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All Roads Lead To Sol...Despite What The Map Says: Chapter 9
Posted By: S7N<n.j.r.jones@brighton.ac.uk>
Date: 1 August 2003, 6:01 PM
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Chapter 9
1700 Hours, April 13, 2547 (Military Calendar) /
UNSC Frigate Juan Token
Derias System, Oribiting Derian Prime
"Five minutes until Dropship Launch." The soothing AI voice came. That's easy for you to say, Manny thought. You're not going down there. He breathed in deeply, then exhaled. His armour felt tight around him, and every movement he made, seemed to agitate his body even more. The air seemed to be getting thick and clustered with each breath he took. God, he never felt like this during the training missions.
But this wasn't a training mission. This was real life. The adrenaline was pumping through him hard, making him that much more eager to get down there. But at the same time, he wanted to stay on the ship for as long as possible. He checked his rifle for a third time, making sure the clip was in place, that the barrel was clear, that the pin slid smoothly.
He felt a hand rest on his forearm, forestalling another check of the weapon. He glanced to his left, catching his helmet on the Dropship's bulkhead. Sarah stared at him with a bemused look on her face.
"Will you relax?" she exclaimed. "You're worse than a baby that needs his diaper changing!" she pulled his hand up to her mouth and kissed it. He felt the fear drain away from him, the nervousness being replaced by a strange calm. She smiled at him, then turned back to checking her own rifle. He leaned his head against the steel wall and closed his eyes.
It had taken them over a week to fly out to the lush, forest world that was Derias Prime. Manny, on seeing it from orbit, now knew why people came out here for vacation. Intel had said that a small group of Covenant soldiers were camped near the woodlands of Yaeger, one of the many fishing villages on the planet. They had been there for a month now, not actually doing anything. The planet had been evacuated the moment the Covenant ships had entered the system, but after they dropped their troops, the ships exited the system and none had been back since. It wasn't wholly unlike the Covenant to do this; Manny had heard of Covenant squads staying on a planet for months at a time, gathering information on what life they found. It was only when UNSC forces appeared that they would put up a fight, and more often than not, the planet ended up getting glassed.
So far, since the evacuation, no UNSC forces had engaged the Covenant. With no human presence on the planet, Manny got the idea that ONI wanted to see what they would do. Derias Prime was known to be a very quiet and sedate colony world, one for resorts and holidays, so there were very few people on it at any one time. Intel stated that the 2.4 million people had been transported off the planet successfully within forty-eight hours of the Covenant appearing in-system.
Now all that was left to do was to clean up whatever Covenant resistance they found down there before the aliens bastards glassed the place. It may not tip the scales of the war, but a dead Covenant soldier meant they had one less to deal with later on.
Manny opened his eyes and stared over at the other side of the Pelican. Harris sat opposite him, calmly checking his rifle. He glanced up at Manny, giving him a thumbs up, then went back to his weapon. The final two weeks of boot camp had brought the two rivals together, something Manny hadn't expected at all. They had been placed on the same team in the last few exercises, and they had worked exceptionally well together. Whereas Manny thought Harris was just a bully, using brute force to get things done, he realised that the other man was actually a brilliant thinker. He came up with ideas that Manny hadn't even begun to think of, and they worked as well.
Fincher sat next to Harris, his helmet resting on the bigger man's shoulder. He was fast asleep. Either that or unconscious. But Manny knew Fincher too well, and recognised that he was, in fact, in a deep state of REM sleep. God, was he the only one who was nervous? He glanced up front; Corporal Harland stood clutching the overhead railing, staring blankly out of the service hatch. Manny and the others had warmed to Harland immediately, he had a certain air about him. Fincher, especially had gotten to like him, despite the Private saying something about how he thought Harland was "always staring at him". Sergeant Raynes came through the hatch that led into the cargo port and the cockpit.
"Alright, marines," he bellowed. "We're taking off in a few minutes, I want weapons stowed and gear checked. You know what you got to do! So do it!" he glanced around at the men and women sat before him. "Good luck!"
"Sir, yes sir!" the squad said in unison. Manny saw a smile cross Raynes' face as he turned back to exit back through the hatch. The troops clicked their weapons into the locking braces overhead and strapped themselves in, ready for the drop into orbit. The service ramp began to close, sending the tight space into darkness. Red lights came on as it did, illuminating everything in a ruby glow.
"T-minus ten seconds until dropship launch." Came the AI. "nine...eight...seven...six..." this was it, they were finally descending into combat, what could be their last moments. "three...two...one...dropship launching."
Manny felt the ship lurch suddenly from the bay, knocking him sideways into Cochran. After a few seconds of bouncing around, the ship steadied as it made the trip from the ship to the planet. Seconds seemed to pass as if they were minutes. The ship went eerily quiet, with only the engines making a sound. Manny breathed in deeply again, then released it, and felt the nervousness disappear. As he breathed in again he felt the adrenaline build up in him. He was ready. Ready as he'd ever be.
"Entering the planet's atmosphere." The Flight Lieutenant announced over the ship's com-system. "Get ready for some chop."
The craft bucked and swayed viciously as it grappled with the force of gravity. Manny felt his stomach lurch, felt vomit rise to the back of his throat then subside. The Pelican veered to the right, sharply, swinging down on a sudden cool current, then back up again, making all the passengers gasp at the sudden rise in G-Force. The next few minutes were easy going, followed by a few sharp jolts and they cleared ten thousand feet.
The hatch opened and Raynes came through. "Alright, people you got two minutes to assemble your gear and ready for insertion! Lets move people!" the passenger compartment suddenly became a blur of energy, people checking weapons, making sure their armour was fastened properly and generally looking out for anyone else who might have trouble. Just over a minute later, the dozen troopers sat quietly, their weapons at the ready, waiting for battle to commence. The rear hatch began to open, cool air seeping in through the gap. Manny inhaled, breathed in the smell of pine and dew.
The marines gathered themselves together outside the dropship, two taking covering positions, whilst the rest checked equipment. Raynes jumped down from the Pelican, spoke into his mic for the ship to leave, then moved over to the others and surveyed his team.
"Marines, we are the first squad in, Alpha team. After we check out the area, Bravo and Echo teams will dispatch and land two klicks away at a secure position. I want Cochran on point, Harris and Greggs, bringing up the rear. Stay alert people, now MOVE OUT!" he bellowed. The squad fell in step behind Cochran, who moved ten metres ahead, surveying the forest land around him. Light shone in through the dense vegetation as they entered, the giant trees dwarfing the troops. Manny was third from front, behind Grace and Harland. Grace was the squad's sniper, one of the best Manny had ever seen. The rifle was slung over her shoulder at the moment, an MA5B assault rifle sitting comfortably in her hands. As with all squads in the UNSC, the team had an assortment of weapons to deal with all threats they could face. As well as a sniper, they also had a demolition team, and a heavy weapons crew.
Fincher was one of the three marines carrying Lotus Mines and Anti-Personal charges, as well as four fragmentation grenades that was standard for all UNSC Marines. The other two people on the demo team were Sarah and Jackson. Carrying the squads Rocket Launcher was Walker, with Deiton standing as his loading partner, carrying extra ammo if it was needed. The demo team and the Heavy Weapons team were kept at the front and back of the squad respectively, so if they came under fire, it would be one or the other team to go down, rather than both. Raynes was in the middle of the line, with Tanya behind him, carrying the unit's com equipment.
They marched for ten minutes before Cochran signalled for the squad to stop. Without turning to face them, he put his hand out to the side, and motioned for the team to go down. Manny felt his pulse spike. Had he seen something? Wordlessly, the unit went to the floor, sweeping the foliage as they did. Manny couldn't spot anything, and couldn't hear anything either. His helmet's HUD displayed infrared, but nothing except the blue outlines of the trees and bushes showed up.
"What is it, Cochran?" Raynes said over the com. His voice was placid, and Manny didn't know the man well enough to know if that was a good or bad sign.
"Possible contact, sir. Eleven o'clock." Manny raised his head a little to see over Harland's backpack. He saw Grace had unslung her Sniper Rifle and was carefully readying it. Rather than the standard helmet, as all the other Marines wore, she wore a flat cap, so it didn't impair her vision. The disadvantage was that her head was unprotected.
"Go check it out, Private. Harland, Manors, give cover." Raynes replied. Manny slowly crawled passed Grace and up next to the Corporal. They both moved up into crouching positions, bringing their rifles up. Harland waved to the right, telling Manny to cover that side. When they were ready, Harland tapped Cochran's foot.
The Private began to crawl off into the bushes and in a few seconds, Manny couldn't tell where the man was. He breathed heavily, feeling his heart racing faster and faster. As far as Manny could tell, there was nothing out there. All he saw was dense, green bush and thick tree trunks.
"Er, Sarge," Cochran whispered into his mic. "You might want to come see this."
"What is it Private?" Raynes voice rang out, his voice sounding a little irritated.
"Covenant, sir. Dead Covenant." There was a long pause.
"Is it clear, Cochran?" Harland interjected.
"Sir, yes it is sir."
"Okay men," Raynes came back on. "Lets go." There was a flurry of movement as the team stood up, then quickly jogged to where Cochran stood. He leaned against a tree, staring out into a little opening. In front of him lay several blood splattered bodies. Manny had read the files on the Covenant, had seen the holos on them, and from what he could tell, in front of him lay five dead Jackals. The weird, bird like creatures lay at odd angles, their heads tilted back as if their necks were broken. Purple blood smeared the green grass, as well as the surrounding trees.
Harland walked into the middle of them. "Fincher, Walker, McCain, check out the area." Manny glanced over at Sarah as he heard three responses. She looked over at him, winked then turned her back to him, then quickly trotted off with Fincher and Walker.
"What do you make of it, Corporal?" Raynes said, looking over to Harland. The Sergeant rested his rifle on his shoulder, placing a hand on his hip. Harland bent down and touched one of the dead creatures.
"I don't know sir. It's not friendly fire, that's for sure. There are no plasma burns. That rules out execution from superiors, and the fact that they are armed backs up that." He shook his head, looking closely at the wounds. "This may sound odd, sire, but these look like bullet wounds."
"What type?"
"Not sure, possibly from a rifle. It's hard to tell. High calibre, that's for sure, the holes aren't exactly small."
"Sir," Manny piped up. "I thought all humans had been
evacuated from Derias."
"So did I," Raynes relied, shaking his head. "All civilians were shipped out, and there is no military base on this planet, just the planetary defence system that orbits it. I don't believe a holiday maker did this, and last sensor sweeps recorded say that there were no life signs of human origin on the planet. Heat sensors picked up the Covenant and that was it. With the exception of the planet's reactors for the various resorts, they were the only heat signatures given off."
"Sir, sensor sweeps don't often penetrate through forests," Manny added. "Maybe there were some left behind."
"It's possible, Private, but this are is a back-water location. The nearest city or resort is nearly ten thousand kilometres away, and they don't do round trips that big."
Harland came up from his crouch. "Sir, this isn't the work of a tourist or a lone security guard. Whoever did this is a professional. And I'm not talking Marine corps, I mean Special Forces. Which means we aren't the only humans on this planet."
"Meaning somebody lied to us," Raynes spat. "Any idea who?"
"Well, its not any Special Forces unit within the UNSC, I'll tell you that, otherwise we'd have known about. My best bet is its Naval Intelligence." The words sent a shiver through Manny, and he noticed, visibly it scraped on the other Privates as well. "As to who's lying to us, sir. Well, I wouldn't say lied to, more like they didn't know."
"Sir!" Fincher shouted as he came through the brush, his face flushed and red. Walker came in close behind, followed by Sarah. Fincher stepped up to Raynes, his hand outstretched. "We found these a few metres away, sir."
Raynes put his hand out, and Fincher tipped the contents into his palm. Manny heard the clatter of metal against metal. The sergeant held up a hand, in between his finger and thumb was a bullet casing. It was bigger than that utilised by standard assault rifles, but not nearly as big as the slugs an S2-AM used.
"Eleven millimetre carbide case." Raynes uttered to himself. "Shadow Rifle ammunition." He threw the metal cylinders to the floor with disgust. "God damn ONI bastards are here alright." He cursed.
Manny had heard of the Shadow Rifle. It was similar to the M1-5, but it was a lot deadlier. The weapon had a laser-sight, integrated, silencer, ammunition counter, as well as three different modes of fire. It was an extremely rare weapon, one that no UNSC personnel would ever see, and it was exclusively used by the Office of Naval Intelligence's Special Agents.
"Another thing, sir." Fincher said. "We got incoming Covenant forces."
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