Section II
Earth
Part II: David
Breathing hard, I looked up to see the Master Chief walking calmly toward us. Zoë didn't notice; she was focusing on the retreating Scarab.
The Spartan stepped over me; I was too exhausted to move. He held a BR55 battle rifle, just like Zoë and I. He stood beside the sergeant major as she reported without turning, "It blew right through us. 50 cal, rockets, didn't do a thing."
Humming filled the air as I struggled to my feet. A Pelican dived toward us, with a Scorpion MBT locked into the back, beneath the tail. It floated downwards and dropped the M808B main battle tank onto the ground with a thump. Sergeant Johnson hopped from the passenger compartment onto the Scorpion, and then onto the ground. Relief washed over me: my mission was over!
He trotted over to Zoë Stevens. "What happened to your platoon?"
"Wasted, sarge."
I stepped forward, muttering, "And we will too, sir, if we don't get the hell outta here."
Johnson stopped me with his arm. "You hit, Marine?"
"Uhh, no, sir," I answered hesitantly.
He pushed me back. "Then listen up!" the sergeant yelled. "When I joined to corps, we didn't have any fancy-shmancy tanks.We had sticks! Two sticks, and a rock, for the whole platoon! And we had to share the rock! Buck up, boy - you're one very lucky Marine."
I gulped, as Zoë asked him about the Scarab. "We've all run the simulations. They're tough, but they ain't invincible. Stay with the Master Chief - he'll know what to do." Sergeant Stevens nodded as Johnson popped a cigar into his mouth and leapt back into the Pelican. I heard Cortana - the Master Chief's AI friend - say, "Thanks for the tank. He never gets me anything."
Johnson pumped the machine gun turret in the passenger compartment. "Oh, I know what the ladies like." The Pelican hovered for a moment longer before ascending a few meters to drift over the side of the bridge.
Smirking, I picked up a dropped M41 SSR MAV/AW rocket launcher. "Ladies like grinding treads, huh, MC?"
"Shut up, Nathan," Sergeant Major Stevens ordered. I grinned and hopped onto the side of the Scorpion. She sat on the opposite side as the Master Chief entered the hatch. The engine roared to life and the big tank began to lumber off.
Already ahead, I could see the bright purple glows of two boosting Ghosts. The MC drove the rumbling Scorpion towards them; we passed numerous toppled cars, trucks, and vans. The civvies had bugged out at the first sign of danger.
Once the Ghosts were within about 50 meters, the Master Chief began firing the 90mm main cannon. The shell's splash damage sent one into the air, but it landed correctly and both immediately began moving towards us. I raised the rocket launcher and engaged the homing mechanism; looking into the scope, a red reticule had appeared on the nearest Ghost. I pulled back the "trigger", releasing the rocket with a whumph. Heat from the launch warmed up my back; the missile blasted forward and zoomed towards the Ghost. It landed a direct hit right on the nose, and the alien craft exploded.
The Spartan inside the tank began dealing out belts of 7.62 mm tracer ammunition while Stevens fired her BR55 ineffectually. The Ghost never came close enough to make a pass.
Without missing a beat, the 'Chief continued onwards, across the bridge. The Covenant had obviously had time to fortify it; we encountered many Ghosts and a Wraith before a Phantom came whizzing over our heads. It continued on, but soon another passed us on the left, and began unloading its three plasma turrets. I, being on the port side of the tank, leapt off and ducked behind a car with the spontaneity of a survivalist. The tank fired on it, and soon the plasma stopped coming - but now Ghosts were appearing over the crest of the bridge. I tried to make myself smaller as the tank moved forward, but one of the Ghosts caught sight of me. I jumped to my feet and ran in the way we had came, soon gasping for breath from the weight of the rocket launcher. Then, there was a boom, and I glanced behind me to see a broken and battered Ghost, flipping at high speeds towards me. The bulk of the dead machine hit my back, and I fell face-first into the concrete.
XXX
Groggily, I looked up into a mandibled face. Screaming, I flailed backwards, pushing the Elite back. It didn't budge; finally, I realized it was dead. The destroyed Ghost lay behind the corpse, now in two pieces from the after-pop, as I called it.
Standing up, I looked around. The Scorpion tank was gone. So was the Phantoms, and the Ghosts, except for the pieces they had left behind. I turned around - from here, I could see the entire far side of the bridge, including New Mombasa and the Covenant cruiser. The tollbooths below were smoking; dozens of burning hulks and pieces of Ghost lay a path to them. Looking closer, I caught sight of the tank disappearing into the highway tunnels. I hadn't been unconscious for too long.
I began trotting downwards, and keeping an eye out for usable Ghosts. Knowing the Master Chief, which I didn't, there were none. About halfway from where I had been knocked out to the tollbooths, another Phantom dropship appeared overhead. It flew low, and sped towards my destination. Without wasting time, it dropped off a few Elites and a good number of Grunts.
The dropship ascended over the highway tunnel, and sped off into the city. The troops it had disgorged quickly unfolded turrets and gathered semi-destroyed Ghosts. Whipping out my binoculars for a closer look, I watched as the Grunts set to work repairing the vehicles and setting up the plasma turrets. Most of the Elites disappeared into the tunnel, well behind the tank, but three others remained. Pushing the binoculars back into my fatigues, I looked around. There! The platoon I had encountered not an hour ago had been through here, and had left behind a few casualties. Hidden beside one of the toppled vans was a dead Marine. I pulled out the former soldier's backpack and dug around inside. He had carried pieces of an S2 AM sniper rifle. A small part of the barrel had been broken off, so it wouldn't be as accurate, but of the weapon was intact. He had also held four magazines - enough for me to take out the entire enemy force, if they weren't alerted to my presence.
I climbed up the side of the bridge and went prone. Setting the sniper rifle stand up, I looked down the 10x scope and surveyed the enemy position. Two of the remaining Elites were chatting with an unhappy Grunt; the other one was testing out a Ghost the aliens had rapidly reconstructed. The Elite boosted it up one of the ramps on the side of the highway tunnel; without warning, the Ghost exploded beneath him and sent the alien flying. I chuckled as I watched the now-furious Elite stand up and stalk towards the Grunts. With some hand movements, it sent them back to the Ghost, and everyone's back was turned to the angry alien. I moved the crosshairs right over its head and fired.
None of the other Covenant noticed. I stood up and hopped back down into the street. Dashing forward, I climbed up onto a moving truck, allowing me an excellent view of the other Elites. The Grunt was now walking towards the other mechanics. One of the Elites, standing with its back facing the wall, noticed its dead counterpart on the concrete. Fortunately for me, the final Elite was watching the Grunt mechanics work. I dropped the second alien with a crack from the sniper rifle.
Unluckily, the third and final commanding alien heard my weapon that time, and whipped around to see its counterparts dead. Without hesitation, I fired off the remainder of my magazine, dropping it, too. The Grunts panicked and stopped working in an attempt to take cover.
Putting the sniper rifle down, I rushed back to pick up the rocket launcher. My BR55 was strapped to my back, I had my heavy weapon - I was ready to move on down.
Once in range, I set the rocket launcher down and pulled out the battle rifle. The Grunts had recovered and were back to their work; stupid things, I took down three before they panicked again. This time, I grabbed the rocket launcher again and sprinted into the tunnel.
With the Grunts behind me, I trotted downwards. There was a mutilated Elite corpse and two dead Grunts down here, too; moving forwards, I was able to see the floodgate that blocked the road. There were more abandoned civilian vehicles, and there was also a Warthog and the Scorpion. Three of the five-or-so Elites that had gone into the tunnel were manning the unmoving Warthog. I only had one rocket left into the rocket launcher, but that was enough to deal with them. I used the homing feature to destroy the vehicle and the crew before trotting down to the floodgate. I walked up a slope. From there, I could see a huge number of dead Covenant, and one dead Marine - hopping to the other side of floodgate, I strode over to the body and checked the dog tag. Thankfully, it wasn't Sergeant Major Stevens.
Most of the tunnel was cluttered with civilian vehicles. There was no sign of the remaining Elites; they must have gone on ahead. I moved past the second floodgate and into a side tunnel, which led out onto a huge man-made basin. A Warthog disappeared from sight, heading into the second part of the park. There were several Marines on the large platformed structure, fighting the Elites I had seen enter the tunnel. I could also see several Jackals with beam rifles pinning my allies down. I also spotted the Scarab, moving into the city.
