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Halo 2Fight For Earth by HunterKiller
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Halo 2: First Strike
Date: 23 July 2003, 9:59 PM
Halo 2: First Strike
"Only the dead have seen the end of war."
-Plato
* * *
25 July 2553
Sergeant Benjamin L. Morris sat scrunched up in the foxhole cut off from the rest of Alpha Company. His radioman, Chuck Smith, lay dead right next to him, killed by a Plasma shot through the neck. This was common in war except for the fact that he clutched a grenade in his hand and Morris couldn't get it out. Jake Parker was bleeding very badly, and the medic was all the way over on the other side of the valley with the rest of Alpha Company.
Ben bent over Jake and removed his bandanna and tied it around his arm above the elbow. The plasma had severed his artery. If they didn't get a medic over here soon he was certain to die.
Ben peeked out of the hole, there were towers to the north, and east if he tried to make a run for it those Shade turrets would certainly take him out. He crouched back down in the hole. He turned Chuck's body over, but the radio was destroyed. He peeked back out as Plasma shot over his head he used his field glasses to scope out the territory. There was a little hill a little ways to the north he could run for that. He turned his field glasses to the east tower there, was no one up there. So he only had to worry about the north one.
He jumped up out of the hole and ran for the hill, the elite in the tower noticed him and turned to fire. Ben raised the MA6B battle rifle and fired a couple quick bursts at the tower, he saw that a good portion of the bullets hit from the flash of the energy shield. He was nearly at the hill when he felt it hit him in the front. The plasma blast knocked him onto his back, burning through his armor. That was all he could think of just the burning . . .
burning. . .
His body's natural painkillers kicked in and stopped most of the burning. The next thing he thought of was to get up and run for the hill. He stood yet his legs felt like Jell-o. He took a few steps before he fell flat on his face, so he decided to crawl. He mad it there. The hill provided cover from the tower. He rested his back on the huge mound of dirt and removed his armor. A hole was burnt almost completely through it. He threw it aside. Next he through away his helmet to get some of the weight off his head. His head was throbbing, he begged for an aspirin.
He took one of the canteens off his belt and drained it. He lay back and closed his eyes.
* * *
Colonel John Williams had twenty years battle experience against the Covenant he knew their tactics. Somewhere out there they were trying, or may have succeeded in killing his four men that were out there that he hadn't known about until a moment ago.
He turned to Lt. Smith, "Why the hell didn't you tell me about them until now."
"Well, we can't say that Morris doesn't deserve it, sir. The stupid son of a bitch thinks he can just run the program his way."
"Do you think I give a shit about how he runs his squad."
"Well, sir, I thought that you didn't care for him much."
"Now why the hell would you worry about my men. He's out there with three other goodmen! I know how much you don't like him but you're going out there too find him. Do I make myself clear!"
"Yes sir!" he said with a quick salute. Smith turned and walked away.
I'm going to lose my best man because of that sonuvabitch! he thought.
* * *
The sky grew dark in the valley as Smith walked through the knee length grass. His knees were bent as he walked. He had cleared about ¾ of a mile with out a sight of Morris. He continued to walk through the grass. Most of the firing had stopped but he could still hear the occasional boom from the artillery strikes on the covenant position.
He could make out a small mound of dirt about seven meters from his position there was a man lying there. He snuck on over to the mound he looked at the mans left chest, the nametag said MORRIS. Next he checked for a pulse, it was there. Morris appeared to be sleeping. All right you sonuvabitch it's your time to die!he thought. He drew his Ka-Bar knife, raised it above his head ready to strike.
Morris' eyes snapped open and he jabbed his knife into Smiths gut. Smith's arms came down to his sides, he dropped the knife and looked down to see his wound. He saw the knife sticking out of his stomach . . . his stomach. That Morris had some nerve, to kill his superior officer.
Smith's body crumpled to the ground as his vision went black.
To Be Continued
Halo 2 Fight For Earth: The Next Day
Date: 25 July 2003, 3:41 AM
Halo 2 Fight For Earth: The Next Day
"The general who thoroughly understands the advantages that accompany variation of tactics knows how to handle his troops."Sun Tzu—The Art of War
* * *
26 June 2553
Ben Morris pushed the corpse of Lt. Smith off his body. He stretched out his arms and yawned. He rubbed his eyes with his fists and stood. He examined the territory around him the tower had been destroyed he could see across the valley to where the Colonel's position was, I guess he decided to set up a CP over thereHe thought looking at a giant ant hill that was about three feet tall and five feet long. It was about ¾ of a mile over there.
He grabbed his MA6B battle rifle by the sling and hung it around his back. There didn't seem to be many Covenant around. He crouched low and started sneaking over there just in case there were any covenant around. He would walk three steps and turn and look to the left than the right. This happened for another fifteen minutes before he reached the termite mound.
Colonel Williams stood there talking on the radio, he listened in, "Yes sir, I understand." He hung the phone back up on the radio pack and turned. "Oh Ben." He looked surprised, "When did you get back?"
"Just now sir."
"Where's Smith?"
Morris didn't answer.
"You killed him didn't you."
Yes sir." He replied "He attacked me first sir."
Williams looked at him for a second, "I understand. He never liked you anyway. Why don't you go sit down and get some rest, General Parker has ordered us all out of the valley."
"I slept all night sir."
"Well I guess you could've slept through the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941."
"Pearl Harbor, sir?"
"It's what brought America into the Second World War."
"What do you mean, sir."
"Well last night the covenant put up one hell of a fight, we were lucky we made it through the night, we called in an air strike at 0200 and we fried the bastards."
"Thank you sir." Said Morris with a salute. Williams saluted him back and walked away.
Ben sat down next to the termite hill and opened up an MRE bag and devoured the contents. He never liked ham, but now it tasted better than ever. After "breakfast" he figured he'd write a letter to his girl friend, Hannah. Now that he was back on earth he might have another chance to see her. God it had been four years since he saw her last, she probably found another man a week after he left. But that was okay, she'd just found a coward to go out with. But his philosophy was to hope for the best prepare for the worst. He took out a pad of paper and a pencil and began to write.
His letter turned out to be a four-page novel. Why do I even bother.he thought She promised to write but never has.
He sat there for a couple hours before Colonel Williams returned he sat down next to him.
"Well the pelicans will be here soon to pick us up." He said lighting a cigarette. He handed the package over to Morris, he took one even though he didn't smoke. He drew in on the cigarette before coughing, the smoke burned his throat, all the way down to his lungs he felt it move. cough! Cough! Hack spit!
"careful there Morris." Said Williams patting him on the back. "You got to be careful with these. These'll kill yah faster than the Covenant. I wouldn't be doing this shit if it wasn't so fucking addictive." They sat in silence for a couple of minutes. "We're being pulled out," said Williams, "the Covenant retreated after last night's battle, they think they're going to go after a big city next, London, Beijing, Washington, L.A., Chicago, and Moscow are prime targets."
"LA! Shit Hannah lives there."
Girlfriend?"
"Yeah"
"Well LA is half way around the world from where were are. You're just SOL right now."
"guess so."
"It's funny to know that we're making history where history has already been made."
"Excuse me sir?"
"Many thousands of years ago Hannibal crossed those mountains." He said pointing to a mountain range to the west.
Morris looked at him for a moment before his sixth grade history lesson popped into his head. "The Punic wars!" He said
"ding ding ding." Said Williams.
A couple of minutes later the pelicans had dropped down and the wounded, dead, and healthy were loaded up. Morris hopped into the last one Williams stood on the ground outside. The pilot poked Ben on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up. Morris stuck his head out the door and said, "Every one is off the field sir." Williams nodded and stepped up into the Pelican as it took off.
Morris watched as the field disappeared from view.
Halo 2 Fight For Earth: Home Today, Gone Tomorrow
Date: 30 July 2003, 10:00 PM
Halo 2 Fight For Earth: Home Today, Gone Tomorrow
"Unless you enter the tiger's lair, you cannot get hold of the tiger's cubs."
Sun Tzu -The Art of War
* * *
26 June, 2553
The Pelicans landed in Washington D.C. The marines would have a short three-day break too see their families and all the reserves would be put on duty.. Unfortunately for him, Morris had no family and he didn't even want to see Hannah. Colonel Williams offered to take him over to his place in Maryland for the break. Morris accepted, so now they were on a plane bound for Baltimore, where Mrs. Williams would pick them up. Colonel Williams had become a kind of father figure to Ben. Ben's parents died in a car crash when he was twelve.
The plane rolled off the tarmac at 1400 hrs. The flight went well, for at least half of the flight. An explosion came from the aft of the plane. It lurched forward. Another explosion shook the plane. The pilot's voice came over the comm. System.
Everybody, this is the captain speaking. It appears that a bomb has exploded in the aft and we're going down. I urge you to remain calm and put on your emergency parachutes in the compartment above your head. The stewardess' will tell you how to work your parachutes and we will jump off the plane.
Morris and Williams both grabbed there parachutes and went to the door. "Okay, on three I'm going to open the door." He grabbed the door handle. "One, two, three!" He jerked open the door, and paper and peanut wrappers started flying out the door. "Morris, you get every one up here, we'll be last off!" he yelled over the wind blowing.
Morris went aft and yelled over the screaming and crying. "I need everybody to calm down, and get in a single file line and walk up to the first-class corridor. My friend and I will help you out. When you leave the plane count to ten then pull your rip chord that is on your left shoulder."
Everyone calmed down and began coming up to the forward cabin where Williams and Morris helped every one jump out. Morris looked out the door, the ground was getting awful damn close. They had ¾ of the people out when Morris went up to the pilot's cabin. He poked his head in, "What's our altitude?"
"5,000 feet, and closing."
"Shit! About ¾ of the passengers are off the plane. You should come aft soon."
Ben returned to the first-class compartment and helped the rest of the passengers off the plane. Morris and Williams checked each other's parachutes once more. Williams said, "You go first, I'm right behind you."
"Yes sir." Said Morris, and jumped.
The air was rushing around him, it felt weird falling from about 3,000 feet. He began to count in his head.
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten!
He reached up to his left shoulder and pulled the rip chord. The parachute came out of its pack and jerked up on his crotch. Now since the straps go between the legs, those straps had to go somewhere, so they found their place of attack and squished one of the twins down there. "oooowwwwwwwww!" he said as the straps came up.
He got used to the pain after a few seconds and calmed his muscles shithe thought I forgot to tell them not too tense up when they land! Damn! Morris looked over to the right, Williams had caught up with him, he waved. Morris waved back and braced himself for the landing.
All the passengers had landed when he did, he came down with a thud! The kids were crying, the adults were screaming. "What the hell are they screaming about." Said Morris as Williams landed. Morris pulled off his chute and stood. Williams stood and said, "I'll tell ya what they're screaming about." He said pointing south "Look at Washington."
Morris wheeled around on his heel. And stared at Washington. Yellow and orange columns were rising from the city. "Holy shit! They got Washington."
"We were lucky Morris. Looks like we got out just before the attack."
Morris continued to watch as the airplane came down on top of the city. "I think the folks on the hill want us back at Washington, sir."
"You read my thoughts Morris. We better get going now."
"What about all these people."
"they need to stay here."
Morris yelled at every one, "Every one stay calm. The colonel and I are going back to Washington. We'll send a platoon back to get you. Just stay calm and we'll be back soon."
An older man stood, he was in his forties. "I'm going with you."
"Do you have any former military experience sir." Asked Morris
"Yes I do sir, I was with UNSC for seven years before I retired."
"What's your name?"
"Chuck Crea."
"Are you up to a three mile run."
"Yah, that's child's play."
"Okay, we need to get going now."
"Well let's get going." Said Crea
They took off running.
To Be Continued
Halo 2 Fight For Earth: Out of the Frying Pan. . .
Date: 28 December 2003, 3:14 PM
Halo 2 Fight For Earth: Out of the Frying Pan. . .
No poor dumb bastard ever won a war by dying for his country, he won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his. -General George S. Patton
* * *
26 June, 2553
Ben Morris, Colonel Williams and Chuck Crea continued to run. It took about twenty minutes to get back to Washington. The streets were littered with debris, buildings were ablaze. The Covenant were killing citizens. Citizens for god's sake!
"Looks like we're a little late." Said Crea.
"Either that, or they went farther into the city." Replied Williams.
There were five dead Marines over to the right. They walked over, took their MA6Bs, grenades, and M6D pistols. Crea slid a breastplate off one of them, tried to put it on, found it to small, so he tried another one. This one fit. He took the supply belt off the same corpse and buckled it on. Last thing he did was check the ammo. He looked over at the other two who were just standing there. "Well are ya just gonna stand there?" He said.
Morris and Williams did the same, taking all the extra ammo and grenades they could. Some canteens and a med-kit were also strapped to each of the belts.
After their little dress up game they started off down the street. The buildings on both sides were destroyed, fire came up from them like columns supporting a Greek temple. Smoke filled the air so thickly it was becoming hard to breathe. Large blocks of stone and piles of rubble would supply excellent cover if one were to shoot from behind them.
Crea took point as they continued down the street. He'd stop at all the intersections and peek around the corners. Then would obey his mom by looking both ways before crossing the street.
They neared the next corner, Crea peeked out. He came back behind the corner, and using hand signals showed that two Elites were walking down the street.
"Is there any nearby cover?" asked Williams in a voice so low Crea could barely hear it.
"There's a pile of rubble right around the corner."
"Can we make it?"
"Hell yeah."
"Well say when and we'll move."
Crea peeked around the corner again, he came back around, "Now!"
All three bolted around the corner and crouched behind the rubble.
"On three we'll all jump up and focus fire on the one to the left then the right." He paused a moment then continued "One, two, Three!" they jumped up and fired a volley of 9.56 mm bullets into both of them. The energy shields flashed and then purple blood sprayed out their backs as they fell to the ground.
They reloaded their rifles and continued down the street.
* * *
Cathy Williams stood in the kitchen of her Maryland house chopping up vegetables for the beef stew she was preparing for John and Ben. John's favorite meal was beef stew and potatoes. She finished chopping the vegetables and put them in the broth. She put the pot on the stove and turned it up to a slow boil. I bet the guys are dying for some real food. She thought as she left the kitchen to the family room. I'm glad they made those new self-working stoves.
Cathy took her favorite seat by the large window that looked out over the bright view of Atlantic water glistening in the sun. She grabbed the remote control and flipped on the television. "Let's see what's on the news." She said. She turned the channel to CNN. What she saw she didn't believe. A picture of Washington on fire. "My god." She gasped "John and Ben are there! I need to call the kids." She said scrambling for the phone. Charlie was in College and James was at West Point. She should be able to get a hold of them, shouldn't she?
* * *
Williams, Morris and Crea were astonished at what they saw. The Capital building ablaze. "Never thought they would go this far." Said Crea chomping on his tobacco.
"I wonder if any one is still alive in there." Said Morris
"Probably not Ben, looks like they pounded it pretty hard."
Crea said a silent prayer before looking up with a face white as a sheet of paper. "The White House." He gasped.
"Shit! We need to get there before they get there." Said Morris.
"Well we're gonna need better weapons than what we got." Said Crea
"I heard that brigadier general Thomas Warner is trying to plow his way here. Maybe we could hitch a ride with him." Said Williams.
"sounds good to me." Answered Crea. They ran to the nearest officer they could find. "Where's Tommy Warner's Armored Division?!" They demanded.
"He's on the outskirts of Washington, I think he was trying to get inside the city. The Covie are pounding him hard."
"Well how can we get to him?" asked Crea.
"I don't know, but we need as many troops as we can get now. So you're not going."
"Excuse me, lieutenant," said Williams, "just who do you think you're talking to."
"Colonel Williams." He saluted, "Sorry sir."
"At ease, we just need some transport to Warner."
"Well, I do- wait my 'Hog's parked over there." He said pointing. "you can use it if you want."
"Thank you." Said Williams slapping him on the shoulder. Hot plasma fire soared over his head, he raised his MA6B towards the direction from which the fire came. A squad of grunts and Jackals were charging up the street. He opened fire, along with the platoon of marines he was standing next to. "Morris, go get that 'Hog started. Now!"
"Yes sir!" he replied yelling as he ran.
* * *
The battle cruiser Endeavor took another hit that made it jump. They had continually pounded and been pounded by Covenant ships. The hit made Captain Jayson Williams lurch forward onto the main view screen. "status report!" he barked as he straightened himself up.
"We've lost fire control to the main Mac cannon, sir." Said Holmes, the ships onboard AI construct. Made with the personality of Doyle's ever-classic detective. "It appears that Moriarty has finally outdone me."
"May I remind you, Holmes, we're not fighting Moriarty, we're fighting the Covenant."
"Well yes, of course we are. You should know by now, sir, that it is in my personality to call my enemies by my nemesis' name."
"Yes, of course." He said, then whispered, "you threw yourself over the waterfall with him, shouldn't you be dead?'
"Well, sir, if you read The Return of Sherlock Holmes you would know why I am here."
Indeed, on the flight from the San Francisco building yards, he had picked up a copy from the ship's library and read it. The famous detective proved not be dead after all. For a month now he had been reading all the Sherlock Holmes he could, to get to know the ship's new AI. The last one, Thor, had been fried in a battle in which his ship was outmatched five to one. Endeavor had managed to win the fight and came crawling to San Francisco Yards at twenty percent power for repair, just barely enough to keep the ship going.
Another Covenant ship crossed in front of Endeavor. Was it the one? "Holmes." He said.
"Yes sir, that is the one we're looking for. Truth of Spirits."
"Good get him moving."
"Aye sir."
* * *
John-117 walked down the corridor and grabbed an MA6B from a weapons rack that folded out from the wall. He entered the elevator and pressed the button to bring him to the main hangar. The elevator reached the bottom and he entered. The room was large, cold. He focused on the mission.
No Longswords were left in here, good. He walked to a column right behind the elevator, it had a lever hanging down inside a glass hatch. He opened it and grasped the handle, "What if we miss?" asked Cortana, the AI inside his helmet.
"I won't." he said pulling the lever and hurling himself out the door it had opened.
At first it would have seemed like he was sailing right to Earth, to the destruction he was literally watching. Giant explosions erupting like giant volcanoes. It was almost beautiful.
His view was blocked suddenly by a giant purple mass coming in front of him. He continued to soar, straight towards the Truth of Spirits, the Covenant flagship. He was to enter the ship and capture the Prophet on board. If he wouldn't come, well, then he'd kill him.
* * *
The Covenant Elite Ryo'lteun stood in the control room of the Truth of Spirits. It was a massive ship. He was proud that he could serve on it, in that matter he was proud to serve the Covenant. He watched the commander of the ship telling orders to all the other Elites, his golden armor glowing from the artificial light produced by the holo-panels. He hoped one day he could wear that same colored armor. He currently wore the scarlet shade signifying his rank as a veteran.
"My liege," said an Elite walking to the commander, "something has breached the hull on floor twenty-seven."
"Return to your post." He turned, "Ryo'lteun, assemble your squad and go find out what has breached our glorious ship."
"Yes, liege."
To Be Continued . . .
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