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Meanwhile...Part 3
Posted By: Wraith<demented_lemon@yahoo.com>
Date: 27 May 2004, 3:56 PM


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      Field Master 'Oglamest was in charge of this whole operation of trying to gain control of a small human town. He was never told for what reasons it needed to be obtained, but orders were orders, especially if they came from the Head Prophet himself. So far nothing had gone right; one transport had tried to attack the wrong city and was massacred by the inhabitants. Then just a few minutes ago, another transport had attacked the right city, but not at the right time, and they weren't doing to well for themselves by the sounds of it. Plus, there were reports of several of the "super humans." 'Oglamest had only thought these were rumours and wouldn't believe them until he had the head of one in his own hands. He snarled just low enough so that it wouldn't be heard over the drone of his Ghost by his companions. He had a sense completely new to him eating away at his stomach; he was nervous, almost afraid. He shook off the feeling and stared ahead. BOOM! The Ghost that had been riding next to him for the last hour was no longer a Ghost, but a charred missile flying through the air. Several more explosions rang through the air around the area followed by screams from the unfortunate Elites that had once been the commandeers of the now non-existent vehicles. There was one more final explosion; bigger than the rest and followed by a succession of smaller explosions. He looked back to see that half of the Ghosts that had once been part of this transport were no more. The last explosion had reduced one of the Wraith tanks to scrap metal. It took him several seconds to realize what had happened; the trap had only lasted three seconds. He looked to his comrades. They had fear in their eyes and looked ready to flee. 'Oglamest snarled threats at them and cautiously moved on. The other Elites followed their leader warily. 'Oglamest couldn't fail this mission or it would cost him his head.

      When the convoy moved on, Ardin and Yolando stood up and hit there fists together. Aaron raised his eyebrows; those were good explosives. "Good job guys, let's get moving. We're going to flank the enemy from behind as the reach the city and engage the Marines." Aaron jumped into the passenger seat and unlatched his rocket launcher. Yolando jumped into the driver seat and turned the ignition while Ardin jumped up behind the LAAG. They waited for several minutes and Yolando pulled out of their concealment and drove after what was left of the convoy.

      'Eerthumen was looked down at the pathetic human; the Elite and the human had been in hand-to-hand combat for the last three minutes and the Elite's brute strength had given him the advantage through the fight. The human's face was bleeding from where 'Eerthumen had kicked him. The human stood back to his feet and crouched down ready to dodge the Elite's next blow. The Elite feinted a punch and kicked the feet out from underneath of the Marine. 'Eerthumen laughed and stared at the human as it got up on a knee. 'Eerthumen had had enough and was beginning to bore of this fight. He locked his two hands together and raised them above his head and started to bring them down on the humans head. A report from a sniper rifle was heard and 'Eerthumen buckled over and brought his hands to his chest. He looked down at where his heart would be and found that there was a gaping hole over it from where the bullet had exited. The human stood up and picked up his sidearm from the ground. He held the gun in one hand and pointed it at the Elite's head. The Elite looked up and snarled a curse at the human. The Marine smiled grimly and pulled the trigger.

      From his vantage point, up on top of a tall building, Ben watched Sergeant Hathcock limp over to his weapon and pick it up. Hathcock looked up towards Ben and gave him a thumbs up. Ben released the clip in his rifle and slammed a fresh one home. That was the last of the first transport, or of what they saw come from the transport. They had sent a search and destroy team to scour the area and make sure there were no Covenant with active camo. The Spartan looked towards the two snipers that had been helping him. "Nice job. Let's get to the next vantage points and get ready for the next wave." They had been positioned on top of an old business building about 100 meters off the ground. They entered the building went back down to ground level via the elevator. They jumped into a Warthog and drove off to next two buildings they were going to snipe from. "Luetze and Smith, take the building that is on the right side of the road, Moritz and I will take that apartment building over there. Get moving." The Spartan and Marine moved to the apartment and climbed to the roof using the fire escape. They found a spot to snipe from and waited.

      Jim had command of a small group of Marines. One of them was badly wounded so Jim had him sit out in a nearby restaurant where some medics were stationed. Jim had the rest of his men set up at various points on the street for an ambush. "Enemy sighted. Hold your fire, Marines." Jim heard Hathcock say over the com. There were close to 30 Marines up and down the streets and in buildings waiting for the command to fire. Several large Covenant ground cruisers came roaring down the street. Each was about two times the size of a Pelican, allowing thirty or so assorted Covenant to be carried. "Fire at will!" Hathcock said over the com. A barrage of bullets hit the front of the Covenant vehicles which caused them to slow. They were still 100 meters off when the transport in the back stopped and unloaded two Hunters and ten Jackals. The Jackals formed a wall and the two Hunters ran around behind them. The two transports in the front moved off to the sides of the road allowing the Hunters to lob green blobs of sizzling energy from the fuel rod cannons that were integrated into their arms. One of the rounds from the fuel rod cannon took a direct hit on top of an unsuspecting Marine leaving a small mound of burning flesh. The second shot was off and took out part of a nearby building.
      "Ben, we need you to take those things out now!" Jim said in a private channel to Ben.
      "Acknowledged." Ben replied. A shot rang out through the air leaving a vapor trail leading right towards the neck of a Hunter. The shot, however, bounced off from the Hunters armour leaving the alien safe from harm. Which was not what Ben wanted. He fired another two shots at the alien, but they were also deflected by the Hunters armour.
      Jim queued the freq again and asked, "Can't you take him out?" Another green blob landed right next to Jim's hiding place. "We need those things out now."
      "Negative," Ben replied. "We're going to have to wait until the sergeant gives the command to retreat. You're going to have to hold until then. I'll keep an eye on them and wait for an opening."
      "Alright. Over and out." Jim said cutting the freq. The Spartan saw the vapor trail from one of the sniper's rifles and looked over at the Hunters. Ben must have sighted in the Jackals that were forming a wall because three of them fell over, either dead or mortally wounded. Another shot from the Hunters soared through the air right towards him. He jumped back behind the wall and waited for the round to hit something before going back out again. He looked around the corner again. The other two vehicles had stopped 75 meters away and were starting to unload troops.
      "Frag out!" A Marine yelled. The young Marine primed a grenade and pitched it towards the first vehicle. The grenade rolled underneath of the first alien vehicle and took out a huge chunk from the front rendering it useless for any further transportation use. Some Grunts charged forward firing their plasma pistols, bloodying up one Marine and killing him. Sniper fire rained down from the apartment building, where Ben and Moritz were stationed, and killed the Grunts. Jim jumped around the corner and started firing his battle rifle at an Elite that had a couple Marines pinned down behind an upturned Warthog. His fifth round snapped the Elites neck and dropped it. He looked down the street and dodged to the side just in time to miss getting hit from a fuel rod round. The Hunter that had fired at him fired again but came short. A shot from the second Hunter blew up the Warthog the two Marines Jim had saved had flipped over. The explosion killed one of the Marines and crippled the other. The Marine lay screaming on the ground. Jim ran over to him and killed several Grunts and a Jackal that were firing at him.
      "Hey buddy, calm down, it'll be ok." Jim said. He looked down at the Marines leg and noticed that a piece of shrapnel had torn a huge chunk of muscle and skin out of his leg. Something tells me he ain't gonna be alright, Jim thought. Against his better judgment, he started wrapping the Marine's leg with a field med kit. If he didn't wrap it now, there was no way the Marine would survive.
      "God! It hurts!" The Marine screamed. Just then a plasma bolt came out of nowhere and hit the Marine's neck killing him. Jim cursed heavily and turned around. He was face-to-face with an Elite about a foot taller than himself. The Elite yelled a battle cry and charged the Spartan. Jim swung the end of his rifle around as a club and knocked the Elite to the ground and fired three rounds into the Elites face. Jim looked up from the Elite's disfigured head and looked to see how the Marines were fairing. About ten had fallen casualties to the Hunters and another three to plasma fire. He took a look at the Covenant and found that, even though their numbers were dwindling, they still had at least forty units left.
      "Hathcock, we need to retreat now!" Jim said on a private channel to the sergeant.
      "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Hathcock replied. On the open frequency Hathcock yelled, "Alright guys, retreat back to the Scorpions. Let's give 'em hell!" The remaining Marines started back-pedaling back to the next street and firing at the advancing Covenant. They were now out of range of the Hunters and didn't need to worry about being mortared by them while they retreated. The Hunters didn't know that though. They took a couple more shots which destroyed about six Grunts that were bunched together. They noticed their mistake and gave pursuit after the humans. Jim turned around and gave the Marines as much covering fire as he could; but the onslaught of plasma forced him to turn tail and retreat as well. They only had fifty meters to run before they rounded the corner at a street intersection. As Jim ran, a round from a plasma pistol flew over his shoulder and struck a Marine's leg, forcing him to fall over. Jim scooped up the Marine in one arm and fired a series of rounds over his shoulder with his rifle. He rounded the corner and ran to a bunker that was set up 20 meters from the intersection. Jim set down the Marine.
      "You think you'll be fine here?" Jim asked. The Marine winced and nodded. The plasma round had only grazed the Marine's leg. The Spartan looked down the street they were on. Five Scorpions were dug into the street and there were two turrets taken off from some Warthogs and put to the side of the street where they would have a good firing angle. Jim jogged over to one of the turrets and manned it. The first few Grunts rounded the corner and got torn to ribbons by the two turrets and another six Marines that opened fire. The next few Covenant came around the corner hiding behind the last of the Jackals that they had left. There were ten Jackals serving as a wall and several Grunts and Elites ducking below their shields. The Marine Jim had saved primed a grenade and tossed it towards the Covenant wall. The explosion killed three of the Jackals leaving a big enough opening exposing an Elite clad in red armour. The Elite charged forward and attempted to slay the Marine that had let loose the grenade. Jim swiveled the turret around and opened fire.





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