Just Cannon Fodder
Not over yet…
September 26th, 2552
Covenant dropship
Somewhere over the Pacific
En route to Covenant base
The destruction of camp Crystal had been more of a success then normally thought. Reports were coming in from all over the world of the tides of battle changing, and the Humans losing troops and morale. Still, to Poli, it was not worth losing all of his brothers and hundreds more grunts. Apparently, though, it was fine to every other species within the Covenant. The pilot called out to the dropships' occupants,
"We'll reach the base in less than two and a half units."
To Poli, this was the first good news he had heard in a while. He had been cramped up in this small, uncomfortable ship for an entire 10 units. He was looking forward to being able to send some time with his own kin and wait out the battles. Elites saw grunts as worthless soldiers, but there was so much more to grunt society that they would never be able to comprehend, simply because they will never take the time to learn…or care.
Shaking him from his thought, the dropship began to shake violently as began increasing in speed, and decreasing in altitude.
"We're hit!" the pilot roared. "Brace for impact, we're going down!"
Seconds after finishing his sentence the ship crashed into the ground. The lights went out and the ship went pitch black. The ship continued to slide on the ground for a few more seconds, and then violently stopped as it hit the side of a rather large rock. The emergency light flashed on and after looking at the damage to the ship, Poli was amazed that the entire crew survived; except the pilot.
"Gather what you can and get out" an elite shouted.
The others obeyed and quickly grabbed weapons, grenades, food, and other various supplies. Quickly, the 10 grunts and 5 elites filed out of the destroyed ship and searched the area for humans. The elites had no trouble spotting 3 humans slowly advancing towards them, an quickly killed them by firing short, controlled bursts of plasma, trying to make a little noise as possible. The grunts however, didn't posses the sharp eyes of an elite and had more trouble seeing. They decided to leave this particular battle to them.
After the humans in the area had been eliminated, the sun had started to rise a little and the grunts could get their first look at the crash site. The dropship was in worse condition that originally thought. The cockpit had been ripped open with the pilot's torso hanging off the front. Everyone in the squad knew they weren't getting to base on that ship.
Lieutenant Grihonlee radioed to base,
"This is dropship Omega-7. We have been shot down, our pilot is dead, and our ship is beyond repair. Over"
A burst of static replied, "Acknowledged, Omega-7." The voice said.
"Priority shift. There is a human base due east of you. It is well hidden and they have AA guns set up around it. They've been shooting down our ships all day, so we need you to place a beacon there so we know where they are, and they best place to attack from."
"Understood command." Grihonlee replied.
"You all heard him, move out!" he ordered.
They walked in silence, sticking to what darkness was left to escape detection. When they neared the base Grihonlee motioned for everyone to halt.
"Here's the plan." He said quietly.
"The grunts will move up the left and get the humans' attention, while the elites sneak in and plant the beacon. Then the elites will attack the humans from behind." He let that sink in for a second
"Now move."
The elites vanished into the shadows and headed towards the base. While the grunts slowly moved up behind a few large rocks. They waited a minute until Grihonlee's voice burst through the radios attached to their methane tanks.
"Now!" he ordered.
As one, the grunts all overcharged their plasma pistols and shot them towards the humans closest to the elites' position.
- - - - - -
The foot patrol of 10 marines was supposed to be searching for survivors of the downed dropship. 'As if anything could survive that crash.' Burnett thought to himself. The ship had crashed full speed into a rock. Hell, he even saw what he assumed was the pilot's body hanging out the window. Nevertheless, command still wanted to be as safe as possible. A split second later, his vision turned to a bright green the turned back to normal. He heard the screams of several marines as they were hit by plasma shots. Five of his marines were dead and another was critically wounded and did not look like he had much of a chance to live. He quickly assessed the situation and realized they were at a terrible disadvantage. They were ambushed, most likely outnumbered and outgunned, and half of his men were already out of the fight. Burnett also knew that plasma pistols had to wait a few seconds to cool down after firing, an overcharged shot. Therefore, he took advantage of this and prayed there weren't any more Covenant around.
"Paul!" he shouted
"You and Gabe grab Paul! We're getting the hell outta here!"
"Private tell HQ of our situation."
The three remaining marines got to their tasks and began to fall back. Corporal Kyle Burnett fire blindly in the direction the shots came from. After a minute or two of firing, his clip ran empty, and he went to reload. However, he paused as a stream of blue light shot into the early morning sky, and then disappeared. He turned back to see if the other three saw it. He looked just in time to see the other three crumble to the ground as energy swords hit major organs and arteries. Before he could turn and run, his gut erupted in pain, but the pain subsided quickly and was replaced by a warm, gooey feeling. He realized it was his blood as he fell to the ground. His eyelids became heavy as life slowly escaped his body. He knew he was dieing and waited to finally be reunited with his family.
- - - - - -
With the beacon set, the squad of fourteen was easily able to kill off any nearby humans. They then retreated into a nearby cave to rest and wait for the attack force to arrive.
- - - - - -
Poli had enjoyed a full five units asleep until he was awakened by the sound of footsteps. As he opened his eyes, he found himself staring down the barrel of human weapon. The grunt next to him screamed as he got up to run, but was quickly put down before he could get anywhere near the exit. The sound of gunfire awoke the rest and they elites instinctively reached for their weapons. Two stopped as they realized their situation, but two younger elites powered up their energy swords and lunged at the humans. Their shields were deactivated so they didn't stand a chance. The human said something Poli didn't understand; due to the lack of a translator, but saw the remaining elites stand up. Seeing, as they were not being shot at Poli decided to do the same. As the rest of the squad stood up and followed the human in front, as he led them to another group of humans.
- - - - - -
"Hey Serge!" a young marine shouted.
"We found these guys what do we do with them?"
"I say we line em' up and shoot them." Another marine suggested.
"Your ass we will Private!" the Sergeant replied.
"Bring them back to base and report to the LT, he'll know what to do with these bastards."
"Will do Serge" the young marine said. Disheartened that he couldn't kill them, but orders were orders.
"Let's go uglies!" he shouted back to the Covenant.
- - - - - -
Poli soon found himself in some sort of metal device that locked his hands behind his back as he was lead to a small room the humans referred to as, "The Brig" an was separated from the rest of his squad. He waited for what seemed like forever in the darkness until three humans appeared at the door to his cell.
"Him first" he hard a human say.
The light in the cell turned on, and the humans entered. They placed one of the elite's translators around his neck. He wondered how they had gotten this, but remembered the gunshots he had heard earlier. One human wit pale white skin stepped forward and spoke.
"Where's your base?" he asked.
"Me not know" Poli quickly replied.
"Bullshit!" the human hit him with eh bud of his gun. Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard nonetheless.
"Me really not know! Me sent from cruiser and was on way to base. Me haven't seen it yet."
"Figures" the human said. "Kill this one, we got plenty more."
"Gladly." The human on his right said. He stepped forward and pulled out his sidearm. Just as he was about to shoot, an explosion caused the base to shake and the light to flicker on and off.
"What the hell was that?" one of he humans questioned.
"I don't know, but let's go find out."
"Leave him here, not like he can do anything."
The humans quickly ran out of the room closing the cell door behind them. A few minutes went by until the cell door was ripped open and an elite stood at the front of the cell.
"We need to get going, the assault on this base has begun." The elite ordered, but not in the way elites usually talked to grunts.
"If we do not get to the surface we will most likely be killed. Now come"
Where are the others?" Poli questioned.
"They didn't make it. I'm sorry." Poli was speechless that an elite had shown sympathy for him, but quickly put it out of his mind.
"There's no time to grieve. Come"
Poli fell in line with the elite as they cautiously made their way up stairs and down hallways, getting closer to the surface with each passing minute. After an hour or two of walking, they began to hear gunshot coming directly in front of them behind a door. Both Poli, and the elite, who had told Poli his name was Tolyhimee pulled out human frag grenades which they found on the way hear. They had also found some guns, but both of their fingers were to large to fit in the triggers. As they approached the door, Tolyhimee peered under the crack under the door. He saw that there were three humans standing by the door firing at targets he couldn't see. He opened the door silently and motioned to Poli. Poli understood and pulled to pin off of a grenade and tossed it through the door. Tolyhimee quickly shut the door and they both jumped away. A satisfying "Thump" as the firing ceased.
The door flew open and two huge mounds of flesh walked through. Poli had never seen them before but Tolyhimee recognized them as Brutes.
"Come" one of the brutes said as he handed them weapons.
"Our forces need help on the front lines. Where are the other prisoners?"
"We're all that's left." Tolyhimee explained.
"Very well." The brute retorted, disgusted at the weakness of the elites and grunts.
"We are moving to assault the enemy from behind."
"I have several of my brethren with me. We must move quickly or we might lose the element of surprise."
They quickly followed the brutes and saw first hand what the brutes could do. Any humans that dared to cross their path were mauled to death. The brutes did not even need to fire their weapons. Tolyhimee and Poli exchanged nervous glances but didn't dare to say anything to the brutes while they were in their rampage. They had almost reached the surface when an enormous explosion made everyone; including the brutes, freeze. A second later, the building collapsed around them.…
- - - - - -
Sorry about the short length of this chapter, I just felt like getting a new chapter out soon. The following chapter will be longer.