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The Capture
Posted By: Jason P.<usaf_thunderbird_16@hotmail.com>
Date: 9 April 2002, 3:45 am
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The Master Chief peered through the scope on his S2-AM sniper rifle. Even with the digital picture sent to him via his HUD, the MC preferred to use the optical scope. After all, computers could be wrong, but not a weapon he sighted himself. Through the scope he looked down onto a Covenant encampment 500 feet below him on the valley floor. Across from him was an 800 foot cliff, with a waterfall cascading down into a river passing through the Covenant camp. The Master Chief scanned the camp on 2x zoom, looking for the highest ranking target. During his 6 hours up here, he had waited for one single target, a Golden Elite that intelligence said would be arriving anytime- Anytime being over 3 hours ago. The Master Chief didn't mind about the wait- scoping Covenant camps was one of the few times he could laugh to himself. Since he had placed himself on the hill, he had seen some hilarious stuff from the Covenant. That day alone he had seen a Jackal flip off an Elite- though his hand was hidden from the Elite by his shield. The Grunts as usual were the funniest, acting just like dogs when they had to scratch their ass. The lower-ranked grunts would run around in a tight circle for as long as 5 minutes until a smarter one would give them the advice of letting another help.
The MC was in the middle of watching this when the Covenant suddenly snapped to attention and ran to one end of the camp. They lined up into rows, 15 each. There were 4 rows of grunts in the front, 2 of jackals in the middle, and a row of 11 elites with a hunter on each end. That was more Covenant than most marines saw in their lifetime- though the average marine only lasted about 15 minutes into his first battle. The Master Chief planned out how he would go down the lines when the shooting started. He'd put aside two bullets for the commander, whom he could tell was on his way in from the Covenant standing at attention. Then he would work his way down the Elite ranks, on to the two Hunters, then the Jackals and finally the Grunts if they hadn't run off. Done with planning (he wasn't too pre-occupied with it, moving down the ranks was standard procedure for him), he pulled back from the scope to look for the Covenant transport. There they were- off to his 2 o'clock. A small misshapen purple dot in the sky. The dot grew until it separated, and it turned out to be the standard Covenant transport- plus 200 escort Banshees.
Oh shit- the Chief thought. Most of the time there were a few escorts, but not 200. Whoever this Golden Elite was, he was more important than his comrades for some reason. The only time the Covenant would make it this much of a point to protect a single commander was if he knew something- something the Covenant couldn't afford for the humans to know. The MC quickly re-thought his battle plan. He decided to try and capture this Golden Elite- something he knew had never been done. Elites usually took their own lives when imminent capture was upon them. Alright, the MC thought. Hopefully the Banshees will leave once he's safe in the camp, but worst case, they could land. No sooner was this thought finished in his mind that the Banshees began hovering in formation over an empty end of the camp. The Chief's mind raced through the possibilities. Luckily, he noticed the angle at which the transport was landing. From here, I can take out the transport's pilot when he opens the door. There were a few other minor details, but the Chief had them covered. Alright, let's do it.
As the Banshees hovered a mere 5 feet over the dirt, the transport settled into the soft river bank. The MC had his scope settled on the thin line that denoted the top of the hatch of the transport. He saw a small puff of air as the craft de-pressurized, and prepared to find his target. The door slid open in a rush, and the bright Golden Elite stood at the door, shark-like jaws clenched shut. He slowly stepped down from the hatch, giving the MC a clear view of his target. The target- a spot on the main cockpit computer- was only about 3 inches square. The crosshairs settled to a stop, thanks to the MC's powered armor suit. He squeezed the trigger, and a white trailed shot out from the barrel, being blown off to the side of his position by the spin of the bullet. It was the only evidence that he had shot, as the sound had been covered by the howling of the Banshees in hover. The pilot of the transport sat dead, noticed by none of the Covenant outside, the red Elite was slumped over the projector for the holographic controls, which would not have worked anyway as he had stepped in front of it when the MC shot at it. The bullet had pierced through the Elite, and took out the hologram projector- effectively disabling the ship for at least a few minutes until one repaired it. That however would be impossible as the door slid shut a mere second after the bullt reached its target.
Now, to get rid of the other ways of escaping. When the shooting started, there were still 200 ways the Golden Elite could use to escape. But as usual, that was already taken care of. The MC threw down close to 20 inactive grenades through the Banshee formation. The grenade nestled themselves in the soft dirt under the flyers, setting up a deadly trap that the Elite pilots never noticed. The Master Chief took aim at one of the grenades in his line of sight, and pulled the trigger. The bullet pierced through the metal casing of the frag, detonating the explosives inside. The explosion from that lone grenade took down 13 Banshees, all of which exploded into flames- and fell onto surrounding grenades. A wave of explosions tore through the formation, taking a mere 2 seconds to complete its run. In that 2 seconds, close to 200 Banshees had been destroyed, as well as all escape routes. Now for the most fun part.
With all escapes gone, and an enemy who had no clue where he was, the MC opened fire. He shot without mercy, methodically taking out the Covenant by rank. The Grunts ran wild, simply moving to keep from getting shot. Most of them died from getting in the way. In 48 shots, 103 enemies were killed- better than 200% accuracy. Yet still the Covenant could not find him. The white trails from the bullets showed a clear path to the Master Chief, but the Covenant, no down to a handful of Jackals and Grunts, were in too much confusion to look for an enemy. The Golden Elite, now hiding behind the husk of a Banshee, was too busy trying to find a working weapon. As the Master Chief took out the remaining enemies, he searched the camp for the Golden Elite. He saw the creature's head behind a Banshee, and took aim for it. He squeezed the trigger, hitting the Elite on the crown of his head. The shields glowed a brilliant bluish light, and the Elite's neck was snapped forward, stopped by his chin guard on his chest. This prevented his neck from breaking, but not his brain from crashing around in his skull. The Elite fell into unconsciousness, but still alive.
The MC worked his way down the cliff face, climbing in his half-ton suit without any gear. He jumped down the last 15 feet, and landed easily on the ground, barely flinching from the impact. He walked slowly to the Elite's unconscious body, his pistol in front of him as protection. As he stepped around the front of the Banshee, the Elite jumped up, straight over the Master Chief and landed behind him. The Master Chief spun and cocked his head quizzically, staring at the Golden Elite behind his helmet's blast shield. The creature roared, crouched down to tackle him- and promptly fell his rear. The Elite's head was so beaten that he could barely stand by himself. The Master Chief walked over, and as a gesture of sympathy, pistol-whipped the Elite back into unconsciousness. Well, now to get out of here.
The Pelican landed at the other end of the camp, not having found a place close to the MC to land. As the MC walked up to the marines standing just outside the Pelican's loading ramp, they stood and stared at the Golden armored creature slung across his back. The creature stirred, but the MC dropped it on it's head and it quickly ceased to move. The marines cautiously stepped back into the Pelican. After they were all buckled in, the Master Chief told the pilot he was good for dust-off. The Pelican lifted slowly into the air, it's precious cargo now on its way to a UNSC high security detention center.
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