Pelican Down
by
Ethan Heckemeyer
Prologue
He saw something shifting from behind the waterfall. A brute, a huge ape looking creature wearing power armor, no it couldn't be! The brutes had pulled out days ago. Wait, yes it was! The brute chieftain emerged from behind the waterfall, gravity hammer in hand. "Run!" Landon yelled. As he looked back more brutes scattered deeper into the tunnels then to his surprise all he saw was a gravity hammer coming straight at him.
Chapter One
Landon's Mission
Landon was on his first deployment. A lucky first at that. His orders were to fly in on a pelican and rescue the Master Chief; easy! He had already picked out the assault rifle and the standard magnum he was going to use for the mission. He boarded the pelican and took the seat closest to the edge on the left side. The pelican had wings kind of like a tail. It also had a cockpit and landing gear. The pelican is an aircraft with a long wingspan designed to carry troops. The green color of the pelican allows for camouflage in forested areas and the tail of the pelican is designed for swift movements. The engines roared as marines prepared to board the pelican.
As other marines started to board so did his best friend, Michael. Michael was tall and skinny with blue eyes and had a smile that could make the worst day better. Landon and Michael had enrolled in the military together. "Hey look," Michael exclaimed excitedly. He held up a sniper rifle! "How did you get that? It is only your first deployment," asked Landon. "I found it lying on the floor in the barracks," replied Michael. "Nice," Landon and Michael replied exchanging a high five. As everyone boarded the pelican Landon heard the engines rev up and felt the pelican lift effortlessly from the ground.
As the pelican was en-route to its destination Landon watched the ground seemingly shrink. Landon looked over at Michael who was looking down the barrel of the sniper rifle. Landon often wondered how Michael ever got past basic training. "Hey Michael." "Yea," Michael replied. "You ready," Landon asked. "Nervous," was Michael's reply. The pelican soared over evergreen pine trees and hills until, at last they were there.
When the pelican reached its destination hovering over a straight shallow manmade river, one of the marines climbed out of his seat and manned the turret. Landon loaded his pistol and started firing at the swarm of Covenant below. The Covenant is a legion of alien races that believes that if they activate the halo rings they would become gods. In truth, the halo rings would wipe out all sentient life in the galaxy. Landon took a shot nailing a grunt in the head. The grunt was a four foot, two-armed, two-legged, walking creature with a triangular shaped tank on its back to provide it with the methane it needs to breath. As it fell to the ground, another pelican arrived lowering itself to the ground.
A squad of marines including Sergeant Johnson, a tall and skinny, important military figure who wore standard military green armor with an added hat with a cigar lit in his mouth, prepared to board when all the sudden a brute jumped from cover and grabbed a marine lifting him from the ground. Landon looked over at Michael who was aiming his rifle preparing to fire on the brute. Michael took the shot hitting the brute in the chest destroying the power armor while Landon fired two shots at the brute with his magnum, dropping the brute. The marine ran to the pelican boarding just as it lifted about ten feet hovering next to their pelican. The two pelicans were side by side now.
"Look," a marine exclaimed, as he pointed to a tall green figure. The Master Chief! He was seven-foot-tall and had a thin figure. He wore green Mjölnir class armor which made him almost invulnerable to incoming fire. As a child, he was abducted into the Spartan Two program, which essentially made him a super soldier with increased speed and strength. He had grenades, a standard magnum, and an assault rifle. The Chief took out seven enemies simultaneously as the machinegun fired finishing off the rest of the Covenant on the plasma scarred concrete. Then Landon heard through the coms from the pilot; "hold on got a new contact." Landon heard a whirring noise of… what? He saw Michael tense up as he heard desperate screaming through coms. "Banshees set to blow!" A projectile from the banshee, a small one-person kind of purple plane with wings built slanted downward and the top opening to allow for the pilot to enter, slammed into both pelicans knocking the man gunning the turret out the door. "I'm hit," screamed the pilot. The pelican violently thrashed throwing another marine out the door to a horrifying death. The pelican was spinning, or at least Landon thought so, was he passing out? He felt the altitude of the pelican lowering as it sank over a cliff and with a thunderous boom everything stopped. The screams, the falling, and everything went dark.
Chapter Two
Survivors
Landon felt himself being dragged through heat, no it was fire. His ears still rung from the crash, so he was barely able to make out words like pilot, or Michael… Michael! He shot up and limped to the crash site when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Landon," he queried. It was Michael; he had pulled him out from the crash debris.
Landon whirled around as he started to regain his senses. He only saw the pilot, a marine, and Michael. It was the dead of night; the stars were covered by clouds, so no light was visible. He must have been out for a while. "How many survivors," he asked. "Just four," replied Michael "Dang," exclaimed Landon. "Thanks." "For what,' Michael replied, "Pulling me out," Landon stated in a severe tone. In the next second, Landon saw something slither from behind the waterfall before disappearing. "What are our supplies looking like," Landon asked still slightly distracted. "My sniper, two magnums, one for the pilot and one for you. Your assault rifle and that marines battle rifle." "We also have TONS of emergency landing procedure food. Even if it does taste horrible, it will have to do," said Michael. Landon looked over at a marine and the pilot who were bickering at each other about something. He stepped over closer and heard the marine who is muscular and almost mean in attitude yelling at the pilot. The pilot was medium height and looked almost sad. She had an expressive look in her eyes. It was almost like you could instantly know how she is feeling. The marine was yelling that it was her fault that the ship crashed. "Wait," Landon exclaimed with alarm as he realized every brute in the area was going to hear their petty argument.
A brute jumped down from the top of the waterfall with a thunderous crash. As it stood towering over them it pointed its gun at Michael. Landon threw himself on top of the brute as he took his knife from his holster. He slammed the knife into the power armor knocking it off. Landon was thrown off the brute. The brute turned to look at Landon who was struggling to get up. The brute stepped closer as it pointed its gun at Landon. It was almost slobbering as it started to laugh menacingly then all the sudden it was stopped in its tracks as a sniper rifle round passed through its head causing brain matter to land all over the marine. The brute bent to its knees before toppling over to reveal Michael with his sniper rifle in hand. "There is going to be more of them," Michael said, distracted as he looked to the cliffs. "There," The pilot said as she pointed and ran behind the waterfall. As everyone ran to the waterfall, Landon heard the faint footsteps of brutes. Landon ran behind the waterfall and found not just good cover but also an entire cave system. He was now completely behind the waterfall. He turned around and made out several shapes of brutes patrolling the crashed pelican. "What are we going to do," the marine asked. "Hold out here is our best option, they will probably be gone by daylight," Michael replied.
Light shone through and up the pounding waterfall as Michael sat up from where he lay. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a tall thin Landon standing with his assault rifle in hand pointing it at the far end of the cave. "What are you doing," Michael asked "Nothing, just thought I saw something," Landon replied nervously. Landon lowered his gun and helped Michael up. "The others are outside," he said. They both walked through the waterfall and as they did they heard a sort of slithering sound. Michael whirled around but saw nothing. Cautiously he joined the others. Landon and the pilot were talking about a scouting mission while the marine was giving really mean looks to the pilot. Michael looked over at their name tags. The pilot was Jane and the marine was Owen. "We are low on ammo for my pistol as well as Jane's," Landon said. Owen replied, "Ok, get yourself killed by brutes, that place will be heavily defended. Fine by me, I am staying here because we have not enough ammo," Owen angrily said. God! Michael just wanted to punch Owen square in the nose. "I'll go," Michael said. "Me too," Landon replied. "Count me in," Jane added in. "Ok let's go," Landon stated.
Chapter Three
The Battleground
Michael felt a leaf hit his face then a blade of grass as he bellies crawled up the hill undetected. He was there. He got his sniper rifle. He looked around, there! He zoomed in on a brute's head and prepared to fire. Landon and Jane were waiting for him to fire. He put his finger on the trigger and on the bottom of his exhale, he squeezed the trigger. Three brutes were left. They were guarding a small armory. Landon fired his assault rifle at the closet brute and Jane finished it off. Michael moved his sniper rifle into position. He shot two bullets, killing one brute and destroying the power armor on the other. The brute charged Landon, Landon pulled out his knife and stabbed the brute in the head. The knife went in with a sickening thud killing the brute. Landon had to use all his might to pull the blade from the brute's thick bloody skull.
They returned to the base with two carbines. The carbine is similar to a plasma firing range single burst fire weapon that replaced Landon and James' pistols. They found Owen on high alert, gun raised. "What is wrong," Jane asked. "Nothing, just thought I heard something by the waterfall," Owen replied. "Alright, now that we have ammo we need to think, how are we getting out of he-," Landon was caught off by a thunderous crash of a scarab landing. The four-legged purple machine was almost three stories high and was sent to clear out areas of UNSC activity. It started to walk towards them! "To the waterfall," Michael screamed. They started to sprint to the waterfall when all the sudden two grunts and a jackal, a four-foot two-legged creature with a snout which had six-inch claws, jumped down blocking their path. "I got them," Owen screamed. "Jane, you too, go help Owen," Michael yelled. "Landon with me! We are going to take out that scarab," exclaimed Michael. "With what," stated Landon. "A good distraction and a good sniper rifle," said Michael. "Got it," said Landon. Landon started running around in a figure eight distracting the scarab. Luckily none of the flying bullets hit him. Michael ran around behind the scarab and fired three rounds into the armor protecting the core! It was wide open. But wait! The scarab; it was turning around!
Landon saw the scarab start to run around, catching a grunt off guard. The grunt fell forty feet from the top of the scarab and died. One of the non-active plasma grenades rolled to Landon. Landon snatched the grenade from the ground. Then he saw the core, but he realized that it was about to fire on Michael. Landon knew what to do. He activated the grenade and threw it up at the core. Just before the scarab fired, the scarab went up in a glorious purple explosion. Debris went everywhere. "Michael," Landon exclaimed as he saw Michael start walking towards him. "Thanks," Michael said with a catch in his voice. That night Landon swore he heard something but nobody else did, so he went to bed. The next morning there were discussions about how they were going to escape. "Well we could scout for another base. See if there are air vehicles," Landon suggested. "Even if we found one they probably have aa guns everywhere," Owen said and then mocked Landon silently. "So, let's take them down," Jane said. "Well I will have to scout out their location," said Michael. "Ok then it is settled," mumbled Owen.
Landon pulled out his knife in preparation for when Michael made the first shot. A shot penetrated the jackal's shield and Landon ran at the jackal stabbing it in the throat. Blue blood gushed out. Three brutes ran towards Landon. One was immediately taken down by Michael with the sniper rifle. While another was shot by Owen and Jane. The last one started a full-on sprint towards Landon. Landon also ran head long at the brute. Landon slid under the brute's legs while grabbing the brutes back. He pulled himself onto the back of the brute. Owen ran at the brute and was immediately thrown away with one punch from the brute. Landon drew his knife and stabbed the brute in the back. The brute grabbed at its back trying get Landon. It picked up Landon by the throat. As the brute drew its gun Landon used his knife to cut the brute's arm. The brute dropped Landon as the brute screamed in pain clutching his injured arm. Landon launched his knife at the brute's chest once more, killing it. As Michael headed down the rocky hill, Jane deactivated the aa gun. When they returned to base to plan their next attack Landon got an eerie feeling. Something was in the caves with them.
The next morning when they started their new plan of attack Landon was on the ground once again waiting for the first shot to be taken when all the sudden Michael radios in and tells Landon of a new threat. There was a brute with a strange new armor and a plasma machine gun. Michael was going to take the first shot at it. As Michael took the first shot he knocked the helmet of the plasma machine wielding brute off. Landon burst from cover running at the brute. The brute began to fire coming extremely close to him. Landon grabbed the machine gun out of the brute's hands, turned it around, and began to fire; killing the brute. Landon dropped the gun and watched as Jane and Owen took down the last brute with his battle rifle. Landon walked over to the control panel which controlled the aa gun. Landon pressed his hand on the controls, the aa gun stopped firing and he could hear the mechanics slowing down. The machine made a roaring noise, and then suddenly stopped. Landon returned to base and got the same eerie feeling as before as he slipped into sleep. The next morning, they were woken up to the most pleasant of surprises. Landon was looking up at the ceiling of the cavern as he heard noises creep around him. The others were gone, and Landon could not seem to move. As he looked up at the ceiling of the cavern, something dropped onto him. Landon sat straight up. It was a dream. He looked out beyond the waterfall where everyone else was listening to Michael's plan.
Chapter Four
Setback's
Michael was explaining that they could go scouting for a convenient enemy base to find ships to escape in, but Owen had some objections. "Are you kidding me! We would just be wasting our times with your idiotic plan! We can't leave until all the aa guns are down," Owen angrily yelled. "True but if we are ever going to escape we are going to need to know the locations of the enemy ships," Michael replied calmly. After a second of thinking about it Owen made an angry face and said, "Fine! How about a compromise? Jane and Landon can go look for the stupid base while Michael and I disable another aa gun." "Then it's settled," Landon said while Jane nodded her head in agreement. As Landon and Jane disappeared through the trees Michael walked towards the aa gun.
Plasma was hurled into the sky by the stationary aa gun. Michael had already shot off the first shot, but this time the plan was different because he was to join Owen once the fighting began. After he fired he ran down the hill to Owen who was fighting a jackal. Michael jumped over a small purple container of which the contents were unknown to him. Michael pressed his gun to the side of the last brute's cheek and fired. It instantly fell to the ground. As the large machine stopped firing everything in the area was silent.
Landon and Jane had been lost for hours after being chased by brutes to a place which they were unfamiliar with. The brutes were nearby, and they were both hiding under a small overhang of rocks. The brutes walked atop the overhang and eventually away. "Now," Jane whispered. They moved undetected towards a cliff with a cave next to it. Wait! Landon remembered this place. Up one of the hills was where they came from. Jane was still walking when all the sudden she got too close to the edge of the cliff and one of the rocks she was standing on fell. She started to fall with it. Landon dove to the edge of the cliff grabbing her arm and pulling her up. One of the brutes heard this. It was the brute at the top of the hill where they needed to go. It made a thunderous yell. Landon bolted up the hill towards it. Jane followed as they ran past it and into the trees to the camp. They evaded the brute.
Both squads arrived at the waterfall at roughly the same time. They talked about their experiences and what they needed to plan next. They were all sitting in different places; Landon and Owen were on the ground while Jane sat next to the pelican and Michael sat on top of the pelican. As they discussed their next attack a brute snuck up behind Michael and pushed him to the ground. The brute held up a sticky grenade ready to arm it. It was the same brute they had encountered in the forest and ran past. It looked straight at Michael, Landon, and Owen but did not seem to notice Jane. Wait where was Jane? As the brute lifted one finger preparing to detonate the grenade Jane pushed the brute off the pelican from behind. She caught the grenade. As the brute started to run away Jane activated the grenade and threw it at the brute when it was at a safe distance from them. The explosive stuck to the back of the brute, it turned around in confusion, and exploded after a short delay.
Michael was thinking about how they should approach the final attack. Since there was only one aa gun remaining they would need to be ready to leave as soon as the attack was finished. Therefore, they would need to look for an enemy base to steal a ship from. It was decided they would all rush the aa gun on the ground. Then they would hurry back to find a base and steal a ship. On the way to the aa gun Michael noticed something was off. There were no guards. Upon further inspection they realized that all the gear was gone, and the aa gun was disabled. "No no no," Michael shouted. The brutes had pulled out and took all their stuff with them, meaning no ships to escape in.
The next three days not much happened. No attacks; nothing. As Michael sat he thought to himself that he could have sworn he heard a sound like slithering creeping noise through the darkness. As Michael started to fall asleep he thought about the warmth of home.
Chapter Five
Escape
Landon awoke in the middle of the night but strangely, everyone was awake and they all looked scared. Jane pointed and whispered, "Behind you." As Landon tuned around he saw something shifting from behind the waterfall. A brute, a huge ape looking creature wearing power armor; no, it couldn't be! The brutes had pulled out days ago. Wait, yes it was! The brute chieftain emerged from behind the waterfall, gravity hammer in hand. "Run," Landon yelled. As he looked back more brutes scattered deeper into the tunnels then to his surprise all he saw was a gravity hammer coming straight at him. He was going to be crushed. He felt himself being pushed out of the way. Landon fell to the ground as he heard the slam of the gravity hammer. It was Michael who received the blow. Michael had pushed Landon out of the way and got hit in the process. Michael flew into the rock wall and tumbled to the rock floor. "No," Landon screamed as he turned around and grabbed the gravity hammer. He slammed the gravity hammer as hard as he could into the brute chieftain's head, killing it. "No no," Landon cried as he dropped the gravity hammer. He turned to Michael who lay helplessly on the ground. "Michael! Wake up! Come on," he mournfully cried. Deep inside he knew that Michael would not wake up, but he had to keep trying. It felt like the world was spinning. Michael was gone. Landon felt a hand on his shoulder. "He's gone," he heard through the pounding in his ears. He did not need to turn around to know that it was Jane speaking to him. Landon did not get up though, he could NOT give up on him. "I am so sorry," Jane said with empathy. Owen did nothing. There was not even an inch of sadness or grief stretched across his face. "We have to go. More brutes will be here soon. NOW," Owen yelled. "I am not leaving him here! He still might wake up," Landon cried. "NO, he won't," Owen screamed.
Then everything went silent. There was a too familiar slithering sound. The one he had heard so many times. However, this time it did not sound distant. It sounded almost above them. He looked up to see hundreds upon hundreds of hunter worms, a one-foot long worm with a huge head and small body; they also had razor sharp teeth hanging, on the ceiling above him. "RUN," Jane screamed. They all sprinted deeper into the cave until they found a fork in the cave system. "Left," Jane said and then Owen replied with, "screw you guys I am going right!" Owen ran straight into a dead end as the hunter worms dropped onto him. He was gone. He was covered by them and they could barely even make out the shape of his body. "OWEN," Jane shouted in despair. "Left; now," Landon exclaimed. They sprinted through the caves, left and right, as the hunter worms pursued them. "There," Jane shouted while pointing at an ending to the cavern. Jane and Landon sprinted towards the end of the cavern. As they burst out into the daylight they both felt a sense of relief as the hunter worms could not come out into the daylight.
As Landon and Jane burst out of the cave they were met with a horrific sight. An entire covenant base was within site. They moved up the hill to get a better look. It was covered with brutes, two banshees, and a phantom; a purple and oddly shaped troop transport vehicle. Landon pointed out the phantom to Jane. Then they started to plan. However, Landon was not really listening. All he could think about was Michael is gone. Landon started feeling extremely sad. All he wanted to do was give up. He kept thinking this until he was cut off by Jane, "What do you think?" "What," Landon replied. "You were not listening where you," Jane questioned. "I was just thinking about Mi…," Landon trailed off. "I am so sorry," Jane said again as she did not know what else to say. They both spent the night on the top of that hill. Even though they had slept on colder rocks in the cave, everything here felt frozen. As they both woke from their restless uncomfortable sleep they started to calculate their plan again. They both decided that they were just going to run towards the drop ship and that's when Landon saw it. The biggest aa gun he had ever come across was at the top of another hill on the opposite end of the valley. They were going to have to take it down.
They were both getting ready to attack the three brutes. The signal to start the attack would be Jane firing her weapon. After a moment Jane stepped out of cover and fired her carbine seven times at a brute, killing it, and she moved to another. Landon fired his assault rifle at the last brute, killing it. They both ran to the bottom level of the aa gun as they started to fire at the gun. The core made an extremely loud screeching noise and they both started to run. The brutes next to the ship were alerted as Jane and Landon dove for cover. The aa gun exploded.
While Jane and Landon ran back to their new camp, the brutes inspected the wreckage. The next morning, they knew that today was the day they had to steal the ship. It had to be done, now or never as several brutes were boarding the drop ship. They both sprinted down the hill to the drop ship. "There," Landon said as he pointed to the big purple drop ship. About 10 squads of brutes ran at them. "Go go go," Landon yelled. Landon hurdled a brute and punched another in the face. Jane fired at one, but her carbine ran out of ammo. She threw the carbine to the ground and got ready to punch a brute when from behind one her knocked her over. Landon drew his knife stabbing both brutes. He helped Jane up. They both started running for the drop ship. "Get in I'll cover you," Landon said as he stood next to the drop ship. As Landon fired, Jane boarded the drop ship, killed three brutes, and started the thrusters. As Landon backed up to the ship to board it his carbine ran out of ammo, he switched to the assault rifle, and shot a brute as he boarded. The ship started to take off as he saw a brute, radioing in. Oh no! The brute then proceeded to jump about six feet to where the phantom was hovering. The phantom took off with the brute inside. Landon ducked under the brute's punches and drew his knife as he heard Jane yell, "Hang on!" The phantom tilted to dodge a steep hill. The huge doors on both sides were still open and the tilting of the ship caused a steep incline towards the open doors. Landon and the brute both slid towards it. Landon grabbed a turret as did the brute. They were both hanging onto keep from falling a hundred-foot drop. Landon lost his grip on the knife and it fell out of the drop ship. Landon moved his leg to kick the brute's arms causing it to fall as well. As the ship leveled out, Landon began to hear the roaring of what the brute had called in! Banshees! The phantom swung around to put the turret in range of the banshees. Landon manned the turret and hit one of the banshee's wings so that the banshees crashed together causing a huge explosion.
Even though the Master Chief has escaped their mission was a complete utter failure as they were not the ones who rescued Master Chief, not only that but all the crew except for Landon and Jane died. After the failed mission Landon and Jane flew home and they both went their separate ways. Landon was home. It did not end up being a lucky mission. A first certainly but also Landon's last.
Epilogue
One year later…. Landon was laying on his bed thinking about those disastrous few days. Then he thought about the night of Michael's funeral. He had mostly gotten over the loss of his best friend, but it still hurt. Jane had taken up a different job in the military. Landon however, had left the military and moved around until he found a wonderful place to live. On the occasion Jane was home she helped Landon heal and move on without forgetting his good friend, Michael. Landon lived a happy life with a house, and a feeling of purpose.