The Fallen: Halo 2 Chp 6 Sect 2 Just Passing By
Posted By: Hikaru-119<hikaru119@email.com>
Date: 1 December 2003, 3:48 PM
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Note from the author: I have just completed reading Halo: First Strike and have a few quick comments. I fully understand the differences in the proper story alignment and my rendition of Halo. I will not say the spoilers for those unfortunate enough not to of read the book as of yet. I would like to apologize for any confusion for those of you that have already read my work and the work of Eric Nylund. But notice something, I was pretty close on several little things here and there in my story and what actually happened in the First Strike. You people just have to look and find them...Man I'm lucky.
Chapter 6 Section 2: Just Passing By
0912 Hours November 23, 2553 (Military Calendar)
Canyon Passageway 1, Sector 11209.66
Red Leader watched the Covenant armored patrol from the tree he was hiding in along with Red-Two. The Spartan zoomed in at 2x power on his S2 AM and counted the number of units that he could spot. They wouldn't have had a chance if they had tried to engage. There were about thirty Grunts, two dozen Jackals, six Elites, three Brutes, and a pair of Hunters. These were not including pilots for the four Creeps, six Wraiths, eight Ghosts, two heavy class Ghoul tanks, and Shadow.
The pair of Spartans waited until the enemy had completely passed them. Once the low thrum of the engines died out they exited from their hiding place. With the rain masking their movements they landed on the ground undetected.
" I assume we are going to follow them. " Lucas asked.
" Yeah. I want to keep a close eye on such an armored unit. We might be able to take a few down without anyone noticing. " Dale replied. " Now let's go before we lose them. " The pair immediately went and trailed after the Covenant.
They watched carefully from a distance as they followed. As they traveled the rain came down harder and masked the sounds of their movement. The went a good four hundred meters before the Covenant line stopped. The pair stopped and dashed behind some bushes. They hid there and watched as the Creeps lagged behind.
They could see the Creeps had stopped at a junction point in the canyons allowing the others to continue on. The Grunts hopped off and carried what looked like glowing blue canisters that were eight inches long and two inches wide. Each carried three and began digging small holes in a random fashion.
" What the hell are they doing? " Lucas asked. Dale watched as they put the canisters into the ground after hitting a button on the top. The glow stopped when this happened and they set them in the ground. They carefully put the dirt they removed back over the canisters when they were finished.
" They are setting up a mine field. Clever bastards. " Dale replied. " They've got them really scattered now. I think we can safely engage them. If we are lucky they'll be stupid and rush us. "
" Or they can just run and get reinforcements to take us out. " Lucas replied killing Dale's idea.
" Well then I guess I'll just have to make an 'accident' " Dale said with a bit of mischief in his voice. " Cover me. I'm moving out. " Lucas nodded and Dale was off.
He ran past the bush and closer to the Covenant by fifteen meters. They were too preoccupied with their mines to notice the Spartan moving in. They were half way done when he was in position. With his rifle at 10x zoom he scanned the area for a group of them.
" Bingo. " he said looking at a cluster of five. He targeted a Grunt that just armed the mine. He aimed for the mine and waited till it was close to the ground. He squeezed the trigger and the mine exploded killing the cluster of Covenant in a large plume of blue plasma. The ground shook by the explosion.
Bits and pieces of flaming Grunts were flung everywhere. The other mines and plasma grenades on them were set off killing two others. A charred and bloodied arm was flung clear over to Dale and landed next to him.
Immediately the Grunts withdrew their weapons and scanned the area. They frantically communicated with each other and slowly looked around for what could have done this. They saw their comrades in arms on the ground and splattered as far away as one of the distant walls of the canyon.
After two minutes of a cautious search the Grunts shrugged off the explosions as an accident. Just as Dale had hoped for. Unfortunately that would pass only once. If it happened again they'd know it was an ambush. Grunts were unintelligent, but they weren't entirely stupid. He let the Grunts continue setting up the mines until they were near the Creeps.
The last two mines were being set when they were near the APCs. Once again Dale fired a round at a mine setting it off. The explosion was big enough and close enough to the lead Creep to knock it out of action. A series of mines went off trailing to the other Creep setting it on fire as well. The Covenant went into full out panic mode and began moving through the mines carefully and fanned out to find their assailants.
" Green-Two hit 'em! " Dale yelled into his radio. Lucas came out of his position immediately and began firing on the Covenant. Many were hit from the sudden series of three round bursts and fell dead. The two Spartans unloaded their weapons killing all of the stragglers with minimum resistance. When they had finished they moved to the edge of the minefield the Grunts had set up.
" That was easy enough. " Lucas said looking at the glowing craters and the dead. Dale nodded to that. Suddenly they both snapped their heads up. A desperately sounding transmission came in.
" This is Assault Team Kilo 'sszhk' heavy fire re--------ng reinforce----. " An explosion was suddenly heard. " Covenant defensive pos---- is to st---g. Requires --r--rike 'sszzzhhk' If anyone ---- this pleas- --sist. ---ualt Team Kilo out. " A few explosions could be heard faintly from where they were. They looked at each other and headed out.
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" Is this it? " Cortana asked Corporal Poldor as they approached a massive doorway. The civilian walked forward and the door slid open. Inside were two human bodies, both of which were once armed with M90 shotguns. Blood and plasma burns painted one of the walls. Over a hundred shotgun shells littered the floor.
" Yeah. " Poldor responded. The man's shoulders sank for a moment as he looked at the bodies. He stepped inside with his shotgun at ready. The narrow hallway was a tight fit for the seventeen of them. It was too easy for the Covenant to take them out with amassed fire or grenades. Fortunately for them no such Covenant were in the hall waiting for them.
The Militia and marines went on ahead taking point. The Chief however stayed back for a moment. He examined the two bodies. Their uniforms were burnt and bloodied rags. He checked their weapons and bandoliers. No ammo in either of them. The Chief turned his head to the other body and noticed one last shell inside the corpse's hand. He shook his head and headed back towards the group.
The hall was pock marked with bullet holes, burnt black with grenade explosions, and stained a dark purple from the mixture of human and alien blood. Halfway down the he heard rifle fire from the next room. Two explosions then went off followed by a scream.
The Chief immediately ran inside and saw a pair of Hunters charging up their guns. One of them fired at him nearly getting a direct hit. His shields blazed and dropped to a mere sliver. The Chief immediately ran forward and straffed to his left. The humans unloaded their weapons at the massive behemoths chipping away at their armor.
The Hunters fired again catching a marine in the back. The soldier flew forward with his back armor fused to his spine. He was instantly paralyzed and unable to move most of his body. All he could do was scream as the melted armor plating burned its way to his lungs stopping even his cries.
" Grenade! " someone yelled as a frag was thrown. A flash of smoke a fire went off between the Hunters barely damaging them. The two of them stopped shooting and then came at the humans. The marines just continued firing trying to take them down. The Hunters lifted up their shields to swat at the marines and fell dead a split second later. Orange blood was sent everywhere.
" You'd think they'd learn from such mistakes. " Mirielle said as she reloaded her sniper rifle. The militia looked at her with jaws wide open.
" Nice shot. " Corporal Poldor commented. Mirielle smiled inside her helmet and went over to the Hunters. She lightly kicked one of them with her boot. The joyous mood was suddenly shut off when Cortana spoke up.
" Chief I've got something you should hear. " she said. A radio message was broadcasted to everyone. It was full of static and several of the words were not able to be made out.
" This is Assault Team Kilo 'sszhk' heavy fire re--------ng reinforce----. " An explosion was suddenly heard. " Covenant defensive pos---- is to st---g. Requires --r--rike 'sszzzhhk' If anyone ---- this pleas- --sist. ---ualt Team Kilo out. "
" Chief we should move outside. Their is an elevator nearby that leads to the nearest exit to Assault Team Kilo's position. " Cortana said.
" Agreed. " the Chief responded. A NAV marker showed up on his and the other Spartan's HUDs. He turned to the team and waved his hand forward. They immediately followed. It took a moment for everyone to get through the multiple halls leading to the elevator. Several of the soldiers groaned when they saw the size of it.
" Guess we'll have to take turns. " one of them commented. The small lift could fit about five maybe six people on it. The Chief immediately stepped forward and got on it. Three marines got on and went up. Four more trips were made bringing everyone top side.
" Chief the door that leads outside is nearby. " Cortana said. They quickly ran for the door and exited outside. As they ran massive explosions could be heard from outside.
The doors opened and they were on an elongated bridge that was suspended in the air by electrical beams. The rain had also picked up the pace bringing it from a light rain to a downpour. Everyone except the three Spartans came to a sliding halt when they noticed another annoyance.
Roughly five Grunts and six Jackals were on the bridge firing downward on the humans below. The Spartans opened fire killing half and took cover as the enemy turned their attention to them. It almost seemed as if the plasma pistols were fully automatic from the amount of fire that came towards them. It burned through the thin two meter high walls they hid behind and hit the canyon rock behind them.
" Damn it! Their taking out our cover! " Stacker yelled a man next to him was hit squarely in the face. The soldier's face collapsed in on its self and a puddle of blood formed around his shoulders and skull. " Grenade! " Stacker yelled poking his head out from the cover. He tossed the grenade at the Jackals that were slowly advancing. They turned their shields to the explosive and absorbed the blast. He swore and hid once more.
" INCOMING! " someone yelled. The Chief looked upward and saw a blue flame arc through the air and hit one of the marines. Everyone nearby scrambled as the man ran around screaming, begging to have it be torn off. He went up in a flash of blue taking two others with him. Blood splashed the Chief in his helmet from the marines. All that was left was a mess and a glowing red hole in the bridge.
" Spartans distract and destroy! " the Chief yelled. Mireille and Kirika and nodded and moved to the other end where the hole was formed and exposed themselves to the Covenant. Immediately the Jackals targeted them and rained hell onto them.
Their distraction was just long enough to give the Chief a chance to get in on the left flank of the enemy. He fired ten rounds killing two and wounding another. The Jackals were caught by surprise and split up trying to take on the two threats. They, as well as their Grunt counterparts, were taken out within a matter of seconds.
The trio did not stop there, but immediately ran forward. They ran to the other side of the bridge covering each other as they professionally made sure the bridge was secure. No more Covenant were remaining on the bridge.
" Bridge secured. " Cortana said. The Chief looked at what was left and listened to the explosions going on beneath him. The Marines and Militia ran as fast as they could to the Spartans. Several of them, mostly the wounded, had to regained their breath.
" I think we should stay here sir. We can give some support from up here. " Poldor said approaching the Chief.
" We'll stay with them as well. " Stacker added. " I'll have my medic help out the wounded. You should keep going sir. " The Chief nodded and exited through the door at this end of the bridge along with the Spartans close behind.
To Be Continued in Chapter 6 Section 3: Claiming Territory
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