Chapter 1
"THIS FUCKING SUCKS"
I would have laughed at the perfectly apt description that Jane shouted out for our current situation if I had the energy, but I was too concerned with running as fast as my legs could possibly carry me without falling down the mountain and trying to doge the torrent of plasma that was being fired down on us. My lungs were burning as I pushed myself even harder, I looked over to Jane to see if she were keeping up; she almost looked like she was enjoying this as she ran beside her, god damn adrenaline junkie.
"Enjoying yourself?" I shouted over to her. Glancing at me, she let out a short laugh and said "Never felt more alive Kate!" she apparently had the energy to laugh...bitch. Looking forward again relief flooded my body as I saw that the bottom of the mountainside was nearing as well as our warthog.
The warthog in question exploded into a ball of green fire a second later, looking up I made out the shape of a banshee in the sky; it was peeling off after the attack run on our getaway car. Thinking quickly I called out to Jane.
"Head for the cave, we'll hide out there!" I shouted as we reached the bottom. Adjusting the sniper rifle on my back I made a straight beeline towards the opening while dodging fire from the mountainside. We had camped out in the cave the night before so I was hoping that it at least went on for a little ways into the mountain. Hopefully far enough to find a hiding place from the covenant. I heard the whine of the banshee as it came in for another attack run, my legs went into overdrive even as my muscles protested, the sheer need for survival overriding the pain. The cave was only a few more feet!
The Banshee fired its fuel rod gun; the green blob of plasma arced down towards the cave detonating just over the entrance and caving it in.
24 hours earlier
Date:2527
Location: Outer Colony JSX-243, UNSC FIREBASE in Capitol city of Apito
Situation:FUBAR
A moan escaped my lips as the steaming water cascaded down my body, loosening every sore and stiff muscle in my back. We had just returned from another mission in the city that went south. Ever since the covenant landed we were getting our asses handed to us in every engagement, pretty soon we wouldn't have enough troops to keep the city, never mind the planet. I gave a frustrated sigh as the water shut off, stupid five minute rule. Grabbing a towel I wrapped it around myself and moved towards the lockers, finding one with the nameplateIsles.K I opened it and pulled out a fresh set of fatigues and put them on. As I was tying my boots a private walked into the room and hurried over to where I was.
"Corporal Isles?"he asked me in a timid voice, yep this kid was as green as grass, then again I'm not so much more experienced.
"Thats me." I said, smiling at the private trying to assuage any fears.
"General Amstell wants you and Corporal Myers in the command post ASAP." my smile faded immediately. The General was an all around asshole to everything and everyone. He especially hated me and Jane, he thought the idea of women in the Corp was a disgrace to everything the military stood for, he had given me and Jane the whole 'women have no place on the battlefield' speech a couple times already. Personally I think he can go shove it were the sun don't shine. Smiling on that note I thanked the private and made my way towards the exit.
Making my way out of the Barracks and onto the streets of Apito, I shielded my eyes as the sun blinded me for a few seconds. Shaking it off I moved towards the hotel across the street which the marines had re-purposed into their barracks, why the hell should you sleep on uncomfortable bunks when you have five-star beds across the street.
Moving into the lobby I made my way up the stairs to the third floor heading to room 113. Nearing the room I could make out the distinctive moans of Jane. Muttering under my breath I didn't even bother knocking on the door, I just turned the handle and walked right in. The sight that greeted me was just about the same as all the others before; Jane with another woman tangled in the sheets of her bed.
"Jesus Christ.." I muttered under my breath rolling my eyes at the scene. I looked at the private below Jane, she was so out of it she hardly realized that their was another person in the room, such was the affect Jane had on other women in bed. She looked up at me with that look that just screamed 'this better be good or I'm gonna kill you'.
"The General wants to see us ASAP." I stated simply and then watched for the reaction. I was not disappointed when Jane scrambled from the bed cursing looking for her clothes in a frenzy. I looked down at the private still in the bed sheets, she seemed to have taken notice of me after Jane's apparently intoxicating presence had removed itself from her side. Her face was just about as red as a tomato but managed to recover some of her military training as she stood up with a sheet around her and gave a salute.
"At ease private." I said and returned the salute, while smiling at her disheveled appearance. Jane had finally put her clothes on and made her way back towards the private. She kissed her deeply and I had to practically pry her off the poor girl and drag her from the room.
"Fine, fine lets go see what General Sexist wants, wait for me sweetlips!" called out Jane to the private inside the room. Walking down the corridor with Jane at my side I asked "So what does this make it? five just this week?" "six." corrected Jane with a massive grin on her face.
"You should really try it Kate, let out that inner Mojo I know you have." I rolled my eyes and didn't even bother with a response as we made our way out of the lobby and towards the Firebase. I entered the base through one of the small hatches in the thick armor with Jane right on my tail. We made our way to the command center through all the small and cramped walkways in the base. Climbing up the ladder we made our way to another hatch labeled 'Command' opening the door I stepped into the center of the room on one side of the Holo-projector with Jane by my side. The General had his back turned to us looking out the window down at the assembled vehicles.
"General, Corporals Isles and Myers reporting as ordered." I said while performing a crisp salute, the general didn't even seem to take notice of our presence as we stood there still saluting. Finally he turned around and gave the two of us a lazy half salute.
"At ease ladies, and I use that term lightly Myers," he stated with disdain as he strolled over to the holo-projector. Jane just took it in stride and smiled at the general as he turned the projector on and brought up a topographical display of where the covenant base was located.
"I have a mission for the two of you; were getting our asses handed to us, plain and simple I need the two of you to kill the covenant forces Commander before they launch another offensive into the city. As much as I hate to admit it you two are the best sniper team we have available which is damn sad considering the two of you are women." I was completely dumbstruck, had the General actually given us;two women a compliment? I looked to my right and saw that Jane was equally as shocked to hear that coming from him.
"Sir you want us to go and kill the covie base Commander?" I asked as I repeated what he told us in my head one more time hardly believing the words.
"I'm sorry corporal I didn't know you were hard of hearing, That is exactly what I want you to do. I don't care if you have to shoot him from a mile away or stab the bastard with your knife, get the job done!" I tried not to wince as he almost yelled that last part.
"Now the two of you have access to whatever you need to get this job done, get geared up your rolling at 1700 sharp." taking that as a dismissal I saluted and promptly marched out of the room.
"Kate did you hear what he said; he actually gave us a compliment, and he wants us to go assassinate the Covie base Commander." Jane was barely containing her excitement.
"I have to admit it is a bit shocking that hes giving us such a high priority mission considering his attitude towards women, but maybe he finally decided to read our files and see our previous combat experience. Even for him its hard not to recognize that were probably the two most experienced marines on the planet." It was true, me and Jane had been on Harvest when first contact was made, we barely escaped with our lives. Then we went back with the fleet to retake harvest under the command of Admiral Cole, the planet had been turned into hell in the year that we were gone. After serving a year there, we were transferred to another outer colony which the covenant had assaulted; after a few months of brutal combat the covenant glassed the planet and we were evacuated with the few remaining survivors of the civilian population. Now we were assigned to this place where we were once again getting our asses kicked.
"Yeah I know, but did you hear that other part; we have access to whatever we need to get the job done." Jane was grinning like a madman. I had to suppress a groan as to what she could possibly plan to take with her on the mission. We had made it to the armory were there was everything you could possibly dream of. There was everything from combat knives to special forces tactical gear. Taking two duffel bags I placed them on the table on one side of the room then took a good look at the weapons rack on the other side of the room. After an hour of 'shopping' we had picked out our arsenal of destruction; it consisted of six M6C Magnums, two MA5B assault rifles, two M7/Caseless Submachine guns, two SRS-99AM sniper rifles, a special forces pack that had modifications for all their weapons and other goodies, a demolition kit; that was Jane's idea, and finally one M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifle. We then donned fresh sets of armor, grabbed our helmets and set off towards the garage.
"I think we went a little over board with our choice of gear Jane, we're never gonna even use half of this stuff," I complained as I readjusted the heavy bag on my shoulder. Jane just gave me an exasperated look and then proceeded to explain "Of course we won't, but when are we gonna have unlimited access again? Probably never so we should take what we can while we can." I rolled my eyes at the explanation as we made it to a warthog, throwing our extensive amount of gear into the back I clambered into the drivers seat while Jane got on then turret. Starting the warthog up we slowly drove out of the base and onto the streets where General Amstell was waiting with his assistant. Stopping the warthog next to the general we waited for him to finish talking to his assistant.
"I want those mines in place by tomorrow.. Ah Corporal Isles, its about time. Reconnaissance shows the enemy gathering their forces for another assault, they'll be ready in three days time, thats how long you have to identify and kill their leader. Oh and if you fail ill personally see to it that you both are dishonorably discharged, that is if you survive." he threw that last comment over his shoulder as he walked away from us.
"One of these days I'm gonna clock that sexist bastard into next week," Jane said as she took out a Sweet Williams Cigar and lit it. "Yeah but then he would have an actual reason to discharge you from the military." I retorted as I started the warthog once again and took off down the street. Never the one to lose an argument Jane had a reply ready for my statement "Not unless I'm of a higher rank," conceding to the point I remained silent till we reached the edge of the city and started heading towards the mountains on the horizon.
"So Jane, what are your plans after the wars over?" I asked, trying to fill the silence that had stretched ever since we left the city. "I never really thought about it I guess, maybe find a girl and settle down, that is if this war ever ends. How about yourself Kate?" Personally I didn't see myself in the family life, maybe I'd just stay in the military. "I'd probably stay in the Military until I figured out what to do," Jane seemed contented with the answer. The rest of the trip was spent with a few conversations here and there until we arrived at the mountains. We had found a cave at the base of the mountains and decided to camp out there for the night before ascending the mountain the next morning. Jane had brought in the gear from the warthog as well as a burner which we were using to cook some food.. if you could even call it that. The 'food' was barely edible but then again MRE's wernt supposed to taste good. After I nights sleep on the cold and unforgiving ground, we hiked up the mountain with just one SRS-99AM sniper rifle and the M99 Stanchion Rifle which we planned to use to blow the Covenant Base commander's head clean off.
The hike up wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, we had just walked up the mountain instead of having to scale it. That was good news if we had to make a quick getaway. Almost at the top we dropped to our knees and crawled the last few feet and then onto our stomachs as we crested the rise. Below us was a massive covenant base; they had barracks, repair facilities, an airstrip, a main base complex, and finally to make matters worse; they had a shield generator surrounding the entire base.
"Great, were already fucked, the General didn't tell us anything about a shield, we don't have anything that can penetrate it!" I had to agree with Jane on two points; one we didn't have anything that would penetrate that shield and two the General would've known if there was a shield or not from the reconnaissance report. One thing was for sure, I was gonna have a nice long 'chat' with the General when we get back. "Just because they have a shield doesn't mean were screwed, we just have to be patient and wait until he goes and takes a piss... outside the shield of course." trying to lighten the situation with a joke didn't seem to work for Jane as she glowered at me then looked through the scope of her Gauss rifle.
"The least we can do is try and find the leader and see if an opportunity arises for us to take him out." I suggested as I propped my sniper rifle on its bipod.
"Way ahead of you Kate. Take a look at the north end of the airfield." looking through my scope sure enough tinted in blue was a gold Elite inspecting some of the banshee pilots.
"Track him." I ordered to Jane as we followed the Zealots movements all over the base for the next few hours; after the airfield he visited the barracks, then the repair facilities, and finally an hour ago he went into the main base complex and hadn't come out since.
The sun was starting to set when finally the Zealot reemerged from the main complex. "Kate, we got movement south side of the base." looking to where Jane had pointed out I saw a mass of troops and tanks assembling, checking the main airfield I saw that they were preparing their banshee's as well. They were mobilizing for an assault, the General's intel was off; they weren't launching the assault tomorrow, they were launching the assault today!
"Kate it looks like the Zealot is leading the assault himself." The Zealot in question had jumped onto one of the tanks with two ultras by his side as their army moved slowly out of the base. "Jane here's our chance, you take out the Zealot, ill take the two Ultras." Adrenaline started to pump through my system as I scoped in on the Ultra to the left of the tank. My finger drew closer to the trigger and I started the count down.
"Three...two...one...fire!"
The M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifle operated in the same fashion as the M68 Gauss Cannon that was usually mounted on the back of a warthog, both weapons were practically scaled down versions of the ship based MAC guns so when Jane pulled the trigger on her rifle a series of electromagnetic coils accelerated the 5.4mm/.21 caliber bullet to a velocity of 15000 meters per second which reached its target in less than a fraction of a second. Because of the rounds supersonic velocity when it hit its target it quite literally blew the Elite Zealot into pieces and continued on through the tank he was riding on effectively destroying it as well. Even though we pulled the trigger at the same time my bullet was just leaving the barrel of my rifle by the time Jane's had already buried itself several meters into the ground. Where Jane's rifle had power, mine had accuracy; my bullet rang true and put a clean hole through the head of the Ultra on the near side of the tank. Adjusting targets to the second Ultra I squeezed off another shot, unfortunately the time between switching targets was long enough for the other Ultra to dive for cover however the round managed to nick the Elite's shoulder before he could fully get behind the destroyed tank. Cursing under my breath I quickly got up and turned to run down the mountain. Jane had already slung her rifle and was a few feet ahead of me, mimicking her actions I too slung my weapon and followed her.
We maybe made it halfway to the bottom before we felt the ground shaking as the army of covenant reached the top of the mountain. It was mainly brutes and Elites that had made the distance in the short amount of time but we both knew the rest were almost to the top. Then they began to shoot at us as we dashed down the mountainside.
"THIS FUCKING SUCKS"
I would have laughed at the perfectly apt description that Jane shouted out for our current situation if I had the energy, but I was too concerned with running as fast as my legs could possibly carry me without falling down the mountain and trying to doge the torrent of plasma that was being fired down on us. My lungs were burning as I pushed myself even harder, I looked over to Jane to see if she were keeping up; she almost looked like she was enjoying this as she ran beside her, god damn adrenaline junkie.
"Enjoying yourself?" I shouted over to her. Glancing at me, she let out a short laugh and said "Never felt more alive Kate!" she apparently had the energy to laugh...bitch. Looking forward again relief flooded my body as I saw that the bottom of the mountainside was nearing as well as our warthog.
The warthog in question exploded into a ball of green fire a second later, looking up I made out the shape of a banshee in the sky; it was peeling off after the attack run on our getaway car. Thinking quickly I called out to Jane.
"Head for the cave, we'll hide out there!" I shouted as we reached the bottom. Adjusting the sniper rifle on my back I made a straight beeline towards the opening while dodging fire from the mountainside. We had camped out in the cave the night before so I was hoping that it at least went on for a little ways into the mountain. Hopefully far enough to find a hiding place from the covenant. I heard the whine of the banshee as it came in for another attack run, my legs went into overdrive even as my muscles protested, the sheer need for survival overriding the pain. The cave was only a few more feet!
The Banshee fired its fuel rod gun; the green blob of plasma arced down towards the cave detonating just over the entrance and caving it in.
