The year is 2554, thirty-four years after the first encounter with the race known as the Covenant. Not a day had gone by that the human race has ever wondered if traveling into space was worth this much. Sadly, it was to late to have regrets. They were at war now and nothing could change. It was either win the war or become extinct, only to fade into the Covenant history books as the race that 'failed' to protect their civilization, their way of life. This was something that Private Shane Phillips wouldn't allow. Even though he was a simply Private, he was still going to give his all to try and repel the Covenant onslaught. Phillips was thirteen when the colony he called home was destroyed by a Covenant battle group. That was over six years ago and the images of that day still lurked throughout his sub-conciseness.
Phillips shuddered slightly as he wiped a cloth rag down the side of his MA5B Assault Rifle. After deciding that his weapon was spotless, Phillips crumbled up the rag within his hand and glanced up at all of the commotion around him. Civilians were hustling left and right, trying to get to their ships and leave the colony before the Covenant could arrive. Phillips on the other hand was forced to stay. He was supposedly part of the retaliation that was going to take place once the Covenant landed on Rak, the colony which he currently resided on. The world around him seemed to remind him a lot like that last colony he had been on. Yes, shame it to went up in a flaming glory as yet another United Nations Naval battle group was destroyed at the hands of the Covenant Armada.
Things were starting to get out of hand. He began to wonder if he was fighting for a lost cause. No, that couldn't be. He had always been very good at sticking with that you believed in and this was something that he believed in more than anything in his life. Once he turned eighteen, which was about five months ago, Phillips had immediately volunteered to be a Marine with the U.N.S.C. It was kind of like a dream for him, sort of his highest goal in life, ever since his family was slaughtered on his home colony. Again he shuddered as the etched image of their faces emerged in his mind. His mother fell after being struck in the back of the leg and his father rushing to her assistance, only to get bombarded with a flurry of plasma bolts. Phillips jolted his head to the side and closed his eyes tightly, snarling to himself in anger for not being there to help them.
Just then, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned his attention towards the person behind him. It was his old friend, Kohl Wallace, who had also volunteered for the Marines the same day he did. He too lost his entire family on the same day, on the same colony, and almost the exact same place as Shane's family did. Because of this they shared a common bond, both having anger dwelling inside of them, and both being some of the better Marines in the platoon. Shane was curious to what Kohl wanted with him, being that he wasn't supposed to be stationed at this exact location. But, due to the fact that he hadn't seen him for a while, Phillips met Kohl with grin and a hand shake.
"Where have you been you little punk you," questioned Shane with a light chuckle. It felt good to laugh, something that humans, let alone the Marines, weren't doing much these days.
"Here and there once or twice. I heard you were in the neighborhood so I decided to stop on by," Kohl said with a nod before clearing his throat then continuing, "I also heard that you just got back from Rak. Sorry to hear about what happened."
"Don't worry about it. It's done and over, there's nothing we can do about it. At least there was some light at the end of that dark tunnel, we finally discovered a more effective way to fight Covenant ground units off," spoke Shane with a cheesy grin.
"Is that so? What'd you do? Show them a picture of your ugly mug?" Both of them laughed, but the laughter was cut short as Shane sent a slightly hard punch into Kohl's thigh.
"Very funny, smart ass. What I was going to say was that we discovered that guerilla tactics are pretty useful against this giant bugs. You see, because those Jackals..."
Before he could finish several alarms went on all around him. Both of them knew what that meant and Shane leaped to his feet, made a slight nod to Kohl, then raced off towards his designated location. His combat boots pounded on the ground as he ran and his armor rattled with every stride that he took. Phillips didn't bother to latch his gun on the side of his belt, he knew that the moment he reached where he needed to be, that he wouldn't have time to be dawdling with unlatching it. It was only about a minute before he reached the docking bay and already several of the drop ships were taking off and heading into the distance. Shane glanced off into the direction that the drop ships were going and saw nothing but black smoke billowing into the air, blocking out the bright sun from above.
As his mind began wander he was struck in the back by a Marine running for his drop ship. The force knocked him out of his trance and brought his attention back to the task at hand. Immediately he rushed towards a drop ship, just picking one randomly and hoping in. Once aboard he took a seat, directly in the middle of the group. He didn't recognize any faces around him and decided against greeting anyone, for they were probably not in the mood to talk. Shane had been in this situation before at Rak, yet something about this time seemed to be a lot different. Maybe it was the fact that he had seen the front lines first hand and now knew that he did have something to worry about, that the majority of the men and women around him were probably not going to come back.
With a quiet sigh he laid his head back against the padded head rest and watched as the drop ship quickly filled up. A minute, if not sooner, after the drop ship was filled the engines ignited and the ship took flight. Through the back Shane watched as the military base drifted farther and farther away. Now he was heading towards the black smoke and area filled with the unknown, whether it be death or victory. There was only those two types of things in this war. Either the battle was one sided or it was equal to the point where whoever had the most ammo would win. On most occasions it had been one sided, in the Covenants favor. However, for that one engagement that Shane had been in, he had seen that the Human forces could hold their own and defeat the Covenant. Sure, they could win on the ground, a well placed tactic nuke could ensure that, but out in space was a different story. The Covenant had faster, better shielded, and better firepower than any of the United Nations Naval battle ships.
That was the only problem with this war. If the Humans could limit the Covenant to the ground, then there wouldn't be so many casualties. Even if a small group of Humans were able to board a Covenant ship, secure a certain zone, then allow others to dock, they could easily overrun the ship. From that point on they could find the location of the Covenant home world and immediately, for the first time in a while, go on the offensive. These were the kind of wishes that Phillips hoped would happen. But, in all sense, they weren't very likely to happen anytime soon. Again he sighed, just as the side of the drop ship, opposite to his side, was struck with something. The wall behind the Marine in front of turned a jet black color in and instant and black smoke began to pour outwards from the ship, filling the air behind the drop ship up with a fresh patch of smoke. The left engine had been struck by an incoming Mortar charge and the ship was heading down.
Over the inner-com Shane listened as the pilot gave instructions for everyone to hold on tight and to remain calm. Yeah, easy for him to say, he'd the first to know if we were going to crash, while everyone else had to guess. A few of the Marines around Shane began to panic, one of them almost reached the point where he stood up and prepared to jump, but was quickly seated by a hard shove from another Marine. Shane grasped the arm rests tightly with his hand and closed his eyes, feeling the ship shaking all around him. His Assault Rifle trembled as it laid there on his lap. As he opened his eyes he noticed that he was the only person who didn't have his weapon in hand. Well, not wanting to be the black sheep, Shane grasped his gun and picked it up, then swung it over his shoulder. A good minute had passed since the ship was hit and they were still descending towards the ground. He guessed that they must of been really high up there or the pilot was better than he had thought.
"Okay! I'm going to take us down, but it's going to be hot. Get off and get down quick. All of you Greenhorns who wanted to see combat up close, this is gonna be your lucky day," stated the pilot as he leveled the ship out and dropped it down on the ground.
During their little tumble one of the Marines had managed to close the door which had been opened for most of the ride. This had been a foolish mistake that someone was going to pay dearly for. From inside, of the now dark drop ship, the Marines watched as blue shots collided with the outside of the metallic frame of the drop ship. Some of them made it through, but the majority of them just hit the wall, illuminated it with a flourescent blue glow, then vanished once the glow had faded. Again the pilot came over the com-link, yelling at everyone to get out since he didn't know how much fire he could take. Shane, not wanting to stay cooped up in the tin can any longer and get caught with a Mortar charge, stood up and headed towards the button which activated the door. Just as he was preparing to pull it he was stopped by the person who had closed the door.
"What in the hell do you think your doing, boy? Do you have any idea what is going on out there!? It's war, it's a game that you play with your friends on weekends. If you open that door then you pretty much say that we're all dead," shouted the cowardly Marine.
"If we stay in here than we're all dead. We have a better chance out there than we do in here. Think about it. A single Mortar charge could tear this ship shreds. Now, would you rather get easily blown to smithereens or would you like to get out there and stand even a little chance to survive?" retaliated Shane in just as loud of a tone as the Marine had given him.
"Make a move towards that button and I will be forced to restrain you," threatened the Marine, who apparently didn't have anything to come back Shane's previous remark.
"I'd like to see you try it."
With that he reached for the button, but his arm was grasped and brought back, next placed tightly behind his back. This caused Phillips to drop his gun and wince in pain, having underestimated the Marines strength. Shane wouldn't allow himself to be caught in a cage and watch everyone around him die because someone was to scared to leave. So, in an attempt to end all of this commotion he kicked his leg back, connecting it with the Marines ankle and causing it to slip out from underneath him. The Marine grunted as he dropped to one knee, only to be met once again with the flat of Shane's boot. This force was enough to cause him to let go of his arm, as well as get a fairly bloodied nose. With that obstacle out of his way Shane motioned for everyone to get into a ready position, then pressed the button on the door. A bright light glared in through the door and onto the twenty Marines which stood in side, one of them being Phillips of course. Outside the sound of explosions, Assault Rifles, Plasma weapons, and the occasional thundering of an enemy Mortar tank letting off a charge. Just as the door opened fully and Shane's eyes adjusted to the light, he was met almost face to face with three Grunts, all of which had their weapons point directly at Shane.
He didn't have any time to bend over and pick up his weapon and was at the mercy of the three Grunts, that was until a flurry of gunfire erupted from behind him. Each bullet seemed to hit its target and the Grunts fell quickly, two to several wounds, and one to a head shot. This gave Shane time to bend over and pick up his Assault Rifle. Shortly after doing this task he raced out into the sunlight, which had now broken through the thick clouds of smoke. All of the Marines, except for the one that Shane had hit, emptied out of the drop ship and into their own separate directions. Phillips on the other hand, headed towards the center of all of the commotion. He glanced side to side, watching as Grunts, Jackals, even Humans fell to the ground. Suddenly, a shot of plasma whizzed passed his head and he hit the dirt as fast as he could, kicking up some dust in the process. Shane rolled onto his side and brought his Assault Rifle up, cocked it, then unleashed an array of gun fire to his right, basically in the direction from which the shot had came.
A few squeals came up as he went through half of his clip, then he stood up and rushed forwards, pushing his way through the dust which he himself had formed. Once it settled he saw two Grunts laying before him, their blue blood dripping across the ground. A grin crossed his face as he received his first two kills of this engagement. Again he went into a run as he head towards the trenches where the majority of the Marines had dug in. Knowing better not to jump into the trenches, Shane kicked his own legs out from underneath him and literally slide into the trenches. Though he did end up landing on his backside, since his balance wasn't very good. Quickly he stood up and checked the numbers on his Assault Rifle. Thirty shots left, that's at least fifteen kills if not more in Shane's book. He remained below the cover of the trenches for a few more minutes as he collected his nerves, then shot his upper body up and laid down a spread of lead into the anatomy of several incoming Grunts. A few of them hit the ground from mortal wounds, while others, who had light wounds from his attack preformed a counter strike, sending bursts of green plasma in Shane's direction.
His eyes grew wide as he saw the incoming bolts and immediately ducked back down into the trenches. Dust and gravel kicked up as the bolts hit the ground around him, one of them even grazed his shoulder plate, causing a strip of it to blacken in color. Having a pretty good idea that the Grunts were still coming towards him, Shane withdrew a M6D Pistol from a spot beneath his right thigh plate, cocked the gun, then poked his upper body out from underneath the trenches cover again. The Grunts were much closer this time, but that just made it easier for Shane to hit them. He pulled back on the trigger one, and just once, sending five rounds right towards the four Grunts which were approaching him. Two of them fell to the onslaught, while the other two continued their charge. The barrels of their plasma "pistols" as the Humans had begun to call them, erupted in a bright, green light. Phillips had never seen these guns do this before and wasn't very thrilled to find out what they did. So, to end their little attack, Shane aimed carefully and sent a single shot square between the Grunt on the left skull. Its body fell limp to the ground and the moment it hit its nerves kicked in and it pulled the trigger on its weapon. A basketball sized bolt of plasma flared out of the gun and collided with the Grunt next to him.
Blue blood splattered in all directions as the plasma scourged the Grunts skin, then punctured into its internal organs, spilling them across the landscape. Shane fired a few more shots at incoming Jackals, but his bullets were of no affect as the Jackals easily deflected them with their portable shields. He snarled and ducked down into the trenches, then dropped his Pistols empty clip, and slid a new one in there. Phillips placed the Pistol back into its location, then reloaded his Assault Rifle and made his way down the trenches. Gunfire blazed over the trenches as he ran, going as fast as he could without sticking his head out from underneath the trenches. All around him there were wounded Marines, some of them more serious than others. Dead Grunts and Jackals were also placed in all directions around the trenches as they tried to make a charge, but lost greatly. Overhead a blue burst from a Mortar charge darted across the sky and landed just to the side of an abandoned Warthog, causing it to explode instantly. After running for a few minutes Shane came upon his squad leader. He was down within a bunker, talking over a com-link as Shane entered.
"I don't care if they're not completely fueled! I need bombers here and I need them now! Listen! If we don't stop this charge, then you can kiss the entire western continent good-bye! Do you understand what I'm telling you good? Good. Now get me some bombers here or we're all dead!"
With that the Captain killed the communication link and removed his helmet. He run his hand from his forehead, across his bald scalp, to the back of his head, then placed his helmet back on. Shane cleared his throat and got the Captains attention. They stared at one another for a moment before Shane began to speak, only to get interrupted by a Marine yelling out, "Incoming!" Instantly he leaped to the ground, as did the Captain who slide underneath his desk. Shortly after a thundering noise echoed throughout the area as a Mortar charge collided just outside of the bunker. Smoke and gravel spewed outwards once the charge connected with the ground. Everything seemed to shake from the impact, but it soon faded and Shane stood up, then dusted himself off. It took a while for the Captain to rise to his feet, still being a bit shaken up from the explosion. Finally, he did manage to get into a kneeling position and push down on the table, using it to help him stand.
"What is it soldier?" Questioned the Captain.
"Private Shane Phillips reporting for duty, sir!" Replied Shane as he shot his hand up and saluted the Captain.
"At ease solider," Shane lowered his arm down and placed it back on the side of his Assault Rifle before the Captain continued, "tell your squad leader that I want his squad to try and turn the Covenants flank. See if you can't get into their trenches and lay down some havoc."
"Sir, yes sir!" Replied Shane before he saluted, then quickly exited the bunker.