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This Is My House by Odin of SoS.
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This Is My House - Prologue
Date: 25 July 2005, 10:43 pm
The sunset on Kroff IV was one of the best in the human empire. Brilliant oranges, reds, blues, and golds clashed for control of the sky. The golden grass that covered the planet reflected the sky's beauty. David Fagalii and his wife, Ashley, watched the sunset together every chance they had since they were just teens dating in school. Together they sat on their front porch, swinging on a bench. David held her close and kissed her hands, never letting go. Their eyes followed the sun behind the horizon and watched as the explosion of colors faded to black.
With the darkness came another light show. Miles down the road, the nearby city of Sara lit the sky up. David hated the clutter of the city so he bought a small house far away from the noisy, polluted place. He placed his head in his wife's lap and watched as houses lit up. He didn't bother with his porch light, he was the happiest man in the world with his wife.
David was a Sergeant in the UNSC Marine Corps, on leave back home after three years of fighting. His unit was back in build-up phase, recieving new Marines and issuing gear and new weapons. Scars marked his arms and chest from the various battles he had survived. His eyes were bagged and dark from sleep deprivation and stress, but his smile was as large as could be. He was far from the Covenant, and every second with his wife, was heaven.
For hours, they sat on their porch and talked, David in his camoflauge uniform and Ashley in a sundress of her own design. They talked until he just passed out from exhaustion. His wife looked down and smiled as she ran her fingers through his short hair. She continued staring at the stars with her husband's head on her lap. She watched the sky until she fell asleep as well.
The couple were violently awoken by a vibration in the ground. They both stood up and ran to the end of their walkway, stopping at the fence. David looked in disbelief as a section of Scorpion tanks rolled down the road pass his house. They were Army tanks from the Twenty-Second Armored Division. A platoon of soldiers in Warthogs escorted the MBTs down the road. They watched as the convoy passed their house and rolled towards the city. Then horror and fear struck their faces simultaneously as they gazed upon Sara. The buildings that lit the sky the night before, now filled the sky with smoke. Many of the city's skyscrapers were toppled. David looked to sky and witnessed another horror. Covenant ships were visible through the atmosphere, surrounding the planet.
A Warthog that wasn't with the convoy pulled up in front of the gate entrance and the driver and passenger jumped out. David looked at the gunner as he continued to scan the sky for enemies. The passenger moved towards the couple as the driver jogged to catch up. He noticed a single silver bar on the passenger and that the driver was a Corporal. The Lieutenant walked to the gate and looked at David's chevrons on his collar.
"What are you doing here Sergeant?"
"I'm on leave now sir. This is my home." David said, looking past the officer and at Sara.
"Well Sergeant, my platoon is escorting that section of tanks to eliminate some enemy armor in the city. They've taken Sara, Sergeant. I suggest you take your wife and go to the civilian collection point at San Bara, it's East of here. Do you know how to operate any plasma weapons Sergeant?"
David looked at the Lieutenant with question. "Some of them sir."
The Lieutenant reached behind himself and retrieved a plasma pistol. "I pulled it off of a Jackal. Take care of your wife and get some Marine."
"Thank you sir. Good Luck to you sir." David said as he relinquished the officer of his weapon.
"We don't need luck Sergeant, we're Rangers." The Lieutenant ran back to the Warthog closely followed by his driver. They sped off to catch up with the convoy, leaving David and his wife.
David crammed the alien weapon into his cargo pocket and ran towards the house, his wife was only a few steps behind him. He sprinted up the stairs and into his room. His wife entered to see him scrounging through her underwear drawer. She knew what he was doing and ran towards the kitchen.
David his wife leave the room out of the corner of his eye. He dismissed it and tossed more panites from the drawer. Finally he came upon a small hole along the edge of the bottom. He placed his finger in the hole and pulled the bottom of the drawer out. Underneath was a pair of civilian bought M6D pistols and two boxes of ammunition. He went to work loading clips and cursed the Covenant.
Ashley was in the kitchen cramming as much food into a duffel bag as she could. She filled the large bag full and ran to the garage. Her Infinity GS convertible was parked safely in the garage and she tossed the bag into the back seat. She turned to the door just as David came through.
"What are we going to do?" She asked with a worried face.
"I don't know baby, we can't go to get to San Bara. The Army has a base there, that's more than likely where everyone's going. Camp Killion isn't far from here, there are Marines there. I'd rather trust my life with some leathernecks than the doughboys." His Marine pride forced a laugh out of his wife as they got in the car.
This Is My House - Chapter 2
Date: 3 August 2005, 9:56 pm
The sun was still creeping out from behind the horizon as the Infinity GS convertible sped down the road. Surrounded by desert, the vehicle was a solitary being on the road. Sergeant David Fagalii and his wife Ashley prayed that the lack of traffic was just luck. The couple clung onto one another as they traversed rapidly toward Camp Killion.
David looked at the top of his wife's head. Her ear pressed firmly onto his shoulder, and her arms wrapped tightly around his, reluctant to let go. He looked again at the road, then to the sky. His eyes retracted back to the road and found a green sign in the distance. The gap was closed shortly as the vehicle came upon the sign. David slowed down enough to read aloud to his petrified wife.
"City limits, Sierra Barone, Camp Killion twenty-five miles." He looked down at his wife again, "Honey, we're almost there." His foot pressed firmly against the pedal as the vehicle picked up speed again.
The city was less than a shadow of it's former self. Shops and cafes we're rubble, offices and marts were craters. More than half of the city was leveled by plasma. Destroyed cars lined the streets, trash and debris cluttered the road. David slowed down signifigantly to maneuver around the obstacles. They traveled deep into the city, looking for any survivors. Less destroyed buildings began to appear. Soon they came across an area where the structures still had roofs, but that was not long lived. To see the city in such condition jerked tears from Ashley's eyes, and then came the bodies.
Along with more intact buildings, came their occupants. Piles of civilian corpses lined the sidewalk. The overcast morning only made the husks of structures appear even more gray, their imposing shadows falling over destroyed cars, twisted streetlights, buckled pavement, and corpses. Men, women, elderly, even children lay lifeless on the ground. Ashley buried her face into David's shoulder and wept. David placed his left hand on her cheek and kissed the top of her head.
They drove through the rest of the city and turned onto the long road leading to Camp Killion. Another green sign, "Camp Killion two miles", David stopped next to the sign. He could see the base from where he was, and the road leading all the way up to it was demolished. Vehicles, Covenant and Human alike, littered the path. The damage was complimented by even more bodies. Marines sprawled across the ground, some still strapped into their Warthogs. Elites' crumpled bodies accompanied them. Hulks of purple and green created a chlosterphobic atmosphere. The base itself trickled smoke into the sky, but no fire could be seen. Hope entered David's mind and he pressed on towards the base.
The gate was now just a crater in the earth, the guard shack was splintered in half, and the concrete stop blocks were rubble. David pulled the car off the road and into the foliage. He pulled out the M6D that was tucked into his trousers, chambered a round, and placed it on his lap. He wrapped his arms around his wife and looked deep into her eyes.
"I need you to hide honey, I'm going to look for help. Find a spot in the woods where you can see the gate, stay there until I get back. If you see anything or anyone besides myself, stay hidden. If I'm not back by morning, take the car and go to San Bara like that man said. You get there and you get off of this planet. Do not come looking for me, okay?"
His wife had tears streaming down her round face. She looked at the pistol on his lap and then back into his eyes and nodded. David leaned down and kissed his wife, then sqeezed as though he would never let go.
Two figures sat quietly in the brush twenty meters from a convertible parked along the road. Their black armor and urban fatigues didn't blend paticularly well with the environment, but the duo had attained good concealment nonetheless. They watched as the driver, a male in Marine cammies, revealed a pistol. He said something to the passenger, a female in civilian attire, and then the driver exited the car and moved down the road towards the base.
"We calling them in Sergeant?" Lance Corporal Urrutia said. "Black section moved two klicks closer, they're close enough for pick up."
"Go ahead and call it in, my helmet was crushed. Then we'll get the girl. I'm not so sure she's going to be coming with us willingly." Sergeant Carter looked at his Marine and could see he reflection in his visor. His face was covered with dirt, sweat, and blood. His hair had mud and sticks in it and his lip was bleeding, he smiled and looked back at the target.
"Black-two is on it's way to intercept the driver, how do you want to take her down?" Urrutia said after a short while.
"It's going to be easier than i thought. She's just sitting in the car staring up the road. We'll just move up and get her." They both stood up and moved towards her.
Lance Corporal Urrutia was the first to exit the brush, just fifteen meters in front of the car. Sergeant Carter emerged behind him. They both looked at the female, she didn't look up, just stared at her lap.
Urrutia started to move towards the driver side of the car. "Excuse me ma'am, don't panic, we're here to help you." She still didn't look up, he turned back to his Sergeant, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Ma'am are you okay?"
He moved closer and reached the front of the car. The female's eyes remained in her lap. Urrutia moved to the door to talk to the woman.
"Excuse me." He reached the door and the woman looked up.
Ashley stared into her lap at the Covenant plasma pistol that her husband had handed to her. He told her that the button on the inside was the trigger and which end the plasma came from. Pictures flashed through her mind, mothers holding their children, disembodied men, and the mangled face of an Elite. Something bumped into the car and snapped her from her daze. Ashley looked up to see the reflection of herself in the face of a black monster.
Ashely screamed and the monster took a step back. She raised the weapon her husband had given her, the monster raised his palms to her. More images flashed through her mind, a young girl just feet from her bicycle, wrapped around a fire hydrant. Ashley screamed again and pressed the trigger mechanism. A green blob of plasma shot from the weapon and impacted into the monster's chest. She fired again and again.
Sergeant Carter watched in horror as the female in the car shot Urrutia multiple times with a plasma weapon. Urrutia fell to the ground and remained motionless. Sergeant Carter shouted in confusion and anger. The female stood in the car and shot at him. Plasma whipped wildly all around Sergeant Carter, he quickly unslung his BR55 and sighted in through the scope. Her entire upper body filled the sights of his rifle. Tears ran down the woman's face, her hands wrapped tightly around the weapon. Carter placed the reticle over her chest and fired.
A three round burst penetrated the woman's chest, blood spurted from the holes. Her body recoiled backwards from the impacts, her face contorted with pain. She fell and her body sat down in it's seat. Sergeant Carter ran to the driver's side of the vehicle and looked at her corpse. Tears had run down her face and mixed with blood from her mouth. Her chest didn't rise or fall in the least, and her eyes stared blankly into the sky.
Tears began to form in Sergeant Carter's eyes. He had killed many Covenant in his tours, he had seen many men, women, and children killed, but never by his own hands. He quickly doubled over and held onto the door for support. Vomit ran from his intestines and onto the pavement. His eyes found Urrutia's body and he moved to his Marine's side. He gazed into his own eyes through Urrutia's visor. He removed the Marine's helmet and placed it onto his own head, his eyes then meeting Urrutia's.
Sergeant Carter chinned the mic, "Black-two this Nemesis-one, need pickup at the gate, over."
"Nemesis-one, we're on our way. Did you get the female?"
Carter looked at the womans body again, then back at Urrutia. "She's dead."
This Is My House-Chapter 2
Date: 16 December 2006, 2:14 am
Sergeant Carter stared blankly into the eyes of Lance Corporal Urrutia. He had just watched as the last Marine of his squad was killed by a female civilian. His eyes shifted from his Marine to the female in the car. Her face was pale from loss of blood and the area was starting to smell of feces. Carter's eyes caught a glint of the sunrise on her wedding band. He slowly pulled his left glove off and stared at his own wedding ring. New thoughts arose in his mind. What was he going to tell the other Marines? How was he going to explain this to that woman's husband? How was he going to live with himself?
The area was quiet with the new morning. The decimated front gate sat as a solemn monument of the past events. The two fresh corpses, now neatly staged next to each other on the ground, awaited transport. Sergeant Eric Allen Carter stared at the woman on the ground. He dug memories deep from the recesses of his mind, memories of his own wife. He remembered how he wasn't there for her or his kids as they were murdered by the Covenant. Echoes of promises long made reached his ears, promises failed to be kept. I'll never let them do anything to you. He failed them, he failed them all. His beautiful wife, his son who looked up to him with the utmost respect and awe, and his daughter,..I'll never let them do anything to you.
Tears streamed down the battle hardened Marines' face. Years of stress and physical and emotional strain came crashing down on him. This elite warrior for the human race was reduced to sobs and whimpers. Carter removed his helmet and threw it into the woods with anger. He hit his knees and his shoulders shuddered. It hurt so much. More and more memories, suppressed to keep his sanity, continued to emerge. Memories of his friends, family, fellow Marines, long dead, flooded his mind. His sanity was shattered. There was nothing left he could do to subdue his emotions anymore. Feelings of anger, sorrow, love, regret, and pain pulled him in all directions. His eyes darted back and forth looking for a release. The only thing they could fix on was his now dead Marine and the female civilian he had just killed. More tears burst from his eyes and he grabbed his head and screamed, trying to let it all out. His hands pulled on his short hair and then shot down to his bent knees.
Sergeant Carter's right hand slammed into something solid. He looked down and his eyes struck his M6C pistol in his drop holster attached to his leg. The tears suddenly stopped as his gaze fixated on his weapon. I'll never let them do anything to you. His hand darted to the pistol grip and jerked the pistol free from its holster. A tiny smile crept across his face as he continued to stare at the weapon.
"I'm so sorry..." Carter placed the weapon in his mouth and began to tear up again as he squeezed the trigger.
The five Warthogs of Black Section moved into a rolling herringbone formation when they sighted the convertible near the gate. Black-one called the halt one hundred and fifty meters short of the location. Lieutenant Hill picked up his handset again and keyed the mic.
"Nemesis-one, Nemesis-one, this is Black-one." He unkeyed the handset and awaited the response. His face filled with frustration as he turned to his driver. "What the fuck happened to him? His last transmission said the female was dead. Cart," he turned and looked back at his gunner, "pull out your binos and see if you can spot something."
Lance Corporal Cartagena nodded and reached down for the binos in his supply can at his feet. He grabbed the binos and the turret locking latch, releasing his gun to move freely. Cart grabbed the LAAG and shifted it slightly to his left, giving him full view of the red convertible. He brought the binos to his eyes and located the vehicle. With the car in view, Cart pressed the zoom button on his binos and raised it to twelve times zoom. The car was completely intact, with the drivers' side door open. It being empty didn't surprise him. He shifted his view to the tree line to the left of the car, searching for the two Orbital Drop Shock Troopers that were sent to retrieve the female.
"Sir, I don't see anyone out there." Cart said as he lowered his binos. He looked down at his platoon commander and shrugged. Lieutenant Hill shrugged back and picked up the handset again. Cart looked back up at the car, "Sure is a nice car though, don't you..." He cut his sentence short as he noticed something on the opposite side of the road from the car. "Sir, I think I see something!"
Cart raised his binos to his eyes again and zoomed in on the side of the road. He couldn't quite make out what it was. It looked like black bags of trash dumped off. His fingers reached for the zoom button again and increased it to twenty times magnification. His heart stopped as he made out the shapes of human beings.
"Sir! We've got Marines down up there! Twenty meters on the other side of the road!" Cartagena tossed his Lieutenant his binos and swung his LAAG back to the front, searching for possible enemies.
Lieutenant Hill grabbed the binos and zoomed on the location his gunner gave to him. He instantly dropped the binos and picked up the handset when he spotted the bodies. "All victors, we've got Marines one hundred meters to our twelve o'clock. Oscar Mike and set up a three-sixty around the objective point. Aid and litter team get to those Marines!" Hill dropped the handset and picked up his rifle as he turned to his driver, "Let's go! Pull up to that car!"
Lieutenant Hill's Warthog jerked forward as they maneuvered onto the casualty site. The four other Warthogs followed suit. Hill checked his ammo and picked up the handset again, switching to company tac. Titan, Titan, this is Black-one, over."
The radio operator at the Company HQ came over the net. "This is Titan. Send it Black-one."
"Titan, we have reached the site of the OP and have spotted Marines down. Now moving to asses and resecure the site. Request QRF for support in case of Covenant attack. This may be an ambush. Over." Lieutenant Hill looked at his driver across the 'Hog, "Huber, drop me off at the site and push out a hundred meters and take twelve o'clock."
Lance Corporal Huber gave him a thumbs up without looking and said, "Aye, sir. I'll transfer the company traffic to your helmet."
"Black-one, this is Titan." The Company tac was already coming through Hill's headset.
"Black-one, send it." Lieutenant Hill's truck stopped next to the car and he jumped out. Hill looked back as his 'Hog took off again. He ran towards the bodies, scanning his surroundings for a threat.
"Black-one," Company came through his helmet again, "we have no Covenant on our scanners, but we are deploying the Quick Reaction Force for you. ETA ten mikes. Standing by for Casevac transmission. Titan out."
Hill was only ten meters away when a high-back Warthog pulled up to the bodies. The gun had been removed and replaced with benches and armor for transportation. He quickly glanced around to see his other three gun trucks taking up the six, nine, and three o'clock positions. Five Marines and a Corpsman jumped out of the back of the troop transport Warthog. Another Marine jumped out of the passenger side of the front and started directing Marines to security positions. Hill and Doc Askew reached the bodies at the same time. Doc slid next to the nearest body and Lieutenant Hill followed action.
"I've got multiple plasma wounds to the chest over here sir! He's gone!" Doc Askew hopped over the body to the female nearby. "What've you got sir?"
Lieutenant Hill couldn't make out what he was seeing. "I've got a huge hole on the back of the head. He's gone. There's blood everywhere, couldn't have been a plasma wound. Maybe a Needler? Doc?"
Hill looked up at his platoon Corpsman who was cradling a woman. He looked at the blood covered shirt and the three obvious bullet wounds. Things just weren't adding up in his head. He couldn't think. They couldn't have fired on each other. His eye caught a glimpse of something shiny on the ground. He looked down to see a plasma pistol near the woman's body. His eyes shifted from the Marine with plasma wounds to the plasma pistol to the woman to the Marine at his feet as he slowly placed the pieces together.
The Company tac abruptly cut Lieutenant Hill's thought process short.
"Black-one. Do you have a sitrep?"
Hill chinned his mic, "Titan, we have three KIA. Two military, one civilian. We'll bring them back. Have Black-two tell that Marine we just picked up that his wife was killed," he let out a low sigh and looked at her body in Doc's arms, "by a Covenant patrol. Be advised there are no traces of Covenant in the area at this time. Site secure. Over."
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