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The Final Conflict by Blade
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The Final Conflict: Chapter 1
Date: 23 September 2003, 11:27 PM
Private Johnson stood in the bridge of the Spartan IV battle cruiser. He gazed out the large glass display window at the Covenant battle cruisers and frigates that were approaching. In less than thirty seconds, the Covenant will be storming into the ship and kill all humans onboard. Then they will proceed to hack into the mainframe computer and download all data needed to locate the human home-planet of Earth. That's how it always works.
Johnson took a deep breath, "The final moments of my life are upon me. Sheez, I never should have signed up for the marines."
The first blow to the ship was a big one. Everyone standing up in the bridge was knocked off of his or her feet.
Johnson got back up, picking up his MA5B Assault Rifle as he went, "Time to go to work."
In order to be in the UNSC Marine Corps you had to be in good physical condition. Johnson worked out in the weight room everyday since he was recruited ten years ago, so, of course, he was in good physical condition.
He jogged down the hall with his assault rifle aiming in front of him to be prepared for stray Covenant soldiers popping around a corner at any given time. He was well armed; carrying four fragmentation grenades in his left cargo-pocket, a fully loaded pistol on his belt accompanied by extra pistol and assault rifle ammunition. He couldn't carry more equipment even if he wanted to. Johnson was well known for his good battle tactics. But battle tactics come easily when you're a weapons-expert of every known human weapon there is or ever will be, like French fries and a soda come with every hamburger at any fast-food restaurant there is or ever will be.
Johnson heard shooting around a corner just ahead of him. He focused his assault rifle on the door to the hallway. A small Covenant soldier holding a shield in front of him, known as a jackal to the marines, jogged out of the corner in front of him going in the same direction he was heading. Johnson shot a quick three-round burst with his assault rifle. All rounds struck the jackal in the back, killing it instantly. He went into the hallway that the jackal came out of and he saw a human engineer sitting on the ground holding multiple plasma wounds. There was a trail of red blood on the floor coming from a doorway ahead of Johnson and ending where the engineer sat. Blood was slightly coming out of the knee of the engineer. Johnson could tell that the jackal must have shot the engineer in the knee, then dragged him out of the room and shot him two to three times more right here until he thought the engineer was dead. It must have been a newly recruited jackal because experienced ones would still shoot you when they believed you were dead, just to make sure you weren't still alive.
Johnson noticed the nametag of the engineer, "Wait here, William. I'm going to see if there are any more survivors in the direction I was heading before I came this way," he pulled the pistol off of his belt, "Take this pistol and shoot anything that comes around this corner."
"But what if it's friendly?" the engineer replied.
Johnson tried radioing to Captain Simmons, who was back on the bridge of the ship. He got nothing.
"It won't be. You're the last living human in this section of the ship. I just tried radioing to the Captain and I got nothing. Other marines or engineers would have heard me and responded to tell me about the Captain being killed but I got none of them either. Everyone's dead, except me and you," Johnson turned around and started to exit the hallway. He turned back around, "Oh, and make sure whatever you shoot at is dead before you take your eyes off of it."
Johnson headed back in his original direction. He saw the end of that hallway which only branched off to the left. Flashes were coming out of that next hallway and occasionally projectiles would accompany them. Marines were fighting the Covenant ahead and Johnson knew they'd need his help. After all, any battle against the Covenant was a losing one. More numbers on the human side at least gives them a better chance of survival.
He entered the hallway and noticed six jackals, four grunts, and two elites firing at a small group of marines pinned down behind a pillar. This was a bad position for him because the Covenant was in between him and the other marines.
Johnson grabbed one of his grenades and pulled the pin, "Frag out!"
The grenade ricocheted off of the left wall and landed directly in front of the Covenant forces. It exploded. All grunts and jackals were killed. The elites were tossed in opposite directions, slamming into the walls of the hallway depleting both of their suit's shielding systems. They both turned to face Johnson and simultaneously threw their arms in the air and let out a loud howl. Then they charged him, growling and firing their automatic plasma rifles.
Even the greatest marines couldn't kill two elites alone, even without their shields. Johnson readied his assault rifle. Gritting his teeth, he opened fire on them both.
The Final Conflict: Chapter 2
Date: 1 October 2003, 8:34 PM
0713 Hours, May 16, 2552 (Military Calendar)
UNSC Cruiser Spartan IV, location unknown.
Two plasma charges hit Johnson. One struck him in the right shoulder and the other in the left knee. He dodged the next two, performing a perfect roll to the left and never taking his finger off of the trigger. He spent all 57 remaining rounds in that clip and about half of them made contact with the enemy. Johnson's training told him to focus on one target, rather than more than one, unless things got way out of control, so only one Elite was taking damage.
He hit the ejection lever and the clip in the assault rifle fell to the floor. He pulled another clip from his belt and jammed it into the weapon. Another plasma charge hit Johnson in the chest. He ignored it, pushing the lever back to it's original position. The digital screen on the assault rifle refreshed from 00 to 60, reassuring Johnson that it was installed properly. He aimed at the blue-armored Elite on the left's head and fired a three-round burst. All three rounds successfully hit their target, the Elite's head, and the Elite fell over with a loud scream; dead.
The other blue-armored Elite noticed his fallen comrade and let out a battle cry. He charged Johnson firing blue super-heated liquid rapidly. Johnson charged at the Elite. When he got close enough, he dove under the alien's legs and slid on the metal floor. When he reached the pillar where the other Marines were, he grabbed it to stop himself from sliding any further. Johnson stood up.
"All right boys; a nasty blue Elite is coming straight this way. Load your weapons and fire on my mark," Johnson ordered. "Mark!"
All Marines, bearing MA5B assault rifles, stood up and let the bullets fly towards the alien. Six rapid-fire plasma charges hit the Marine directly on the left of Johnson. He fell onto his back screaming and then he died instantly when his body made contact with the ground. The Elite reached the pillar and went around behind it where the Marines were firing, directly on Johnson's left. Johnson turned to face him and then side-stepped to the left towards the wall just in-time to dodge more plasma. Three of the four charges hit the Marine now behind Johnson. Johnson heard more screaming and quickly looked over his shoulder to see if the Marine was ok. All the Marines were dead, except for Johnson. He scanned the floor and saw a plasma grenade. He dove for it. The Elite picked him up and threw him away from the grenade. The alien picked up the grenade. Johnson got up from the floor and ran at the creature while firing the last ten rounds in his weapon. He emptied the clip. The Elite bashed Johnson over the head with his plasma rifle. Johnson fell to his knees. He reloaded his weapon as the Elite activated the plasma grenade. Johnson put his assault rifle up to the alien's stomach and fired, depleting his now fully charged shield and then killing it with two rounds to spare.
Johnson threw his weapon on the floor and sat down, leaning up against the wall. "God..." He looked around, "I need to find a health pack."
He sat there for a few seconds and then got up. He picked up his assault rifle. Then he remembered the engineer he passed before the battle. He jogged back down the hallway. He noticed many newly-killed Covenant bodies on the ground, most of which were directly at the entrance to the hallway William was in. Just before he reached William, a Grunt straggler came out of the doorway to Johnson's right and was heading straight for the engineer. Just as it entered the entrance to that hallway a bullet caught him in the neck and the little methane-breathing bugger dropped like a rock.
"Haha! Eat that!" the voice came from William. Apparently he was holding his ground pretty well.
Johnson walked up to him and then crouched down on one knee, "You alright?"
"Never better. Where did you get this pistol? I thought Privates aren't allowed to carry sidearms?"
"They're not. I picked it up off of another dead engineer right before I gave it to you. I thought the thing might come in handy. I guess it did since you're still alive, right?"
"Yeah, heh. This thing works like a charm," aiming it over Johnson's shoulder and firing two rounds. A Jackal moaned behind Johnson and he turned around in-time to see it tumble over and die.
The whole ship shook violently. Johnson was thrown to the wall on the opposite side of William ten feet away. He sat down against the wall and braced himself to take the vibration of the ship as it grew worse by the second. Then it stopped suddenly and Johnson felt as if the ship was going much faster than before.
"What the heck was that?!" William yelled in fear.
"I have no idea. Something must have collided with the ship. Whatever it was, it had to be big." Johnson informed him.
Johnson looked to his left where he found a health pack buried under some debris. It must have fallen off of the wall when the ship shook. He crawled towards it. When he got to it, he picked it up. He watched as it was absorbed by his body to heal his wounds. Johnson watched the health indicator on his HUD as the bars went back to 100%.
"Ah...," he thought, "thank god for neural implants."
Johnson heard plasma firing behind him. He turned around and saw William get shot to death by blue plasma by an Elite wearing gold armor. He was followed by two more Elites, also wearing gold armor, and holding plasma swords. Three Elites, wearing red armor and holding needlers, and two Elites following them, wearing blue armor and holding plasma rifles, turned the corner. They were followed by too many Grunts and Jackals to count.
Johnson took a fragmentation grenade from his pocket, pulled the clip, and threw it down the hallway.
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