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The Devils Brigade Prt. IV
Posted By: Spinks<haloworldchampion@hotmail.com>
Date: 12 May 2003, 2:16 AM
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Colonel Murphy was in the hanger waiting for us when we arrived.
"What the hell happened down there!?" He yelled at us.
"Sir," Cobra, said stepping forward, "It was an ambush, everyone was already dead. They wanted us to come down there so they could slaughter us. My guess is that they were hoping for a SPARTAN to show up so they could get a little revenge, Sir."
"Very well, I want you to meet me in the debriefing room right now Hawk, dismissed." Murphy didn't sound very happy.
We gave him a quick salute, and he returned it before leaving.
I went to the same debriefing room as before, but the mirror was gone, and was made from the normal metal now. I could see straight through to Colonel Murphy. There was even a new stool in the room. This time it had a back that I could rest against.
"Tell me what happened down there Hawk?" Murphy had a strange tone to his voice, one of sheer disappointment, almost like he blamed the team for what happened to the people.
"Sir, we went into the base and came across a hunter. I used a round that I found in my pocket to take him out, but it failed. So Ox hit him with a Jackhammer round.
"We continued into the building and came across the basement. We traveled down the ramps, and," I paused; the sight of the bodies, it would haunt my nightmares for weeks. "Inside were the bodies of around 30 people, all o them were dead." I trembled as I talked about the people. Their faces, well at least the ones I could see that weren't crushed and torn, were still full of fear.
"Sir," I said.
"Yes Hawk," he replied
"Why were we really down there?" I asked, hoping that we were actually there to save lives.
"You were sent to stop a major Covenant offensive." He answered.
"Sir?" I replied.
"There was no distress call. We knew that they were all dead. We just could not afford to loose what the scientists were working on down there." The Colonel sounded like he had something lost in this mission.
"What was it?" I asked.
"That's classified. I also hope that you understand you cannot divulge any of this information to the rest of the squad." Murphy was especially serious now.
"Yes sir." I replied. I knew that this would cause disunity between me and the squad if I kept this information from them, but I could not disobey my commander's orders.
I exited the debriefing room to see Ox waiting for me. He looked like he had something he needed to tell me.
"Hawk, I need to talk to you," he said in a near whisper.
"Why?" I asked
"I found something in the basement that I need you to look at." He replied.
"What is it?" I asked
"Come with me." He said
He led me back to our quarters. Everyone else was either in the showers or the debriefing room. He reached into his field pack and pulled out an id card.
"Do you recognize him?" he asked
He showed me the ID. It was Jason Cane, my Geology professor from the Marine academy.
"Yes," I said, "That's my old professor. We had to study geology to understand some of the reactions that nukes had on certain rocks. It becomes really important to know how effective your bombs will be on the enemy."
"Da, I also found this." He pulled out a rock and handed it to me.
"Have you told the Colonel yet?" I asked
"No, I wanted to see if you knew what it was first." He said
"I have no clue, but whatever it is I think that it was what we were sent to secure." I said. "Here let me take it. I'll go to the Colonel about it. Don't worry, I wont tell him who gave it to me."
I took the rock and walked back to the debriefing room with it in a satchel. I walked into the waiting room and waited for the Colonel. After about 15 minutes he came out.
"Sir," I said, "I think I have what you want."
"What do you mean?" he asked
I pulled out the rock and gave it to him. He looked at me confused.
"I found it in my field pack." I said.
"Why didn't you tell me you had this?" he asked. "You could be court-martialed for withholding information during you debriefing."
"I didn't know that it was in there." I said, "Someone must have put it in there hoping I could identify it. As of yet my best guess is that it is a piece of something a Covenant dropped. I also found this." I handed him the ID tag. "Why was he here?" I asked.
"Walk with me Hawk." He said as he began to walk toward the elevator. "This was no ordinary mission; it was an op to secure the base for future research."
"Research on what?" I asked
"This rock was taken off of a covenant cruiser that the SPARTAN had secured during the invasion of the Earth. It is a piece of Covenant Home World. The covenant was there to secure it and destroy all record of it. And you did your job, you got the rock back."
"Why this squad of veterans? You could have used any ordinary marine platoon." I said.
"No, we couldn't. you were brought in because we still need you." He replied.
"For what?" I asked.
"You need to commandeer another cruiser and fly to the Covenant Home World. There are also more rock samples that we believe the Covenant may try to secure." He said. "We need to get as much information on these things as possible to completely wipe them out. Those scientists were chosen to build a bomb that would react to the rock, taking out the entire planet."
"What about the SPARTAN?" I asked.
"I'm getting to that." He replied. "You need to get ready to go on another rescue mission. SPARTAN-117 was taken hostage 3 hours ago. You and your squad need to be ready to move in 1 hour. We will be coming out of Slipspace in about 20 minutes. The planet is called Fortress by the Covenant. I am also making you new squad leader."
"Sir, respectfully, I am not a born leader. I appreciate the offer, but I think Cobra is a much better leader than me." I replied.
"Yes, but the men seem to like you better, they get along with you. They trust you. You need them, and they need you. Cobra is full of himself in the field he is arrogant. You are the new Squad leader." He finished his talk as we reached the bridge.
"Sir," I said, "I require one thing."
"What's that?" He asked.
"Why Me? Why did you chose me for this position?" I asked.
"I know you," he said. "You are one of the best soldiers that I have ever met. You fought with a Jackal hand to hand once right?"
He startled me when he said this. I had thought for so long that no one had known that.
"Yes." I replied.
"You fight with heart." He said, "You fight with cause; your dedication is to the mission, nothing else. Not even yourself. This is a quality widely missed these days."
He said things that made me proud of myself. Pride was one thing that I had not felt since I joined the corp. I was defeated again and again, but would never accept it. I guess I did have a cause.
"You will accept this mission then?" he asked
"Sir," I stood up tall with a salute. "Yes Sir!"
I couldn't believe it, I was a true soldier now. I left the bridge and went back to my quarters. I found the squad waiting for me. As I began to walk toward my bunk, Murphy came down the elevator behind me.
"Officer on deck!" Cobra yelled.
We all stood and saluted Colonel Murphy as he walked in.
"At ease soldiers." He replied. "I have some good news and some bad news. Major Pinson." Cobra stood up, "You are now a first Lieutenant." Cobra sat down angry. "Lieutenant Hawk." I stood "You are now Major Hawk and squad leader. That is all." Colonel Murphy left the quarters after his speech.
After he left Ox came up to me and shook my hand. "Good work Major." He said with a smile.
"Thank you Ox. I hope I can be as good a leader as Cobra was on this past mission." I replied.
I walked over to cobra and sat down across the table from him.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"I want to apologize." I replied
"For what?" he asked. "Taking my job or insulting my honor."
"Both I guess," I said, "But I guess were trading places than?"
"Yea, good luck Major." He said
"Thank you Lieutenant." I replied
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