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The Renegade Marines Part XIV - The Welcome Committee
Posted By: Shadow<Shadowolf16@aol.com>
Date: 21 April 2002, 9:11 pm


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Kroeger woke up as the Pelican began to jolt. He looked out the bay window doors, and saw they were over land. He looked up at the other marines in his Pelican. Some were sleeping like he was, and some were talking. Others were just looking out the window like him. He was about to join in at the conversations, when another jolt made him jump in his seat. He looked around him, and the other marines felt it too. All conversations were halted, and they looked around at each other. As the second jolt hit, a voice came over the intercom.

"Hey boys, we're in for some chop, but we're almost at our landing site, so don't fret."

The marines instantly began gossiping and talking about again as Kroeger looked to his right. On his right was his AR, locked in and stored nicely in its little spot. So...he was a renegade now. 400 soldiers versus all of the thousands of covenant soldiers, and all of the thousands of the government troops, many being elite soldiers. What were their chances of getting through this war alive? It was second to none, if not none. He laughed to himself, for they had almost no chance of surviving, even within a hidden spot. The government would find out somehow. They always did. All of a sudden, he felt the Pelican slowing down, and beginning to lower. He jumped out of his seat, and looked out the bay door windows. He could see all the other troops making camp already. Looks like they made it too. The Pelican soon hit ground, and Jen yelled over the coms of all the soldiers.

"And...touchdown boys! You're home free! Get yourselves off of my ship so I can park this thing and get something to eat."
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!"

The soldiers dumped out of the Pelican, Kroeger being the last one, of course. All the soldiers had their weapons on safety. Kroeger jumped out of the Pelican, and watched it, as it left to dock with all the other Pelicans. As he walked forward, he realized that there wasn't a camp there of all the other troops, but more of a solid base. There was a steel building right in front of him. It was small and had slots in it, apparently being a bunker. He and the troops with him walked up to the bunker.

"Halt! Oh! Wait. It's your commander! We thought you didn't make it out of the military complex in time! Wow, all the sergeants will be happy that you made it. Now we have a leader! Here."

The guard lowered his gun, and turned off the intruder alarm, and began walking down the pathway with his troops, toward the main base. He looked around him, misty mountains, animal life, grass, green ferns, and pine trees surrounded them. He hadn't noticed it in the air, but the place was beautiful. He stopped moving, and took a look around him.

"Troops, looks like we're hiding in the mountains. Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?"
"It's perty."
"It's BS sir."
"Shut your mouth soldier, or I'll kill you now, and drag you into the woods."

The soldier knew he was kidding, but knew that Kroeger was a powerful soldier, and decided against talking back any more. The troops walked along the grass pathway, in the canopy of the trees. Beams of light shone through the holes in the treeline, and Kroeger and the troops finally got through the forest to a clearing in the trees. He walked through, and saw a decently large base standing right in front of him. There were warthogs moving around, Scorpion tanks at the top of the base. Lord knows how they got them up there. He looked around.

"Well boys...get to your respective sergeants now. I will have a meeting with all you guys soon."

With that, he ran ahead of the soldiers to speak with the sergeants inside the base, who were probably planning strategies and battle plans. He walked through the guarded doors, the soldiers saluting him as he walked through. As he walked through the doors, he found himself in a small maze of hallways. He turned around and poked his head back outside, addressing the guards.

"Hey, you know where the sergeants are?"
"Yes sir. Make the first left, then the second right, then go forward for two intersections, then make another left, and then a right. After two more intersections, make a left, and the sergeants should be on the fifth left."

Perplexed by the complex architecture of the base, he nodded, and tried remembering all the directions. He went back into the base, and after 20 minutes of searching around, confused, he found the sergeants' room, and walked in. The sergeants were watching the news as he walked in. They were leaning back, intent on getting all the info they could out of the little TV set.

*ahem*
"Huh? Oh! It's Commander Kroeger! We thought you didn't make it out! We're glad you're here though. We'll have some leadership now."

The sergeants lined up in front of him. There were 7 of them, each responsible for 50 troops. He looked at each one. There was Nava, a vet from 123rd, and a very good strategist. Then there was Gevy, who he had known from 143rd. He was a great leader. Then there was Kalik, once a mercenary, but soon befriended Kroeger, and holds all his loyalty to him. A bit of a cynical person, but a good strategist nonetheless. Then, there was Golan, from the 166th, who was just an overall good soldier and leader. Then there was Vero, a close friend of Kroeger's from the elite 113th. Then there was Servo, a good friend of Kroeger that had served a long time, and had come out retirement to help the renegades. Then there was one he had never seen before. He walked up to him, and nodded.

"So, sergeant, who might you be? I thought I wasn't going to be sent with any strangers."
"Well, I am Derelic. I am from the 153rd. The general didn't have anyone else, so he chose me, sir."
"Good. I'm glad he chose you. You look like a respectable soldier."
"Thank you, sir."
"That's another thing guys. I don't want you guys calling me sir anymore. We're not part of the military any longer. We're just renegades, and as long as you respect me, you can call me whatever you want. No more sirs, or ma'ams or anything. Ma'am in Nava's case. You guys got it?"
"Yes...er...Kroeger."

He smiled, and looked around the room.

"Well, it's a nice setup you guys have here."
"It was a recently abandoned human base, and it was forgotten by the government. So we chose it as our base."
"I see. Well, it seems you guys have everything together. I'm going to go outside, and work on my sharp-shooting. By the way, how much ammo and supplies do we have?"
"We have more than enough ammunition and military supplies. As for food, we seem to be pretty set, but if we run out, we can always just forage or something in the forests."
"I see. Well done Golan, and the rest of you guys."

With that, he walked out, and heard everyone jump back in their seats to watch some TV. He went to the barracks to pick up a clip of ammunition and his AR. As he walked in, he saw Jen.

"Hey Jen. What's up?"
"Heya sir. Parked the Pelican with the others. I was jus' going to the mess hall to have a bite."
"Alright, and don't call me sir anymore, we're renegades now."
"Yes...commander."

He smiled and turned around to pick up an AR, but decided to test his abilities with the shotgun. He picked on up, and stored 8 extra shells in his pocket. As he was leaving the barracks, he could see a warthog in the distance, driving at full speed. He heard a radio transmission.

"Commander! We got incoming hostiles! The bunker has been overrun. We don't have any casualties yet, but there's a large Covenant force coming at us!"
"Roger that soldier. Hold them off."

He strapped in his shotgun at his side holster, picked up a flare gun and ran outside, loading it at the same time. He pointed the flare gun into the sky, and shot a huge red flare up. He smiled as a warning alarm sounded as soon as the flare went up, and soldiers came pouring out to attack the covenant threat. Troops came out of the barracks, mess hall, main HQ, and the hangar. The retreating warthogs skidded right in front of him at the barracks.

"Status report."
"We loss one while we were retreating. There are about 40 grunts and 8 elites."
"Hehe, that's bad odds for the Covenant. It's gonna suck for them. Let's go."

With saying that, Kroeger jumped in the passenger seat and the warthog drove off back into the battlefield where all the other soldiers were already fighting. He got a radio transmission from Kalik.

"Sir, the 2nd, and 3rd are outside already taking on the enemy. I'm getting my troops out there was we speak."
"Good job Kalik. Let's move. I don't want too many casualties."

The warthog kept driving forwards, the chain gun firing constantly. All of a sudden, the warthogs stopped.

"Sir, we're too close, we need to back out."
"No...we're driving right through them."
"But s.."
"Don't but me. Drive through."

With that, the Warthog's engines roared to life again, Kroeger loaded his shotgun, and shot while the warthogs ran right into the Covenant ranks. Blue blood splatter onto the windshield, and all over the three in the warthog, thoroughly soaking them in blue goo. The warthogs ran through, and sideswiped around to make another pass. Again the same thing happened, where wet blood got all over the troops all over again. As the warthog came out at the front ranks of the Covenant again, Kroeger noticed a grunt up against the windshield, still alive. He smiled, and pumped a shot through the warthog windshield, blowing the grunt off the Warthog. The dead body landed smack dab in front of the moving warthog, and was crushed as it went through.

"Kalik, status."
"Sir! you just took out 34 grunts by running through them!"
"Good to hear, we're coming back to help you mop them up."
"Alright."

The transmission was killed, and Kroeger reloaded his gun as the warthog turned to its left to take potshots at the enemy. The warthogs stopped right in front of the enemy ranks, and the driver and Kroeger jumped out, firing in the Covenant's direction, blowing away grunts, left and right. Meanwhile, the warthog gunner stayed in his place, firing upon the elites, providing suppression fire, while the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th took out the distracted elites. The elites were able to dodge most of the chain gunfire, but were mopped up by the battalions. Kroeger finished up blowing away the grunts, and looked up just in time to see the last elite explode in purple goop. He smiled as the troops grouped up together, waiting for further orders. Kalik walked out of the crowd of troops and up to Kroeger.

"We had the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th out here, giving us 150 troops. They were fucked. We still had one casualty. It's better than I predicted though."
"Thanks Kalik. We did much better than expected. Where are the other troops?"
"We feared this was a diversion, and decided to send enough troops to be able to kill the Covenant without losing too much, while keeping the bulk of the men at the base just in case we were right. But, so far, I have no transmissions of any invasion at the baseside."
"Good. That was good thinking."
"Troops, I want all of you to make sure these fuckers are dead. When you're done, return to barracks and get yourselves cleaned up. We're having a big party tonight."

There were loud cheers and yells. After a small celebration, they turned to their duties, and made sure each Covenant soldier was dead. Meanwhile, Kroeger turned around, got on the Warthog, and drove back to the base with the gunner still at the helm of the chain gun. He looked at the mountains and the trees as he drove back.

"Maybe we'll make it after all."





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