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The Legends of Sgt. Johnson: The Pillar of Autumn
Posted By: Samslink14<Samslink14@AOL.com>
Date: 6 November 2004, 9:30 AM


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"You heard the Lady! Move like you got a purpose!" Sgt. Johnson yelled as a female voice boomed across the deck from a loudspeaker. Mendoza stood at attention with the rest of the Marines in Johnson's squad. The Sgt. now walked down the rows of Marines, talking encouragement to them. "Once again, it is our job to finish what the flyboys started. We are leaving this ship platoon, and engaging the Covenant on solid ground. When we meet the enemy, we will rip their skulls from their spine, and toss 'em away, laughin'!" Johnson reached the end of the line of Marines and turned to face them. "Am I right, Marines?" he yelled loudly.
"Sir, yes Sir!" the Marines yelled in unison.
"Uh huh, damn right I am. Now move it out! Double time!" Johnson gestured with the assault rifle and turned to walk out himself.
***
"Contact!" yelled Mendoza. Several other Marines spotted the trio of Grunts and opened up on them. They went down easily, but a lurking Elite appeared from the shadows and gave a war cry. Before any of the Marines could take it down, it charged right up to the entire squad and swung a crushing blow at the front Marines head. The Marine, Bisenti, ducked and dived away. One of the others toss a frag at its feet and ended its troubles.
The squad moved on until they met up with a large group of Covenant unleashing hell on a few crew members with pistols. Not expected, the squad did a good deal of damage before given attention. Three frags blew half a dozen Grunts and an Elite away. A remaining maroon-armored Elite fired a few plasma bolts, but assault rifle fire put him down almost too easily. Two Grunts primed plasma grenades and prepared to throw. Reflexively, Jenkins and Mendoza put down one before it had a chance to complete its toss, but the other was able to complete the throw before killed. The object didn't land on anyone, but it was in the direct middle of the entire squad. Everyone dived in opposite directions, and Mendoza heard someone yell as the grenade exploded. "Dammit!"
Mendoza was instantly on his feet, but two Elites and several Grunts had already made their way too close to miss. He fired a sustained burst at an Elite, but didn't quite put him down. He unloaded the rest of the clip into the Grunts. The rest of the squad was on their feet and firing then, and it was enough to take down the rest of the group. The Elites were targeted first, sending the Grunts running for protection. They were hosed with assault rifle fire.
After a few more hallways and battles, they came to a flight of stairs. The place quickly got hot, Covenant poured out of doors above, firing as they came. The Marines were outnumbered, outgunned, and losing, but Sgt. Johnson had to leave this place cleared. Several Marines took hits and went down from plasma bursts, and several more were stuck with clinging plasma grenades. Blood exploded against the wall and Johnson was ready to pull back and take a new position when a figure ran out of nowhere and put seven Grunts down with explosive rounds to the head. An Elite's shield flared, protecting it for a moment, but the rounds won through and blew its guts through the backside of its armor. As the figure recklessly leaped forward, Mendoza caught a glimpse of him. Dark green MJOLNIR armor glimmered for a moment in the light from the roof. Covenant blood was sprayed across the figures torso. "A Mach 5!" one of the Marines said. The Spartan leaped up the steps, firing the whole way. There were still at least half a dozen Elites with seven or eight Grunts each, but the Spartan didn't seem to care. The kills came effortlessly and quickly. Armor-piercing rounds tore through a group of Grunts as he switched to an assault rifle and put down two Elites for good. He took a hit, but the legend of Spartan shields came to life before Mendoza's eyes as a golden light waved around the length of his body, deflecting the shot. Within a minute, the whole area was cleared. Without saying a word, the Spartan kept going and soon left them behind.
The loudspeaker sounded, letting out Captain Keyes' voice. "All hands. This is the Captain. Prepare to abandon ship. Combat teams, repel boarders until Ops personnel are away. Good luck. Keyes out."
"What the hell?" Kappus yelled. "Abandon ship? Holy shit, the Autumn's gonna crash!"
"Stow it Marine!" Johnson yelled. "You all heard him, so shut the hell up and move it out. Let's find a lifeboat!" They passed a lifeboat area, but all of them were gone. They continued onward and eventually met up with another group of Marines, lead by Corporal Lovik. They continued together, crushing small groups of Covenant. It seemed like most of them were gone though, indicating the Autumn really was going down. They came to an airlock with three lifeboats left. One was full and just closed up. Lovik and Johnson's squads filed out into their separate lifeboats and strapped in. "I'll see you down there, or in hell, Johnson!" Lovik yelled as a final greeting as the lifeboat doors closed. A couple Marines snickered, but most were solemn. Their ship was going down.
***
Continued in "The Legends of Sgt. Johnson: Halo".





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