The Marine: The Battle To Survive Chapter 1, Leaving Halo
Date: 3 August 2002, 2:10 am
I know I started a story before but I really had nowhere to go with the story so I decided to try a new angle. Please feel free to tell me what you think.
THE MARINE: THE BATTLE TO SURVIVE
Chapter One: Leaving Halo
"I am alive..."
These were the only words that went through Sgt. Darren Stevenson's head as his Longsword drifted in space. He was alone, the only survivor of the mass destruction on Halo. All of his instruments read that everything was destroyed except for him. Reaching over and reading the computer screen, he saw that it would take approximately 4.7 months to reach Outpost 7-A. Although he had enough power to put himself into Cryo sleep, he wanted to stay awake as long as possible with the hope that someone else had survived. Taking off his helmet and pointing the camera at himself, he turned it on and began to speak...
"Sgt. Darren Stevenson's personal log. I am... at a loss. Where should I begin..."
A nervous laughter came out of his mouth as he began to think about the events prior to what had happened. He continued to speak.
"I am using this helmet camera as a log and as a way to make sense about what has happened. Not so much for you... but for me. We had assumed that the installation we found was that of the weapon for Halo. When we arrived, I was ordered to take Alpha Company around the forest and make sure that the swamp was clear of Covenant forces. After engaging several small forces, we had received a distress call from Bravo Company about a new Covenant force. We rushed back to the installation, only to find... Those things. It was sickening. We were able to hold off a few of them but they took over the bodies of those they infected. We tried to get back to the rendezvous point but we took heavy casualties. As a last ditch effort, we used frags to blow our way towards a small hill as one of the air support brought in a Longsword to get us out. They landed and the small crew tried infantry support. I led a break for the ship but we were cut down. Only Pvt. Johnson and I made it to the ship. As we boarded, one of those things latched on to him and dragged him back to the ground. One of them went for me but it brought it down with his pistol. I fired several rounds from my assault rifle to get them off him but... It wasn't enough..."
Darren let his head drop as he paused. A sigh poured out of his mouth and suddenly he looked much older then his 28 years. He looks back up and continued speaking.
"I rushed to the controls and managed to take off as I saw the Covenant try to fight off those creatures. It wasn't worth it... It just wasn't worth it..."
Darren reached over and shut off the camera as the words just choked up in his throat. He turned his attention back to his consoles. Suddenly an ear-piercing alarm sounded as his view screen turned to the back view.
"Warning," the computer sounded, "Covenant dropship closing in."
"A dropship," Darren pondered aloud, "How?"
Darren quickly went to his controls and realized that the ship was still about 3 minutes away. Reacting quickly, he brought up the battle systems and starting to ready the ship. Typing on the touch pad, a tactical screen was brought up.
9I33H3784YH47
Species: Covenant
Ship: Covenant Dropship
Weapons: Plasma Cannons
Status: Battle Ready
Shields: Low
9I33H378382YT
Ship: Longsword
Weapons: Archer Missiles: REMAINING: 2
Tactical Nuke: REMAINING: 1
Status: Battle Ready, awaiting commands
Armor: Medium Damage Turning on his voice interface and sitting in the command chair, Darren began to prepare to meet his adversary.
"Computer," Darren began, "begin Cole Protocol. Authorization Master Sergeant Darren Stevenson. Bring up attack interface and turn to 4.57."
The attack interface came up around Darren, which was almost like a holographic image of the battle network. He marveled at the complexity of the device which was a fairly new concept installed in the Longswords. It was much more advanced then the old computer interface but also much harder to use. Darren silently thanked god he was proficient enough to use it without an AI.
"Computer, bring Archer Pods 1 and 2 online. Bring Tactical Nuke to ready and load program Alpha One. Lets meet these bastards head on..."
The computer complied with the commands and loaded the program. The Dropship began to match its path to meet the new human adversary as Darren quickly locked on the first Archer pod.
"Dropship in missile range in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Fire when ready."
Darren scowled. "Fire."
The missile lurched out of the Longsword and went screaming towards the dropship. The dropship was quick and managed to turn slightly to avoid the attack but the missile still managed to catch the aft Plasma Cannon. It exploded and the shield flickered out with it.
"Report!"
"Damage optimal," the computer replied. "Covenant shields down to 2 %. Aft thruster destroyed. Plasma generator damaged but recharging."
Darren was only mildly pleased. He now was able to outrun them but he wasn't too sure about finishing them off. "Computer," he began, "what are the odds of destroying the dropship with the remaining Missile?"
"Computing. Odds are 58-1 if we attack the hull, 22-1 if we attack the the remaining Cannon, 4-1 if we hit the Damaged aft station."
"Damn..."
Darren slumped down and thought about his odds. Although he didn't like it, 4-1 was better then 40-1.
"Computer, lock on damaged Aft station and take us to point 655."
"Ready," The computer replied.
Darren turned in the chair. "Fire!!!"
The remaining missile ripped out towards the ship and connected in the damage aft port. There was a brilliant explosion and the Dropship floated dead in space.
"Dropship incapacitated," the computer announced. "Life support and the computer core is the only this operational."
"Computer, does that dropship have anything worth attaining, such as a communication device or sensors?"
"Unknown," the computer responded.
Darren thought about his situation for a second and pondered an option. If there were, it may give him a better chance of finding any other survivors. "Are there any hostiles left?"
"No hostiles detected."
"Computer," Darren said slowly, "Prepare to lock on to the Covenant ship."
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