My orders were simple: to eliminate all the elite commanders. The Covenant relied heavily on the elites to command nearly all of their forces, and naturally that means they were critical targets.
Some of the equipment I brought with me includes my .50 caliber anti-matériel rifle with three extended magazines, my .50 caliber pistol, and other standard issue equipment. This mission is a solo operation, meaning I will not have any backup, and I must complete this mission alone. My task is to eliminate as many elite commanders as possible to disrupt the Covenant efforts on the ring.
My targets lie at a large Covenant camp about 10 miles north. A pelican flew me nine of the ten miles to the base, but I had to walk the last mile on foot to avoid detection. From the pelican, everything below me looked like desert, and when I jumped out onto the ground, it was nearly as hot as a desert too. About half a mile away from the camp, I took shelter in a cave to rest and wait till it was later in the day when it was cooler. I took the opportunity to review the map of the area again.
The camp was located in a canyon, and I would position myself on top of the southern most ridge. The ridge was a mile away from the camp, and this would make it difficult for me to be detected. If I was detected, my camouflage should provide a great deal of protection as well.
When the sun was close to setting, I left the cave. The weather was much cooler now, and the last half mile was considerably easier because of it. I finally neared the edge of the canyon, and I crawled to the edge. I laid out my rifle, and took aim at the camp.
Even before I looked through my scope at the camp, I knew it was large, much larger than our reports had indicated. Covenant were everywhere, milling about between the various structures I could see dotting the area. It wasn't a Covenant camp, it was a fucking base! Covenant craft of every type were sitting ready for use near the northeast corner of the base. Hundreds of elites were training outside in the middle of the base. Even though it was late in the day, the activity of the base itself told me that it was of strategic importance to the Covenant.
I focused back on my goal of eliminating the elite commanders. I looked close at the elites training, to see if one of my targets was nearby. The canyon walls blocked the sunlight from reaching the Covenant camp, and I had to switch to night vision on my rifle.
I had located my first target almost immediately, a gold plated elite. He was the highest commander in the field, indicated by the gold armor he wore. After I calculated the shot, I was ready to fire, but the elite never seemed to cooperate with me. The elite commander never wanted to show his head to me, not even his mandibles. He was constantly surrounded by other elites, who he appeared to be giving orders.
I waited for nearly an hour, but suddenly, the elite's head was fully exposed. An elite was standing next to him, but that didn't matter one bit. I exhaled, and fired my rifle. A round exited the barrel of my gun at 2,707 feet per second, and entered and exited the elite's head. The elite was dead before the Covenant heard the sound.
Incata 'Vulpee stood next to his commander, who was giving orders to the elite squad leaders. It had been a long day of fighting with the humans, and 'Vulpee had spent the rest of the day creating new squads to replace the ones lost in the battle. Even after this was done, 'Vulpee still had to stand as the squads were inspected and given orders by the commander. Finally, the last group was checked, and 'Vulpee had the opportunity to rest for first time that day. He turned to go lay down on his cot in his tent, but as he entered his tent, 'Vulpee found that it had been converted into a makeshift recovery area.
Some of the Covenant in the tent were elites, and upon noticing a superior officer enter, one of them attempted to get up to offer the cot he was laying on to 'Vulpee. 'Vulpee noticed that one of his legs was injured, and he was clutching his side as he rose from the cot.
"Please, sir, take...mine–" As the elite walked away from the cot, gesturing for 'Vulpee to take it, the elite fell to the ground.
'Vulpee rushed to aid to the elite, and supported his body as he helped him back to the cot.
"That is simply not possible, warrior. I would not be a good officer if I took advantage of my status as a superior. You need the cot to recover, do not worry about me."
"Thank you, sir..." The elite said as his voice trailed off and the elite passed out.
'Vulpee sighed heavily. It brought an elite officer great pain to see his fellow elites reduced to such a state. 'Vulpee turned and left the tent. Back outside, he saw his commander standing out in the open, alone, and made his way towards him. The commander was a veteran of the human war, and his gold plated armor bore signs of heavy wear. The Commander turned to face 'Vulpee as he drew near.
"I apologize for not informing you earlier about your tent, but I only approved the decision a short while ago."
"No need to explain sir, I understand the situation."
"Yes, I thought you might. Today was a hard fought battle that we lost, but we will recover and fight another day."
"Absolutely sir, we will make the pitiful humans pay for the lives they took from us—pay dearly for every life..."
The commander gave a chuckle, and turned to 'Vulpee. 'Vulpee met his gaze. As he did, 'Vulpee heard a loud noise, and saw his commander's head explode.
The Covenant mobilized very quickly, but I had nothing to fear. I was fully camouflaged, and the report of my rifle bounced all over the valley below me. In other words, there was no way they would notice me.
Nonetheless, I moved to a new spot roughly 50 feet from where I was previously. Several elites had rushed to the scene of the death, and began frantically checking the area.
I watched the elites for a few minutes, then I began scanning the area again. About 100 feet west of where the elites were, there was a small gathering of Grunts, Jackals, and a pair of Hunters. As I watched this small gathering, I saw my next target.
Among the disarray that now characterized this Covenant forward position, a purple-plated elite was giving orders. I couldn't help but smile as I thought of the old saying, 'survival of the fittest' and how it was so wrong in this situation: the elites easily stood out among the numerous Grunts and Jackals scurrying about, and this made them easy targets for a .50 caliber round through their head. The behemoths looked little more than insects at this range, but their ferociousness returned when I looked at them close up through my scope.
It took me a short while to line up the shot, and after double checking my calculations, I fired. Since the elite was standing in the middle of the camp, his death was noticed almost immediately. Some banshees began to fly over the canyon, no doubt looking for me. The sun was setting, so I only had my ears to tell me if the Banshees were getting too close. There was no way that they could spot me though, I was too well camouflaged to be seen any further than a foot away.
I looked back at the elite I just killed, and I noticed that one of the elites who ran up to the body turned and looked right at me. Even though the elite was a mile away and it was unlikely he was looking at me, I was still scared stiff. The elite looked at me, and now he turned his body in my direction as well. Then, a few seconds later, he pointed at me, or at least, in my general direction. I froze. How could he have seen me?!
Suddenly, a few more elites came and stood next to the elite, and he directed their gaze toward my general area. As I quickly scanned the area in my immediate vicinity, I made a horrible discovery. The sun was at just the right angle that the sunlight was reflecting off of my scope! I shoved my hand in front of the scope to stop the reflection, but it was too late.
I heard a noise that sounded like rapid-fire plasma and I looked up to see that a banshee was headed straight for me. I aimed my rifle at the Banshee and fire. It took three direct hits from my rifle to cause the banshee to spin out of control and careen into the side of the cliff I was on top of.
There was no way the Covenant were going to miss that, but I quickly scanned the camp for the last elite. I saw the elite officer giving orders among the scurrying Covenant, and I tried to line up a shot with his head. Just before I had a good shot, some elites came and spirited him away. Obviously, the Covenant were aware of my targets. They stopped short of entering a structure, and I fired. Nothing happened though, because I was out of ammo.
Suddenly, I saw a dropship take off from the Covenant camp, heading straight for me. I thought that I would have plenty of time before they zeroed in on my location, but I underestimated the Covenant. With the little time I had left I quickly performed some modifications to my rifle. I detached the scope on my rifle, and changed the magazine to one with red tape on it. Then I got up and started to run.
I ran and did not stop until I heard what sounded like a dropship approaching, and I dove behind a large rock. The craft landed very close to where I just was, and deposited an enormous Covenant force, some thirty troops. There were grunts, jackals, and five or six elites. They didn't appear to know where I was, and I took the opportunity to catch my breath.
Suddenly, I heard the quiet wailing of a Banshee and looked up to see one fire a burst of plasma in my direction. I wasted no time as I fired twice at the Banshee with my rifle. The rounds I fired were explosive, and the Banshee did not survive two shots: it exploded in a shower of green plasma. I immediately looked back at the group of Covenant to see several elites, approximately 4 or 5 of them, looking straight at me. I knew they saw me, but for some reason, I just stood there and waited. One of the elites pointed in my direction, and I ran from my cover.
I see plasma fly past me, and I ran as fast as I could. As I continued to run, plasma continued to fly past me, or hit the ground next to me. 'They're getting more accurate.' I thought. There was only one way this was going to end: eventually I was going to get shot. I looked around wildly, there were plenty of boulders to use as cover, but I would be surrounded instantly if I tried to use any of them to hide myself from my pursuers. My camouflage would provide cover, but it's useless if they know where...
I thought of an idea. I could use a flashbang. It was nighttime, and properly placed, it should blind the entire group. I yanked the flashbang off my belt, primed it, and threw it in the air behind me. I dared not look back. I heard the device detonate, and I ran to the nearest boulder and took cover near it. I looked back at the Covenant to find them all heavily disoriented. I only hoped all of them were affected, or at least, none of them now knew where I was.
I laid perfectly still and did not move. The Covenant gradually recovered from my well placed flashbang. The elites were the quickest to recover, and I could tell by their rapid head movements that they had no clue where I was. They were wildly looking around, obviously irritated that they had lost me. Eventually, an elite rashly ran in the same direction they had been, obviously thinking I was still running that way. The rest of the Covenant followed.
All I could do was lay there, and hope the darkness and my camouflage, would conceal me against the Covenant. When I determined there were no Covenant in the immediate vicinity, I cautiously stood up and ran.
After I had run for a few minutes, I heard a familiar wailing. Banshee. I dove to the ground and didn't move. If it spotted me, I would have to use my rifle to destroy it, which would attract attention and likely get me killed. I didn't have another flashbang I could use to bail myself out if that happened.
As I laid there waiting for the Banshee to fly away, I heard what sounded like voices approaching me from my right. I looked over and sure enough, a massive Covenant squad was heading towards me. My first thought was that they must have seen me, but I quickly realized that wasn't true. A few of the Covenant were holding some kind of light emitters, and they were very bright. I doubt even my camouflage would stop them from seeing me. Suddenly, I heard another set of voices coming from my left, and I turned to see ANOTHER group coming from left as well.
I quickly thought through my options, and remembered that I had something that might trick the Covenant squads into firing on one another. A smoke grenade. As the Covenant approached, I threw the smoke grenade in between the two search parties. I slung my rifle over my back, and waited till the smoke thickened before I got up to run into the smoke. I draw my pistol, and fire twice to my right and left.
I drop to the ground and crawl out of the smoke. My trick was a success, as plasma is flying back and forth through the smoke, and I can hear the death cries of Covenant as they exchange fire with one another. After I crawl a safe distance, I stand up and sprint as fast as I can from the carnage. I run till my lungs feel like they are on fire, and I pause briefly behind another large rock.
As I recover, I hear what sounds like footsteps nearby, and I draw my sidearm. I peer around the rock, but I don't see anything, so I holster my gun. I start to walk away from the rock, but I hear footsteps, heavy footsteps. Large, muscular, bipedal footsteps that could only belong to one species in the galaxy. I prayed to God it wasn't what I thought it was. I quickly back away from the rock.
All I see is a tip of an energy sword come just a few inches from my face. I was so shocked and surprised, I stagger backwards involuntarily. An elite leaps down from on top of the rock I was leaning against moments earlier. If he managed to follow me so closely, others may not be far behind.
The elite appeared to be carrying only the energy sword. Obviously, he must have been close by to one of the elites I killed, and didn't have time to grab a proper plasma weapon. I looked around. There were no Covenant nearby, and I think the elite wanted it that way. He made no attempt to alert anyone to my location.
Suddenly, I noticed by the glow of the energy sword he was carrying, that the elite was wearing red armor! He was the final elite I needed to kill! Shit, he was the final elite I needed to kill. The elite did not at all look like he was just going to let me kill him, and I wasn't gunning for him a mile away; he stood less than ten feet away from me.
I quickly try to take the rifle off my back, which is the only weapon I have that could kill a shielded elite, but the elite suddenly runs towards me. The elite grabs the barrel of my gun, rips it right out of my hands, and tosses it away. He then grabs me and throws me against the rock–as if I don't weigh anything.
I hit the rock with my back, and the air rushes out of my lungs. I hit the ground and lay there, unable to find the strength to stand. I hear the elite approach me. As I lay there, wondering why the elite didn't just kill me, I realized that I had angered him. I had threatened his life, killed his superiors, and nearly got away with it too. He wasn't interested in killing me, not yet.
I desperately rise to one knee. As the Covie approaches me, I realize I am not going to win this, but I have to at least try. The elite looms in front of me, and I circle around him till his back is against the rock. He watches me the entire time, as if daring me to do something. I suddenly draw my pistol.
This action rewards me with the elite grabbing my arm and squeezing violently. I drop my gun and try to not scream in pain to avoid alerting any Covenant, but I fail immediately and yell out in pain. The elite continues to squeeze with a grip of steel long after I've let go of my gun.
Finally, he lets go of my arm, and I bend over to the ground clutching my hand. The elite shows me no mercy, and reaches down to grab hold of my neck. Holding me by my neck, the elite raises me until I am at eye level with him. I look him in the eye and he looks me in the eye.
The elite smiles and applies pressure on my neck. I couldn't breathe; his hand was like a vise, and there was nothing I could do to escape his grip. I put my hand on the elite's arm to try to apply some leverage, but it is a futile effort. I furiously try to free myself from the elite's grasp, but it is all in vain. My vision starts to get blurry. I quickly realize it is over, and stop trying to free myself from the elite's grasp. The elite sees me stop struggling, and chuckles a little, obviously enjoying himself.
With my strength dwindling, I grab hold of a grenade on my belt and pull the pin. I lose control of my body and I drop the grenade as everything goes white.
'Vulpee sees the grenade hit the ground, and curses the human. The grenade goes off, his shield absorbs the blast, but 'Vulpee is thrown through the air and smashes against the rock. His shields fail, his back hits the rock, and his head is thrown against the rock, breaking his neck. The warrior crumples to the ground, lifeless. The human strategically circled around 'Vulpee so that he would have his back against the rock.
There is nothing left of the sniper, but his mission was a success.
The End.