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Halo 2: Revenge of a Spartan, Chapter 6
Posted By: LostRock<The1lone2outlaw3@aol.com>
Date: 4 May 2003, 12:43 AM
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1027 Hours, September 13, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Dropship Foxtrot Charlie, atmosphere above Africa, Earth
The Spartan was, for about the eighth time that day, out to kill some aliens. The weary Master Chief decided that this would be his last mission for a spell, and he would get some well-deserved R and R at a UNSC stronghold.
The VALHALLA-clad warrior had taken part in several miscellaneous engagements all over the globe, including the deserts of Australia, the cold lands of Siberia, and the temperate, thick woods of the Boundary Waters. The Covenant were still putting up a fight, but depending on how you perceived it, they were weakening, little by little. No more reinforcements were able to make it to Sol.
The last dozen hours had been hell. The Brutes, the Master Chief had discovered, were even more deadly than he had first predicted. The ruby cylinders on their belts released phosphorous chemicals into the air, giving Marines severe burns. Once, while the Chief was in Chicago, he had ducked out of the way of a Brute's superheated plasma, and the wild ammo smashed into an already-weakened skyscraper. The falling building created many casualties on both sides. Plus, Brutes and Hunters as a combined force were so deadly together that it took many rockets to take the beasts down.
The Chief, relaxing momentarily in the snug aircraft, thought of his former identity. He never had known why his parents had named him John...
"Well, Chief, I have the briefing for our latest mission," Cortana spoke.
"A couple platoons of Marines engaged Covenant forces on Madagascar, and they have been almost completely eradicated from the enemy's guerilla tactics in the dense jungles. We've been inserted into a platoon of Helljumpers who are delivering relief for the remaining Marine forces. We have to make an airborne drop because the Covenant possess a surface-to-orbit gun, which tore most of the Marine's Pelicans to pieces. In fact, we're probably in the Covenant's sights right now."
"Understood," said the Chief wearily.
"Ok, Helljumpers, this is it!" said the Pelican pilot. "We're almost over our destination. Opening drop doors now!"
The drop light turned red and the doors opened, and there was a tiny storm of air inside the Pelican. The Chief stood up and held tight to the safety mesh behind him, as did the Helljumpers. The Spartan peered out slightly, looking at the relatively puny island of Madagascar. There was a bright shape coming from the surface. And it was getting bigger.
"Shit..." the Chief said under his breath. "Incoming enemy fire! Brace for impact!"
Bewildered, the humans became tenser than they were previously. A few seconds passed, and suddenly there was a large "thump" and a small fire broke out on the port side of the craft.
The Chief shakily looked out at the additional Pelican. Its starboard engine had caught fire, and the Helljumpers onboard it had detached their camouflage Warthog and leapt out.
"It's now or never!" The Chief said to the pilot.
"Copy that!" was the reply, and the drop light became green. The Helljumpers fell first, and the Spartan encouraged them with yells of "go go go!"
After making sure his parachute was secure, the Chief jumped out and began his freefall. He looked behind his shoulder to see the burning Pelicans retreating and narrowly dodging the Covenant firepower.
John turned back to see the Helljumpers. Everything seemed normal; no one looked like they were going to have trouble with their chute. Minutes went by as the freefalling continued, until a tiny "beep" came from the soldiers' helmets' audio. They pulled their release straps almost simultaneously, and began sailing down peacefully.
The Chief sensed something wrong as he flew down over Madagascar. There wasn't any fire from Shades trying to attack him and the Helljumpers. Had they thought that all enemy forces had been destroyed, or had the Marines been able to put the Shades out of action?
"Cortana," John said, "Are you still detecting enemy movement from the island?"
"Yes," replied the AI, "why?"
"I'm not sure yet."
Suddenly, the Spartan found himself not much more than 30 yards to the ground, where the Helljumpers were waiting. The Chief hit the ground with a hard "thud," and removed his parachute.
"Okay, Helljumpers," said Cortana via com channel, "let's move out and find that missing platoon."
"Piece o' cake," declared a soldier.
The humans spread out from the field that they had landed in and proceeded into the jungle. The Chief's eyes darted in every direction, in case there were Covenant snipers about. It had been about half an hour of searching in the forest when John picked up a signal.
"This is Fire Team Bravo calling any UNSC forces. We need reinforcements and/or pickup. Does anyone copy? Over."
"Affirmative, Fire Team Bravo. We have a lock on your signal. ETA ten minutes."
"Copy that."
Seeing the nav point in his HUD, John called the Helljumpers and pointed them in the right direction. Moments later, they came across the Marines' camp. Men were sitting by emergency tents, stocking up on ammo and sharpening knives. The Chief heard groaning from inside the tents, most likely the wounded.
"Good to see you, fellas," said a sergeant. "I was beginning to think we were screwed over. Where are the Pelicans?"
"They'll be here as soon as we've confirmed all ground-to-air enemy artillery has been destroyed," said Cortana.
"Thanks for knocking out their Shades," said the Spartan. "We wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you."
The sergeant popped the Chief a quizzical expression. "Eh? What're you talking about? We've been holed up here the whole time, and we haven't sent out any recon."
"Then who took out those guns?" demanded a Helljumper.
"Hell if I know," replied the sergeant.
"Cortana," said the Chief, "indicate the last point of enemy movement. We can find the Covenant from there."
"Let's see...there." A new nav point popped up on John's HUD.
"Let's roll, Helljumpers," said the Chief.
The soldiers made their way into the thick foliage. One man got out his combat knife and began thwacking the large vines. The Spartan looked at the nav point as it turned from hundreds of meters to nineties...eighties...and finally, they came into a cleared area of the jungle.
The Covenant camp was a mess. Elites hung to the sides of the Shades, dead. There were body parts from all the Covenant species, and charred bodies of Brutes and Hunters lay there as well. John saw the large Covenant gun that had been firing at them. It looked like a Shade with a 20-foot-long barrel, and it had an enclosed cockpit. The cockpit looked damaged, as if it had been forced open.
The Chief kicked over the ugly body of a Brute. He widen as eyes to see that it had plasma wounds.
John shivered, remembering the horrifying Marine recording he had found in a chamber of Halo. Captain Keye's squad had found an Elite's body covered in plasma burns. Of course, he knew what it had been from...the Flood.
Could the Flood have come to Earth? It didn't seem too likely; The Chief had only heard reports of Covenant activity. Suddenly he wished that he had a new double-barreled shotgun; he didn't know how well his battle rifle and SMG matched up against the unnerving infection forms.
"Look!" Cortana exclaimed. "There's some matted-down grass at two o'clock. Maybe whoever attacked the Covenant went that way."
Butterflies now in his stomach from his musings, John motioned towards the broken blades of grass. The Helljumpers nodded and removed the safeties of their weapons.
They quietly made their way back into the jungle, and found themselves in another small clearing. Suddenly, the Chief's eyes bulged as he saw movement all around him and the other soldiers.
"Not good," he muttered, and put a finger on his SMG's trigger.
A Grunt voice came from behind one of the trees, and it said one of the most ludicrous things the Chief had ever heard in the Human-Covenant War: "Don't shoot! We come in peace!"
TO BE CONTINUED
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