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Tides of Destruction (Part 8, End of Ends)
Posted By: teemus<teemusligg@hotmail.com>
Date: 2 January 2004, 3:44 AM


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I gotta give credit to Hawk 7886 for revising this for me. I hope you enjoy this Finale!
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Jado system February 8th



Briggs took aim at one of the shades that were stationed on top of the out post. He got a good lock on the Grunt in the Gunner's Seat and jammed down the trigger buttons.

His whole body shook as the LAAG gun spat out a hail storm of bullets. After about two seconds the Grunt fell out of the Gunner's Seat into a puddle of its own blood. Briggs pivoted the gun and heard a scream from behind him. He turned to find a smoking 'Hog with a marine stuck underneath it.

"Harlander, get that man out of there!" Shouted someone behind him.

"Yes, sir!" Replied Harlander as he jumped off of the Land Cruiser.

Briggs watched as Harlander ran up to the marine and started to take him out from underneath the 'Hog. Harlander got the marine out and was running back up the hill when a Plasma Bomb landed right on top of him.

"Holly shit!" yelled Richardson.

Briggs waited until the smoke cleared and winced when he saw Harlanders body torn in half.

"You little bitches! I'll kill you all!" yelled Richardson as he jumped onto the Gunner's Seat to take Harlanders place.

Briggs took his eyes away from the smoking corpse that used to be Harlander. He returned to firing at the Covenant positioned on the outpost. Briggs heard a rumbling noise and turned to the sky. Five Longsword Bombers were coming in.

"Open fire! Don't let them get a shot off at the Bombers!" yelled a marine.

Briggs looked up at the outpost and saw the shade turrets shifting to open fire at the bombers.

Not today, Briggs thought as he opened fire at the shades.

The guns were forced to concentrate their fire on the marines in the valley below them. One by one each of the guns went up in flames as a bomb landed on it or near it. By the time the Bombers were leaving for Alpha base most of the Covenant had been wiped out.

The Land Cruiser shook as it hit a bump on its way up the hill towards the out post. Briggs heard a scream and glanced up the hill. A marine ran down the hill with a plasma grenade stuck to his arm. The Sergeant didn't turn to look as he heard the boom of the grenade.

About half way up the hill all hell broke loose again. Apparently more Covenant had survived the bomardment then Briggs had expected. He leveled the LAAG and fired at a Golden Armored Elite.

The first few bullets bounced harmlessly off of the aliens' shields. Briggs kept the trigger down and watched as the Elites shields flickered and died. He then moved the gun up and took aim at the running aliens back. Once again his body shook as he kept the triggers down. He watched as the alien let out one last roar and collapsed. For once since coming to the Jado system Briggs was happy. He was soon brought back down to reality when plasma went past his head. Briggs turned the gun and opened fire at the tightly packed group of Grunts.

Why are the Covenant trying so hard to defend this outpost? Briggs thought to himself.

He once again levelled the LAAG and opened fire again.

After about ten minutes the same marine came back onto the COM link, "Looks like its clear. Move into the structure."

Briggs jumped off of the Land Cruiser and walked to the other end where Richardson was sitting.

"Look, it will be alright," He said as he patted Richardson on the back.

Briggs then picked up his MA5B and walked towards the door. He and a few other marines kicked the door open and shot the Grunt that stood on the other end. Briggs turned on the flashlight that was connected with the gun and continued to move down the hall. He turned another corner and caught an Elite by surprise. Briggs emptied a clip into the alien as he backed up. The alien let out a roar and charged. Briggs reloaded the rifle and fired again. After another clip the alien hit the floor.

The marines continued through the entire structure without meeting any more resistance. There was one last door left and Briggs kicked it open. The inside was completely empty except for one monitor in the middle. "Jackson, can you hack that computer?" asked Briggs

"Ill try sir," replied Jackson. Jackson ran up to the computer and sat down on the chair in front of the monitor. Briggs watched as Jackson's fingers danced across the keyboard. After about ten minutes Jackson spoke again, "Sir, you better look a this."

"What is it?" replied Briggs as he walked over to Jackson.

"Holly shit," Briggs mumbeled to himself, "What the hell is that?" he said again pointing at a hologram of a purple planet.



Field commander Zilf 'Oohamie, Covenant Command Post



"How could you have let the out post fall?!" shouted Zilf as he slammed his fist into the table. "That out post contains the locations of our home planet! This could mean the end!"

"I'm sorry, Excellency." Replied the lower ranking Elite, Jono. "Shall I launch an attack on the outpost to retake it?"

"No, that will take to long. Pull everybody back into orbit. Move in the rear fleet. We are going to glass the planet."

"Yes Excellency," replied Jono. he turned to leave the room and carry out the task.


Capt Wells, Cruiser Hammer Head. In orbit of Jado



Wells walked onto the bridge and took his seat in the Command Chair. "Sir! The Covenant are moving in!" yelled a Leutenant.

"What? Put it on screen." Replied Wells.

The Capt watched as the screen flickered and then showed a Covenant fleet 3 times as big as the entire Human Fleet.

"My god, sound the alarm!"

Wells moved closer to the view screen and watched as one of the Frigates fired a Plasma Torpedo. Wells moved away from the view screen and came to the nearest view port. He saw a purple orb headed right towards him. Wells then moved away from the view port and turned to his crew.

"I am releasing you all from my command."

The crew looked at him dumb struck. Lt. Cole was about to argue, but her words were cut short when the Plasma Torpedo impacted.

Briggs picked up a radio and spoke to the Major at Alpha base.

"Sir, we found somethi-" the Major had cut his words short when he started to speak.

"Briggs, right now I don't care what you found. Our fleet was attacked about 10 minutes ago. It was entirely obliterated; only one carrier and two frigates were able to escape. They say that the Covenant is moving in to glass the planet. We've sent Pelicans to the 2nd and 3rd Mountain already. We have Pelicans headed towards your position as we speak."

"What does that mean, sir?"

"It means were leaving the planet," Replied the Major.

Briggs dropped the radio stunned. He then turned to face everyone in the room.

"Everybody, move back to the field, Now!"

Nobody argued, they just got up and left the room. Briggs walked back into the sunlight and looked towards the sky. Over the horizon he saw about a hundred Pelicans headed their way. Briggs then turned to Jackson and spoke.

"Did you get the co-ordinates to the planet?"

"No sir, I couldn't understand it. Sir, what the hell is going on. Why are we leaving?"

"The Covenant are going to glass the planet." Replied Briggs. Jackson didn't reply but instead continued to look at the oncoming Pelicans.

The COM link opened up again and the Major spoke to the entire Division, "Men and women of the 10th Mountain and Forward Infantry, you did good out here, you did so good that the little bastards got scared and retreated. They are moving in to glass the planet as we speak, we are retreating. That is all."

Briggs then looked back at the Pelicans and saw them coming in for landings. He grabbed Jackson and ran onto the nearest Pelican. The Sergeant watched as marines tried to load the Scorpions into troop bays of Pelicans. "Marines, we don't have time to load the Tanks. Quickly strap on the Land Cruisers and 'Hogs and lets get the hell out of here!" Briggs watched as the marines abandoned the Tanks and jumped onto Pelicans. The Pelican that Briggs was on lowered a little bit and activated the magnet slung on the tail of the Pelican. Briggs watched as the Pelican hovered over a Land cruiser, the vehicle shook and lifted off of the ground. The Pelican shook as the vehicle attached itself to it.

The COM link opened up again and a panicked marine spoke, "Forget the vehicles! We got two minutes! Take off now!" The Pelicans troop bay door rumbled and closed. The Pelican shook and lifted off of the ground along with the others. About half way out of the atmosphere Briggs saw the Covenant fleet firing their energy weapons, he watched as the entire planet went up in flames.

All of those men and women died for this? To watch the planet go up in flames? Briggs though to himself. If it's the last thing I do, I swear I will get revenge on those bastards.

The whole journey up to the Carrier Black Knight nobody spoke, no jokes were being told, nobody was playing cards, everybody was quiet.

The Pelican shook as it made contact with the carrier, after about ten seconds the bay doors opened up and revelled a busy deck. As the men and women stepped off of each Pelican they were greeted with cheers, but none of the marines responded to the cheers, they just kept their heads down and continued to walk.

Briggs walked up to one of the view ports in the deck and looked down and the burning planet. The Major walked up to Briggs and put a hand on his shoulder and spoke, "Don't worry, you did good down there. Those men and women didn't die for no reason."

"I know, sir, just I thought that this time we actually had a chance to repay the Covenant."

"You'll get you chance Sgt. By the way, what was it you wanted to tell me down there?" Briggs had forgotten about the Purple Planet, and he didn't feel like talking about it.

Hell, probably just a bunch of BS anyway, thought Briggs.

"It was nothing, sir," Briggs said and walked off of the deck leaving the Major behind.





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