discovered, thanks to Master 'Zammamee, the fleet only had to retrieve the artifacts of the holy ones from this planet and than go and invade earth.
"Exulted, commander 'Kilomulamee wishes to give you his field report." His assistant Rupu, a silver armored 'Grunt' announced after striding into the room and bowing.
"Very well, send him in."
Rupu waddled off and notified the two 'Red Elite' door-guards to let him in.
Jaspa 'Kilomulamee strode into the room and bowed before the great tactician Ikto Lectoramee.
"Noble one, there are reports that field Commander 'Youglometee was slain by a human 'Misshull.' However they have taken the bait and will soon meet their filthy repugnant ends." Kilomulamee said softly in 'High Prophet' tongue, out of respect for 'Youglometee. "The Brutes, Phantoms, and Shadows are now in place and will be in contact with the humans in 1 and-a-half units. The human scum will soon taste the fear
Master-Brute Tartarus and his regiment."
"Very well Kilomulamee, continue the good work." Ikto 'Lectoramee waved the Golden-Armored Elite out the door with his left arm.
Ikto noticed that Kilomulamee had a slight limp as he left the control room. He wondered how well they were really doing, the Covenant had air superiority but sometimes lost ground invasions, that is, if they were outnumbered. Ikto checked the holo-displays to see how the other ships in the Great Imperial Fleet were doing. He heard reports that a Frigate had just been destroyed; so maybe the human filth still had a fleet after all. This was of no consequence to Ikto, as half of the Imperial Fleet had just destroyed the human fortress of 'Reech.' Nothing could stop them on their murderous crusade to... Earth. His super-carrier glided away in the vacuum, a hungry shark with the scent of human blood.
Diego's LRV crested the hill with several others. Diego hit the breaks as fast as he could, just beyond the hill top there was several hundred of what looked like Warthog/Ghost mix vehicles with Shades on the top. In front of those their were about 150 of what appeared to be the creature he had killed earlier, to make matters worse there was about twenty-five purple craft hovering overhead that had warming plasma cannons on the sides. Diego saw one of the huge mystery Covenant in front raise a chrome grenade-launcher and wave forward. The creatures bellowed and the vehicles charged forward. Only a mile and sparse trees separated them from this new enemy.
They sat there frozen...
"Shit! Move, move, move!! Radisson yelled. Even a tough ODST like Radisson didn't like these odds.
"Get me Lieutenant Steele NOW!" Diego yelled as he gunned the 'Hog off to the side.
"Yes sir!" Mike yelled back. He reached over to the COM panel and called Steele. He handed the COM mike to Diego, and got out his shotgun, he put a shell into a Grunt that jumped out from behind a tree and got to close to the idle vehicle. It did a back-flip and landed in an ocean of its own organs.
"This in Alpha 2 go ahead..." Steele's voice broadcast over the COM channel.
"Sir there is at least three hundred vehicles out there about a mile away and clos-"
"Hold on mountaineer, the ships indicate that..." "Oh my fucking god!!! The ships, they're gone! Lieutenant Steele hissed in panicky voice that was unnatural for him.
"What? Gone? Sir with all due respect, we need more reinforcements and we need them NOW! How can they just diss-"
"It's hopeless sergeant, the Marriott, the Yellowstone the California, all gone..."
A huge shadow enveloped the battlefield. Diego looked upward, and what he saw shocked him. A Covenant ship about ten kilos in length glided and stopped, in the atmosphere!
Everyone stopped and looked up. Plasma gathered along the great purple lateral line of the ship...
Ikto 'Lectoramee had an idea. What if he were to shoot a plasma torpedo right into the middle of the human base? It was about twenty units in length so his plan just might work. If he shot it he would do no damage to the ground troops, while destroying the only thing that protected the holy ones artifacts. He told one of his assistants to radio his Master-Command Prophet, Porteous. He got an uplink to him opened it.
"Master Porteous, my humble apologies for interrupting you-"
"What may I assist you with Ikto?" The Prophet said in almost nasal, irritated voice.
"Well exulted, I have a plan and if it would be of no consequence to you I would wish to commence as soon as possible." He outlined his plan and very concisely and asked the high prophet what he thought.
"Normally I would have said no, however... I think that you could continue, as long as you use nothing larger than a Plasma Torpedo. We most certainly do not want to destroy the Fire of The Ancients, which is located in the temple not a hundred-and-fifty units from the base. You may commence this time. The irratation in his voice had grown a lot more. Ikto could tell he did not want his plan to work; Porteous hated it when people under his command, especially Elites, were right or had the best strategy. It was of no matter to him now. He instructed his AI, Détente, to plot a course one unit up and ˝ across from the base. The AI replied in a humanlike tone, "Coordinates plotted for vector 293 by 168." Ikto was still getting used to the shock of having an AI help him, do most of the work for him that is. It was Porteous that had ordered him to have the Artificial Intelligence installed in his ship, his ship! He almost wished that the Discoveries and Adaptation branch hadn't captured a human AI, almost. His ship arrived on target.
"Détente, fire pulse lasers from turrets one and two in the middle of the base, on my command. NOW!" The Pulse Lasers jumped from the turret and raced towards the base...
Lieutenant Colonel James Steele was busy ordering a small group of ODST's to fix the Com Sat on A DC-17 when someone pinged him on the COMAND freq. He wondered what the hell someone would want of him now.
"This in Alpha 2 go ahead..." Steele said into the COMM mike.
"Sir there is at least three hundred vehicles out there about a mile away and clos-" He recognized the voice to belong to Diego Sanchez, in his opinion the best sniper in Alpha 2. He thought about the mention of the enemy vehicles and pulled up the Ship Scan on his personal vid-screen. These letters scrolled across the screen. ......LOADING.......
"Hold on mountaineer, the ships indicate that..." ......NO DATA AVAILABLE...... scrolled across the vid-screen. Steele lost his calm. "Oh my fucking god!!! The ships, they're gone!
"What? Gone? Sir with all due respect, we need more reinforcements and we need them NOW! How can the just diss-" The Lieutenant cut him off.
He checked the data again and again, than he scanned with the Vid Sat all that remained of the once mighty UNSC ships has just ionized and charred metal, barely recognizable.
"It's hopeless sergeant, the Marriott, the Yellowstone the California, all gone..." He said, panic creeping into his tone.
He shut the channel, he knew that the Covenant would either bomb the base or send in thousands more troops. It was only a matter time before they were all dead. He shook the negative thoughts out of his head and heard a great rumbling noise. He looked overhead and saw a titanic Covenant ship sail in, not more that two clicks overhead. The plasma turrets warmed and realized he had to get the hell out of here. He clicked on the Main 2 freq and announced, "Abandon base, Abandon base! Plasma bombardment imminent!" He felt ashamed to say it, as would any good leader but he valued the people under his command. "Repeat! Fall back to the woods, Plasma Bombardment imminent." Than he realized, why would the Covenant bomb the base with the alien structures nearby? And why would they do it with ground troops deployed? Oh, well I better get the hell out of here. Steele thought to himself. He looked at the Helljumpers who were now in shock watching the huge ship ready its guns. He yelled,
"Well, get the hell in you idiots, lets get the hell out of here." He waved the four that had been working on the ship and two others that were standing in the middle of the room, to get into the Pelican. The Lieutenant ran to the front of the Pelican and got in the pilot's seat; he had been a flyer before he was appointed his high up position as a Lieutenant Colonel last year. He just hoped he still remembered how to fly this bird. He slammed the yoke forward and the Pelican rocketed out of the base at nearly Mach 2. The poor ODST's in the back were slammed around, hanging on for dear life through their deadlines. He knew them as troops from his base, they were all good soldiers. They had a good chance for survival provided the Covenant didn't get to them first.
"Sir Kevin almost fell out could you please the back, I think he may have shit his pants, Oh... never mind he just threw up." He heard muffled laughter from the back and shut the door. He recognized the voice of who had been talking to him and wasn't surprised; it was Troy Detzel, the base's ODST 'joker.' Kevin Williams was a large redhead with his hair cut short in a 'buzz,' he was very strong and good in hand-to-hand combat and knife fighting, but he was no marksman, some ODSTs, especially Troy, liked to joke that he couldn't hit the Trafalgar with an S3-AM from ten feet away. He decelerated and headed for the woods. Explosions rippled behind him and then eventually faded.
AUTHORS NOTE: Master 'Zammamee does NOT refer to Zuka 'Zammamee but another character in one of my other stories (Not yet published).
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