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The Cradle of Life, Chapter I
Posted By: Insomnia, Mark Lieberg, Commander Demitri Wolf
Date: 11 November 2005, 6:43 am
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0400 Hours, October 12, 2552 (Military Calendar)
New Mombassa, Kenya/ Unknown Location/ Near Air Raid
Lights and thunder flashed across the morning sky as dozens of explosive bombs were thrown and scattered across eight miles of city streets exploding on impact. Huge balls of red and yellow flames enveloped small, medium, and large sections throughout the city. Well…that's what Sergeant Major Lieberg was seeing through his eyes. It wasn't a site to remember. Explosions like the one happening in New Mombassa hasn't happened since the formation of the UNSC.
Mak was just pleased they weren't air raiding the whole country. A small portion is enough to tear one's mind apart. Destruction and grief over things built in past times destroyed in a matter of seconds. All because of this Human-Covenant war going on, and the UNSC has some secret files somewhere within the eight miles being bombed right now.
His squad, the Spartan, and the other tag along Marines continued to watch in disbelief. They knew this is what happened in war, but they didn't know this could be so gruesome, so brutal, and such a violent picture that shouldn't ever be remembered. Fred, the Spartan however, has seen this many, many times. More than anyone he knew. All his brothers and sisters fighting in the war, all the training he's had, and battles. He couldn't imagine what John, the Master Chief, had gone through at Halo.
John said that the destruction of Halo ended a whole lot of things, and started something new. It created walls around his memories, and barriers to block out emotion. He even told him that when Captain Keyes died, it was a painful death, one that no one could resist. Not even Cortana could find a way to return him to his normal state of…human form. The Master Chief gave us a report on the alien parasites after they had bombed the Covenants Main Fleet that was prepared to jump to Earth.
Then again, Fred couldn't talk about it, and neither the others, because it was sealed as Top Secret and Classified as Top Priority Level Five. Seeing this destruction of New Mombassa was nothing compared to the Fall of Reach. His home planet was gone in a few days. He lost so many brothers and sisters splitting up the team, but he knew what he did was right. He had to send a team to protect the power generators that powered the MAC Guns up above, and also send a team to head quarters. But since it failed, he left it all behind him.
Now, right now at this very second was what he had to focus on, and watching this air raid wasn't what he had in mind. He wanted to save lives, and kill as many Covenant as he could. A million for each brother and sister they had killed and taken away from him. He was going to give a wanting of revenge on the aliens, and he was going to do it soon. He knew he was going to.
Flames lowered, and the air raiders plotted a course away from the burning, destroyed city of New Mombassa. Sergeant Major Lieberg turned around and pulled out a box of cigarettes he had brought with him. He told himself if things got hot, he was going to start, but this…this wasn't the beginning. He didn't want to smoke, because he wanted to live. Live to see the end of a new beginning after this war. Then he decided not to start, so he took the box and crumbled it into a small ball.
He walked towards his communication unit, and motioned him to come forward. Private Brown unhooked the phone from his back and handed it to his Sergeant Major. Fred looked at Mak and then turned around towards the Scorpion Tank. The Pilot, Sergeant and Corporal just waited inside the 'Hog they managed to repair before the Sergeant Major's team made it in and the rest of Mak's squad were standing up straight watching the flames from the city vanish revealing the destroyed buildings.
The Sergeant Major nodded and Brown signaled in for Commander Wolf. Static filled the end of the line for a second and then a recognizable voice was heard.
"This is Commander Wolf piloting Sky Hawk Squadron reporting. Whom may I ask am I speaking to?" the reply came from possibly up above. Lieberg smiled.
"This is Sergeant Major Mark Lieberg reporting in sir."
"Well, well Sergeant Major. How've you've been? Like the demonstration First Echelon gave you what is it now? Five minutes ago?" the end replied with a hint of amusement after a sharp crackling noise was heard through the other end.
Lieberg nodded and then looked back, " Sir?"
"Just some Mortar Fire, continue on Lieberg."
"Yes sir, it was…peaceful. Sir, I've got some other tag along, friendly of course, and a Spartan. Any orders you got for me sir?"
"Yes Sergeant Major, the matter of fact is that there is a Covenant Cruiser; a gargantuan one, positioned just above central Asia. Intelligence suggests that its down on the surface giving troops supplies. THey are searching for something very important. We want to take that thing out as quickly as possible." The Commander stated as he waited for a reply.
"Sir? Why can't FleetCom just send a tactical warhead?" Lieberg asked.
The Sergeant Major heard a sigh and the Commander began, "The fight above isn't that well. The Covenant have obliterated our lines and have begun landing all over the entire planet. But strangely something's different. We think they're searching for something, but we don't know entirely what it is they are looking for. Right now, we want you and your team including that Spartan and the others to head over to these coordinates, and to blow that ship out of the sky or take possession of it if possible."
Jesus Christ, Mark thought.
"Ten-four sir. Stay Safe and we'll report back within a few days." He ended as the Commander radioed out.
"We'll give you cover support until you reach the Covenant Cruiser. Now you stay safe all right bud? See you soon. Commander Wolf out."
The Squad and the tag along Marines looked at the Sergeant Major. They were waiting for what to do next and curious what they had to do. Lieberg didn't know how to break it to them, but Fred. He turned around facing the Marines, cocked his Battle Rifle and said only two words, because he heard every single word in the conversation.
"Lets Go."
Demitri shot his SkyHawk through the amber clouds and burst out the other side and into hell. Miles below him streaks of blue and red merged into blotches of pain that marked out the dozens of firefights and explosions that now ravaged the East African Protectorate of New Mombassa.
The Commander nudged the joystick before him and his plane gracefully spun a full revolution and entered a hundred and eighty degree drop straight down, leveling out three hundred feet above the tortured landscape.
He swung back into the front phalanx formation of ten other jets behind him as the radio in his helmet pinged and an identification tag of the calls source flashed onto his eyepiece, Sergeant Major M. Lieberg.
"Yeah?' the Commander answered and smiled as the voice of his old friend replied.
"This is Sergeant Major Mark Lieberg reporting in sir." Mark, he thought, haven't heard your voice since Reach…
"Well, well, Sergeant Major, how've you've been? Like the demonstration First Echelon gave you what is it now? Five minutes ago?" he smiled slightly as a Wraith mortar came shooting up through the air, Wolf lazily spun the Hawk out of the way and guided it back to its original bearing, the ball of plasma continuing in a downward decent towards the ocean.
There was a pause on the line and then Lieberg's voice came back over the line, "Sir?" he asked and Wolf stared determinedly forward for a moment before replying.
"Just some mortar fire, continue on Lieberg." Wolf chinned the team-wide freq; he wanted his squadron to hear the orders too.
"Yes sir, it was," Lieberg searched for words, "peaceful. Sir, I've got some other tag along, friendly of course, and a Spartan. Any orders you got for me sir?"
Commander Taylor tapped his display and a schematic of a huge ship made of five bulbous sections; a Covenant ship with enough gut to gut twenty warships. "Yes Sergeant Major, the matter of fact is that there is a Covenant Cruiser; a gargantuan one, positioned just above central Asia. Intelligence suggests that its down on the surface giving troops supplies. They are searching for something very important. We want to take that thing out as quickly as possible." Wolf waited on the line while Lieberg took in the information.
"Sir?" The Sergeant Major questioned, "Why can't FleetCOM just send a tactical warhead?"
Demitri sighed, the grim reality was that there was no one who could launch the missile at the moment, "The fight above isn't that well. The Covenant have obliterated our lines and have begun landing all over the entire planet. But strangely something's different." Wolf had seen many Covenant invasions, as he spoke his mind wandered quickly back to Reach.
"We think they're searching for something, something very important, but we don't know entirely what it is they are looking for. Right now, we want you and your team including that Spartan and the others to head over to these coordinates, and to blow that ship out of the sky or take possession of it if possible."
"Ten-four sir. Stay Safe and we'll report back within a few days." He ended as the Commander radioed out.
Wolf kept the team freq on and spoke to his men and women, "You know what you have to do, prioritise targets and shoot to kill, Wolf over-and-out." Ten blue acknowledgement lights lit his HUD, with a moment to think by himself Wolf thought of the Covenant, and the pain they had caused him.
It was because of the Elites that his brother wouldn't see another day; the Hunters had stripped him of his father, the Jackals and Grunts ravaging the bodies of his friends while his mother was murdered by the Drones.
He himself had suffered at their hands, and had – ironically – lost his own; his right hand was prosthetic, severed above the wrist by a plasma sword. Wolf crunched the hand into a tight ball as he thought of the ones behind all this; the Prophets. And knew what he would do if he ever had the pleasure of meeting one.
With that thought locked firmly in his mind, Wolf sighted a trio of Covenant Banshee's, "Hold position," he ordered over the team frequency, "they're mine," his SkyHawk broke formation, chasing down the lead craft.
A ping sounded in his ear, missile lock, holding his thumb over the joystick he drew a circle in the air, "Yippy-kai-ay, motherfucker!" With a sadistic grin he plunged down.
The wrecked purple chassis of the Banshee crunched hard to the ground three seconds later, to be joined shortly after by the smouldering wrecks of three more, tracer round entry and exit holes peppering their once sleek frames.
On the road beneath his squadron, a Scorpion MBT slid over the wreckage, heavy calibre rounds rapidly shooting from its long barrelled cannon, cracking and destroying several Ghosts that tried to get to it. Inside, a single green armoured figure sat hunched over its controls, one of the few songs he knew playing over in his head.
The guitar riffs came in harsh groups of three and the Spartan sent off shells in time, he skipped the verse and headed straight into the chorus as the tank rolled from the road and onto the suspension bridge that lead to the heart of New Mombassa.
Fred nodded his head and whispered softly to himself, "I'm on the Highway to Hell."
1124 Hours, October 12, 2552 (Military Calendar)
Near the Ural Mountain Chain of Eurasia
The weather up in the northern part of the eastern side of the world was beginning to get colder. The Ural Mountains were always snowy with ice caps on the mountains nearly every month of the year. The Group of Marines that were ordered to head towards the set of coordinates were nearly a mile away from their location, and by the looks of it, there was no Covenant Cruiser to be seen. No Banshee patrol aircraft, no troop movements no nothing. Not even the sky was covered with blue plasma fire.
Sergeant Major Lieberg was beginning to think if Intelligence has gotten inconclusive now. And if they were, they were in a heap of trouble because they traveled for nearly eight hours to get to the coordinates without air support. He wanted to contact Commander Wolf and ask him to verify the target's location but he was going to walk the last mile to find if it was there. There was not a bird in the sky as well. So they continued to walk on.
When they reached the Ural Mountains, it was a chain of rocks that continued from left to right, and it blocked the sight of the other side, which would be flushing with forestland and animals. Hopefully nothing bad was happening.
The Squad continued onwards threw the mountain. It took another two hours to get through and when they reached the edge, the Spartan signaled the Sergeant Major to hold position.
Mak looked at the super soldier curiously and was puzzled by why, so he ordered the rest to wait so he went with the Spartan. Fred didn't like the idea of tagging along with Marines, but if John could do it at Halo, he knew he could do it as well. He had to start trusting other soldiers to cover his back in a fight, so he let Mak follow up. When they reached the jagged edge of the Ural Mountains they peaked over the corner.
Expecting to see a flushing green forest and animals and a large lake. They found a huge, massive ship nearly a thousand feet above the trees. The Sergeant Major looked at it; horrified noticing the enormous vessel. Staring at random spots, he could see flashes of plasma throughout the forest. But with surprise nothing was destroyed. Not a single thing was damaged or burned, so that rose more questions leading to ask why. Fred observed the area, enhanced his view and noticed the Gravity Lift under the ship. A huge line of Covenant artillery bombarded the forest with utmost precision...and not a single tree fell.
He smirked and then moved back with the Sergeant Major and towards the waiting Squad.
Mak knelt down as the Spartan did the same. He looked around and spoke.
"There's a Covenant Cruiser just as the Commander said there would be. But this ship isn't in the sky above; it's nearly a thousand feet above the top of the trees. I'm sure the Spartan here has located the Gravity Lift and already has a plan?" the Sergeant Major looked at Fred as the Spartan smiled.
"Yes, there is a Gravity Lift centered under along the belly of the ship. Shouldn't be hard to miss. The beam is a very violet color and you'll see Covenant technicians working on building a temporary base. That's what I saw. There are fifteen Mortar Tanks guarding the area, but are bunched up from the east side so they're facing the mountainside. Which is bad because if they see us, we can be gone in a matter of minutes. So, I'll go and take them out. There is a Ghost patrol circling the Gravity Lift that I noticed speeding between trees.
"So I would like the Pilot, Sergeant and Corporal on the 'Hog taking it out when they encounter it. Sergeant Major, you and your squad will be the main attack force. There is a weak spot coming from the west facing the Mortars. So once I take that out, you and your squad should be able to clean the rest up. Most of the troops down there are Grunts and Jackals. There are a few Elites watching the tanks so I'll take them as well. Watch for enemy snipers. Any questions?"
Sergeant Garcia spoke up, "What about our tank? Can we use it in some way from up here to target those tanks down there or to help take out some troops?"
Fred nodded in response, "Yes, you most certainly can. You and your three men stay here and watch the tank. If you see any Banshee Patrol craft flying above, take them out. But I can't guarantee if you fire the first shot that the enemy tanks might have enough time to locate and destroy your position."
"We'll take the risk." Garcia said nodding to his squad.
The Sergeant Major nodded and looked at his squad, "Very well. If that's it, lets get this over with." Lieberg stood up prepared to leave until a loud noise reached everyone's ears.
Ninth Age of Reclamation, Holy Ark/ In whereabouts of the holy Ark, northern human continent, "Earth"
The Covenant Caliph exited his tent with a sharp flick of the wrist; leaving a comfortable sanctuary, and entering "hell".
He glanced around. Plasma flares and streaks of lightning painted the sky an unnatural blue, illuminating the night and allowing him to see far ahead. A line of Artillery was formed ahead, Wraith mortar tanks and Plasma Artillery Cannons, firing as fast as their charges would let them, casting deafening explosions down into the forest below.
Three seraph fighters soared over him at hypersonic speed, corkscrewed, and dropped around twenty plasma bombs on the ridge overhead. The sky was white with the overwhelming illumination of white-hot particles.
The blast cleared, and where rock hard mountain had once been, there was nothing except vaporized rock.
"Holy Caliph," a voice cried over the distance. Field Master 'Amomee ran towards him with haste. "I have news my lord."
The Covenant Caliph glanced at him. "Report." and cast his gaze back at the line of artillery.
'Amomee replied. "Yes, of course. If you would allow me into your tent, I can explain with evidence."
'Omnamamee glared at him, and gestured him to come inside.
Inside the tent, gone was the hellish landscape, and there was a warm illumination. Human trophies and other instruments of pride were ordained neatly over the Caliph's desk.
'Amomee took out a projector, and it activated, showing them the landscape.
"'Omnamamee, we have made this landscape into hell. As I know, human forces are staying far away from here. A few stragglers have been managed to be found, but were quickly disposed of on sight.
I've recieved word that Grand Field Master 'Nexteromee is supplying us with two million fresh troops and artillery. They have cast a path of destruction on their way here, burning down every human settlement they have found.
However, there is bad news. Twenty squads have dissapeared. In some of the images of the last video records we have recieved, they have originated from this area." His golden armored hand pointed at a heavily dense area of the forest. "They carried energy swords."
'Omnamamee sighed. "Hot water, 'Amomee?" as he strode over to a mug of boiling water. He drank it smoothly, and his mandibles relaxed.
"No thanks, sire. It's truly an honor, but my faith lies with serving you, not-"
"Please." 'Omnamamee said.
"Yes.." 'Amomomee said, with a staggered voice. "Herbs would be nice my lord, but this really isn't-"
"Nonsense, Field Master. After the work you have contributed, I find it deserving that you are properly rewarded. Now, how many Seraph fighters do we have in the air on this planet?"
"Several hundred thousand-"
"Then why hasn't the human air support been obliterated? That is your first concern. It could leave us highly vulnerable to attack. I don't want the Instrument of Retaliation to suffer a deathblow. That is unacceptable." 'Omnamamee said, as he handed the Field Master his cup.
"Excellency, a thousand apologies. I have been working as hard as I can to find the Ark within the forest. The artillery isn't helping."
"I understand, Field Master. Pull the squads out of the forest, and use every single piece of artillery we have to bombard those trees until they are vapor."
"Sire, what of the creatures? How did they obtain energy swords?"
"Patience. They are no concern to us, unless they break our concealed infantry lines numbering seven hundred thousand, correct?"
"Yes, of course excellency."
"Now you know what you must do."
'Amomee nodded, knowing his task must be fufilled.
© 2005 Cradle of Life Team (Insomnia, Mark Lieberg, Commander Demitri Wolf, Zombie)
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