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On A Pale Horse: Into the Belly of the Beast
Posted By: Silent Hunter<silenthunter18509@yahoo.com>
Date: 4 December 2003, 12:33 AM
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Author's note: Sorry for missing the last few updates...too busy watching the RvB DVD ;-)
If it's any consulaton, then I've made this twice as long as the others.
0015 Hours, December 23, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Covenant Political Building, On the Surface of Covenant World
John led the team of ODSTs down the dimly lit hallway...he listened for the slightest movement. He crouched down, and turned a corner. He slowly walked down another hallway. The 15 ODSTs and Miranda following. They came to a door. John pushed a button, and the door went up about half of a meter, and stopped. Something exploded above it. "Shit..." John said in a low voice. "Cortana, is there a way around?"
"Scanning...there is one way back about a hundred feet there is a vent. You should be able to fit. You can follow the vents into that room."
"I hate vents...ok, let's go!" John said. John shot out the vent cover, and climbed in. It was a tight fit, but he could still move. He followed Cortana's directions. There was a fan, and some kind of filter at the end. He threw a grenade at it, and it blew up, sending small pieced of shrapnel everywhere. He pulled himself out of the vent. He was in a cylindrical room about 20 meters in diameter. A ledge extended 2 meters along the edge. At the end, there was a deep pit. A single railing provided...some protection against falling to your doom. There was no ceiling. It looked as if it was a gigantic smokestack. Steam poured out from the bottomless hole in the center of the room. John Couldn't see 2 meters in front of himself. He helped the rest of his team out of the vent. Water condensed from the steam rushed down the walls. John saw some type of awning above the vents. Probably to prevent the water from entering the ventilation system.
"God, it's hot in here." An ODST commented. They walked around, and opened another door. Another long hallway was behind it. This one much less aesthetically pleasing. They proceeded down it. They came to yet another door.
"Everyone, stack up on this door." John ordered. Once they have, John counted down from three on his fingers. 3...2...1... he quickly pushed the button on it, and the door flew open. "GO, GO, GO!"
John opened fire on the Grunts and Jackals waiting inside, as did everyone else. Blood spattered all over the walls. "Clear!" yelled John. He stepped over the bodies lying on the ground, and went to the door, and the ODSTs stacked themselves behind the Chief. "Ready? GO!" He opened the door. A patrol of elites guarded the door on the other side of the door. A torrent of lead and plasma flew through the air. John's shields activated. Two ODSTs were hit. An elite went down, and two more had their shields deactivated. Two elites dove behind a table, and fliped it on its side, and hid behind it. John concentrated his fire on the exposed elites. They died quickly as their shields were down. Now John waited for the elites to come out from behind the table. John fired several shots into the table, but they didn't go through. One of the ODSTs threw a grenade. "Fire in the hole!" John ducked down. One elite dove from behind the table, and the grenade detonated. It sent the table flying into a wall. John fired at the elite on the ground, and killed it before it could get up. "Room clear!"
John rushed to the door on the other side of the room. He pushed a button, and the door flew open. "GO!" John and the ODSTs rushed the room. John fired into the masses of Brutes behind it. All the ODSTs fired also. The floor quickly became a lake of purple blood. The brutes fired their plasma weapons. An ODST was hit, but besides that there were no casualties. The injured ODSTs limped along at the back of the squad. "Stack up!"
"Chief, there is an entire covenant platoon behind that door. I suggest a safer way..."
"There is no time, if we look for another way, the prophet will escape..." The chief said firmly. "Flashbang them!" He pushed a button on the door, and an ODST tossed a flashbang in. There was a line of about 15 Jackals, with their shields activated to provide cover to the covenant behind them. There were also stationary shields behind them. Behind those were 10 Grunts, 15 Elites, 5 Brutes, and a pair of Hunters. The flashbang exploded, stunning the covenant. John put his Battle Rifle on full automatic, and ran into the room. fired into the masses of covenant. John targeted the Hunters first. With his rifle on full auto, he could not fire accurately. The hunter went down. The ODSTs killed several Jackals, and 9 Grunts. A brute hit the ground also. The covenant recovered from the flashbang, and began to fire their weapons. The remaining Hunter charged its fuel rod gun.
"OH SHIT!!!" several ODSTs screamed as the Hunter fired its weapon. It hit one directly, and he was blown out of his boots...with his feet still in them. Several ODSTs went flying. John switched back to semi-automatic, and fired into the Hunter's neck. The 3rd shot hit it dead on, and it fell over, dead. John now concentrated his fire on the brutes. 2 were dead. Another ODST went down.
"Chief, aim for that pipe in the wall..." John sent three bullets into the pipe. A white mist flew out at high speed. "Chief, get everyone back into that room!"
"Everyone, fall back into the last room, NOW!" John yelled. Everyone ducked into the room. Once the threshold was clear, the door slammed shut automatically.
"Sir...what about...what about Jimmy and them?" An ODST asked John. John sighed, and shook his head slowly. The ODST lowered his head, and leaned against the wall.
"Okay Chief, open the door." Cortana said.
"Everyone, be prepared." John warned. He pushed a button on the door, and it flew open. The broken pipe was no longer pouring out mist. Everything was still in the room, but they were entombed in thick, solid ice. The coat of ice was at least 5 centimeters thick. John let out a sigh, and walked across the icy grave. His fellow solders, trapped forever in a frozen prison. The Covenant soldiers were frozen statues in their battle stances. He looked back at his troops to make sure they were alert. He pushed the button on the door, and it flew open. Nothing was inside. John walked in, and to the door. This had 8 symbols on it. "Stack up, now! Miranda, I want you on front!"
"Yes, sir!" Miranda, and the ODSTs yelled.
"3...2...1...GO!" John pushed he button, and the door opened. John looked around. He was in a trench-like hallway, with no ceiling, and a big room over the ledge on the right. John walked up the stars. He was in a big room, with a blast door on the wall to the right. John walked over to the blast door, and saw a holo-panel off to the side. This door reminded him of Halo. He pushed a button on the holo-panel, and the red lights on the door turned green, and it began to open. "Remember, we must take the prophet alive!" John shouted over the roar of the blast door opening.
"Oh, shit...Oh, shit..." An ODST kept stammering. The blast door gained momentum, and opened. John took in the situation. They were in some kind of amphitheater. It was gigantic. The prophet was inside, on the stage. A gigantic energy shield. Three gold, and 10 spec ops elites surrounded the blue shield sphere. John fired his Battle Rifle into the elites, and they answered back with several plasma blasts of their own. A high-speed plasma blast, with a blue contrail flew from one of the seats, and landed at john's feet, blowing the wooden planks out from his feet.
"Sniper!" John shouted. He aimed his battle rifle in the direction of the shot, and saw an elite with some kind of new covenant sniper rifle. He shot the elite before it could fire another shot. "Watch for snipers in the seats!" John, now concentrated on the covenant in front of the prophet. John shot a gold elite in the head. He also saw several ODSTs fall to the ground. He saw a rocket fly by, and hit an elite. It exploded into a million pieces. Three elites caught in the blast were launched into the seats.7 elites remained. An elite charged John, and swung its plasma rifle at him. He ducked, and put the butt of his rifle into its abdomen. It fell to the ground, clutching its stomach. John put two bullets into its head. He picked himself up. There were 6 ODSTs remaining. There were 3 elites remaining. They were dispatched quickly. John, Miranda, and the ODSTs surrounded the prophet, and aimed their weapons at its head.
The prophet raised its arms in the air, and the shield glowed bright, almost enough to blind John. His visor grew darker t compensate for the light. The ODSTs fell to their knees with their hands over their visors. John fired several shots into the shield, but they bounced off. The white ball of light began to shrink down to the size of a tennis ball. It flew out the door which John came from. "Miranda, I need you to see if they are all right, I'll go find where the prophet is going."
"But-" Miranda began.
"Don't argue with me, just get them to safety!!!" and John followed a blue trail left behind by the prophet. John followed it back through rooms. He sprinted, as he noticed the trail getting thinner and thinner. John followed it through rooms and finally arrived at the steamy room he was in earlier. He lost the trail. He looked closely for any sign, but he couldn't find any. "Cortana, where did this thing go?"
"Into that...CHIEF, LOOK OUT!!!" He spun around. A plasma grenade was stuck on his back, and there was Miranda. John was shocked.
"Miranda?!?!" She drop kicked him over the safety railing, and down the pit of steam...John ripped Cortana's AI cube out of his head, and threw it upwards out of the pit. If the covenant found his body, then they wouldn't get cortana. Then the grenade detonated. All John could see was blood spattered all over his visor. He hit a catwalk with great force. He couldn't move. He was in great pain. Several elites ran up to him, and trained their weapons on Johns head.
"Don't move human..." An elite said, "Take him away."
TO BE CONTINUED...
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