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HELLJUMPERS CHAPTER EIGHT: A PROLONGED WAR
Posted By: Havok<snayperskaya@hotmail.com>
Date: 10 September 2002, 11:36 pm
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"Well, you two sure kicked over a hornet's nest today." Captain Perov said. We were back again in his quarters after the flight back in the pelican. "it looks like the goddamn covenant scourge has beaten us to another superweapon. ONI is still not sure exactly what it does, but duplicate control rooms like the one you two just found have been found on all the other HALO constructs in the galaxy. Our troops have moved into and secured all of them, to prevent the covenant from getting to them. It also looks like the covenant have been moving troops in secretly using stealth ships. We destroyed the one that was hovering over you when you were in the control room."
Rob and I just looked at each other.
"Gentlemen, it looks like our little war here on HALO could be drastically lengthened if the reports we are getting are correct. Intel suggests that another five covenant divisions with armor support could have been moved in secretly using the stealth ships." The Captain paused, peering at us. "We are to receive additional support from the Beta Aquilae System. 5 additional light divisions are due to arrive in the next 48 to 72 hours. As you might have heard, our fleet is racking up successes against the covenant fleet. We have even taken a few of their worlds away from them and occupied them. Their sudden push for these superweapons on the HALO constructs suggests that they are desperate to regain the offensive. Not other constructs are due to receive this much support. We are to secure this godforsaken ring and learn all of its secrets."
I could not contain my smile. After all this time, we are finally going to take the ring once and for all.
"I have a special assignment for you two. There is a large covenant weapons depot located in sector 4, grid 3145. It is not patrolled by our forces at all, so the covenant will not be expecting you. You are to secure the area and call in the 345th Heavy Airlift Wing stationed on the UNSC Normandy to come and retrieve the captured weapons." He paused again, something he seemed to do a lot. "This is going to be a tough one, no doubt about it. For this mission you will receive special body armor"- that earned a groan from Rob- "that will help you out in getting through this mission alive. Head to the armory to get acquainted with your new armor. You ship out at 2300 hours. Dismissed."
Rob and I left without a word. We both hated body armor. It was worse than useless, considering as how it restricted movement and did absolutely nothing against plasma fire. But maybe the good ol' captain had something cooked up for us, as he usually did.
We took the elevator down to the 100th sublevel. The lowest floor of the base, it was also the main armory. Others were at various floors in case of attack. The elevator doors opened and we entered a room almost as big as the maintenance garage. This was where all the new weapons got tried out and calibrated before they saw combat. We headed for the armor section. A technician greeted us and led us to another smaller room. On two pedestals sat two vests and... nothing else.
"Sergeants, meet your new body armor, BX_27J."
"Those two combat vests over there?" asked Rob quizzically.
"Yep. Fresh from research on Chi Ceti 4. Another of Dr. Hasley's wonder toys. She specifically requested that you two be the first to try them out."
I wandered on over to the two vests as he was speaking.
"Excuse me, sergeant? The one to the left is yours." I walked to it and put it on, zipping it up. I saw Rob put his on also.
"Now if you two will come over to the charging stations, we could get them going."
I stood between two white columns and they began spinning around me. A static charge filled the air and then a massive POP! And I was ready. I touched my left forearm, but felt nothing. "Is it working?" I asked.
"Yes. Another major improvement that Dr. Hasley made was that the shield will only stop any incoming fast objects, such as plasma or bullets." I heard a gunshot and felt a thud on my back and turned around. The techie had shot me with a smoking pistol in his hand.
"You see? It works perfectly." Rob had just finished charging up his shield, so I yanked the pistol away from the technician and shot Rob in the stomach. I laughed and he gave me the finger.
"This latest adjustment was made so you can grip your weapons better, have better traction on the ground, and store weapons within the protective aura of the shield. You can also selectively harden parts of the shield if, for instance, an elite was about to hit you. You can do that manually, but in case you don't have time to, cringing alerts the vest to harden the entire shield instantly. Also unlike the SPARTAN'S suits, you don't get faster or stronger. All this shield is good for is a little extra protection in a hostile-rich environment."
"Anything else we should know about the shield?" Rob asked
"Nope, I think that just about covers it." Replied the technician.
"Hey, did you guys get the new implosion rounds for the guns yet?" I asked eagerly
"Yes, as a matter of fact, we did." He said, "Follow me."
He led us to another room, this one stacked from floor to ceiling with boxes of ammunition. At the back of the room were a few hundred crated marked: IMPLOSION ROUNDS.
"These are truly remarkable." The technician said. "It only takes a three round burst to take out an elite. Once the shell disintegrates on or inside a target, all the matter within a twenty centimeter diameter gets sucked into the shell. It is very efficient against any kind of target."
My eyes caught a few crates at the back of the room and lit up. "No way. You guys made grenades too?"
The technician followed my eyes and said excitedly, "Yeah, you toss one of those puppies in a group of hunters, it'll suck every one of them up, and spit them out. These grenades will suck up everything within a five meter diameter, so throw them far."
Rob and I loaded up on all the implo grenades we could carry. I also got a double handful of clips for my assault rifle, and some more for my sniper rifle. I had to come back and make another trip for the pistol rounds. Some thoughtful person had thought to get a few crates of custom 9mm rounds for my ruger. I took a whole crate to my quarters.
At 2100 hours, we got our stuff ready and made our way to the main hangar. We headed for our assigned drop ship and strapped in. before we lifted off, two airmen handed us parachute packs. So we were Para dropping in after all, I thought. Probably so the pelican could drop us from altitude so any covenant in the vicinity would not hear us coming. We shrugged on our parachute packs just as the dropship's engines lit up, shoving us into our seats as the pelican exploded into the sky.
The jostling of the dropship woke me from a sound sleep. Being constantly in the combat zone, I rarely got enough sleep. So I slept every chance I got.
"Get ready to jump boys, drop off point in 3." The pilot crackled over the intercom. I double checked my weapons and equipment and adjusted the straps on my parachute pack. I glanced over at Rob. He grinned at me, obviously eager to kick some covie ass.
The pilot notified us that we were over the designated drop off point. I detached myself from my seat and approached the opening cargo bay door. As the jump light turned green, I shoved Rob out the cargo bay door and dove after him. Through my night vision glasses, I could make out the covie weapons depot far below. I checked the altimeter-25,000 meters- and decided I would yank the chute at 5,000 meters. The ground rushed up to meet me as I shot toward the earth. I maneuvered myself closer to Rob and let him know about my plans through subvocalization mikes. We would not land directly in the depot. Instead, we would land about a kilometer away, and make our way in, to avoid covie anti-air batteries and motion detectors.
I glanced at my altimeter- 5,350 meters. Close enough. I signaled to Rob and opened my chute. I was brutally jerked upward as my downward momentum all but stopped. I pulled in the risers to glide into a desirable landing location. As I floated toward the ground, I saw a neat clearing and decided that would be too risky to land there. Too obvious a landing spot. I headed for a smaller patch of ground showing under a group of trees. Ten feet from the ground I unclipped my chute and dropped toward the ground. I landed lightly on my feet and rolled to absorb the impact. I rolled to a stop inside another goddamn bush. What is it with me and these fuckin bushes? I looked up in time to see Rob disengage from his chute and fall to the ground. Our chutes floated into a nearby group of trees. Perfect.
I gave my equipment another check (its your own neck, see?) and headed off toward the weapons depot, Rob tagging along behind me. Ten meters down a path, my NVGs picked up a group of grunts huddled around something. I snuck up behind them and leapt for the one closest to me. Rob followed suit, and two grunts fell, knives through their necks, spitting up blood. Three left to deal with. I activated my trophy plasma sword and sliced through two more grunts, spilling their guts. Rob blurred forward and stiff armed the last grunt, cracking its environmental suit and sentencing it to a painful death. I turned to inspect what they were huddled around a few moments earlier. I spotted what looked to be a toothpaste tube filled with some foul smelling orange goop. Their food maybe? I dunno. The smell made me gag.
We continued on for the depot at a cautious pace, alert for any possible danger. We soon spotted the purple glow given off by covenant energy shields. We were close. I lay prone and propped my sniper rifle up on a fallen tree and inspected the camp through the scope. What I saw was not encouraging: patrolling the area were fifteen of the golden elite types, thirty or so of the purple elites, several hunters, and about a hundred grunts. I let Rob take a look while I radioed command. We would need some backup in order to take this place. The rest of the 229th would do the job. I got patched through to command and requested backup. Captain Perov himself got on the line and told me that the rest of the 229th were currently mopping up a situation a few klicks spinward of our location. They were being called to our location immediately, and that they would be here in a few moments. I acknowledged and told them I would set up a welcoming committee. The captain signed off and I resumed my study of the enemy base.
Ten minutes later, I heard the familiar rumble of a dropships engines. Enemy activity in the base increased dramatically. They were going to shoot down my backup. I wasn't about to let that happen. I sighted in on a covenant anti-air battery. It looked sorta like a shade turret, except it hovered on anti-grav pods and had twice as many barrels as a shade turret. I popped the grunt in the gunner's seat, taking off his head. Five more shots and the rest of the anti-air batteries were still operational, only lacking gunners. The dropship;s engines turned from a rumble into a whine as it slowed to a hover. Then I saw multiple elites fall off to the right. That fast? I thought? Then I remember we had just got the implo rounds. This was their first operational test. They worked wonders. I fixed my crosshairs in the neck of a hunter and stroked the trigger. The bullet impacted, sucking out a goodly portion of the hunter's head. Damn. Five more shots in quick succession, and five gold elites went down, gaping holes in their armor. I got up, slung my sniper rifle, got out my assault rifle, and charged forward into the fray.
The pelican hovered ten feet above the ground, and started moving as the last hulking ODST jumped off and into the midst of the raging battle. My fellow troopers slid forward and found adequate cover with almost unimaginable speed. I saw the remainder of the hunters regrouping and donated a grenade to them. I watched, mesmerized almost, as the grenade went off. Instead if an explosion, there was a loud sucking sound as the hunters...disappeared, then reappeared in a million bite sized pieces. Impressive. My comrades moved forward, unrelenting, taking down grunts and elites by the dozen. I called for Rob over the squad frequency. He appeared at my side, an we advanced on the cowering covenant. Bursts from my assault rifle mowed down hordes of grunts, who fell, horribly disfigured by the implosion rounds. I saw a golden flash to my right. I looked, and saw Rob cloaked in a fiery golden glow. The shields, I remembered. They worked like a charm. I pushed Rob down out of the line of plasma reaching for him. As it burned by overhead, I jumped up, emptying the rest of my clip at a stationary gun I hadn't noticed before. I hit the dust and reloaded, as Rob hopped up and dodged his way over to another crate for cover. I finished reloading and rose, catching a stray plasma round in the chest. I didn't feel a thing; the vest is really a piece of work.
The plasma fire slackened and I took the opportunity to look around. Groups of grunts were heading for the trees, screaming incoherently at the top of their lungs. I hunkered back down as a streak of purple streaked past. I radioed the Liberty, asking for air support to finish off the grunts in the woods. They acknowledged and I popped up gain for a look see. My men were advancing on the last pockets of resistance. The grunts might run, but the elites and hunters fought to the last. I jogged forward to see if I could be of assistance. I lobbed a grenade at some wounded elites, gaining on my men's positions. They had the last ten elites pinned down behind a downed dropship. I saw one of my men go down. His shields flickered and died, and a plasma blast burned across his left shoulder, nearly severing the arm. My neural implants told me it was Cummings, the newest addition to our unit. There was no bleeding; the intense heat of the plasma cauterized. I knew, however, that if he didn't get medical attention soon he would die from radiation poisoning. The covenant plasma is inherently radioactive, which is why most soldiers in the field who are wounded usually die without proper medical attention. I yelled for grenades, and several arced toward the opposition. I got behind cover, and when I got back up, the last few elites were mush on the ground, mingled with the remains of the dropship. I heard engines overhead and looked up to witness the longswords burning past, hot on the trails of the retreating grunts. I called everyone over and congratulated them on a job well done.
"Sir, are we gonna blow this place, keep the little bastards from getting their weapons?" asked John. John was the unit's demolitions expert. He knew more about explosives than anyone I have even heard about.
"nah, my instructions are to call in the 345th Heavy Airlift Wing to take this crap outta here." I replied, eying the man. You had to be careful around John. He got upset when he was denied a request to blow something to hell and gone. "but to keep you happy, you can blow any leftover enemy dropships into orbit."
"Yes sir. Thank you sir." He eagerly left to set his charges.
I radioed the Staten Island and had them send in the 345th. I then radioed HQ and requested immediate pickup. That all said and done, I wandered over to Mastion, the unit's SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) gunner. He always had a deck of cards and we would always play on breaks when we were on ops together. I set Fi Bait and Anachronism to guard duty, and settled down to wait for pickup and play some poker.
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