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Tale of a Marine by Sparduck_117



Tale of a Marine: Chapter 1 - SPARTAN 377
Date: 6 June 2005, 8:48 AM

Sergeant Kern Choong shouldered his MA5B as he stuck his head out from behind the structure to inspect the surroundings. Almost instantly, plasma bolts whizzed out from all around him, coming dangerously close to turning his face into charred flesh. Cursing, Kern Choong dived back behind the structure as the grass around him started to burn. Regan had been felled in battle by a gold-armoured Elite with an energy sword. Five other Marines had fallen to the same Elite before he was run over by a Warthog, driven by Lieutenant Chester. He, too, had fallen prey to the vengeful aliens. All that was left of his squad was Lieutenant Cedric and Rear Admiral Terence. With only one thousand two hundred rounds of assault rifle ammo and five hundred rounds of pistol ammo between them, they didn't think they would be able to hold out much longer against the advancing horde; there were just too many.

"Sarge! Behind you!" Spinning around, the Sergeant depressed the trigger. The assault rifle clattered as it discharged fifteen rounds into the gut of the minor Elite. It gave a groan of pain, then fell, and did not get up again. Swapping his spent MA5B for the Elite's Plasma Rifle, the Sergeant continued to hold his position, waiting for other UNSC personnel to come and rescue him and the other two Marines from the relentless barrage of Covenant forces. He slammed the head of the Rifle into a major Grunt, which blacked out from the pain. He finished off the alien with two shots into its head, and withdrew behind the structure to wait.

Terence and Cedric continued to discharge bullets into the line of Covenant soldiers, but they were slowly advancing, and soon they would catch up, and take them out with overwhelming force. The Covenant took no chances. Soon they would run out of ammunition, and the Covenant ground forces would blast them from the surface of the ring.

Suddenly, the soldiers started to fall one by one: first an Elite, then followed by other enemies. Kern Choong could hear the sharp crack of a S2 AM Sniper rifle. Looking to the trees, he sighted a flash of green armour. MJOLNIR armour. A Spartan. They were spared.

Having nowhere to run, the Covenant soldiers turned their backs on the lesser threat of the three surviving Marines, and charged towards the Spartan, Melvin 377. Kern Choong had never seen a sniper rifle fired at 3 rounds a second yet so accurately that with every shot he took, at least two enemies would fall. Cedric opened his eyes in wonder as he saw the Spartan 'inject' an Elite, as was so called among the Marines; it was a feat that Marines would tell of the Spartans, having seen them in action. Cedric would become one of those Marines.

Just then, the Chief ditched his sniper rifle and whipped out two combat knives. He wielded them like flails as he spun around, moving so quickly the three Marines could only see a blur. Indeed, he was so quick, a Grunt was shooting him from the front when it was suddenly bashed down from the back. In less than three minutes, the Chief had killed more of the aliens than the Marines did in three hours.

"Chief! Glad you could make it! Been holding position here all morning, waiting for someone to come get us." The Master Chief looked at a Grunt on the floor. He booted it halfway across the field, looked up, and said, "I know."

*Back on Earth, New Manhattan, American protectorate, military calendar 18 October 2552*

Master Chief, the Spartan 377, strode down the corridor, en route to the briefing room for his new mission. Heads turned as he passed them. He already knew what would be stated. It was all the same, loads of military jargon like star charts, galaxies and other stuff that played no part in helping him keep his helmet on in an actual battlefield situation. The only place he did not feel anything against was the bunk, where he could get some much-needed rest; he hadn't slept for about three weeks. However, this time he just had to listen, as he would be going on a trip to a place where the Covenant would never expect to find him; the Covenant Holy City of High Charity.

*High Charity, near Delta Halo, military calendar 02 November 2552*

A drop pod streaked in across the purple 'sky' of High Charity, having plowed through the rock cover to reach the interior of the giant satellite. A pair of Grunts sitting in a corner pointed at it, and chattered excitedly in the alien tongue of the Unggoy. As it got bigger and bigger, the two Grunts suddenly realised what it was and, yelping, ran out of the courtyard. Seconds after, the drop pod crashed down right where the two Unggoy had been, obliterating the surrounding surface. The door popped open, and a pair of green boots stepped out. The Chief was back, and with a BR99 in hand, he strode to the door in the corner, opened it, and stepped into the unknown beyond.





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