Tides of Destruction(Part 1, The Cavelry)
Posted By: teemus<teemusligg@hotmail.com>
Date: 23 December 2003, 4:13 AM
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Jado System February 6th
Briggs sat up in his sleeping bag sweaty. He had been dreaming about Earth and it being attacked. He saw the face of his wife and children being slaughtered by the Covenant. Briggs got out of the sleeping bag and made for the tent opening. As soon as he walked out he was greeted by a sudden brightness. His eyes adjusted to the light and he realized that there were many flood lights illuminating the area. Holly shit, Briggs thought ot him self. Briggs then heard men shouting out orders and the noise of engines. Briggs looked into the sky and saw many Pelican drop ships coming in with some sort of long metal plates strapped to their bellies.
Briggs walked up to a nearby corporal and spoke, "Can you tell me what the hell is going on here?"
"Those are the parts for the Run Way. Some Pelicans came in earlier and dropped off the Bunkers and Command post."
"Thank you for your help private."
"No problem Sir," replied the private. Briggs then turned to back to look at the spot that the Pelicans were hovering over. He found that the Private was correct. Line after line of bunkers surrounded the area, off to the left was a very large square building, Briggs guessed that this is the command post. Briggs then heard more shouting and turned to see marines with ropes bringing down the metal plates. One by one the plates came down and were put down in a strait line. After a few minutes of watching the Marines struggle with the ropes, Briggs became sleepy and walked back into the tent. Briggs fell asleep as soon as his head hit the hard pillow.
3 hours later the same Private burst into the tent yelling, "Get up! The Covenant are attacking!" and with that ran back out.
Briggs sat up and heard gunfire out side. Why do they have to attack now? Thought Briggs. Briggs quickly awoke everybody else in the tent, strapped on his body armour, grabbed his MA5B, some extra ammo and ran out. When Briggs ran out, he realized that the Covenant did not deploy many troops. Briggs heard a rumbling and turned to see a Wart Hog coming his way. The Wart Hog stopped in front of Briggs and the driver shouted, "We could use a gunner sir!"
"Be happy to," replied Briggs. With that he jumped into the back of the Hog and pulled the leaver on the laag back towards his chest. The Hogs tiers spun, caught grip and pulled the Hog forward. As they drove to the opening in the valley Briggs saw that over night the UNSC had strengthen the defences here. On the two hills surrounding the Valley were Shade emplacements manned by Marines. Next to that there were Stationary guns placed on various points on the hills. There were Jack Hammer crews running here and there on the hilltops firing various shots. It wasn't until Briggs heard a loud boom and turned to find a MBT dug into the hill that he realized the Covenant didn't really stand a chance in this poor planed raid.
Briggs then saw off to the left a whole human artillery regiment. Suddenly the Hogs radio burst with static and then the voice of a marine burst in, "All units, fall back beyond the hills, we are sending in bombers and artillery strikes to weaken the Covies. After the runs, units may proceed to the battle and mop up what is left."
"Ahh man, I was finally gonna get to run over some Covies with this thing!" the drivers said jokingly. The driver then put the Hog to a stop in a line of Hogs and Land Cruisers waiting for the bombing runs to end. Briggs turned and saw a whole squadron of Long Sword bombers taking off from the newly made run way, the artillery cannons starting to rise and marines loading them, he even saw the 5 or so tanks dug into the hill shifting for a better aim. Then all at once the tanks and artillery opened fire. The bombers soared over them and dropped their loads on top of the Covenant position. Briggs could here the muffled screams of dieing Grunts and Elites.
This lasted about 5 minutes when the last cannon shot off one last shell. A few seconds after the last shell exploded the radio burst open again, "All units, move in and engage the survivors, good luck."
"Yee Haw! Here comes the Cavalrly!" yelled the driver and floored it as the vehicles in front of him began to move. As soon as the Hog cleared the Gap between the two hills the smell of rotting flesh reached Briggs nose. The once green field was now black, with the occasional purple patch of blood. There were not many of the Covenant left, but there still were plenty. Briggs pivoted the gun and opened fire at a stray jackal. The first few rounds missed but the last few caught it and killed it. Briggs heard a screeching noise and looked up to the sky. A banshee was coming in for a dive on the vehicles in the field. Briggs got a lock on the aircraft and opened fire. His whole body was shaking as he fired the laag at the craft. The bullets were bouncing harmlessly off of the armoured nose of the craft. Why wont this piece of shit die? Briggs thought to himself.
"Get me a better angle!" Briggs yelled to the driver. The driver nodded and turned the wheel. The Hog turned so Briggs was behind of the craft now. Briggs took aim and fired. Once again his whole body was shacking, it was as if a giant earthquake was occurring. Just as the banshee started to pull up it fired a fuel rod shot and hit a Land Cruiser from above. Briggs watched as the Land cruiser went up in flames. Briggs became angrier and fired again. Briggs didn't know if he had gotten lucky, because a few bullets hit the Banshees fuel tanks and the craft was engulfed in flames.
It took about 15 minutes to mop up the rest of the stragglers. Briggs knew that this wasn't the main assault; to him it just didn't fell right. I don't like the feeling, why didn't they launch out a full assault? Briggs thought to himself. The hog crossed back into the valley and stopped out side of Briggs's tent. Briggs said a good bye to the driver who was very depressed for his buddy who was lying in a pool of blood in the passengers seat. Briggs walked into the tent, took of his armour and went to catch some much needed hours of sleep.
To be continued...
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