Ascendant Part I
Posted By: Archangel's Blade<archangels_blade@hotmail.com>
Date: 06 June 2002, 12:05 am
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Authors Note: First time writing. Any feedback would be appreciated. Email me at archangels_blade@hotmail.com
A moon in a system not too far from Reach
Covenant supply depot #74
5:18 am
Pte. Michael N. Sheener
We were the fourth unit to the hot zone. Nothing in Basic could have prepared me for what real combat was like.
ÝÝÝÝÝRiding in on the track pod of a Scorpion MBT reminded me of the brutal Basic Training back on Reach. Back then, we mastered tactics, weapons training, the art of lobbing grenades, and of course, vehicle training. My least favorite was riding on the track pods. I saw two of my fellow trainees accidentally fall off and watched them splatter all over the training ground when they were run over.
ÝÝÝÝÝThere were four of us on the pods and one up on the turret when we rode into the area. Faster than it seemed possible, there were only the four of us on the pods. Blood sprayed through the air as a plasma bolt blew the L.T. in two. That left only myself, a lowly private, and three other rookies fresh from Basic Training. Scorpion riding never was my best subject.
ÝÝÝÝÝJumping off to the side, I just barely avoided a bolt of plasma as it flew, streaming through the air. And then there were three of us as the bolt melted the head of the marine on the track pod behind me. How could this be possible?!
ÝÝÝÝÝDucking behind the cover of some nearby crates, I noticed that three other marines from another squad were pinned down behind some Covenant supply crates nearby by two jackals. Swinging my MA5B assault rifle around, I squared them in my HUD crosshairs, picked off one jackal with its back to me, and wounded the other. This brought my clip down to about half. Accuracy wasn't my best subject either.
ÝÝÝÝÝTwo of the marines were instantly annihilated as a shot from a fuel rod gun hit the ground between them. Hunters! Swinging to take a look, I saw that we were lucky, and that there was two, but there was only one of them nearby, and badly wounded at that! A grenade from one of my squadmates took care of it.
ÝÝÝÝÝSuddenly, the tank opened fire. About time! The cannon took out about five grunts and an elite who stood to close to them. I felt relieved that the driver of the Scorpion wasn't killed in the initial volley of plasma.
ÝÝÝÝÝJust then, a bolt from a nearby elite blasted into the crate near my head! Ducking behind the crate and hoping that it wouldn't come over, I started to cry. I was only a city boy fresh onto the battlefield. I was expecting a life of glory, like the ones shown in the Holos back on Drake. Already I had witnessed more killing than I thought I would. The annihilation of my L.T. right off the bat, the death of my not-so-agile-as-me squadmate, and the destruction of two of the men I saved with my lucky shots. Anger welled up inside me as I thought about all the men and women who had died in this war so far because of these miserable alien bitches.
ÝÝÝÝÝStanding up, I stared the elite right in the eye, and said something I never thought a good little city boy like me could say to a powerful alien warrior bent on the destruction of my entire race: Open wide and suck lead you motherfucking genocidal alien asshole! I know it sounds a little cheesy, but it really bolstered my courage as I opened fire. I actually felt like the marines shown on the recruitment posters back home! Running like a maniac, the elite dove for cover as my MA5B clicked dry. Oh shit, I forgot I only had half a clip left! I'm fucked!
Just when I thought I was dead, my surviving squadmates realized that they might lose another man, and shot the elite dead before its shields could regenerate. By now, most of the Covenant had either been killed or had run away. Luckily for me, none of the surviving Covs were near me.
Reinforcements finally arrived. I saw full Pelicans landing, and dropping off troops and medics. Warthogs pulled up and LAAGed the hell out of the surviving Hunter. The Scorpion MBT that I rode in on blew up a ghost that I hadn't even noticed.
With a total of two and 1/2 kills, I had survived my first firefight. So this is what it feels like to be a marine of the UNSC: scared, desensitized, and in combat shock; nothing like the recruiting officers described.
As the weapons depot was burned to cinders, I felt justified over the death of my squadmates. Flying out on a Pelican for the first time, I realized that this was just the beginning of something big, something special; this was the beginning of my career as a frontline marine.
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