Unlikely Allies: Chapter One
-by Leonidas 82
September 3rd, 2551 (Military Calender)
Planet: Centauri Seven
1800 Hours
Twenty minutes into this mission, and everything that could have gone wrong, did. As soon as Fire Team Zulu landed and leaped out of the Pelican, the Sarge had taken a plasma burst too the chest. As they struggled to get him too cover, the dropship took a plasma mortar from an enemy Wraith and exploded. They stumbled through the marshes carrying their moaning sergeant with them. Thirty seconds of wadding through knee deep water they found cover under a large mossy tree. When they put the Sarge down and examined his wounds they found that he was already dead. That left Corpral Wallace in charge.
"What the hell are we gonna do now, sir?!" asked Private Jenson, in tense and stressed voice.
"We finish the mission as planned!" replied Wallace through gritted teeth.
The rest of the squad wold have said something, but they were cut short by more plasma mortars firing over their heads and exploding about forty feet from them. "Move!" shouted Wallace. The remaining eleven marines pushed north-east, moving away from the Wraith, and whatever ground support it had, and truddged through the murky and foul smelling swamp, towards their objective. Despite all the training these men had seemed there was always something new the Covenant could throw at them, that Basic hadn't prepped them for.
As they moved towards the swamps edge, Wallace called for the squad to halt, and reviewed the mission specs that ONI had prepared for them. The data scrolled across the green recticle infront of his right eye. It read:
Objective 1: Proceed from the LZ toward Bravo Company's base, twenty miles north-east of the LZ.
Objective 2: Ascertain Bravo Company's status and report back to UNSC command.
Objective 3: Ensure Bravo Copamny's CO survives for extraction at any cost.
Wallace stood and surveyed his men."Alright ladies you've had enough R and R. Let move out. Jenson you got point!" The men stood and strecthed and got into formation and began marching again Jenson grumbled as he once again got stuck on point.
The squad moved from the swamps edge into a dense wood that seemed to be closely packed. They pushed forward through the trees snapping braches and rustling leaves as they marched. All around them, the forest came alive with a still yet disturbing silence that only a horror writer would find comforting.
Each man kept a tight grip on his rifle and scanned the area. A fog rolled in as if on cue, and began to effect visibility. Each marine could see the man in front of them, which made the line formation both effective yet weak, as each was vulnrable to attck from the flanks.
An hour of marching passed without incident as the fog maintained it's density without any sign of lifting. The nerves of the squad seemed too ease a little ,but Wallace couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched. Evening was coming fast as they reached a small clearing. As the sun began to set Wallace called for a halt "Marines. Pull out your tents. We camp here tonight."
Private Marshall spoke up. "But sir. Are you sure we shouldn't press on?"
"No Marshall. We need at least one good rest cycle. Besides the Covenant aren't in the habit of night attacks. Best time to let our guard down is when they arer least likely to attack. I'll take the first watch. Marshall you'll take the second. Jenson you'll take the third." Wallace spoke without pause."Get you rest ladies. We move out at 0400."
The tents were quickly brouht out and setup as the sun finally disappeared compleately and the fog got even thickeer.
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Yigsa Solamee'e sighed as his solders marched forward. This was another dead end assignment that wouldn't take his career forward at all. He was an Elite and his main desire was to lead an army of Elites in battle. An army of his kind. Here he was though, leading an assortment of twenty Grunts, and fifteen Jackals. The lesser races were completely unworthy of his respect, snd even less worthy of his contempt.
The Covenant force marched briskly as they headed south-west along a rolling stream, that cut a path through the foothills of the mountains they had been dropped into. They had met little resistence in their landing and now absolutely none as they made their way out of the mountains and into the hills. This was the one bright spot in Yigsa's mission so far. He had the element of surprise.
Dak, one of the Jackals, came running past the front of the column, towards Yigsa, holding his energy shield in front of him with the scouting report."Your Excellency! The next five miles of path are clear of any human forces."
The Elite, in his crimson armor, eyed him then replied."Well done. Return to your forward position and keep me appraised."
"As you command Excellency."the Jackal bowed and sprinted back the way he had come.
Yigsa reviewed his mission objectives on his personal data pad. They read:
Primary Objective A: Secure Landing Zone.
Primary Objective B: Advance on Human position in the valley. Spare no one except human Field Master.
Primary Objective C: Secure all Forerunner Structures and Artifacts and signal for reenforcements.
Sounded easy enough to Yigsa. Yet something nagged at him. No mission personally assigned by the Prophets was easy. They had been enraged by the fact that a human force had arrived at the Forerunner site before any Covenant force had landed in the area. The Prophet of regret had insisted that the only way to remove this taint to the holy structures was to slaughter the entire human force. Though they had insisted the the human forces leader be taken alive so he could be questioned as too how much the UNSC had learned.
With another days march ahead of them Yigsa had awhile to formulate a battle plan.
TO BE COTINUED...