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Earth Taken Part 2: Defense
Posted By: Inept Zombie<pcksu@swbell.net>
Date: 5 January 2004, 7:49 PM
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0820 Hours, September 15, 2552(Military Calendar)/
Brooklyn, New York, Earth
The Covenant dropships were about a kilometer above and away from him. Ray became nervous, as he always did before a battle. This was the largest amount of enemies he had ever fought.
Richmond remained calm and banked left. Ahead of them, a dropship came down on top of a Coca-Cola sign. The purple hatches opened slowly to reveal Grunts, Jackals, and worst of all, Elites. Ray gulped and clutched his battle rifle more tightly. The aliens dropped down from the craft, stunning them from the small fall. Richmond pressed harder on the gas.
They were 20 meters away now. 15 meters...10 meters...5 meters...
The Covenant soldier's shrugged off the fall and looked up at the incoming Warthog. Elites dove, Jackals rolled, but a few Grunts were not quick enough. The Warthog ran into two of them, and the two ton 80-mile-an-hour projectile splattered the aliens like a axe in butter.
One of the Grunts took the bumper straight to the head, killing it instantly. The other was impaled in the chest by the Warthog's towing grapple. It stuck on the car like a hood ornament.
Richmond turned right and jack-knifed. He struggled and almost caught an Elite, but it's catlike reflexes motivated it to quickly sidestep out of harm's way--- but straight into the line of fire of Ray. He unloaded into the Elite, it's shield flickered and died, and bullets pounded into it's chest. It fell over and Richmond sped forward.
"Get out!" Richmond said, "Find a spot and keep firing. I'll keep 'em distracted." He looked at a grenade on his belt. Ray nodded and hopped out.
Ray ran quickly into an alcove of a building. He peeked his head to the side. The Warthog went quickly past the group of Covenant. The Covenant were alert now, and clear out of the way of the vehicle. They splashed the Warthog with fire. It veered and smashed into a sign pole. The Covenant jeered, but soon saw a frag grenade rolling on the street. The jumped backwards, but were too late. It detonated, and smoke filled the street.
Just then, Ray popped out from his corner and open fired.
The aliens fell as they were cut unawares. They tried to see what was firing, but the smoke from the grenade hadn't cleared yet. Ray spotted a few Elites rushing towards him. He used his scope's night vision feature and rapidly fired into the neck of one of the aliens. It clutched it's jugular, but persisted to run towards him. Ray switched to his pistol and targeted its head. The Elite's shield hadn't recharged yet, and he took the bullets headlong, killing it.
A red Elite and a blue Elite where two meters away from him. Ray hid back behind the alcove. Please don't see me...,he pleaded. They did. The red Elite stood in front of the alcove, a foot away from Ray. It growled and leveled its plasma rifle. Ray gulped as he saw the plasma on the rifle begin to charge. He closed his eyes.
Ray heard a revving engine, a groan, and felt liquid splash onto him. He nervously re-opened his eyes.
In front of him sat Richmond, a small bump on his head, but grinning, in the Warthog. At the last second, Richmond had smashed into the unsuspecting Elites, crushing both of them.
"Hop in!" he said cheerfully.
Ray did so. Richmond wheeled the vehicle around, allowing Ray to take out the remaining Jackal. He slapped a fresh clip into his battle rifle and cheered.
0820 Hours, September 15, 2552(Military Calendar)/
Brooklyn, New York, Earth
Marie sat steadily and silently at her perch by the window of an abandoned house. She had her sniper rifle out, and was gazing through the scope, ready for any foe that came near her.
She gazed across the street in search of James. He was adjacent to her, but she could only see the barrel of his rifle, the rest of him had been enveloped in shadows. She noticed a hint of smoke through the window. James preferred to use chemicals(in this case, cigarettes) to calm and steady himself while sniping, Marie didn't need them.
She looked into the sky and saw the incoming dropships, three of them, less than a kilometer away. One of them came down onto a roof a few houses away from Marie, and across the street. A few seconds later she saw a blue Elite on the edge of the roof.
She steadied her sniper rifle and lined up a shot.
"Enemy sighted." She said quietly into her COM.
The Elite peered over the edge of the building. It retrieved something from a clip on its waist. The alien kneeled down and attached the thing to the edge of the roof. Two beams of plasma formed about a foot apart. They made their way down to the ground; a ladder. The Elite turned around and started backing down it.
Marie shook her head. She was stalling. She lined up her crosshairs on the alien and squeezed the trigger quickly.
Their was a loud crack as the round fired, it connected with the Elite, who was still for a moment, then slid down the plasma ladder and crumpled into a heap at the ground.
Marie smiled. One.
"Nice." Said James over the team frequency. "I let you have that one."
"Yeah, whatever." She responded.
Another alien started coming down the ladder. It was a Jackal, and it's shield was covering its body in a way that if Marie shot, the round would ricochet.
"Tricky, tricky." Remarked James. "But you forgot about me."
There was another crack, and the Jackal was blown off the ladder. It flew toward the ground, leaking blood from its chest.
The Covenant, having realized that if they went down the ladder, they would just get killed, stayed back. The only thing that came over the roof was a great green ball of plasma. And it was heading right towards Marie.
She scooped up her rifle and dove back, her hands on her neck. The plasma fuel impacted into a wall next to her window. The building shook, the metal dented.
Marie stood up and saw her window shattered. She wiped dust from her armor and retained her place.
"You all right there, Private?" came Colski's voice through the COM.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said casually.
She noticed that four more dropships had landed, on another roof, and three down the street. 30-some aliens ran towards the team with plasma pistols charged.
Marie readied her rifle. She noticed the head of a Grunt on a roof. She shot it quickly and moved on to the ground soldiers. There were numerous cracks as alien bodies fell, but they kept coming. When they were sixty meters away, Marie saw Jason pop out from a corner, holding his heavy machine gun, as hey mowed down the soldiers.
The Covenant continued down the road and open fired on Jason. He took a few splashes of plasma and fell back behind his alley. Marie rapidly targeted an Elite, but it fell from James' bullet before she fired. She took out two charging Grunts in one shot, giving her five kills in this battle so far.
She saw Jason's figure pop out again and fire. Numerous Covenant fell.
They where twenty meters away now, almost under her. There were still half of the original group of aliens. Sarge's silhouette popped out from behind a corner she hadn't seen before, and he pumped shotgun rounds into the opponents.
Marie saw shields of two Elites flicker and die, she took the opportunity and killed both of them. Seven.
She smiled and killed the remaining of the advancing aliens. She heard a loud whir and looked around. In the sky, she saw four Banshee flyers closing in fast.
0837 Hours, September 15, 2552(Military Calendar)/
London, England Aboard Pelican
Steve sat strapped in his crash seat in the Pelican. He looked down at their destination. There were numerous Covenant dropships that had landed, and some were in the air. The Private spotted members of the United Kingdom Defense Corps(UKDC) engaged with aliens, falling in the dozens as the Covenant mowed them down. He would soon be there, and would soon be in the face of death.
He had two HEMP grenades strapped to his belt that would come in handy. High Explosive Multi-Purpose Shrapnel Grenades were more powerful than the regular frag grenades he was used to. They packed a punch twice as strong and when detonated, a layer of glass inside them exploded and showered opponents. Marines called them "Hemps".
His other equipment included an MA5B Assualt Rifle, he had four clips not counting the one loaded in it. He also had an anti-grav device that would lower him to the ground savely. Provided he didn't get killed in the air.
Steve saw a Covenant dropship firing at the Pelican. The Pelican dropped lower to the ground and dodged the incoming plasma fire. It's left side tipped, and it almost barreled, but the pilot brought it back up. The craft gradually got closer to the ground.
A little ways away, a dropship was pounded with plasma. It's right wing started burning, and it spiralled away. He saw a few marines fall out of the crashing dropship. They fell for a few seconds and were crushed by the pressure.
This is just like D-Day.He thought, and remembered history he had read about World War II.
"23 third! Are you ready to dive?" Sergeant Milton asked.
Steve joined a chorus of "Sir, yes, sir!"
He wasn't ready. Butterflies were swarming in his stomach. He regretted ever joining the Corps.
"I'm goin' first!" Sarge yelled.
He released the crash seat restraint and held on to the handle by the edge of the dropship. He pushed a button on his waist and it blinked green.
"Rendezvous at the bottom!" he shouted. "See you there!"
He jumped. The anti-gravity device formed an invisible shield around him as he quickly raced to the ground.
Two more marines jumped, and it was Steve's turn. He gulped. He clutched the handle and pressed the button on his device. It blinked green. He cautiously looked down. They were about a kilometer away from the ground. He suddenly felt acrophobic, and stepped off the Pelican.
He fell face first through the air, cold wind blowingly through his hair. He thought he was going to die. All of a sudden, he was picked up by an invisible hand. It didn't slow down his fall, but it kept him from exploding from the pressure. He ducked his head as plasma bolts flew past him. He turned his head and saw the Pelican.
It was engulfed in brilliant orange flame. The incoming plasma splashed into it, and it shook violently. The wings crumpled and melted. It propelled towards the ground.
He saw two figures where the Pelican was, they were falling quickly, but steadily, much like he was. One figure clasped it's leg in pain.
Steve glanced toward the ground once more. He was a few meters from it. His body inadvertently flipped, and he managed to bring his knees into his chest.
He desperately closed his eyes in fear of the impact, but the anti-gravity glove around him gently set him down uninjured.
He was in a field, just outside England. He looked around for the team. He saw the marine that had fallen crouched next another marine who was clutching his leg. He ran over to the soldiers.
It was Corporal McKinney, and he was tending to Georgia Foster. She had a bloody leg, Steve assumed it was fractured.
McKinney stood up to talk to Steve. "Hit her leg on the way out. It's a crack, but she'll be alright. You seen Milton yet?"
Steve shook his head.
"Well, we'll have to find him first. I don't know about the rest of the team. I think they went down with the Pelican." he looked dismal at the thought of their friends being dead.
Steve realized his rifle was gone, and he searched the field for it. He found it by where he had landed and returned to the Corporal.
"Think you can walk?" he asked Foster.
She nodded in pain as he helped her up.
"Then let's go find the rest of the squad. We should search the field first. Move out."
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