Section II
Earth
Part III: Goliath
I stumbled down to the group of Marines, fully suppressed by a large group of Jackal snipers. Bright blue beams sent bits of dust into the air. "Who was in that Warthog?" I asked them.
"The Master Chief, a sergeant major, and some rocket jock. And I don't mean a fighter pilot." He grimaced as a renewed wave of beam rifle fire came down on them. "I don't see a way of getting out of this one - any ideas?"
I observed his bloody nose and a Marine who had taken a beam through the kneecap. "Have an Elites come through here?"
"Yeah, they're down there. I wish the MC would have provided a bit more support, dontcha know?"
"Haha." I said noncommittally. "You have a rocket launcher here, I see." I pointed at a rocket launcher hidden in the rocks.
"Aye," he said blankly.
"You have a Jackal corpse, also, I see." I pointed at a Jackal corpse with a bullet wound in the head.
"Aye . . ." he grinned.
"I say we throw the corpse out into the open, over there," I pointed on the other side of the wall the Marines were hiding behind, "Then give them a taste of rocket."
"I agree," he said. "You heard him, boys, lets give those Jackals a taste of burn therapy."
Two Marines tossed the corpse a good distance away, and beams immediately smacked it, midair. A female Marine ducked out from cover and hit the group of Jackals with a rocket, taking them all out. Four of the Marines charged out of cover, and began firing on the Elites.
Before the Marine I was talking to ran off, I asked him, "What's burn therapy?" I grinned, and he gave me a rude hand gesture before clambering off. Joining them a moment later, I saw that the collective gunfire had killed all of the aliens.
"I'm Sergeant Georgie. Don't call me sir, you don't have to on the battlefield," the Marine held out his hand, and I shook it. "We'll leave three Marines here, and take the other two with us to follow the Warthog."
We set off, down into the basin and over the white structure. In the next area was the debris of a Wraith and many Ghosts. There was a small pond beneath another plat formed structure similar to the one we left behind. Moving slowly forward, we noticed a Phantom descending into the basin behind us.
"Uh-oh," Georgie grumbled. "Let's get over to that waterfall there," he pointed into the wall at the end of the park. A fountain waterfall spouted from the ceiling. "We can take cover from plasma inside there, and lay down a good ambush against the Covenant reinforcements."
Agreeing with him, we entered the waterfall conjunction, which led into a large street on the other side. Another Phantom came down in the park right behind us, and several Elites and Grunts were spewed from it. The two privates stacked up against the wall beside the opening into the park, while Georgie and I stood on the other side of the waterfall. A few seconds later, four Elites and eight Grunts entered. We jumped out, firing on them, but their plasma fire brought the privates down and forced us out into the street. Georgie jumped behind a car, but the plasma melted through the hood and the vehicle exploded; crying out, I ducked behind a trash can, just as a Warthog with a chain gun came around the corner. I recognized this as the street before the Marine HQ.
The Warthog powerslid right into the alien squad, sending Grunts into the waterfall. The Elites roared and cried out as the chain gun turned on them. Within moments, they were reduced to riddled corpses and the Warthog had driven away, obviously thinking both me and Georgie were dead. I ran to the broken car, and found Georgie a few meters away. He was badly burned, and blood was trickling down his lip to his blood-stained fatigues. One half of his face was badly disfigured.
Both of us whimpering, I threw him over my shoulder and began marching towards the HQ. To my great relief, the chain gun Warthog came around again and stopped beside us. I jumped in, and the driver said, "Ah, hell, I thought both of you were dead . . . Crap, I'll get you to the med place stat."
He threw the Warthog around a corner just before the Marine HQ. Hidden behind several boxes and crates was a doorway that led into an emergency MASH. I delivered Georgie to the ER, and returned to the Warthog. The driver told me, "The MC is already upstairs, engaging that bloody Scarab. If you hurry, you might be able to provide support."
I hurried two-at-a-time up the stairs and over the roof and up more stairs until I arrived at a long walkway with two bridges and a bend that led to an overhang. The Scarab was just turning the bend. I hoisted a rocket launcher and sprinted down to the third bridge. The Scarab had stopped at the entrance into the river that the bridge I had crossed previously spanned. The huge alien machine stopped.
I spotted the MC leaping onto the Scarab from the overhang. I sprinted to a turret, where two more Marines were watching the machine with interest. After a few minutes of silence, the Scarab coughed and a blue mist ascended into the air. The Master Chief exited the interior of the Scarab triumphantly, and a Pelican appeared beside it a moment later. After the tall Spartan entered the Pelican, it came up to us, and the two Marines and I jumped in.
The Pelican rose. Sergeant Johnson was in the cockpit, talking to Commander Keyes. I looked out the back of the troop compartment, watching as the city disappeared behind me. A moment later, the dropship entered the In Amber Clad. It immediately set off, and I jumped off from the Pelican, exhausted. A few seconds later, I felt the transition into Slipspace. Where could we be going, now?
