The Devil's Maw: Part 1
Posted By: Conrad Lauf<conniesworld_aka_hell@hotmail.com>
Date: 5 August 2004, 7:26 AM
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Author's Note:
I know this story is short, and the storyline ain't exactly the most original, but I made this fiction purely for the action, something which numerous people have told me I'm good at, and because writing action in diary format really pisses me off after a while...but anyway, on with the show!
The world was black as Captain Steele opened his eyes. He realized he was strapped down, and heard something to his right move towards him. Light began to slowly filter into the room, and Steele was able to make out the silhouette of an Elite bending over him. The Elite exclaimed:
"So, he wakes. Pity it will be the last time he does. Your escape pod did a lot of damage as it hit our cruiser, "Steele", and we have recovered the neural chip from the implant in your cranium. Soon we will have worked out all that has been stored on that chip, and all you can do is lay here until we decide it is time for you to be disposed of..."
LOCATION: Barren plain-Rocky Desert-Australia
The Warthog hit the earth doing eighty k's, with the marine gunner holding down on the 12.7mm chaingun like it was his fury incarnate. One of the pursuing Ghosts fell back under a hail of tracer fire, but to Chief Argave's disappointment, the remaining Banshee did not pull away. Argave pulled the warthog in a sharp U-turn, and sped towards the Banshee, going right underneath it, and the Banshee was forced to pull around, and try to catch up with the speeding LRV.
Argave's intercom crackled into life.
"Chief Argave, this is Dragoon-316. We've confirmed that the last emergency beacon from Captain Steele's escape pod came from inside the Covenant cruiseship The Everchosen of Kahn . We need you to immediately head towards the grav-lift one kilometer north of your location to retrieve Steele and the stolen security chip. Dragoon out."
"Roger that Dragoon."
Argave sighed, and floored the accelerator, while his gunner yelled down at him,
"Sir, I'm low on ammo. I don't know if we'll be able to make it alive!"
Argave yelled back:
"How many rounds left?"
There was a pause as the gunner checked.
"Sir, we have 314 rounds left."
Hmmmm...not too bad , thought Argave.
He turned.
"Private, that means you can kill about thirty Covie asswipes -forty if you're accurate. Only shoot at what you know you can hit. Is that understood?"
"Sir, Yes Sir!"
Up ahead was a small rocky outcrop. To Argave's delight, there was a granite boulder rising out of the surrounding grassland. The rock had the basic shape of a ramp, but it appeared to end suddenly in a total drop. Even though he didn't know what was on the other side of the drop, Argave decided to go for it.
He glanced in his rear-view mirror, and saw that the Banshee was practically on top of them, only one metre above the gunner's turret. As they reached the base of the 'ramp', Argave slowed a little, just enough to let the Banshee go straight over them. As the Banshee appeared in front of him, Argave floored the accelerator, and the Warthog left the ground, and for what sounded like a lifetime they soared through the air, with the low-flying Banshee right in front of them, just underneath the Warthog's front tyres. Argave bellowed "Fire!", and instantly the triple-barrelled chaingun above Argave's head burst into life, letting a merciless blaze of orange shafts rain down on the unprotected rear of the Banshee. The flyer's Elite roared as its armour's shields crackled like blue lightning and depleted as it was torn apart by a hundred shells, which went straight through the Elite's body and into the control panel of the Banshee. A millisecond later, the entire Covenant aircraft exploded in midair, and Argave felt a wash of heat roll over his body as the Warthog sailed straight through the falling, flaming wreckage of the Banshee.
The Warthog sagged onto the ground, the suspension only just managing to keep the LRV from exploding as it hit the earth. The Warthog slewed to a halt as Argave tried to regain his breath.
"Man was that fun or wha -" Argave turned to talk to the gunner, but stopped himself as he saw the body of the UNSC marine.
Although the Mark 5 armour had protected Argave from the heat and wreckage, the gunner hadn't been so lucky. He slumped against the handles of the chaingun, his unprotected face hideously burnt and lacerated by the steel that shot outwards from the Banshee as it exploded.
Argave gave a quick salute, and unstrapped his seat-belt. He climbed out of the driver's seat, and pulled the body off the back. He carried it off to a small grove of stunted trees, and lay it down on its back. Argave turned, making a note to collect the body after he had recovered the captain and the neural implant.
To Be Continued In Part 2!
(Unless of course I get crappy comments, which will result in me just ending it right here)
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