- soulguard
- |
- Exalted Mythic Member
As promised... and a little bit early.
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Level 5: Live for today, die tomorrow
Central Ethiopia
620 miles North of Mukutan, Kenya
November 1, 2552
Driving throughout the day and into the night, the small squad and their Black Ops leaders were slowly being taxed on ammo and stamina. Eric paced the interior of the Meg-5, his Assault Rifle fully loaded and ready to go. In a seat near the front of the civilian transport slept Corporal Hall and Private John. Across from him slept the Airman Tsueng. The three soldiers had been awake for the entire ride so far and had finally lost to their exhaustion. Private Jackson now manned the helm while Black ops 05 watched from the roof. Black Ops 08 slept at her side. They had long cleared the mountain path and were now a mile ahead of the Flood and slowly gaining more distance; but they made sure to leave the monstrous creatures presents to play with.
“Confirmed another detonation, 19.” Melanie stated as she zoomed into the distance with her mask binoculars. Several fire plums ignited in the distant early morning air. “Nothing like a few pounds of Lotus mines to clear your head.”
Eric Yawned. “Distance?” Everyone had taken a short nap but him, and the lack of rest was starting to show.
“Roughly one mile back.” Melanie replied. “I placed them one mile apart, as were your orders.”
“Oh… right.” Eric sighed he sat on the edge of a seat.
Melanie climbed down and walked toward Eric. “Get some sleep. We still have about another days worth of driving before we get anywhere near Egypt. The Flood aren’t going to catch us at this point, if anything happens, you’ll know it.”
Eric lowered his rifle and flipped on the safety. “Private Jackson, how you doing up there?”
Jackson threw up a thumb, “Clear sailing ahead. We should be nearing a small city in about two hours. We can fill up our empty hydrogen cells there. Otherwise, we only have another eighty miles or so left.”
“05, wake me if anything happens. You have the squad.” Eric rolled back in the seat, and was instantly unconscious. Melanie stood over him for a second watching as he held his rifle closely to his chest. Eric wouldn’t need much rest, he was never a deep sleeper, but considering his wounds and lack of food, there was a chance he’d sleep for a long time. It was good for him.
Melanie walked to Jackson’s side at the driver’s seat. “If you get tired, don’t hesitate to wake up Corporal Hall. He’s got next duty at the wheel.”
“Yes Ma’am.” Jackson smiled. “I’m good for now.” Melanie patted him on the shoulder and walked back to the roof.
Mathew sat up as Melanie approached. “19 give you squad duty?” He questioned as he stretched.
“Yeah. We’re going to drop a few more mines for the Flood to play with, then we’ll stop at the next town for fuel.”
“Sounds like a plan, Chief…” Mathew paused after realizing his punctuation error. Calling Melanie Chief was the appropriate call sign, but it was awkward referring to Melanie in that way; it reminded everyone of Kim and how they always called her Chef. “Sorry 05.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s stupid that I haven’t moved beyond it.” Melanie gazed into the distance as another explosion flashed behind them. “If the squad is going to survive we have to get past these memories. Kim’s gone.”
Kimberly Peters was indeed gone, and Siren was not a worthy replacement. It was great having Siren call the shoots for that brief battle on the Seed Ship, but an AI is nothing but digital information translated into a human form, she was not her real sister. Kim’s death lead to many things once Eric took over the reigns. His first act of duty was defending their ship, The Rogue Fantasy, from a Covenant boarding party, and immediately after that incident he terminated all of their future missions and split the squad. The Black Ops no longer existed until Covenant found Earth. Eric made contact with all the surviving members of the squad and brought them back together under the disguise of “Red Squad”. Not even the UNSC Brass knew that a team of ten would be able to infiltrate a Covenant controlled city, take its ship, and find the Elite home planet. Not only that, but Eric had managed to convince Colonel Ackerson to send out their dry-docked ship with a NOVA bomb. It was hard to imagine the squad coming so far after Kim’s death. She was a leader, sister and best friend to them all. And to Eric she was a lot more.
A few hours past and the sun slowly crept up in the distance. Mathew looked ahead of them and saw a smoldering town lay just ahead. “Jackson, you see that?”
“Yes sir.” Private Jackson replied.
Melanie stood at Mathew’s side and looked toward the town. “Private, find a station that’s not burning and pull in. 08, wake the others. It’s time to play.” Mathew dropped down into the transport and kicked everyone’s shoes, waking them instantly.
Eric snapped to focus faster then the others, almost as if he was already awake. “Status.”
“We’ve made it to town, but the whole place is smoldering. Looks like the Brutes may have used it for target practice.” Mathew said as they moved to the front of the Meg-5.
The Meg-5 slowed as it entered the edge of town, and Eric watched as they slowly maneuvered around smoldering warthogs and scorpion battle tanks. The small town was one hell of a battlefield, as everyone could see the remains of downed Covenant Phantom in the distance.
“Looks like me missed the fight.” Eric muttered. “Hall, John, 08 and 05, hop out at the edge of town and lay out a mine field with the last of our mines. Stay in radio contact. When the Flood come into view meet us three blocks north.” The group grabbed their gear and jumped out of the transport. John lost his balance and fell face first into the dirt on the side of the main highway. As he stood he realized he was standing in a pile of melted human remains.
“God!” He shouted as he staggered backwards. He frantically dusted the decayed flesh from his uniform.
Melanie saw the panic on John’s face. “Private, get up here and give us a hand!” She laid three spare mines on the crater filled road. “Time check! Forty five minutes until the Flood catch up!”
“Noted!” Eric replied over the short wave communicator. “Jackson just did a fuel check. According to our map, if we can not find a working Hydro station, we will have to make our stand here. There isn’t another city close enough with the fuel we have left. Be ready to look for a defensive station. Twenty minute countdown.”
“Mark!” Melanie replied over the com. “In twenty minutes we will begin defensive search.” She looked at John. He was beginning to calm down and laying the two Lotus mines cautiously on the road. “Plant the mines ten feet apart, and don’t activate them until it is in place!” She reaffirmed the Marine.
Mathew jumped up and raced to another mine location, covering it with a dusty pile of body fragments. “Last one. If we’re going to stay here then we should get all of the mines out of the truck.”
“Stay positive, 08.” Eric reaffirmed. “We’ve found a station, I’m checking it now… -blam!-! It’s dry. We’re moving to another location.”
“I’m out!” John shouted as he covered his last mine on the highway. Corporal Hall looked up in amazement that the Marine got the job done so fast. “What now, Ma’am?”
Melanie looked up and over her shoulder. There were several three and four story buildings inside of town, but most were crumbling under their own weight from the firefight that had sacked the town previously; none of the buildings looked sturdy enough to use a defensive position. “See if you can find something that isn’t about to fall over! Make sure it is at least three stories high!”
“On it!” John hopped up, brushed the dust from his knees and ran into town. “This place was hit hard. Looks like a major battle happened here. There are jackal bodies all over the place, and Grunts; lots of Grunts.”
“Just keep your head low and your eyes sharp!” Melanie replied over her com. “There could be enemy units around.” She quickly planted a mine in the dirt on the side of the highway.
“I’m done.” Mathew added. “I’ll go and back him up. You two are on watch… slow pokes.”
“I’m not slow! I had more Lotus mines then any of you.” Melanie countered with a scowl. Hall remained quite and focused on his last mine.
“Second Hydro station is also dry. Looks like most of them were blown up by heavy plasma fire.” Eric stated over the team channel. “Ten minutes left. We’re still searching.”
Melanie looked up and saw a large dust storm moving toward her. It was still in the distance, but it was getting closer. “Looks like the Flood picked up speed! Damn. Be advised, people, the Flood are less then Fifteen minutes away!” She stood and waited for Corporal Hall to finish.
“-blam!-!” Eric cursed over the channel. Not only were they unable to find extra fuel, the Flood had caught up to them faster then they thought. This was the last straw, they could no longer run. “We are aborting fuel search! Get to a defensive station now! We’ll use the transport as a Trojan Horse.”
“Roger!” Came a unified reply. Everyone began looking for anything large and sturdy enough to be used as a defendable position. The transport turned and sped back to the southern side of town to meet the group. It accelerated down the debris covered street, swerving to avoid the smoldering cars, tanks, and explosion craters.
“Got one!” John replied over the frequency. “Seems intact, all floors are dusty, but defendable.”