War of Eayn: Chapter 3
Posted By: Offensive Bias<cheeseandbeans@msn.com>
Date: 18 March 2009, 4:26 pm
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CHAPTER THREE
DÉJÀ VU?
Location: Surface of Eayn, Imhotep region: 1309 hours. Assault on Eayn still in progress.
16th September 2723 (Military Calendar) A few metres from the crash site of Falcon I88.
Jacky was huddled in the grass. He had his sights concentrated on a tree where he saw a slight sign of movement. A shell boomed in the distance, followed by a long burst of gunfire. Jacky wondered how badly the battle was going, and if they would win it. He saw a slight shift in the leaves surrounding the trees. He looked back and saw the Sergeant creeping through the long grass in the other direction. Jacky thumbed off the safety and aimed at the leaves. He rustled the grass a little and the leaves moved suddenly. Jacky fired a 4 second burst and heard the sound of a body hitting the floor. Blood had sprayed the tree the leaves surrounded and the Sergeant and his men ran over to investigate.
"What are you shooting at Private?"
"Something in the forest. I think I killed it Sir."
"Hodgkin's, take a look!" The Private nodded and walked into the forest. He emerged a few seconds later with a captured Sniper Rifle. It had an odd design. It was sleek and curved at the back. It was like a purple bamboo stick. It had a large bulk at the top which appeared to be a scope. The Jackal was a sniper and was probably picking out his target when Jacky interrupted.
"Sniper Sir, maybe we should move a little faster. Get to the front."
"Okay Private, MOVE OUT!" The soldiers turned and ran through the grass towards the sounds of battle once again.
A whine reached the soldiers ears and they stopped to listen. A series of squawks rang out and they crept forward out of the grass. At the edge of the forest was a pair of Jackals. One was lying on the floor, clutching a bloody stump that was once its arm. The other was probably saying words of comfort and trying to contact help. The Sergeant fired his gun and knocked the Jackal to the ground with a smoking wound in its head. Jacky and the others fired hell upon the downed alien and it was unrecognisable after the amount of bullets it took. Jacky reloaded and went out into the clearing. Big mistake. A large flash went off and Jacky felt like his eyes were burning out of his sockets. He was aware of himself falling to the floor. And after that, blackness took him.
He heard screams first. He opened his eyes and saw himself staring into the bird-like face of a Jackal. It squawked in alarm when Jacky opened his eyes and kicked him in the head. He reeled back and spat out a tooth. A loud snap rang out and the screams abruptly stopped. Jacky tried looking around to see what was happening but just received a punch in the gut. He was held up in midair by a strange device. It held his arms up in the air and didn't allow him to move his limbs. The Jackal squawked and another one walked over. It looked at Jacky as though he were something disgusting on the ground and waved a casual hand at him. The other Jackal bowed and gave a series of bark like noises at a guard Jacky couldn't see. Heavy foot falls sounded and one of the tall, blue armoured Aliens came into view. He tried to remember where he had seen them before. In school. Learning about the war. He was taught the Alien races. This was around the time of the small Brute attack fleet that had attempted to destroy a Military outpost planet. This was an Elite. The aliens that tried to help them. The Alien looked sorrowfully at Jacky and seemed almost to regret what it had to do. It pulled a metal object out of its belt and ignited it. A sword appeared where once there had been just air. It took a step towards him while the Jackal squawked in delight. The Elite looked at the Jackal with disgust, and looked back to Jacky. It pulled back the sword and swung it towards Jacky.
The sword connected with the machine holding him in place and he dropped to the ground. He looked up in time to see the Elite twist the neck of one of the Jackals, while decapitating the other before it could call for help. He picked up one of the weapons the Jackals were so fond of, and took one of their shields. It was another green one. He wondered why there were no ordinary Jackals. He always got the ones that knew how to fight. He turned towards the Elite and it pointed out of the door before impaling itself on the sword. Jacky felt a moment of sorrow for the Elite that had just saved his life. As its body fell to the floor, dripping blood, he closed its eyes and whispered a farewell before running out of the door. Before long, a shrill screech reached his ears. It must be an alarm. Damn, these things must not be bothered about what pitch the sounds they heard were. A door slid open next to him and a wary Green shielded Jackal walked out. Jacky didn't hesitate on delivering it a fate which had killed most of his brothers in arms. As he stepped over the charred body, he saw the exit. This seemed too easy. As he approached the exit, the door burst open and he raised his shield in time as bullets slammed into the shield. Wait, bullets? He screamed out "FRIENDLY FIRE!" And the hail of lead stopped immediately. He saw a large group of ODST's venturing inside. One of them ripped of his helmet. "Hey douche bag, I wondered how long it'd be before I saved your ass."
"I was doing fine on my own you crazy bastard. But thanks."
"No problem man! We beat back the Jackals into the Anubis sector. We have to clear out the few Jackals that have refused to surrender and dug in at the forest. Lucky we found this bunker."
"Look for other Marines. They were with me and then next thing, we were ambushed and I woke up here."
"Okay Jacky. Listen, go outside and tell the Sergeant you're a pr-"
"SHEPPARD! Go outside and get the Captain!"
"Yes Sir! Tell them you're a prisoner. Gotta go buddy." Sheppard ran outside. Jacky soon followed. He felt rejoice at the thought of them capturing the objective. As he walked outside into the warm, sunny forest. He wondered how many it took to capture this piece of land.
Redford had seen the Jackal ambushed and was disgusted. They would use their own wounded as bait. They were sick. He had seen the strange behaviour of the Elite. Why had it saved Jacky. Once again, he had just gotten lucky. Redford looked over at the casualty chart. He flinched at the numbers. The Jackals on the Asteroids had been cake. And down the surface, they somehow became amazing tactical fighters. He read a report from a Major on the battlefield. It said that the Green shielded Jackals had been defending the sector. These Jackals were special forces. Known as the Guardians of Eayn. They were fanatics and didn't surrender. They knew how to fight and use tactics to their advantage. They used traps and showed no mercy. If only his men could fight like that and they could have won a better victory. These losses were unacceptable, and he would be grilled about it. Maybe even demoted.
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