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  • Subject: [FF] Relocated [FF]
Subject: [FF] Relocated [FF]

What a waste....

New FF I'm starting. Yes, it is Halo related, just wait. Also, the rest of the story will be third person.






Relocation
Prologue

It was cold.

That's the first thing I remember about the first time I killed someone. The night was freezing; at least twenty below. Candy was wearing dog booties so that her feet didn't simply freeze and kill her. The husky's fur would snap quickly from pointing to one side, and then the other, the wind and the snow moving with it. Her front legs were stretched out in front of her long, sharp, and muscular body. Everything is so clear in my mind. I remember every detail, every little speck of ice, glimmering in the moonlight. It was unnaturally bright compared to Earth, the twin suns illuminating the satellite in a ghastly greenish glow. From the catwalk on the battlements of Army Ranger Station Bravo 1 I saw everything. My new BR-55 was heavy and reassuring in my hands.

And then he appeared.
I saw a faint shadow move out of the corner of my eye on top of the now ice-encased cliff, a new rock that wasn't there before. Being fresh out of training, the ideas were all still freshly imprinted in my mind. The first word that came into my head was "sniper". Before I knew it my head was behind the battlements and I heard a sound like that of a zipper closing. A clean hole was torn through the extremely thin metal catwalk, and if a bullet had gone through I would have said it was a .308, and then I knew what trouble I was in.

The local insurrection had been quiet for a while, with only a few sparks of trouble here and there. I pressed my earpiece and called it in.

"Hey, Lieutenant? I got a sniper up on Crook's Ridge. He popped a shot at me and Candy. It's got a silencer but she's still flippin' a -blam!- about it. Could you get Ramsey up here, sir?"

I put up my spy camera while I waited for a reply and angled it at the ridge to get a good look at the perpetrator. Candy barked twice, her breath making clouds. I held her tight the wire-encased battlement. She might have been my one friend, but she was also a very expensive investment. I had no intention of facing the wrath of Procurement officer Correnti. The evil witch always complained about rationing "her" supplies in case some siege occurred in some place, somewhere, sometime...

"Corporal, Ramsey's already up there. Get the ninja on the single beam." I could hear Lieutenant Masoj pull back the bolt on his rifle.

The ninjas, Ramsey and Michalseon, were the best sniper-spotter team in the Rangers. I flipped channels and told Michalseon the coordinates.

"You got it, Rook. We're on-" Then the channel cut short. I heard a faint, stacatto pop-pop-pop, and then a huge, massive, booming noise and saw a flash on the cliff lining the Ranger station. I heard a scream, and then a short pattering sound like rain on a roof. Another yelp carried on the wind.

"Up, Candy!" I pulled on the scruff of the dog's neck. "Seek!" She tore off onto the icy trail up the bare cliff, and I followed quickly behind her. I clutched the spy camera in one hand as I slung my rifle and drew my sidearm, a silenced M-7 submachine gun. The battle rifle was nice, but it just couldn't spit out enough firepower at once. As long as I held with both hands the M7S was capable of chewing through any armor at close range. I leapt forth and saw Ramsey struggling with a man dressed in black combat armor. I put a burst through him. It happened so fast; but at the same time, it was in slow motion. I swear I could see the individual bullets hit and tear through the matte black alloy. Before the body hit the floor I was helping Ramsey up and doing a dead check. I just went through the motions. That's what the drill sergeant said to do: just follow your training and don't think about the fact that you just killed another living thing with a mother, a father, a wife and kids...

I soon saw the results of Ramsey firing the .50 cal. Another of the attackers lay in the snow, another layer already building over him. His leg was gone. It wasn't just split off; it was gone. No debris, just puffed out of existence. As I went to check for a pulse, which I knew wasn't there, I heard a moan.

"Oh my God," Ramsey said. "He's still alive."

"Never done your work up close, eh?" I looked up from my crouching position at him. I quickly brought up my face mask to extinguish the smell, and began to bandage the man up. We needed to interrogate this one. Already thinking like a snoop, I thought to myself. "You should go check on Michaelson." I only just remembered the spotter.

Ramsey silently plodded away through the snow. I looked back to the injured man. I gave him an anesthetic so he wouldn't struggle and tied off my tourniquet on the bloody stump. As I reached to pick up the body, I heard a second loud crack, and suddenly remembered the other sniper. I turned around with the unconscious person over my shoulder and saw Ramsey and Michaelson packing up their gear.

"One more Innie down." Michaelson's face was hidden behind his rangefinder helmet. He was always expressionless anyway. The snipers always sat in the far corner of the mess hall, completely silent.

The Lieutenant appeared on the ridge with Correnti and a few others. They all had rifles raised, checking the zone.

"Just cleaning up here, sir," Ramsey clipped his rifle to his chest clamps. "and we've got four UID hostile troops, presumed URF."

The Lieutenant directed a few Rangers to begin carrying off the bodies.

"Good work, Staff. Any live ones?" The Loot looked at me.

"He's going fast, sir. We've got to get him talking now if we want answers." I answered.

"Alright, Rangers. Let's go, go, go!" The Loot shouted commands, and then gestured for me and the ninjas to follow. If I'd known anything of what I know now, I would've dropped that body, grabbed the Hog, and left Hat Yai right then and there. But I didn't. I didn't know.

  • 11.10.2011 6:32 PM PDT

REACH 2 ACHIEVE.
Pink but deadly

This is good, I've saved the thread and I hope you write more! :D

  • 11.10.2011 7:56 PM PDT

Really nice work. I love to read a story with good descriptive qualities, especially after reading my fan fic, with it's clipped, hard sci-fi descriptions.

  • 11.10.2011 10:12 PM PDT

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

Nice stuff so far! I think the dog won me over... them dog boots.

no, but seriously, you've got some pretty good descriptive ability. Some things seem a tad out of place, but still, this is good.

  • 11.10.2011 10:48 PM PDT

Nice work.

  • 11.11.2011 3:18 AM PDT

What a waste....

Part 1-Ambush

Sorry for neglecting! Story is back up and running!


Hat Yai, UNSC Army Ranger Outpost Bravo 1
Interrogation room
July 28, 2528 0300 hours

The man was coming around.
The prisoner that Staff Sergeant Ramsey and Private Husong had recovered was in bad shape. The bottom half of his right leg was torn off completely, and only a bandaged and bloody stump remained. His face was bloodied and dirty, his light hair blackened. Husong stared into the light blue circles that were the man's eyes. They blinked, and the man moaned as Husong, Ramsey, Michaelson, Correnti and Lieutenant Gei peered down at him.
"Start talking." The Loot began simply.
"What... what's going on?" The prisoner groaned.
Gei slapped him in the face. That seemed to wake him up.
"You know what. I don't. Tell me or I let you die." He held his hands on the side of the medical bay's bed, staring rather casually at the the man he'd just threatened with death.
"They're... They're here. On Hat Yai. Run. Save yourselves, fascists... may as well be consistent..." The EKG flatlined and the man's head drooped down onto his shoulder.
Husong straightened up, perplexed. Why tell them that? Was it a dupe to throw them off track? Or was it a genuine S.O.S? "Save yourselves, fascists... may as well be consistent." A parting joke or a warning?
Suddenly the ham radio in the corner buzzed with static and then snapped into focus.
"Ranger Station Bravo 1... I repeat, Ranger Station B-1... This is Army Control. Respond." The Loot picked up the mike and pressed the SEND button.
"Army Control, this is B-1. What's the situation?" Gei lifted his gloved hand and waited for reply.
"We have unidentified targets entering the system. Sioux is standing by to engage. We need you at Mass Driver Station C." The Control responder had an edge to his voice. He was speaking quickly and his words were slurring together. Husong imagined he was scared -blam!-less by the prospect of attackers. Unidentified meant not URF and not freighters missing their IFFs. Any ship class they couldn't identify meant-

Covenant. The word rang in Husong's mind clearly and his jaw almost dropped open.
"Alright, we're moving now." Gei hung the responder on the hook and turned to his men. "Let's go, people. Those Innies aren't waiting."
Husong spoke up then. "Sir, they aren't Innies. They're Covenant." the Private said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"And how would you know that?" Gei cocked his head and raised his eyebrows sarcastically.
"If they can't tell what kind of ship or ships it or they are, then it's Covenant. Plus, if they thought it wasn't the Covenant then they would know a destroyer like Sioux could take it down easily. The operator's voice was shaky. He was fearful of the prospect of the unstoppable Covenant. I assume it's ships because a destroyer has two MAC cannons and thusly a normal Covenant ship would lose. But two or more would be too much to handle."
"The modern Sherlock Holmes." Correnti shook her head. "Good thing to have you here, -blam!-lock." She smiled and snickered under her breath at her play on words. Husong stared at her and she looked down at the floor. Even Correnti couldn't pull rank on him.
"Well, -blam!- heads all the same." Gei slid his helmet on and pulled up his face mask. He opened the door and led them out. "Everyone to the Hogs. Michaelson, stay here. Guard the station with the remainder of the force. Correnti, Husong, Ramsey, with me."

The M12 LRVs sat warm and cozy within the base's vehicle depot.

"Ramsey, on me. Correnti, Husong, you're on the other Hog."

Correnti threw her bulky frame into the driver's seat and Husong mounted the turret as they rolled out into the blizzard. The mountain road to Driver station C was icy and slippery. The tires of the vehicles, however, were designed specifically for the situation.

Husong idly stared at the amazing view of the frost plain below the cliff. Theodore I was rising as its sister star set, casting an eerie glow over the scene. Mass Driver C loomed ahead. Correnti wove around a pile of scattered boulders that had fallen from the precipice to the right. More rocks had fallen ahead, and farther up the road Husong could see a landslide in progress.
"Uh... sir? Notice the unusual environmental hazards blocking the way?" Husong radioed the Lieutenant.
"Yeah... Got any ideas?" The Lieutenant called back.
Husong looked around where the rocks had fallen and noted a single thing in common; all of the rocks had black marks on their east facing side. Additionally, the areas where they'd all previously been located were blackened, all in an almost orderly fashion.
As the convoy stopped, the private gave his reply.
"Shaped charges. They're in a regular pattern." He cocked his head and studied the marks again.
"Not C-12. Explains my theory about the Covenant."
"So how do we get these out of the way?" They all metaphorically scratched their heads.
"We've got a tow winch. Let's use it." Correnti pulled up and hooked the cable around one of the boulders. She signaled for Ramsey to do the same.
Private Husong jumped into the driver's seat and shifted the LRV into reverse and hit the gas. Correnti jumped out of the way as the boulder leapt forward, and then began to drag and spark across the asphalt. Lieutenant Gei copied the motion.
Suddenly, a sound stunned everyone from cheers of success into silence. A strange grumbling of audio burst from the high trees on the ridge to the right. Then something burst from cover and opened fire on them with some laser cannon.
"-blam!-, it's Covenant!" Gei yelled as he opened fire on the alien with his rifle.
"We noticed!" Husong replied and took cover behind the Warthog. He reached up to mount the turret but a stray laser blast had thrown it off the stand. This was the first time he'd actually fought the Covenant in person. Husong had been briefed on their basic strategies they employed and their gear, but most of his training had been for fighting the Insurrection. Creeping along to the bumper of the Warthog, Husong mounted the BR-55 on the vehicle, using the stabilizing bipod to keep it steady. Then he popped his head up and looked around quickly, spotting several targets and then ducking again as he drew fire. The adrenaline rushed through him. Time slowed but sped up all at the same time as he reached for the trigger, slipping between deadly lances of fire, and took aim on the first target, and as his heartbeat reached a crescendo of beats Husong pulled back his finger on the mechanism. The sound cracked through his inner ear. The alien's head snapped back and it roared mightily before it crashed to the ground. Its fellows, all shorter (but still nearly as tall as Husong) broke their attack and ran for it as they were being gunned down. A few of the more bird-like ones ducked behind glowing fields of energy, firing weapons with slow-moving, tracking projectiles.
"I can't get a clear shot off!" Husong yelled, simultaneously pulling a grenade from his bandolier. He looked over, seeing his allies do the same as the thin, crouching beasts slowly advanced down the steep mesa, firing all the way.
"On three!" the Lieutenant yelled, pulling the pin. "One, two, three!"
Four baseball-sized explosives flew out from behind the vehicles, landing at the top of the hill and then rolling down to their targets. Husong's ears were still ringing as a brown arm sailed over his head, squirting purple blood. He nearly vomited. He'd counted ten assailants when he'd moved over the Warthog. Four had died under the assault of the grenades, one at his own hand, and three at those of his companions. But what of the other two?
"Where are the other two?" Husong slowly clambered over the wrecked 'Hog, looking around at the mesa. A few scarred rocks and trees were scattered on the bluff, but nothing else.
Correnti called in on the radio from some distance away. "Ramsey, got anything?"
He responded, "Negative. You?"
"Nada."
"I got nothing on the scope," the Loot rolled over one of the avians and raised the shield like an ancient Greek hoplite. "Nice," he remarked. Husong equipped one as well, and recovered the rest of the alien technology as cautiously as his jittering body would allow. He loved knowledge, for knowledge was power.
Looking back up to the bluff and the busted safety rail on its edges, Husong recalled his earlier examination of the explosive detonations. A few of the aliens looked like they had grenades, but Husong remembered from his brief simulations that while powerful, the were designed for AP uses. This was damn near excavation. He looked up, and then saw one of the rocks move.

  • 11.23.2011 10:21 PM PDT

What a waste....

Part 2, finally.

Part 2-First Floor; Shields, aliens, and explosives.

Six navy-blue spines shifted from Fusu Nug Tun's back as the colony shifted and communally brought the energy cannon to bear on the human below, who sat gaping in awe at the size of the shielded monstrosity. A ripple of adrenaline shot through the worm colony, and Fusu charged down the bluff beside his bond brother, Tutchan Nug Tan. In unison they began their destructive dance as Fusu fired and Tutchan threw his shield arm at the silly alien with the long weapon. The metal bent and the alien flew back into its vehicle, momentarily stunned. A narrow dodge allowed its companion to escape the burning mass of energy that flew from the blue plated Fusu. He swept his beam of destruction across the human line, laughing in the voices of fifty different meter long worms with a chorus of grunting shouts. The aliens ran for their cover, which Fusu melted or Tutchan crushed. The two wielding the Kig-Yar shields tried to break the armor of the pair with puny projectile weapons.

***************

Husong leapt above the swinging beam of light and heat, a sadistic game of jump-rope. He jumped behind the Warthog and tried to catch his breath while the aliens blindly attacked. The M7 couldn't break the armor the beasts wore. Plus the shields were nigh on invincible, made of some obscure plate alloy that Husong could not identify. Pulling out one of the alien pistols, an idea came to his mind. Husong could see what looked like a trigger mechanism and a grip; he needed no more information.

Fumbling for a moment, he got a grip and raised the weapon, holding down the trigger. Instead of plasma flying out from the barrel-area, a green bolt accumulated. He released the trigger, and ducked back behind his half-melted cover to see what he was doing wrong. Husong then heard a loud rumble, and the explosions stopped. Another roar was released, this one farther away. Again rolling away from the Warthog, Husong saw the gold-plated worm structure running at Ramsey, who was baiting it to come at him. A little closer to Husong, laying on the melted ground was the blue-armored beast. A hole in its side glowed green, with the worms near it completely melted or burned. Then, another roar, as Ramsey jumped aside from the charging alien as it catapulted off the mountain road, slamming into trees, rocks and finally landing in a river, one of its armored 'hands' flying off from the force of the impact.

Husong's heart hammered. This was only the second time he'd ever actually been in real combat; and the adrenaline had wiped the fear out of him the first time. Now, breathing in gasps, he staggered over to Ramsey, who was clutching his broken ribs and smiling as he also wheezed. Husong put his hands on his knees and broke into a joyous, relieved laugh. Correnti walked over and joined them, and even she began grinning stupidly.

The Lieutenant snapped them all back into reality, saying "Hey, its not over 'till the fat lady sings. We still have a hell of a lot of ground to cover until we get to that mass driver station. Ramsey, get on the radio and warn Command about our little... encounter."

"On it, sir," Ramsey retreated to the rear of their now-formed line, pressing his hand to his ear, suddenly serious again and back into his ever-vigilant mindset.

Husong trudged over to the Warthog and began recovering all the supplies he could gather, quickly stuffing them into his pack. Wasted supplies were worse than no supplies at all. The paved road cracked under his feet where the alien monstrosity had fired its massive cannon. Its body lay just ahead, where Husong had dropped it forever. Looking at the corpse up close, he could see the orange worms still burning and smoldering from the shot from the alien pistol. It was still strapped to his side, and the Greek-style energy shield was mounted on his arm. Scanning the device, he found a button that shut down the shield. Making sure he could turn it back on again, he thought once more that wasted supplies were worse than no supplies.

After an hour, they'd covered the distance to the mass driver cannon. An engineer with several burns on his body approached them outside the complex.

"You boys are a little late to the party," he said, looking at the holed corpses of Covenant. "What held you up?"

"Ambush," The Lieutenant pushed the engineer aside absently and began giving orders.
"Ramsey, see if one of these grease monkeys can fix your rifle up. Then, I want you in a perch. Correnti, Husong, follow me. We better prepare for the next wave of these bastards."

As he said this, a loud boom echoed from the mass driver behind him. A white-hot projectile sped off into space, targeting whatever ships had come to attack.

All of them except for the engineer plugged their ears.

"Holy -blam!-, that's loud!" Correnti yelled over the sound.

The engineer took out his earplugs, chuckling. "What? I couldn't hear you with my earplugs in!" He emphasized the "earplugs" part. Correnti raised her hand as if to punch him, then lowered it and scowled.

Husong followed as the Lieutenant and Correnti entered the compound. A long hallway extended before him, with multiple doors and stairwells up to the cannon. A bad situation if they manage to get through the outer defenses, he thought. The only way to stop that would be to find a way to either barricade the doors against high-energy weapons, or set traps.

Husong had only two grenades remaining, and counting up the ones on his comrades' belts, they altogether only had six, and there were plenty more access passages than that.

"Lieutenant, mind if I have a few grenades? I think I have a plan in mind to surprise our uninvited guests," Husong said from behind Gei.

Lieutenant Gei responded with a sigh, "Alright. Just don't go around tinkering with vital electrical systems or anything."

"Actually, that's exactly what I had in mind."

Another sigh. Then, "Well, I don't have any ideas. Go right ahead."

The others racing off up the stairs, Husong found the generator room. It took him a few minutes, but he soon found a storage cabinet and after some digging, several cables.

"And here comes the tricky part..." Strapping on rubber gloves, Husong hooked the cables to the generator and snaked them to the front entrance. He set a tripwire up high, along with three grenades. Then, carefully, he removed the coverings from the wires so that their bare edges touched the metal doorway. A faint zap was produced.

"Perfect!" Husong admired his work and carefully stepped back, making his way up to the second floor. Another boom from the mass driver made him speed up.

Up above, Correnti had set up an HMG and was mowing down approaching Covenant from the south side. The Lieutenant had placed his alien shield on one of the pipes that fed coolant to the mass driver and was using it as mobile cover. Husong quickly activated his own scavenged device and joined Gei. Nearly two dozen of the little aliens were charging the base of the mass driver, barely even firing at the Rangers. After the aliens were dispatched, a strange humming noise filled Husong's ears. At first he dismissed it as a trick of the biting wind. Then it grew louder, and soon nearly deafened him. Was it some kind of Covenant sonic weapon?

Then, suddenly, a dark shape blocked out the sun. Looking upwards, Husong saw an aircraft of some kind with two twin extrusions protruding out from the central area. It lowered itself onto the roof, and an unseen door fell open.

"Oh, sh-" Husong hardly recognized what he saw by the time a thousand plasma bolts flew at him. Firing his battle rifle one-handed, he managed to strike one of the aliens, armored in red, and felled it. Its four companions shouted in rage and drew glowing swords. The one colored in orange flew at him with lightning speed, and the 9.5mm bullets of the BR55 bounced off. At the last second, Husong threw his rifle to the ground, drew the SMG, and rolled. The sword struck the shield, throwing Husong off balance. The rounds of the smaller weapon had an even lesser effect then the rifle. A kick flew at Husong's ribcage. He threw the shield in front of his chest, and again tumbled to the side. When the weapon ran out of ammo, he threw it to the ground as well and pulled out the alien pistol. I really should have thought of this earlier, Husong thought as he charged the weapon in the same manner he had done before. The tall alien threw another kick and the pistol flew out of Husong's hands. The pistol discharged right into the alien, and a popping sound indicated it had breached the Sangheili's shielding system. With a faint click, Husong pulled the knife on his hip from its sheath. The alien yelled again and charged. This time, Husong did too.

  • 12.21.2011 10:11 AM PDT


Posted by: hellzg4t3s
This is good, I've saved the thread and I hope you write more! :D
As did I.

  • 12.21.2011 11:12 AM PDT

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

Yay, Part 2! I was hoping that you were still going with this.

  • 12.21.2011 9:24 PM PDT

What a waste....

Yeah, school bit me in the ass and postponed the writing.

  • 12.21.2011 9:53 PM PDT

Great stuff. Really enjoyed this, keep it up pl0x!

  • 12.24.2011 6:01 AM PDT

only the best game ever.
~Sur Squishy
XBL: D a r k s t a r
PSN: darkstarrr
Minecraft: The_Dark_Star

Forum Rules | Terms of Use | Code of Conduct

I read this yesterday and I forgot to leave my feedback.


OT: The story was quite interesting and kept me reading. I am usually not a person to read books and such, but in The Gallery I have come across of quite amazing stories such as this one. Keep up the good work, OP! ;)

  • 12.24.2011 12:48 PM PDT

What a waste....

I'm really sorry about the wait. Please forgive me :(

Part 3-Worgworgworg

Correnti ran faster than she'd ever run in her life. Three of the damn things were right behind her. She wasn't sure where Gei washer helmet had fallen off, along with her IFF sensor. She'd tried to lead them away from the cannon so they wouldn't destroy it. She only hoped the engineers had survived.

A plasma bolt hit Correnti in the crook of her knee, making her falter for a split second, but as soon as she recovered she dared not slow down lest the aliens overtake her. A loud scream came from behind her, too low and guttural to be human.

Correnti heard one of the aliens speaking, "Ah, logoba! Luk whoos down fromere!"

The firing stopped, and Correnti quickly threw a glance over her shoulder. The two blue armored aliens had given up their pursuit and were engaged in combat with some unseen assailant, who also happened to be firing one of the weapons they carried. A human sniper rifle fired and hit the alien closest to Correnti. It made a similar scream to the one before, and soon she saw the source of the first, an Elite laying face down on the ground in a puddle of his own blood. Correnti pulled out her sidearm and put two bullets into the survivor, who dropped on the floor as its knee broke. Before Correnti could close and capture the Elite for interrogation, it capped itself with its own weapon.

Husong ran up to her, holding one of the glowing blue rifles. His combat boots splashed in the melting snow.

"You okay?" He patted her shoulder as she bent down to catch her breath.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay," she exhaled, straightened, and then asked, "Where are Gei and the engineers?"

"They're okay. They're getting the cannon back online."

Correnti joined Husong and together they hiked back to the cannon, which began to fire once more into the upper atmosphere. Correnti trudged through the half melted snow slowly, focusing on her steps to try and reorganize her thoughts. She'd never engaged the Covenant before, and so thusly she was scared for herself, as she had no idea how to fight back.

Once they reached the roof of the cannon complex, she saw Gei setting up a mortar. But, instead of pointing to any of the cardinal compass points, it stood straight up. She and Husong simultaneously cocked an eyebrow. Ramsey was sitting on a camping stool nearby, rifle in hand. The four dead Elites were slumped on the ground, either with knives in their throats or holes in their chests. They wore multi-colored armor, which was blue, red, or golden. After examining the bodies, Correnti realized how lucky they were. The smallest of the dead was over seven feet tall, and nearly half as wide. She knew from firsthand experience that they were as fast as a human running full tilt, and maybe even more. Many of the corpses with bullet wounds had more than ten metal shards dug into them. And even then, a few still twitched.

Ramsey piped up from behind his face mask. "Another wave, inbound!"
They all looked over to where he was pointing. At first, Correnti saw nothing. Then a cloud of snow bloomed across the horizon. Another of the dropships lifted, seemingly straight out of the ground. Under it four shapes moved towards the cannon, followed by a contingent of the small, masked creatures carrying needle guns. Ramsey was already firing, dropping six of the small ones inside of half a minute. By the time Correnti had her weapon up, a mortar shell was downrange, and Husong was lobbing grenades at the aliens. A series of secondary explosions and cries of pain filled the air as the gas tanks on the backs of the smaller aliens detonated with loud pops. The second mortar shell hit one of the vehicles, sending it careening through the sky and smashing into a sheer stone wall off the side of the road. Correnti's bullets zipped through the air and impacted targets, and soon she became a clockwork mechanism; fire, reload, fire. Fire, reload, fire. Before long, the enemy was only halfway to the station and nearly completely gone. Two of the vehicles zigzagged back and forth away from the projectiles. Only ten of the smaller aliens remained, and they had taken cover behind rocks and the wrecked crafts. The dropship chugged slowly towards the human position, firing its cannon to keep them down while it drifted along. The cannon had to stop firing and the gunners slipped into the compound to leave the Rangers to deal with the flying menace. Correnti blindfired over a barrier to stop the Grunts from approaching further, but soon a black shadow covered the platform.

Then Correnti realized it.

The whole time, the Grunts had approached to make the humans waste ammo. Now they could not resist the twelve golden-armored Elites that dropped from the craft. One of them chuckled maniacally. Just then, a wild yell erupted from Husong. He grabbed the mortar, dropped in a shell, and it flew. And it hit.

  • 01.21.2012 2:04 PM PDT