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Rise To Honor - Part 21: Reinforcements Have Arrived
Posted By: Shadow<Shadowolf16@aol.com>
Date: 28 August 2002, 3:16 am
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Shadow watched from the makeshift window that Jan had made in the Pelican. Wind still leaked through, and he could feel a slight breeze as he leaned his forehead up against the cold hard glass. Beneath the "Night Wolf", water rushed up against beaches, and palm trees swayed slowly from side to side. No one was on the beaches though. Everyone had their eyes glued to the TV to know the fate of their planet. Either that, they were in a church or some other religious building, praying to God that they live, and that the human race survives. He was never a big guy on religion. He always thought that it was overrated, over sanctioned by the government and military, pompous, and stupid. He believed that every person in the world when they get old enough should take everything they know and believe, and ascertain their own beliefs and their own perspectives of God and other things of the sort. For his religion, he believed that Nature was the God, and that whatever nature did should be a direct model for what humans should be doing. He smiled. He sure had gone contrary to his beliefs these past few years. Killings others for material needs. Stupid. He couldn't understand how he could be so absorbed that he didn't realize it earlier. As they got closer, they could hear assault rifle sounds, among others. The battle was already starting. Cal called in from the cockpit.
"We're here! The LZ is hot! Get ready!"
Shadow nodded and unstrapped his sniper rifle from his shoulder strap. The others also got their weapons ready. The Night Wolf came to an abrupt stop and began to quickly lower. Shadow looked at his COM system and EVA popped up.
"Shadow, you sure this is the right thing to do? None of this comes up logically in my circuits."
"EVA, maybe someday I'll teach you to understand honor."
Shadow could hear a voice from the other end of the cabin. It was Geb.
"Shit, there ain't gonna be another someday."
"We'll see Geb."
The Night Wolf came to a stop on the LZ, and everyone piled out of the ship, ready for anything. They were at the edge of a forest, and a large force of humans could be seen up ahead. Shadow nodded to the others and they slowly jogged to the front lines of the human force. He could hear a radio transmission from Cal.
"I'm going to the main hangar to meet up with their admiral. I think I'll help them out in the skies. But if you need anything, just give a call."
"Will do, Cal. Will do."
They ran past the ranks and ranks of nervous men, who were standing at ease. After a while, they were able to push their way through the lines, and get to the front. The Spartans were standing right there, surveying the area. Geb got up the courage to speak before any of them noticed their presence.
"I should shoot you right now, you god damn pieces of shit!"
John quickly turned around, hand on his pistol holster.
"You? Of all people. You guys were the last I'd expect to help out the military. After what we and Kroeger put you through?"
"Well, we're here to save the human race, not the lives of your men. Why DID you leave us back there anyway?"
Shadow wasn't taking any chances. He continued to hold up his sniper rifle, aimed right at John's head. He so wanted that fucker dead.
"Well Geb, it goes like this. I never wanted any of you dead. When it came to the desert base thing, I was just taking orders from Kroeger. He said that Shadow was to be terminated, so I just followed orders. Seriously. I left you in the city because Kroeger told me to. They said that you guys were too much of threats to be left alive. Everything in my gut told me that they were wrong, but I had to listen to his orders. Kroeger has gone missing. Recently, his orders have been strange, and the way he was acting was also quite odd. I don't know, but I could have sworn that he was doing something in the background in addition to this. I don't know. He's gone AWOL now, and I fear he was with the government agencies these past few months. I'm sorry. We were just following orders, and I only had my suspicions."
Shadow was infuriated. He continued to hold up his sniper rifle, but began yelling in the process.
"What the hell? Is that all you do? Follow orders? God damn. Can't any of you shitheads think for yourself? Have you once realized that you guys are all automatons that are slaves to a few leaders? You damn military creeps are all the same. If you were smart and had a will of your own, you would realize that what you were doing was wrong, and realize that you should bring us in, regardless of your orders. This was reason why I never joined the military anyway!"
John smiled behind the glistening helmet of his golden armor.
"You're talking to me about right and wrong? This coming from an assassin? What do you know about right and wrong?"
"I left that lifestyle behind me. We're here for our race now. Money has no part anymore."
Shadow's finger was tightening up against the trigger. But he let his anger go, and lowered his rifle.
"Either way, we're all here to help you stop the Covenant."
John felt relieved. He didn't know if they were all going to be slaughtered as of right now by those mercenaries.
"Well, I thank you for coming to help us, despite your absolute hate for us. This is the situation. We're pinned down at this location, and will be retreating soon back to the base. We tried to take that huge hill above us, but their forces were too strong. As of now, we pulled back to the bottom of the hill, and they're reorganizing their forces for a massive blowout. They'll probably be charging down that huge hill, and our forces will do all we can to stop them. Az and Geb will be assigned two 200 men groups to command. They will be on the front lines to stem the first bound of enemy troops. Jan, I want you to take a small group of 50 men, and strafe their forces as they prepare for the big rush. In their excitement of complete victory over our entire race, they'll probably leave the base wide open. You are to take over the base and disable communications and anything else you can get off of them. Shadow, I need you to go with the sniper group and make sure they stay together and stay frosty. You'll be atop one of the trees at the forest edge. When we decide to retreat, you will cover our backs. Any questions?"
Shadow smiled.
"So, what do we get out of this one?"
"Wha? I though..."
"Just kidding John. We're with the human race all the way. But after that, I will kill you."
"We'll see Shadow. Maybe our long history will halt you from your unstoppable rage after the war."
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