Just Getting Started Chapter Seven
Posted By: James Kinsella<jckinsella@redrunr.net>
Date: 7 April 2003, 12:45 AM
Read/Post Comments
|
Just Getting Started
Chapter Seven
1418 Hours, October 2, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Boarding Covenant Ship, Undisclosed Location
As John crossed the void between the spaceships he looked down and saw one of the most beautiful planets ever. It had oceans, mountains, cities, and rolling plains. He was almost sorry that his actions would destroy it, but the mission came first. With that thought he brought his eyes back to the bay in front of him. He saw blue blood floating everywhere from when Cortana had opened the bay. The instant he was onboard the ship Cortana reactivated the shields that acted as bay doors.
"Chief, I'm equalizing pressure." Cortana said. "The Covenant will think that the shield just failed for some reason, and I am generating 'proof' for that assumption. We need to get to an uninhabited section of the ship so you can stow away. I suggest one of the ships maintenance corridors. It will provide you unimpeded access to most areas of the ship."
With that John walked over to a short doorway and moved inside. He activated the suit's new night vision scope and made his way down the corridor. After about a half hour in the tube he came across a Grunt. He couldn't go past without touching the beast, so John walked up behind the Grunt and snapped his neck with one good twist. He then hid the body in a panel in the wall. He walked for a good hour and encountered only two more of the diminutive creatures.
Cortana spoke, "Chief, your about a hundred meters from the engine core, this would be a good place to leave the nuke."
John nodded, pulled off a section of grating on a vent and put the Havok inside. He pushed the arming card into a slot in the bomb's face and watched as the warning scrolled across his screen, 'Havok armed, Awaiting detonation signal.' That meant that his job here was done. He moved back through the corridors towards the heavy ordinance room, next to the gravlift. An hour later not a single Covenant noticed the shimmer in the purple beam as John descended to the ground.
1624 Hours, October 2, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Covenant Planet, Undisclosed Location
"Chief, you have to make your way to grid thirty-two by fourteen. That's were ONI stashed your ordinance. Once you have gotten the Havoks you will be able to move against the seventeen targets designated by ONI. It will be relatively easy once you have gotten the nukes because all of the targets are in the same area, the shipyard. The hardest part of the mission will be the elimination of the Prophet. The Prophet will be protected by a guard of Black Armor Elites. It will be impossible to get close to the Prophet so I suggest a sniper attack. There should be an SRS99C S2-AM Sniper Rifle in the crate. I am working already on a location for the sniper attack"
John responded with a simple, "Yes." He thought to himself abut the difficulty of the mission as he sprinted towards the crate. Grid thirty-two by fourteen happened to be a garden in the middle of the city. As John walked up to the crate Cortana activated the radio sequence that would open the box. John saw seventeen tightly packed Havoks. He grabbed six and closed the box. Fifteen minutes later he was at the shipyard.
John made his way to the first of the ships and ran to the gravlift. He made his way to the nearest maintenance corridor and went inside. He was pulling a panel off of the wall when a grunt walked around the corner and saw a panel floating in midair. The grunt jumped in the air and ran. John dropped the panel and in one smooth movement pulled out his knife, jumped, and slit the methane tube that went to the mask. In three seconds the Grunt was dead. John picked the grunt up and put it into a panel in the wall. Then he pulled the Havok off of its position on his leg. He pulled the seals off of the bonding strips and planted it on the wall. He pulled out his arming card and armed the device. He then ran off of the ship and to his next target...
2248 Hours, October 2, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Covenant Planet, Undisclosed Location
John had made all of his targets except one; the Prophet. He made his last trip to the crate. John found the sniper rifle at the bottom of the crate and checked and loaded it. He closed the crate and turned the rifle's safety on. Cortana had found him the perfect sniper position; in a building across from the Prophet's pad.
John spent the next three hours scoping out the building and persuading the inhabitants to leave. He set up shop in the room directly across from the Prophet's private quarters. It would take Cortana about fifty minutes to break the code on the shields around the pad so John went for a quick run back to the shipyard. He located the smallest ship in the yard and cleaned the infestation out. He would now have a quick route back to the Keyes after the extermination. He then made his way back to the building. When he got inside he got himself situated in the firing location.
In a few minutes he heard Cortana over his speakers. "Chief, I've got the shields down now, the instant you see him, open fire.
John got in the kneeling position to target the loft. It took a few hours but the Prophet finally came into his scopes. He opened fire, quickly emptying the entire magazine. All of the hits were head shots, and John took about two seconds to assure the death of his target. He new he didn't have anymore time; this planet was about to get very unfriendly.
John made his way back to the ship he had cleared out earlier. He ran inside and activated the controls. Cortana oriented them to make the controls more familiar. As he took off he started to receive fire from ground forces. He activated the shield and made his way to the location Keyes sent them. As his ship docked with the Keyes they accelerated to slipstream and left the area.
Just as they left a single multidirectional carrier wave was broadcast. The planet now had seventy new suns. The mission was over...
The story isn't over folks, so look out for the next one...
|
