Here's Part 35, it's quite long, but it's got just the right amount of humour and action to keep you interested, enjoy! And I worked out how to change fonts! Happy face.
Part 35: Into the fiery depths...
"Holy
crap!" I exclaimed as a Banshee flew literally inches in front of my
HEV pod, so close that I could see the Elite piloting it within.
"Just...hold...on!"
Blade shouted at us, even as a fuel rod blast narrowly missed his pod.
Laser fire, enemy aircraft, insane speeds, and a horde of Covenant
waiting for us below. Just another average drop in an ODSTs life.
I
felt a surge as we passed through Harvest's atmosphere, and passed
through the dark clouds. My communications dropped for a second as they
passed through, entering the clear, night sky.
Contrary to Switch's belief, this trip had
been a bumpy ride. Our decoy pods hadn't deceived the Banshees at all,
they must have been using heat sensing technology. The only thing
keeping us alive was the fact that our pods were moving faster than the
Covenant aircraft.
That all changed though as the emergency
breaks hit in, and the HEV deployed it's parachute like extension,
slowing us down considerably. I could also hear thrusters kick in at
the bottom of the pod, further decreasing our speed. Whilst this was
usually good, as it meant we weren't going to be splattered upon
impact, in this scenario it didn't bode well. I could hear the Banshees
behind us, catching up. In about ten seconds or so, they'd be able to
shoot down our pods.
"Sir, Banshees' on our six!" Switch
reported to Blade rather unnecessarily. We all began to curse, except
the Spartan, who were remaining unnatural still throughout the turmoil.
Were it not for the vital signs display, I would have thought them dead.
"I know that!" Blade cried back, panic clear in his voice, "We're gonna have to bail out, now!"
I
understood his order, despite the fact it made me as nervous as hell. I
hit the button at the side of the HEV, and the door slid open. I could
instantly feel the G-Force winds battering at my armour. I unbuckled my
harness, and felt a sharp crack in my back as it hit the roof of the
pod, my body pushed upward by the speed it was descending.
I gripped the searing hot edges of the HEV's entrance with some difficulty, took a deep breath, and pushed myself out.
I
felt weightless doing so, after hurtling down in the burning drop pod,
any other form of descent seemed slow. After a few moments of vertigo,
I remembered my training and spread my arms and legs out wide. A scream
tore passed me later as the Banshees chased the now empty pods,
oblivious to my presence. A quick look around showed that everyone else
had bailed out fine. Almost everyone...
"Sir, my pod door is
stuck," James' voice echoed over the COM channel. The Spartan managed
to keep his voice calm somehow, despite being chased by a squadron of
Banshees.
It was hard to concentrate while falling freestyle, so
how Blade managed to keep his cool and give an order whilst speeding
down to the ground below was beyond me. I could see the skirmish on the
ground now, and just hoped we'd land well away from it. Our target, the
golden, ominous bubble, was in plain site. I suddenly realised with a
start that we'd have to land somewhere near the skirmish, our
key codes to the bubble shield, the Jackals, were currently speeding
down to the ground below without us. ***, I should have grabbed mine
as I left the pod.
"Okay Spartan," Blade began, "Keep your cool. Have you tried smashing the door open?"
There was silence for a few moments, followed by a large metallic bang from James' end. A moment later James replied again.
"No
good sir, I'm gonna have to ride this hell out. Uh oh, that's not good.
Sir, there's a Banshee right on my tail!" The Spartan's voice displayed
the first sign of panic, slight. Blade swore loudly. I was still
painfully aware that we were flying through the air, and the ground was
rushing to meet us. Another 15 seconds or so and we'd have to deploy
our chutes.
"Just hold on James, you're nearly at the destination now. Just hold--"
Blade was cut off suddenly as an explosion tore through James' pod below, and the COM wave was flooded with static.
"Dammit..." Rook breathed.
Blade looked stunned for a second, then regained his composure.
"Everyone,
deploy chutes now!" he barked, and I complied with the order, yanking
the string attached to the pack on my back. Immediately, my speed
slowed, and the camouflaged material spread out above me. I just hoped
they hadn't had time to set up anti-air cannons. The Banshees were also
a worry.
"James? Are you there? Report!" Micheal called over the COM line. There was no reply.
"Spartan! Respond!" Blade also called.
After a few moments, static was replaced by gunfire, and James' voice broke out again.
"I'm
okay! I thought they had me for a second there, but I managed to break
out before the HEV exploded. I've hijacked one of their Banshees, I'll
keep the rest off you. Brown three, out."
I let out a sigh of
relief, not only because James was alive, but also because we were safe
from a Banshee attack. Similar exhales echoed through the COM link.
"Sir," Switch called over to Blade, "We're gonna need some new access codes, my Jackal's still in that pod below.
"Understood. Land in that forest over there, we'll ambush a patrol." Blade replied back.
"Oorah
sir!" Rook, Switch and I chanted back. The two Spartans simply flashed
acknowledgement lights. The forest rushed up to greet us. I just hoped
it would be a warm welcome.
*******************************
I
braced myself to hit the dirt, tucking my body up tight. There was no
need to though, as a sharp tug a second later told me my parachute had
become stuck in a tree. Why me?
"Bloody hell, it's pitch black
down here. Switch, chuck one of them heat sticks on the floor nearby
would you?" Rook asked, and Switch complied with the order, bringing
out a long rod from his bag. With a crack, he ignited the chemicals
within and dropped it on the floor. The stick provided an eerie red
glow, but enough to see by at least.
The rest of my squad, and
the Spartans had landed firmly on the loamy ground, even as I was
flailing around high up in the air. Crap, if I cut the parachute away,
I'd probably break my leg in the ensuing fall, and that was if I was
lucky. Below, Blade was doing a head count.
"Where the hell's Farm Boy?" he demanded loudly, looking around the forest. I sighed.
"Up here sir!" I called down, and the squad looked sharply up.
"What in Sam hell are you doing up there lad? This is where the action is!" Blade cried up.
"Just
get me down, before a Covenant patrol spots me!" I shouted back down.
Looking back, I was probably panicking a little too much. But I didn't
like the feeling being suspended from a branch gave me.
"Calm
down son, just cut yourself loose. I'll catch you!" Blade replied back
up, spreading out his arms, as if that would do anything.
"With
all due respect sir, hell no! All that will do is injure you too." I
explained, and Blade paused for a moment, hand on chin in thought.
"Sir, if you want, I'll get him down." Micheal murmured to Blade, who nodded.
"Sounds good. Farm boy! Micheal's gonna come up and get you!" Blade shouted up, as if I hadn't already gathered as much.
The
Spartan walked up to the tree, and eyed a branch some five meters tall.
Micheal bent his legs, and jumped, impossibly managing to grab the
branch, which, despite being as thick as my body, wobbled precariously.
A moment before it snapped, the Spartan pulled his body up with one
hand, and jumped up to another branch higher up. A few moments later,
he was at my level.
I felt kind of ridiculous just hanging there, but I had no choice.
"Ready?" Micheal asked of me.
I
was about to reply 'ready for what?', but before I could, Micheal
snapped the parachute ropes keeping me in place, grabbed me by the
waist, and jumped off the branch, which was easily as tall as a
building.
I screamed as I fell, I'm ashamed to admit. But before
I splattered on the ground, Micheal turned onto his back, shielding me
from the fall. He hit the ground, and a moment later stood up, not
bothered in the slightest, whilst I lay on the ground, propped up by my
arms, coughing. Blade came over and hoisted me up.
"You okay son?" he asked, real concern in his voice. I nodded weakly, "good stuff!"
I
took a few deep breaths, trying to regain the air that had been forced
out of my lungs. Christ, it hurt. After a minute or so, I was more or
less okay, and stood up fully. I was self conscious of the fact that
everyone was looking at me.
"I'm fine." I said, and they nodded.
I realised my sniper rifle was still in the HEV pod, which was probably
a burning wreck now. All I had with me was my side arm. Dammit.
"Sir, I'm missing my weapons." I told Blade, who nodded grimly.
"We
all are, other than these pistols. We're gonna have to appropriate some
from Covenant soldiers," a fancy term for smashing an alien's face in,
and nicking it's weapon.
"We should...should probably turn out VISR mode on." I gasped, still short of breath. Blade nodded.
"Good
call corporal." Blade complimented, as I turned on the vision
enhancement device. The low light of the heat stick seemed
insignificant now, as the forest was lit up. Blade, Rook, Switch,
Mains, Micheal and Fin were highlighted in a clear green, whilst trees
and the like were outlined in yellow. All seemed to be working then.
"Right, mine's working fine." I reported, asking Mains and Blade in turn if their's was working. They nodded.
"What
the hell's a 'Visor mode'?" Rook asked, and I could sense he was
frowning. I remembered that both him and Switch hadn't been able to get
the new suits, they were still wearing the same ones from Reach.
"Not
'Visor', V-I-S-R." I corrected, "we got new prototype suits on the
Virmire, there were only three and you weren't there. It's a low light
vision mode, kinda neat actually. I can see clear as day right now."
"So what do we do then, hold on to your belts and have you lead us through the darkness?" Switch asked skeptically.
"You'll just have to make do with standard night vision." Blade lectured.
"Why
does the FNG get the new tech, and we get stuck with this crappy
outdated stuff?" Rook asked impertinently, pointing a finger at Mains,
who shifted his weight uneasily.
"Because I said so marine! Now
quit your whining!"Blade shouted at both Rook and Switch, despite the
fact Switch hadn't said anything.
Switch let out a long sigh, and nodded.
"Man,
I hate normal night vision. A bloody flashlight is aimed at your face,
and you're blind. As soon as we complete this mission sir, you owe me a
new suit of armour and a drink."
"Amen to that." Blade agreed,
and turned to the two Spartans, "I presume you two have some sort of
VISR yourself in that tin-can?"
"Actually sir, we don't,"
Micheal replied, surprisingly, "VISR technology, apparently, plays
havoc with the motion tracking technology in our suits. I'd rather know
where my enemies are than be able to see a little better. Besides, we
Spartans can see pretty clearly in the dark anyway, and we've always
got the normal night vision. We're okay sir."
"I see," Blade
replied, then turned around to Rook and Switch, "why can't you be more
like this fine example of a soldier? He's not moaning about his night
vision!"
"Yeah, but we ain't super soldiers are we boss?" Rook retorted, causing Blade to shake his head in mock despair.
I'd
noticed that Blade was being a helluva lot more friendly towards the
Spartans. Which was great. Perhaps his brief stint in the URF camp had
mellowed him out.
"We should move, it won't be long before dawn, and then we'll lose the element of surprise." Mains commented, and we nodded.
"Roger that, I'll take point." I agreed, putting my neck on the line.
We
cut through the forest swiftly, trying to step on as few a branches as
possible. I'd heard that Jackals sometimes liked to take roost in trees
with sniper rifles and carbines. I wanted to keep my head firmly
attached to my neck, and so stayed low.
I could hear the gunfire
echoing from a few miles away, we were drawing closer to the skirmish.
A patrol would be around here somewhere...
Ten minutes or so later, we saw them. A small Covenant squad, three grunts and a couple of Jackals.
"Orders
sir? There's only five and we need seven to get in, one for each of
us." Switch breathed, crouching in a bush. Two of the Grunts were
chatting amongst each other in their native language.
"I'm sure we can have two people on one corpse and still get in Switch. Take 'em." Blade replied, drawing out his pistol.
"They're already dead." Rook stated a tad too melodramatically.
As
one, we fired our semi-armour piercing rounds at the Covenant soldiers,
the pistol kicking back against out hands as we did so. Two of my
bullets went wide, but the third hit it's mark, impacting in a Grunts
face, which imploded on itself. The other two Grunts met a similar,
bloody fate. Never knew what hit them.
The Jackals were luckier
though, momentarily. Just as rounds were fired at them, they turned
around, brushing their rounded shields against the bullets, which
bounced off them harmlessly. They jumped around, and cawed, returning
fire. High powered plasma bolts surged through the air; I'd seen what
they could do to a man, it wasn't pretty. I immediately took cover
behind a nearby rock, although I knew it wouldn't last long against
sustained plasma fire.
Thankfully, I didn't have to learn that
the hard way. James and Fin had surged into action, jumping over and
rolling under the fired plasma, moving faster than the eye could see.
The two Spartans reached the pair of Jackals, and batted the shield
away. Ouch, touching that raw plasma must have hurt. They didn't show
any sign that it ad though, following up the break of the enemies'
defense with both a sharp throat chop to the first Jackal, and a pistol
round to the other. The Avian like creatures dropped, dead.
"Nice
job." I complimented the Spartans, walking forward and appropriating
the enemy weapons. I dolled them out to the rest of my squad, keeping
one, after offering it to Micheal, who declined, and Fin, who said I
needed it more. We were properly armed now; the ODSTs at least.
"Right,
let's pick up these corpses, and make our way to the commerce centre."
Blade commanded, slinging a small Jackal over his back with a grunt.
Micheal grabbed two Grunts with one hand, and Fin took the remaining
Grunt and Jackal.
"Okay, we'll carry the bodies, you give us
covering fire with them pistols." said Blade, and we nodded. I grasped
my hand around the large hilt of the alien weapons, marveling at how
smooth and cold it was, despite having discharged pure energy but
moments before.
The giant bubble drew closer as we made our way
north through the valley. We exited the forest finally, and could see
the firefight going on in the distance. It was hard to tell who was
winning, marines would seem to push back the Covenant one minute, only
to have Hunters force them to retreat the next.
As much as I wanted to get there and help, I knew we had a job to do, and so continued pushing on with my squad.
The
shield covering the Harvest commerce centre was an oddity. It was
opaque practically, and a sheer golden. The Covenant seemed to love
gold, as well as purple. Occasionally, troops would rush out of it,
oblivious to the fact we were going to rush into it.
We reached the very edge of the bubble, with no great incident.
"Now what?" Switch asked, breathing deeply. We'd ran at one point when a Phantom had nearly come across us.
"Now,"
Blade said, testing the bubble by sticking a finger in, which vanished
inside it, proving the Covenant corpses would grant us access, "now you
better hold onto your gowns ladies, because we're about to head into
hell."
"This one has forgotten whether it's heatsink is over capacity. It wonders whether the criminal scum considers itself fortunate" ~ Blasto, the only Hanar Spectre.