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Memories of a Dying Soldier - Chapter Ten
Posted By: Spartan Elessar<spartan_elessar@yahoo.com>
Date: 18 May 2006, 10:51 pm
Read/Post Comments
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Chapter 10:
So, this is how it ends!
August 30, 2552
UNSC Reach Medical facility
Planet Reach
0000 Hours, Midnight…
Logan woke up panting from his bed. Sweat ran all over his face as he got up from his bed and took some deep breaths. The room was still dark, except for his digital clock which read 12:00 am. It was just a bloody dream, Logan thought with a deep relief. For last few days he has been having these terrible nightmares, which scared him to his death. Something about them bothered him, they were about the Covenant of course, but it was different. He was standing on this battlefield alone, staring at the sky. Then a huge shadow covers him. When he tried to hide, it followed him. So he stood on his ground and faced it, some part of him said no, whereas his gut said yes. But before he can make up his mind, he gets – that's when he wakes up, panting and wheezing. What the hell is happening to me worried Logan, because for last few days he has been having some uncomfortable feelings about this planet. This was one of the humans' strongest fortresses, but instead of feeling safe he felt so vulnerable.
He went back and laid on his bed. He couldn't sleep now because he was wide awake. This is the reason why I feel so tired on my duty hours, thought Logan. So he forced himself to close his eyes, but it was useless. He pushed his covers off and walked to his study table. A book laid on it undisturbed. The cover read, "Near death experiences." He got this book when he cleaned his unused locker, like Rose's this book was ancient. He opened the book randomly and read,
"…When I laid down there alone, I thought I was dead and indeed I was dead or at least almost. Suddenly a bright white light covered my eyes, I could not blink it off, and it was too damn bright to stare at. Then out of nowhere, my childhood experiences came to my mind. My brain started to shoot random memories in to my head for no reason, or is there a purpose to it? I couldn't shake them off…"
Logan turned another page aimlessly even before he could finish the previous line.
"…This is what they call as 'Near death experience'…" he closed the book and pondered on the words, 'Near death experience.' I have shit load of that, he murmured and tossed the book away.
He stood there for a second silently and thought about his childhood experiences. Unfortunately, nothing came into his mind; they all seemed as if a lifetime ago. Pushing those thoughts away, he walked to his table drawer and opened it. Papers, pens and many other junks were stuffed inside, but he was looking for one special thing that he kept as a treasure – there, he took a small picture of Rose Thomson. For the first time, that picture looked so distant…as if she was a stranger. He cleared his eyes with back of his palm and looked at it again; once again, he got that distant feeling. "Everything is so funny today," he whispered and pocketed the picture. He yawned widely and saw the time – 12:07 am. "I better grab some sleep," he thought and went back to his bed.
0400 Hours
Logan woke up as his alarm went on. He hastily pushed the 'Off' switch on it and raised his head to see the time. It seemed like a minute ago he was walking around this room fully awake, but now his eyes were so red and itchy, he felt like he was going to be attacked by laziness. "Yea right…" he smirked at his thought and got to his feet. He wore some shorts and went to the gym for some exercise.
"Good morning sir," said Sunil as Logan entered the gym. Sunil was the only person who was occupying the whole room.
"You are out bit early," Logan said, because today was Sunil' and Jameson's rest day from last night shift.
"Well yes sir…" he looked as if he was going to say something, but remained quite, something was bothering him. He was the quietest in the whole group. Logan has always wondered whether Sunil was a bit shy in nature or just lost interest in everything due to the war.
After one hour of workout, Logan left the room once again leaving Sunil alone, whose company seemed to be more dead than alive. He went back to his room, took a shower and wore his marine suit. The uneasy feeling was freaking him out, it started to form a pit inside his stomach. "It's going to be a big day, for no reason," Logan murmured to his reflection on the mirror and walked out.
0545 Hours
"Something is so different. Today is neither like yesterday nor any other day," commented Ryan, who looked so worried.
"Yea, you are right bro, something is so weird…Good morning sir," Thomas saluted along with Ryan as they saw Logan enter the Lunch hall for some breakfast.
Logan said, "At ease gentlemen," and he went to grab his food tray. After few minutes he came back and shared the table with his marines.
"So…" Logan started with an unsure tone, because both Ryan and Thomas were just merely playing with their spoons on the food tray, none have seemed to touch the food yet.
"Sir?" Ryan asked as both of them looked up.
"You kids look like in some kind of trouble," Logan said judging by their expressions.
"It's just my…gut feeling sir, even Ryan has it," said Thomas, whose voice was carrying away.
"What gut feeling?" Logan stomach made a back flip, something was strange. He has never seen Thomas like this before.
"It's just odd, I had a bad dream last night and now I am having some kind of panic attack," Thomas said and forced a smile.
Logan knew exactly what he meant, but he didn't show anything out. "It's just this place, nothing to worry about. When a soldier in not in a combat he always gets restless and…" Logan searched for the right word, "You know…" he finished, because this can not be a co-incidence. He has always followed his gut feelings and have respected others too, so this somewhat contradicted him. "Well, we will see," he said and started to eat without uttering another word.
0630 Hours
"Oh no!" exclaimed Sunil
Alarms went on all over the building, judging by the noise it sounded as if all hell broke lose. Fear and chaos arouse among the staffs and patients. Logan and his men tried to calm the people, but gave up when another beeping sound joined the alarm.
"What the hell is going on Thomas?" shouted Logan
Thomas hurried to the nearby satellite radio and switched it on. A rough male voice echoed throughout the building.
"Planet Reach is under attack. The UNSC Battle ships are engaging the enemy now. I repeat…"
The greatest fear of Logan and all mankind came true, Reach was under attack. The news hit him like a truck, so he stood there stunned.
"All ground team, prepare to…"
The radio continued, but Logan couldn't listen to the rest because people started to yell in fright. A huge wave of panic rushed over them.
"Sir, we are getting orders from General Louis Smith…here," Thomas handed the radio to Logan.
"Sir!" Logan said into the radio
"A band of soldiers are on their way to the medical facility in order to take the wounded and the non-military personnel to safety. Take your men and meet me at the military headquarters on the double sergeant," the rough voice of General Smith roared. His voice was filled with surprise and fear.
"Sir, yes sir," Logan said and gave out the necessary orders.
0700 Hours
More than one thousand marines reached the Military HQ within next few minutes and more were on the way. An ominous feeling of mystery and fear was among them. Even the most organized and efficient soldiers started to stagger and wobble under this sudden and unexpected pressure. Teams were divided into many groups and were sent all over the planet. Some where assigned to save all the bunk and military structures; whereas others were sent to protect the innocents and the rest were sent to protect the most important thing of all – The Orbital Defense Generators. If one of these things was obliterated, the most powerful MAC guns will be wiped out, and then the Planet will fall.
Logan and his team members along with one more team were sent to protect the B-207 facility, which was ten miles away from here. The only good thing that occurred among this chaos was his reunion once again with his friend, Jen Fell. Jen and his team were also assigned to protect the same generator, just like Logan.
"Just like the old times," Jen said nodding towards Logan
"Yes," Logan replied back. He felt once again new and refreshed as he walked along with his most trusted team, and with his old true friend, "Old times." The team loaded the Pelican and left immediately to the site on the double.
0759 Hours
The Pelican landed in front of B-207 facility and unloaded its passengers. Logan and Jen's team members jumped down from the Pelican and ran towards the generators. Once everyone was unloaded, the Pelican took off and flew away as if it was being chased. Logan looked up and saw hundreds of UNSC Pelicans, along with Longswords, flying all over the sky, dropping and picking up troupes. The sound was deafening, everybody could feel the terror which they are about to face.
The B-207 generator was located inside a huge forest clearing, which's back faced a huge mountain. Heavy metallic sounds can be heard from inside the facility as if a Lion's roar. Everyone knew that it was as active as a volcano. The structure had a huge fence around it, made out of solid rock and it had five automatic machine guns mounted on every side. It felt like a fortress in and itself because there was a pit which covered the fence.
"Alright, lets give names," Jen called out. "My team will be the Charlie team and yours will be the Alpha team," Jen said pointing at Logan.
Logan nodded, "Alpha take the machine guns." Kelly, Thomas, Jameson, Sunil and Ryan took the five automatic machine guns and loaded it.
"Charlie team, arrange all the ammunitions we have in order and be ready to supply it to the Alpha team at demand. And take the flanking position," Jen ordered and his team members obeyed.
"We used to be in one team," Jen smiled. "I used to give the orders and you take them."
Logan smiled back, "Today I will give the orders and you will take them."
0820 Hours
"…Stay there, Sir we are under attack…Take him, Take him, NO...Enemies on our doorstep, I repeat…" the radio was barking, as Jen and Logan listened to it. Random and fierce voices raised and died within the radio. Occasionally curses entered it too as the soldiers fought in pain.
"Do you think…?" Jen started
"No," Logan answered at once. He knew perfectly what Jen was about to say because the same question was haunting him too, Will the Reach fall?
A huge rumble shook the whole place, along with a very vociferous noise.
"What is happening in here?" Logan whispered as he and his whole team mates looked up. The sky blackened for a second, covering half the sky as if a solar eclipse took place. After a crack second, a huge silver ship entered the Planet's atmosphere. Neither Logan nor his men has ever seen anything like this before. It was strangely beautiful to look at. The nose of the ship burned as it came down from the space, and then it changed its position in a manner, that its belly was parallel to the land below.
The body of the ship reflected the sun, blinding the marines for a second. Number of UNSC Pelicans, who tried to move away from the alien ship, failed and crashed into it. However, none of the ships collided directly with the ship's body; they hit something invisible and dropped down in huge flames. Longswords bombarded the huge Covenant ship with missiles and bombs, but none affected the ship, because none touched the ship. Something silvery shimmered around its body and faded as if nothing happened.
"Shields," Jen whispered
The ship stopped its descending when it was two hundred feet above the surface. Then as if someone switched off its engine, the sound of the ship silenced and stood there as a statue, motionless. It was just a mile away from Logan and Jen's position, but still it looked as if they were standing right below it. The ship itself was a kilometer long.
"What do we do now sir?" Kelly asked whose voice betrayed fear in great amount.
Logan had nothing to say, what can he do against this?
After three minutes of speculation, a loud voice entered the radio.
"HELP, we are under attack. We need immediate…Argh," an anguish sound came through it. "We need reinforcement; I repeat we need reinforcement on… Delta three by four…No, take him down…Delta three by four, please…" the voice died away.
Jen looked up at the alien ship and looked at the radio, as if he was making a decision. Logan knew exactly what he thought, so he extended his hand towards Jen. "Take care brother," Logan said.
Jen took his hand and shook it, "We will meet again," he said and went to aid the Delta along with his team.
"God's speed," whispered Logan as he saw, Jen and his team splint away.
Suddenly the alien ship came back to life and the belly of the ship glowed brightly.
"What is it doing sir?" Thomas asked nervously
"I don't know," Logan answered honestly
After few startling moments, a huge sound came out of the ship, as if a siren. Then a huge purple light descended from its belly.
"Oh no!" whispered Sunil
"Jameson, take Thomas, Sunil and Ryan, and see what they are doing exactly. I need video Intel; you will be the Charlie team. Go now. Do not engage the enemy. Remember that, once you get the idea, come back here at once. Do you understand me," barked Logan
"Sir, yes sir," said Jameson back. The four marines saluted to Logan and went towards the ship.
"Kelly, take those weapons and drop into the pit now," Logan said, and Kelly obeyed.
Logan took the radio with him and dropped beside Kelly and watched carefully.
After few minutes, "Sir," the radio opened
"Go ahead Jameson," Logan replied back to the radio
"This purple light is some kind of transporting thing, its not one of their plasmas. They are unloading a large amount of troupes down through this," Jameson said. Judging by his voice, Logan can clearly say that he was terrified.
"Look…" Ryan's voice entered the radio. "What the hell is that?" he asked
"What is it?" Logan demanded, but there was nothing but silence.
Slowly Sunil's calm voice came through, "Have we not seen one of those before?"
"What is it?" Logan demanded again
"SHIT!" shouted Jameson
"What…?" but Logan stopped when he heard a deafening scream of agony.
"Charlie team! Charlie team, come in!" Logan shouted, but he will never hear a response again.
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