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Defense of Fire Base Epsilon Ch. 5
Posted By: S7NN3R
Date: 30 June 2005, 7:07 am
Read/Post Comments
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Chapter 5: Old Timers Rock the Hardest
The Pelican drifted against the black of night. It settled down roughly a kilometer from Firebase Foxtrot. Inside, Sergeant Corisca addressed his men. The Pelican's normally barren interior was full, almost twice the operational safety limit. Thirty-two marines were crammed inside the hatch, along with a blinding array of weapons, supplies, med-packs, and ammo.
Sergeant Corisca took a shotgun, an MA5B, a box of shell, and four assault rifle clips. He turned to his men.
"Men, this could, and may prove to be our last moments in this plane of existence. Let's all be quick and deadly, and we may all go home in one piece. At this time, I ask our lord Jesus Christ to watch over us. Amen." He made the Sign of the Cross. "Delgado, you, me, and Towers are on point. I want Braddock and McNeal are on rear guard. Let's go people," he said and jumped out of the back hatch. He turned on his helmet mounted flash-light and swept the area. He received a transmission from the Pelican pilot.
"Sergeant," the pilot said. "Me and the our two Longsword escorts are going to make a bombing run of the area ahead. When we're done, I'll click the mic twice, do not respond. You come up and take out the survivors. Understood?"
"Understood pilot, Corisca out," he said. The other marines exited the hatch, and took their positions. The Pelican lifted off the ground, and moved over the nearby hill. The Longsword escorts soon followed. There was a deafening roar, as dozens of rockets and thousands of 100mm bullets peppered the ground ahead. There was the unexpected sound of plasma fire returning, and an even louder explosion. There was a bright flash above them, as bright as a comet, then another explosion. Twenty seconds later, all was silent.
The Pelican and one of the Longswords roared back over head. Corisca heard a double click on his mic, and nodded. "All right then men, safeties off. I want you fast and deadly. Let's crush some Covenant bastards. For the human race!" he shouted, and charged up a grassy hill. There was a yell of agreement, and the other marines charged upwards. Corisca crested the top of the hill, and saw the Covenant below. One of the Longswords had crashed, leaving a large twenty meter deep flaming crater near a Covenant machine used for excavating. There was a cavernous open pit in the field beyond, and in the distance, Firebase Foxtrot. The pit was huge, at least 25 meters across, and Lord knows how many deep.
There were two Phantoms in a landing pad below, with a dozen Banshees as well. There were large Covenant ground transports as large as the excavating equipment, several cranes, and a Wraith.
And to make matters even worse, there were at least a hundred very angry looking Covenant troops there as well.
Corisca looked down for a moment, frozen in place with fear. Then he remembered his wife, Rebecca, on the neighboring colony, and his little daughter Linda. He thought about their fates if he should fail, and the fear passed. He grabbed, primed, and threw a grenade at the nearest cluster of Covenant in one move. He shouldered the assault rifle, and lay down a surpassing fire. The 5.62mm bullets cut through Grunts like blades of grass, but bounced harmlessly off the powerful energy shielding of the Elites. A veritable hail of plasma bolts whizzed up towards his position.
The other Marines joined him on top of the hill. A octet of sniper bullets ripped through the shielding of Elites, sending them to the ground. A quartet of rockets, courtesy of Sergeant Towers and Private Delgado, hit the Phantoms, which had thankfully been powered down and who's shields had not yet powered up. The Phantoms exploded in a flower shaped wave of fire and metal. The explosion spread to the Banshees, adding to the chaos. The marines fired at the Covenant, and the Covenant fired at the Marines. There was a hail of bullets and super-heated plasma, creating a deadly cross-fire. A golden Elite lead other Elites in an energy sword bonsai charge up the hill. They were slaughtered before they made it half way up. Another pair of rockets found their mark on the Wraith, which exploded in a storm of sparks and fire.
The Marines charged down the hill with shotguns and assault rifles blazing, cutting a swath of destruction through the Covenant camp. When it was all said and done, The marines had lost twelve men in the surprise attack, but there were no more Covenant troops standing. There was just one problem. Corisca radioed into the Pelican.
"This is Sergeant Corisca, to Pelican dropship Marvel-66. We've cleared the Covenant camp, but we need to get into this pit to get to what they're digging for."
"I can try Sarge, but it'll be tricky."
"There a problem pilot? Won't the Pelican fit?"
"Oh it'll fit, but it'll be tight. You ever put a banana up your ass?"
"Can't say I've had the pleasure."
"Well, it'll be a lot like that."
"Understood, be here in five minutes," the comm. clicked off. Two minutes passed, and the Pelican roared over head. The remaining marines boarded, and the Pelican started to float carefully downwards into the pit.
"We're at the bottom Sergeant. Touch-down in five minutes," the pilot said. The entire time down had been spent in silence. There was an ominous air of almost certain doom inside the Pelican's hatch. For most of them, the count-down to oblivion had begun.
"I'll stay here in the Pelican, okay Corisca?" Sergeant Towers said. He positioned himself behind the large machine gun.
The Pelican slowed, spun forty-five degrees, then settled to a halt. The hatch opened, and the Marines leapt out. They found themselves on a solid quartz cliff-face. It was pitch dark, except for the cutting glare of Marine headlights and the light sticks the Covenant used for illumination.
The Marines walked in silence for several minutes. There was no sign of the Covenant at all. They had walked for about ten minutes, when Private Delgado tripped and fell. He moaned aloud.
"Damnit!" he said. "Skinned my knee," he knelt clutching it, feeling the warm blood flow freely from the wound. A drop of blood escaped his clutched fingers, and fell onto the floor. There was a light plop, and then the area around the blood began to glow a deep red, and from red to orange as the glow spread. The glow turned to yellow, then to blue, and then to a white as the glow intensified.
The glow then spread to the entire chamber, lightening it up. Soon, the entire room was alight with the glow, making the flash-lights obsolete. The Marines flicked off their lights, and found themselves standing in a huge circular room. In the center was a giant monitor that showed all of the planets and asteroids of the system. By the holo-gram was a large glowing green console. There were two crashed Banshees in the room. Also, in the distance, behind the consoles, were dozens of greenish looking figures.
The Flood turned.
"What the hell are those things Sarge?" Delgado asked. The figures in the distance bounded towards the huddled marines.
"Whatever they are, I don't think that they're in the mood for a conversation. Fire men!" Corisca fired at the oncoming wave of zombie-like monstrosities. A pair dropped dead, followed by more, but they just kept coming. They soon reached the marines, and knocked one against the wall with a powerful whip of its tendrils. The marines had the advantage in skill, weapons, and intelligence. But in the end, only shear numbers mattered. Shotguns rang out, and the bodies of the enemy fell in all directions. There was horrendous fighting for a full ten minutes, before all the enemies were dead.
Corisca looked around. All the marines besides him and Delgado were dead. Corisca shuddered in terror, and collapsed to the ground. He looked at the death and chaos around him, and began to weep. He let the warm tears stream down his cheeks onto the floor. Next to him, one of the bodies shuddered and spasmed, then stopped abruptly as Sergeant Towers walked by and fired a shotgun shell into its torso. He carried with him two canisters of Pelican fuel, and a small crate of ammo.
"Towers, what the hell? Do you know what these things are?" Corisca asked, getting shakily to his feet.
"Not a clue. I heard shots and came running. Thought I might need ammo, and I though, what the hell, a good explosion might be in order."
"What about that terminal over there?" Delgado asked. The trio walked slowly towards it, looking around for anything that moved.
Corisca placed a jittery, shaking hand onto the terminal, which lit up, creating a giant display of lights and symbols. "Understand any of this, Sarge?" Delgado asked.
"Not a bit. But it does seem eerily familiar."
"I got the same feeling Corisca. We might want to record this," Towers said, and turned on his mission recorder. Five minutes passed as they recorded the images. Corisca tapped another control, and the images changed. There appeared in front of them a large city, burning. It shifted again, this time to ships firing on each other. It shifted once more, to a group of robed figures laying a coffin looking object in a tomb. It changed to twelve tantalizingly familiar characters, then faded.
"What?" Corisca shouted. "I came all this way, watched my men die, fought off Covenant and these, these things for a slideshow!"
Delgado looked at the ground and saw two dead Elites, one in golden armor, the other in black armor, clutching energy swords. "Wonder what happened to these two."
"Come on, let's light this place up," Towers said. He made a trail from the pair of Banshees over to the hallway that lead to where the Pelican was docked.
Towers took out a cigarette and lit it, took one drag, then passed it to Delgado. Delgado took a drag off the cigarette, then passed it to Corisca. Corisca looked at the cigarette a long time, took a long, deep pull off of it, then flicked it at the stream of fuel. The cigarette lit the fuel, and a river of flames slowly snaked towards the Banshees.
Corisca, Towers, and Delgado slowly walked towards the Pelican as the river of flames slowly moved towards the Banshees. There was an earth shaking rumble as the fire made it to the Banshees, the Pelican fuel barrels, and the Banshee fuel tanks. There was a fiery explosion, as the three Marines lay the horrors of that room to rest.
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