A/N: Well, Psychotic Marine here once again. Thank you, my reviewers.
Warior: Well, the guy that said that was always white in my game, so I figured this would be best.
Spacefan: If you read the books, the Humans took prisoners after they captured Alpha Base, so that explains the Covenant cleaning the halls.
The Marines of Charlie Company
Chapter 5
The Truth and Reconciliation
Part I
The Pelican dropped down and its ramp lowered with a dull clang as the troops prepared to depart from the large drop ship. David was the last out and on the ground, immediately flipping on his flashlight and surveying the surrounding area as the Pelican lifted off. They were located in the middle of what appeared to be a canyon littered with rocks and the occasional tree or two. About thirty meters in front of him was a small path that led up at a slight incline. He turned to the Sergeant and sat down as the drop ship lifted off and disappeared into the night, the sound of the powerful engines now inaudible. The Marines fanned out and secured the immediate area and listened as Cortana gave her orders.
"Marines, hold up here while the Master Chief covertly eliminates the Covenant around the corner. Don't advance until the Covenant return fire on us."
Each marine, gloomily illuminated by the soft glow of their rifle-mounted flashlights, nodded and muttered in turn as they sat down or stayed standing in small groups. David stretched and stifled a yawn as he glanced around the rocky cliffs where they'd landed. Chief had gone around a small ridge about thirty meters ahead (the sound of which was confirmed by the shrill snap of a sniper rifle) around a small rock that was sitting next to a small, disheveled tree that seemed similar to the trees once seen on the great plains of Africa…albeit much smaller.
The cliffs around them were high, maybe half a mile or more, and littered with rocks and crags. The sky was a bit odd looking, what with the other half of the giant ring clearly visible in the night sky. That and a small orange planet loomed overhead…or maybe below? Well, at the moment, it didn't matter. Truthfully, David was still pondering upon his dreams, trying to figure out just exactly what the Forerunner were trying to tell him. They'd leave clues…but no definite answer was in sight.
Chief had disappeared around a corner some time ago, and no one had heard any shots fired…yet. Many of the young soldiers were jumpy, often glancing around from wall to wall, as if expecting a Covenant ambush, but considering that the enemy probably didn't know that they were here, the chances of that were none-to-zero. David sighed and rubbed his temples in annoyance as a headache formed from the sheer amount of stress and confusion he'd been enduring recently. The Forerunner, or whatever the hell they were, were an interesting bunch…though he'd only 'met' three. They seemed to be kind and extremely knowledgeable of the Halos…of course, they had built them, so that was to be expected.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, shots were heard, echoing through the canyons and resonating there for a few moments. Not long after that, the sounds of plasma fire rang across, and the Marines took their cue. They stood in staggered formation so that one grenade would not wipe them all out and charged around the cliff wall. A pair of Grunts turned and fired at the Marines, shots flying wildly around them, splashing harmlessly against the rocky walls. David and another man raised their rifles and gently tapped the triggers, not wanting to waste too much ammo on Grunts, preferring instead to save the bulk of it for Elites or Jackals. The tiny creatures fell quickly with a pair of squeals and a shower of neon blue blood.
More shots cracked from the Master Chief's sniper rifle, and the Covenant's ranks were diminishing quickly. An Elite appeared from around the corner with an enraged battle cry, bringing its Plasma Rifle down on a Marine's shoulder like a savage club. It prepared to strike again when dozens of MA5B rounds slammed into its chest, causing it to stumble backward. David watched as another Marine went in to rescue his fallen comrade as the others kept pouring hot lead into the creature, causing it to fall back and back as its shields failed. David's clip ran dry as the Elite's shields collapsed, leaving it temporarily vulnerable. He unsheathed the standard combat knife hanging from his waist as the Elite moved upon his fellow soldiers, charged forward and jammed it into the creature's chest, yanking it upward and then away, leaving the Elite to collapse in a puddle of its own blood.
He helped the pair to their feet and checked the wounded man for injuries, finding only a badly bruised shoulder. They caught up with the rest of the team, who were gathered around a shade turret past the rocky outcropping David and the other two were at and near a cliff edge that overlooked a giant desert. The Sarge nodded as they approached and everyone checked their rifles and such as David wiped the blood off of his knife. That was where he belonged, in the heat of battle, killing the enemy before the enemy killed him.
The eight men and Spartan made their way up the short ledge that led upward for twenty meters to another small canyon, this one littered with Covenant and Shade turrets. One such turret was directly above where the Marines waited, whose gunner's head was obliterated by the Master Chief's sniper. Cortana gave orders for the Marines to wait until the Chief was in position to advance, and the Marines obliged and watched as Spartan-117 leapt onto a rock and decapitated some poor Elite patrolling a ledge thirty meters ahead of them. A pair of Jackals rounded the corner past that, and the Chief made quick work of disposing them too. He inched his way up the cliff and disappeared from sight, but not sound as the deafening crack crack crack of his sniper was still clearly audible. Orders came suddenly. "Marines, move up on the left; the Chief and I will take the middle."
Rallying once again, the Marines charged around the far corner in a large group, their formation constricted by the massive lack of room. David ripped a grenade from his bandolier, primed it, and threw it with all his might into a mob of Jackals that were being led by an Elite. The grenade flew true, landing in the center of the mob, and detonated, coating the surrounding radius in a thick layer of blood and gore. The Elite stumbled momentarily as the grenade knocked it off balance and blew out its shields, then regained its composure, only to be ripped apart from a barrage of bullets. They went up a small ledge and came across the remains of a lower special operations Elite, noted by the sky blue color of its armor. Most of its head was missing, probably due to the sniper rifle, and the body lay crumpled in a cruel manner; a definite sign that the Chief had been here.
The Marines caught up with Chief at the entrance to a small tunnel-like canyon that led upward slightly, with two or three curves in there. Two Grunts and an Elite, all cleanly decapitated, lay at his feet. The Spartan nodded as the Marines caught up to him and started up the trench, marines close behind. David carefully observed everything around him as the Chief took out two or three Elites ahead and came to the mouth of the trench. "We did it!" exclaimed one Marine, "We made it!"
"The fight's just beginning…we'll be torn apart by those Shades, Chief." David replied.
As if in response, Chief raised the SR2-AM rifle and set his sights on the gunner of a shade turret and, with one clean shot, decapitated it. The Marines charged up the small ledge just to the right of where the gun was situated and scattered as three others opened fire. David cursed as he watched a pair of Marines ripped to shreds, their flesh sizzling and bubbling as more splashed against them. Some of it suddenly stopped as the Chief opened up again, giving Carson a chance to make a dash at the next gun, situated near a rather large drop off behind a rock. He ripped a grenade from his bandolier and hurtled it at the Shade, then dove out of the way as another barrage whizzed past him. The resulting explosion was relaxing, as was the squeal of a Grunt as it was thrown from the firing chair and over the cliff.
Suddenly, several Marines cursed over the comms as not only a drop ship roared in, but more troops were arriving from the Truth and Reconciliation via the gravity lift. Carson leapt over a small drop directly in front of the rock ahead of him and made a mad dash to the right, where the corpses of two Marines and ammunition were located. He relieved one man of a sniper and its ammo, then took several grenades and three clips for his MA2B Assault Rifle, for which he now had nine clips. An Elite on the gravity lift spotted the lone Marine and roared as it charged him, firing wildly as David took cover behind a Covenant supply crate. It stopped as the Plasma Rifle overheated, and David emerged, priming a plasma grenade he had taken off a Grunt earlier and stuck it to the creature's face, watching it desperately try to claw the thing off. It exploded with a crash, flinging the smoldering corpse over the lift and detonating the rest of the Elites grenades, which blew several Grunts and Jackals apart, coating the gravity lift in an even thicker layer of blood.
Ten minutes and three waves later, the Marines were just beginning to relax. Three of them, including Carson, were left. They were going about collecting the ammo and dog tags of the dead Marines, then sat down at the edge of the lift, awaiting orders from Chief. Yet, for some reason, David still felt that something…bigger was about to come. He wished at that very moment he was wrong.
A pair of Hunters, the most feared warriors the Covenant armies had to throw at the Human Marines. They roared and charged the men, firing their fuel rod cannons, forcing the trio to duck in cover as the Chief engaged them. David had just hit the ground and stood, only to see that one of the Hunters was charging him, preparing to bring its shield down on the young marine's head…a grisly fate that Carson intended to avoid. He rolled to the side as the Hunter slammed its shield down, raised his pistol and fired several rounds hastily at the Hunter's exposed back, several of which pinged off the thick armor. Two rounds, however, found their mark squarely in the fleshy orange spot on the Hunter's back, causing it to writhe and screech in pain as it fell to the ground.
David looked up from the corpse to the others in time to see the other Hunter collapse from the Master Chief's sniper. He also noticed that he was the last Marine standing, for the Sarge had a rather large hole burned in his torso, presumably from a fuel rod blast, and the other man had one hole in each lung, not to mention that his chest cavity was caved in. David stood, dusted himself off, and headed over to the Chief, who nodded as another Pelican came in, this one dropping off three Marines and two…Spartans?
A/N: Sorry this took so long…writer's block. Heh heh. Not to mention that 90 through this, I went through the game to find I left a section out. Oops. R&R! Until next time!