Chapter the fifth
Fall of the hunters
I'd like to clear things up before I start. This story is set a long time ago. When the covenant was new, and there were only the prophets and the elites. They don't have plasma weapons, or grunts, or ghosts.
"Where did we come from?" asked Rula. "I can't remember where we landed."
"Doesn't matter" Anlo said, and pointed to the sky. Rula looked up, and saw flocks of drop ships descending from the sky. Rula swore. The Lekgolo undoubtedly had seen the ships as well, and were probably rushing over to them with their rockets launchers. Getting out of here wasn't going to be easy. He wondered who's bright idea was to launch the drop ships in a mass. Then Anlo's sharp voice alerted him.
"Lekgolo, over there. Get down!" The two Sanghelli crouched for cover, and peered out at the aliens. They carried those rocket tubes on their shoulders, and there were at least six of them.
"They have a clear shot at the ships! We must stop them!" Rula said. Anlo unslung his gun.
"Let's get to it." he said grimly. The two sanghelli cautiously approached the Lekgolo from behind; luckily they seemed preoccupied with their weapons. Anlo patted him on the arm and whispered to Rula.
"Look. Just below the helmet." Rula saw an opening. He knew from experience how weak the Lekgolo's neck was.
"You shoot the one on the far left. I'll concentrate on the center one." Rula whispered. The two Marksmen crouched into a firing stance and took aim. Anlo fired first, Rula fired shortly after. Both of the targets fell. The rest of the firing squad turned and faced the two Sanghelli. Rula saw several of the rocket tubes lifted onto shoulders, and panicked. He saw several spare rockets on the ground, and frantically shot at them. They detonated, throwing the Lekgolo into the air. None rose. Rula and Anlo ran without looking back to where the drop ships had landed. The two exited the clearing and looked out. There were hundreds of Sanghelli, retreating as dozens of Lekgolo assault teams chased them down. Rula and Anlo ran out into the fight, eager to join their brothers. As they reached the battlefield, a veteran Sanghelli ran over to them.
"Sergeant! Thank the Forerunners you are here!"
"Get to a ship. That's an order." Said Rula. He looked out at the scene of battle. There were firefights everywhere. Rula sighed, and ran into the fray, Anlo right behind him.
Straight ahead were a team of about five elites and a pair of Lekgolo, fighting each other. One of the Sanghelli was brought down, and the rest turned and ran. Rula was outraged. Never had he seen such cowardice.
"FIGHT! STAND AND FIGHT!" Rula yelled at them. The veteran sergeant took aim at the charging Lekgolo and fired. His shot went straight and true, straight through the mouth of the alien. It fell, gurgling angrily. The other roared and charged at Rula. The Sergeant dove out of the way and saw Anlo fire into the back of the beast. The four Sanghelli, who had regained their composure, fired as well and the Lekgolo toppled, wailing softly.
Rula turned and looked in anger at the four recruits.
"Pull yourselves together." He growled. "Do you want to live?" they mumbled in agreement. "I said, do you want to live!"
"Hell yes, sergeant!" they replied as one.
"Good." said Rula. "Because we are getting on that drop ship." He pointed across the field. "You better be ready to run." And with that, Rula and Anlo began sprinting across the wartorn battlefield. They ran past dozens of firefights and dodged a few Lekgolo. Just as they reached the waiting ship, a team of Lekgolo stepped in front of them. "Up for one more?" Rula asked Anlo. He smiled and they charged the aliens. Rula dodged a fist swung his way and fired directly into the face of its owner. Anlo rolled out of the way as two Lekgolo slashed at him. He kicked out and caught the alien in the back. The Lekgolo turned around and swiped at Anlo, knocked him back several feet. The Sanghelli veteran struggled to stand as the huge alien raised its fist to crush the smaller alien. Suddenly Anlo was sprayed with orange blood and Rula came to his rescue. There were two more Lekgolo to fight, but both sanghelli were exausted. Then the four reciuts who were following them arrived, and with their concentrated fire were able to bring down one. The other Lekgolo, shifted it's stance and prepared to charge, when it quite suddenly exploded. Rula looked behind the smoldering pieces of Lekgolo to see that it had stood in front of one of the drop ship's cannons. The gunner smiled and saluted. Rula returned the gesture, and climbed onto the ship. He heard the copilot yell "we're full, lets get outta here!" Rula looked around in the passenger compartment, and saw one of his suad mates from the start of the fight. That seemed like such a long time ago. Then Rula felt the familiar weightlessness of exiting the atmosphere, and knew that the fight was finally over.
THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER!
