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Halo: Salvation by Burke Kearney
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Fuel To The Fire
Date: 15 November 2004, 1:19 AM
0567 Hours, December 10th, 2552 (Military Calender) /
Pelican Foxtrot 232, Above New Mombosa.
Sergeant Mark Hammond, made sure his Battle Rifle was fully loaded and ready to fire. He surveyed the looks and expressions of the Marines around him in the Pelican's personnel bay. They weren't Helljumpers, but they weren't green, either.
"Listen up! We're dropping into a hot LZ, so I want safeties off and eyes open, do you get me?"
"Sir, yes, sir!" The replied in unison.
"I don't want you to throw your lives away today! Move in pairs! Find cover, and only fire at what you can hit! These Covenant bastards may have some fancy weaponry and armor, but don't be fooled! They bleed just like the rest of us, and they can be killed! Now let's show them how it's done on Earth!"
"Hoorah!"
"Twenty seconds!" the Pelican pilot announced from the cockpit.
"Lock and load!" Hammond yelled, as he held on to the restraint that had locked him to his acceleration chair. At ten seconds, the harnesses broke free, lifting above each Marine's head and allowing them to move freely about the cabin. Hammond and Private Torres both lifted their rifles, ready to provide suppressing fire to any Covenant troops hoping to get a few lucky shots at the vulnerable Marines within the steel belly of the dropship.
"Touchdown! Hit it, Marines!" The pilot barked as the underside the of the dropship skimmed a mere two feet off of the deck.
"Go! Go! Go!" Hammond ordered as he and Private Torres hopped out of the Pelican, and kneeling on the ground, searching for targets. No sooner had their boots hit the deck then a flurry of plasma fire erupted from the windows and alleys.
"Incoming fire! Hit the dirt!" Someone yelled as they exited the dropship. A young Lance Corporal took two Needler rounds to the stomach. He grunted in pain, and a moment later, his abdomen exploded, spraying blood and organ tissues on the street in front of him. His face went pale and he fell onto his back, dead. Hammond got to his feet and charged forwards, firing controlled bursts from his Battle Rifle. He slid onto his side near some scattered rubble in the middle of the four lane highway, and soon Privates Torres and Winston slid alongside him.
"A hell of a day to be fighting, ain't it, Sarge?" Winston observed.
"Shut up, Private, and shoot something, will you?" Hammond responded, peering over the rubble to see a small group of four Grunts and one Elite heading towards the LZ.
Corporal Overmann was running towards the Sergeant and two Privates when he too saw the Covenant squad. "Shit!" He muttered as he dropped onto his chest, and unslung his sniper rifle. He sighted the big blue Elite, and breathed out. His finger ever so slightly pulled the trigger, and he felt his shoulder buckle as the rifle let loose a supersonic round. The Elite's head exploded, spraying a bright blue blood on his Grunt underlings. They barked and whined, and then scattered.
"Tear 'em up, Marines!" Sergeant Hammond ordered, laying down cover fire with his rifle. One of the Grunt's went down after a well placed three round burst. The others quickly followed suit after the Marines recovered their bearings and worked in cohesion. The Jackal snipers on the rooftops were also subdued by some Jackhammer rockets and grenades. Sector 2 of New Mombosa was now in UNSC hands again, and the Marines had their first major victory of the day. Little did Sergeant Hammond know, but this was but the first and easiest fight his soldiers would have in the defense of Earth.
"Port engines firing! Accelerating, sir!" Ensign Stevenson reported from his navigational station.
"Copy that, Ensign, good work," Captain Messina complimented.
"MAC guns one and two loaded and ready to fire, sir."
"Lock in a solution for that Frigate above the Moscow."
"Roger that," Lieutenant Freeman said, punching in the commands diligently at his console. "Done! Uploading to your station."
"Good, now just concentrate on charging up the other guns. Ensign Stevenson, try to keep us out of trouble until I can fire on that Frigate."
"Aye, sir. Discretionary tactics acknowledged."
The Patriot's Arrow drifted gracefully underneath the strange Forerunner ship that had arrived in system with SPARTAN-117. After Admiral Stanforth had confirmed that the Master Chief was indeed onboard what was called The Ark, then he ordered The Patriot's Arrow, Iron Curtain, and Knoxville to patrol the area around the Forerunner vessel, keeping it safe from attack.
"Shiva missile armed, sir, ready to fire on your command," Lieutenant Freeman said after a typing a few more commands into his station's machine.
"Good, keep it up. Lock the nuke onto a firing solution coming in from the Knoxville."
"Aye, sir. Firing solution uploaded and locked into our system. If you fire it now, it'll follow their flight path into the target."
"Good. Fire in thirty seconds. I'll release the MAC controls ten seconds after that. Fire on the Frigate the moment the controls are yours again."
"Aye, sir, acknowledged."
Messina watched the tactical view screens closely. This battle was not an easy one. Luckily, the Covenant forces in the area were dwindling. They were just dropping off their troops and bugging out, a tactic that the Captain hadn't seen before, but was not surprised with. The Covenant were notorious from borrowing strategies and technologies from other races. They could've gotten this tactic from the human version of an amphibious landing. Drop off the troops and then let them do their thing. It didn't exactly work in space combat, but the Covenant weren't innovative, now were they? Or was there something else that the Captain was missing? He didn't like being fooled by enemy tactics, but could this just be a case of the Covenant's screwing up? He didn't think so, but had he known the truth behind the matter, he would've found it strangely ironic.
"Three...two...one...mark! Firing Shiva!" Lieutenant Freeman said as he pushed the red button on his console. There was a brief shudder and a small glimmering bulb went zooming away from the larger UNSC craft.
"Ten seconds, fire control officer," Messina reminded his crew.
"Aye, sir...Five...four...three...two...one...First MAC round! Away! Second round! Firing! Both rounds clear. They'll make contact in...fifteen seconds. Nuke to detonate in...twenty seconds!"
There was a moment of silence on the bridge of The Patriot's Arrow as they waited for orders and the results of their attack. The seconds seemed like hours, but they soon ticked down. The first MAC round impacted on the Frigate's bulbous nose, shattering the shields briefly. Almost immediately after, the second round struck the underbelly, dropping the front shields by 80%. A mere five seconds later, the Shiva nuclear warhead detonated, engulfing two Covenant Frigates in its fiery wrath. The one hit by the dual MAC rounds bubbled and dissolved, and the second one's shields were completely devastated, as well as half of the structural integrity of the vessel.
"To all ships," Captain Messina announced over the communications relay, "open fire! Let's send these Covenant bastards to hell!"
General Yeager hurried to the communications and traffic relay station in Ground Control Center #2. This command bunker was far from the action in New Mombosa, but it was in charge of the space battle raging overhead of Africa.
"What have you got for me, son?" Yeager asked the young officer monitoring the space traffic.
"One large slip space anomaly. Looks like a Covenant battle group moving in, sir."
"Damn," Yeager looked for the communications engineer, "get me FLEETCOM on the line, now!"
"Yes, sir!" The engineer quickly began to enter the proper passcodes and authorization notices and a few moments later came back to the General.
"FLEETCOM, sir, as you requested."
"Good," the General took the receiver and spoke quickly, "This is GCC 2, we have a slip space rupture at Grid Twelve by Thirteen. Another Covenant Battle Group moving in, over."
"We copy, GCC, thanks for the heads up, we'll notify all UNSC vessels in system, over and out."
The line went dead and the General handed the receiver back to the communications engineer.
"Sir, I've just confirmed, four Covenant Cruisers have entered the system...And we're receiving something from one of them...looks like a message..."
"What's wrong?" Yeager asked.
"Well...it's weird. It adheres to all UNSC communication protocols, sir. Authorization codes are correct as well."
"What the hell?"
"Patching it through to holotank one."
The tank activated, and General Yeager and the command staff saw the floating head of an Elite. He had strange armor, and waited a moment before speaking.
"General Yeager..." The Elite said, surprising the crew with its knowledge, "we have not come to destroy the Earth." It paused. "We have come to help you defend against those who have been blinded by the misgivings of the Prophets..."
"It's a trick," Yeager immediately assumed, "Why in all of God's green Earth would they help us?"
The Elite's head was soon replaced by that of Commander Miranda Keyes.
"This is Commander Miranda Keyes, formerly of the Ambercloud. We have just returned from Delta Halo and the City of High Charity. I am the one who transmitted the proper authorization codes, and off my free will. They have come to help."
"But...why?"
"Well," now it was Sergeant Major Johnson who appeared, with a grin on his face, and cigar in his teeth, "it seems we had a little misunderstanding before. Just sit back, and let us take care of things near The Ark, okay?"
"I don't know what the hell's going on up there, but you had better explain it once this is over. Green light, defend The Ark in preparation for infiltration."
"Roger that, General. You heard the man! Let's go."
The Elite's head returned again and bowed, "I have come to realize that both our kinds have much in common, and would be honored to fight alongside your warriors."
The holotank fizzled and shut off.
The command bunker was quiet.
"So what does that mean?" One of the Ensigns asked.
There was slight hesitation before General Yeager responded.
"Son, I haven't a damn clue."
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