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Halo 2: Revenge of a Spartan, chapter 4
Posted By: LostRock<The1lone2outlaw3@aol.com>
Date: 27 March 2003, 6:58 PM
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Author's note:
Finally, what happened after the preview trailer. Enjoy.
The room had become a hurricane from the escaping air. The Chief crouched, trying to keep himself in the ship till he was ready. He silently counted the three, and then let himself be whisked away with the air.
The Chief "sailed" through the escaping air at an astonishing rate. He estimated he was going about 120 kph. He decided not to move and kept his rifle clutched to his chest, as there was the risk that he could veer off-course.
He saw that he was coming up on a Covenant frigate and decided that this would be the ship to hijack. It was strangely beautiful, its teardrop shape mystifying. However, it was pocked with holes from the Junto's guns. Good, its shields were down, then.
"Chief, be careful. We're going to hit this ship pretty hard, and your shields might drop." Warned Cortana, breaking the silence of space.
The Chief grunted in response. He was tense; worried that he might simply slide off the hull of the frigate and fall like a meteor into the Earth's atmosphere.
Suddenly, they were close. 50 meters...40 meters...30...20...10...
.... And contact. The Chief hit hard, as Cortana had warned him. His shields dropped to a tiny sliver, and he started twirling. Panicked, the Chief tried to find something to grab onto, and saw some of the frigate's hull was protruding. He clutched it and hung on for his life.
"Think of something quick, Cortana," The Chief said in an anxious voice. "I can't stay like this forever."
"Hang on...literally," said Cortana. "And...there. Magnetic boots activated." The Chief swung himself so that his feet were positioned towards the hull, and his feet instantly stuck to the shiny surface. He was now standing on the Covenant frigate while it was in geosync orbit.
The Chief got out his Lotus mine. He planted it on the frigate and stepped back about 30 feet. He activated the remote detonation, and there was a bright explosion for a few seconds, but it disappeared into the cold, airless space. The Chief was also proud of his first kills in Earth's defense: several Covenant bodies floated out of the gaping hole of the frigate.
The Chief stepped through the hole into the hallway of the ship. He didn't deactivate his mag-boots yet; for the artificial gravity was no longer in the corridor. He couldn't tell if the Covenant knew he was onboard. For all they knew, it had just been a stray missile that hit them.
He slowly made his way down the corridor, and reached a door. He opened it, went through, and shut it again quickly.
"Okay. Mag-boots deactivated." Confirmed Cortana.
The Chief turned...and jumped back.
He found himself face-to-face with an Elite. Worse, it was holding a plasma sword and was "smiling" menacingly at the Chief. The Covenant raised his weapon to kill the Chief instantly.
The Chief thought quickly, and brought up his battle rifle. He stuck it directly in front of the Elite's face and fired. The Covenant screamed, but it was not hurt; only stunned. The Chief then kicked the Elite back, and it impaled itself landing on its sword.
The Chief took a sigh of relief but it was cut short. Grunts wielding needlers suddenly appeared and spat out deadly explosive magenta-colored rounds. The Chief ducked behind a nearby crate and said to Cortana, "This was a lot easier when I had backup!"
"Well, hurry then!" urged Cortana. "Get to the hangar! Here's a nav point!"
The Chief glanced at the distance marker on the nav point.
Ugh. 700 meters away. Better get going.
The Chief jumped out as the needler rounds popped on his shields. He saved his ammunition and smacked the Grunts with his rifle one by one. He decided there was no time to waste, and started to sprint down the corridor leading to the hangar. He skidded to a halt and opened the door.
Oh, shit.
Three Hunters were prowling around on the lower floor, and there was a dropship, its gunner alert. A platoon of Grunts and Jackals were patrolling the central bridge of the room, accompanied by two Elites.
The Chief doubled back and thought about what to do. The dropship probably wouldn't be able to hit him if he ducked behind part of the frigate's frame, and the Hunters were too far down to get a good bead on him. So the Chief decided to dispatch the platoon, using a method that would prove effective.
He primed a plasma grenade and lobbed it.
The blue, fiery sphere gracefully flew down towards the platoon and stuck to a Jackal. The Covenant soldiers panicked. There was the imminent explosion, and nothing was left where they had been but a rainbow of alien blood.
The Chief took a look around. The dropship had already left, but so had the Hunters, meaning that they would come see what happened.
Better get the marines, now.
The Chief went to the panel used to open the hangar doors. He keyed it, and the force fields on the doors went down. He then turned on his com system and said, "This is the Master Chief. The hangar is ready for reinforcements.
Instead of Captain Franklin's voice, a new person piped up. "This is Sergeant Rodger Young. We copy Master Chief; we'll be there, double-time!"
Not less than a minute later the two dropships moved in swiftly and turned to let their cargo disembark. The Chief was pleased to see that they were the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, the "Helljumpers." They were the most elite human soldiers besides him.
Just as the marines hopped out, the three Hunters came back into the hangar, now on the same floor as the Chief and the marines. The Hunters seemed to do a double take from seeing the humans.
The first heavy Covenant decided to charge in, raising its massive shield weapon. It had no chance, however, as a dozen battle rifles opened fire and mowed it down.
The other two thought wiser of their situation and stood back and charged their fuel rod guns. As they finished charging and let go of their fiery ammo, the humans took cover behind crates.
As the Hunters hammered away at the humans' cover, the Chief yelled, "Who has a rocket launcher?!"
"Me, sir!" replied a marine hastily, and before the Chief could ask him if he could use it, the marine had already stood up and was taking aim with the large weapon. The Hunter's destructive fuel rounds blazed past the marine as he launched his explosive payload. There was an explosion between the two Hunters. When the smoke cleared, one's charred body lay on the floor while the other was bleeding and limping. The marine tossed a frag grenade and the Hunter went flying into the air, and landed with a heavy thud on the floor.
Everyone stood up, relaxed and relieved. The Chief stood in front of the marine and asked, "What's your name, soldier?"
"Sir, Private Elgien, sir!"
"Well, Private, I'm going to make sure you got a medal for what you just did."
Elgien beamed at the Chief's promise.
"Alright, marines," said Sergeant Young, "let's get to that bridge! Go, go, go!"
The Master Chief led the dozen marines to the next door. After he opened it, he saw that Grunts were waiting for him and the two squads. Unfortunately, they were packing some dangerous heat, the prototype fuel rod guns. Everyone doubled back, but one marine was not so lucky. The fuel rounds collided with him, and he flew back. He couldn't even scream because the ammo had melted his head first.
With a vengeance, the marines came out and their battle rifles spat at a semi-automatic rate. The grunts slumped over, but they still had a chance of taken a few marines with them. Each gun had some sort of trigger that the Grunts held on to in order to keep the weapon from going critical. The Chief had never been able to see how they deactivated this weapon; perhaps a fellow Covenant pressed a button on the thing to turn it off.
"Take cover!" the Chief commanded.
The marines were able to get back before the fuel rod guns exploded. They peeked out, and, seeing that the corridor was empty except for some Grunt gore pasted on the walls from the blast, continued on.
The Chief noticed that the ship seemed less guarded than most Covenant ships that he had boarded before. He didn't know if the Covenant frigate had taken heavy casualties, or if they were using all their troops in the battle for Earth. Nevertheless, the Chief kept on his guard.
In a matter of moments, the Chief and the marines were outside the door to the bridge.
"Covenant forces detected," said Cortana over the com channel, "about two dozen. Use extreme caution."
The Chief opened the door and peeked out. A handful of Elites were in front of the bridge's main console, overseeing the battle raging outside the ship. They were armed with plasma rifles and swords, some with weapons in both hands. Scattered throughout the room were Grunts and Jackals, with needlers and plasma pistols.
The Chief closed the door and turned to the marines, their faces anxious.
"Okay, here's what we do," said the Chief. "We all throw grenades into the corners of the room, and be sure not to hit the central console. That'll create some chaos while we mop them up with rifles. Got it?"
The marines nodded quickly.
The Chief opened the door and gave the signal. Grenades flew everywhere, and then silently fell towards the corners of the room. A multitude of explosions came only a second later. Covenant bodies were ruptured and went sailing. The Elites at the console panicked and tried to escape, but were caught in the barrage from the marines' rifles. They gave cries of "Esruc uoy namuh sdratsab!" before falling. Wounded Jackals and Grunts were also finished off.
Satisfied, the Chief and marines walked into the room. Fortunately, the central console was unscathed. The Chief walked up and looked at the alien equipment.
"Okay, Chief," said Cortana. "Put my processing core in that slot to the right of you."
The Chief turned and saw a small slot. He pulled Cortana out and stuck her in. There was a flash from the console, and there was Cortana in holo-form, standing face-to-face with the Chief.
"Good work everyone," said Cortana, grinning. "I now have control of the ship. There are no other Covenant forces onboard, which could be good or bad." She then said over the com channel, "Captain Franklin? Mission accomplished. We're preparing to dock with you for repairs and tech inspections."
"Thank you marines, Cortana, Master Chief," replied Franklin. "It seems the future of the human race is beginning to look up."
TO BE CONTINUED
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