The Beginning of the End (z) by Zacklesauce
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A New Feeling? (Part 1)
Date: 9 March 2007, 4:01 am
Aboard "BigMac" - New Mombasa June 26th 2551
The Pelicans egines thundered as Bigmac descended into the skyline of what used to be New Mombasa. What was once a busteling technologically advanced city was now a leveled wasteland covered in debris. The Covenant had been here and made sure to wipe out any human contacts in the area. They succeeded with flying colors.
"Wirth! Wake up damnit!" Private Wirth shook his head, "Yes sir, sorry sir!" Being aboard one of these Pelicans was a new experience for him and he couldnt help but be amazed by the Pelican's smooth ride and ability to manuver through the air so efficiently.
"I can't have you skidmarks fallin' asleep on me out here, I gotta bring you home or the Brass would have my ass." The Sarge was a tall man, white with huge muscles. He was around 6'2 and tough as nails. All kinds of stories went around the core about this badass, and Wirth had heard them all. Supposedly, he was in a Warehouse back on Reach and his squad had been wiped out. Without a weapon he man handled to vicious elites and managed to make it out alive. After all the crap he'd been spoon fed the past couple months Wirth didn't know what to believe anymore.
Throwing his cigar on the Pelican's cargo bay floor and stomping it out with his boot, Sarge looked at the other marines in the ship and debriefed. Wirth had heard the mission back at base, a quick recon to the outer rims of Mombasa to make sure there weren't any survivors. A simple mission, but those always turned out the most violent, in this war anyway. He looked around at his squad mates.
Scheid and Lucas were his two real friends in the core and he barely knew them. Scheid was his bunkmate back in training and Lucas had always palled around with them during recreation. Both of em were suited up and pretty quiet. He hadn't met any of the other 4 squadmates in the ship but now that they were all geared up he couldn't even see their faces.
"Alright ladies check your weapons and we'll -" A transmission began to come through over their COM devices. It was a recon group stationed on the outer rim they'd be dropped at. "BigMac this is Recon Grid Palo-6-3. Zone is hot repeat zone is -" The transmission ended with a hiss of static. Wirth felt the chills roll up his spine and go right into his head.
They all knew what static meant, and they all wish they didn't know what a hot zone was for the Covenant. Wirth swallowed hard and checked his rifle, the counter clocked 60 and he had 4 magazines on his belt. He was ready for any blue-blooded scum bag that thought they could take him.
The Pelican's engines roared as Squad HopeX1 entered Grid Palo 6-3.
"Alright listen up! The zone is hot and we don't know what in the hell is down there. Whatever it is, it dont wan't us around. Be on your toes and give em hell marines!"
The cabin erupted with heat and the Pelican banked quick to its left. Wirth bit down and got ready for the impact. The heat in the cabin was overwhelming, even through his armor. The Pelican was in a free fall soaring down towards the sandy ground which was apparently festering with Covenant activity. He felt another surge of heat and the rest became blackness.
Approximately 5 Minutes After Impact
Wirth moaned. The feeling of heat around his head was piercing all his other thoughts. What had happened? Where was he? Things still seemed black and blurry. He was still strapped into his seat and he felt like he was on a diagnol. As he gained conciousness he saw across from him an empty seat where Scheid and Lucas had been sitting. To the left where 4 more bench seats were there was now a sizzeling blue gash which looked alot like a well aimed Wraith shot. The Plasma burned and melted through dozens of layers of alloy and metal.
After getting out of his seat and scanning the rest of the cabin he discovered that he was the only survivor of the crash. The well aimed Wraith shot had killed everyone in the Pelican aside from him. A wave of horror came over him, Covenant always sent a recon squad to check and look for survivors. This was his first time in the field, what the hell was he going to do to repel a group of trained Covenant?
The sound of engines faintly echoed through the silence. Maybe the Core had heard about the crash and sent Warthogs to come get any survivors out of there. He grabbed his rifle and stepped outside of the Pelican which had crashed into a large sand bank. Oh it was a Wraith alright, nothing else could make a hole that big in a Peli. He looked around the crash site...just ammo and the bodies of his teammates. He grabbed the dog tags and tucked them safely into his spare pouch on his belt.
He looked over the horizon from where the engine sounds were coming from and the blood rushed from his face as he saw creeping over the furthest sand bank, a Spectre filled with Covenant soldiers.
He had 5 minutes, tops.
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