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Spartan III's, Part I
Date: 20 August 2003, 1:53 AM

Pelican Delta 516 and her cargo of Spartan III's, including the famous Spartan II, the Master chief, lowered. His call name was MC and he was the leader of his Spartan III squad. He carried a Battle Rifle, dual SMG's, and ten frag grenades. Not to mention Cortana. His other 5 Spartans were armed in various fashions.
Inferno was second in command. He carried an unusual weapons combination, a Flamethrower, a Shotgun, and ten frag grenades. The Flamethrower was knew and he had been the first to get it. It had two settings, Setting 1 and 2. Setting 1 sprayed the fire out in front of him for close up combat, most people's idea of a flamethrower. Setting two fired a fireball from medium to long range and could take out groups of enemies.
Glock carried ten frag grenades, a Battle Rifle and an Assualt Rifle as backup. Nobody knew why he carried the outdated AR but he did. Since he was the team medic, he also carried the med kit, complete with morphine, biofoam, adreniline enducers, and even a packet of nan-robots that repaired cells. Another trick from ONI's neverending supply.
Fox was the team sniper, whe carried two sniper rifles, the SC0019 MX and the SC1442 CP. The MX was the gun that would do the most damage, it fired a special C-4 round that detonated on impact. The CP was the quieter gun, it fired .450 calibur bullets and made no sound. A perfect gun for taking out targets of oppurtunity without being detected. Becuase of the weight of two sniper rifles she didn't carry any grenades but did manage to bring along an M6D for close up work.
Hunter was the strongest spartan. And since he was the strongest spartan he was the demolitions expert. He carried a SAW heavy chaingun, it operated like a LAAG but shoulder mounted and magazene fed, not to mention a hell'u'va lot lighter. He also carried a Rocket launcher with an extended clip (4 rockets instead of 2), ten frag grenades, c-12 blocks, and finally a miniture napalm mine.
e-X was the stealth unit. He carried a pair of HAWK binoculars with heat and night vision. His suit also had a stealth generator, but for him to use it his sheilds had to be powered down and it only worked for 5-10 minutes. He carried a silenced Battle Rifle, dual silenced M6D's, and 4 CALVIN combat knives.

Delta 519, along with six other dropships crammed to the max with marines (15 each) lowered into the battlefeild. The chief noticed they were fighting amongst the rubble of what had been a building. 200+ marines were fighting a mixed bag of Grunts, Jackals, a dozen Elites, and a pair of Hunters. The only armor he spotted was on the Covenant side, two Shade fire support vehicles and one Wrait tank, and the Wraith was giving the marines hell. Delta 516 and five other dropships managed to drop there loads just out side the battle feild. One didn't, one of the Wraiths motors punched through its engines and brought it down, killing the pilots and the marines within. Another dropship was caught going back after it dropped its load and was caught with another Wraith motar. As soon as the last dropship lifted off, MC gave orders.
"Helljumpers, move it up to the front lines. Fox, e-X, get up the nearby apartment building and snipe any Covenant you can. Get the armor first, then high ranking Elites, and work your way down. Fox, temporarily lend e-X your CP. Your Green team", he got acknowledments from them and they sprinted down the road to the nearby apartment.
"Glock, Hunter, and Inferno, your with me. Were going around to flank the enemie, were blue team, now lets move".
They moved up the battle feild, past the rubble wich ranged from softball size to 20 feet, and even past individual firefights that broke out in there path. Finally they made it to there destination, a 5 foot high pile of rubble, beyond that they were in perfect flanking position of the bulk of the Covenant strike force.
"Green team, hold fire. We need to strike all at once".
"Are you sure thats a good idea Chief, the marines could use the help".
"I'm confident the Helljumpers can help hold back the lines for a few more minutes, but I want to wait".
"For what?"
"For that", the Chief said as the Wraith turned there backs on them.
"Green team, open fire. Blue team, lets move", again, a series of yes sir's rang over the coms. Just as they finished, the two Shades suddenly exploded. The C-4 rounds punctured the drivers and detonated them, taking there vehicles with them. Two other MX rounds hit the Wriath but they bounced off harmlessly. Hunter took care of that, while MC and the others rushed the Covenant ground forces, Hunter took position on the rubble hill. He took out his launcher, and fired three rockets at the alien tank.
The first and second rockets hit, but the Wraith was still operational, and it had just enough time to face him before the third rocket hit and it exploded into a ball of flame. Meanwhile MC and the others open fire, numerous Grunts, Jackals, and Elites were taken down by there fire but more kept taking there place. Hunter was now firing a barrage of bullets into the Covenant mop while random Covenant either simply died silently from the .450 calibur bullets that puncuted there bodies or exploded from MX rounds detonated inside them.
MC threw a grenade that detonated into a nearby group of Grunts. They blew apart, arms, legs and torso's flying wildly. He pivoted and fired the rounds in his magazine into the Jackal behind him. He stumbled, slightly off balaced from the force of those bullets, wich gave him sufficient time to reload for his last magazine. He fired 12 more round till a gound ripped through the Jackals forehead, purple-pink brains splattering out the back end. A plasma bolt hit him in the back and dropped his sheilds down a notch. He turned towards them, they were a trio of Jackals and five grunts that figured they could take him, they were wrong. He expended his last clip into the Grunts, grabbed ones Plasma pistol as he fell, and fired on the Jackals. The barrage of plasma knocked two of ballance and cut through ones sheild, follow up bolts finished him off. The two remaining Jackals opened fire but the Chief managed to dodge most of there bolts, supercharge his own plasma pistol, and fired. The overcharged bolt overloaded ones sheild and it flickered and died. Before it could react the Chief grabbed him, threw him into his partner. They both fell flat on the floor and the Chief stuck a plasma grenade to them, boding them at the hips before they died in a fiery blue-white explosion.
Just as he turned around Inferno lauched a firebolt that barely missed him. It burned through a group of eight or nine more Jackals (one sheildless for some reason) that had been attempting to flank him, there guns overcharged in there claws. He nodded to Inferno and countinued his gruesome work. Hunter was occupying most of the Covenant near him's attention, so the only thing he had to worry about was the angry gold Elite standing in front of him. He overcharged the plasma pistol and fired, the overcharged bolt missed and the Elite roared a challenge. With the Plasma Pistol useless as it dumped waste heat he drawed his SMG's. He unsleasehed a salvo of bullets towards the Gold armored bastard but his sheilds managed to deflect them and he continued to charge him, soon he was within Plasma Sword range. He ducked out of the way but one of his SMG's was sliced, the stainless steel metal cut like it was swiss cheese. He dropped the damaged SMG and opened fire with the other one, this time he had more luck, a trio of bullets penatrated.
But he continued to charge as the bullets had merely pressed through his shoulder plating. However, it had been the hand that held the plasma sword and he had dropped it. He pulled out his plasma rifle and opened fire, the Chief rolled for the blade and grabbed it. The Elite turned to face him but by the time he did his head was sliced off. The Chief continued to kill Covenant with his combo, SMG, Plasma Pistol, Plasma Sword until he took down at least a couple dozen more. At that time the Covenant ran into full retreat right into a minefeild they had set up. The Chief enjoyed watching the Covenant race away from them only to be blown sky high.

NOTE: TO all people who like my previous series, I got bored with it so I wont be writing it anymore. I am going to keep with this though, wich I think is a much superior city. The ending was a little rushed because I had to go, Sorry, PEACE OUT!!!

Spartan III's, Part II
Date: 26 August 2003, 4:01 AM

I know the first part of this story sucked but I promise it gets better.

When the Covenant were done blowing themselves up Cortana spoke, "We should report to Admiral Bankman".
"Rodger that Cortana", he said and, speaking over his coms, "Green team, report".
"No more Covenant scouted, I think we got'em", replied Fox.
"All right, meet Blue team at the front lines".
His coms clicked twice to acknowledge his orders and he told Blue team to move it.
In three minutes flat the Spartans had all made it to the front lines. And were all shocked at what they saw. 400 marines had been positioned here, and only about 100 remained. The marines had constructed a barricade of crates, rubble, warthog husks, and even dead bodies. God knows there was plenty of them scattered about, mostly human, but some Covenant. Craters where the Wraiths motors had hit were on, behind, and in front of the marine barricade. Even now the lines were still chaos as medics scrambled to wounded marines.
One of them in particular caught his attention. He had caught the bad end of a plasma grenade. It hadn't latched on to him, but he had been near it when it exploded. He was covered in second and third degree burns and also sported a broken arm and leg from when the shockwave had thrown him. Soon a medic rushed over, injected the man with morphine, and he fainted.
Cortana spoke up, "Bankman says to reload and rondevu with Pelican Delta 516. She'll drop us off at Firebase H12 where we'll receive marine and vehicle support, then we can proceed to the Covenant ship". He nodded, his mission was the same one he had been given with his Spartan II's. Board the ship over Mombassa, capture the bridge, download the nav information and then destroy the ship with an 80 megaton HAVOK nuke. Then if....when, they repelled the Covenant they could launch a counter offensive against the Covenant home world.
He nodded and turned to his Spartan team, who had also been surveying the carnage. "All right Spartans, time to mount up and rendezvous with 516. She'll drop us off at a secure location and we'll proceed to Alpha directive from there".
He received a series of 'yes sirs'. Conveniently they had been defending a weapons cash. MC managed to get a noncom to lead them to a nearby structure where they entered a large weapons cash. They reloaded on everything and replaced damaged weapons then met up with Delta 516 outside. The Spartans jumped into the Pelicans and Hunter took the door gun. 516 flew them over the numerous skyscrapers of New Mombassa. While they were flying MC consulted Cortana in his head.
"So how are we holding?", he asked, referring to the status of Earth.
"Not good. We've repelled the Covenant space fleet but the ground forces are numerous. In several sections of western Europe we've had to resort to bombing are own planet to wipe out the Covenant in those areas. Western Europe, Western Africa, parts of Eastern America and Brazil have all fallen to the Covenant. Oh, here's something interesting. The Covenant have dropped off boats. Currently sea battles are raging in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans".
He nodded. While the report of ship battles was interesting, it wasn't his concern. "What about New Mombassa?".
"40% of the city belongs to the Covenant. In general we've been able to hold them back but it won't last forever. Unless of course, we finish our Alpha directive".
He had expected nothing less. Like always the pressure was on him and his squad. His train of thought was interrupted by Hunter. "Incoming Banshee's. Opening fire!" he yelled.
Sure enough, five Banshee's appeared behind the Pelican. All the Spartans unloaded there weapons but Hunter was the only one who made a difference. He aimed for the Banshee closest to him. Numerous rounds simply bounced off the aircrafts armor but a handful got through and the Banshee exploded. Hunter took down two more Banshee's but the remaining two flew to the sides out of the door guns range and pounded there Pelican with plasma.
Delta 516's pilot spoke over the coms," I can't shake'em. Chief, I recommend you and your Spartans evac now", he said with obvious urgency. He nodded and ordered his team to move out. Each of his Spartans grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the Pelican. When the last Spartan was out MC grabbed his own parachute and jumped. His suit was whipped by the Pelicans backwash but it did no harm. When he got close to the ground he pulled the chute and landed safely on a road. His other Spartans landed relatively close to him and he ordered them to fan out and make a perimeter. He watched as 516 was driven down strait into a AA Plasma Cannons range and blown out of the sky.
Once again he consulted Cortana, "So where the hell are we?"
"Were about 5 miles from H12".
"Which direction?"
A nav marker appeared on his hood. It was pointing North-East. "Be careful Chief, there could possibly be hostiles in this area".
"Noted". He motioned his team into a single file formation. Hunter was point, he followed, then Glock, then e-X, then Inferno, and finally Fox taking rear. They continued down the New Mombassa streets. Occasionally coming across a group of hiding civilians but not encountering any resistance.
Just when MC was starting to relax, Cortana said, "Alert, Covenant patrol group scouted".
He stiffened, "How many?"
"15 Jackals, all Spec Ops. And also what appears to be another Jackal riding a Ghost taking point".
"Where they headed?"
"H12"
MC said, "Alright team, we have a Covenant patrol group headed strait for H12. Were gonna hit'em........

The Jackal group was relaxed. Most had there shields off and plasma pistols holstered. The Jackal in the Ghost was also relaxed, until eX's silent three round burst split his head open. The Jackals were shocked for a few precious seconds in which a trio of grenades detonated in there ranks. What Jackals weren't past after the explosion were quickly moped up with guns.
However they had risen the alarm. Two Banshee's came screaming over the horizon. But before they could get a shot off Hunter ripped off his Rocket Launcher and fired two Rockets. They were delivered with an accuracy only a Spartan could bring. Both Banshee's were turned into flaming shrapnel. However now the Covenant were royally pissed off and a few seconds later several Phantoms came at them.
"Move", yelled MC.
The Phantoms triple barreled plasma guns flashed and left a row of superheated glass where they hit but they didn't hit the Spartans. The Phantoms stopped, dropped off a load of troops, and flew off.
They were advancing on them from quite away but the Spartans could still make them out with there augmented eyesight. There were two Shades and four Ghosts, Elites riding all of them. There were also Elite infantry troops behind them, all Spec Ops, perhaps ten. But they also saw something else. Vaguely ape-like, but armed with a bulky looking weapon and pale-purple Covenant armor. Probably around 8' to 8'6, there were 5 of them.
"Cortana, what the hell...", but he didn't even get to finish his sentence. The Covenant armor was on top of them in seconds. The Ghosts attempted to surround them but it didn't work. Fox took three out with her MX and Hunter took another out with his SAW as it got close. Now the Shades came. They hung back and let there plasma cannons do the work. Hunters, Glocks, and Infernos shields were all taken down by the heavy rapid fire guns. They were forced to fall back. Fox wasn't able to hit them because they kept strafing right and left to avoid her. MC grabbed dead Jackals plasma grenade and let it fly. The glowing blue sphere arced and landed in right beneath one of the passing Shades. It flipped over, spilling it's driver, gunner, and two passengers. Fox took them out with a clip of MX rounds. Now the other Shade decided to pull out but it was to late as Hunter (who had gotten back into the battle as soon as his shields recharged) fired a rocket dead center at the retreating vehicle. Now however the Elites and 'Monkeys were on them. The Spartans let loose with a volley of fire, taking down three Elites early but the rest engaged. The Master Chief threw a grenade at two of the advancing Elites. One was blown apart and the other's shield was taken down. He fired of a burst from his Battle Rifle into it, the bullets forming a neat and tidy hole in its head.
Now that he was up close he could see some detail. It had short black eyes, a wrinkled protruding snout like a pigs, and giant fangs protruding from its mouth. It's pale purple armor consisted of a breast plate, shoulder plates, a spine protector, helmet, and knee and elbow caps. Hair covered parts of the showing body but it was mostly granite colored skin that almost looked like rock. It carried a belt that had a large blue orb in the middle with plasma grenades on one side of it and red cylinders on the other. It's weapon had a gigantic blade on the end of it.
The Monkey stopped before him and roared. The Chief fired a clip into the Brute only to watch it dissipate against it's invisible protection.
'Damn' he thought, they had shields to. The Monkey leveled his gun at him and fired. The Chief dodged the ruby-red bolt but it tracked him. It slammed into his shields with enough force to take them out and knock him on his but. The Monkey fired another round, apparently the gun didn't take long to recharge. This time he let the bolt come to him then dodged it at the last second and it whizzed by him. The Brute fired two more bolts at the Chief, he dodged one but the other got a lock on him and charred his plasma relective armor. He returned fire with his Battle Rifle, firing as he ran closer to him. When he was close enough he jammed the gun under the Monkeys chin. He's shields dropped and he stepped back, slightly dazed. The Chief opened fire with his Battle Rifle again, but the bullets simply bounced off the flat armor. He fired again at one of the Monkeys hairy exposed section. The Brute screamed and dropped. He looked around him.
Glock and eX had managed to hold off some of the Elites with there guns but one of the Brutes charged them with its gun blazing. Hunter came to rescue with a Rocket, it nailed the Brute in the chest, blowing him into chunks and draining one of the nearby Elites shields. Gunfire finished off the remaining Elites. Inferno used the last of his Flamethrowers lighter fluid to set a Brute on fire then pulled out a Shotgun and put it out of his misery. He unleashed two more Shotgun shells in a nearby Elite, the first blowing through the shield and the second blowing his head off. Fox was now forced to fight close in, so that means she had her M6D out. She tried to gain as much distance as she could and unleashed a flurry of bullets. She finally managed to tear through one of the Elites shields and she confiscated its plasma sword. Now the remaining two Monkeys pulled back and tried to take out the Spartans shields from a distance. Bad mistake, Fox now had sufficient distance for her MX and let a C-4 bullet fly. It cracked through one of the Brutes shields and exploded, the splash damage injuring the other Brute who MC finished off with a burst from his Battle Rifle. Now the remaining four Elites were quickly finished off with Hunters SAW gun.
MC ordered his team to move out before the Covenant could release another strike force. They made good time through the back alleys of New Mombassa, finally when they were within ¼ mile of H12 Cortana let out a warning.
"Chief, H12 has been attacked" ..........................

Anybody who reads this story, PLEEAASSEE post your comments or advice.

Spartan III's, Part III
Date: 1 September 2003, 1:50 AM

Typical. He never got a break. He and his Spartans had just barely made it out of one engagement only to make it to another. He motioned his Spartans to fan out in a rough delta formation. As they advanced the Chief asked, "So. What's the situation".
"Unsure. Radio traffic is cluttered beyond recognition and most of the recon satellites were destroyed in the crossfire of space. I think there is a force of Grunts and Jackals with armor support, but I can't give specifics. I can't tell you how H12 is holding out".
The Chief was a little taken aback, "Well, I'll need to record this day. The day Cortana didn't know everything". She didn't respond. They rounded a corner onto a main road, then continued from there. Now there were no buildings in the way to obstruct there view and the Chief and his squad could see the base clearly. Surprisingly H12 had the situation under control. Only a couple dozen Grunts and Jackals were left with a single bullet riddled Ghost. He watched as one of the rocket jockeys popped up from behind his cover and fired a rocket. It was slightly off target and nailed the ground behind the Ghost. The shockwave forced the Ghost into a front flip, landing on its backside. The Grunt driver was thrown forward from the explosion but not far enough as his own vehicle landed on top of him, crushing his lower torso and allowing a marine to finish him off. Now with no armor support, the Grunts and Jackals were in full retreat . By that time the Spartans were there and a grenade and quick gunfire was sufficient for putting the fleeing cowards down.
They moved over to H12 were they were met by a Private. He saluted rigidly, "Sirs, Colonel Toriens wishes to speak with you", said the Private.
MC nodded, "Lead the way Private".
The Private up to H12's perimeter gate. The Master Chief could tell that the situation had been much more critical before they had gotten here. Grunt, Jackal, and plenty of Marine corpses were scattered around. The perimeter gate had been electrified with 1,000 volts of electricity, but now it was knocked down and judging by the way the Private fearlessly stepped over it, it was powered down. In addition to the bodies he also found other Ghost husks, he counted at least fifty Ghosts. There were also numerous Warthog husks, at least a couple dozen. He knew that if it hadn't been for the massive artillery emplacements the base sported, the end results of the battle might have been much different. The Private led them through numerous weapons cashes, vehicle bays, artillery emplacements, and most importantly groups of marines scattered around the base. As they walked through they caught curious side glances and hushed whispers but they ignored it. It wasn't there concern.
Finally they made it to a man, his dress suit wore the rank of Colonel. The Spartans all went into salutes, at full attention. Although he did not show it, inside the Colonel was intimidated by there presence. Even with his higher rank, he knew each of these Spartans could beat him a hundred times over, not to mention what they could do to Covenant solders. They were totally fearless, totally impassive solders, the perfect killing machines. After a brief lapse of five seconds the Colonel said "At ease".
They dropped there hands, still at attention, but not saluting.
He coughed then continued, "Admiral Bankman has made me aware of you situation. You'll rendezvous with Armor Squads 1-5, and ODST company 12. Unfortunately I cant spare any air or artillery support, we do need some defenses in case the Covies come back for another round".
The lead Spartan, the legendary Master Chief, stepped forward, "Sir, we'll make do".
He nodded, "Good. You can restock and reload in ammo cache 3. Be ready in 10".
"We'll be ready in 5".
And with that the Spartans turned and made there way to ammo cache 3. MC grabbed 10 full Battle Rifle clips, as did e-X and Glock. Hunter loaded up on Rockets (he had been down to two left) and SAW magazines. Inferno fed shells into his Shotgun and used one of the refueling tanks for Pelicans in his Flamethrower (which he had kept after he ran out of lighter fluid in case he got a chance to reload it later). Fox was having trouble. Her MX had been issued to her exclusively so H12 didn't have MX ammo. However she did find CP ammo, so she would just have to do with that and use her MX rifle sparingly.
Like promised they were ready in five minutes. Outside they met up with armor Squads 1-5 and ODST company 12. They had been given 25 Warthogs total and 4 Scorpion tanks. 15 of those Warthogs had the standard chain gun, but 10 had the newly commissioned Argent V missiles. Company 12 consisted of 180 persons. Most had either Battle Rifles, Shotguns, or Sniper rifles with M6D or SMG side arms. 75 people would get to ride the Hogs, plus 20 for the Scorpions, which meant 95 total would ride vehicles and 85 would walk. The Spartans would all ride. But not in the same vehicles as to group themselves together. MC drove Hog 1, Hunter took shotgun in Hog 7 so he could couple his firepower with the Hogs Argent V missiles. Fox rode Scorpion 3, and eX drove it. Glock was the gunner in Hog 11 and Inferno was gunner in Hog 20.
As soon as everybody was ready they moved out. They were moving south-east, where the ship was hovering. In this part of town it was eclipsing the sun, casting its enormous shadow over the city. The area they were moving through was secured by the Covenant, so they could expect frequent firefights before they got there. Since there was plenty of time on there hands the Chief got a chance to speak with Cortana, "So, what were those monkey things".
"I've been working on that. The people around here call them 'Brutes'. There's been confirmed contacts with them outside New Mombassa, mostly in London, Brasilia, and New York. However there have been numerous unconfirmed reports of them throughout Rome, Beijing, Columbia, Western Australia, and Los Angeles. From what I can gather from the Covenant network, they hold rank above Hunters but below Elites".
"What about those guns. They were pretty powerful, they knocked out my shields in one blow and knocked me on my but. And that's saying something because my combined weight with the suit is a ton".
"Yes, new Covenant prototype weapons. They've been using them as makeshift sniper rifles due to there obvious tracking ability. As you said there powerful rapid fire guns that are powerful but not as powerful as fuel rods. Oh, here is something interesting. Those red cylinders you saw on the Brutes belt were grenades. Chemical grenades, apparently from battle reports they release a cloud of acid that eats away at your flesh and east you from your insides out if you breath it. Had it not been for your suit you would have died. Odd, I've never heard of Covenant chemical weapons before this".
"Something that they acquired from this new race?", he put in.
"Perhaps, lets just hope that they don't start messing with biological weapons".
He tried to imagine a Covenant biological weapon. The Flood came to mind, even though the Covenant hadn't 'created' it. "Yes, lets hope".......................................

As expected, the trip there was very eventful. During the trip they had to fight off two infantry attacks, one mix armor-infantry attack, and one air attack. They were taking casualties but the Scorpions were giving them a big advantage, for some reason none of the attacks had tank units. Most killed were the people walking, there were only 15 left, but they had also lost 12 Warthogs but still had all there Scorpions and Spartans.
It was starting to get dark, the sun was setting in the west, and some of the stars were already visible. However soon he realized that they weren't stars, but pieces of starships from the epic space battle that had taken place, reflecting light from the setting sun. This stopped the sudden moment of peace he had felt why looking over the 'stars'. He spent 10 more minutes brooding over all the lives the Covenant had taken during this war until Cortana spoke to him.
" The Covenant gravity lift is now a half-click away. Proceed with caution. I've persuaded a couple Longsword units to do a strafing run for us, but they request we perform a recon scout so they can know what kind of anti-aircraft capabilities there up against".
He nodded. A reasonable request. "Warthog units 1,7, 11, and 20. Were gonna pull ahead. The gravity lift is a half-click away and were going to do recon so a few of our Longsword buddies can do a strafing run. Hold here while we continue, then pull up to engage as soon as I give the signal".
As said, Warthogs units 1, 7, 11 and 20 pulled ahead. Eventually they came just outside the perimeter of the gravity-lift. It was placed at the bottom of a large crater, no doubt caused by some sort of bomb. Good, they could probably just get there Scorpions on the ridge of the crater and blow the defenses to oblivion while the Chain Gun Hogs and the Argent V Hogs moved in close. But then he saw what the defenses were.
It was pretty standard infantry, Grunts, Jackals, and a few commando gold Elites. But the armor was what was going to be a problem. They had 20 stationary guns, 10 Shades and 10 Reapers. The Reapers were a different type of stationary gun, they fired large overcharged shots like a giant plasma pistol. They were made specifically for anti-tank, anti-aircraft roles. Besides that there were also 11 Ghosts in the perimeter along with 7 Shadows, 4 Creeps ( a large troop transport that carried up to 10 passengers and had a stationary gun mounted at the top), and one Wraith tank. Besides that there were also numerous Covenant 'gear crates' and purple set up structures that would offer them cover. However there was no air cover, which was odd. Still, they probably thought they had enough anti-aircraft fire to make up for it, which they probably did.
"All units, what do you see?". They answered and nobody had seen anything different, no guns or vehicles he had missed. "Alright, lets report back". They moved back to the main squads position. Where he explained there situation.
" Okay team. We've got heavy armor. 20 stationary guns, Ghosts, Shadows, Creeps, and one Wraith. No air support. Our Longsword buddies probably won't be able to take everything out so get ready for heavy fighting. Once we get there all the remaining Warthog and infantry will move up close, while the Scorpions will stay back and snipe out remaining armor and reinforcements from that may spill from the gravity lift. The gravity-lift perimeter is at the bottom of a crater so you'll have a commanding field of fire. Understood".
The squad leaders all replied 'Yes Sir'. "Cortana" he said in his head. "Tell the Longswords of the Covenants firepower".
"Done", she said. A few moments later "The Longsword squads leader says you owe him a beer after this one".
"Fair enough"................................................................................................

The Grunt Ekaj was calm and relaxed. He slumped slightly at the gun of his Reaper, his eyes slowly drooping closed. The chance that this base would come under attack was very slim. One his fellow Grunts, Ittanal, said he had been receiving scattered reports of attacks nearby but the Elite leader, Hurramee, placed little concern on them. Saying that the opposing humans would eventually be squashed by one of the outposts scattered about. After that he had relaxed greatly. If there squad leader said it was true then it must. Just as he was in the begging in stages of a Grunt sleep, which consisted a decrease of body tempature and slight drooling, the Screaming sound of a Longsword engine woke him up. There were five, the lead launched a missile which destroyed two Shades and a nearby Ghost. Fully awake and adreniline pumping he swiveled his gun around and fired an overcharged shot, the sickly green-white ball of plasma nailing into one of the Longswords. Its engine exploded and it crashed just outside the crater. He rejoiced for a split second until another Longsword fired. The last thing Ekaj saw was a large human missile rushing towards his face...........................................................

Spartan III's, Part III
Date: 22 September 2003, 5:20 AM

(Finally!! Brought to you by FOrunnER and a lot of caffeine)

The Longswords were all destroyed within 30 seconds. They managed to take out 8 Reapers, 7 Shades, 4 Ghosts with them. But they soon lost the advantage of surprise and the combined firepower of Shades and Reapers made short work of them. The Longsword pilots had known they probably wouldn't survive but flung themselves into the battle anyway because they knew in the long run it would help save Earth and the rest of humanity.
The Covenant were shocked for a minute at the surprise air attack when a Scorpion missile was fired. It turned a Reaper into shrapnel. Three more Scorpion missiles were fired, one hit another Reaper and two destroyed the Wraith. As the Scorpions reloaded the Warthogs flew down into the crater, mowing down Covenant infantry with there missiles and bullets, making shrapnel of a few guns themselves. The Covenant were returning fire and they were starting to take casualties.
The Scorpions reloaded for another salvo and fired, taking out all four Creeps, which were had been the only remaining heavy armor. The heavy missiles took out the Creeps and scores of troops surrounding them. The three remaining Shades were quickly taken out early by Hogs, so the remaining Ghosts and Shadows were the only threat. Missiles, bullets, and blue and purple plasma cut across the battle zone. The human and Covenant light armor were actually at a stale mate, both killing at a steady rate, but a few well placed Scorpion missiles gave them the upper hand.
However, as soon as the last Shadow fell, Covenant dropped down from the gravity lift. But the Covenant didn't even have time to gain a solid footing as four Scorpion missiles converged on there position. Nothing survived. But despite this the Covenant dropped more and more waves of Covenant troops down the lift, and each getting oblivated by Scorpion rockets before they could move. They launched down six waves before they finally ceased, the grav-lift splattered with multi-colored alien blood and pieces of fleshy meat.
MC looked over his remaining force. There were only two Hog's left, but that was okay since they couldn't take them anyway, so ground forces total they had 28 ODST'S out of 180 left, and at least a third of them injured. An internal attack on the Covenant ship would be suicidal now, even with the Spartan III's leading it.
Sensing his thoughts, Cortana spoke up, "I'll ask Bankman to send down some reinforcements, from there we'll secure the docking bay where additional troop can be dropped off".
He nodded, "Okay, do it".
He heard Cortana's voice over his speakers "Cortana to UNSC Cruiser APACHE, we request to speak with Admiral Bankman".
A few minutes later he heard, "Rodger Cortana, this is Bankman. What do you need?"
"We've reached the gravity lift and request reinforcements", she said.
"Rodger that, Pelicans Gamma 12, 34, 909 and 604 inbound Cortana"
"Rodger, Cortana out"
It took a few minutes but finally 4 Pelican dropships roared over the horizon, 15 ODST's each. The Covenant ship spotted them, and a giant pulse laser was sent towards them, it engulfed Gamma 604 and vaporized her, and went straight on to knock over a building. The other three touched down, dropped of troops, and took off.
The Chief noted with a certain satisfaction that they were all armed with Battle Rifles and Shotguns, no long rang stuff. It would pretty much be useless, save perhaps a few areas. For the most part is was going to be a close quarters brawl.
They all felt a sense of weightlessness and were pulled up into the Covenant ship where they were met by a full platoon of Brutes, Elites, and Hunters at the grav lift loading bay .............................................. .

Admiral Bankman stared off into space, lost in thought. Not only perhaps three hours ago he and his fleet had been fighting desperately to save Earth. Before the Covenant had attacked, Earth had been a war-house greater even then Reach. There were roughly 300 ships orbiting her at anytime, but there were 600 ships in the immediate vicinity with the ship docks around Mars and the Moon. Orbital platforms had been numerous, at least 50 orbital MAC guns and 20 Shiva nuclear launch stations. In addition to that, a nuclear minefield was set up around Earth extending thousands of kilometers in each direction, they were only deactivated when UNSC ships from other star systems came to Earth. But the Covenant had planned for all this. They came in force, 700, maybe even 800, Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers, Flagships (the sniper ship on The Fall of Reach), Assault Carriers, and there powerful Juggernauts ( Largest covenant ship known, high ranking Prophets usually command from them).
They had entered system just behind Jupiter so they weren't visible immediately. They had moved towards Earth but stopped once they sensed the minefield. They had sent an electric message to the mines automated computers to self destruct before they could take any of them out. With that threat out of the way they had continued further. The UNSC fleet had been severely battered. When it was almost certain that Earth would fall, reinforcements came. A fleet Halcyon X cruisers, one of ONI's experimental ships, jumped in system. The sleek black ships had the basic honeycombed design of Halcyon cruisers, but with upgraded weapons and defense systems. It supported two of the triple-fire MAC guns that the Pillar of Autumn had sported along with 500 Hornet missiles and dozens of overlapping 50mm Auto cannon tracers for point defense. However it also sported shield systems, very brittle compared to Covenant ones but still strong and an upgraded engine which required no coolant, it automatically stored waste heat and energy into weapons systems or other parts of the ship.
250 of them had arrived in system and managed to beat back the Covenant force (which had also taken heavy damage). But that was the least of ONI's new starships, Admiral Bankman was the leading military officer in the UNSC and had unrestricted files to all of ONI's spook projects. The Halcyon X's had been kept in a shipyard on a distant planet, called Siliver. No ship had coordinates to this planet as it had no civilian population and served as an exclusive ONI station, the only person who had the coordinates to Siliver was the President of Earth himself. They had been kept there with two other types of ONI ships, the Hybrids and the Stalkers.
The Stalkers were stealth ships. They were around the size of Corvettes and there were currently 50 in service. They had covenant cloaking devices which made them near invisible, it gave off no heat and made no sound. It was invisible to radar, or any type of detection gear for that matter. It did carry a few missiles, but it was not meant for combat, it was not meant to be seen. They had been extremely effective on gathering data, and had even managed to find a few distant Covenant outposts but no Covie planets had been found, which was why the Spartan III program groundside was so important.
They Hybrids were just that, perfect Hybrids. The Halcyon X's used some Covie technology such as shields (though weak), artificial gravity, ect. But it used only human designs, the Hybrids used human and covenant designs. It was about twice the size of a normal cruiser, and also had the honeycombed design (which ONI was starting to favor). The ships sported two triple fire MAC guns with plasma cores, over 600 hybrid missiles with plasma cores, 4 plasma torpedo launchers, and over twelve large pulse lasers for offense. For point defense it also had Autocannons with plasma coated bullets and smaller pulse lasers. The ship also carried 200 Dagger single fighters with hybrid missiles.
The ship itself was amazing. ONI had managed to come up with accurate calculation for Slip space jumps, meaning they could now navigate through slip space as easily as the Covenant. But also like the Covenant, it required all there energy reserves so they would basically be 'dead' in space for two minutes after a jump. It required no coolant and redirected waste heat and energy towards other systems like Halcyon X's. They had figured out the atomic structure of Covenant ship armor and combined it with the atomic structure of titanium A so even the armor of the ship was hybrid. The ship had three meters of the stuff, and a half-meter of special energy reflective armor covering the outside similar to the Spartans suits. It also had a shields, though twice as strong as the Covenants.
However the Hybrids had not been called to Earth. The Admiral had asked, hell, he practically begged the brass to pull in the Hybrids, but they stubbornly refused. They wanted to keep them a surprise for the so-called inevitable counter-attack.
'Not if they get us first', the Admiral had said. In the end he managed them to fork over the Halcyon X's, a lower class project than the Hybrids but still ranked the highest level of ONI classification. But it had been close. The seventy eight vessels that remained included the X's that had been sent over. The Admiral was in a regular marathon-class cruiser that was the current cruiser in service. However the Admirals cruiser, the APACHE was in bad shape. Over 60% of the ship was breached, the reactor was badly damaged and two of the super-conductant magnets needed to be replaced. One of there two single-fire MACs was destroyed by a pulse laser, only C-F rows of Archer missiles were serviceable, and the navigation dish was destroyed. Not that they would be going anywhere, all ships had been called to defend Earth. All ships were grounded.
He was brooding over the ship diagnostics running across his screen when the ships AI, Jjaro, spoke to him. Jjaro had he look of a young skinny boy, his smile made him look feminine.
"Admiral, outpost Zima 7 has reported approaching ships"
The AI could not feel emotion, but the Admiral on the other hand felt shock, then a rush of adrenaline. "How many, what position?"
The AI took half a millisecond to triple check the transmission from Zima 7, then replied, "50 Covenant Assault Carriers with 20 escorting Destroyers, mark 000017 by 00056"
The Admiral was puzzled for a minute, then understood. If there were no orbital platforms the Covenant could easily defeat the fleet in orbit right now. But the platforms made all the difference, they would most likely be made short work. But they didn't want to destroy Earths defenses, only to launch more troops and support for the ground invasion on Earth, which would explain the all the Carriers
He turned to his com officer, Lieutenant Streets, "Streets, inform the fleet and UNSC HQ on Earth of Covenant visitors, Carriers and destroyers. Tell the fleet to launch any and all single fighters. Tell HQ to prepare ground to air defenses and most likely more troops".
"Yes sir", he replied. He was visibly shaken, scared, but he would do his duty till the very end. A true soldier.
He turned to his weapons officer, Lieutenant Daris, "Prepare are MAC, remove safety's from are Archer missiles and Shiva warheads, start a warm-up cycle for the engines, and get those Longswords out in the black".
"Yes sir".
He looked around. All his crew was scared, but they were determined. So was he......................

"AAAHHHHH", yelled the Elite. Dozens of bullets punctured his head, chest, and waist. He fell in a pool of his own blood, the sound of battle raging around him. The master Chief grabbed his fallen Needler and unleashed a volley of pink destruction at the group of Grunts beyond. They fell with there envoirment suits spraying methane. By now the invasion force had pushed there way through many non-vital masses of the ship and into the docking bay. They needed to secure it so the dropships could come in to drop off more troops. By now they had been reduced to 20 ODST's and the Spartans. The bay was small, ten dropships and 20 Banshee's were docked. It had the basic layout of the T&R's docking bay, except the outer doors were metal instead of energy doors like on the T&R. They were on the third walkway up, hundreds of plasma bolts aimed at them from below and dozens of Covenant poured in the doors around them.
"Cortana, open those damn doors, were getting slaughtered here", MC said over the sounds of twin grenades detonating. A group of Jackals had been advancing, most were taken out by the explosion, but a few were left only to die by gunfire.
"I'm working on it, I'd like to see you and try and de-encrypt a 12,000 kilo-byte alien door code", she said, annoyed and frustrated.
The marines and Covenant were exchanging fire like the redcoats. One incredibly brave helljumper, or maybe just insane, stuck a plasma grenade to himself and rushed a startled group of rookie blue Elites. However his advance was cut short. A half-dozen Brutes had taken position on the far side of the walkway, they were using there sniper rifles to chip away at there forces. One of them spotted the human with the grenade stuck to him and fired. A dinner plate sized hole was torn through his chest. The plasma grenade detonated with a blue-white BANG! All that was left of the brave trooper was flecks of red blood. Fox returned fire on the Brute who made the shot with her CP. The bullet cracked through the aliens shields and out the back of his head where red-black blood flowed freely. Three of his fellows returned fire, forcing Fox behind a support pillar.
Another trooper was fighting hand-to-hand with a Jackal. The marine punched the alien in the face and blood sprayed from his mouth. The Jackal gouged his eyeballs with his sharp nails. In rage the marine tackled the Jackal and they both tumbled off the walkway, screaming until they splattered three stories below.
Inferno launched a fireball which ignited a Grunts methane rig, which in turn ignited several nearby plasma grenades, clearing off a good number of hostiles and friendlies. Eventually they fought until only 2 Helljumpers and the Spartans remained. At this time the door opened and twenty Pelicans came in. They opened up with there chain guns and missiles. The Dropships and Banshees exploded in there ports and dropped, crushing Covenant below them with there husks. The Covenant on the walkways were either punctured by bullets or were engulfed in the explosion of missiles. The Covenant they were fighting were distracted by the ships and all the grenades they had, not to mention a few handy-dandy rockets from Hunter, took out the bulk of them. Finally they secured the bay, the ground floor black and cratered, the lower walkways destroyed, and the upper walkway splattered with human and Covenant blood. 350 ODTS filled the bay...........

Spartan III's, Part 5: The discovery
Date: 19 October 2003, 10:59 PM

Well, here it is. WARNING: POST COMMENTS AFTER READING, VIOLATERS WILL BE PROSOCUTED UNDER PENALTY OF LAW.

"Shit Shit Shit!" yelled Private Third class Charles Winston. Winston was desperately running down the streets of Brazilia with a Ghost in pursuit. Brazilia had been generally untouched by the intense fighting taking place around the world, then out of the blue, thousands of Covenant transports had dropped out of the sky. It was pure madness. He had been part of the 350th infantry division, until a division of armor and infantry support had wiped them out. Now he was all that was left, desperately running for his life.
In some corner of his mind he realized that the Ghost could have easily caught up with him anytime he wanted, or simply shot him down from where he was, but its driver probably liked to see him flee in a desperate attempt to save his life, probably found it amusing. However, he didn't care, and adrenaline pumping through his veins, he kept on running. He considered shooting himself so the Covenant wouldn't have the pleasure of killing him, when a large explosion sounded behind him. He looked over his shoulder and stopped. An Argent-V Warthog had ambushed the Ghost and destroyed it with a missile.
The LAAV drove up to his position, "Want a lift?", said the Private driving.
Winston was hot, sweaty, tired, out of breath, plasma scorched, battle weary, and most importantly, didn't want to walk another damn inch. "Hell yes".
"No time for talk pussies. We got some Covie asses to mutilate, either get in or stay here, double time!" yelled the Sergeant-Gunner. He hopped into the passenger seat, SMG's in hand, and the LAAV took off.
They drove around the Brazilian streets for nearly an hour, occasionally encountering small skirmishes but no heavy fighting. Which was surprising considering the amount of soldiers stationed in Brasilia and the number of Covenant dropped off. The Private driving, who he learned was named Private Houghs, was getting reckless, driving around blind corners without checking his motion tracker for enemy movement, barreling down open roads without checking for ambushes. But the Sergeant, Sergeant Bays, wasn't bugging him about it. He to was seemingly convinced there sector was getting no action. Which was there downfall.
Houghs was turned around another blind corner, and the Brasilia town hall came into view. Along with the 20 Hunters, so odd hundreds of Brutes, Elites, Grunts, and Jackals, the seventy pieces of light armor (Shadows, Ghosts), ten Wraith tanks, the fifteen Reaper and Shade guns, and the two Phantom dropships hovering over what had become a pad. Winston had just enough time to wonder what such a large concentration of Covenant were doing here, when they noticed them and hundreds of plasma bolts rained down on them.

More reinforcements had made there way through the bay, another full division. Another platoon of marines had come to reinforce the Spartans position at the armory and evac wounded, there was plenty of them. Much of the original platoon, who weren't wounded, were carrying covenant weapons. The reinforcing platoon had brought with them a crate of weapons and ammo, but it wasn't enough for all of them. But they brought Fox her MX ammo, and she seemed to be happy with it, meanwhile she ditched the CP for a Covenant sniper rifle.
EX had expended his Battle Rifle, and traded it in for a Needler. Inferno had faced the same problem with his Flamethrower, but he replaced it with a Zap gun, which almost seemed to be the Covenant version of a Flamethrower. They brought SAW magazines and rockets for Hunter. Glock had ditched his Assualt Rifle for the Covenant mini-gun. And MC had expended both his weapons, he carried a Zap gun and a Plasma Rifle. Then with a rag-tag group of marines in tow, they marched on towards the control room.
They fought there way through a lot more hard resistance, until they finally came to a locked door at the end of a long hall. Three Elites with Needlers and a Brute carrying a Plasma Rifle opened fire on them. Explosive Needles by the dozens and lots of plasma bolts raced at them and took human lives, but the return fire was to overwhelming and both the Elites and Brutes shields were taken down and there bodies riddled with bullet marks and plasma scorches. They reached the door (a couple of marines felt the need to scavenge the weapons the dead Covenant had left for them) and stopped.
"Cortana, two questions. Can you unlock this door, and is there resistance beyond?", the Chief asked.
Cortana spoke up, "Of course I can unlock it, and yes there is resistance, the control room is on the other side of this door".
A chill ran down his spine, "What kind of resistance?"
"Heavy. That's all I can say for certain", she said flatly.
"What are the other teams status?"
"Team one is still a good deal away, and team two was neutralized, its just us Chief"
He turned to the marines, "Alright the Control Room is behind this door. Everybody hide behind these cargo crates. I want EX to go in there and do a recon scout for us, estimate the resistance numbers, and possibly disable any high-ranking Captains so we can take them back and question them later" EX nodded.
"Lets Move!!" he yelled. They ducked behind the cargo crates that were stacked along the walls, some apparently scattered about at random places.
"I have the door code Chief, ready when you are"
By that time EX was already in front of the door with his camo on. He gave Cortana the order and the door slid open. A few nearby Covenant turned there attention to the door, but apparently seeing nothing, they turned back to what they were doing. He slipped in quietly and the door closed behind him. The Control room was large, dome shaped, a more blue-ish color than the rest of the ship, the roof was at least 30 feet above his head. A platform was in the middle, held up by an anti-gravity field and a walkway leading to the top. Below the platform, at least a dozen consoles scattered about. Not mention the variety of Covenant scattered about. There were at least 30 Grunts and Jackals scattered about, 9 Elites, 6 Brutes, 2 Hunters, and at a dozen of there 'Engineers', and a single Prophet. They were all Spec Ops, save the Ship master, the Engineers, and the Prophet. That was who he wanted, the Prophet. Capturing the Ship Master would be a bonus, but he would be to hard to be able to drag back to the docking bay. On the other hand, EX was quite sure he wouldn't put up much of a fight. It was obvious that he was quite weak, despite the beautiful clothing and headdress he wore. His frame looked fragile, he had a very long neck which he hung low, and the yellow skin looked as if it were stretched tight across his body, the result being he could see a lot of the bones that supported the neck and face. His movements were very slow, he looked as if he was at least a hundred years old, but for all he knew he was a newborn. He stealthily moved towards the walkway leading to the platform. With the memory of the Brute still in his mind, he tried to avoid one that walked past him. It stopped and sniffed the air, instinctively EX backed away. After a few seconds it gave what he assumed was a shrug, and walked off.
He breathed a sigh of relief and continued on.
As he approached the Elite and the Prophet standing on the platform he noticed that they were talking in fast complicated tones. His translators didn't pick it up, so obviously it was an unknown Covenant language, perhaps the Prophets home language or a code. He didn't ponder on it for long. Suddenly, the Prophet fell from his chair, knocked out cold. The Ship Master was shocked, but then called out in Elite which his speakers translated, "Humans!!".
As he opened his mouth the say it, EX shoved a lit plasma grenade down his throat. He was choking on it when he pushed him off the platform, and fell to the ground below. Some of the crew, who didn't know what had happened, rushed over to help him up, when the grenade detonated. Now the Covenant were really confused, and EX took advantage of this with two more Plasma Grenades and a volley of Needler rounds. Then, at the worst possible second, his camo failed. Plasma bolts flew at him from every direction, to many for his shields to handle. They ripped through the thick armor of the MJLINOR suits and punctured his skin. His vision became blurry, but before he died, he got the satisfaction of seeing the other Spartans and marines rush in and kill a hapless Elite. He died grinning.....

He heard grenades go off, followed by firing. This was enough for him to order his men to "Move your asses!!".
Inside his marines found three craters where grenades had gone off, charred bodies, and EX lying on the central platform. He wanted to make sure he was okay, but he needed to secure the are first. The marines spread out and engaged the Covenant. One of the Brutes lashed out at him with a machete. He dodged the blow, and grabbed its arm, twisting it till the bones snapped. It howled in pain and he grabbed its machete and gutted it. The same fate befell two Grunts that had rushed by him, in a state of panic.
From the other side of the room, two brutes fired a pair of there sniper plasma. It hit a marine each and vaporized them. Fox answered with an MX round, it punctured one, and the explosion killed the other.
Glock and a group of marines were busy engaging a pair of Elites and Jackals, when a spade shaped flare of green energy exploded in there midst. Glock survived, but not a lot of his marines. Those that did turned to face the Hunter were hit in the back with the Elite's and Jackals plasma. Glock was keeping it busy while Inferno rushed behind him. He fired at its weak spot with his 'Zap' gun, the lighting bolt tearing apart the Hunters back and spine. Its bond brother roared and ran over to EX. A well meaning Corporal was in position to hit it's back and fired with a three round burst at its back. But at the last moment a marine was knocked into his line of fire and he caught in in the stomach. In horror, he backed up where he bumped into an Elite who shot him in the face with plasma.
Inferno waited for the Hunter to swing his shield then side stepped, and he let a bolt out to its unprotected back. It howled in pain and landed on top of its bond brother. Meanwhile the Spartan Hunter, was injured. A plasma grenade had latched on to him and exploded. His suit was dented, charred, scratched, and his the left leg covering was completely vaporized and the twisted meat and bone of what used to be a leg showing. He pulled himself into a corner and passed out.
Despite heavy casualties, they were winning, until even more Covenant filed out of a door, 4 Brutes followed by 7 Red Elites and a group of ten Grunts and jackals. There plasma took the life of a group of marines preoccupied with some Grunts. MC rushed in and threw and grenade. One Elite and Four Grunts were consumed in the explosion. The last remaining Grunt primed a plasma grenade and lifted his arm to throw, but there was a miss-communication and a Jackal behind the Grunt fired. It vaporized his arm and the lit plasma grenade fell on his head. He whimpered then exploded, taking the rest of his group with him. Now there were exactly 11 marines and the Spartans left, fighting a remaining 4 jackals, 2 Elites, and 3 Brutes. With the leverage of the Spartans, it was a given that they were going to win, until yet another group of reinforcements arrived. 15 Grunts with portable fuel rod guns, 12 Brutes, 12 Elites, and 4 Hunters came in. A horrible thought cam into his mind: They were going to fail. They couldn't take this abuse, they had one Spartan possibly KIA and another wounded.
As if God himself had sent it, four rockets lashed out at the Covenant. Multiple explosion consumed them and they died. In fact, it tore through the plating and they could see the deck below. At the far end of the room, no less than 30 ODST's filed in, carrying there own heavy duty weapons, Shotguns, Rocket Launchers, SAW guns, the works. What Covenant survived the initial onslaught were mopped up shortly after.
He walked up the ranking officer of the new group that had saved there asses, it was none other than Burns himself. Before he could even ask his question Burns spoke up, "Chief, Cortana warned me of your situation and I decided to take a platoon of heavy weapons with me to help you out", he smiled and winked.
He nodded, "Thank you".
Cortana spoke up, "Alright boys, chit chats over. Get me into the main console up on the platform, and have somebody hog-tie that Prophet. From the intercepted transmissions I have he's only a minor, but still very important to us".
Burns saluted and ordered five of his men to detain the Prophet. They dragged him off the platform and tied him up. He got to the main console, and noticed he was standing next to EX's body.
He stared at him for a long time, and Cortana finally said, "No life readings. Come on Chief, there's nothing we can do for him", she said in the same somber voice she had used while announcing Keyes had become a Flood. He looked over at Hunter, he was knocked out cold but still breathing, Glock was working away at his leg.
He nodded and turned to the console. Cortana highlighted a slot on his HUD and he stuck her there. A few moment's later she appeared on the view screen 'super sized'. "Alright, step one, lock the doors", she said and the doors access doors all around the room sealed shut and glowed red.
"Step two, clear a path out for us", on his HUD the same path he had used to get there was highlighted, but with red dots along the sides. "The red spots are the doors I've sealed, nobody will be able to get into those corridors except the Covenant already there. Okay, now time for the real work".
He knew she meant getting the nav information. She disappeared from the holo-screen. Fifteen minutes had gone by, and the Chief was getting anxious.
Finally he said, "Cortana, how much longer is this going to take?", asked the Chief.
Her voice came over the ships speakers, it was slightly distorted, but he could still understand her, "I'm trying, the Covenant keep the nav information in the ships main memory banks, so I have to hack into those. I've done that and am in the process of decrypting it", a pause, then, "Got it".
"Covenant fools. Not only did they keep the nav information after they boarded, but they kept history files, ship logs, weapons data, everything!! Oh, wait....", her voice wasn't on the ship speakers anymore, but in his suit speakers, and it sounded...sorrow
"Chief....the Brutes...there human".................

Spartan III's, Chapter 6, Battles of the Sea
Date: 11 November 2003, 10:15 PM

(Note: I've gone back through my stories to see what I have done wrong, and am going to try to improve them. First of all, I will start to use HBO code. Second, even though it is late in the story, I will try to give my characters, well.....more character, and third and most importantly, I will CHECK MY WORK. With these three things combined I am hoping that this will be the best story of this series yet. Enjoy!!)

      "What? What do you mean Cortana?", the chief said.
       Cortana practically screamed at him, she had never shown such emotion since he had brought Spark to the Control room on Halo, "What do I mean? What do I MEAN?!? I THINK ITS REALLY SELF EXPLANATORY CHIEF....", she was about to continue, when all the sudden a huge explosion rocked the room, out of the corner of his eye the Chief saw a ball of blue-white flames. Instinctively he turned and crouched, facing what had once been a door. Two marines that had been nearby were at now lying broken and burned on the floor, dead.
       Out of the hole, Grunts came followed by a half dozen Jackals and a pair of Elites. Everybody in the room let loose a volley of fire and grenades and the group was decimated within seconds, but they had been cannon fodder. The real assault force came right behind them, three pairs of Hunters, a dozen Brutes, and three Gold field commander Elites with a bunch of Grunts of Jackals behind them. This was a sweeper force.
       As he kept firing, Cortana yelled "Chief, we cant hold these guys off, we have to retreat, drop the nuke, and lets get the hell outta here", she yelled.
       She was right, he grabbed her from the control console, inserted her in his suit, and, with one hand firing his plasma rifle, took out the HAVOK nuke and set the default time. 20 minutes, that's all they had. He threw the nuke down below and jumped down after it. He landed, his shields absorbing the impact, and raced for the door they came in.
       The other followed his lead and came to the door. Marines, wounded and non-wounded alike, rushed or stumbled through the door, with the Spartans covering them. Except for Hunter and Glock.
       He looked to the north-west corner of the room and saw what he feared most. Glock had stayed behind and was trying to help Hunter get up with one hand, and keeping the Covenant at bay with the other. What was he doing? He knew his training, he knew that in a hot combat situation like this that the wounded had to be sacrificed, yet in spite of that he was still trying to save him. But the chief knew what Glock was thinking. They had already lost one Spartan, two......it would be to much of a loss. But still, goddamit
       "GLOCK? What the hell are you doing, come on soldier, you need to....", but he was cut off. A grenade had caught on to him and exploded, taking them both. He stood in utter shock, that was a loss of three Spartans. Three of his squad, but he jolted back to reality when one of the sword carrying bastards rushed him. He let loose a salvo of plasma and backed through the doorway and it shut closed. There was a loud bang as a plasma grenade was set off on the other side, followed by a scream, then silence. Those that had managed to get through in time were there, all having glazed looks about them.
       He looked at the timer in the top right corner of his HUD which read 18:32:12 and said, "What the hell are you waiting for, the nuke has been set, LETS MOVE!!!"
       This seemed to hit the marines like a drill Sergeants stun batton and they moved, three hefting the Prophet over their shoulders. The Spartans were green blurs as they sprinted as fast as they could, the marines followed, those that could not were left behind. There was no time to play savior. They made excellent time since they were facing no opposition....until they came down the final stretch. Three red armored Major Elites stood, blocking the entrance to the docking bay. The Chief considered shooting them, but then read his timer. 01:02:58. There was no time to engage.
       As soon as they got in range the Elites opened fire, but the Chief ignored the blue streaks of plasma and bulldozed his way past. He knocked one to the ground, his shields down and wind knocked out of him, then he was trampled by Inferno. MC vaguely recognized screams and realized that the marines weren't as strong nor as fast as them and couldn't pull the same maneuver, and they were already spent from battle then sprinting. They were going to get slaughtered, and they were going to lose the Prophet POW. But there was nothing he could do.
       He went out of the docking bay door and realized he was in the middle of a war-zone. Obviously the Covenant had launched another strike of overwhelming proportions, and the effect was devastating. Human bodies lay everywhere along with Covenant, using the body count the Chief estimated in his head that the kill ratio was 3-1, one covenant kill for every three human kills. And at the far end he noticed the most terrible thing of all: The Pelicans were leaving. The marines were scrambling to get on the nearest Pelican, but the nearest one to the remaining three Spartans was already lifting off. But then its engines sputtered, and it dropped back down. The Chief didn't know what the hell had happened but didn't care, and jumped on, as did the rest of his team. Five injured marines were already there.
       The Pelican seemed to regain control, then lifted off, out of the docking bay. They were a good 50 to 100 meters away, when the ship seemed to convulse, then slowly nose dived towards the ground below. The internal explosions finally reached the reactors and they exploded with the force of a nuclear bomb, sending blue flames hundreds of kilometers into the air. The Pelican wobbled a little as it was caught in the shockwave, then regained control and continued on its steady flight path to nowhere.
       Finally, the three remaining Spartans, John-117 (MC), Sarah-091 (Fox), and Jake-212 (Inferno) could take off there helmets and breathe a sigh of relief.
       After a few minutes of silence, Cortana said "Well, you could at least thank me for reserving our ride........."

IN PELICAN EN ROUTE TO BRASILIA

       The Pelican, who they learned was designated Beta 914, had been flying for nearly two hours. Cortana had long since taken control of Beta 914 so that the pilot could have a break. She had gotten orders from FLEETCOM to take the Master Chief to Brasilia'. Apparently while they had been fighting in the Covenant ship, a major assault had been launched against the capital city and now the area belonged to them. A large amount of Covenant activity was in the general area, and particularly around the Brasilia' city plaza. From what they could gather, there was a prophet there, this one was a Major Prophet, much more valuable than the low-ranking one they had found lost on the Covenant ship.
       By now they had already gone over it a dozen times and Cortana was spilling him the gruesome details of what she had learned while in the Covenant database, she was using the team freq so nobody else could hear, "Well, the good news, if you could call it that, is that we've learned the location of every Covenant colony in the Milky Way galaxy. I say in the milky way because there is also a number of them located in the Andromenia galaxy, I don't have the location to any of those. But the homeworld is in this one, it is actually the Elites homeworld, but for some reason the Prophets don't have there own, so that is where the High Prophet is located. Roughly estimated, they have at least 1,000 ship guarding it and at least 400 more that can be called upon a minutes notice".
       She paused, then continued, "Now for the bad news. Covenant history 101: Apparently the Covenant started with the Elite-Prophet alliance that 'absorbed' other species, Grunts and Jackals, like we had suspected. Here's where the Brutes come in. On a planet they designate as 10881.002, which by coordinates I believe is Jericho VIII, they captured at least a couple dozen humans and took them aboard there ships before they glassed the planet. They then tried to genetically enhance them, what they call 'cleansing'", she said cleansing obvious disdain in her voice.
      "They succeeded, creating Brutes. They mass produced them, then put on out on the market just in time for the invasion on Earth. That's also what happened with Hunters, the Hunters and Brutes are considered 'cleansed', which is why they are in the upper classes. They tried to do the same genetic altering with the Grunts and Jackals but there bodies were to fragile to do so successfully, therefore they are 'un-cleansed' and are in the lower classes".
       He nodded, as did Sarah and Jake. It was sickening, there was no other word for it. He felt rage boiling up inside him. Dozens of marines had been raped of there humanity, tossed in test tubes and turned into monsters that the Covenant could use for there own twisted purposes. It was better to die than to serve the Covenant. How many Brutes had he killed, not realizing that they were his own brethren? But despite his rage, no emotion showed on his face. He looked to his Spartans, they had the same emotionless expression. They had been trained to hide there emotions.
       This was the first in a long time the Chief had seen either of them without there helmets. Jake was handsome in a rugged way, his brown-sandpaper hair was cut exactly at the regulation 2 centimeters. He was deathly pale of course, a pointed chin, and sky-blue eyes in startling contrast to his hair, but with a look of fierce intensity upon them.
       Sarah also had a rugged look to her, but with definite feminine qualities. She had blond hair cut at regulation 2 cm, and blue eyes, but more of a deep ocean blue in contrast to Jakes. She had the same look of intensity, but there was also a barely noticeable look of sorrow. Nobody spoke until another half-hour, when the Pelican took a violent jerk, then started to dive down.
      "Whoa, holy shit Cortana. Try not to kill us alright", said one of the nearby marines.
      "I'm sorry Private, but control of Beta 914 has been given to Lieutenant-Pilot Conroy, and of course humans are bound to be flawed", she said in a mock-patronizing voice.
       The Pilot looked over his shoulder and flipped off the general troop bay area, "Eh, fuck off Cortana., there's some major turbulence here, I'd like to see you try and fly this bird in".
      "Gladly"
       After that, the ride went on without disturbance, like a commercial jet. "Ladies and gentleman, the plane is now coming in to boat dock designate KILLERWHALE for refueling. Please keep your seatbelts fastened and tray tables in there upright and locked position, as I am now giving control back to Conroy, who will inevitably kill us all by his poor flying skills. Thank you", said Cortana. This elected chuckles and laughs from the marines and even a slight chuckle from the Spartans. But not much.
       The Pelican shakily descended towards the ocean, sparkly blue in the sunset. In the distance there was a gray oval structure, as they came closer it became recognizable as a ship. Sea ships had long ago been dubbed 'worthless' as battles were no longer fought in the water, until the Covenant had come. In 2102, they had officially moved the navy up into space, and those few personnel that remained in the water were also dubbed worthless. Then when the Human-Covenant war started, they had been given new names: Cowards. But now the rust-buckets were being put to use, but there weaponry was outdated by a couple hundred years, so they weren't really effective. Some had gotten a huge overhaul, and the KILLERWHALE was one of them. It was updated with a MAC gun and AK archer missiles, basically underwater Archer missiles.
       It was roughly oval shaped, with an 'open' airbase on the top, and a large jutting gun that was the MAC gun. With his enhanced eyesight he could see around 50 dark spots in the ocean surrounding the KILLERWHALE, escort submarines. They had really beefed up the security in the water.
       As they got closer, he could see a lot of activity on the open airbase around one particular pad, which he realized was the pad they were designated to land on. The Pelican hovered for a few feet over the ground, then detached its landing gear and touched down. Four navy personnel were waiting for them, M6D's clipped at there sides, along with medical staff to pick up the wounded soldiers they had had on board. While the medics walked the marines out (for most of them were not seriously wounded) the Spartans decided to go outside and stretch.
       The NAVY personnel disbanded as soon as soon as they saw that there were no enemy borders, so the Spartans had the pad to himself. Jake arched his back, Sarah yawned, and John stared out at the sunset. However, these seemingly non-threatening gestures awed the crowd of marines and tech personnel that had gathered around to gawk at them, but they barely noticed.
       "Don't get to comfy Chief, as soon as are Pelicans refueled were leaving. It'll only take about fifteen minutes", said Cortana, who he had inserted in his suit before exiting the Pelican.
       He nodded, "Understood. But while were here we might as well stock up on ammo, since I don't think there are any ammo caches between here and Brasilia'".
       "Alright, I'm going to try and de-encrypt some more of that information I found on the Covenant ship and see if I can squeeze any more useful information out of it", she replied.
       "Understood", he could feel Cortana's cold liquid presence withdraw from his mind. He turned to one of the NAVY personnel that had gathered around to stare at them, "Where's your armory soldier?", he asked.
       The marine looked at him with a stupid gape, looked left and right, then realized he was talking to him, "Its umm.....on deck 2, corridor 9, sublevel umm....7", he said.
       He gave another nod to the marine and turned to his Spartans. Jake was on the other side of the pad, staring out at the sunset, and Sarah was talking to one of the Marines, and he staring dumbfounded at her.
       "Spartans, follow me. Were moving to the armory to stock up then coming back to the Pelican", he called to them.
       They both flung there hands up and replied "Yes Sir!", then followed him as he took an elevator down to deck 2, sub-level 7. They were dropped off at corridor 1 and continued on down 8 more corridors until they found the armory. There were numerous weapons, mostly Battle Rifles or Sniper rifles, the standard S2 AM's, a few shotguns, and a surprising amount of outdated Assault Rifles, but non of the top-notch weapons they were used to receiving. Just when he was about to make do, he saw a door at the far end of the armory with a sign over it that read 'Spec Ops Equipment'. There rank as Spartans considered them Spec Ops, so the Chief motioned his team to follow him through the door. They entered another armory, similar to the one they had just been in, but with better weapons, and five ODSTS to gawk at them. Battle Rifles, Shotguns, CP sniper rifles, Sub-machine guns, M6D's, and Rocket Launchers lined the walls.
       The Spartans ditched the plasma weapons and traded it in for some good old UNSC weapons. The Master Chief grabbed a Battle Rifle and twelve extra clips, two Sub-Machine guns, and six frag grenades. Fox grabbed a CP sniper rifle and found, much to her delight, an MX sniper rifle with ammo tucked away in a corner. She also brought along a M6D and six frag grenades. Finally, Inferno got his hands on a Flamethrower again, along with an M90 Shotgun, and six frags. When they were all geared up, they went back and took the lift topside, the ODSTs staring after them. They exited the titanium doors and into the waning light, and were moving back towards there Pelican, when all the sudden he KILLERWHALE rocked and the Spartans were almost thrown off there feet.
       MC looked over towards the ocean and saw why. A large purple teardrop shaped structure, like a giant Seraph, had risen out of the water and fired at them. He stared as an red/orange glow fixated around the front of the ship, and another plasma torpedo was fired. The KILLERWHALE tried to move out of the way, but 300 tons of metal and steel were not fast enough to outrace the speeding plasma. The second bolt hit there flank, along the midline. Meters of titanium A plating caved into revel decks upon decks of the ships interior. Meanwhile, several slots on the sides of the ship opened up and dozens upon dozens of Banshees flew out, followed by numerous Phantom and Bandit drop-ships. The air of calm that had been about when the Spartans first arrived had vaporized into thin air. Dozens of alarms were blaring, drill Sergeants were trying to rally there troops for anti-boarding actions, and Skyhawks were trying to lift off in time to repel the wave of Banshees. Many failed. Nearly 2/3 of the Skyhawk fleet was still grounded when the Banshees got there, they were immediately taken out. Those that were in the air, now found themselves outnumbered. Dozens of Bandits and Phantoms were clearing away landing zones with there Shade guns, dropping an assortment of Covenant troops, then flying back towards the Covenant ship to grab another load.
       Finally the MAC gun charged and fired its huge white-hot titanium shell. While the MAC round cut dozens of Banshees and Drop-ships out of air and nailed the Covenant ship in the backside, apparently only minimal damage was done and it returned fire with a few more pulse lasers, which cut through the already weakened titanium plates. One of the Banshee's targeted the MAC propulsion accelerator. It fired in a fury of plasma, then switched to fuel rods to no avail, then finally did a kamikaze dive strait into it. The ensuing explosion had the desired affect and disabled the MAC gun for good. Damaged and unable to fight, there was no doubt that the KILLERWHALE was now a sitting duck.
       The Master Chief turned to his two remaining squad members, "Come one Spartans, to the drop-ship NOW!!", his voice clearly cut through the sounds of battle. For the second time the Spartans sprinted to Beta 914, ignoring hasty plasma bolts sent there way by the Covenant they passed. They were within several meters when a Banshee swooped down and fired a green explosive projectile at it. The Pelican exploded in a ball of flame, the entire cockpit consumed, flames licking at the dual engines. The Banshee and a buddy of his turned there attention to the Spartans. They aimed a volley of fire at one, it wobbled and retreated, the other fired two fuel rod shots, flew over them and prepared for another strafing run, when it was ambushed by one of the Skyhawks 50mm Auto Cannons and blew apart. Thankfully those two fuel rod shots missed and the Spartans were unharmed.
       "CHIEF, THERE'S TWO SKYHAWKS LEFT ON DOCKING PADS A2 AND A3, HURRY BEFORE SOMEBODY NABS THEM OR THE COVENANT GET THEM", she had to scream over the sound of gunfire, a group of Grunts and Jackals were giving some Navy personnel a rough time.
       A nave marker appeared on his hood, "Follow me Spartans, double time it NOW!!", he yelled. The A pads were on the other side of the ship. A drop-ship had had the foresight to drop a Shade gun right in the middle of there way. The Grunt gunner turned and fired, two blue rookie Elites noticed there Grunt companion fire, and added there own plasma bolts to the flurry. Immediately Fox took a knee and fired her MX, the C-4 bullet make scrap metal out of the anti-infantry gun. The two Elites were in the process of falling back without there cover fire when MC and Inferno unleashed there bullets (fire in Inferno's case fire) which took the Elites down. They got back up and continued running. There they were. Two Skyhawks were sitting with each other, side by side.
       Skyhawks in general tended to be less well armed than Longswords, but could fly circles around them. MC bolted for the one of the left, Inferno and Fox, the one on the left. MC raced up the entry ramp, and hit the auto-shut switch behind him, as did the other Spartan III Skyhawk. MC inserted Cortana's AI cube in the ships control board. As soon as she was integrated into the controls, she took control and flew off, away from the battle.
       "Okay, best available route out of here is....344.1 by 6771.12. Okay, this bird has enough fuel to make it to the Brazil west coast. From there were going to have to find a ride inland....".
       But she stopped as all the sudden Inferno's panicked voice sounded over the intercom: "Multiple boogies on us chief we cant....", a loud bang was heard, followed by Fox's voice, "We've been hit, our backtail is completely on fire, trying to rotate the Auto cannons now...." Another bang, "MAY DAY MAY DAY, were going down!!!"

P.S. I hope this proves to be a good story

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