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Arbitrary Imposition : Part I
Posted By: Bob McNoble<Masterchief.104@gmail.com>
Date: 23 April 2006, 2:07 am
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0125 Hours, September 19, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Halcyon Class Cruiser Pillar of Autumn
Lower Hanger Deck
"I haven't slept in days" was the first thing that came to mind as one of the marines on board complained because Captain Keyes had us decelerating and still running on minimal crews. Pvt. Sumpters always did whine about stupid things. "How in the hell can you complain Sumpters, when I've been on round the clock cleaning and maintenance on my ship, my squadmates' ships, and just about every functioning piece of machinery on the Autumn since we covered our asses and turned tail at Reach?!" those were the first words out of my mouth as Sumpters moped back toward the warthog bay after getting yelled at to do so by Sgt. Johnson. Johnson was the greatest leader most of these Marines had ever seen, and yet some sorry specimens still had the guts to complain about this kind of crap. As I was reaching for my data pad to record that the maintenance on my bird was done, and she was in Perfect combat worthy shape, alarms went off. Captain Keyes brought the ship back up to alert level alpha. I got in my seat, strapped in, and watched my co-pilot, Capt. Summers, and Navigator/ Bombardier, 2Lt Majors, did the same. We took up into a holding pattern after the rest of our squad.
0126 Hours, September 19, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Halcyon Class Cruiser Pillar of Autumn
Warthog Bay, near Launch Bay Seven
"Alright you sorry specimens", said Sgt. Stacker to his group of veterans and newer Marines, "The Blue Blooded Bastards decide to follow us all the way from Reach, and apparently we got ourselves somethin' so hot for them, that there willing to fight us for it. So Marines, You want to fight some Covenant, Spatter there sorry brains on the hull, than I expect you to be ready and at Combat stations five minutes ago. Is that understood Marines?!" The hull resounded with a unanimous "Sir, Yes Sir!" "Well get your sorry asses moving then!" was Stacker's response. Everyone bolted for their individual places, around three decks up above their current position.
Ninth Age of Reclamation
Covenant Holy City, High Charity
High Council Chamber
"You may speak, Commander Nulamee." The Prophet of Truth had ordered him here to report on the forces which had found the sacred ring. The elite found himself in a mixture of nervousness, pride, and fear. "Noble Hierarchs, I bring news of the operations on the sacred ring."
"Well then, commander, deliver the news you bear."
"We have found resistance. Our fleet was tied down by a human vessel, commanded by a ship master named 'Keez'."
"Commander, you know very well what you must do, the Great Journey may well be upon us, commander, and your forces will lead the Covenant in reaching it."
0127 Hours, September 19, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Halcyon Class Cruiser Pillar of Autumn
"Hell's Waiting Room"
Cpl. Monteza was still laughing over one of the Helljumper's favorite jokes, told by their leader, LT. McKay, as most of them still were, as he strapped into his HEV. He had a disk of his own with him, a personal favorite, with the ODST's anthem burned on it. His pod shuddered as his neighbors' fell toward the ring Keyes found. He ran a system check on the pod, as is mandatory, and stared up at the countdown timer. As the digit clicked down to "0", he grabbed on tight to the straps across his armor, and bit his lip. A few minutes later, he grabbed a data player, popped in his disc, and blared it over the team freq. McKay and Major Silva seemed not to care about his blatant violation of protocol, so he left it on, and it had a nice calming effect on him.
With a shudder, the ceramic outer skin on Monteza's pod began to burn away, and it became hellishly hot. He pulled off his heavy black helmet, and wiped a line of sweat off his brow. On his pod's view screen, an image of the ring grew increasingly larger, and he could spot some features of the landscape he was about to land on. A large structure, shaped like a pillar, was supposed to be their new base, according to Major Silva's command pod. His pod's chute deployed, and the air became refreshingly cool. With a slam and a cloud of dust, he finally impacted on the pods surface, and he kicked the door out, in time to see the smoking hulk of a covenant banshee smack down on his previously attached door.
0130 Hours, September 19, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Longsword Interceptor
I watched as the Autumn's abused hulk careened down toward the surface of the construct below. Keyes' command lifeboat shot out, and he watched it speed off in the distance as he moved to take out a Covenant Harbinger dropship heading for the vulnerable pelicans making their escape from the Autumn. A quick burst of machine gun fire on each side, and an Archer or two, and the ship smoked and tumbled towards solid ground. Majors spotted a Covie platoon also on terra firma, and we gave them our "surprise assholes!" gift basket.
Orsa 'Nulamee had been ordered to retrieve an artifact, the sacred icon, and had ample equipment to do so. The ship commanded by the "Keez" human had been destroyed, crashing into the sacred ring, but all else seemed to be going well. He commanded a group of twenty elites, fifteen jackals, a pair of hunters, and fifteen grunts. Up ahead, he saw a large, long, low forerunner structure, well lit, and barely high enough for him to pass under the ceiling of. He stationed the hunters outside.
As 'Nulamee passed under the threshold of the building, he saw a large room. The building, he also noticed, was very well lit for a structure thousands of years old. A squad made up of two Grunts and an equal amount of Jackals when the group went down on an old lift, large enough for a pair of Wraith tanks to be sitting side by side on, and still enough to have room left over. The reason 'Nulamee and his squad were going through this building was because analysts on High Charity, the Holy City of the Covenant, had found that the ancients, in all their wisdom, had left an arms cache deep inside the mysterious structure. The squad under his command could greatly benefit from the capture of weapons belonging to the forerunners, and they had no idea the opposition they might meet n their way to the sacred icon. 'Nulamee was impatient to accelerate his race on the path of the great Journey, but so it was the Prophet's decree that the weapons first be found.
D+144:38:54 (Corporal Monteza Mission Clock)/
Guard Post Near Alpha Base Landing Area
I had been put on his least favorite thing ever, guard duty. At least I had dodged K.P. from McKay, who had found a grunt in one of the covie ghosts, or Gees, as everyone was calling them. After the recent offensive attacks by Covenant, guards where needed in a bad way, so I did get some ammo and an MA5B, along with the sidearm of my choice, which happened to be my M6D, and my armor, an ODST's best friend, could carry as much free ammo as I could grab. I had made a "bunk" for my self, assembled from a lifeboat chair and some bits of my old drop pod. I had some down time, so naturally I took advantage of the fact and I had my M6D disassembled and was in the process of cleaning it. I had gotten brave and tried some of the foul smelling food-in-a-tube McKay had found, and it was tolerable. A Pelican appeared over the horizon, nearing the landing area I was guarding, and its tail number was C-217. I grabbed my radio. "Ground control, this is Corporal Monteza down here on the landing strip, do you read? Over." They told me to go ahead. "I see a Pelican, Charlie 2-1-7, repeat Charlie 217, did you clear her? Over." She was cleared with Ground Control, so I headed toward it. Within seconds, I was knocked on the ground, bleeding. A plasma rifle blast had smacked my chest, and the SOB that fired stepped on my arm as he passed, crushing it instantly. I radioed in. "Ground Control, this is Corporal Monteza! We got hostiles on the strip, repeat, hostiles on the strip! Send some men down ASAP!"
I reached down, and my hand came back up sticky and warm. I looked down and saw, to my horror, my scrambled guts, and blood stained armor. Then, a blue sphere flew through the air hissing, and hit the ground with a dull thud next to my head. My world faded into blackness, and I slipped into unconsciousness.
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