The line of jackals moved slowly forward, their shields helping to protect the elites behind them. Plasma heated the air around the marines as they fought intensely, getting struck down, but still managing to lean themselves onto the barricade they had formed. From this angle, the rounds fires by the marines were barely doing anything to stop the Covenant. The Covenant only needed time to overwhelm the remaining humans, which was what worried Sargent Hallings. He turned to the marine beside him.

"I'm sure you know as well as I do by now, that if we don't call for backup, we're all going to fall into the hands of the enemy." He ducked to avoid a stream of plasma from an elite. "I need you to hold this position until I get back; I'm going back to base to call for reinforcements." The marine nodded and saluted as best he could with his bloodied arm as Hallings jogged off.

It would have taken Hallings the best part of a half-hour to get back the decrepit building they had claimed as their base, had another marine driving a warthog almost ran him over. "Sir! We have to get out of here now. I have two ghosts right behind me, and I can't seem to shake them off."

"Turn around, and head back", said the Sargent, jumping into the gunners seat, "Lets give them a little surprise." To that, the warthog turned around, and headed on an intercept course with the ghosts. As soon as Hallings saw one of the ghosts, he opened fire with the 12.7mm shells. He caught the first one on the wing, knocking it off course, and sending it into a building. The driver was thrown out of the seat, and smashed its skull on the hard concrete. The second elite wasn't as easy to kill, and kept weaving sideways, escaping the machine-gun shells, occasionally firing its heated plasma at the vehicle.

Then the ghost deactivated, the elite driver falling as its purple blood splattered over the floor. As the tracing of the APFSDS round slowly dissolved into the air. "Thought you needed some help" came a familiar voice over the Sargent's communication system in his helmet. "Thanks, Sniper-1" he replied, jumping from the gun turret. "You can go now, I will proceed to call for reinforcements on my own, now", he said to the driver while climbing into the now unoccupied ghost, powering it up. "Good luck" came the driver over his intercom, as the warthog roared around the corner. Hallings got most of the way to the base without much resistance. Interesting, he thought to himself, there should be more covenant around this area. The place was swarming with the creatures this morning, but they couldn't have become so convinced that they would win this battle to remove troops. He climbed out of the ghost, and rapped on the door. The slider didn't open. Wondering whether or not the marines had heard him, he knocked again, this time louder. Still no answer. Then he noticed the scorch marks on the door-handle.

Immediately, he backed down, and sneaked around the left side of the building. He looked though the window, and saw two grunts holding overcharged plasma pistols at the door, and a jackal, behind the grunts. He took out his silenced pistol, throwing the rifle on his shoulder, its strap holding it in place, and proceeded to the back of the building. Here he knew there was a fire escape on the second floor, and would use that to escape the jackal hearing him opening the creaky window. He climbed the stairs slowly, taking care to miss the trick stairs, designed to catch any covenant infiltrators off guard, and reached the fire escape on the second floor. From here, he took out a key, and inserted it into the slot in the door. The door slid open with a hiss, and Hallings peered around the door, his pistol at the ready. Fortunately for the Sargent, the room was unoccupied. He took a look into the next room, and found a lone, sleeping grunt, its plasma pistol resting on the desk next to it. He crouched low, and moved over to the grunt, making sure that whatever might be in the next room didn't see him. He took the plasma pistol from the desk, and shot the grunt in its head. Its body writhed for a moment, and then stopped altogether. Hallings moved to the doorway, and found an elite, with two jackals looking over a map. He would have to wait, before attacking the trio, but time was of the essence, since reinforcements were needed quickly. Luckily, one of the jackals signalled that it would go to wake up the dead grunt, and Hallings leaned to the wall, trying to keep out of view of the jackal who would be walking into the room. He crept up behind it, and snapped its neck, just before it was able to alert the others.

The elite was getting impatient, and called the jackal back. When it didn't return, the elite got suspicious, and grabbed its plasma rifle. Signalling the jackal to follow it, the elite walked into the room the marine occupied. All they found were the dead bodies of their former comrades. It was then that the Sargent got up from out of the desk, and dispelled the jackal as he did the other one. The elite turned around just quick enough to see the barrel of pistol, before the round sailed through its skull, leaving blood spattered all over the ceiling, due to the fact that the elite was at least two feet taller than Hallings.

Hallings went up to the map, and studied it for a moment, before rolling it up. Then, he went to the first floor. A quick reconnaissance showed that only the two grunts and the jackal inhabited the ground floor, and so Hallings finished them off from behind with a few shots from his silenced pistol. He got to the radio; fortunately the Covenant had left it alone, and so it wasn't too damaged. The marines who had tried to hold the fort hadn't been as lucky, the Sargent noticed as his gaze wondered over a pile of dead marines. He picked out a few clips for his rifle, and proceeded to the radio.

"Victor Base, this is Oscar team. Come in Victor Base." He waited a few seconds, and was answered by a relaxed voice. "This is Victor Base, we read you loud and clear, Oscar team".

"We need reinforcements, the Covenant have surrounded us, and we won't be able to last much longer. Can you send a team to help us?"

"You're in luck, Oscar team, we have a pelican just finished a battle. Pulverised a squad of covenant, and destroyed a wraith. I think it will be more than enough to suit your needs. ETA 1500 hours"

"Thanks, Victor Base, Oscar team out."


This is my first story, so please read and review. I wouldn't mind knowing what you people think of it so far....