The Fallen: Chapter 1 Part 3
Posted By: Hikaru-119<hikaru119@email.com>
Date: 7 June 2003, 4:10 PM
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Part Three
A transmission then came in. The voice was familiar to the Chief. It was General Kits, the one he had overheard debate with Stanforth in orbit.
" Stanforth I thought you said you couldn't attack the orbiters. What the hell is happening up there?" the General said over the radio. Before the Admiral could respond Cortana interrupted.
" General this is Cortana. Those were the reinforcements I promised ." she said. Her response sounded odd to the General. From what he had been told is that the fleet ships in system were engaged and those that were not were at least a few star systems away or disabled.
" Cortana? Admiral what the hell have you been hiding from us???" General Kits demanded. However, even the Admiral did not fully understand. All he had been told was to not attack a particular Covenant ship and then suddenly that ship was assaulting other Covenant vessels.
" Yes Cortana, please explain what is happening. I want to know what reinforcement you were referring to." the Admiral said entering the conversation.
" Sirs I have the man that destroyed an entire Covenant armada." she then hesitated. " Virtually by himself." The two officers held their comments for a moment. Kits then responded.
" Cortana you are telling me that you have a Spartan on board that thing?" he asked with disbelief.
" Yes General I do. Now if don't mind the Chief and I need relief on this craft. Not every section is accessible from my current point and I believe it would be to our benefit if you would send some boarding parties to assist the Chief and I."
" Acknowledged Cortana. The Leviathan will send dropships your way. ETA ten minutes. Stanforth out." The Master Chief relaxed his shoulders in time to hear an explosion at the main door. There was another and then a final one that took the door down. He spun around with his rifle at ready and opened fire at the Grunts that were attempting to retake the bridge.
The Grunts came rushing in firing their weapons blindly in the hope of hitting a target. From what they figured there had to be many humans that had boarded in order to even take the bridge. Those that survived were shocked that there was only a single soldier occupying the room that wasn't Covenant. By the time they noticed this however their numbers were down drastically.
The doorway was clogged with bodies of the dead Grunts and they wouldn't be able to enter unless they blasted the bodies apart. For once the Grunts showed signs of intelligence and ran several meters away from the door. The Chief jumped down from the main section of the bridge and slowly walked towards the pile of bodies. He listened to what the Grunts were doing and the translation software came in handy just then.
He heard an english translation of the Grunt phrase, " Everybody duck!" Quickly he ran from the door and a plasma grenade rocked the bridge. Bodies flew and other plasma grenades that were suddenly activated by the explosion were sent flying and exploding at different intervals. Blue explosions went off all around the Chief and damaged the ramp up to main console and the first starboard hover unit causing it to tilt in that direction. The armor plating around the door was melted away and a crater almost made it through to the floor below.
The Grunts now had a clear way in and rushed the Chief. The glare of red metal and the light of plasma weapons fire filled a small section of the bridge. The Chief fired the last cough of his plasma rifle and switched to his MA8A and went back behind a support pillar.
Several of the Grunts ran inside and met the business end of an assault rifle and toppled over dead. The Chief's shields dropped once more and he slammed his back up against the pillar facing the wall that received heavy fire. He watched his shield bar slowly recharge when it suddenly stopped and the hit indicator on the left of his HUD glowed a dull red.
Three Grunts were attempting to flank him and were doing a good job of it. The Chief looked over and killed two using up the last of his current magazine. The remaining survivor ran away screaming like any other orange backed Grunt. The Chief swapped the magazine for another one and switched to his plasma rifle. Although the weapon was out of ammo it could still be used as a close combat weapon should the need arise. He ran for the two Grunts he had just killed at full speed, stopped, picked up a needler and two crystal ammo packets, and fired the remainder of the current ammo inside the needler at the Grunts that were taking cover.
The lead soldier took in eight needles and ran for a second before exploding into a plume of magenta colored shrapnel. He had to reload the needler and reopened fire on the enemy. After he unloaded another clip he heard machine gun fire followed by the screams of startled Grunts. The remaining enemy forces looked around in utter confusion from the sound of ever growing rifle fire. The Chief took advantage of this and jabbed the needler into the back of a Grunt.
The ammo in the top pierced through the outer layers of the survival pack and caused methane to hiss out at a rapid pace. It screamed in pain and bought four rounds in the back. The needles exploded blowing out the back end of its environment suit. The other Grunts turned back around to engage the Master Chief and were met with no target in sight.
The Chief had ran behind them and tossed his last plasma grenade in their midst. It exploded leaving only bits of Grunt pasted on the floor and neighboring wall. The Chief looked at his radar and saw a blob of yellow approaching his position. He could hear the noise of combat boots and marines barking orders at each other. He stuffed away the needler and pulled up his assault rifle. He waited and a contingent of marines rushed in seeing the Spartan and stopped in amazement from all the dead bodies.
" Good to see you sir," a marine said looking at the corpses of Covenant infantry. " Nice work you've done here." The Master Chief gave a curt nod accepting the compliment from the marine.
" What unit are you from soldier?" the Chief asked examining the squad. The sergeant of the group stepped forward. The man was at about six foot tall and even he had to look up to the Master Chief. He gave a crisp and proper salute and the Chief returned the favor.
" Sir Sgt. Links. 312th ODSTs Division Bravo Company Fire Team Delta under Captain Strathmore. Sir." the marine replied. The Spartan gave a quick glance to the other marines sizing them up. They would be adequate to guard the bridge long enough for him to help with the mop up duty. Then again even if they did fail he would not have a problem retaking the bridge should they fail.
" Sergeant I need to take leave of the bridge to continue mop up duty. Your squad has the bridge until I return. Cortana will keep you updated as to the situation around you." the Master Chief said to the marine. The sergeant replied with a loud 'sir' and turned to his squad.
" Okay marines we have nest duty until the Chief gets back. I want a perimeter set up in three minutes! Get to it!" The squad was quick to set up. Four marines armed with MA8As set up shop outside the blasted door and the remaining eight stayed in to defend the bridge and be ready to give support as necessary to the men in the hall. The Master Chief was pleased with the quick deployment and went back up to the center platform. Cortana heard everything and materialized once more into the physical module to be put back into the Chief's suit.
He took her and plugged her back in. The standard cooling of his mind set in and he regained his normal self again. He checked his ammo and decided to ditch the needler for a plasma pistol instead. Yet again another NAV point came up pointing to the shuttle bay he had already gone through.
" Chief the nearest group of marines are in this area. Ammo and supplies are located there. I recommend you restock before we head out to finish off the Covenant on this vessel. Oh yes if you are wondering my subroutines are still engaging the remaining Covenant ships in system." Cortana said to the Chief. He knew to take advantage of this opportunity and took a right out of the bridge and went through a quick passage and entered the shuttle bay's top floor.
The shields had been raised on the bay's doors and four pelicans were docked. Two on the lower level and the other two were set up on the second level. About twenty marines were running about taking each level. The Chief looked down and could see his shields could easily survive the fall onto a crate below. He walked over to the edge and dropped landing on the crate and suffered no damage to the shields. He approached an ammo dump that was being guarded by a single marine armed with an M7C sub-machine gun.
The marine stood in shock as the Master Chief went amongst the ammunition as if he owned it. The Chief grabbed two ammo packs, five frag grenades, pulled the ammo pack tabs out, and stored the ammo into their respective slots.. Not a word was spoken between the Chief and the marine. Instead the gaping jaw and bulging eyes of the marine said more words than he could have come up with anyway. The Chief listened for assault rifle fire and followed accordingly.
He was lead to a group of pinned down marines that were fighting an uphill battle against a phalanx of Jackals. When the marines heard and extra rifle firing above their heads they were amazed to see what stood behind them. The Chief emptied half a magazine taking out the main Jackal. He continued firing on the Jackals taking on one at a time.
However the Jackals quickly reorganized and gave heavy return fire. Bolts of green plasma flew past the Chief hitting the wall behind him. Some made their mark and dropped his shields a bit every time they hit. Even then not all the Jackals aimed at the Chief, several shots were directed towards the marines.
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