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Halo 2: Uprising - Chapter 4
Posted By: Mad Max<madmax6251991@hotmail.com>
Date: 3 January 2008, 1:48 am
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Chapter 4
En route to Fire Control Center
October 20, 2552 (Military Calendar)
"All non-combat personnel return to pressure zones!" the Cairo Defense Coordinator announced over the loudspeaker. It had no meaning to John though, for he had a new objective. There were two staircases on each side of the bay and each led down one level through a door. He heard one of them open, and his motion detector flashed red. The enemy.
He grabbed for his holstered BR55 with his right hand and with his left he tossed a plasma grenade down the stairs. There was small clicking emitted as it connected to flesh and molded to it, then a loud bang as it exploded. The Spartan looked down the stairs in such a way so that he wouldn't be exposed to enemy fire. The body of a Grunt was torn completely in half, bright blue blood streaming across the floor. There was the gutteral cry of an Elite below however, so the Master Chief unslung his battle rifle and proceeded down the stairs.
As he neared the bottom, he pushed off the bottom step with his feet and tucked himself into a ball, propelling him through the open doorway. In the middle of his sommersault, he twisted around onto his back, landing hard on the floor and fired wildly at the Elite hiding next to the doorway. He wasn't going to let another Covenant bastard nearly kill him, oh no. He had been ready and had left the monster nothing more then a mass of dead flesh and purple blood next to the dead Grunt.
The floor sloped down in the middle and it had its own cover ceiling with the use of black support pillars. He frowned. The perfect place for an ambush would be here. Cramped quarters with plenty of hiding places. He didn't like the odds. Cautiously and slowly, he covered every inch of the room before he was satisfied that it was safe.
Master Gunnery Sergeant James Livingston was still inside of the armory when the Covenant had attacked. The Cairo had gone on full alert and had locked down the massive blastdoors before him. The power to the elevator had also been cut. So being unnable to leave, all he could do was load up his M90 shotgun with 8 gauge shells, crouch behind one of the tables that still held the Spartan's old busted up hardware, and wait. He would be ready.
The blast doors in front of him suddenly exploded inward without warning, and Sergeant Livingston was almost knocked off of his feet. He raised his shotgun, ready to blast any Covenant son of a bitch that walked through but the strange thing was that nothing came. This gave the sergeant pause, and almost caused him to lower his shotgun, but he knew better. He thought he heard two pairs of footstep clatter in to the armory, but couldn't be sure due to his ears still ringing from the explosion. That's when he saw a pair of Elites, one in blue armor and the other in red, round the corner outside the blast doors. They growled and opened fire on the sergeant, who replied in kind. The aliens took cover behind the edges of the blast door frame as James fired at their positions.
"You motherfuckers want a piece of me?!" he screamed, reloading his shotgun. "Haha, then come get some you bastards!"
The Elites knew that the Human was reloading its weapon. They glanced at each other, nodded, and they rushed into the armory.
Before the Master Chief proceeded onward through a small door he had noticed earlier, he had stopped to collect ammo for his BR55 from a weapon rack in the center of the room. He heard one of the doors open behind him, and he immediately darted for cover behind one of the pillars.
He peered out ever so slightly, and saw the shimmering outline of camoflagued Elite heading his way.
John quietly tip-toed sideways to the front of the room nearest to the doors, battle rifle pointed in the direction of the Elite. When the alien was behind his position but still relatively close, he leapt from his hiding spot and bashed the Elite's back with the butt of his rifle. The Elite crumpled silently to the floor, skidding forward a little bit due to the force of the blow. The Spartan heard the door on the other side open, and another camoflagued Elite stepped through. He repeated the process to this creature like he did to its comrade, and he knew it was safe to proceed forward.
He hopped back up to the floor and continued his journey through the door the Elites had come through.
The sounds of a shotgun firing were heard above him. A set of stairs were directly in front of him that led to the upper level.
He heard the voice of a man throwing taunts at his attackers. It was the Gunnery Sergeant from earlier.
"Get the hell out of my armory, you fucking split-lipped bastards!" John heard Sergeant Livingston scream. A blast from a plasma rifle fired in response and the grunts and groans of the sergeant followed. John heard the man's body collapse to the deck, his M90 clanging in response. John tightened his grip on his battle rifle in response to the mercilessness of the Covenant, growling briefly; it wasn't the first time and it surely wouldn't be the last.
With renewed vigor the Spartan charged up the stairs into the armor, priming a captured plasma grenade as the Elites noticed him and fired. He tossed the grenade at one of the Elites, hoping that due to the fact that the pair was close to each other, the grenade would stick one and catch the other in the blast.
The grenade whined as it connected to the blue-armored Elite's foot. It growled in anger, shaking its fists and head back and forth like a child throwing a temper tantrum, and the grenade exploded. It sheared the Elite at the torso, and blew off the right arm of the Elite Major. It howled in pain as it writhed on the floor, trying to reach its weapon. John walked over to it, put his battle rifle to its head, and fired once. The alien stopped moving.
He circled around to where Sergeant Livingston's body was located. There were places on the dead soldier's chest armor and a place on his face that appeared to be first-degree burns on the verge of second-degree. John gave a small shake of his head. He leaned over to pick up the sergeant's fallen M90 Mk II shotgun. He grabbed a box of shells from the table that had all of his old gear. Checking the weapon, the Master Chief discovered it was empty and loaded up twelve shells into the chamber. He pumped the slide once and put extra shells onto his person, dropping the M6C pistol and clipping the BR55 to his back.
Rest in peace, he thought, taking a last look at the dead body. I'll make good use of your shotgun.
The Chief, with new weapon in hand, left the armory through the blastdoor frame and entered Commons B-01, according to the blueprints in the lower right corner of his HUD.
There were two raised platforms in the room, one on the left wall in front of the Chief and another against the right wall immediately to his right. He saw a Grunt manning a plasma turrent on the platform in front of him. Not having the time to quickly switch weapons, he sprinted to the other side of the room to a small alcove. The Grunt saw him, but a bit too late, and so didn't fire the turrent.
John looked to his right up a small flight of stairs and there stood a Grunt and Elite. He didn't think; he mashed the trigger of the M90 and knocked the Grunt off its feet, sending it backwards down the reverse set of stairs. He took aim at the Elite, firing once as its shield failed and blood splattered, then he ran up to the creature and crashed the butt of the shotgun into its chest. It felt backwards head over heels.
"Hang on everyone!" the loudspeaker annoucned. A few seconds later, there was a clang throughout the station as another Covenant boarding craft attached itself.
The Spartan clipped the shotgun to his back, unslung the battle rifle, and peered out through the frame of the wall and fired at the Grunt manning the turrent. He hit the Grunt's methane tank, causing it to pop off and vent oxygen. The Grunt ran around in circles as it slowly asphyxiated and then collapsed to the floor.
He primed a plasma grenade, tossed it at the next platform where another plasma turrent was afixed, and it stuck. Three seconds later, the ghastly blue glow of the grenade was seen and the Grunt had been propelled toward the wall behind it so hard that its methane tank put a small hole in the wall.
"Fireteams to Habitat Delta," the Cairo Defense Coordinator squawked.
The Master Chief leapt onto the floor, up onto the platform, and charged through the adjacent frame. His shotgun was now in his hands and his battle rifle on his back. He came in low, sweeping left and right. He aimed at a hiding Grunt, but his aim was slightly off and ended up severing one of the Grunt's legs. It rolled on the floor, clutching the stump as it squirted blood until it died. A red armored Elite took two blasts from the M90 before falling. The Chief exited to his left and down a set of stairs.
He was now standing directly underneath a high wall where yet another Grunt had set up a plasma turrent. He spied a plant tub directly underneath where the turrent was and he hopped up ontop of it, his armor's boots crushing the plants. He crouched low, then jump high and blindly reached out with the shotgun. He felt the swipe connect as the Grunt's breath masked cracked. The blunt force trauma to its face was enough to kill it.
Gravity returned and brought the Spartan back down into the plant tub. He heard crashing sounds to his left and saw what must've been at least six Grunts on the other side of a blastdoor frame. He didnt really want to face them all because he had to get to Fire Control. So he tossed his shotgun up to where the dead Grunt was, crouched low again, and leaped up. The pack of Grunts saw him and opened fire. Green bolts of plasma fire streaked across his shields, draining them to half. His fingers brushed the edge of the wall, and he pulled himself up and rolled on to his side. He grabbed the shotgun, got up, and waited for his shields to recharge before he continued further.
Inside this room were computer panels and to his right was a small set of three steps and a door. Three Grunts and an Elite stepped forth through the door. John hid behind one of the computer panels as his motion tracker showed the four contacts move past him. When he was sure they were gone, he proceeded through the door he had seen in a crouch. After exiting the door, there was another one in front of him and a set of stairs next to him. He went straight.
The Spartan emerged in a room with a glass window in front of him and a large crate to his left. The sounds of battle were just around the corner. He rounded the box and saw none other then Sergeant Johnson, Commander Keyes, and a small squad of Marines engaging the Covenant further down the hall. He noticed that he was outside the gangway that led to In Amber Clad. Some Marines hid under a staircase while others were crouched behind metal placements and boxes.
"Frag out!" one yelled, and hurled a frag grenade down the hall. Two Grunts died as a result of the explosion.
"Come on, Chief, this way!" Sergeant Johnson exclaimed, pointing down the corridor. John switched to his BR55 and began taking potshots.
"I was almost on board when they showed up," Miranda Keyes said, popping out from behind cover to fire with her M7 SMG.
"Don't worry, ma'am! We're on it!" Johnson fired a burst from his BR55 at an Elite.
It took less then five minutes under the combined fire of the Marines, the Chief, Johnson and Keyes to put the enemies down.
"Thanks, Chief," Commander Keyes said. "I owe you one."
Sergeant Johnson stopped before the Master Chief. "Get going. I'll cover the commander."
The Master Chief nodded as Keyes, Johnson, and the Marines proceeded through the umbilical adjoining In Amber Clad. He took this time to reload both his weapons, then he sprinted down to the end of the hallway to the last umbilical and stepped in. It pressurized and vented the atmosphere, then the door at the other end split open. Something wasn't right, so John immediately took cover behind a large crate that nearly touched the low ceiling and peeked out around.
Two Elites flew through the open door on what looked to be small jetpacks.
John rolled to his left from behind the crate, and fired his battle rifle. The pair returned fire, blue bolts of plasma cutting the Chief's shield down to a quarter. He rolled back to his right, tossing a frag grenade at the pair's feet. He didn't see the resulting carnage, but two muffled cries and a splash of purple blood flying past him were good indicators of the aliens' deaths.
With the pair dead, he walked out from behind the crate and stepped off the airlock onto a platform. To his right, space dropped endlessly. The black void was all around him, and everything was eerily silent.
Until he heard the distinct whir that he only heard a moment ago. There was a red blip on his motion tracker, a few meters behind him. He swiveled around and crouched to see underneath the airlock. Another jetpack Elite was hovering far off. The Master Chief unleashed a rapid barrage of fire, catching the Elite completely offguard. Its shield died, and then it finally crumpled to the station, bounced off, and free-fell into space. Then the COM crackled to life.
"Sir, boarders have breached the Fire Control Center. They have a bomb." It was Cortana's smooth voice.
"Can you defuse it?" Lord Hood asked, his tone grim but slightly hopeful.
"Yes, but I'll need the Chief's help to make contact with the detonator," the AI replied.
"Chief, get to the bomb, double time!"
"Yes, sir," the Master Chief replied. "According to my tactical overlay, I'm getting close to fire control. I'll be there in the next few minutes."
"Excellent. Good luck, Spartan. Cortana, prioritize targets and fire at will." The COM line went dead.
John proceeded toward a door that was on the far side of the platform, so said the map overlay. This door would take him to Portside Shipping, followed by a jog across part of the MAC gun, and then fire control was after that. Somehow he had a feeling that there would be stiff resistance, but he stuffed the thought to the back of his head. He didn't ignore it however. He had learned over his years fighting the Covenant that if something didn't feel right, it probably wasn't. Chief Mendez had always told him and his fellow Spartans to always trust their instincts.
The Chief made it to the door and entered the airlock that connected to Portside Shipping. The air pressurized, then the opposite door opened. He reloaded his battle rifle, checked his shotgun, and walked through.
Private First Class Daniel Munez was on edge. He had a suspicion that the Covenant on the other side of the room might come to his position, just to double check. He feared they might send more then one Grunt, or worse, one of the more alert Elites.
He knew that Grunts were lazy bastards and didn't really have a good sense of discipline, but the Elites were something else.
Daniel had been on the Cairo for the past two months dreading the day the Covenant would find Earth. He had an older brother named Will who had gone into the Marine Corps in 2548, four years before he enlisted. Will had gotten shipped out to Reach during the height of the war.
August thirtieth came, however, and it changed him. He had gotten a live video transmission from Will, on the ground at Reach. He was panicking, with a gash extending from his forehead down to his left eye, yelling, his eyes glazed.
"They're all dead! Or they're going to die!" he had exclaimed hysterically. "The Covenant--they've, they've found us! If anybody gets this, be warned that Earth is not safe--"
The transmission had cut out after that because an explosion rolled from behind his brother and blew him apart before his eyes. Daniel had cried his eyes out upon receiving the transmission, but after two hours of tears and emotional pain, he came to accept the lost of his brother. He immediately enlisted in the Marine Corps and had been shipped up to the Cairo Orbital Defense Platform.
He was only two months out of boot, and had only heard of the viciousness of the Covenant races. He had only seen pictures of them, but upon actually seeing them in the flesh, he had nearly shit himself. Thinking about these things had made him retreat up to the pipes he had been laying on when he first entered the room.
But upon hearing the latest transmission between Lord Hood and Cortana, a deep calm voice entered the conversation. I'll be there in the next few minutes, it had said. Lord Hood had also referred to him as the Chief and Spartan. And the Chief could only mean one thing: Spartan-117 was on his way.
He had heard about the Spartan-II program while living on Earth, in the United Republic of North America in what had formerly been the state of Maryland. Munez had great respect for the soldiers and according to the rumors, the one known as Master Chief Spartan-117 was the last of his kind. If he was coming down, Munez decided he was going to show the utmost respect.
With renewed confidence, he had crawled down from his hiding place amongst the pipes, checked his weapon, and stood ready. It wouldn't do good to scare the crap out of the Spartan and end up being accidentally shot. PFC Munez silently waited.
Zavi was starting to lose his focus as he and his team stood around guarding a bomb. He knew this wasn't good, as he was the ranking officer and supposed to be an example.
He found himself nodding off while everyone else was constantly alert. There had been no contact at all with any of the Humans or other Covenant. He had a bad feeling in the back of his mind that what Muraw had said early was wrong, and he cursed the Grunt's incompetence. Or at least, he thought he was incompetent. 'Peutomee didn't really know. He constantly had contradicting thoughts, and it drove him insane. He didn't understand some of the the things--
"Commander," Field Master Yiris 'Lupomee chimed in. "I have just intercepted a message over the Human's battlenet. It seems the Demon isn't far away from your position. He's currently in Portside Shipping."
Suddenly, Zavi no longer felt bored. Portside Shipping was indeed not far from Fire Control. "Affirmative. I will let my squad know of the threat."
"Excellent. And good luck, Commander. From what I hear, the Demon is not one to be trifled with." The line went dead.
"Everybody, form up and stay alert. The Demon will be here soon, probably within the next few units," Commander Zavi 'Peutomee barked. "So wake up and get ready you vermin!"
He walked over to Usa, taking his needler and giving him his plasma rifle. Zavi grabbed his own needler from off his hip and checked to see if the extra needles on his belt were still attached. He checked both needlers and aimed them halfway between the elevator and the ground.
"Prepare for combat!"
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