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Zanzibar: The Waterworks-Chapter 13
Posted By: 343 Salty Beans<hockyfreak5@yahoo.com>
Date: 8 July 2004, 6:16 PM
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Author's Note: Sorry I took so long to get this one out. I was working on perfecting it.
Expect a few more grammar and spelling errors, because my 'N' Key is being a pain in the butt.
Anyways, hope you enjoy it. Leave your message in my comments section, or email me at hockyfreak5@yahoo.com.
John waited with bated breath as the timer ticked down on his clock. Linda had less than a minute to get into position.
He felt around in his ammo sack and noted that he only had two clips left, plus the one in his rifle. He pulled out one more object-a silver disc, with a face on one side and an eagle on the other. It was the only link to his past he no longer remembered. He flipped it idly in his fingers, then dropped it back in the bag.
"I'm in position. Ready when you are, Red-One."
John turned to his team. Williams and his three operatives, and Grace, all readied their gear and watched John for orders. "Williams, you and your men creep on the river bank with your active camo. Me and Red-Three will go underwater and clear the LZ. If you are discovered, hit the water and try to stay under. It dampens the effects of plasma. Red-Two will be covering you if you get into trouble."
"Let's go."
John crawled on his belly towards the cave entrance; no one shot at him, so he was sure he wasn't spotted. He dropped down into the river, hit the bottom, and waited for Grace. She hit the streambed, nodded, and they set off to the objective.
It felt strange to walk in water, moving in a seeming slow motion. He knew the SpecOps team was creeping along the bank above them. They forged onwards through the clear blue.
The nav marker got closer and closer as the Spartans neared. He saw motion targets on his HUD, and knew he was in for a fight. They were directly under the facility now, with a hole established for overflow tapping into the bottom floor. He saw blurry movements of unknown Covenant forces. How many were there? What were they equipped with? Which race were they? There were too many variables, and not enough time. He tensed on the riverbed, activated his air compression system, and set it for neutral buoyancy. He floated in the water, neither sinking nor rising. He noticed that Grace did the same.
He grasped the material that the Forerunners used to build the structure, pulled himself up, and landed in a crouch, taking the entire situation at a glance. Three black-armored Elites and a handful of Jackals patrolled the room. Grunts were curled up into balls, sleeping. An Elite, which had temporarily been in shock, roared and fired his weapon; the energy dissipated on John's shields.
He aimed with his SMG, not bothering to even use the silencer, and fired. A half-clip bounced off the alien's shield, and another quarter of it was sufficient to blow a hole the size of John's fist through the staggering creature. He primed a frag, threw it, and spun to nail a Jackal on his right that was harassing Grace.
"Williams! Move up!" He barked on the COM as he reloaded. Two of the Elites were dead, and a over half of the Jackals; that was probably as safe as it was going to get. He took another Jackal out of the fight with the butt of his battle rifle, then hit another with a handful of bursts.
The Grunts' disorientation quickly passed, and one held an overcharged plasma pistol in his hand. John hit it with a few bullets, and it fell over, discharging the weapon. The plasma hit the ceiling and left a blackened crater and molten metal.
The last Elite roared and knocked Grace back a full step with its rifle. She ducked behind a pillar and waited for her shields to recharge. John reached for another clip-and discovered he didn't have any left. He ditched the battle rifle and tried to dodge the heated energy beams while simultaneously smashing in a Grunt's face. He spotted a new weapon laying near a dead alien, dove for it, and came up with it in a roll. Three bursts of red plasma flew from the tip when he hit the trigger. They hit the Elite's shields, which collapsed. It clutched a scorched hole in its armor, but kept firing. An insistent beeping reminded him of his shields imminent failure, and he let loose another salvo of energy. They hit the alien square in the chest, punched through it's black armor, and left it's corpse smoking on the floor.
Grace whipped around the corner, her shields now fully charged. Her SMG made short work of the leaderless Grunts.
Williams and his men pulled themselves out of the hole in the floor and surveyed the messy scene. Gruesome Grunts, destroyed Jackals, and mangled Elites were flopped in every direction. One of the ops kicked a Jackal in the jaw and said, "Man, did we miss all the fun again?" He got a glare from Williams and lapsed back into silence.
John examined the new weapon in his gloves. The curved, purple-and-silver device looked a little like the battle rifle, but was tapered to a two-pronged emitter where the barrel should be, and the butt was much shorter and rounded. The autozoom scope was replaced by a swirling, multicolored holographic circle. When he peered into it, a small, round screen showed the area in increased magnification. He shouldered the new weapon, pleased with the results it had given him.
Williams glanced over. "Looks like the Covenant Carbine, Master Chief. I've heard of them, but never seen what they could do...until now." He nudged the Elite with his boot.
John keyed his COM unit. "This room only has three entrances and exits. I want to hold this position until Red-Two can take out some of the opposition she'll be facing." He switched to the Spartans' private freq. "Linda, hit the snipers."
A cold, brittle voice replied. "Roger."
Linda shouldered her rifle and sighted the nearest two snipers. They would be the most trouble. She swiveled from one to the other, making sure she was able to switch targets in time.
When she was sure she had it ready, she leveled her reticle on the first alien, squeezed the trigger, and watched its head explode. The other Elite looked surprised, then started to raise his rifle. He didn't even get a chance to look around-Linda put a round through his chest.
A blue-white needle shard penetrated the rock to her right. It sat for a second, then exploded. Rock and crystalline debris rained down on her shoulder and back.
THe Spartan sighted the Elite who had just shot at her. There was work to be done.
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