The Offensive
Shane made his way back down the trenches, passing more soldiers than he had passed on his way to the bunker. He guessed that a few more drop ships had arrived or the front lines had been forced to retreat to this trench. Whatever the case was, Shane's main concern was to locate his platoon and rely the Captains orders. It didn't take him very long as he came upon a group of Marines, all of which bearing the same logo which he had. They were crouched down, hiding behind the height of the trench. There were twenty of them still alive, the others most have either died upon getting off of the drop ship, or god only knows where else. Two of the Marines had unlit cigarettes in their mouths and were trying to light them with a lighter. However, from their recent encounter with enemy forces their hands were so shaky that they couldn't connect the flame with the tip of the cigarette. Shane stopped next to one of them and dropped down onto one knee. He took in long, heavy breaths, having drained himself quite a bit from running around so much. One of the Marines looked over at him for a moment and blinked before returning his look back towards the ground.
"I have an order from the Captain," that was all Shane could get out before he had to take in another breath, then continue, "he wants us to get into the Covenants trenches and create some havoc. Now, where is the Lieutenant Johnson?"
"Everywhere," stated one of the Marines as he looked over at Shane with a frown, "just after we exited the drop ship a Mortar charge struck right next to him. It wasn't exactly one of the greatest things for these rookies to see."
"I see. Well, then who is in charge now," questioned Shane. All that followed was an awkward silence as no one wanted to step forward and take charge. He grew slightly irked at the cowardliness of the squad, "fine, have it your way then. I'll lead the charge and don't think that your just going to sit here. These are direct orders from the Captain and what he says goes. Now..lets move out!"
It felt good to say those words and actually have people obey him. Every single Marine stood up, locked and loaded their Assault Rifle, then awaited for Shane's orders. Seeing that they were all ready Phillips made a motion with his hands and leaped out of the trench. He ran full speed towards the Covenant trench, occasionally he glanced over his shoulder to see if they were still following, which they were. Suddenly, he heard a Covenant soldier call out something in his native language. Shortly after a flurry of fire was directed towards their position. Shane dived down into the dirt and covered his hands over his head. Green bolted of plasma blazed overhead, missing him only be a few inches. He heard the deathly screams of a Marine behind him as his armor was struck, then penetrated by one of the plasma bolts. His legs kicked out from underneath him and he fell to the ground, hung onto to life for a few seconds, then let his body relax and allowed the pain forever subside. Shane balled his free hand into a fist, gathering dirt within it in the process as anger flowed through his veins.
Once the firing had halted Shane leaped to his feet and charged forwards again, this time going faster than he had been before now that anger was fueling him. It wasn't long before he reached the Covenant trench and leaped into it. He landed right between two Grunts, both of them just as shocked to see him as he was to see them. Before they could recover and fire at him, Shane darted the butt of his Assault Rifle to his right and smashed into one of the Grunts skulls. Blue blood splashed against Shane, but he didn't pay any attention to it and turned his attention towards the Grunt. This one wasn't going to be defeated so easily and brought its plasma pistol up, pressed its finger back against the trigger, but was struck on the side by a quick burst from an Assault Rifle. Its body slammed into the side of the trench and then slid down against it, leaving a trail of blood where it had hit and slid. Shane watched as what was left of the Marines entered the trench and brought their guns up to their shoulders. Over the radio Shane ordered for them to follow him, which they did as he raced down the trench.
Every now and then a Grunt would poke its head out from a bunker or would jump into the trench, but every time this happened, Shane or one of the other Marines was sure to spray some lead into it. The trench which they were currently in didn't have very many Covenant soldiers, mostly medical units or communication officers. However, no matter what their rank or field, the Marines made sure that they weren't going to live long enough to continue their job. It had been about thirty minutes since Phillips had lead the Marines into the trench and they had already racked up close to twenty kills if not more. They weren't anything special, mostly Grunts, Jackals, Medics, and the rare communications officer. All of that was about to change, though, when they located a bunker at the end of the trench. Shane was actually hesitant to enter this bunker, for it appeared to be much larger than the others, meaning that there was something important in there. After a few minutes of pondering this, he entered the bunker slowly and in a crouched position. The Marines behind him followed in almost the same fashion, then set up a perimeter within the bunker.
The bunker was big enough to easily fit everyone in it. It was cold, dark, and damp, even for something that had been built within a few hours. Shane was amazed at how fast the Covenant could build a base of operation of this magnitude, yet another reason why they were winning the war. Due to the darkness Shane turned on the flashlight which was mounted at the end of his gun. The room quickly lit up as the rest of the Marines did the same. Phillips swayed his head to the side slightly, signaling for one of the Marines to move down the hallway which seemed to lead to another, much larger, location. The Marine did as ordered and made his way down the hallway. Shane followed right behind him, followed by the rest of the squad. They seemed to walk for several minutes, seeing only an occasional footprint or in some cases a COM translator which was monitoring the human radio waves. That was how they knew the squad was coming. Clever bastards, always one step ahead. As about ten minutes closed in they finally appeared to be nearing the end. Shane motioned for everyone to turn off their lights and went down into a crouching position, moving up to the point.
He poked his head around a corner and glanced around, seeing what appeared to be above ground. Shane made his way out of the hallway and out into the open very cautiously. The Marines held back as he scouted out the area for any Covenant soldiers. There were hundreds of empty containers all around the area, some of them were tipped over, standing up right, or even in piles. It looked like they were used to store weapons. After looking around and seeing nothing but containers and the some abandoned Covenant vehicles, Shane waved the Marines forward. They slowly inched their way out of the hallway and into the light for the first time in a while. Now they were standing in the middle of what appeared to be a valley of some kind. Explosions were going off all around it, yet none of them seemed to land in the valley. It was actually kind of peculiar, especially since the valley was enormous in size. Slowly Phillips made his way around the area and searched for something that would be of use to the humans in this war. He found nothing useful, hundreds of containers, all of them emptied. Even the vehicles had been stripped clean of any information from their onboard computers.
This path was a total loss and everyone in the group knew it. Shane simply shook his head and started to move back towards the hallway. Then, out of nowhere he heard a low-pitched humming noise coming in fast. Every ones attention was turned towards the incoming object and Shane quickly ordered for everyone to take cover. A few Marines ducked back into the hallway, others hid behind the containers. Shane, himself, took a spot behind one of the vehicles. He watched quietly as two Covenant Banshees, ground unit fighters, came blazing over the valley. They circled it once or twice, then landed only a few meters away from Shane's and the Marines position. After landing they remained still, no one hopped out of the pilots seat. It was as if they were waiting for someone, radioing in for them that it was okay to land. It was only a few seconds before two Covenant drop ships came shooting in from out of nowhere. They didn't bother to circle the valley and immediately landed and opened its doors. One of the drop ships unloaded a squad of roughly thirty Grunts and Jackals. While the other only released four soldiers which Shane himself had never seen before.
They stood much taller than the Grunts and Jackals, had crimson blue armor on, and had what appeared to be a plasma rifle for a weapon. He had seen these weapons in action before, even though it was only on a mission briefing broadcast. However, he had never before seen the soldiers. He quietly spoke into his com-link and asked any of the Marines if they had witnessed this creature before.
"What are those things?"
"They call them Elites, probably because they are stronger than five humans and have a built in energy shield. I'm pretty sure that there are two more in those Banshees. The Grunts and Jackals won't be much of a problem, but those damn Elites are going to lay down some heavy fire," replied a Marine on the other end.
"Copy that. All right, Baker and Taylor, I want you to see if you can place some grenades right in the patch of those Grunts and Jackals. Smith and Douglas, lay down some cover fire for them. Everyone else, engage those Elites."
"Roger," replied the Marines in almost exact unison.
"Now!" Exclaimed Shane as he shot up from his hiding position.
One of the Elites immediately noticed that it was an ambush and let out a powerful roar, commanding his Covenant brethren that they were under attack. Smith and Douglas were the first to fire as they sprayed a layer of Assault Rifle rounds into the patch of Grunts and Jackals. Some of the soldiers hit the ground fast, but the Jackals quickly formed up around the group and ignited their shields. The hard ammo from the Marines rifles simply ricocheted off of the shields and hit the ground below. After wasting their clips, Smith and Douglas ducked back down and allowed Baker and Taylor to spring up from their spots. They both lobbed two grenades into the patch of Covenant. Three seconds later the grenades went off and bodies went flying in all directions. Purple and blue blood splattered against the side of the drop ship from the mangled bodies of the light infantry Covenant. Next item on the plan was to engage the Elites which had now taken position behind several containers around the area. One Elite jumped out of its Banshee and joined the others, while the other Banshee still remained occupied.
Shane kept a close eye on that Banshee as he motioned for the rest of the Marines to move forwards and engage the Elites. From their spots behind the containers, within the hallway, and behind a vehicle or two, Shane and the Marines unleashed an onslaught upon the dug in Elites. A majority of their bullets ricocheted off of the containers, while some of them hit their target and called the Elites white energy shield to spring into life. Once most of the Marines had emptied their clips the Elites sprung up from their positions and laid down a fury of their own, only they had much more effect than the Marines attack. Due to the structure of the containers hard ammo would simply bounce off, but, what Shane and the others didn't know was that plasma bolts could easily burn a hole through the containers and come out on the other side. This was a mistake in knowledge that would pay most of the Marines dearly. Five Elites sprayed a large amount of plasma into the group of containers were most of the Marines were hiding. Shane watched in horror as the bolts went right through the empty containers and came out on the other side, hitting the Marines before they could even move.
Some of the Marines were struck in the back since they were turned away from the Elites as they reloaded their rifles. Others were hit as they tried to make a break for it and head into the hallway. None of them would make. Human blood now painted the ground as more than half the squad was decimated with a single attack by the Elites. Now, with about eight Marines able to fight, and two seriously injured, Shane was placed in a deadly situation. The Marines in the hallway could easily escape, but Shane and about four other Marines, two of which were the ones that were injured, would be sitting ducks for another onslaught. Before he could make his decision he saw the plasma cannons the Banshee light up and send large bolts of plasma into the remaining containers. The moment the bolts hit they were shot backwards from the intensity of the cannons fire. Quickly the Banshee hovered around, firing rapidly as it took away any protection from Shane's location by the vehicle to the hallway. It fired a few rounds at the vehicle which Shane, two active Marines, and two injured Marines were hiding, but that didn't pose much of a threat. Now there was no way that he could sound the retreat, being that from his location he wouldn't last very long if he headed for the hallway.
Finally, an idea came into Shane's head and he quickly sprung up from his hiding position. With his left hand he withdrew a grenade from his belt, popped the pin off with his thumb, then tossed it over towards the Banshee. It bounced off of the ground, hit the front of the Banshee, then landed. Three seconds went by quickly and it exploded, ripping off the front of the Banshee, then sending it flying backwards into the front, left side of one of the drop ships. The top of the Banshee connected with the drop ship and soon after it exploded, completely decimating the Banshee, and damaging in the drop ship, which now made a loud hissing noise as one of its engines had been wasted. The drop ship tilted on its side slightly just before it dropped out of the hover mode and slammed onto the ground. Both engines had given way and it was now out for the count.
"Open fire!" Shane hollered out loud to all of his allies and they all poked out from their positions. The Elites that were out in the open didn't stand much of a chance as they were battered with shell after shell. Their shields quickly gave way and the armor piercing rounds of the Assault Rifles shredded through their bodies as if they were paper. Two Elites dropped to the ground, purple blood dripping from their bodies and forming a puddle around them. There was now only three more left, but they were behind the containers like before. Baker, who had survived the recent attacks, withdrew a grenade and tossed it into a patch of containers. In no time at all the grenade went off and sent containers flying everywhere. The two Elites that were hidden in that patch leaped out of the blaze and hit the ground hard. Their shields had been disbursed by the grenade and they were now sitting ducks. Three Marines sent several rounds into their confused bodies while the others reloaded. After the two Elites had fallen and there was one more left, Shane motioned for everyone to close in on its position. They walked slowly as they inched their way towards it. When suddenly it popped up from behind its container and fired a few shots, one of which struck Baker in his right shoulder and caused him to drop. Shane let out a yell as he squeezed the trigger tightly, sending sixty rounds of ammo into the Elites shield, then finally into the Elite.
Its body jerked around as some of the Marines kept firing at it till gravity finally pulled it down. Shane now turned his attention towards the lone drop ship, which was now already in retreat position, heading towards the Covenant base. Seeing that it was of no threat, Shane headed over to Baker, who was now sitting up.
"You gonna live?"
"I've only got four words for you, Thank God For Armor," Replied Baker with a grin.
Shane shook his head and grinned back as he made it over to the two wounded Marines. He went over their wounds carefully, seeing if they were in any shape to be transported out of their with manpower. They were, which was a good thing. But, what was even a better thing was that Shane heard quite a few humming noises. He glanced up at the sky and watched hundreds of drop ships took off, heading in the same direction as the one that retreated did. Were the Covenant retreating? Yes, they were. Shane never thought that he would see the day that he Covenant would actually retreat. He simply shrugged and latched his rifle onto his belt. He made his way over to the wounded Marines, but before he could reach them he heard a faint yell of some kind. It sounded pretty close to their position, so Shane went to investigate, after telling the rest of the squad to head back to the trenches. The Baker and Smith threw the two injured Marines over their shoulders and exited with the other Marines. Now he was all alone in enemy territory. It shouldn't be that difficult. After all, all of the Covenant were retreating or so he thought.
Cautiously Shane made his way through the valley, staying close to one side, since that was where he had heard the noise. As he walked he unlatched his rifle and brought it up to his shoulder. The faint yelling began to come in clearer as he walked along the valley wall. Suddenly, it came in as clear as a bell and Shane stopped. He ran his hand down the hard, gravel wall. Something about it didn't seem right. In a way it felt fake. In an attempt to prove his theory right, Shane brought his rifle back and smacked the butt of it against the spot where he had ran his hand down. Sure enough the butt of his rifle went right through the would be gravel. Shane grinned and stuck his hand in through the hole which he had recently formed. He searched around for something to grab on to. Once he found that one thing he pulled as hard he could towards him, ripping out another large portion of the almost cardboard type wall. The room before him was pitch black, causing Shane to turn his flashlight on in order to see. He crouched down slowly and walked into room. As he shined his light around he could see that the room did have lightning, but he guessed that it had been knocked out by the explosions which had decimated the surrounding area.
The room had several hallways which sprung from it, all of them appearing to be fairly long and time consuming. If he wanted to get out of here in time he would have to pick the right one from the start. He became perfectly still as he stood in the room, trying to pinpoint which hallway the yelling was coming from. Finally, he picked it up and ran down the hallway to his far right. His boots pounded against the ground, kicking up dirt and splashing mud and water against his shin plates. It didn't take Shane long at all before he reached yet another large room. From the entrance he shined his flashlight around, scanning the area. There appeared to be nothing in the room until his light came upon three humans in the corner. One of them appeared to be fairly lively, probably the one that was yelling, while the other two were either knocked out or dead. As he moved his flashlight around more he discovered that there were several Marines laying on the ground, each one dead. Pools of blood had formed around their battered bodies and the room smelled of burnt flesh.
Phillips shuttered as he carefully approached the three humans before him. By the looks of the metals on their jackets, Shane could tell that they were of high rank. Which was probably why the Covenant had captured them. As he inched towards them the lively human let out a loud mumble, as if trying to tell Shane something. Shane blinked curiously and looked around, seeing nothing. All of a sudden, though, he heard a light grunt come from behind him and instinctively leaped to the side and went into a roll. He immediately shined his light up and watched as an Elite leaped from the shadows and swung the butt of his plasma rifle at the location where Shane previously was. That was a close call for sure. Now that his attacker was in view, Shane pulled back on his trigger and fired a few bursts of ammo into the Elite's shield. Each of his shells connected with the shield, then quickly disbursed. The Elite laughed in his alien tongue as he brought his plasma rifle up and fired bolt after bolt at Shane, who by this time had gone into a sprint. He ran full speed as the Elite fired rounds after him, each one missing him by only an inch or two. To caught up trying to execute Shane, the Elite forgot about how his plasma rifle would over heat.
After releasing about twenty rounds blue smoke poured out of the vent on the side of the gun. Shane used this to his advantage and charged the Elite, firing what was left of his ammunition at the Elite. Near the end of his clip the Elites shield gave way and the last few shells slammed into, then through its armor. Purple blood splattered all over the ground as the shells ripped through the Elite. However, it wasn't dead, far from it really and once its plasma rifle had cooled off it brought it up and prepared to fire more rounds at Shane. Seeing this, Shane rolled to the side, avoiding the first few bolts. While he rolled he dropped his Assault Rifle, then withdrew the pistol from its spot behind a plate of armor. He quickly stopped his roll and got into a kneeling position, and fired two rounds. One of the rounds hit the Elite square on its chest, the other went right between the soldiers eyes. It stood still for a moment before its nerves came to grip with its own death, then it quickly fell to the ground. Shane holstered his pistol again and picked up his Assault Rifle and put a fresh clip in, then latched it back onto his belt. Calmly he made his way over to the three humans and untied the rope which was currently bounded around them. The lively one immediately stood up, while the other two fell to the ground, revealing plasma burns on their back.
"Thank you, soldier," said the human being as he extended his hand in welcome, "Captain Daniels of the 23 Fire Infantry."
"Private Shane Phillips. Blue Eagle Squadron! At your service, sir!" Shane didn't shake hands with the Captain, just merely saluted. Seeing that Shane didn't wish to shake hands with an officer, Captain Daniels returned the salute, just seconds before a message came over Shane's com-link.
"I want all units to fall back to your EVAC locations, now! Covenant battle fleet Zullu is heading this way and are charging weapons. I repeat, head to your EVAC locations now!"
There wasn't any hesitation as Shane quickly transferred the message to Captain Daniels and both of them raced out of the hidden cavern, leaped out of the trenches, and caught up with the rest of the Marines as they headed towards the incoming drop ships. They took off almost as fast as they landed as Marines filled them up quickly. Shane managed to get into the first wave of drop ships which now raced towards his designated ship, in doing this he lost contact with Captain Daniels. It didn't take long at all for the drop ship to reach the battle ship which Phillips was to now reside on. Once the ship landed he quickly got out and headed towards the docking ramp. While running he bumped into a soldier with a familiar grin on his face, Kohl Wallace. He had survived the engagement and was now going to be on the same ship as Shane. As much as Shane wanted to talk to Kohl he felt a shove from behind as Marines raced towards the ship. Shane simply nodded to Kohl and they both raced up the ram and into the battle ship. Once inside they took position in seats which were randomly placed all around the area. Shane snapped his safety belt on and laid back in his padded chair. He looked to his side, being fortunate enough to be right next to a window. As soon as the ship had been fully loaded the massive docking bay doors closed and sealed, then the ships trembled. It took a few seconds for the engines to get enough power to boost the battle ship into space.
Shane watched as the ground grew smaller and he could see several dark shadows being cast down upon the colony. Covenant war ships were closing in and right before his eyes Shane watched as several plasma torpedoes plummeted towards the ground. What was once a lush, fertile colony, was now being turned into nothing but dust within a matter of minutes. As much as Shane wanted to turn away he couldn't and kept watching until the battle ship hit a slip stream and went off into the unknown of space.
Shane made his way back down the trenches, passing more soldiers than he had passed on his way to the bunker. He guessed that a few more drop ships had arrived or the front lines had been forced to retreat to this trench. Whatever the case was, Shane's main concern was to locate his platoon and rely the Captains orders. It didn't take him very long as he came upon a group of Marines, all of which bearing the same logo which he had. They were crouched down, hiding behind the height of the trench. There were twenty of them still alive, the others most have either died upon getting off of the drop ship, or god only knows where else. Two of the Marines had unlit cigarettes in their mouths and were trying to light them with a lighter. However, from their recent encounter with enemy forces their hands were so shaky that they couldn't connect the flame with the tip of the cigarette. Shane stopped next to one of them and dropped down onto one knee. He took in long, heavy breaths, having drained himself quite a bit from running around so much. One of the Marines looked over at him for a moment and blinked before returning his look back towards the ground.
"I have an order from the Captain," that was all Shane could get out before he had to take in another breath, then continue, "he wants us to get into the Covenants trenches and create some havoc. Now, where is the Lieutenant Johnson?"
"Everywhere," stated one of the Marines as he looked over at Shane with a frown, "just after we exited the drop ship a Mortar charge struck right next to him. It wasn't exactly one of the greatest things for these rookies to see."
"I see. Well, then who is in charge now," questioned Shane. All that followed was an awkward silence as no one wanted to step forward and take charge. He grew slightly irked at the cowardliness of the squad, "fine, have it your way then. I'll lead the charge and don't think that your just going to sit here. These are direct orders from the Captain and what he says goes. Now..lets move out!"
It felt good to say those words and actually have people obey him. Every single Marine stood up, locked and loaded their Assault Rifle, then awaited for Shane's orders. Seeing that they were all ready Phillips made a motion with his hands and leaped out of the trench. He ran full speed towards the Covenant trench, occasionally he glanced over his shoulder to see if they were still following, which they were. Suddenly, he heard a Covenant soldier call out something in his native language. Shortly after a flurry of fire was directed towards their position. Shane dived down into the dirt and covered his hands over his head. Green bolted of plasma blazed overhead, missing him only be a few inches. He heard the deathly screams of a Marine behind him as his armor was struck, then penetrated by one of the plasma bolts. His legs kicked out from underneath him and he fell to the ground, hung onto to life for a few seconds, then let his body relax and allowed the pain forever subside. Shane balled his free hand into a fist, gathering dirt within it in the process as anger flowed through his veins.
Once the firing had halted Shane leaped to his feet and charged forwards again, this time going faster than he had been before now that anger was fueling him. It wasn't long before he reached the Covenant trench and leaped into it. He landed right between two Grunts, both of them just as shocked to see him as he was to see them. Before they could recover and fire at him, Shane darted the butt of his Assault Rifle to his right and smashed into one of the Grunts skulls. Blue blood splashed against Shane, but he didn't pay any attention to it and turned his attention towards the Grunt. This one wasn't going to be defeated so easily and brought its plasma pistol up, pressed its finger back against the trigger, but was struck on the side by a quick burst from an Assault Rifle. Its body slammed into the side of the trench and then slid down against it, leaving a trail of blood where it had hit and slid. Shane watched as what was left of the Marines entered the trench and brought their guns up to their shoulders. Over the radio Shane ordered for them to follow him, which they did as he raced down the trench.
Every now and then a Grunt would poke its head out from a bunker or would jump into the trench, but every time this happened, Shane or one of the other Marines was sure to spray some lead into it. The trench which they were currently in didn't have very many Covenant soldiers, mostly medical units or communication officers. However, no matter what their rank or field, the Marines made sure that they weren't going to live long enough to continue their job. It had been about thirty minutes since Phillips had lead the Marines into the trench and they had already racked up close to twenty kills if not more. They weren't anything special, mostly Grunts, Jackals, Medics, and the rare communications officer. All of that was about to change, though, when they located a bunker at the end of the trench. Shane was actually hesitant to enter this bunker, for it appeared to be much larger than the others, meaning that there was something important in there. After a few minutes of pondering this, he entered the bunker slowly and in a crouched position. The Marines behind him followed in almost the same fashion, then set up a perimeter within the bunker.
The bunker was big enough to easily fit everyone in it. It was cold, dark, and damp, even for something that had been built within a few hours. Shane was amazed at how fast the Covenant could build a base of operation of this magnitude, yet another reason why they were winning the war. Due to the darkness Shane turned on the flashlight which was mounted at the end of his gun. The room quickly lit up as the rest of the Marines did the same. Phillips swayed his head to the side slightly, signaling for one of the Marines to move down the hallway which seemed to lead to another, much larger, location. The Marine did as ordered and made his way down the hallway. Shane followed right behind him, followed by the rest of the squad. They seemed to walk for several minutes, seeing only an occasional footprint or in some cases a COM translator which was monitoring the human radio waves. That was how they knew the squad was coming. Clever bastards, always one step ahead. As about ten minutes closed in they finally appeared to be nearing the end. Shane motioned for everyone to turn off their lights and went down into a crouching position, moving up to the point.
He poked his head around a corner and glanced around, seeing what appeared to be above ground. Shane made his way out of the hallway and out into the open very cautiously. The Marines held back as he scouted out the area for any Covenant soldiers. There were hundreds of empty containers all around the area, some of them were tipped over, standing up right, or even in piles. It looked like they were used to store weapons. After looking around and seeing nothing but containers and the some abandoned Covenant vehicles, Shane waved the Marines forward. They slowly inched their way out of the hallway and into the light for the first time in a while. Now they were standing in the middle of what appeared to be a valley of some kind. Explosions were going off all around it, yet none of them seemed to land in the valley. It was actually kind of peculiar, especially since the valley was enormous in size. Slowly Phillips made his way around the area and searched for something that would be of use to the humans in this war. He found nothing useful, hundreds of containers, all of them emptied. Even the vehicles had been stripped clean of any information from their onboard computers.
This path was a total loss and everyone in the group knew it. Shane simply shook his head and started to move back towards the hallway. Then, out of nowhere he heard a low-pitched humming noise coming in fast. Every ones attention was turned towards the incoming object and Shane quickly ordered for everyone to take cover. A few Marines ducked back into the hallway, others hid behind the containers. Shane, himself, took a spot behind one of the vehicles. He watched quietly as two Covenant Banshees, ground unit fighters, came blazing over the valley. They circled it once or twice, then landed only a few meters away from Shane's and the Marines position. After landing they remained still, no one hopped out of the pilots seat. It was as if they were waiting for someone, radioing in for them that it was okay to land. It was only a few seconds before two Covenant drop ships came shooting in from out of nowhere. They didn't bother to circle the valley and immediately landed and opened its doors. One of the drop ships unloaded a squad of roughly thirty Grunts and Jackals. While the other only released four soldiers which Shane himself had never seen before.
They stood much taller than the Grunts and Jackals, had crimson blue armor on, and had what appeared to be a plasma rifle for a weapon. He had seen these weapons in action before, even though it was only on a mission briefing broadcast. However, he had never before seen the soldiers. He quietly spoke into his com-link and asked any of the Marines if they had witnessed this creature before.
"What are those things?"
"They call them Elites, probably because they are stronger than five humans and have a built in energy shield. I'm pretty sure that there are two more in those Banshees. The Grunts and Jackals won't be much of a problem, but those damn Elites are going to lay down some heavy fire," replied a Marine on the other end.
"Copy that. All right, Baker and Taylor, I want you to see if you can place some grenades right in the patch of those Grunts and Jackals. Smith and Douglas, lay down some cover fire for them. Everyone else, engage those Elites."
"Roger," replied the Marines in almost exact unison.
"Now!" Exclaimed Shane as he shot up from his hiding position.
One of the Elites immediately noticed that it was an ambush and let out a powerful roar, commanding his Covenant brethren that they were under attack. Smith and Douglas were the first to fire as they sprayed a layer of Assault Rifle rounds into the patch of Grunts and Jackals. Some of the soldiers hit the ground fast, but the Jackals quickly formed up around the group and ignited their shields. The hard ammo from the Marines rifles simply ricocheted off of the shields and hit the ground below. After wasting their clips, Smith and Douglas ducked back down and allowed Baker and Taylor to spring up from their spots. They both lobbed two grenades into the patch of Covenant. Three seconds later the grenades went off and bodies went flying in all directions. Purple and blue blood splattered against the side of the drop ship from the mangled bodies of the light infantry Covenant. Next item on the plan was to engage the Elites which had now taken position behind several containers around the area. One Elite jumped out of its Banshee and joined the others, while the other Banshee still remained occupied.
Shane kept a close eye on that Banshee as he motioned for the rest of the Marines to move forwards and engage the Elites. From their spots behind the containers, within the hallway, and behind a vehicle or two, Shane and the Marines unleashed an onslaught upon the dug in Elites. A majority of their bullets ricocheted off of the containers, while some of them hit their target and called the Elites white energy shield to spring into life. Once most of the Marines had emptied their clips the Elites sprung up from their positions and laid down a fury of their own, only they had much more effect than the Marines attack. Due to the structure of the containers hard ammo would simply bounce off, but, what Shane and the others didn't know was that plasma bolts could easily burn a hole through the containers and come out on the other side. This was a mistake in knowledge that would pay most of the Marines dearly. Five Elites sprayed a large amount of plasma into the group of containers were most of the Marines were hiding. Shane watched in horror as the bolts went right through the empty containers and came out on the other side, hitting the Marines before they could even move.
Some of the Marines were struck in the back since they were turned away from the Elites as they reloaded their rifles. Others were hit as they tried to make a break for it and head into the hallway. None of them would make. Human blood now painted the ground as more than half the squad was decimated with a single attack by the Elites. Now, with about eight Marines able to fight, and two seriously injured, Shane was placed in a deadly situation. The Marines in the hallway could easily escape, but Shane and about four other Marines, two of which were the ones that were injured, would be sitting ducks for another onslaught. Before he could make his decision he saw the plasma cannons the Banshee light up and send large bolts of plasma into the remaining containers. The moment the bolts hit they were shot backwards from the intensity of the cannons fire. Quickly the Banshee hovered around, firing rapidly as it took away any protection from Shane's location by the vehicle to the hallway. It fired a few rounds at the vehicle which Shane, two active Marines, and two injured Marines were hiding, but that didn't pose much of a threat. Now there was no way that he could sound the retreat, being that from his location he wouldn't last very long if he headed for the hallway.
Finally, an idea came into Shane's head and he quickly sprung up from his hiding position. With his left hand he withdrew a grenade from his belt, popped the pin off with his thumb, then tossed it over towards the Banshee. It bounced off of the ground, hit the front of the Banshee, then landed. Three seconds went by quickly and it exploded, ripping off the front of the Banshee, then sending it flying backwards into the front, left side of one of the drop ships. The top of the Banshee connected with the drop ship and soon after it exploded, completely decimating the Banshee, and damaging in the drop ship, which now made a loud hissing noise as one of its engines had been wasted. The drop ship tilted on its side slightly just before it dropped out of the hover mode and slammed onto the ground. Both engines had given way and it was now out for the count.
"Open fire!" Shane hollered out loud to all of his allies and they all poked out from their positions. The Elites that were out in the open didn't stand much of a chance as they were battered with shell after shell. Their shields quickly gave way and the armor piercing rounds of the Assault Rifles shredded through their bodies as if they were paper. Two Elites dropped to the ground, purple blood dripping from their bodies and forming a puddle around them. There was now only three more left, but they were behind the containers like before. Baker, who had survived the recent attacks, withdrew a grenade and tossed it into a patch of containers. In no time at all the grenade went off and sent containers flying everywhere. The two Elites that were hidden in that patch leaped out of the blaze and hit the ground hard. Their shields had been disbursed by the grenade and they were now sitting ducks. Three Marines sent several rounds into their confused bodies while the others reloaded. After the two Elites had fallen and there was one more left, Shane motioned for everyone to close in on its position. They walked slowly as they inched their way towards it. When suddenly it popped up from behind its container and fired a few shots, one of which struck Baker in his right shoulder and caused him to drop. Shane let out a yell as he squeezed the trigger tightly, sending sixty rounds of ammo into the Elites shield, then finally into the Elite.
Its body jerked around as some of the Marines kept firing at it till gravity finally pulled it down. Shane now turned his attention towards the lone drop ship, which was now already in retreat position, heading towards the Covenant base. Seeing that it was of no threat, Shane headed over to Baker, who was now sitting up.
"You gonna live?"
"I've only got four words for you, Thank God For Armor," Replied Baker with a grin.
Shane shook his head and grinned back as he made it over to the two wounded Marines. He went over their wounds carefully, seeing if they were in any shape to be transported out of their with manpower. They were, which was a good thing. But, what was even a better thing was that Shane heard quite a few humming noises. He glanced up at the sky and watched hundreds of drop ships took off, heading in the same direction as the one that retreated did. Were the Covenant retreating? Yes, they were. Shane never thought that he would see the day that he Covenant would actually retreat. He simply shrugged and latched his rifle onto his belt. He made his way over to the wounded Marines, but before he could reach them he heard a faint yell of some kind. It sounded pretty close to their position, so Shane went to investigate, after telling the rest of the squad to head back to the trenches. The Baker and Smith threw the two injured Marines over their shoulders and exited with the other Marines. Now he was all alone in enemy territory. It shouldn't be that difficult. After all, all of the Covenant were retreating or so he thought.
Cautiously Shane made his way through the valley, staying close to one side, since that was where he had heard the noise. As he walked he unlatched his rifle and brought it up to his shoulder. The faint yelling began to come in clearer as he walked along the valley wall. Suddenly, it came in as clear as a bell and Shane stopped. He ran his hand down the hard, gravel wall. Something about it didn't seem right. In a way it felt fake. In an attempt to prove his theory right, Shane brought his rifle back and smacked the butt of it against the spot where he had ran his hand down. Sure enough the butt of his rifle went right through the would be gravel. Shane grinned and stuck his hand in through the hole which he had recently formed. He searched around for something to grab on to. Once he found that one thing he pulled as hard he could towards him, ripping out another large portion of the almost cardboard type wall. The room before him was pitch black, causing Shane to turn his flashlight on in order to see. He crouched down slowly and walked into room. As he shined his light around he could see that the room did have lightning, but he guessed that it had been knocked out by the explosions which had decimated the surrounding area.
The room had several hallways which sprung from it, all of them appearing to be fairly long and time consuming. If he wanted to get out of here in time he would have to pick the right one from the start. He became perfectly still as he stood in the room, trying to pinpoint which hallway the yelling was coming from. Finally, he picked it up and ran down the hallway to his far right. His boots pounded against the ground, kicking up dirt and splashing mud and water against his shin plates. It didn't take Shane long at all before he reached yet another large room. From the entrance he shined his flashlight around, scanning the area. There appeared to be nothing in the room until his light came upon three humans in the corner. One of them appeared to be fairly lively, probably the one that was yelling, while the other two were either knocked out or dead. As he moved his flashlight around more he discovered that there were several Marines laying on the ground, each one dead. Pools of blood had formed around their battered bodies and the room smelled of burnt flesh.
Phillips shuttered as he carefully approached the three humans before him. By the looks of the metals on their jackets, Shane could tell that they were of high rank. Which was probably why the Covenant had captured them. As he inched towards them the lively human let out a loud mumble, as if trying to tell Shane something. Shane blinked curiously and looked around, seeing nothing. All of a sudden, though, he heard a light grunt come from behind him and instinctively leaped to the side and went into a roll. He immediately shined his light up and watched as an Elite leaped from the shadows and swung the butt of his plasma rifle at the location where Shane previously was. That was a close call for sure. Now that his attacker was in view, Shane pulled back on his trigger and fired a few bursts of ammo into the Elite's shield. Each of his shells connected with the shield, then quickly disbursed. The Elite laughed in his alien tongue as he brought his plasma rifle up and fired bolt after bolt at Shane, who by this time had gone into a sprint. He ran full speed as the Elite fired rounds after him, each one missing him by only an inch or two. To caught up trying to execute Shane, the Elite forgot about how his plasma rifle would over heat.
After releasing about twenty rounds blue smoke poured out of the vent on the side of the gun. Shane used this to his advantage and charged the Elite, firing what was left of his ammunition at the Elite. Near the end of his clip the Elites shield gave way and the last few shells slammed into, then through its armor. Purple blood splattered all over the ground as the shells ripped through the Elite. However, it wasn't dead, far from it really and once its plasma rifle had cooled off it brought it up and prepared to fire more rounds at Shane. Seeing this, Shane rolled to the side, avoiding the first few bolts. While he rolled he dropped his Assault Rifle, then withdrew the pistol from its spot behind a plate of armor. He quickly stopped his roll and got into a kneeling position, and fired two rounds. One of the rounds hit the Elite square on its chest, the other went right between the soldiers eyes. It stood still for a moment before its nerves came to grip with its own death, then it quickly fell to the ground. Shane holstered his pistol again and picked up his Assault Rifle and put a fresh clip in, then latched it back onto his belt. Calmly he made his way over to the three humans and untied the rope which was currently bounded around them. The lively one immediately stood up, while the other two fell to the ground, revealing plasma burns on their back.
"Thank you, soldier," said the human being as he extended his hand in welcome, "Captain Daniels of the 23 Fire Infantry."
"Private Shane Phillips. Blue Eagle Squadron! At your service, sir!" Shane didn't shake hands with the Captain, just merely saluted. Seeing that Shane didn't wish to shake hands with an officer, Captain Daniels returned the salute, just seconds before a message came over Shane's com-link.
"I want all units to fall back to your EVAC locations, now! Covenant battle fleet Zullu is heading this way and are charging weapons. I repeat, head to your EVAC locations now!"
There wasn't any hesitation as Shane quickly transferred the message to Captain Daniels and both of them raced out of the hidden cavern, leaped out of the trenches, and caught up with the rest of the Marines as they headed towards the incoming drop ships. They took off almost as fast as they landed as Marines filled them up quickly. Shane managed to get into the first wave of drop ships which now raced towards his designated ship, in doing this he lost contact with Captain Daniels. It didn't take long at all for the drop ship to reach the battle ship which Phillips was to now reside on. Once the ship landed he quickly got out and headed towards the docking ramp. While running he bumped into a soldier with a familiar grin on his face, Kohl Wallace. He had survived the engagement and was now going to be on the same ship as Shane. As much as Shane wanted to talk to Kohl he felt a shove from behind as Marines raced towards the ship. Shane simply nodded to Kohl and they both raced up the ram and into the battle ship. Once inside they took position in seats which were randomly placed all around the area. Shane snapped his safety belt on and laid back in his padded chair. He looked to his side, being fortunate enough to be right next to a window. As soon as the ship had been fully loaded the massive docking bay doors closed and sealed, then the ships trembled. It took a few seconds for the engines to get enough power to boost the battle ship into space.
Shane watched as the ground grew smaller and he could see several dark shadows being cast down upon the colony. Covenant war ships were closing in and right before his eyes Shane watched as several plasma torpedoes plummeted towards the ground. What was once a lush, fertile colony, was now being turned into nothing but dust within a matter of minutes. As much as Shane wanted to turn away he couldn't and kept watching until the battle ship hit a slip stream and went off into the unknown of space.