- Wolverfrog
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- Fabled Legendary Member
Here's Part 24, I actually think it's pretty good, but I'll see what you guys think of it. Enjoy, and make sure to leave feedback.
Part 24: Ragnarok
The ships were closing in fast. Soon we'd be in range of their plasma cannons.
"James, Fin, grab a couple of Spartan lasers, try to take out as many as you can." Michael ordered, and the other two Spartans went over to the Warthog and grabbed two large weapons.
Pointing the two weapons and two different ships, they held down the trigger button. The front of the lasers grew red, and became brighter and brighter. Suddenly, a huge concentrated beam of light shot from each of them, penetrating the hull of the enemy craft. The ships began a rapid decent to the ground, one which was unplanned. The casing of the two were ablaze with a blue, vivid fire.
"Holy crap, what was that?" Switch asked, moments later, the sound of the lasers could be heard again, and two more ships were down.
"That, is a Galilean Non-linear Rifle, or what we call a Spartan laser."
"A Spartan laser?" I asked.
"We call 'em that since the UNSC asked us to test them for them, due to their tendency to overheat to extreme levels at the moment. They're constantly bringing out new prototypes, each one safer than the last." Another two blasts were heard, and that brought the drop ship count down to four, a lot more of a reasonable number.
The four remaining ships were now close to the ground, and were already dropping down troops. They didn't start firing the cannons, I guessed they just wanted to get out of there. Once all soldiers had been sent down by the gravity lift, they soared back off into the sky, back towards the cruiser. The Spartan laser went off again, and only two survived to reach the cruiser.
"Sir, they're out of charge." James and Fin said to Michael, hoisting the lasers onto the powerful magnetic clips on their back and drawing out two assault rifles.
"Right, well, there isn't that many Covenant now."
I looked at him in amazement. Not many? There was still about fifty of them down there.
"Actually Sir-, em, Michael, maybe we should think about running." Rook said to him, worried.
The Spartan looked at the huge force running towards them.
"Don't worry lad, we're fine, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for you three to go find some cover though."
We didn't argue, well, in any situation it was pretty hard to argue with someone who neared two metres, but I still felt kind of guilty as we went to hide behind a rock, a rough, large boulder on the snowy plain.
"You think they'll be okay?" I asked Switch, who was nervously poking his head around the boulder, watching the scene.
"I don't know, I mean, they're Spartans, but fifty?"
"What species?" I asked.
"Looks to be around twenty Grunts, ten Elites, and twenty odd numbers of some weird looking guys holding what look like round, blue shields."
I poked my own head slightly above the boulder, and watched what was going on.
The Spartans were waiting, standing unnervingly still, facing the innumerable wave that was in front of them. At the front of The Covenant forces was an Elite in golden armour, holding a sword. He was pacing along the edge of his forces, presumably inspiring them. It reminded me of some video our class had once watched in school, a film set some one thousand years ago on Earth, back when humanity still used swords and bows and arrows.
Suddenly, the Elite in charge barked an order, and the weird looking aliens raised their arms, long, tapered fingers squeezing down the trigger of their guns. Twenty bolts of propelled plasma sailed towards the Spartans, and it looked like they were going to be hit. Suddenly, with impossible speed, they simultaneously swerved to the side and dodged them, the bolts sailing harmlessly past us and dissipating on the cliff behind.
The Spartans retaliated quickly with force of their own, each throwing a grenade across a huge distance, landing in the middle of their troops. Most of the Elites and unknown species were quick enough to jump out of the way, but the Grunts couldn't move in time with their stumpy little legs, and they were killed by the ensuing explosion.
The Elites roared in defiance, half of them whipping out energy swords and rushing towards Michael and his team. Concentrating their fire, the Spartans managed to kill two, but that still left three, who were now right near them. James whipped out a shotgun and felled the one running towards him in a single blast, the alien's sword tumbling harmlessly onto the ground, before exploding in a flash of plasma.
Fin looked to be in trouble. The Elite was right near him, and Fin wasn't using his assault rifle, I presumed it had run out of clips. Deciding to help him out, I popped myself fully above the rock, and, zooming in, shot the Elite in the head, bypassing his shields. The alien collapsed to the floor, dead. I heard Fin shout a faint thank you in my direction.
Michael was facing an Elite, both were circling each other. Suddenly, the Elite lunged for him with his sword, and it seemed for certain it was the end of him. Switch turned away. Suddenly, out of nowhere came Michael's hand, which grabbed the Elite's wrist, holding it in place. With a few deft movements, he broke the Elites arm in three places, causing him to drop the sword him was holding and yowl in pain. He then grabbed the Elite's chest, and threw him down onto the floor, smashing his head on a sharp rock. It quivered once, twice, then no more.
The Covenant soldiers with the shields blanched, and, as one, turned around and fled. Knowing that victory was now inevitable, we came out from behind the rock and shot them in the back, with a combination of Battle Rifle shots and Sniper bullets. The five remaining Elites hadn't fled. We rushed forward surrounded them, creating a sort of circle.
"Drop your weapons, and we'll let you live." Michael said to them, aiming his rifle at the leader.
"We would rather die than become hostages to you human." The golden armoured Elite snarled, his four mandibles opening in contempt.
There was silence, then.
"So be it" Michael said, and we shot them all where they stood. Against all odds, we had defeated fifty soldiers, plus six drop ships probably containing another seventy or so.
"Wow", Rook said. "That was quite....something."
"Just another day in the corps lad, you'll be in countless fights like that for years. The trick is to keep your cool, no matter what the pressure." Michael said, holstering his gun onto his back.
"Doesn't hurt to be an armoured super soldier either" Switch whispered in my ear.
"So." Rook said. "What next?"
"Well, we should get out of here, but that Warthog won't hold us all I'm afraid." Michael told us.
"Wait...back down at the Waterfall, near the Cov- Forerunner structure. I'm pretty sure I spotted a Covenant ship down there. We could hijack that and fly it to Midgard." I said, thinking back.
"Yeah, because the UNSC there will really react well to a Covenant ship approaching their position." Came Rook's reply.
"Well, we can set it down a mile or so away from the city, and walk from there." I retorted.
"Sounds like a plan to me, you guys lead us to that waterfall." Michael agreed.
We trekked through the snow towards the path there, not forgetting to pick up Blade on the way of course. It was time to get out of here.
[Edited on 02.28.2009 10:44 AM PST]