Forgotten Soldiers by cloud
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Forgotten Soldiers part 1
Date: 13 December 2002, 1:08 am
Private Waters had never seen combat before. His instructor had always called him a "greenhorn". Unfortunately this moniker had stuck with him even after all the others had ceased to be called so. As he ducked behind a boulder, he realized what the insulting name meant. Three months ago the Covenant had discovered the location of Earth. ONI theorized that one of their reconnaissance ships had been captured off-guard and was not able to initialize Cole Protocol. The bastards had exited the Slipstream not three kilometers away from each other in a tight formation that had vaporized every escape craft that attempted to delay imminent doom. Surprisingly, the Covenant had not glassed the planet. Instead they had sent thousands of dropships streaming down planetside. The UNSC had tried their best, but they were outnumbered two hundred to one. The veteran and professional soldiers had died faster than the UNSC could issue burial details. Soon even untrained soldiers and mercenaries for hire were called in. They were the last hope for the civilians of Earth. So far all they had managed to prove was that they were piss-poor protectors. Thirty-two million souls, military and civilian, had been lost so far. Private Waters looked like he was about to join them. The objective of this operation had been to capture a Covenant carrier and hold it long enough for ONI to get there and raid the ship's computers. One had touched down in New Zealand four hours ago. They had picked a prime spot atop a hill that was ringed with boulders along it's top. As soon as they touched down though, all hell broke loose. One Pelican had been carrying their Jackhammer launchers and ammunition. Another had been carrying sniper rifles and grenades. Both had gotten fragged as soon as the Marines had turned their backs. The other had been too badly damaged to even fly a few kilometers. Corporal Sigers had been blown apart by one of those "sticky" plasma grenades. All the Marines could do was hunker down behind the boulders and blast away with their MA5B's. They had received a transmission from the damaged Pelican seven minutes earlier, the faint voice had told them that NavSpecWep was sending backup. Private Vale had their last rocket launcher and six shells. He took careful aim and fired on an advancing Wraith tank. The frontal section of the hovering plasma-spewer peeled back like an orange rind. Despite their hopeless position Waters managed a grim smile. Suddenly a Grunt leapt over the boulders and fired wildly with it's plasma pistol. The burning energy splashed over Privates Horman and Takami. Even as they screamed, their assault rifles bisected the Grunt. A medic ran from the damaged Pelican and started to fill them with biofoam. Vale was about to fire another rocket when a bolt of plasma washed over his Jackhammer, melting it and burning his hand and shoulder off. Amazingly, he did not even flinch as he reached for the dead Grunt's plasma pistol and managed to squeeze off a few shots even as the medic grabbed the stump of his arm and started taping it up. Suddenly Waters heard a loud thrumming sound, he turned expecting to see a Covenant dropship. Instead, he saw a descending UNSC dropship. When the Pelican touched down he thought that it was carrying more opponents rather than reinforcements. A huge, man-shaped monster stepped out of the dropship. He could see his reflection in it's iridescent, midnight black armor. There was no insignia on it's armor, but his HUD displayed a rank message: SPARTAN III SPEC OPS DIVISION. Thirty such figures stepped out of the Pelican and surveyed the situation. A taller creature stepped forth and spoke.
"This is Spartan 039, Private, Give me a status report."
Forgotten Soldiers part 2
Date: 14 December 2002, 7:02 pm
"Um, well it's not good sir." Waters said as he saw a new message on his HUD: CHIEF PETTY OFFICER.
"Who is ranking officer in this battlegroup?" asked the Chief.
"It was Corporal Sigers, but he's dead. The rest of us are only Privates." Replied Waters as he looked back at the battlefield.
"You're ranking officer now, Private. We brought ammo and weapons, plus a chaingun that you'll set up to cover us. The mission objectives have changed. You're objective is to cover us while we retrieve a sample from the ship that ONI wants. We'll take point defense while your men set up the chaingun and arm themselves. Understood Private?" said the Chief, as he readied his M90 shotgun.
"Sir yes Sir! C'mon Rys let's get this thing up!" Said the Private unsteadily.
The Chief was ready to go in and take down the Covenant assholes that were threatening his world, but the mission protocols came first. The UNSC had received a strange transmission several weeks ago all that had came through was a rambling message: Master Chief...Pillar of Autumn...Halo...Flood...danger. ONI recognized the name Pillar of Autumn, apparently, it had been carrying the last group of Spartans on a mission to find the Covenant homeworld. Most people were hoping that the transmission meant that the Spartans had succeeded. But nothing else had happened to confirm this theory.
"Chief, I have finished scanning the area and now have a map that we can use to plan an assault." Said Ifrit.
Ifrit was the Chief's AI. All MJOLNIR suits were now equipped with a 'smart' AI. They were very useful in battle, especially when the Covenant were sending messages to each other across their Battlenet.
"Thanks, start broadcasting it to the other Spartans." Grunted the Chief as he gunned down several Grunts at one time. He crouched down behind the boulders and turned to the other Spartans.
"Gold team, you'll stay here and help the Marines repel the Covenant. Red team, you'll secure the west side of the battlefield. Yellow team you secure the east side of the field. Green team you will hold the bridge of the carrier. Finally, Blue team you come with me to secure the sample. Rendezvous at the foot of this hill, understood?" said the Chief as he surveyed the holographic map on his HUD. Thirty lights winked on.
"Good, move out Spartans."
The Chief and the Spartans leapt over the boulders and charged down the hill. Covering fire from the chaingun mowed down Covenant troops. As he hit the foot of the hill two Elites crouched and sprayed him with plasma. The boiling energy spattered over his shield as he raised the shotgun. He squeezed the trigger and sidestepped out of the hail of fire. The Elites' shield's flickered and died while he pulled the trigger again. This volley of red-hot lead dropped the blue armored aliens to the ground. He pulled a grenade off the body of one of the Elites and tossed it a Wraith tank that was bearing down on him. The plasma bomb stuck to the side of the tank for a split-second before exploding. The brute force of the explosion caused the Wraith to lurch sideways, crushing a few Grunts and ripping the arm off of a Jackal. The Chief aimed the barrel of his shotgun at the Jackal and put an end to it's suffering. Just then he felt something smash into his shoulder. He whirled around and saw an Elite wielding a plasma rifle. It took another swing, but the Chief rolled away before blasting it at point-blank range. The Elite fell, choking on it's own blood. As the Chief stood again, he looked up at the last thing he wanted to see. A hulking 8ft Hunter was standing in front of him with it's fuel rod cannon pointed directly at his faceplate!
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