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  • Subject: [Story] What they Carried: A Telling of the Human Covenant War
Subject: [Story] What they Carried: A Telling of the Human Covenant War

About me: I am a vicious wolf of a man.

But really am sweet at heart. =)

They carried all sorts of things. Pounds of things. Metric tons of things. Not all of the things they carried were physical.

Lieutenant James Grover carried the responsibility of the lives of his men, as well as the guilt of leaving an elderly father alone on a dusty farm on Earth.

SSgt. William Edwards carried the burden of being the father of triplets, and knowing their mother had died bearing them, knowing they were two years old now and had never seen their daddy...

Private Abdul Muhhahmed carried the burden of a broken heart. A woman he had loved for years had deserted him for another. The small diamond ring he carried in his left breast pocket was even heavier.

They all carried small objects that reminded them of home...what ever home they came from. Grover from Earth, from Minnesota, Edwards from New Alexandra Reach, Muhhahmed from Palestine, Williams from Harvest, Timmins from New Jerusalem, Davis from Mars, Jackson from Draco III.

They all had one thing on common: They were all stuck in this hell.

The physical objects they carried were no less painful than the mental. Most carried the standard MA5B Assault Rifle and M6C. Grover carried a BR55 as well as an M6D. He would sleep with it at his side at night, safety off. Willams carried a shotgun. Timmins carried a DMR he had "borrowed" from the Army. Davis always had an old "Floop Tube" with him. One time Jackson tried to pick up and use a Fuel Rod canon he took from a dead Grunt. The failsafe went off and blew him up. The team had to radio for a med evac which never came, and humped a corpse three miles back to base.

They all carried between eleven and fifteen magazines with them for what ever weapon they carried. Davis, who was scared, took a little more.

The squad also had other equipment that they took turns humping amongst themselves. Someone had to carry the fifteen lb radio. The LT carried binoculars and a helmet radio for personal use to CAC. As a result his helmet was four pounds to the standard GI's two. His head was also filled with a lot of other useless crap he had to know as an officer like comm passwords and the like.

What they carried was no different than the other squads in Alpha Company. What they carried was no different than what Bravo, or Charlie, or Delta Company carried. What they carried was no different than what the other thousands of battalions of Marines carried.

To a man though, all things were the same. All thoughts were the same. Each man thought, in his own special moment, at least once a day.

"Damn this -blam!- is heavy," and "I hope I make it home."


Not one of them did.

-------------------------------

So yes. I did take the idea from The Things they Carried but this book is so amazing I had to set a Halo story to it. I hope you enjoyed.

[Edited on 02.18.2011 6:20 PM PST]

  • 02.14.2011 5:42 PM PDT
Subject: [Short Story] What they Carried: A Story of the Harvest Campaign

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

Nice, man. The last line hit me pretty hard.

  • 02.14.2011 9:27 PM PDT

Now, in the quantum moment before the closure, when all become one. One moment left. One point of space and time.

I know who you are.

You are Destiny.

One time Jackson tried to pick up and use a Fuel Rod canon he took from a dead Grunt. The failsafe went off and blew him up. The team had to radio for a med evac which never came, and humped a corpse three miles back to base.Whoa.

  • 02.14.2011 9:37 PM PDT
Subject: [ Story] What they Carried: A Telling of the Human Covenant War

About me: I am a vicious wolf of a man.

But really am sweet at heart. =)

Chapter 2.

Private Williams' MA5 had jammed again. He -blam!-ed and whined about how the Marines got the -blam!- the Army didn't want and how he always had to take point and how he always had to man the gun of a FAV or LRV.

Edwards told him to shut it. Sometimes Williams would even listen to him.

After another day of walking, and taking fire, and calling in air support. They stopped in the shell of an abandoned farmstead. The squad milled around in what was left of an old farmhouse and began to prep for another night in the field.

Timmins took first watch and climbed up the remains of an old grain silo to get a good field of fire and height advantage over the miles of fields. Davis and Muhhahmed planted anti personal mines around the perimeter under Grover's orders. He also ordered Williams to make some MREs as they had marched all day to get to a battle that never happened.

When Williams didn't respond Grover got up from the bench he had been sitting on and ordered louder. "Williams, get out some MRE's man, we're all starvin'."

It was only when he was a foot away that Grover followed Williams' eyes to the skeletons huddled in the closet. In a horse whisper he croaked "This..was my home..."

-blam!-...Williams was from Harvest. Grover mumbled something like an apology and called himself a jackass and told the squad to move on. They slept in foxholes just outside the farm.

It rained that night. Cusses could be heard coming from individual holes and they filled up. Eventually they moved back into the shell of the house and into the rafters to get out of the flood. Whispers were shot across the platoon like snipers firing back and forth across a ravine. Then a voice would come out saying that it was Williams' house and his family was dead.

The whispers stopped and it became as quiet as a grave...which it was.

The next day on patrol a Covenant recon patrol actually found them as they were returning to Utgard. Williams tried to take out the lead Ghost with Davis' grenade launcher. His body was hit so hard with plasma, even his dogtags melted. They buried him by the shell of his house instead of removing the corpse. Davis wasn't as lucky:He was still alive. He died in pain, writing in agony on a field surgeon's table.

They had run out of morphine.

The rest of the squad sat eating cold MREs. Grover sat alone looking at the hollow shell of Utgard. He was about to cry when Edwards came over the hill and handed him the dogtags. Edwards sat and cried silently with him...

Just three hundred yards back staff officers ate a turkey dinner. A Staff Lieutenant nobody knew the name of, but knew he was the nephew of some big shot Navy Captain sat in his bunk and injected another syringe of morphine. God, only a few more weeks in this hell and he'd be on soft duty on a Navy ship.

-------------------------

So I decided to make this a story. None of the chapters will really have a link to each other. It will basically be oneshot to oneshot with some characters reoccuring.

[Edited on 02.16.2011 6:19 PM PST]

  • 02.16.2011 6:16 PM PDT
  • gamertag: [none]
  • user homepage:

Bungie.net member Since 2001

"A hero need not speak. When he is gone, the world will speak for him"
"You are the last of your kind: bred for combat, built for war. You're the master of any weapon, pilot of any vehicle, and fear no enemy"

Nice

  • 02.16.2011 6:33 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

Dude... this story almost makes me want to cry lol, it's so sad!

Very good writing. I only noticed 2 mistakes throughout the second chapter, and they definately weren't major at all. Keep it up, bro.

  • 02.16.2011 9:15 PM PDT

About me: I am a vicious wolf of a man.

But really am sweet at heart. =)

Chapter 3.

Sometimes the squad carried each other.

"Timmins...Timmins you okay?!" Edwards called over his shoulder as he swapped magazines.

He turned to see half of the man that once was Timmins. He was breathing heavily...and looking at one of his legs a meter away from him.

"-blam!-...-blam!- -blam!- -blam!- it's okay man." The Gunny set down his MA5 and pulled out a can of biofoam which he tried to apply to the leg wounds. He fumbled with it and half of it ended up in the dirt.

Timmins looked around at the ghastly scene and it registered in his brain that he was wounded.

A cry of medic was heard by the Elite Majors on the other side of the open field.

"Damnit man, we gotta get you to a corpsman." Fortunately for Edwards he didn't pronounce it corpse man like some other new Privates.

Gunny picked Timmins up and began running for UNSC lines. Grover and the rest of the squad provided covering fire. Grover stood to empty a magazine of shredder rounds into a grunt when a blue ball of plasma made a deadly spat onto his vest.

His last words were unrecognizable as he dove onto the Elite Minor that threw the plasma grenade. A hundred yards distant Gunny Edwards was running with the rapidly lessening Timmins.

"Lets go Tim...you're gonna be fine man." Behind him the rest of the squad was falling back. Under his fifty pounds of combat gear, plus his 100 lb pack, plus the 100 pounds of Timmins the rest of the squad caught up with him. They could see the firebase up ahead. Army troopers and Marines ran forward past them to fight the Covenant off.

Two corporals tried to get a point blank shot at a Hunter and were blown away. The rocket misfired and became a deadly claymore that blew up three more Army troopers. With no cover and nervous, inexperienced officers the other sixty men were cut down.

Gunny Edwards kept running. He was completely unaware of the now chalk white expression of Timmins in his arms. His hands and front were completely red. Suddenly he realized he was flying. Then he landed. Around him he was dimly aware that he no longer was holding Timmins. he liked Timmins...a good shot...a good kid...too bad he lost his legs.

David Edwards was dimly aware of a pain that was shooting up his arm. He turned his head left to see that he no longer had an arm. That is a shame, he thought. He wouldn't be able to play catch with his kids.

He looked up again to see a Covenant Elite looking down at him with it's foot on his chest. David was glad. He was in a lot of pain and was glad he didn't have to patrol with so much weight on him again.

The offensive the Covenant launched would be called the worst defeat in UNSC history. That would only be the case until Mechanite, and Jericho IIV, and Reach. The Admirals and Generals pointed fingers at each other. Admiral Cole said it was ONI's fault. ONI respectfully declined and Cole found his battle group only going out with half the Archers and Shivas her requested.

Years later researchers would even accuse ONI of drawing out the war. Nobody got the full story of what really happened on Harvest.

Nobody asked Gunny Edwards about his opinion.

  • 02.17.2011 4:35 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

I honestly find it hard to read this story. Not because it's bad, no, no. Just because of how hard it hits me every time I read.

Whenever I see a new chapter, I think, Well, time to go get the tissues.

Really great stuff, C4. Really great.

  • 02.17.2011 7:56 PM PDT
Subject: [Story] What they Carried: A Telling of the Human Covenant War

About me: I am a vicious wolf of a man.

But really am sweet at heart. =)

Chapter 4


They carried memories that would haunt them forever...

Muhahmed clutched two stamped pieces of Titanium in his palm and watched silently as tube after tube was launched into the black void from the flight deck of a UNSC Carrier. Each one held the body of a man, squad mate, a friend. Some had died on the battlefield: as heroes. Others...

Abdul started shaking and had to sit down at a nearby crate. He opened his palm to see the flatened edges of the dogtags had cut into his palm. Grover was dead...his squad was dead. They were heroes weren't they?

Was Grover a hero? Was Muhahmed a hero for finding him, hanging a meter off the floor in his quarters?

He suddenly had the urge to vomit, and did so violently in the head in the adjacent compartment. His stomach clear of contents he turned to the large mirror running the length of the room and was so startled he nearly reached for his M6.

He didn't recognize the reflection he looked at. The man had his features...he thought. When did he get that scar. He remembered, tried not to. It was when Davis and Williams got hit. He held Davis in his arms as he slowly bled to death. He shoved that memory down into a dark place in his psyche. Another wave of nausea hit him but he forced him self to keep looking.

He had three stripes on both sides of his fatigues. A Sergeant.

"I'm just a kid..." was his only thought as he turned away,

and punched the mirror behind him. It didn't shatter like he had hoped. It simply distorted the image of the monster staring back at him. His hand hurt. Deep lacerations ran down to his elbow. Blood fell to the floor and splattered off the metal deck before settling in small pools around him.

He stood there, leaning against the sink for untold years, centuries it seemed to him. Battling with demons, or ghosts of a war long past, but would still go on with, or without him.

Suddenly he heard the door swing open and a young Crewman stood shocked looking at him. Abdul didn't put up a fight as the ghostly white non-com escorted him to the infirmary.

His discharge papers said cause was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. For Muhahmed there was no "post" the ghosts of his battles. The ghosts of Edwards, and Timmins, and Williams, and Jackson, and Grover...Grover with those dead eyes. The eyes of a man resigned to his fate...

Was it fate? Muhahmed asked himself in a veteran's home on Reach. The white painted walls had no answers for him as he laid back in white and gray sheets. He struggled for another harsh breath through his respirator which had long since run out of purified oxygen. His heart monitor had also long since extinguished it's small internal battery. Each breath drew him further into a deep ocean as his lungs slowly filled up with fluids.

Once again the delusional old man the tag on the door to the room said was Abdul Muhahmed called for assistance by pushing the red button on the railing. Nobody answered in the dead silence.

Almost nobody. Muhahmed sighed in content as he saw the Covenant carrier outside his window. He felt blissful peace as the heat wave washed over the surrounding forest and into his room.

No more ghosts would haunt him now.

------------------------------------------------


Guys, just wanted to make a quick note. Thank you SO much for the support. I really do appreciate it. You guys are what keep me writing and posting.

I really have to plans for what to do with this story in the long term as of yet. I may expand it from just a single squad, but we shall see.

EDIT: Added some more info in the last few paragraphs.

Thanks guys!

[Edited on 02.19.2011 2:07 PM PST]

  • 02.18.2011 6:41 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

Oh man. Here come the waterworks..

Just a little something, though. Would you mind explaining a wee bit more on Muhammed's veteran home, and how many years have gone by? The scene changed a bit too fast for me to keep up with. (Btw, the scene of him being glassed still left me speechless.)

  • 02.18.2011 10:39 PM PDT

Games I like:,
Half-Minute Hero
MBU
Portal
Halo 3 is the best Halo ever
Maps I like: Turf, Avalanche, Pylon, Sandbox, Breakpoint and many more.

This is the most dramatic story in the world. I just read it, and Im crying at the last bit where he gets glassed. The first chapter is amazing. Please keep writing this! Dont let this die!

  • 02.18.2011 10:45 PM PDT

About me: I am a vicious wolf of a man.

But really am sweet at heart. =)

Chapter 5

They carried friendship that would last lifetimes...no matter how short they may be.

"Carver...Carver you awake man?" A fresh faced private asked as he shook the shoulder of a much more grizzled Corporal.

"What is it Gweber?" Carver asked, clearly annoyed.

"can you do something for me man?" Gweber said as he sat up from his bunk and sat on the edge of the Corporal's.

"Sure...Sure man, what's up?" he inquired as he sat up and propped his flat pillow under his lower back.

"We're both from Reach...Viery territory. If I die...I want you to be at my funeral, I want you to set it-" The Corporal pushed on his chest and said forcefully.

"You ain't dyin' on me alright. Your gonna be fine, the Sarge is a little frazzled, some time on Harvest will do that to ya but he's NOT suicidal." Carver said referring to the squad's new leader.

"You've heard the stories man...I'm just scared. The Army is -blam!- in the eyes of command and I want it done right if I do go..."

"Bro I promise you this. If you want me too. I will make sure you don't have to live with any kinda bad, life altering injury...but I cant watch someone bury one of my best friends...okay?" Carver stated raising an eyebrow.

"So you wouldn't bury me, but you'd shoot me?" Gweber asked angrily, "You -blam!-."

"Screw you too, now shut up. You'll need the sleep later," finished Carver as he laid back down and fell into a restful sleep.

On the bunk next to him, Gweber fingered a small plastic rosary around his neck and hoped Carver was right about everything. If the stories were true, he was scared for himself and everyone around him. Hell, he was terrified of this Sergeant Muhahmed.
---------------------------------------------

See, y'all thought I was done with the original squad. No way baby. Muhahmed and these new boys got a long way to go.

This chapter is a heck of a lot different than the other chapters and is more of a lead up point to back to more of the same. Let me know if you guys like this new style and I will use it more. If you prefer more of a narrative I will gladly change it back.

As always, comment, rate it for me. You guys are what keep me writing.

  • 02.19.2011 2:31 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

Interesting chapter, C4. If it isn't too much to ask, could you blend these 2 styles of writing together? In my opinion, that'd be a great thing to have in your story.

[Edited on 02.20.2011 12:48 AM PST]

  • 02.20.2011 12:47 AM PDT

About me: I am a vicious wolf of a man.

But really am sweet at heart. =)

Ch 6
We all carry stress, it is a way of life. On the battlefield it is magnified to the infinite.

Carver stood with a hundred other Marines in the sweaty, dimly lit, cramped troop bay of a Navy "Albatross" heavy landing craft. Behind him, a private sneezed. The resulting mist covered everything in front of him with a fine, floating mist. It hung in the zero G and remained there. For some men in the bay it reminded them of snow, of home, of shoveling the family JOTUN out after the final harvest.

Harvest.

The meaning of the name had changed, the planet was now reaping the lives of young men and women b the millions...a blood crop that soaked the ground with death.

Suddenly, a heavy lurch sent everyone nearly to the deck. Had they not been secured by thick straps by their harnesses to the ceiling it would have been serious indeed. The spittle that had brought back so many happy memories now fell on a dozen men. Quickly, cusses were thrown in the perpetrators general direction, but the Marine had already retreated into the rear of the bay.

Suddenly the bay was quiet and a female voice crackled on the bay speakers.

"Now haer this, we will be making a hot drop into Utgard, be combat ready as soon as you step off the ramp, that is all."

Immediately explosives were secured, helmets were donned, and rifles were charged. Carver made sure his M6C service pistol was secured on his him, as well as his great, great, great, something or other's Colt Python .44 magnum.

He also put a 150 round drum into his MA5D: a squad support version of the MA5B. It could fire a deadly 20 rounds a second and was only five lbs heavier than the MA5B. It also had overheating problems abound, so the Corporal also wore thick kevlar padded gloves. He was nervous about only having 600 rounds of ammunition. Everyone was nervous about that, they were supposed to have been dropped five miles distant from the fighting.

He looked around him and found Jamison loading a 40mm grenade into his M208 Grenade launcher mounted on his MA5A. The private smiled at him and nodded, he was ready.

A few more clicks and racks of bolts echoed through the space, then it was dead quiet except for the heavy breathing of nervous men.

The call echoed for thirty seconds...then ten...then the doors opened.

The rear hatch of the Albatross dropped open. The men were exposed to deadly cold and the blinding light of Epsilon Iridani traveling through the thin, glassed atmosphere of Harvest. Shortsword bombers flew overhead dropping napalm. Just 100 yards distant Covenant Elites were slaughtering a squad of Marines.

Suddenly a Hunter turned to the new UNSC threat and fired into the mass of men and fired. The plasma liquified a dozen men, the wave came inches from Carver's face and the whole bay reacted with violent over heating. The Albatross colapsed upon it's self.

-------------------------

It's a little sloppy, but I'll proof it again later. I'm really stressed right now. Sorry it took so long to get a new chapter guys. I'll update more regularly I promise.

[Edited on 02.26.2011 11:05 AM PST]

  • 02.23.2011 3:06 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

OH SHI-

One Hunter did that? Dude... oh, and sorry to hear you're stressed. Hope stuff sorts itself out.

  • 02.24.2011 3:45 AM PDT

About me: I am a vicious wolf of a man.

But really am sweet at heart. =)

Ch 7.

The thin sheet of ice that is a man's psyche can be broken through over time, slowly creaking to an inevitable failure. A boulder can also be used.

This boulder had thrown Jamison into a sobbing mess. The squad's corpsman: Jones, couldn't do anything for him, he didn't even have morphine to get him to calm down. Like anything however, there are always exceptions

With Muhhahmed's M6 pushing against his temple and with horse threats of shots for desertion, Jamison found his courage and picked up his weapon.

Behind him the rest of the squad watched in stunned silence. Carver wasn't standing, he was leaning against a wall looking at his boots, which a few minutes ago used to be on feet. He was shaking, wished he could stop, couldn't.

Gweber walked up to him, his fingers brushed against the safety on his own M6.

"Don't do it man...this...ain't nothin." He said gesturing to his lower torso.

"Don't sweat it man..."the private said leaning down next to him."

"I swear man...they can sew it back on...a robot leg or something." Carver mumbled through pain meds.

"Yeah...sew it back on...I'll see that it happens man." Gweber turned away quickly. Muhahmed looked away from the men and towards the horizon.

Later Jones would say he was crying, nobody ever saw any tears. Everyone knew Sarge had PTSD, everyone also knew the UNSC needed every man in the fight. He had just seen a lot, that was all.

That was what every man told himself in combat.

That was strangely, what Carver thought too, as they amputated the remainder of his stump. He was glad Gweber hadn't killed him. He was really happy here with white sheets and Navy nurses. He hurt a lot...then one day the pain stopped. Then he couldn't feel anything much below the waist.

--------------------

DAMN it is cold in my computer room. Any spelling mistakes are a result of my hands literally going numb.

Sorry for these long wait times for updates too guys. I'll try to get them every Wed or Friday from now on.

UPDATE: I have submitted the first four chapters of this story to the group that is overseeing the second volume of Halo:Revolutions. However, as they only accept unseen work it may require me to remove the story from this thread, or at least the first four chapters.

IF this is the case I sincerely apologize, but hopefully you will be reading it soon in Volume 2!

[Edited on 03.02.2011 6:40 PM PST]

  • 03.02.2011 6:21 PM PDT

The tide is turning, brothers! Let us take our kingdom back!

This is your most... hmm, what's the word... most emotionally provoking chapter yet. When Muhammed put his gun to the guy's head, I almost felt cold. Serious stuff right there.

I hope your story gets in there, man. Although there'll no doubt be a tonne of people also submitting. This story is definately one of my favourites on this site, and it'll be cool to see it up in the spotlight more.

  • 03.03.2011 12:22 AM PDT