The Alliance, Chapter 1
Posted By: Banshee 13<dhik24@yahoo.com>
Date: 12 May 2005, 1:28 AM
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The Master Chief walked over the knoll on the new ringworld humanity had discovered. He and a squad of Marines had been trapped here for three days fighting the Covenant and doing their best to make sure the events of Installation 04 were never repeated.
He had considered rallying all of the Marine forces on the ring but didn't know how to operate the Mark 6 radio. The only one who did know, Cortana, was miles away in High Charity's network. He didn't even know if any others had survived the crash.
It began when a ship was sent to retrieve the Marines stranded when the In Amber Clad had crashed into High Charity. It was estimated that the ring would be packed with Covenant fleeing from their holy city. But the UNSC needed the soldiers on the ring to help in the war effort.
The plan was simple; they would clear a 35 mile radius from the drop zone and load as many troops as possible into Pelicans. An AI would mask their electronic signature so Covenant ships couldn't detect them and deliver them to the UNSC ships that had brought them here.
It fell apart as the first troops were picked up. A Banshee patrol destroyed two Pelicans and grounded another one. The Marines fled to a Forerunner building and destroyed them with tracking rockets. Then, the Master Chief was called in to help defend the area the Marines were in because there were so many Covenant. They were forced to retreat and the Covenant divided them up and killed hundreds.
Of course it was mostly Brutes he fought now. He hadn't seen a Elite or Grunt in ages. It was curious that the Covenant would scrap the cannon fodder they had used for so long. The Chief wondered if there was a change in Covenant politics but he couldn't be sure. He was hopeful that there was, maybe it could give them a edge in this situation and the entire war maybe.
He finished climbing the hill and looked around. To a newcomer to this alien ring it was a wonderful forest but to the Chief and his squad it was another battle. The Spartan climbed down, puffs of dirt accompanying his footsteps; the Marines followed in his footsteps to disguise how many of them there were.
The forest was quiet but the Chief switched to thermal vision to be sure if there were any camouflaged Elites around. Branches cracked as they moved deeper into the woods.
Movement.
He saw it for a brief second and then it wasn't there. It might have been a bird but it was there again. He began to get scared but not enough to force him into panic. The Spartan checked one last time but it was gone. What a relief.
Then, they were surrounded.
Four armed Elites emerged from the woods, one carried a Carbine, two had plasma rifles, and the other wielded a needler.
"It's just some humans," one of them said, clad in gold armor.
"Nothing to worry about," replied another dressed in white armor, his jaw weirdly cut in half. "What do you want to do now Arbiter?" he asked.
An Elite in gray armor emerged. He had been camouflaged the whole time. The squad relaxed, they weren't shooting yet. Three Grunts also came out from hiding.
"Show to them to the base camp Grunts," the gray Elite said. "We'll continue to the supply depot."
"Right," replied a orange armored Grunt. The Chief noticed he had begun to shiver. The Elites left...
" This way," another Grunt said. The squad ran after them, around them Marines and Elites were working on something. He couldn't tell what. But this had confirmed his hope that a alliance had been formed between the Elites, Grunts, and humanity.
They entered the camp, Elite snipers equipped with beam rifles were on the top
like a Western fort. The entire camp was built out of wood, a poor choice the Chief thought, the plasma technology used by the Covenant would burn it and make it a inferno.
There were no humans to be seen but battle rifles, magnums, and shotguns were in a pile at the center of the camp. There was a similar pile next to it containing Covenant guns. The Grunts led them to a building and ushered the Marines away into another one.
Spartan 117 entered the room and saw another Spartan but in dented and scuffed Mark 5 armor.
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