Derailed Part 5
Posted By: Dispraiser<dispraiser@netzero.com>
Date: 23 September 2003, 12:10 AM
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Along the distant, desolate ground a Ghost howled over the surface, viewing the utter destruction before him. He saw a few pieces of armor from Covenant vehicles, but the ground was coated in remains of Human metal. A long duo of metal tubes ran off into the distance, but was destroyed in one place that a crater lie. A Hundred feet from the crater every tree was flattened for as far as his small, beady eyes could see. Something was wrong.
As the others stumbled with drunkenly slob-like footsteps from the wreckage of the train I began to dispatch teams to search the train for survivors. I clamored to the top of the train to get a better view of the surrounding situation. It was my instinct to gather as much intelligence as possible. When an ODST soldier is dropped into an operation we almost never have complete or accurate intelligence. It was my first duty and priority as commander to make sure my team was properly informed and commanded. At the moment my team was in chaos, and I couldn't rely one anyone but myself to provide accurate intelligence. As I reached the top of the train I pulled a small field monocular from my field pack. I activated the small device and peered along the train's path of destruction. Slowly I scanned the horizon, looking for anything that might indicate enemy movements. My monocular's perspective slid along the horizon gently and silently, until I suddenly noticed a large plume of dust. It crept upward, breathing terror as dust was lifted upwards and fell back down to the cold planet as if it was a respiration of evil. Within the cloud of death I knew that several purple monsters lie shrieking shrill warnings of the destruction they willed to inflict with every strand of their horrible being. I radioed a quick warning to the rest of the team instructing riflemen to garrison the train as cover, and the unarmed survivors to get behind the train. Markson clambered to the top of the train with me. He stopped moving but I could swear I heard something move after he had stopped.
"The civilians seem to be under control, albeit-" Markson began. I quickly hushed him with a hand signal. After a few moments of silence he continued, "The civilians seems to be controlled, but scared. Designated riflemen have taken up positions along the treeline and behind some cover." I saw something shimmer near the grass.
"Did you just see that?"
"I'm not sure what you're talking about sir. You might have had a concussion, we need to get you to the medical tent."
"It'll have to wait. How are the second wave riflemen?"
"They're in line and ready. We taught em how to use the rifles yesterday so whoever they have to fill in for they'll be able to."
"Alright. How much ammo do we have?"
"Enough, barely. RPG rounds should go first, but the Ghosts are coming first, so that's good. We can at least blow those up."
I heard some metal move around where Markson had climbed up the train. I thought I heard breathing. "Do you hear that?"
"What?"
"It's nothing-- What were we saying?"
"We were talking about second wave troops and ammo. Any other—." Suddenly I heard an electric whoosh above me. I rolled onto my back to see a blue glow, emanating from nothing plunge into Markson's back. As it lifted him into the air I saw the invisible Elite's telltale shimmering. I fired at it's arm as best I could, but only hit it's torso once. The Elite suddenly flickered into visibility. Markson raised his rifle with the last of his life and fired weakly into the Elite, the recoil throwing his arm around as it would a limp ragdoll. One of the bullets from his machine gun hit the Elite's face, and the body collapsed to the ground, the sword shimmering from existence. Markson's breathing had stopped, and heartlessly I grabbed his rifle and threw it to one of the civilians behind the train. The first wave of the assault hadn't even begun and already we were losing members of the team...
A Ghost howled defiantly as it arched over a nearby hill and into the firing range of the RPG Launcher. It quickly flaking into nonexistence as the fiery tongues of death licked the pilot. Another Ghost appeared over the hill, this time with a partner. The two weren't smart enough to realize why heir comrade had died, but were smart enough to avoid the fading fireball. The lead Ghost exploded as a hail of gunfire destroyed the other. One of the Ghost crested the lip of the hill and hit a fallen tree, flipping the pilot to a violent stop. I took the opportunity to shoot him several times. Another Ghost drifted over the hill, its pilot already killed by a sniper. The Ghost continued to fly forward until it hit the train and exploded. A half dozen more Ghosts broke the crest of the hill and hurtled toward the train. One of them fired the first plasma gunfire of the firefight, shortly before it was destroyed by a landmine set earlier. Another Ghost was destroyed before the remaining four Ghosts plunged upon our lines. Plasma raked the air near my gun nest and melted holes in the walls of the train around me. I could feel the warmth bleeding from the air around me as another Ghost exploded. One of the plasma bolts hit the ODST next to me, and he fell to the ground instantly. The Ghost was destroyed shortly afterwards. I ran to the wounded man and ducked as I looked at his wound. His leg was almost melted off, the gunfire had melted from one side through to the bone in the middle of his leg.
"Marcus? Can you hear me?" Another explosion flashed behind me as a frag grenade exploded, pelting the train with shrapnel.
"Yes, sir. I think I'm gonna need some help, sir."
"Stay calm, we're gonna dress this wound and get you behind the train." I looked up to see his second wave replacement and tossed him the rifle and ammunition before beginning to tend to Marcus' wounds. All I could do was spray some biofoam in his wounds and bandage it before returning to fight the Covenant. I ran to the window and witnessed utter destruction.
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