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Chapter Three: Rise of the Phoenix
Posted By: Blue Jaguar<CrazymadSh33p@netscape.net>
Date: 6 September 2003, 12:07 PM
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Chapter Three
06:18 EST (Local Time) Fort Custer, ATLAS
(Advanced Training center for Logistics And Strategic assault)
Sergeant Keichi picked up his helmet and ran out of the barracks. As he ran through the hallways of the base he struggled to avoid other personnel attempting to get to their positions. As he neared the main elevator that would take him to the surface, the rest of his squad joined him. They slowly pushed through the crowd until they were on the elevator. Even then, they were still fighting a crowd. Hundreds of other troops in the base were needed topside, and naval personnel in the base had to get to their ships.
The elevator finally reached the top after what seemed like forever, but in reality was only two minutes. The elevator had been stopping at nearly ever floor to pick up more passengers. "Don't they realize that other elevators do exist in this base?!" Keichi finally screamed in anger. "Don't take it too hard sarge, ya know if they don't get topside, that means no fleet, and if we got no fleet, we might as well not go up either." Corporal Cecil Baynes replied.
"Wow ya don't say?" Keichi replied with this and the finger.
The rest of the people remained quiet on the elevator, which was unusual. "How can you keep 50 people on an elevator quiet when they barely have room to breath?" Keichi thought to himself.
6:25 EST (Local Time) Sea Hawk dropship Checkmate 1-1
Major Rashon checked the time. Only a few more minutes and they would be ready to launch. As the last few marines were boarding on the other Sea Hawks, his own craft began to lurch forward. The Sea Hawks had been developed primarily for ODST operations. They were smaller and quicker than the Pelicans, but lacked any armor at all. A small amount of damage would, in theory, completely destroy a Sea Hawk. "Not a comforting thought." Rashon said to himself.
"What was that Major?" Lieutenant Barnes yelled, trying to outdo the engines.
"Nothing, I just thought that it wouldn't be fun to get shot up in one of these things." Rashon yelled back.
"Are you out of your fucking mind sir? When the hell is it fun to be shot up?" Barnes replied.
"Its fun to get shot up with drugs I bet" Sergeant Wallace added in.
All three laughed, but quickly shut up as the Sea Hawk began shaking violently.
"What the fuck is going on?' Adrian screamed at the pilot.
"Sorry sir, we were passing behind a group of Pelicans, they move the air around a lot." The pilot replied.
"Oh, well try and avoid them" Adrian ordered.
"Aye, aye sir." The Pilot said this and took back the controls from the co-pilot.
6:34 EST (Local Time) Fort Meyers, ATLAS
Alexei whistled. Around him was nearly 500 Pelicans, all loaded with marines. The landing pad at Fort Meyers was enormous. Besides the Pelicans, nearly 100 Longsword Fighters were taking off to the north, and to the south, about 70 Penguin class heavy supply ships were also taking off. On board the Penguin's were 210 SBT.1A1 King Cobra super tanks.
The King Cobra featured a 140mm cannon, which could double as a long range artillery piece if needed. What gave the tank the designation as a "Super Tank" was its' was that the Cannon was a 140mm MAC cannon. The tank had light armor, mostly ceramic plate, designed specifically to defeat Covenant plasma weapons. The tanks were extremely swift, so that it would be much easier to out-maneuver any opposing Covenant army. In this case, the forces on REACH. This tank also came in handy for another reason. It could work in a vacuum. Its engines were made from captured Ghosts and other Covenant craft. It could fly poorly in space, but it could still be used for air defense roles, although it was a rather easy target to hit.
Alexei watched as the hatch closed and then walked towards the front of the Penguin command craft. It was basically an AWACs craft. Their shuttle would never land, they wouldn't be with the troops. Instead they would be above the battlefield monitoring troop movements and making movements with their own troops.
"Colonel Alexei, we are assigning you to take out a Covenant defense group on Hill 681. ONI recon probes show that the Covenant Special forces are based on that hill. I will send the information to you." General Sebastian Ross startled Alexei with this.
"General, I am already striking 3 other positions. Isn't there another regiment available?" Alexei replied.
"No Sasha, we need as many troops as we can get our hands on to break through those Covenant defense lines. We need your regiment to cover our rear as we break through. That special forces camp could really cause some problems if it isn't taken care of, understand?" The general informed.
"Yes sir." Alexei replied.
Alexei went back to the central command room on the large craft. The ship was nearly 200 metres long, and weighed over 1 million kilograms, approximately the size of a small warship. He walked into the command room, it was nearly completely empty. Most of the commanders were in cryo-stasis waiting for the ship to reach its destination. The only ones left were the ones with battle plans to finish.
06:57 Cruiser UNSC Leyte Gulf, in Slipstream, approx 21.3 light years from REACH
Admiral Louis paced around the CIC. It was empty, except for two navigation and a communications officer. "What is the status of our troops?" He asked the comm officer.
"The 89th Battalion is in slipstream sir, estimated time of arrival in Sigma Octanus system is 17 hours. 82nd Marine Division is also in slipstream, they will arrive about 5 minutes after the Special Ops do Admiral." The officer reported.
"All right Lieutenant, I'll be down in my quarters." The Admiral replied.
Louis left the CIC and walked to his cabin, which was only a little ways down the hall. He was extremely nervous about this operation. It was extremely risky, but this is the best chance they would have to eliminate the Covenant strike force.
00:02 EST (ATLAS Time) Sea Hawk Dropship Checkmate 1-1
"All pilots and ground forces, we are exiting slipstream, lock your visors and prepare for enemy action." The lead pilot ordered.
Adrian put his helmet on and locked it down, he then loaded his weapon and watched the rest of his men do the same. On his dropship were 20 officers and special guards. They were to seize the bridge of the Swiftsure and then command the rest of the operation from there.
The Sea Hawk dropship shuttered violently as though it had been hit by a freight train going 500 mph. If the marines had not been locked into their seats they would have been thrown all around the cargo bay.
"Contact Seraphs, 20 K Clicks and closing fast!" One of the pilots yelled through the comm system.
"Checkmate 1-1, I count 19 Seraphs on intercept course with us."
"Haven 1 to Checkmate 1-1, we'll take care of those fighters, just make sure you get to the Switftsure." The Fighter commander replied.
The Sabre Medium fighters broke away from the group of dropships and headed towards the enemy Seraphs. They were coming from the Covenant fleet, on the back side of the planet. The plan was for the fighters to draw the Covenant craft in their direction while the dropships raced around the planet and hit them from behind. Being a Frigate, which was not well armored, and also having several chief Covenant officers on board, it would most certainly be at the back of the formation and somewhat easy to reach.
The Sabre fighters engaged the Seraphs, ripping them apart. Nearly 10 of the 19 Seraphs were destroyed in the first missile salvo. The 18 Sabre craft mixed in with the remaining Covenant craft and a dogfight ensued. More Covenant craft joined the fight, but the UNSC pilots had no reinforcements.
The Dropships began to gain more and more speed as they ran in extremely low orbit over REACH. Down below them was a desolate, and barren planet. It looked ugly now, only large bulging craters and huge black scars colored the landscape. As the dropships came within visual siting of the fleet, they immediately spotted the Covenant frigate Swiftsure and began to make their run on it.
"Checkmate 1-1 to all dropships, fire Anti-Matter charges on my mark. 5...4...3...2...1...MARK!"
The dropships all released missiles slung beneath the craft at the Covenant frigate ahead. The missiles raced in on their unsuspecting target. As the missiles closed in on the craft, the ship began slowly changing directions. As they came yet closer in, the craft began to make emergency maneuvers and fire its defensive lasers. Most of the Anti-matter missiles breached the defenses and struck the shields around the ship, causing them to shatter from the overwhelming force placed on them.
"The shields are down, depressurize cargo bay and prepare for contact."
The Sea Hawk flipped around 180 degrees and slowly backed into the Covenant craft. It hit the craft on the forward hull and then fired explosive charges which ripped a piece of armor away from the ship. The cargo bay door opened and the marines rushed through the gap.
"All right marines, lets move!" Rashon yelled out.
4 ODST Guards took point. The room was completely clear, so they secured the door and waited for the rest of the group. The marines burst through the door into yet another room, this time inhabited with grunts, a few jackals, and 2 elites. This must have been the medical bay since they were all wounded.
"Waste the fuckers" Rashon yelled.
On that order all of the soldiers opened fire, ripping the wounded Covenant soldiers to pieces and spraying blood all over the room. The group closed the door to this room and the dropship took off and headed back for slipstream.
00:19 EST (ATLAS Time) Covenant Frigate Swiftsure, D Deck, Section 52
Keichi leaned around the corner, 2 Elites were talking to each other in front of a door. Both Elites had on maroon armor, not people he wanted to get involved with.
"Tashek, get over here." He whispered to his sniper, Larin Tashek.
"Yeah skip?"
"2 maroon elites around the corner, gimme 2 in the head."
Tashek leaned around the corner with his sniper rifle in his hands. One of the Elites looked at him, but only for a second before twin 7.48x67mm rounds pierced his skull as well as the other Elites' skull. Both fell down dead. The suppressed rifle had still been powerful enough to kill the elites, although they had only been 20 metres away.
The group proceeded further aft in the ship, until finally they reached their destination. The 4 soldiers still remaining, one had been killed as they blasted their way onto the ship, grouped around the door. Keichi walked up to the door and kicked it with the bottom of his boot. The door was extremely strong, much too strong to kick open. He fell backwards and landed on his ass. "God dammit, what the fuck, who the fuck makes these fuckin doors?" He grumbled.
"Sir you want me to just hack the door?" Corporal Baynes finally said.
"Yeah sure, whatever floats your boat." Keichi replied.
Baynes walked up to the door and hooked a device up to it. 5 seconds later the door opened. Inside was a table. With 2 Gold Elites sitting at it with a Prophet at the head.
"Well hello boys and girls, todays' class will be on how not to loose a war." Keichi said.
The 4 soldiers walked into the room, with guns drawn, pointing at 1 at each Elite and 2 at the Prophet. Both Elites through their hands up and were disarmed by the marines. The Prophet however, was not armed and refused to put his hands up.
"God dammit, stupid dumbfuck, when I tell ya to do somethin ya goddam do it or I'll blow your fuckin head straight to hell!" Keichi yelled. The Prophet just stared at him, completely oblivious to what he was saying. Keichi finally got ticked off and whacked him across the face with his pistol, rendering the Prophet unconscious.
00:17 EST (ATLAS Time) Covenant Frigate Swiftsure, E Deck, Section 14
Alpha Company had snuck through the Covenant ship. Well, snuck is hardly appropriate, more of a massive covert strike. Nearly 90 troops were rampaging through this deck, killing anything that wasn't human. They needed to reach the Reactor, which was just a few hundred yards aft. The Covenant ship was a maze however, each hallway either led the wrong way or to no place at all.
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