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The Sniper by Neil Grattan
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The Sniper
Date: 09 November 2000, 12:57 am
Through the Sniper sight the BoB could see the temperary base set up deep in a valley. Covenant strolled around the buildings. They looked meaningless. His target was out of sight now. HQ had sent him and a team of marines to locate some kind of Covenant commander, and eliminate him. He was angry when he heard the voice over the comms earlier today. "I don't care how you tell which is the commander, just find him and kill him!" These guys sitting back at base didn't realize how hard it is to do this kind of thing. The group had nearly been pinged (spotted) four times on their way here, and being so close means they don't have long to piss about. He had a clear shot on a strange looking Covenant a few minutes ago, but it would have been too much risk. After the shot, the entire group would be dead in about 10 minutes. The marines had made a shelter by carving out a kind of cave in a hill nearby. He almost laughed when he turned from his target to see them, hard at it, scraping away at the mud with their rifle butts. But since the rain kicked in their little grotto was looking rather inviting. Now he was contemplating to just contact HQ and tell them to send an assault group in here to wipe the place out. If he explained that there is a commander but he's now out of sight, they might risk losing men. Yes, thats what he'll do, let some other poor bastard fight these guys, I'm going home for a custard tart, then maybe try and get some sex out of that Lieutenant that's just joined B group. She's good looking, but one of those 'No, I can't until I'm married' types. Maybe if he explains that they need to start populating this planet he'll get somewhere. The sniper stood up and ran back to the marines.
The dropship was following the contour lines very closely. They had all heard the horror stories of what happened to G group. About a month ago, G group were in a dropship heading out to a contact. The ship was skimming the ground, until about 12 clicks from HQ, when it rose altitude as the pilots grew more confident. 5 seconds after this decision, they were intercepted by Covenant flyers and wiped out. Everyone was pretty spooked by how quickly they intercepted, maybe it was coincidence, but now they couldn't afford risks. 2 clicks from where the BoB gave his coordinates, the dropship landed. Before it hit the ground, 10 marines were out of the ship, covering their arcs of fire. These drills had been practised to perfection, and the group fanned out around the ship and lay down on the ground as the dropship crew unloaded the Light tank. It rumbled out of the ship, stopped, and the turret done a 360 degree turn. Bearings now found the group headed off for the contact. 2 marines were out front, as lead men, to scout th ground before them incase of a patrol. The rest either held on to the side of the tank, or ran closely behind.
The sniper heard the reinforcements before he saw them. The tank sounded as though it was stuck on a hill, and the marines were hollering to each other as they tried to free it. Moments later, the point men arrived near the dug-out cave, and bekoned the rest of the group forward. The sniper went out to see them. "You, follow me" he pointed to a point man, and walked up to the sniping position. The marine produced a Range Scanner from one of those places that these marines have, which seem to appear from nowhere. He recce'd the camp, then uploaded the images to the tank. The marine turned back to the sniper, "Any news of this commander then?" The sniper pointed out one of the buildings, but the camp was so far away it was in vein, "Yeah, in that building. It's a pity you guys didn't bring along some kind of air support. I heard those Covenant flyers we captured a while back still work." "Nothing to do with me, I'm just given orders. It is a pity though. Teach those little bastards to mess with us. We only got a dropship-full. Half of us arn't coming back, we'll get are arses kicked in there."
The orders had arrived from HQ to get stuck in there straight away. Full assault. An attack route had been created, and the marines were ready to go. The sniper went to his position. The team lead came on the comms. "Alright, let's go. S1 (the sniper) Initiate the attack, and the marines will follow up. M1 (The Marines) put down lots of fire, and get grenades in there when you can. We have to confuse them. T1 (The Tank) just lay down covering fire for the marines. In position, when your ready S1."
The sniper picked out a static target, and fired a round. The sound echoed through the valley, and the Covenant target was thrown backwards by the force. The other Covenant were confused. They glanced at the dead body, then realised what was happening and hit the ground. This was the calm before the storm. The huddled bodies lay in the mud, as they tried to make as small a target as possible, and the only noise was from the sniper rifle. There was no screaming, no panic, no coordinating. The Covenant just seemed to work together without speech as they assembled their fighters, and snipers were scanning the horizon for the killer. This bubble of silence was then broken by a huge explosion from the tank. The mud was blown everywhere, as the cannon shell cratered the ground. Four Covenant were hit in the blast, and were thrown through the air. The others fired at the advancing marines and green plasma shots wizzed around the camp. Marines were hit and fell to the ground, and teammates stood forward to take their place. There was a continuous drone of rifle fire from the marines which was occassionally broken by a huge blast. The sniper was still firing, and the Covenant were falling back to cover inside the buildings. Just then, a mass of Covenant streamed out through one door, firing a hail of green plasma at the tank. The 7 Covenant stood static near the doorway firing, and the Sniper saw his chance. He swung the rifle around, and aimed at one body. He pulled the trigger, and just as the round entered it's chest, the entire group exploded. The sniper was slightly stunned at what just happened. But he then realised that the tank fired at the same target. The new crator was filled with the limbs from all 7 warriors, which were now spread along the battleground like the rest. It was at this point, that he noticed the Covenant fighters raise their arms in submission. The battle was over now. It had only lasted for a few moments, but the massive casualties on both sides would indicate otherwise. The remaining marines ran forward and secured the Covenant, and they were herded into one big group and disarmed. This was the first time the Humans had ever taken hostages, and he was wondering what they were going to do with them. The sniper stood up and ran down to the camp. He greeted the poinrman he was talking to before, and they both entered one of the buildings. The marine turned to the sniper, "So, where's this commander then?" "He was in here last time I saw. He must have changed building, or got blown up bye that tank." They walked into the last room in the hut, and found a red covenant slumped in a chair. "There's the commander there" The sniper pointed at him. They both walked towards the chair, and found a large hole in his head, and an energy pistol sitting beside him on the ground, underneath an outstretched arm.
The Sniper Part 2
Date: 13 November 2000, 7:16 pm
"...over"
"This is attack force alpha, out." The comms controller, Uta, switched off the communications device. He walked over to the team lead.
"Sir, I have just contacted HQ with information on the attack. They say to gather up all movable artifacts and bring them back to base."
"OK sergant.... Well, what are standing there for? Go gather stuff up."
"Sir Yes Sir"
The commander told the remaining troops to empty the camp, and place the equipment in their bergans. He was walking around the camp, and behind it he found two hoverbikes. He walked over and activated one. He knew exactly what he was doing. Every time they find a new craft, they brief all the marines on how to use them. He climbed on and rode back round to the front. There was marines stationed around the valley incase of a counter attack, but none of them were concentrating on their duties, they were just realizing how lucky they were to be alive. A siluette caught the commander's eye on the top of a hill. He stood and looked at it for a few moments, then activated the scanners built into his custom uniform. As it zoomed in, he began to realize that it was too tall to be a human, yet it couldn't be an anima..... Covenant! He stood there in disbelief for what seemed like a lifetime. The body was holding a box in it's hands, and kept raising it to speak into. He noticed the commander staring, and croutched down behind the hill out of view. The commander turned to the marines, "COVENANT!!! GET YOUR WEAPONS!" The marines looked at him as if he was mad. "GET YOUR FUCKING WEAPONS" They went into motion. The marines started darting around the camp, dropping odd bits of Covenant stuff all over the place. The commander noticed some sniper lying on the ground looking for some targets, but there were none. He looked around hopelessly, but found nothing. It finally struck him. "GET THE ANTI AIR ROCKETS OUT. WE'VE GOT INCOMING!!" The commander had seen the covenant use those little boxes before. Everytime they were used, it was closely followed by bombers. The commander ran into the main building, where Uta was. "Uta, contact HQ, get a dropship in here ASAP."
The comms specialist started fidling with his helmet. The commander ran outside, to find three marines who have set up AA rockets, and more marines with extra rockets. He could hear the faint hum of the flyers. "Get ready, here they come!" The marines went rigid with anticipation. The buzz got louder and louder. The commander set his rifle to full auto, and lay down. The first ship flew over the ridge, three more close behind. The first ship attracted the attention of two rockets, and it avoided one but hit by the other. The third rocket fired at a different ship, but only got damaged by incidental fire. The rockets are designed to trigger if an object is within 1 meter, and will explode after 1 second of being triggered. This disorientated the ship, but didn't destroy it. All of the ships were taking fire from the rifles, but mostly in vein. The other two ships were unaffected, and dropped small bomblets from their hull. The commander noticed one of the marines taking a full bomblet on his back. The bombs subsided, and the marines reorientated themselves. More rockets were being loaded in to the launchers, and fired at the returning ships. This time two ships were outright destroyed, leaving one to attack again. Fortunately it was the already damaged ship, and must have had a faulty mechanism, as it didn't drop any bomblets. It was taking serious rifle fire, and it seemed to lose control. It disappeared back over the ridge it had first came from, and a subsequent explosion followed. The marines stood to their feet. He noticed that many marines had been injured in the attack, but only 2 had been killed. They knew there was more to come. All extras had been dropped, and the marines only carried their weapons. The commander climbed back on the bike, and a marine appeared on another from behind the camp. The commander rode up to the top of the hill to see if there was any Covenant. He reatched the top, but could see nothing. He scanned the surrounding countryside, but to no avail. The other biker was doing the same nearby. He returned to the camp, and found the marines ready to go.
They moved out the direction they had arrived. The light tank rumbled forward, closely followed by the marines. The commander and other biker were out ahead. After about 5 mins of moving, the comms marine spoke over the net. "We have a problem. It appears Our dropship has been gunned down by AA emplacements near HQ. We'll have to return on foot, and destroy the AA guns."
"Did they give AA positions?"
"No sir. They say to just keep a lookout. It appears that there is four, but there could be many more."
"Alright."
The commander sped further forward on his bike to scout the path they were to take. When he reached the top of a nearby hill, he knew they should come across a huge forest. The great forest was their best source of wood on the Halo. The trees there were as strong as metal, the only thing that could destroy it was... He looked out over the sea of burning vegetation. The flames lept around the forest, and the mightiest of trees fell to the mad destruction by the Covenant. He wasn't really annoyed by the fact that their main wood supply had been destroyed, there was similar forests only slightly further away. But he knew the amount of marines that practically lived in that forest. Some actually did, it was like the marines' little playground. Everytime they tried something new out, it was here. Everytime they were being hunted, they ran here for safety. The marines knew their way around this forest, even if brought here blindfolded, they could always find the main hut. In one swipe, the Covenant had killed nearly 1/2 of the marines' best soldiers. It was either at HQ or the Great Forest, they wouldn't go anywhere else without being on a mission. By now the others were travelling up to meet him, and to see the grave news ahead.
"I say we find 'em and kill 'em. They'll burn in the firey grave they dug!" Inheras was a cocky soldier, but he knew how to fight. He was awarded an MM for killing a Covenant hand to hand. He looked like a bag of shit afterwards, but at least he survived. They say after he punched the Covie's face in, he took off his helmet and battered the thing to death. Now second in command, he had earned respect among the other troops, including the Commander's.
"I agree. Inheras, take 3 marines and go scout the forest for any Covie's. You can do what you like, but just make sure they die and you don't. We'll be on the comms, so if your in trouble, don't forget to give us a shout."
He turned to find Inheras and a few marines already walking down the hill towards the forest. The commander turned to the rest. "Alright, you lot, come with me. Tank crew stay where you are, I think were going to have to be more silent than anything. The group walked down the hill also, only in a different direction than Inheras' group.
They spotted a group of Covenant just downstream, they were lighting up more trees. The commander used his scanner to find out more.
"There is four Covenant, three of which are armed. I'm sure we can take 'em. There arn't any comms devices around, so we'll be safe from backup for a while. Ready?"
"Yes sir." The group were apprehensive to avenge the death of the forest dwellers, but The Commander knew that could only lead to disaster. Best to do it slowly until the timing was perfect, then pounce. It'll be over after a quick burst of rifle fire, but he knew that it only takes a few seconds for the table to turn on them. For all he knew, the entire Covenant army was within earshot. They'd have to get up real close, wait until the time was right, then attack. Once the Covenant were dead, they'd have to leave pretty quickly. The team waded into the stream up to their necks, then crocodile swam down the river, only their eyes above water. Once they were about 5 meters away, the group stopped. The Covenant were muttering away to themselves, but one definately seamed the leader. He was the one ordering the others about. Once they all had their attention drawn from the direction of the river, the tree was about to be lit, the squad struck. Firstly they moved out of the river until it was only at their knees, then the first of them opened fire. All of the Covenant were hit, and they fell forward as the bullets rained upon their backs. Rifle fire could barely be heard above the fast flowing water behind them, but it would do little good waiting around. After they were satisfied the Covenant were dead, they scavenged what they could find and left.
After they thought they were far enough away, the group stopped. While trying to catch their breath, the Commander got on the net to Inheras.
"So, have you found any yet?" The commander was still panting.
"We're watching a group now. There's about 12 Covie's, all armed. They seem on a red alert or something. They're all down in a tactical formation, but not doing anything. Must have had trouble with the marines already stationed here. A few wounded, none dead. I don't think the four of us can take 'em. Were gonna need your help...
The Sniper Part 3
Date: 17 November 2000, 5:13 pm
The ground crunched beneath Inheras' feet as he ran full sprint from the horrors behind. Fallen trees got in the way, and he jumped them like a man possesed. The squad, or what was left of it, were close behind, adrenaline barely able to keep them up with the leader ahead. Inheras stopped, turned, and fired back the way he came, past the rest of the team. He took down a Covenant because of the telltale beam of light from it's energy sword through the foliage. He counted the team as they went past, until they stopped coming. It was at this point that he resumed his sprint. 100 meters until the brushline, once they make it out the tank could give covering fire. But he knew even that run wouldn't be easy. The adrenaline was wereing out, and their stamina tests showed, with the kit that they've been carrying, they should be out of breath already. But they kept going, they just saw what happened when they catch you...
Inheras had just recieved comms from Kolier, the commander. They were going to help attack a group of Covenant. They all died. It was quick though, for most of them. Those energy rifles killed on impact, no matter where they hit. The body just goes into a spasm as the electrons flow through the body, before collapsing into a bloody mess. For the others, however, their death wasn't as simple. A deep, spike-bottomed pit lay between them and the enemy. He could still hear the screams from the marines. It was after this that Inheras knew they had to retreat. His last view of the ambush was the pit blasting from a grenade that he had thrown in, but it still couldn't drown out the screams in his head. He could just about see the break in the jungle, and still no Covenant ambush. Great, just a few meters more.
They stood in horror as they saw the Covenant weapons slicing into the tank. It exploded just as a marine had clawed his way from inside, throwing him 10 meters in the air. The group hit the dirt, trying to locate the source of the fire. A young private yelled above the noise of the roaring fire at the top of the hill, "Sir!! Over there! Cov tank!" The hover tank was approaching the squad from the left, and was backed by a few warriors. The eneregy bolts were flying above them, and all they could do was fire back. There was no hiding, no running, all they could do was wait for death. Inheras lobbed another grenade, which halted the advance of the enemy, and gave the marines more time to think or calm down. Now they were all doing it, all four marines through the grenades at the enemy. Inheras stood and shouted for his men to rise and follow him, and they did. He sprinted for the hill, with the enemy now confused and blinded by the grenades. Not far now, they neared the burning hulk of the tank, and could now see the vast countryside behind it. They sprinted and sprinted. Finally they reached the apex, and it was downhill from here. Two hoverbikes, which they left before entering the forest, were lying at the bottom. Inheras ordered two marines to take them and find their way back to HQ, and tell the commander that they were going to hide up and move out at night. The two bikes sped off, but Inheras and the final marine, the young private Janson, still had serious running to do. The tank was hopefully disabled now, but they had learned in MarineCorps that you should always take the worst scenario for granted, that way anything else would be a bonus. Half an hour had passed, and now they were far from the forest. They were down by the Atlantic, a large lake. They filled their water bottles, then hid in one of the nearby ditches. This spot was a regular pitstop for small patrols, and they were hoping to find two bikers while they had a drink at the lake. Unfortunately, this kind of an opportunity wouldn't be too likely, but they could always hope...
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