To Survive VI
Posted By: OpeningAct<OA@aol.com>
Date: 15 June 2004, 6:41 PM
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To Survive VI
5th January 2553
On repaired UNSC cruiser, the Project
In atmosphere above ring-world
Halo Installation-01
"Captain, I've found a great place to put her down!" announced the A.I construct Cortana.
"Good. Where?" asked Captain Daniel Dunter.
"A large ridge, about 700m in height. If attacked, we should be able to defend ourselves with ease" Cortana exclaimed.
"Alright Cortana, bring her down!" commanded Dunter. The slightly damaged UNSC cruiser dropped into the atmosphere, hull shining with a reddish glow from the sudden increase in heat.
The Master Chief stared out of the bridge down at the derelict ring-world before them. Suddenly memories flooded his mind of his previous visit to Halo Installation-04. Captain Keyes. All the other marines. The flood. Were the flood here too? Probably. Would the same thing happen all over again to the crew of the Project? The Chief couldn't bare to think about it. At least this time they weren't marooned. They could escape if things got rough! But that would condemn billions of people to their death. The Chief would rather die! His thoughts were interrupted by a soft thud.
"Captain, we've landed!" announced Cortana.
The Chief and Fire Team Monsoon stood at attention on the bridge and the Captain saluted.
"Welcome to Halo! Lucky for us we've got a veteran among us. Chief, you and Fire Team Monsoon have to secure the perimeter. After that we move on to the primary objective. Stopping the destruction of Earth and saving our skins. Marines, move out!" bellowed Dunter. The Spartan and the six marines saluted the Captain and marched out of the bridge and towards the hangar.
The Chief was back on Halo.
"Good morning! I'm Lieutenant Kroker, pilot of Bravo-04. I'll be your pilot today. Make sure that when the seatbelt light switches on that your strapped in as we may experience some turbulence" the pilot exclaimed jokingly.
"Just get us to the bottom of that ridge Lieutenant" commanded Staff Sergeant McKenzie.
"Yes sir" replied Kroker. The Chief sat down on the side-seats as the hatch automatically screeched closed. Kroker was surprisingly jolly, especially since one of his fellow pilots had perished to save them earlier.
Bravo-04 fired it's thrusters and kicked itself out of the humid hangar into the bright rays of sunlight beating down on the green pasture of Halo Installation-01.
"Whooa!" said Kroker in amazement. The interior of the ring stretched up into the sky showing the seemingly endless green fields and deep blue oceans that looked as if they should be falling onto them, if it weren't for the forerunner's artificial field of gravity. The pelican swooped down the steep ridge, of which the Project perched atop. Kroker spotted a small group of Covenant grunts down on the field below the ridge and shouted :
"We've got Covenant contacts people!". The pelican's chin gun whirred into action, making quick work of the hapless grunts.
"LZ's clear people, do what you do best marines!" yelled Kroker. Bravo-04 touched down on the surface and the Chief stepped out, closely followed by Fire Team Monsoon. Sergeant McKenzie saluted the Lieutenant, as the pelican-class dropship soared back towards the Project.
"Marines, get it together, the core isn't paying you by the hour!" bellowed McKenzie. "Reeves, Victor scout ahead. Matthews cover our six".
Pvt. Reeves and Pvt. Victor ran ahead, taking cover every five seconds. A minute later they were out of view. The rest of Fire Team Monsoon moved up through the lush green surroundings, MA7B's raised.
"Three enemy contacts over here" Matthews said as he shot a grunt in the head. A frag grenade later and two jackals flew into the air, their corpses scorched.
"The Covenant are scattered all over this valley. What's going on?" Pvt. Wells asked.
"Your job isn't to figure stuff out, that's ONI's job, your job is to shoot stuff. Alright private?" questioned Mckenzie.
"Sir, yes si..." yelled the private. Wells was interrupted as a smoking Covenant dropship fell to the ground only 200 meters away from their position.
"What the hell happened?" the sarge asked rhetorically. A muffled radio transmission crackled on the sergeant's radio.
"Engaging enemy, sarge" sounded the voice of Pvt. Victor.
Pvt. Ben Victor ducked down behind a small boulder and stared out at the smoking Covenant dropship. It had torn up the ground around it, it's nose at least six-feet into the dirt. It was a complete wreck.
The private emerged from his cover and cautiously approached the U-shaped dropship, MA7B raised. The hatch, which held Covenant troops usually, was scorched as if hit by plasma. He noticed the controls to open the hatch and he slowly headed towards it carefully. It was his job to check out this wreckage and he would do just that. Victor kicked the hatch controls twice before the hatches slowly began to open. Inside were four dead grunts and a elite, still strapped up against the side. So far so good. The private ran to the other side to see another bunch of vertical corpses. Victor let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the lush green grass. Almost immediately though he jumped back up as he saw something move. It was a small, white, balloon-shaped creature, which crawled along the ground. The private took this as a threat and began to fire. The bullets pinged against the alloy of the dropship, completely missing the small target. It jumped on to Victor's back, stabbed him with a small tenticle and injected it's deadly serum.
"Sarge, this is Reeves, I've lost contact with Victor. Over" announced the frantic voice of Pvt. Reeves.
"Alright son, keep your pants on! Regroup with us and we'll find him later. Over" exclaimed Sergeant McKenzie.
"Yes, sir. Over" said the private. Fire Team Monsoon moved forward through some dense shrubs before Corporal Wilkins, their sniper expert, shouted back to them.
"Chief, Sarge, you better take a look at this!". They ran up the mound which Wilkins was perched on and surveyed the scene. Ahead stood a large Forerunner structure, populated with screaming grunts and a few calmer elites.
"This looks like the place where the Covenant are operating from. Alright marines, we take the outside of the structure and then we call in reinforcements to take the inside!" yelled McKenzie. "Move!" he bellowed. Wilkins stared down the scope of his top-of-the-range S9 sniper rifle. A gold armoured elite stood atop the structure shouting orders in alien dialect to the grunts. The corporal steadied his rifle before whispering "Goodbye". A heavy round blasted through the elite's neck. Purple blood oozed down the polished gold armor as the elite fell to the floor. The rest of the marines moved in firing three round bursts at the screaming grunts, putting them out of their misery. Wilkins rifle fired two more heavy rounds killing the two remaining elites. The grunts never stood a chance. The marines dusted them off quickly, ending the battle.
"Lieutenant, reinforcements please" growled McKenzie over his radio.
"Yes, sir. I'm inbound. Hey, I'm picking up another signal" Kroker replied, slightly bewildered. A familiar six-note tune sounded over the Chief's COM.
"There are Spartans down there" he shouted.
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