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The Fight for Bravo Base; pt. 6- Evac
Posted By: ONI_operative_343<zattack89@aol.com>
Date: 9 October 2003, 2:21 AM


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Jesseman almost wet his pants as he burst into the clearing. Surrounding a Covie dropship were at least 20 aliens; all different types. He veered a hard right, fishtailing the back end into a Jackal. The alien was shot out the other end of the Hog, with tread marks all over it's mangled body. By now the initial surprise had worn off; scorching hot bolts of plasma sliced through the air around the Warthog. Lynch, who was in the back of Jesseman's Hog, had opened fire on the enemy forces, too. Somewhere overhead he could hear the whine of the Banshee's engines, although he wasn't sure who it was following. Lynch, on the other hand, wasn't sure who to shoot. He swept the gun back and forth methodically, like he was watering a garden, getting every spot. One bullet tore through a Grunt's arm just as it activated a grenade. It dropped the blue orb right behind a Jackal and two Elites, who didn't notice. Just as Hack's Warthog completed it's clockwise circle around the dropship, the grenade detonated. The Jackal and one of the Elites were killed instantly. The third alien, however, only lost his shields, but was blown right into the path of Hack's incoming vehicle.

The Warthog ran into the Elite like it was nothing more then a sapling. By now only a handful of Covenant forces remained; maybe four or five Grunts, a lone Jackal, and two Elites. And the Banshee. The pilot was looking down on the battle now. He watched as his brothers were destroyed by the filthy Humans. He was surprised to see that he and his prey had stumbled onto the dropship. He had known it was there of course, but he was so anxious to destroy the Humans that he didn't even realize where he was chasing them to. Hell, he might've been promoted to Special Ops. had he killed them. Looking down again, he watched as another Elite fell, then two more Grunts. The Humans had made short work of the Covenant forces, and the Banshee pilot was worried. The dropship hadn't taken off yet, as was protocol. Maybe there was no pilot in it he thought. And now that they were clear of the trees, those LAAG guns would tear through his Banshee in no time. A bad situation. The last Elite fell now, oozing blood. The Jackal moved back to the center of the dropship, hoping to gain cover from the enemy fire. The two Grunts followed him, but before the red Major could get behind his ally's shield he was hit. The two enemy vehicles below him were swerving back and forth, staying in front of the ship, trying to nail the two remaining troops. I die now with honor he thought as he swooped in. One of the Humans noticed him and opened fire. A bullet tore through the Banshee's platting and sliced open the Elite's left arm. However, the alien barely noticed it. He launched a fuel rod torpedo, which detonated behind the attacking vehicle. The plasma guns were broken; he had to wait for another torpedo to reload. The Humans in the other LRV opened fire; suddenly the cockpit of the Banshee was hot, very hot. A warning light flashed on and off; both the fuel rod gun and plasma lasers were destroyed. Sparks flew into the Elites face as he dropped into a sudden dive. It was a death spiral; a suicide drop towards Jesseman and Lynch's Warthog. He would die with honor...

Reed watched in horror as the Banshee dove. He tried to scream but the sound of Martelli's gun and the Jackal's plasma fire drowned out his voice. Jesseman and Lynch never saw it coming. Suddenly there was a huge explosion and a deafening sound. Hack skidded to a stop and jerked his body around to watch, aghast. Martelli let go of the LAAG gun and turned to stare; even the two Covie troops stopped firing. The Banshee landed right on top of the Warthog. The explosion detonated all of the Marine's grenades, along with the Elites. A piece of the Banshee's wing flew towards the Jackal and Grunt, smashed into them, and killed them both. Debris began raining down on Hack as he floored the accelerator. He swung the Hog to face the Covie dropship, then killed the engine and jumped out. A burning tire rolled past him as he ran over to the crash site. Martelli continued to stare, as did Reed. Hack ran to the edge of the burning crater where only seconds ago two of his friends were. The fire roared on, drowning out Hack's thoughts. He stood like this for about a minute, cursing the Covenant, before Sgt. Reed called him over.
"Marine, get your ass over here." Reed tried to play it cool, keep it business like. It wasn't good to dwell on things like that in Military life. At least right now it wasn't, when they were under attack.
Hack walked slowly over to Reed and Martelli, who had gotten out of the Hog and were staring at a Covenant cargo container. This one, however, was a mobile communications port. An alien keyboard was on either side, and spiked antae stood at the top, leaning to the sides. Hack shrugged; right now he couldn't care less. Reed said something Hack didn't catch, but he noticed Reed point to a screen. On it, at least 15 dropships; Covenant dropships, maybe 17 of them; had landed at Bravo Base. Here we go again thought Hack.
Or at least he thought. "Well boys, I never did like that damn post... does anyone want to learn how to fly one of these things? I'm thinkin we should get outta here." Reed motioned towards the Covenant dropship to behind him. Martelli grinned, and Hack nodded. "Right. Well men, let's collect everything we can: grenades, guns, whatever these SOB's have got. Load it up and get ready to roll." After the last plasma pistol was dropped inside on of the troop bays, Reed strolled back to the monitor. The Covenant had been bust too; Banshees were now flying overhead, and a Ghost squad emerged over the hill. A Wraith followed closely behind, and Reed thought he saw another behind that one, waiting up there. He sighed. He had lost five men to these bastards, and Hack, Martelli, and himself would probably be dead before the day was over. I did my best he thought. And truly he had; but somewhere in his mind he knew that wasn't good enough...
"Sir, do you think we can load the Hog up on, err, in the dropship, sir?" Martelli asked the Sarge, bringing him back into reality. "If we can fit it in there like the Covies do with they're vehicles, sir, I think it would be a good idea."
Reed nodded. "If we can fly this thing Private, consider it done. Go get Hack then get yourself inside that bird; we're takin off."
"Aye aye, sir."
With no AI to help him, Reed tried to figure out the controls to the alien ship. He had managed to close the bay doors and lift off the ground. He even secured the Warthog between those glowing beams, just like Martelli had suggested. But flying was a different story. And the beeping of the ship's radar wasn't helping much. Especially when that radar read that five Banshees were inbound. And Reed knew it would only take seconds for them to figure out who was really inside the ship.





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