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The Shadows - Part 7: Neo "Lucky" Geo and a Departure
Posted By: Glenny<CalKid07@aol.com>
Date: 26 September 2002, 4:43 am


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He limped back and forth, carrying fallen tree branches and such to start a fire. After sparking a fire, he sat on a rock and strapped up the wound on his leg. He heard a noise, and he pulled his shotgun out and stood up...but found that it was just a squirrel-like animal jumping down from a tree and running off. He laughed to himself, and sat back down. He would need all the rest he could get, because he had one hell of a day.

He was Major Neo "Lucky" Geo of the Marine Corps. He joined the military to get himself out of his bad neighborhood...where he had been shot nearly ten different times in different places during his teenage days. He worked his way up, and recently became was promoted to Major. During his line of duty he was wounded dozens of times, but pulling through and fully recovering every one. This is where he was given the nickname "Lucky." Just about everyone he knew simply called him Lucky: His superior officers, his friends...he even permitted the troops he commanded to call him Lucky. He fought on Reach, and luckily made it out in time before his station was completely taken. The nearest ship was the Pillar of Autumn. After they arrived at Halo, he made it out in a Pelican. When entering Halo's atmosphere, about five banshees tailed him and shot him down. The people with him died in the crash, but he managed to jump out the back hatch just a second before it hit the ground. An explosion occurred about 20 seconds after the initial crash, and this sent shrapnel into his leg. He is now camped out somewhere on Halo. He does not have a clue where he is, and all of his communication attempts have failed.

Earlier he came across a wounded Elite, but he seemed to be different from the rest of the Covenant. They actually helped each other, and surprisingly enough the Elite could speak English: The Covenant researched the Human language, and then inserted voice microchips into a large amount of chosen Covenant in case they needed to speak it. The Elite's name was Baelrog, and Lucky and him agreed to stay out of each other's way but occasionally help each other. With that, Lucky went back to his camp.

That's where he was now. Waiting for something to happen. He then heard a swoosh-like sound, and looked above him to see a ship hovering high above. The ship lowered and landed next to the camp. The ship was almost hard to see...the colors changed as it moved, to fit the surroundings. He walked over to it with his shotgun raised, not knowing whose ship it was. The ramp lowered, and six figures walked down the ramp...their armor almost resembled the Spartans, except that it was not as large and it was black...but then it suddenly turned to a sage color.

"Are you a marine?" said the one in front.
Lucky stood straight up, knowing it had to be a human now. "Yes, sir, Major Neo Geo, sir."
"Don't call me sir. I hate that word," replied the same one. He continued. "I'm Castor. That's Cameron, Danny, Justin, Archer, and Eddie. How'd you get here?"
"I escaped the Pillar of Autumn on a Pelican, and then I was shot down around here."
"Have you made any contacts yet?"
"Yes. There was an Elite, but he seemed to help me more than hurt me."
"Very well. I think you should come with us. What was your name again?"
"Major Neo Geo, but you can call me Lucky."
"Oh, I've heard of you. You were that Marine who took on those Elites by himself, aren't you?"
"Yes I am."
"Well, you'll be better than I thought."

Lucky wondered what he meant by that, but he decided to go along with it. The group of now seven made their way through the forest, looking for survivors before they left the area. As they were about to head back to their ship, a large whistling sound and an explosion was heard...coming from a quarter mile to a half mile away. They all ran in that direction, knowing that there would have to be humans. As they neared it, a blast from a Covenant Wraith hit near them, and they all dropped to their stomachs. They began to crawl forward, trying to get to the battle. The sounds of a ton of footsteps were heard coming their way. And they all covered themselves in case it was enemies. The footsteps came nearer, and about 30 marines ran by them, occasionally turning around to shoot in the direction they were coming from. As Castor was about to come out and make contact, about 20 Grunts and 10 Jackals ran past their position in pursuit of the Marines. As if by instinct, all the Shadows and Lucky popped up and unloaded their current clips onto the front lines of Covenant.

Castor turned to Cameron. "Cameron, catch up to those Marines and bring them back."
"Yes sir." Cameron took off after the Marines.
Castor turned to the rest of them. "We will continue this battle and take as much as we can. Shoot any Covenant that surrender, and take care of our wounded that may still be out there. Now lets go!"

They ran towards where the battle originated, and they came to a large clearing and were almost shocked to see what they saw. There were at least a dozen Wraith tanks, seven Scorpion tanks, five Banshees flying overhead, a few Longswords overhead, and dozens and dozens of Ghosts and Warthogs. There were Marines and such all over the place, fighting the Covenant and dying as well. Explosions were going off everywhere: From Warthogs, Ghosts, etc. Cameron appeared behind them with all of the Marines, and they waited for Castor's orders. Castor immediately yelled for them to open fire, and they did so...joining the battle. The Shadow's stuck together, and Lucky followed them.

Castor knew that they needed more air support. The Shadows constructed a sort of grappling device out of a sniper rifle and such, and they handed it to Archer. Archer was almost a good of shot as Mike was, so he could probably make the shot. He took a shot at a diving Banshee, and hooked it on one of its wings. All the Shadows pulled on their side, and the Banshee pilot landed...not knowing what was going on. Cameron ran over and shot the pilot, killing him and throwing him aside. Cameron got in and started to take off, but not before Lucky ran over and jumped on top of it. The Banshee took off, and Lucky held on to the top. Cameron noticed him, and flew towards a group of Banshees. Cameron decided to play chicken with another one, and went head on towards it. Lucky slowly got his balance and was ready to jump. At the last minute Cameron dove downwards, and Lucky jumped and grabbed onto the other Banshee's wing. He hung on there by one arm, barely holding onto it. He pulled his other arm up and grabbed on to it also. He then pulled himself up and positioned himself sitting on the wing. He held on with one hand and pulled his sidearm, and then he swung himself around to the back and shot seven shots through the opening into the pilot. As the pilot died, the Banshee opened and the Elite fell towards the ground. The Banshee started to plummet towards the ground, and Lucky pulled himself in and took the controls. He pulled the Banshee up just before it would hit the ground, and caught up with Cameron and took his wing.

Castor scanned the battlefield. The Covenant had five stationary guns on their side of the field just before the treeline, and were very effective. The stationary guns were tearing up Marines who were too close and uncovered. Castor took the other four Shadows and ran through the forest, heading around to the Covenant side of the battlefield. A few minutes later, they snuck past most of the Covenant guards and crept up to the stationary guns. They were hiding between a large group of bushes and behind a log, wondering what to do.

Castor though of something. "Archer, you have your rifle?"
Archer pulled out his own sniper rifle. "Right here."
"Good. When the guns start firing again, shoot each one starting from the left one. As you shoot them, we'll jump in them. You get in the last one, and we'll surprise the Covenant with an attack from the rear with their own guns."
Archer smiled. "Roger that."

The four Shadows positioned themselves behind each gun, and Archer waited until they all started firing. He picked off each Grunt gunner one by one from the left, and when the last Grunt noticed and started to yell something, he dropped out of the gun dead. The Shadows all jumped in and readied themselves. Castor yelled out, "Target the nearest tanks first, then anything else. Once the tanks start shooting at us, bail out." They all acknowledged and started firing streams of plasma out at once. The nearest tank took a lot and went up in flames. A few more tanks went up in flames, and the last two turned and faced them. The Shadows kept firing, and each tank took a shot. The Shadows kept firing until each tank blew up, then they dove away as the tank's shots blew away the guns.

An Elite, two jackals, and four grunts approached the site where the guns once stood and saw nothing but smoke rising from the ground. The Elite gave out a laugh of triumph, but then figures were seen moving in the smoke. The Elite looked closer, and five human Shadows came flying through the wall of smoke. The group of Covenant raised their guns, but the Shadows mowed them down before they had a chance. They charged forward into the battle, making a sort of sandwich out of the Covenant.

In the air, the Humans were starting to overcome the enemy fighters. Cameron and Lucky were double teaming single Banshees and started to eliminate most of them. Cameron shot at an enemy Banshee towards the right of it, forcing it to dodge left. As it dodged left, Lucky anticipated his shot and blew the Banshee away with a fuel-rod. They both pulled away laughing, but then a group of three Banshees pulled behind them. They banked in different directions...one enemy went after Cameron and two went after Lucky.

Lucky flew low, trying to ditch his pursuers by snaking through the vehicles on the ground...but they stayed high and just shot down at him. He continually tried different maneuvers, but they were much more skilled and stayed on him. As he made another tight turn, he saw Cameron's Banshee chasing down an enemy one: Cameron must have gotten behind him somehow. Lucky flew in that direction, and positioned himself to go head on towards the Banshee Cameron was pursuing. The enemy Banshee tried to maneuver out of the way, but Lucky moved in the same direction. Just before the Banshees collided, Lucky slipped out of the Banshee and fell towards the ground. Luckily Cameron took a dive under the collision to avoid it, and Lucky grabbed onto the wing. Cameron flew low and slow as Lucky jumped off and hit the ground. Lucky smiled, luckily still alive, and joined the battle on foot.

The Covenant had no where to run to, behind them the five elite Shadows had them trapped using guerilla tactics, and in front of them there were about 100 marines motivated and charging forwards. They could have surrendered, but the Covenant do not know of fear. As the Covenant were overwhelmed by the two sides, a Gold Elite jumped on a Ghost and started to take off to try to inform his superiors of their defeat. Castor saw him and threw a grenade ahead of him as hard as he could. The grenade landed nearby, and blew up a few feet away from the Ghost. The Ghost flipped and the Elite hit the ground. The Ghost tumbled and landed on top of him, trapping him underneath.

Castor ran over and looked down at him. The Elite showed no fear, just started to yell and growl at the human. Castor pulled his pistol and aimed at the Elite's head, almost feeling sorry that the Elite had no chance at all. The Elite yelled out some words that Castor took as obscenities. Castor slipped his gun back in its holster and took out his last grenade. He pulled the pin, shoved it unexpectedly into the Elite's mouth and stepped away. He watched as the Elite's upper body (especially his head) blew to pieces. He mumbled to himself..."Shouldn't have yelled at me that stupid son of a...."

The ranking Marine walked over. "I'm Colonel Jay Roberts. Who are you?"
Castor replied. "You can call me Castor. I have no rank."
Roberts gave him an odd look and replied. "Where are you guys headed? I hear that the Master Chief and the main crew is starting to regroup about 200 kilometers that way."
Castor thought about it. "You go on ahead. We'll get to our ship and catch up."
Roberts smiled. "You got it."

They split, and Cameron asked Castor, "Are we going to meet them there or catch up to them?"
Castor sighed and replied, "We aren't going with them. We need to get back to the nearest colony, even if its Earth. We have news to relay."
"Like what? That there are a band of marines stuck out here?" replied Cameron.
Castor looked at him. "No, that something is important about this ring thing, or else that Covenant wouldn't care that we were here. And I also certain gold and silver marks on Hunters and Elites showing that they are leaders. Plus, that tracker we put on the Covenant flagship will probably relay back their destination pretty soon. We need to head back and tell them everything we've gone through."
Cameron gave a heavy sigh. "Fine, and what do we do with Warrior-Boy over here?"
"Lucky? He can come with us. He has proven himself worthy enough."
Cameron shook his head. "Ok. But I still don't feel good about departing this place already. We are leaving all of these Marines here."
Castor held his forehead and looked at Cameron with saddened eyes. "This sounds bad...but even if we did stay, we'd do nothing but die out here. We can't possibly save all of these marines, and if we tried we'd probably die trying."
Cameron disagreed. "What are you talking about? Their moral is up, we murdered those Covenant today."
Castor held his forehead again. "That was to hold us until the main attack. When we left I tracked a load of Covenant fighters and such headed that way. All of the radar signals from the Marines and such are now gone...they were slaughtered. Our battle was not a battle, just a distraction so we think we had it won."

With that, they left...Castor, Cameron, Danny, Archer, Eddie, Justin, and now Neo...or Lucky as they call him. They charged the ship's energy and went into Slipstream back in the direction of Earth.





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