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Dangerous Voyages [Part 1]
Posted By: Elizar<kopaka2219@hotmail.com>
Date: 11 April 2006, 5:29 pm
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Captain Darius "Dart" Striker drummed his fingers on the table near him. He was dressed in the usual ODST uniform, with an indicator of his rank in the army. He had raven black hair, was just over six feet, and his left ear had a bad plasma scar. He had more scars that were not visible under his uniform.
"Fernir." He said, looking at the hologram display near him. Fernir, a dumb AI appeared on the display. His avatar was the knight in shiny armor, clearly showing his sole purpose.
"We are near our destination, we will drop in ten minutes." Fernir simply said with that stunning cold voice that seemed to be with every dumb AI there was.
"We need you on the planet, prepare transfer to the crystal chip." Darius said, choosing few of the selections on his console, preparing Fernir on his side.
Cirena. Planet that was rich with plants similar to the ones found in the rainforest of earth. And the Covenant didn't glass it for some reason. His team of ODST was to drop down in the city Nykeir and help the remaining forces to defend the city. But the last reports had said that things were going downhill for the humans defending Nykeir.
Striker smirked as he extracted the data crystal with Fernir and put it in protective sheath in his pocket. It was time to go.
"This is Captain Striker, we are to drop in eight minutes, and I wanted you ready ten minutes ago!" Striker said over to the com as he went to the chamber with the drop-pods.
His team was already waiting eagerly, holding their weapons and waiting for the order to get in the pods and expect hell on the surface. Just the thought of that made them chuckle in anticipation. Some had Battle Rifles, some had the Sub Machine Guns, or SMG for short, three of them carried the S2 sniper rifle, two of them actually trained to use them. Everyone had the old fashioned pistol as their sidearm. Few more held shotguns. Dart never liked the new model, and his soldiers had voiced the same complaints also. So he managed to get the old model back and give it to his soldiers.
"Everyone, get inside the pods!" Striker bellowed over the roar of the engines, making sure that his voice was heard. As he saw that everyone in his team got the clue, he himself got inside his pod, and it locked automatically after he went in.
Always the chance the insertion angle was off, burning them up before they reached the surface. Always the chance they were put in wrong vector, off their target. Always the chance of hitting something that the pod would never withstand against. Always the chance of dying.
The ODST never let the odds scare them.
The low sound, like a pen was clicking.
The bounce.
The feeling of weightlessness.
The feeling of falling.
The heat.
"It's too hot!" Someone shouted through the com.
Darius looked to his right in reflex, though he had no knowing where the soldier was. It was a simple reflex. He knew that if someone was complaining about the heat, they were deadly serious, deadly. Dart checked who had made the transmission through his implant, and he identified the soldier as private McHale. He heard him screaming through the com, and did everyone else a favor by turning off the com for McHale, leaving him the only one who heard him. The screaming ceased, and Darius marked him as KIA. A second later he felt a hard bump as his pod landed down. The small charges in the doors detonated, blasting the sealed doors out and away from Darius. He stepped out, dual-wielding his SMG at the reading and looked around.
"Bad news Captain." Central, one of his more trusted privates in his team stepped forth towards him, holding her shotgun. "We were dropped off course by a click." She said, then broke eye contact and looked for any targets. She might not be carrying any good weapon for mid-range combat as her Captain expected to be in, but she was an excellent spotter.
Darius nodded, and then went on his com. "This is Captain Striker of the ODST group sent to your position. We have fallen off course, and may request a retrieval from anyone that is available from your team."
"Darn, you were brought off course? I am triangulating your position, but I bet those bastards are doing exactly the same thing. I got two locals with me who might be able to lead a small team to your position quickly as possible, but I recommend that you meet half-way. I am sure the duo can find you. We are north-north-west of you. Over and out."
Darius stood silent for a second, wondering why the commander had broken contact so quickly. Then he realized if the base knew their location, the Covenants were also moving towards them. The commander had simply done him a simple favor. "We are moving people. North-north-west of here. That is our target." Striker called and used a hand gesture which clearly meant 'move it!' Everyone gave a slight nod, around third of the team mumbled 'yes sir' and they advantaged to the narrow streets of Mossfell.
"Disgusting humans." Olma Sernkalee, high ranked elite said as checking the reports he had gotten. A human ship had managed to slip past their undermanned orbital post, and apparently made a drop with humans. More humans to kill.
"Hold your jaws tight in my presence." Another elite spoke up. Olma looked around, seeing Dashan Unamee, the voice of Prophet of Guile.
"I didn't know a voice was here. I will be more careful in the future." Olma was quick to apologize.
"That doesn't matter. One of the humans who managed to get to the ground, is the sole responsible of death of more than five hundred of us. Not those who he commands, but himself. Prophet of Guile wants him dead. There have been rumors of two lesser humans, who use our weapons like if it were theirs. Prophet of Guile wants you on the case of the human. He is known as Captain Striker. And if you spot those two other humans, make them pay for this indignity to us."
"I understand." Olma nodded, and bowed. He already had a plan in his head, and it only needed to be accepted and executed. It was going to be easy.
The silent bike zoomed through the empty streets. Its motor was electric, and the bike was built to be sleek, fast, and silent. It was designed to transport individual troops between places without disturbing the enemy.
The driver was female, bit skinnier than a healthy individual. She had short red hair, and a S2 on her back. She wasn't dressed in the normal army fatigue, but had no armor on, and her uniform had urban city camouflage pattern. She quickly looked up to check her bearings, and found out she was just about to arrive to the place. The empty streets were almost depressing, as most of the civilians had been transported away to orbit some time ago. There were still some inside the houses, hopelessly clinging onto their last possessions.
"I'm at the place, sir." She said silently to her com, and pushed the bike inside abandoned building. On the bike itself was a Covenant sniper and a carbine. She took both of the weapons and walked up the stairs of it. She needed to reach the roof.
"Good." Lieutenant York answered. "Do not open fire on the enemy until the backup team is at the location. They got to pass through here, and the covies know it."
"What about backup?"
"When the checkpoint is won, a warthog with supplies will come over, hopefully enough to last you to the base."
"Acknowledged, over and out."
She got to the roof, opened the door silently, and listened. There was no sound. The roof was flat, and the railing on it had been taken off. As it was, any sniper on it was vulnerable from above.
But not with the changes made. Near the edge of the roof, there was a small cover. A metal frame had been put there, and covered with painted material that seemed to blend in perfectly with the roof, making it seem like a part of the roof than anything else. The space in the frame was enough for a person to crawl in lying and have a great view over the alley and the connecting streets to it. She went down and crawled backwards in the cover. As she adjusted herself in it, she put the Covenant sniper next to her, the carbine also went there, and her ammo pack was put on the right side, so she could get ammo and reload as quickly she could. She took out four reloads of S2 ammo and put next to her head. The S2 went in front of her, and the tripod on it was extended. She rested the S2 down and checked how much area she could cover. She deemed it enough so she wouldn't have to adjust herself later or now.
All she could do now was to wait.
One ghost came, and a next one came few seconds later. Anne checked her rifle silently, and looked through the scope. It was just scouts, but if she was unlucky, a whole team would follow, determined to defend the checkpoint.
Luck was not with her. The one leading the team was an elite donned in red armor. He looked around quickly, and Anne could swear she heard him laugh. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts and stay calm. There was too much at stake. She hoped she would hear the ODST come before the Covenant. Without it, the city would be lost, and the planet. There was something about it that made the Covenant wary, and unable to glass it to kingdom come.
She trained her sniper on the red elite, tracking its every movement. But she saw jackals holding those beam rifles. There was always one on lookout, while two others were walking around, seemingly following no path at all. She moved her aim to the jackal on the ready, as it was checking the street the ODST was to come through. Anne paused as she thought she had heard something. But the frame was obstructing her view behind her. She wouldn't shoot until she knew the ODST were there.
A fragmentation grenade flew in the air and landed near a trio of grunts and exploded. That was her signal. She shot the sniper. Another grenade flew in the air and landed near a blue armored elite, but it was not enough to kill it, but just to stun its shields. The Covenants were shooting back.
Anne shot the other two snipers, and a grunt manning a turret. She quickly reloaded, and put two shots straight at the red elite's head. The first shot killed the elite's shields, and the second one went clean through the skull. There was a returning fire from the ODST, but just battle rifles.
"Battle Rifles, go!" Captain Striker shouted. The Covenants had been lousy at concealing their presence at the crossroads, so he had gotten enough time to get a strategy together and find a way to eliminate the enemy that stood between him and the base.
The sniper had been just an added bonus to the mix, but unpredictable.
He quickly saw the gas trail from the sniper, and the source of it. He noticed that the sniper was aiming at the elites rather than any other enemy.
"Jackals and grunts, our help is on the elites." He ordered, but then an elite on a boosted ghost zoomed past his dying comrades, and went directly over to the marines.
'I had forgotten about those!' Anne thought, distracted for a second. But her attention was then diverted to a familiar humming sound, a phantom was approaching. She stopped firing, as the phantom was not going overhead, but had stopped somewhere behind her. She felt that the time to leave her cover was soon, if not already. She took the risk, and stayed put.
Dart jumped out of the way of the ghost, but Central on the other hand jumped on it. The elite roared in anger, and boosted in hope of letting her drop off. She barely hung on the ghost with one hand as her other one reached for her belt. She took a grenade, took the pin out, and threw it in the compartment, hoping it would stay there. The elite didn't seem to notice that move, but Central let go of her grip and rolled off the ghost as it slowed down for a second to make a turn. The grenade detonated, and took the elite and the engines with it. Central sat up hunched, looking back at the ruined ghost. She took up her pistol and went back to where she had been. She was not about to leave her trusted shotgun.
The second ghost had met a similar fate in the meantime, but had never been able to reach the ODST team. With the joined fire from the ODST troops and the sniper, the enemy had been quickly eliminated.
"We did it." Someone said.
Dart on the other hand looked at the building the sniper was on top of. "The sniper knows he should come with us. He isn't coming down." He said low. "There is something wrong." And as the sentence dropped from his lips, a phantom zoomed over them quickly, but hadn't made any stop or fired at the marines.
"What the?"
"Why didn't it shoot?"
Dart put two to guard the back, while the others were focused forward. There was low sound of buzzing.
Anne was frozen in her position. She heard the buzzing loud and clear, and knew who was just a meter beside her. They hadn't discovered her, yet. 'Darn drones, ruining my fun.' She thought to herself, trying to ignore her fear and keep herself as still as possible.
She didn't know what happened, but moment later, one of the insects looked inside her cover. She raised her rifle straight at it in trained reflex and discharged her weapon. The blood, and grayish matter splattered on the roof and her rifle.
"Well, shit." She said as the buzzing became louder. She collapsed the tripod and raised her carbine, ready for anyone else peeking in.
"Open fire!" Dart ordered. The sniper was in danger, and since there was no Covenant visible at the streets, keeping the sniper safe was the priority of the minute. Those with battle rifles fired at the drones, and the others joined in with their handguns. He heard unusual sound of firing from the roof.
"Was that a carbine?" He asked to no one in particular. "Darryl, Mike! Go up there!" He ordered, pointing at two of his ODST. They nodded, and went inside the building. As they reached the top, there were just two drones left, and both around the covered frame. Their full attention was on the one inside the frame, giving the two ODST clear shot at them. Just two burst from the battle rifles, and they were down. Anne saw that she had received aid from the ODST and crawled from her shelter, looking at the two ODST who stood just scant meter away.
"That was a lovely bike downstairs, yours?" Mike asked Anne.
"The marines', but it is drained at the moment. The battery has gone flat." Anne answered as she went down the stairs. "I'm going to leave it there for some time, not like the Covenants have a use for it."
"It's policy to trash our tech so that the Covenant won't get it." Darryl said in a serious tone and conjured up a fragmentation grenade.
Anne gave a huff in dissatisfaction. "I understand that." She said in a menacing tone. "Allow me." She said as she brought up a plasma grenade.
"Wait, how did you get that?" Mike asked, but then finally noticed that Anne was carrying Covenant weapons, a beam rifle and a carbine.
"Just some things I nab." She said, went to a save distance from the bike and threw the plasma grenade. It flew straight and true, tagging on the engine compartment. She took cover with the others just before the grenade detonated.
"I loved that bike." She said and shrugged. "Rules are rules, and I better not get on the captain's bad side." She chuckled and walked out of the building.
Striker turned around as he had heard the detonation, but as he saw his soldiers, and the female sniper accompany them, he knew there was nothing wrong at all. Anne gave him a salute, meeting a captain of an ODST team for the first time.
"At ease." Striker said and looked at the beam rifle strapped to her back. "Nice weapon."
"There are three among the bodies if you are interested in one." Anne answered. "I better call in the ammo hog." She took up a com and gave a signal through it even before Striker had a time to react.
"Ammo hog?" Someone asked.
"Are you saying you don't need some more guns and ammo?"
"That would be appreciated." Striker said. "We got to establish a ground here first. This is too perfect place for the Covenant to sneak up back at us. It is better to have a warthog with us protecting our six than not to have one."
"Alright." Anne said as going over to the dead Covenant troopers.
"Aren't you bit too much in the open, sniper?" Central asked, looking over Anne as she checked the Covenant weaponry, setting aside couple of fully charged plasma rifles, beam rifles, but carbine ammo found its way to her backpack.
"Maybe, maybe not." Anne answered cold. "It's Private Verant."
"Corporal Central." Central answered. "What are you doing?" She asked, picking up a plasma pistol and examining it. She had seen several marines drop down from being hit by overcharged shot from that weapon, as it could melt the armor on them and smother it into their skin. It was never a quick or pretty death. Not one of the deaths you told others you witnessed.
"My bro studies them, he takes the rifles and pistols while I get the snipers and carbines." She said as yanking the plasma pistol from Central and putting it with the two plasma rifles. "Did you know for example that a charged shot from one of these kills any shielding system?"
"Even the elites'?" Central asked surprised, and took off her helmet.
"Even the high ranked ones'." Anne answered calmly.
"What kind of elites have you encountered? You and your brother." Central asked, trying to get some short of confirmation.
"I barely managed to kill a black clad elite once, but my bro managed to kill a golden one easily using the plasma pistol and a battle rifle. I have heard of white elites, but we have never encountered them, so I think that is just a rumor."
"The white ones do exist. You just haven't been taking missions of high level." Central answered with a smirk.
Anne looked up at her, surprised. "You know, if you hadn't taken off the helmet, I wouldn't know if you were kidding or not."
"Which one do you prefer? What you know now or the benefit of the doubt?"
Anne was silent for a second. "The option with the helmet on." She answered.
Striker looked at them two working together checking the Covenant weapons over, probably for the same reason she carried that Covenant rifle. Suddenly, he felt something. He couldn't pin it down, but he knew it was bad. Seconds later, he heard the sound loud and clear.
"Phantom on the way!" Striker yelled out.
"Shit!" Anne yelled, dropping the extraneous weapons she had and went to the nearest cover she found, a large concrete block. Central followed her closely, diving behind it as the phantom came into view. Not a moment later, the turrets on the lower half begun firing.
"We are pinned down." Anne said low, assessing the situation.
"No duh!" Central said. "The beam rifle is quite powerful, can't you shoot at the turrets?"
"No. It takes a whole battery to take disable one turret. And if you didn't notice, this is not the perfect sniping perch here."
"Then what can take a turret down?"
"I don't know, a rocket, plasma grenade…"
"We don't have the rockets, they were supposed to come in the next drop of ammo. What about the plasma grenades?"
"If you want to get out in the open to get them. I had one, but had to use it to torch my bike. Regulations, you know."
"This is an interesting situation to be in." Central said as a carbine shot hit one ODST square in the face as he had been shooting at the turret. "They are here, and we are not ten meters away from them."
Anne took up a frag-grenade, and had her finger ready to pull out the pin. "On three." She mouthed.
Central nodded and took up her remaining fragmentation grenade. Anne did the countdown, and then they turned around, stood up so they could see past the concrete block. They saw the enemy firing at the ODST further down the street, and just one grunt noticed them. Simultaneously, they pulled the pins out and threw the grenades. Both of them landed just scant centimeters away from the red elite. They ducked down, took up their weapons, and just moment after the detonation of the grenades, they stood up and fired at the remaining Covenant.
The phantom turned its attention to the enemy that was too close for comfort, and it begun to fire at the concrete block. The duo ducked down in time.
"Now what?" Anne said.
"Wait for backup." Central said positively. She had barely heard something through the wild firing. Second later, Anne heard machine gun nearby, going at it against the turrets. She peeked out behind her cover, seeing the warthog coming, diverting the phantom's attention towards it. She leapt forward, to one of the elites that had fallen. Quickly, she found the plasma grenades, took it up, detonated, and threw it at the turret. The warthog had already taken care of one of them, and the plasma grenade landed and stuck directly at the other turret. As it detonated, the phantom retreated, as if the pilot knew that he couldn't do anything more against that determined collection of humans.
"Baldvin!" Anne called as she realized who had come. The phantom was gone, no more living enemies around, and the zone appeared clear.
"Sis. How was duck-hunting?" Baldvin answered, jumping out of the driver's seat. He was also young looking, and had black crew-cut hair. He was of excellent physique for a general soldier.
"Boring as usual. I see you took James with you." Anne gave a slight nod to the marine manning the turret.
"He wanted to come, you know how hard it is to say no to him." He said. "Bring the weapons we want to the truck."
"Okay." Anne said, and picked up the Covenant weapons she had collected earlier.
Baldvin was armed with a battle rifle, but had a plasma rifle clipped on his belt. He jumped out of the car to find the captain. He recognized Striker right away from his posture and the insignia on his upper arm. "Captain Striker?"
Striker looked at Baldvin. "Yes?"
"I got a message for you. There is a problem we are facing at the moment, big trouble, and we need your help with it. That is why your drop had been hastened so quickly."
"What is it?" Striker went straight to the point.
"Captain Lewis wouldn't tell me, he wants you to meet with him as soon as you come over." Baldvin turned around and went back to the warthog, but after few steps, he looked back to Striker. "I'm glad you are here." He said.
"Private." Striker said in commanding tone.
"Yes sir?" Baldvin quickly realized his rank and how Striker was above him.
"You go back to the six with the hog." He said calm.
"Yes sir!" Baldvin saluted and went to the warthog.
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