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Under the sergeant's cap (chapter 5)
Posted By: Traumatised Marine<rbecalick@hotmail.com>
Date: 31 January 2003, 10:55 pm


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NOTE FROM TRAU. MAR.



It had been dark for hours on their part of the ring, but darkness had only just started to come on the area of the ring that was their objective.
The five selected Marines who were to head the infiltration/rescue mission with the Master Chief, as well as Sergeant Daux and the five backup Marines, were getting prepared for the mission (the Chief was armed already.)
Sergeant Johnson was starting to feel slightly dizzy. He handled alcohol well, but whatever had been in Daux's drinks container he was sure had been distilled from jet fuel.
He didn't know exactly why he'd drank the whole container, perhaps there was a part of him that had really wanted it, for whatever reason it was, it'd still been completely out of his character and a direct violation of UNSC protocols.
Sergeant Johnson did know, however, that he dearly wanted to go and be the first in the rescue mission and fight. But he reminded himself that with Daux and the Master Chief already going on the mission, he had to stay, they couldn't risk losing all of their field commanders in one mission.
-Or at least that's what Johnson would have reminded himself, but he had taken in a lot of alcohol, and the restraint that he'd learned from the UNSC was depressed in his mind, and as far as he was concerned, nothing would stop him getting on that Pelican.

"OK gentlemen," said Lieutenant Shannae Houston, (a renowned pilot with quite a reputation, she'd turned down many promotions so she could remain a pilot in the field, the Marines nicknamed her Foe Hammer) "Get your carcasses on board and let's rescue the Captain!"
The Marines cheered and followed, going through the hatch and strapping in.
Foe Hammer walked through the automatic, airtight access door from the drop-off hatch to the cockpit.
She got a little shock as she climbed in, however.
There, leaning against the pilot seat was Sergeant Johnson.
"Sir, what are you doing here?" Foe Hammer asked, trying to sound unsurprised.
"I'll be over-seeing the mission Lieutenant" he replied simply.
"With all due respect Sir I don't believe you said anything about this in the brief" Foe Hammer protested.
"The mission will be unaffected by my presence, Houston, if anything it will be helped, if there's a problem I want to be on hand." Growled Sergeant Johnson dangerously, "Now kindly get this thing up in the air before I do so myself!"
Foe Hammer complied and got in the pilot seat, but there was definitely something off with the Sergeant, throughout the time she'd known him he'd never acted like this.
The Pelican took off, and after about ten minutes flight the Sergeant relaxed,
"Thank you Lieutenant" he said, and with that he turned around and keyed open the access hatch.
The Marines (two of whom were sat on the floor,) the Master Chief and Sergeant Daux all turned their heads to the sound of the access door hissing open.
They were all, at first, confused at seeing Johnson (the Sergeant was sure behind the Chief's visor he was a bit confused too) when he was supposed to be back at the Command Shuttle.
There was an awkward moment before Sergeant Johnson announced,
"I'll be joining the first squad in the assault."
The Marines were even more confused at this unexpected and completely illogical announcement.
All that is, except Sergeant Daux, he'd suddenly understood what was going on.
He unstrapped and got up,
"Come with me Johnson and let's talk in private" he said, nudging the Sergeant Johnson back through the access door.
"Hey Foe Hammer!" said Daux, trying to sound cheery and casual, "How long 'till our arrival point?" Foe Hammer craned her neck around the pilot seatand stared for a moment, still confused by the fact that Sergeant Johnson was onboard, before regaining herself,
"ETA in fifteen, Sir!" she replied.
"Great! Look Lieutenant do me a favour and put us on auto for a few minutes and give the Sarge and me some privacy!"
"Sir what's going-" began Foe Hammer.
"THAT'S AN ORDER LIEUTENANT!" barked Daux angrily.
Foe Hammer quickly unstrapped and headed for the access door,
"Men-" she mumbled angrily.
"Do you have something you wish to say Lieutenant?" snapped Daux.
"No Sir!" Foe Hammer said quickly, before opening the door and exiting the cockpit.
Sergeant Johnson was quite impressed, he'd never really seen Daux in action, but he wasn't as incompetent as he'd first imagined.
"That was well handled boy!" He remarked.
Daux turned to him,
"Really? Thanks!" He said with a pleasant smile for a moment, before his face hardened, "And WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"
The Sergeant stepped forward and raised his finger,
"Watch how you talk to me son! I'm going with the first squad!"
Daux grabbed Johnson by his shoulder plates and shook him,
"LISTEN TO YOURSELF JOHNSON!" Daux hissed, "That drink has made you lose your common sense! You can't possibly do any good like this, you'll get yourself and maybe others killed!
NOW PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!!"
Johnson listened- what's more, he understood. He took off his cap and pinched the bridge of his nose,
"Look, Daux, you're right, I've done something unforgivable-" Johnson began,
"Hey!" Daux cut in, "If you shut up and get a grip then I'll forgive you!"
Sergeant Johnson looked at Daux- finally Johnson said,
"Come on Daux, get ready, we're gonna be there soon, let's get Foe Hammer back in the pilot seat!"
Daux nodded, looking content.

"OK gentlemen, I'm gonna drop off 2nd squad backup a safe distance from the cruiser and then I'll take 1st squad in as close as I can." Foe Hammer announced on the comm. "And don't worry 2nd squad, I'll be back!"
"YOU BETTER!!" shouted one of the Marines in 2nd squad.
The Pelican came in to land relatively close to the base of a set of towering cliffs, the Covenant cruiser could also be seen from where they were.
"OK, 2nd squad pile out!!" cried Daux, "Good luck Chief, and you too guys!" he said to the rest of them, "Hey Johnson!! Come on!!"
Johnson leaned out of the Pelican hatch, gripping the side,
"Daux, I'm gonna stay here and see 1st squad off." He said to Daux who was on the ground.
Daux eyed Johnson suspiciously.
Johnson raised his hand,
"I promise you that's all I'm gonna do!"
Daux nodded.
"ALRIGHT FOE HAMMER!! GET US UP THERE!!" Johnson bellowed.
Daux and 2nd squad watched Foe Hammer gain altitude until it was high enough to pass over the cliffs and out of sight.

The Sergeant stood behind Foe Hammer in the pilot seat, looking out of the cockpit view port.
There was the Covenant cruiser; Johnson had never really had the time to take a long, hard look at one of these great, majestic craft. They had always been too busy trying to destroy them.
Despite the resent he should have felt, he had to admit, it was a beautiful piece of work.
It was then he realised something- it wasn't on the ground!
"Hey Foe Hammer! Look, it's in the air!" he said stupidly,
"Yessir, I make it about 300-350 metres!" replied Foe Hammer.
"We've already hit a problem; how the hell can we get to it?!" cursed the Sergeant angrily.
"Actually Sir we're in real luck" corrected Foe Hammer, "I'm reading gravitational anomalies in the centre section on the belly to the aft of the cruiser. What's more, I've got flux signals ascending and descending distances of about 300 feet give, or take. I'm pretty damn certain there's some kind of grav lift that the Covenant are using to move supplies and themselves up and down!"
"A grav lift WE can use to board! Excellent!" said the Sergeant happily.
"Sir! You'd better tell the Marines and the Chief that we're nearly there, I've just sent Cortana the data on the cruiser's position!" announced Foe Hammer.

Sergeant Johnson entered into the drop-off hatch,
"OK gentlemen, get ready, we're gonna drop you off as near as damn possible!"
One of the Marines looked at the Sergeant apprehensively,
"So you're not coming now?" he asked, his eyebrows raised.
"You've got the Master Chief, boy, you don't need me!" the Sergeant replied evasively.
"Right," came Cortana's simulated voice from the Master Chief's suit, "Let me reiterate before we land. The enemy has captured Captain Keyes, and are holding him aboard one of their cruisers, the Truth and Reconciliation. The ship is currently holding position approximately three hundred meters above the other end of this plateau."
The Marines were lost, one of them asked incrediously,
"So how do we get inside the ship if it's in the air? The Corp issued me a rifle, not wings!"
The Sergeant stepped forward,
"There's a gravity lift that ferries troops and supplies between the ship and the surface. That's our ticket in!"
Land appeared below the Pelican, and it stopped accelerating. It came to a stop and made a steady 180 degree turn anti-clockwise, so the hatch faced towards the plateau.
"HIT IT MARINES! GO! GO! GO! THE CORP AIN'T PAYIN' US BY THE HOUR!!"
The Sergeant barked after them as he watched the Marines and the Chief pile out and disperse, their rifle torches on.
The Sergeant turned around and went back into the cockpit, encase he suddenly decided to jump out at the last moment. Those Marines would likely die tonight.
Foe Hammer took off and headed back to where they'd dropped 2nd squad for safety.

Daux and the Marines heard the Pelican's distant, roaring engines and looked up to see it emerge from beyond the plateau. It spiralled downwards towards them and came to land on the ground, the airbrakes were disengaged but the throbbing engines still rumbled deeply.
Daux was relieved to see Sergeant Johnson emerge from the Pelican, followed by Foe Hammer.
"Thank God!" Daux thought to himself, "I thought he might decide to jump out and join the others-"
Sergeant Daux jogged up to them,
"How did it go?" he asked,
"Fine" replied Johnson.
After all, what else could he say?
"Come on, we've got a small chemical heat radiator going, it's getting real cold." Indicated Daux, who had already started walking back to the other Marines, who were in a circle around the glowing chemical rod that shimmered with heat. They couldn't risk the light of a fire, though if the Covenant decided to search they'd trace the heat signals anyway, so either it was reducing the risk only very slightly. Still, they had to keep warm.

They all sat in a circle, with the eerie, dim glow of the chemical rod casting gaunt shadows on their faces.
"So," began one of the Marines, addressing Johnson, "how did you end up here?"
This caught Johnson off guard, he'd never really thought about how he'd wound up where he was, he'd been to busy worrying about surviving the ordeal.
"Well son-" he began, "I think it started on Reach. There was a new, secret project underway from SpecWar, headed by a guy named Ackerson, he was a Colonel I think. They needed a squad of test subjects for a new kind of neural implant they had designed to improve individual and squad performance in the field. It was called a ABNDSC- Neural Alphawave Broadcast and Depressant/Stimulant Chip.
We'd had a lot of preparation briefing on its specs and what we could expect from it. It was designed to depress negative neural functions like fear, while boost positive ones like determination and confidence."
One of the Marines interrupted,
"Whoa! Wait a second, you're saying it screwed around with your emotions? Didn't you think it would be a bad idea to have something like that in your head?"
The Sergeant replied,
"It was stimulated by adrenaline, when you were in danger, or in the field. It was then the effects kicked in. It made you a better fighter, it made you more focused and boosted your stamina.
But there was one other, more interesting application the chip had. Which was why they needed a close squad who'd been together a long time, they needed a squad who understood how each other thought.
The chip had a minute broadcast system, it allowed alpha waves to be translated from one neural pattern, broadcasted, and translated to another mind by another chip. Effectively, giving the squad a sort of 'telepathic' bond. Things as complex as orders and strategies were said to be able to be 'telepathically' sent from one person to another, it was ground-breaking technology, and it was estimated that it would improve squad performance by up to 80%. It eliminated the need of a comm, and therefore the need for noise, meaning that there was no risk of being heard for sound. And of course, split second battle strategies and other problems in the field were much more easily understood telepathically than aurally.
It sounded like the piece of tech that might give us the upper hand over the Covenant in the field, we would be able to strategise at a level no one had ever dreamed of before."
Daux leaned forward,
"So what happened?"
Johnson continued,
"The squad consisted of myself and Privates Hawaka, O'Brian, Jenkins, Flint and Bisenti, we had arrived on Reach on transfer from being posted on the frigate 'Saint Ivy.'
However while we were at the SpecWar facility, before we had even seen the new ABNDSC, the Covenant orbital assault started."
Another Marine interjected,
"So how'd you end up on the Autumn?"
The Sergeant turned to him, irritated,
"I'm gonna tell you, boy! So just shut up and let me continue!
Right, now I'm pretty damn sure almost none or none of you have ever been on a planet's surface when it has come under attack from Covenant warships, because few survive an experience like that. Well let me tell you, the people on Reach were freakin' out like it was Armageddon. Which it pretty much was. The difference between Reach and most other human planets that have gotten glassed before was there was enough UNSC forces to hold off the Covenant long enough for any kind of escape to be possible.
So, this guy we were now under the command of, Colonel Ackerson. This guy wasn't nobody's fool, he already had a private space craft, slip-space capable and stocked with supplies, waiting for him in one of the orbital docks. So -you won't believe this- the bastard used a military machcopter to go and pick up his wife! When he was just about set to take a launch craft up to the orbital docks he found out that the Covenant were headed for space dock 9, the one with HIS escape ship inside. So what does he do? He kindly invites us and our guns along for the ride, with the promise he'd get us safely away from Reach!
But we had no other options, we couldn't do anything to help Reach, and we didn't want to die, so we went with Ackerson and his wife.
We reached the docks before the Covenant landing parties, but only a few minutes before, not long enough to get to Ackerson's ship. We met Covenant forces on the way, and had to retreat. In our running around from the Covenant on that God forsaken dock, Ackerson and his wife were killed, as well as Hawaka and Flint. I was so damn sure we'd had it, I was certain that it was on that dock that we'd meet our deaths.
But no, 'cause it seemed that there had been some unsecured navigational data on a ship in that dock. THAT was what the Covenant were after, and what's more, that's what the Master Chief his Supersoldiers had come to stop them from getting. We met him in one of the-"
The Sergeant stopped, because Foe Hammer had suddenly stood bolt upright.
"What is it?" asked Daux
"Shhhhhh!" hissed Foe Hammer.
They listened.
They listened for several seconds.
"Oh shit-" hissed a Marine.
"BANSHEES!!!" Shrieked Foe Hammer.
They could now make out the far-off but rapidly-getting-closer balls of intense plasma that had erupted from several distant incoming Banshees.
"MOVE!!" Cried Daux, as deadly plasma rained down around them, sending up boils of scorched earth.
They dashed for the cover of the Pelican, plasma impacting so close they felt their skin blister and bubble from the broiling heat.
They leapt into the Pelican's hatch.
"Holy shit this is gonna be a rough flight!!" cursed Foe Hammer as she shot into the cockpit, and quickly set about bringing the Pelican off the ground.
Sergeant Johnson heard the angry sound of plasma impact and bore into the Pelican's roof.
"BUCKLE UP MARINES!!!" cried Foe Hammer, "THIS IS GONNA BE REAL BAD!!!"
The Pelican's engines screamed and roared as Foe Hammer urged them to go at max.
The Pelican then rocketed forwards with a velocity that made the Sergeant close his eyes for fear his eyeballs would be wrenched from their sockets.
The Sergeant could hear the sound of the wailing Banshees horrifyingly close, he squinted his eyes open to see them giving chase, about 100 metres behind them. The Sergeant counted four, rocking dangerously from side to side as they tried to get dead straight with the Pelicans course- so they could fire into the hatch!!
"FOE HAMMER!!!" Screamed the Sergeant, "CLOSE THE MOTHER FUCKING HATCH!!!"
The hatch whined as it began to close, but the Banshees had already fired an onslaught of intense, superheated plasma. The orbs of light were incoming, but because the Pelican was also accelerating,
the shots were going to take longer to get to their target.
The hatch was nearly closed,
nearly,
nearly,
nearly.
HISS-THUMP!!
The hatch was shut, and moments afterwards the Marines heard the salvo of plasma impact and splash against the door.
The Sergeant closed his eyes in relief, hearing another volley of fire slam into the other side of the closed door.
"HOLY SHIT!!" Exclaimed one of the Marines, "THE DOOR, LOOK!!"
The Sergeant looked up to see that in places the door was glowing an angry shade of red, and with every new impact of plasma the colour intensified.
The drop-off hatch began to fill with the fumes of molten metal, some parts of the door were starting to glow a dangerous yellow. The doors were going to melt!
"BUCKLE UP!! EVASIVE MANEUVERS!!!" screamed Foe Hammer.
The Sergeant felt all of his insides float sickeningly inside his body as the Pelican dove into freefall,
then felt gravity crush his body at five times normal strength as the Pelican pulled up and rose into a steep, 70 degree climb. The Sergeant closed his eyes and clutched desperately at his straps; the only things that were keeping him from being smashed to death against the inner walls of the drop-off hatch. He kept his eyes shut, and felt his body urging against the straps, he felt freefall quickly followed by crushing ascent, sickening barrel rolls and long, arcing, loop-the-loops that lasted long enough for the blood to rush to his head and collect until he was sure his temples would burst.
All of this time the Pelican was struck in different places by the muffled thumps of the Covenant Banshees' fire.
"Foe Hammer's one of the most talented pilots in the UNSC, but even she can't dodge like this forever,
and they're still hitting us!" The Sergeant thought to himself.
"FOE HAMMER!! SCREW THIS!! ENGAGE THEM!! FIGHT!!!" The Sergeant yelled, so loud his vocal chords felt like they were being scraped with sharp stones.
No reply came, either Foe Hammer hadn't heard him for the screaming engines, or was too tied up to reply.
However, neither did the Sergeant didn't hear the sound of cannon fire or missile launches, the Pelican just continued it's manoeuvres, throwing the Marines against their straps painfully.
The Sergeant had no idea how long he was thrown about for, maybe five minutes, maybe half an hour, all he had to occupy him was the sickening sensations of the evading Pelican.
However finally a sound pierced though the roaring engines, the staccato of the Pelican's 50mm cannon rang like a joyful song, breaking the course of the endless hellride.
A muffled explosion came from in front of the Pelican.
"YEEEEEEHA!! TAKE THAT YA BASTARD!!" Came Foe Hammer's ecstatic voice over the comm.
"Finally!" Thought the Sergeant, "something's happening!!"
However that moment was short lived, soon the Pelican was throwing around like it had before.
It was then that Foe Hammer made a desperate and incredibly dangerous manoeuvre to lose the Banshees. The Pelican rose at what was an almost vertical angle, for several seconds.
The force of it caused Daux's cap to fall off, it came to lie at on the access hatch directly below them, flat against it because of the G-force.
The Sergeant gripped at his straps, and couldn't help but thing how painfully his bones would splinter if the straps were to break and he would fall towards the hatch and hit it.
It was then the Marines got a horrible fright.
The thrusters had suddenly cut out.
Gone.
Silence.
The Sergeant's heart missed a beat.
Then they felt gravity regain it's sickening recontrol of the Pelican, and the laws of physics decided where they were going to go-
Down.
The great heavy mass of Pelican began to plummet back towards the ring and the ground, getting faster and faster.
The Sergeant just closed his eyes and tried to grip his straps, every part of him screamed that he was going to die.
The Marines briefly heard the sound of Banshees screeching below them, and then the sound shot passed them and continued on above their heads until the sound disappeared, as the Pelican fell past them and continued to plummet.
The Sergeant was starting to pray when the thrusters cut in.
The Pelican shook, it shook so hard it was surely going to fall apart.
It remained vertical, the thrusters strained and strained, roaring in agony.
But the Pelican began to slow down, but the Sergeant was certain that the ground was too close for them to survive.
The Pelican however continued to tremble and quake with effort, and the Sergeant felt it's descent slowing down.
It was slowing, Foe Hammer was beginning to gain control, but the ground couldn't be more than a kilometre below-
Slowing.
Slowing.
Slowing.
Slowing.
CRUNCH!!
The Pelican came to a violent and instantaneous stop, a stop that could only be brought on by hitting something solid. The shock knocked the wind out of Sergeant Johnson.
"We didn't just hit the ground did we?!?" choked a breathless Daux in disbelief.
The thrusters continued to roar, and the whole body of the craft strained, then the Marines felt what could only have been the tail of the Pelican embedded in the ground wrench free.
"Holy Crap-" murmured one of the Marines who was as pale as chalk, "that really was the ground-"
He then passed out.
The Pelican rose and put on a violent burst of speed, finally returning to a horizontal position.
The Sergeant felt indescribable relief now that his rear was connected with the seat under gravity's will.
He was about to try to stagger up and amble into the cockpit when he realised how painfully he'd die if manoeuvres restarted.
"JESUS FOE HAMMER!" Cried Daux, "Please tell me that wasn't the ground we just hit!!"
At last they heard Foe Hammer's voice again, though it was weak and quiet,
"Okay Sergeant- that wasn't the ground."
Foe Hammer was clearly very badly shaken up.
Sergeant Johnson managed to get his breath back,
"- Foe Hammer- what's our status with the pursuers?" he asked breathlessly.
"They're quite far above us sir, that little stunt sure as hell put some distance between us!" replied Foe Hammer.
"For the heart attack it gave me I should fuckin' hope so woman!!" remarked Daux.
"Is it straight runnings now Foe Hammer?" asked the Sergeant gingerly.
"I should think so- for now" replied Foe Hammer.
"What about the Chief and the others, they're gonna need evac!" said one of the Marines.
"Our first concern is shakin' off these damn Banshees, Private!" replied Foe Hammer.
However it was only five minutes later when a familiar voice, one that brought a message that got everyone sitting up, chimed into the comm.
"Cortana to Echo 419. We have the Captain and need extraction on the double." Came her calm voice.
"Negative Cortana, I've been engaged by Covenant air patrols, and I'm havin' a tough time shakin' em. You'll be better off findin' your own ride. Sorry!" replied Foe Hammer.
Cortana replied, not at all put off by this bad news,
"Acknowledged Foe Hammer, Cortana out."

The Pelican continued to fly onwards, they'd been flying for another ten minutes after Cortana had called when Foe Hammer came across on the comm.
"Gentlemen I've been observing the ping screen and I think those Banshees have been called back, I'm gonna turn about and see if the Captain's rescue team still need evac.
"Good!" Approved Johnson.
"Transmit to Cortana, let her know we can get back there if needed." Added Daux.
There was a pause.
"I have done Sergeant, and I'm getting a reading here that says that the Chief's signal is moving, very fast. In our direction too!"
"ETA?" asked Johnson.
"If they continue at current speed and I go at max in their direction- I make it about two minutes sir!"
"Let's go!" said Daux, gesturing impatiently with his hand.

"Foe Hammer to Cortana, do you read me? I'm picking up a Covenant dropship signal inbound with your position vector, I'm assuming that's your getaway vehicle?" Foe Hammer hailed over the comm.
"That's affirmative Foe Hammer" replied Cortana.
At hearing that they were using a Covenant craft Sergeant Johnson unbuckled and went into the cockpit, he then used the comm.
"Hey Cortana," the Sergeant asked, "Is there any means by which the Covenant can trace that Bandit you're riding in?"
Cortana replied calmly,
"Don't worry Sergeant, I accessed the dropship schematics and disabled it's monitor signal, we're clean."
"And what about Keyes and the rescue squad?" Johnson pressed on.
Keyes' voice came on over the communicator,
"I'm fine Sergeant- but I'm afraid all but the Master Chief in the rescue squad were killed in action-"
The Sergeant paused for a moment-
"-Well, it's good to have you back with us Sir!" he said finally.
"Not just me Sergeant," replied Keyes, "Corporal Patterson and two Privates are also with us, alive and well."
"Well that's some good news!" the Sergeant consoled himself. However he felt a strange emptiness in his gut, like he didn't really belong where he was, that he should have died with the rescue squad.
"Well," came Keyes over the comm once more, "Let's get back to base, the Covenant didn't have the hospitality to feed us while they held us captive and the Marines and I are starving. Keyes out."

Many curious Marines and Techs were poking around inside the Covenant dropship, they'd had a go flying it, using the plasma gun turret on the underbelly. Some Marines were now leaping into the binding force field in between the two drop-off prongs of the craft, and hooting and laughing as they did summersaults in zero gee. A few others who found the Chief far more interesting had started to ask about his reflexes, to which the Master Chief had offered for them to try to get a single hit at his armour. The Marines were now furiously trying to tag the Chief's armour using small branches from trees, but the Chief was a blur of moments, blocking each attempt as if he had a sort of foresight.

Despite the human race was under threat of extinction and they had no idea where they were or how long they'd live, for that brief while, they had forgotten their worries and were having a laugh, something they hadn't done for a long time.
Captain Keyes and Sergeant Johnson watched from the edge of the gathering, uninvolved.
They were discussing what their next move would have to be.
"Cortana says that the Covenant believe that this ringworld is a superweapon. They call it 'Halo,' Cortana says the ring is 'of deep religious significance' to the Covenant." Said Captain Keyes.
"Well," said Johnson, "Looks like we're luckier than we thought, finding something like this. If it is some kind of superweapon then we may have unwittingly stumbled across the way to save humanity!"
"Well, first we have to get to the control room before the Covenant do. They haven't found it yet, so we've got to hurry if we're going to beat them to it!" Said Keyes, "Cortana has accessed the Covenant battle networks and thinks she has found two very important installations that we need to get to before the Covenant."
"And they are?" asked the Sergeant,
"One of the installations the Covenant aren't sure of, they think it's some kind of weapons cache, the second and more important installation is a Halo map room, that will hold the data we need to find the control room. We need to get there as soon as we can!"
"Right! 'As soon as we can' is right now, I'll get the Marines ready!" Said the Sergeant.
"Very good Sergeant, we're going to need two groups, one for the map room and one for the weapons cache. I want the Marines briefed and ready to go in 20 minutes, understand?"
"YES SIR!" Saluted the Sergeant.





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