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Tales of OX: battle in Space
Posted By: twoxsteele<www.twoxsteele2@hotmail.com>
Date: 8 October 2004, 10:22 PM


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A Spartans fight

Spartan o-984, codename OX was waiting patiently, he knew that his enemy would board the Copernicus soon. The Copernicus had escaped from the battle of Reach, after fighting and destroying 2 Covenant destroyers. The ship had taken heavy damage, but the Copernicus was a Destroyer, designed to fight not be destroyed. The MAC guns were damaged, the Archer missile bays were almost out of commission and most of the crew were Marines. OX had been in tighter situations, usually on the ground, never within an armoured metal coffin in the vacuum of space. OX was in the mess hall, his helmet off, eating a sandwich.

Marines were staying clear of him, afraid of him, h didn't blame them. His armour was a testament to his reputation among the Spartans, not as good as Fred, Linda, Will or the chief himself. He was an all rounder, good with all sorts of weapons, with a tendency to chew through ammo pretty quickly. OX loved the MA5B, the new SMG500's he loved even more, he carried all three weapons and tons of ammo for them. He could kill an Elite with 50 rounds worth of 7.62mm AP rounds in a few seconds, Grunts with 5 and the annoying Jackals with an entire clip, he hated the Jackal's shields, they could take a punishment. The Jackals, when their shields were down, he would simply proceed to rip in half with his augmented strength.

While OX was eating/waiting, the captain of the Copernicus, Davis Tennor, was listening to the damage reports from the crewmen. Tennor wasn't happy, his ship had taken a beating, and most of the crew were marines rescued from one of the orbital fortresses of Reach. He was happy that there was a Spartan on board though, he remembered when the Spartan had first appeared on his ship, through a hatch with the smell of gunpowder, sizzled flesh, plasma burned armour and a whole load of marines. The ODST's didn't like the situation however, this was to be expected due to the bad blood between the Spartans and ODST's.

Tennor also didn't like the fact, that the hips AI was acting like an smartass due to some EMP damage taken when the ship had almost been cut in half by that odd Covenant vessel. Tennor remembered the damage that the Sniper vessel had done, the images of the Musashi been destroyed that easily. The AI, chose this time to act like a smartass again, "Captain, can you please stop remembering the image of that female ensigns arse", this was said with a humorous mocking tone. "Shut up and give me, all of the info that you can find on that Spartan, "Tennor responded.

"Alright, IF I CAN HAVE A SECOND PLEASE", the AI responded curtly, two seconds later of continuous data processing , the AI had the info. "SPARTAN CODE NAME 0894 OX", "responsible for the deaths of over 500 Covenant, has taken part in several major operations and has all the decorations that the UNSC has", the AI said with a bemused tone, Tennor wasn't amazed. The Spartans had been used as a cash cow for propaganda. "Alright, thank you for the information", the captain responded with a flat tone. The AI mearly cut itself off from the holographic generator. "Alright, everyone, I want this ship as ready as possible, get all the marines in defensive positions immediately, I want the MAC guns ready and the Archer missiles loaded up into all of the remaining bays", with that the captain went to back to gently resting his eyes and listening to Mozart through neural headphones.

48 hours passed, OX was bored, his energy shields were now on. The gentle thrum of his armours, tiny fusion reactor, was starting to become annoying yet relaxing. There was a clatter as the ammunition and weapons he carried were clattering, against the sides of his armour. He was walking along one of the port side corridors, looking out into the void of space, remembering the comms transmissions describing when his brother, James had gone drifting into space. Rage boiled up from the insides of his mind, at the Covenant and all those who had hurt his brothers and sisters. A nearby bulkhead was the recipient of all this rage, and quickly succumbed to the punch made by OX.

PFC Jackson was walking by when the, Spartan punched in the bulkhead was destroyed. Jackson merely walked by after seeing this display of rage and power, he told all of the other marines at lunch. They were now amazed, at the Spartan and would make the effort to be more social. They were all going to die in a few hours, they didn't know that the Spartan would avenge their deaths.
Two hours passed, the Copernicus exited slip-pace, only to encounter a damaged Covenant destroyer. Tennor was at the bridge, "All hands, to your stations, all hands to your stations", the captain shouted through the comm. "Helm, move us in for a barrage of Archers, I want all the Pelicans ready for a boarding operation and the Longswords ready for launch", with that the Copernicus was ready to fight. OX knew it was time, he knew due to the sudden stop of the ship, the frenzied motions of the naval personnel and Marines. "You three marines, your to accompany me now", the Spartan told the marines briskly, "Yes sir", was all the marines could stammer back as the Spartan leapt into motion.

Ona Ultamee, the captain of the blaspheming redeemer, was surprised to see a human vessel, off his port side. He did what all captains do, he got his damaged ship ready to fight. Throughout the stricken vessel, hundreds of every Covenant imaginable were getting ready for battle. Boarding parties were established, fighters were launched and the plasma turrets were getting ready to fire.

Copernicus fired a salvo of Archer missiles first, the redeemer had no shields, the missiles destroyed the engines of the stricken vessel. The Covenant vessel replied with a few shots from it's plasma turrets, armour was boiled by the superheating gases, crewmen and marines were ejected out into space. OX felt the hits from the shuttle bay and knew that he would be defending the human vessel. He moved, the marines followed him.

Tennor decided to play possum, he waited two minutes, then the two MAC guns fired, straight at the bow of the redeemer. One of the MAC rounds grazed the target, causing a huge amount of damage and the other was on target, a huge hole appeared in the redeemer. Aliens poured out of the hole, dying a super compressed death. Both vessels were sufficiently damaged but the Copernicus was worse off, the hull was charred and burned., the Archer missile launchers were all out of commission and the MAC guns were recharging. This was when hundreds of boarding vessels latched themselves onto the hull of the human vessel.

OX wasn't aware of the new tenants, but the marines on the third deck were, hundreds of rounds of ammunition travelled through the holes where the boarding vessels had used plasma torches to cut their way through the hull. Grunts and Jackals fell by the dozen, grenades ripped the Elites apart, yet the Covenant kept coming. One by one, the 23 man compliment of marines dwindled till they were all plasma charred corpses, more men had died. At this time, the AI sealed the bulkheads of deck three around the area where the Covenant were contained, then decompressed the area, the sacrifice of the marines wasn't in vain.

OX and his marines were moving through a corridor full of dead Covenant and marines, all of the marines were burned severely, some were missing arms and legs, Ox knew a plasma sword had been here. While the four humans were conducting a sweep around the small corridor, a wounded Elite that carried the already mentioned plasma sword was waiting patiently for his quarry, the Elite wanted glory and honour. Killing one of the green giants would gain him glory. OX knew that there was Elite somewhere, he didn't see the burns indicating the self destruction of a plasma sword, so he guessed that the trail of purple blood towards a small corridor, that had an Elite hiding in it. The Elite saw OX, charged at him, trying to kill him, OX dodged the quick slash, pulled out his AR, jammed it into the chest of the Elite, and after a second pulled the trigger. An entire clip of 7.62 AP ammunition ripped open the chest of the Elite, the Elite roared, then stopped as the last embers of life left it. A ripped open corpse fell to the ground, blood and gore coated the corridor. Shell casings littered the floor and the smell of gunpowder was in the air. The marines were astounded at the movements of the Spartan, they heard of marines who watched the Spartans fight, never had they fought the armoured giant was so fast.

To OX killing the Elite had been in slow motion, the Elite if it hadn't been wounded, would have actually stood a chance. He looked at what was left of the Elite's skull and crushed it with his foot. The four humans were unaware that one of the Elites branded with the duty of gathering intelligence, had watched the encounter. The Elite was named Duamee, Duamee quickly relayed the news of the encounter and the quick and violent reaction of the Spartan. Ontanamee was very pleased. A squad of the special forces Elites and Brutes, the disgusting hairy being s that served as the guardians of the Prophets, were quickly sent over in a special boarding skiff.

The special forces skiff blurred to life out of a fighter bay, roaring to life, barely avoiding being tenderised by the 50mm auto cannons that the Copernicus used for point defence. Inside of the vessel, the Elites and Brutes were in close proximity, both of the warrior races stared at one another, with barely concealed hate. If the ship master hadn't told them that were one of the giant green armoured humans on board of the Infidel ship, the two groups would have ripped one another apart by now. The skiff was close to the engine room, thrusters jets engaged as well as a particle shield to cushion the impact with the hull of the human vessel. A squad of marines was guarding the entrance to the engine room, all of these marines were afraid, they had fought the Covenant before, they were nervous, but they were ready.

Jackson was watching one of the corridors that approached, the area his squad was defending. Jackson was armed with a M90 shotgun, he carried an MA2B carbine, his preference and a SMG500. His friends Balk and Crin, were carrying the standard load of weapons, an assault rifle, grenades and a whole load of ammo. Jackson wore heavier armour that his two companions, the armour had saved his life in various other fights. The armour had poly-carbon plates that were designed to partially absorb plasma shots. Balk was sweeping the corridor when he saw an Elite, not any type of Elite, a black armoured one, Balk obeyed his instincts, two grenades and a healthy dose of AR fire, two clips worth alerted his fellow marines, immediately Jackson used the MA2B sweeping a whole line of lead along the corridor, the Elites following, ducked behind cover. Grenades were there punishment, though one charged and hit Crin in the chest before taking the concentrated fire from the now wounded marine, and his two fellow companions.

"Sarge, we need help here, Elites, black armour and there's a whole boat full of them", Jackson cried out over the comm. All he heard in return was AR fire, roars from something not human, and the screams of the dying. He knew he was screwed, he knew there was only one thing to do, kill as many of the Covenant bastards as he could. The Brutes approached the corridor, they saw the remains of the Elites, wondered if their quarry was around the corner. Balk was looking around the corner, a Brute saw him, raised it's Brute shot and shot, the high velocity grenade projectile, blew Balk in half. Jackson and the wounded Crin saw their friend die, nodded to one another, and waited for death.

The Brutes were happy, a human infidel was now dead, blown open by a high calibre grenade slug. There were five of the Brutes and two marines, odds were against them, the AI watched from the sensors that were hidden in the hull of the Copernicus. The AI couldn't do anything except watch, the marines waited. One Brute turned the corner, AR fire riddled the creature with hundreds of bullets that slowly got through it's great hide, ripping apart the internal organs on the inside of the creature. Jackson's MA2B was dry, he was out of AR clips, he switched to his SMG, he gave Crin his shotgun. "Alright, you give me cover and I'll check for any more aliens", Jackson told Crin the other marine declined the offer, starting a walk toward the corner.

Another Brute turned the corner, saw a wounded human, armed with a scattergun, the Brute used the blade on it's weapon. Crin never felt the blade eviscerating him, he was dead before then. Jackson watched as his friend died, he got up, aimed the SMG and fired, the small caseless high explosive slugs shredded the Brutes head, the Brute fell toward the ground, dead, not before impaling Jackson with it's blade. Jackson detonated his grenades. The three remaining Brutes died as the hull decompressed and they were sucked into space. Tennor watched the event via a small monitor, he felt sick at the sacrifice of more marines. He knew that getting his people through the assault was the only thing he could do. "MAC guns are fully charged", one of the bridge crew announced.
"Fire, rip that ship apart", the MAC guns fired, the Copernicus fired, two huge bullets headed towards the halfway of the redeemer. The rounds were on target, the vessel was ripped in half. The crew celebrated, Tennor was amazed, his vessel was badly damaged, he had been boarded and now this.





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