The Smoke and the Dust
Sergeant Daniel Jacobs, ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) serial number 98784-41102-DJ, pounded on the bulkhead door next to his HEV (Human Entry Vehicle), signaling he was ready. He sealed the air lock on the HEV and began the final pre-drop check. He and his team of six other tough-as-nails ODSTs, nicknamed “Helljumpers”, were supposed to launch from the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) frigate Before Sundown in about 30 seconds to aid the fight against the Covenant, an alien race who had just landed on Earth. Already on the ground was an elite fighter codenamed Sierra 117, who, rumor has it, was part of the elite Spartan-II project. The Spartan IIs were biologically-enhanced super soldiers, who fought against any enemy of the UNSC. They had a near-flawless record, until the Covenant invaded Reach, the UNSC’s main military base. Every available Spartan fought against the Covenant. Almost all of them died.
Now, the remaining super-soldiers should be on the ground, defending their home planet. He checked his countdown timer.
10 seconds until his HEV was jettisoned from Earth orbit into space.
Jacobs turned on his comm and got in touch with his squad. “10 seconds to drop. The weather in Mombassa is sunny, with a 100 percent chance of Helljumpers kicking ass and taking names.” He checked the countdown timer.
“Drop in 3... 2...”
Seven HEVs were launched from the belly of Before Sundown and into the void of space, beginning their free-fall into Earth’s atmosphere.
Jacobs monitored his squad’s vital signs. Everyone was doing fine. The heart rates of three members of his squad were riding high due to nervousness, but otherwise, everyone was fine. He wished he could use radio built into his helmet (his comm) to contact his squad mates to calm them down, but they had to maintain comm silence in order to preserve the secrecy of their mission.
Jacobs ran an overview of the mission in his head. Once they landed, they were to clear the landing zone (LZ) of any Covenant and immediately set up a base camp. From there, they were supposed to clear the area of all Covenant until they reached the Mombassa Space Elevator. From there, they were supposed to retrieve the Smart AIs. Smart AI were AI which were adapted for special purposes, like keeping track of the activities of New Mombassa’s massive port, utilizing the cities’ defenses, and, in space, performing complex calculations to jump to Slipspace, faster-than-light travel, and just making sure the ship ran as well as it should. There were two in Mombassa, and they were supposed to be retrieved from the Elevator, as well as the Superintendent, another AI who managed New Mombassa and whose databanks held critical information, and then the team was supposed to comm the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) for further instructions.
The HEVs were in the upper atmosphere and things were running hot. Jacobs immediately initiated the cooling cycles in all of his squads’ HEVs to keep the temperatures in the non-heat-shielded pods under a bearable 105 degrees. If these pods were not cooled down, the heat inside could reach over 300 degrees: not a pleasant experience.
Now the heart rates quickened in two more marines. Only he and Corporal Lopez kept their cool. Their fears were justified, as a HEV was not the safest vehicle to enter into an atmosphere, with a 50/50 chance of survival. However, that’s why they were the Helljumpers, jumping feet first into hell.
The LZ seemed remotely clear. There were several cannon-fodder Grunts and maybe two or three Elites. The Grunts, while five feet tall and very strong, were easily scared and had to rely on methane breathers, as they could not breathe oxygen. Overall, they would be no problem. The Elites, however, were seven feet tall, had energy shields which could absorb gunfire, and were as strong as any Spartan-II. The grunts were fanatically loyal to them, but they would panic once their leaders were gone. The Elites were the first target, and he relayed the info to his squad via their computer screens.
His screen gave him the projected time until landing, 45 seconds, approximately. He set the computers to deploy the air brakes in 5 seconds and began to brace for impact.
Jacobs surveyed the LZ again. This time, however, he caught glimpse of Brutes working alongside the Elites. He swore. Brutes were tough-as-nails, and while they were unshielded, they “berserked” easily and turned into near-invincible bullet sponges. Moreover, these ones weren’t just any Brutes; they had the Brutes’ new power armor, which made them even more deadly. He began to relay the information to his squad when the screen turned a bright red. His airbrakes had failed.
He immediately began to compensate, trying to deploy them manually. Another failure. They weren’t going to deploy. Jacobs began to panic; the pod wasn’t going to slow down enough.
He was about to open his comm and tell his team, but he was under strict comm silence. Their drop had to be secret. He was to die silently. The power in his HEV began to flicker.
His HEV impacted with tremendous force. Jacobs was slammed to the ground. He tried to move, but his body wouldn’t let him. Immediately the Covenant ran over to his pod. The circuitry in his HEV flickered and went out as darkness overcame him. The door of his HEV popped open and fell to the ground. The last thing in this universe that he saw was the Grunt that ran into his pod and smashed in his face.
Corporal Lopez monitored her teammate’s vitals closely as they went down on their drop. All HEVs were functioning normally, and, aside from some normal drop nervousness (Falling from space in what is essentially a lightly armored tin can is nerve-racking, even for the toughest of people), everyone was doing fine. Her computer relayed to her the situation: 14 Grunts, 2 Elites. Seven Grunts per Elite. Take out the Elites and the Grunts go down easy. While it will be tough to kill the Elites, it isn’t impossible. There were a total of seven people in the squad, each armed with an Assault Rifle, SMG, or a Battle Rifle like the one she had. It would be easy work.
Her airbrakes deployed on time, slowing her descent. She checked her vitals again, and she noticed her Commander, Sergeant Jacobs, was panicking. His HEV had an error: his airbrakes had failed catastrophically. Her computer plotted his chances of survival at 3.1459%. She took the intiative and began to transfer command over to herself. Even if he lived, the Covenant would get to him long before they could, and the ODSTs had a mission to accomplish
Her HEV touched down hard. She checked everyone’s vital signs. Her Sergeant’s vitals were declining. She knew he wasn’t going to make it. Everyone else’s vitals were fine. She issued the command to pop their hatches. The HEV’s doors on all the Helljumpers popped off and fell to the ground.
The LZ was hot. Immediately, her squad was under fire from all directions. “Spread out and return fire!” She barked to her squad.
They were in a city, from the looks of the buildings, Old Mombassa in Kenya. Nearly every sign on the buildings told the residents of Old Mombassa to evacuate, save a couple of billboards. The HEVs had crashed through three separate buildings in their descent, before landing in a mostly empty courtyard surrounded by buildings. In the center of the courtyard was a statue of a man on a horse holding a sword high, next to a fairly large lake. Lopez also noticed that the Helljumpers, in their descent, had smashed through a sign advertising the new Warthog jeep, formerly a military vehicle, but was now adapted for civilian use. The sign flickered a few times, and sparks flew in all directions.
She ran behind her HEV and began to return fire. Her late Sergeant was correct, 14 Grunts, 2 Elites. She began to fire on the right Elite. He ducked behind cover and barked something to the Grunts, who immediately charged toward her. She shot three of the Grunts in the head and dove away from her HEV when she saw one of the Grunts holding a blue sphere. A plasma grenade.
Plasma grenades are unlike human fragmentation grenades because they stick to things and blow up. Once armed, they will stick to any object emanating heat and light a three-second fuse, and Grunts are notoriously good aimers.
The plasma grenade flew over her HEV and landed where she was less than three seconds ago. Lopez curled up behind her Sergeant’s HEV and took aim at the Elite again. However, this time, there was a new enemy alongside the Elite, three Brutes, in full power armor with another team of seven Grunts. She swore. This fight just got a lot harder.
The last time that Corporal Lopez crossed paths with a Brute, it wiped out all of her squad mates. She took it out at the very last second, completed her mission, and got out.
She hid behind the HEV and checked her teammate’s vitals.
Private Jones was doing okay. By far, he was the most panicked of the marines, but he wasn’t hit.
Private Hicks was on a combat high. He exchanged fire just to her right with a pair of Grunts. “Cover me!” She yelled. Jones shot a burst from his Battle Rifle over her shoulder and pegged a Grunt in the head, making it fall to the ground.
Private Peterson had taken a hit, but he was still breathing and fighting to the best of his abilities.
Private McCormick, the Irishman of the squad, was sneaking up ahead, trying to flank the Covenant. They had not noticed him yet, but as soon as he made any sort of sound, they would.
Corporal Lance, whose HEV had landed farther away behind the Covenant, was accompanying Private McCormick in flanking the Covenant. Corporal Lopez stuck her head out from behind the HEV and watched as the two attacked the left Elite from behind.
The Elite was taken by total surprise. Immediately, he began firing at the two. However, McCormick and Lance overpowered him and brought him to the ground. A quick battle rifle 3-shot burst finished him off.
However, there was still the other Elite to worry about, as well as the Brutes.
“All squads! Redirect fire on those Brutes!” Lopez screamed.
The Helljumpers cut loose on the Brutes who were just getting in formation. Lance’s accuracy on the Assault Rifle hit a critical system on one of the Brutes’ power armors and caused it to fail and fracture. The Brutes weren’t too happy. Three of them pulled out the Brutes’ equivalent to a grenade launcher, the Brute Shot. The leader of the Brutes, the Chieftain, pulled out a very large hammer from his back and charged.
The ODSTs all opened fire on the hammer-wielding Brute. The bullets bounced off the Brute like nothing, and it kept coming. It swung the hammer, missing the Helljumpers, but the impact from the hammer sent anything within a two-foot radius flying.
Hicks separated from the rest of the Helljumpers, trying to flank the Brute. Unfortunately, her plan backfired, as it decided to come after her.
Hicks panicked. She shot wildly and managed to shoot off the Brute’s headress. This just proceeded to make the Brute angrier. She tried to fire at the Brute, but her gun was jammed. She dropped her SMG in favor of a Covenant Plasma Rifle she found on the ground. She sent off several more bullets at the Brute as the other ODSTs tried to back her up. She narrowly dodged a blast from the Brute’s hammer, and a blue sphere flew towards where she just was and tagged the Brute in the chest.
A grunt had just accidentally stuck its leader, the Brute Chieftan. The Brute roared with rage as the Plasma Grenade detonated, killing the Brute. Immediately, every Covenant soldier in the area turned against the Grunt, and it was overwhelmed and killed by a combination of Covenant and Human forces. The ODSTs focused more on the Brutes. There were still three Brutes remaining, one of which lacked power armor.
The ODSTs kept up their fire on the Brutes. Another set of power armor failed and fractured. The Helljumpers had to keep on their toes to dodge the continual stream of Brute Shot grenades. Eventually, the third Brute’s power armor failed, and the three of them berserked. They charged recklessly at incredible speed towards the ODSTs, but they were all gunned down before they were close enough to wipe out the entire squad of Marines.
Finally, the Helljumpers could focus on the Elite. Peterson lobbed a grenade at the Elite’s feet, and the Elite attempted to dodge out of the way.
However, the Elite was just a tiny bit too late, as the grenade brought down the energy shields protecting it. Battle rifle bullets from Lopez shot it in the chest a few times, and it roared at the ODSTs. It attempted to charge them, but the coordination of the squad of Helljumpers brought down the Elite before it could get too close.
Lopez reloaded, took off her helmet and held it over her heart to mourn the late Sergeant Jacobs. The sickening and all-too-familiar stench of a mix of gunpowder and plasma filled the air. She replaced her helmet and checked her squad using her heads-up display (HUD). There were no major injuries from the skirmish, Peterson had been nicked by a plasma blast, but was healing it with one of the squad’s medkits. The Helljumpers were functional.
Lopez checked for any stragglers hiding nearby, then she ducked behind a crate and commed the nearest Commander in the area.
“This is Helljumper Omega squad. LZ is secure, all Covenant forces have been neutralized,” she said, looking around and staring at all the scorch marks and the sign the HEVs blasted through in their landing, “and the city’s not going to be happy about the paycheck for the damage we caused. Sergeant Jacobs is no longer with us. This is Corporal Lopez assuming the position of CO. We are requesting a Pelican dropship for supply drop-off.”
Commander Miranda Keyes’ voice blared over the comm. “Roger that, Omega Squad. A Pelican will drop supplies shortly.”
“Thank you, Commander.” Lopez turned off her comm and spoke to her squad. “Everyone, assume defensive position beta. We need to hold out until supplies can arrive.”
Corporal Lance pointed to the sky and spoke up. “Ma’am!”
A shadow fell over the LZ, and the Helljumpers shifted their gazes skyward. A large Covenant Assault Carrier was dropping off Covenant drop pods. Eight of them.
Lopez assessed the situation and barked out orders. “Everyone find cover! Move, move, move!”
The Helljumpers made dashes for cover. Lopez ran behind her crate to an abandoned and scorched bus.
As the shadow from the Covenant carrier lifted, the eight Covenant drop pods slammed into the ground. Eight Elites walked out.
The Helljumpers opened fire.
One of the Elites jumped back, just narrowly avoiding the spray of bullets. It roared at the Helljumpers before it pressed a button its wrist and disappeared.
The seven other Elites did the same.
“They’ve got active camo!” Lance yelled.
The ODSTs shot at where the Elites were before they engaged their active camouflage cloaking devices, but to no avail.
“Keep yer eyes peeled.” McCormick said gruffly.
There was a slight shimmer behind Private Jones in the corner of McCormick’s eye.
“Aye, bonnie lad, behind ya!”
The ODSTs all opened fire on where the shimmer was. The Elite’s active camouflage flickered and failed, revealing the gold armor of an Elite Zealot. It held its chest and emitted a guttural roar before igniting its energy sword.
The ODSTs slowly started to back away. The energy sword would be able to penetrate through the thickest of armors without hesitation, and would surely be able to cut any one of them in half.
Suddenly, seven other energy swords materialized out of thin air, hissing as if they were a thousand snakes. The ODSTs were surrounded.
“OPEN FIRE!” Lopez screamed.
The decloaked Zealot made a lunge for McCormick. McCormick sidestepped out of the charging Elite’s path and put a clip of SMG bullets into the Elite’s back, bringing down its shields.
The Zealot turned around and growled at McCormick. It was pissed.
McCormick didn’t even bother to reload. He tossed aside his SMG and went fist-to-fist with the Elite.
That was a foolish mistake. The Zealot pushed McCormick to the ground. It held its energy sword high and advanced slowly for the killing blow.
McCormick looked up at the Elite with fiery determination in his eyes. It came closer. Closer. Close-
A three-shot battle rifle burst from Jones flew through the Zealot’s head, killing it.
McCormick got up and picked up his SMG, reloading it and targeting one of the shimmering energy swords that were now charging at them. He opened fire, but the Elite continued its advance.
“SCATTER!” Lopez commanded.
The ODSTs ran out from their now-compromised cover in different directions from the Elites. A couple ODSTs took potshots at the Elites as they ran.
Jones took cover behind a ruined sign advertising the new Warthog jeep to the west of the courtyard where they were fighting the Elites. He had hoped the sparks flying off the sign would mask him. He hid in the sign’s shadow.
A pale purplish glow bounced off the wall to Jones’ right. One of the Elites was coming to investigate. A lone energy sword, seemingly floating in mid-air with only a faint shimmer around its wielder, appeared behind the sign. It slowly appeared in front of Jones and advanced, searching for the humans it knew were nearby. Jones stayed perfectly still, not even daring to breathe.
The Elite looked around in the sign’s shadow. Jones took a step back and accidentally kicked a rock.
The Energy Sword turned towards him. It slowly crept forward, investigating the cause of the noise.
It inched closer and closer to his location. The tip of the blade was a few inches to Jones’ left. If it turned its head, the light from the sword would bounce off Jones’ armor and it would see him.
Suddenly, in the Covenant tongue, “WORT WORT WORT!”
Thankfully, it didn’t come from the Elite that was now almost breathing on Jones. That Elite turned around and ran off towards their new leader, who had made the call of discovery.
Jones poked his head out from the wall and watched as the Elites all gathered in one corner of the courtyard and seemingly advanced towards an unknown object, likely an ODST. Jones shot at the back of the Elite that was breathing on him just moments before. It turned and barked the same shout of discovery as the other Elite did.
Jones swore and took off running. The crackling noise of more gunshots penetrated the group of Elites in that was gathering in the corner of the courtyard. Jones saw three ODSTs who were fighting valiantly against the Elites. One of the swords fell to the ground, accompanied by the now dead Elite that was holding it. Jones took more potshots at the Elites as he joined the group of ODSTs. A sudden pain ran through his back as an Energy Sword sliced through the rear of his armor.
“Jones!” Private Hicks cried.
Assault Rifle bullets flew out from behind Jones and killed the Elite that just was about to sever Jones’ spine. Jones turned and saw that Lance was the source of the bullets. Jones smiled at Lance from behind his helmet and fell to the ground.
Lopez and Lance joined the group of ODSTs that was still shooting at the Elites, and the group moved to cover Jones. Aside from Jones’ injury, the squad had taken no hits in their short time apart.
There were still three Elites, and there were five Helljumpers, plus an injured comrade. This was going to be a long fight, unless supplies arrived soon-
The voice of a female Pelican pilot came over the radio. “Delta 77, on approach.”
Lopez, amid the gunshots all around her, turned on her comm. “Roger that, Delta 77. We’re in a bit of a situation here.”
A ghostly whirring noise developed in the distance.
Echo 77’s voice came over the radio. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
The ghostly whirring noise grew closer. It sounded like it was coming from the spiritual realm, almost like a spirit or a-
“BANSHEE!” Lopez yelled.
The whirring noise flew right over their heads, as a Covenant Banshee fighter flew above them and circled in the courtyard. The main Banshee fighter was shaped like a duck’s bill, with two V-shaped extrusions emerging from both sides of the belly. It was armed with dual plasma cannons and an explosive fuel rod gun. It found the ODSTs, cornered by Elites, and screamed towards them.
Plasma peppered the Helljumpers’ position, turning the aspalt under their feet into glass. The Helljumpers ran for cover, keeping suppressive fire up on the Elites still pestering them. Lopez dove behind a nearby dumpster. A green burst from the fuel rod hit the garbage container, melting a hole through it and causing the entire dumpster to become white-hot. Lopez ran from her cover and got behind a pillar.
Lance scurried to find something to destroy the damn thing. Blisters formed up and down his back as the plasma impacted all around him. A blue sphere was on the ground nearby. He snatched it and dove out in front of the Banshee. The twin anti-gravity boosters on each side glowed a bright purple as the ‘Shee accelerated, hoping to earn a kill by splattering him all over the front end of the craft.
His timing had to be just right.
As the demon flyer got ever closer, Lance armed and threw his plasma grenade.
The sphere lumbered through the air, heading straight for the Banshee… But then the ‘Shee made an evasive roll to the right. It was a clean miss, and Lance watched as the grenade exploded in the distance.
But there was always Plan B.
The Banshee roared towards him. Lance faced it down, waiting for an opportune moment. The pilot was caught unaware as Lance sidestepped the incoming Banshee, grabbing ahold of its wing and using it to hoist himself on top. The pilot, surprised, pulled up as Lance took aim and fired at the Elite inside. There was a flash as the pilot’s shields failed, before a sudden loop threw Lance from the Banshee. Lance tumbled into the lake in the center of the Helljumpers’ battle arena.
The Banshee looped up over the buildings and out of sight. The sounds of SMGs still rang across the arena as two of the Helljumpers kept the Elites at bay. Ripples formed in the lake as Lance dragged himself out from its center and lumbered over to where the Helljumpers were making their stand.
A Pelican dropship flew out from over the tops of the buildings and into the courtyard. As if it had sensed a new and more important target, the Banshee flew out from behind the buildings above them and targeted it. Dual blasts of plasma hit the dropship in the engines. The right engine ignited.
The dropship began to spin wildly out of control. The military-grade Warthog Jeeps it carried came out of the drop ship and smashed into the ground. The Pelican smashed into the Banshee with full force, and the heat of the fire and the force of the impact forged the two metals into one. The wreckage tumbled over and over in the air before slamming into the ground. Metal began to grind against rock as the remains of the Pelican skid towards the Elites and the Helljumpers at a blistering pace. The Elites, stunned, momentarily stopped their advance and turned towards the wreckage.
The wreckage landed and skidded at high speed towards the Helljumpers. It mowed down the Elites, who attempted to dodge the wreckage, but were just a fraction of a second too late. The Helljumpers stood still in the face of the oncoming malestorm of wreckage, and the sound of grinding metal slowed and came to a halt a meter in front of Corporal Lopez, who was the closest ODST to the wreckage.
Lopez took off her helmet and held it over her heart at the loss of the Pelican pilot. She then replaced it and picked through the wreckage for anything salvageable. Two medpacks were on the ground from the wreckage, but overall, the Pelican was a total loss. She turned towards the Warthogs that fell from the Pelican when it spun out of control.
The two ‘Hogs were both still there, and, aside from a few dents from tumbling through the air, were both intact. With each jeep holding three soldiers each, it was just enough.
Lopez’s HUD flickered and came back again. Checking her armor readout, critical components had taken heavy damage and were beginning to fail. She began to take off her ODST uniform, exposing the typical UNSC soldier’s uniform underneath. Jones, whose armor was at a total loss when the Elite attacked him, had already done the same. Currently, he also was using a medpack to heal his injuries as he began getting back up from where he fell.
“Everyone in the ‘Hogs” Lopez said.
She took the driver seat of one of the ‘Hogs, Lance took the driver seat of the other. McCormick got in the Gunner seat as Jones got in the side seat, opting to ride shotgun as the medpack he used took full effect. Privates Hicks and Peterson got in the gunner and side seats of Lance’s ‘Hog, respectively. Lopez gassed the Warthog jeep and took off down the narrow street, followed closely by Lance.
NopYap the Grunt didn’t want to be here. He had been eating from his food nipple in the Covenant Cruiser quite peacefully when the big mean Brutes ripped him off it and stuffed him inside a Covenant Phantom dropship.
Now he was assigned to guard duty on this backwater planet with a group of Brutes and Jackals. Hopefully the Demon, spoken of in human tongues as “Spartan”, wouldn’t come.
In the distance, he heard the noise of human jeeps. He poked his head up and sniffed the air. There was no denying it. The humans were coming.
“RUN!” Nopyap screamed.
The two human jeeps broke through the Covenant blockade and the humans on the chaingun started shooting whatever the drivers of the jeeps hadn’t splattered. Luckily, the Brutes weren’t wearing power armor and went down without too much trouble.
“To the space elevator to finish our mission. Move out.” Lopez said.
A pink beam flew through the air and hit McCormick in the head. His head exploded and his body toppled off the chaingun turret of Lopez’s ‘Hog.
“SNIPERS! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!” Lopez said. Lopez and Lance gunned the Warthog’s engines and took off down the street. They skidded to a stop. Blocking their path was two hulking pieces of armor, each equipped with a gigantic blade offering further protection to the fragile worm colonies which are contained within the armor.
Lopez cursed under her breath.
They had found Hunters. Hunters are by far the strongest and most resilient species in the Covenant, and these ones stood thirteen feet tall.
A powerful fuel rod laser is integrated directly into the Hunter’s armor, capable of incenerating anything in their path after a short charge. For close range, they carry an enormous and nearly-impervious metal shield. This shield protects them from almost every form of plasma-based or ballistic weaponry available to Covenant and Human infantry alike, and is also a powerful melee tool capable of crushing anything in its path. The Hunter also has a surprising burst of speed when it moves in for the kill, making them the deadly walking tanks of the Covenant armada. And the worst part: they always fought in pairs.
Lopez quickly gunned the ‘Hog’s powerful engine and made a sharp left down a side street to dodge the Hunters. Lance was close on her heels doing the same. The Hunters took a quick shot at the moving ‘Hogs, but both the Warthogs evaded the potshots and made their escape and headed towards the bridge connecting Old and New Mombassa, from which they would head to their final destination, the space elevator.
Finally, they reached the lengthy suspension bridge which separate Old Mombasa from New Mombasa. There was a tremendous shaking behind the Warthogs, as if successive earthquakes were continuously trembling the ground under their feet. The five Helljumpers turned to witness the appearance of a large, mechanical purple spider. Its single “eye” fired a bright green beam at a Scorpion tank, one of the most powerful and heavily armored vehicles in their arsenal. In a sea of wreckage and flames, the tank was obliterated. The wreckage flew away from the spider as if someone had flicked a paper football across the room. The burning wreckage flew over the Helljumper’s heads and landed in the water under the New Mombassa Bridge.
It was a Marine’s worst nightmare. The Covenant’s deadly Scarab tank was here.
Lopez jumped out of the driver seat and opened fire on the approaching Scarab with her Warthog’s .50 caliber bullets. The bullets did nothing to the Scarab as the giant spider continued its slow advance. Jones grabbed the Sniper Rifle found in the glove compartment of Lopez’s Warthog and hopped out. He got in position and began to take shots at the Scarab.
“GET THE ROCKETS!” Lopez ordered, panic slowly creeping into her voice.
“Yes Ma’am!” Lance’s trembling voice replied replied over the roar of the two Warthogs’ chainguns. He started to get out-
Then the Scarab’s giant green laser beam hit his ‘Hog. Lance and all the Helljumpers in Lance’s Warthog were killed instantly. Jones, who was lying prone nearby, was tossed away as if he were a toy.
“LANCE!” Lopez yelled.
Lopez dismounted the ‘Hog and dove towards the rocket launcher, which was now scattered on the ground. She picked up the rocket launcher and began to unload every single last rocket in every one of the remaining clips they had as the Scarab passed over the remaining Helljumpers. She watched as each rocket impacted with enough force to devestate a Warthog or obliberate a Ghost. There wasn’t even a scratch on the Scarab‘s armor.
She tossed aside the rockets and picked up Jones’ sniper rifle. She kept up her fire on the Scarab, but the sniper proved useless. She turned to Jones, who was unconscious. She quickly searched her medkit and revived Jones. Slowly, the marine came back to consciousness.
“You hit?” Lopez asked.
“No.”
“Good. Stay here. You and I are the last Helljumpers in our squad. Unless we find help… Looks like our mission‘s over.” Lopez walked over to a toll booth and began to watch the Scarab as it crossed the bridge.
Private Jones was on the ground, breathing erratically.
He watched as Sierra 117, the “Master Chief” himself, a living legend and one of the very last Spartan IIs, stepped over him towards Corporal Lopez.
Corporal Lopez explained the situation to the Master Chief.
“It blew right through us. 50-cal, rockets, didn't do a thing.” She and the Chief watched as the Scarab disappeared over the bridge and out of sight.
Suddenly, a Pelican appeared and dropped off a tank. The Chief must have sent for it. A black marine appeared, emblazoned with the rank of Sergeant Major on his armor.
“Where's the rest of your platoon?”
“Wasted, Sarge.” Lopez replied.
Jones butted in, still in a panic.
“And we will be, too, sir, if we don't get the hell outta here!”
The Sergeant put his hand on Jones’ shoulder.
“You hit, Marine?” He asked.
“N-no, Sir.”
“Then, listen up! When I joined the Corps, we didn't have any fancy-shmancy tanks. We had sticks! Two sticks, and a rock for the whole platoon - and we had to share the rock! Buck up, boy, you're one very lucky Marine!”
“What about that Scarab?” Lopez inquired.
“We've all run the simulations, they're tough, but they ain't invincible. Stay with the Master Chief, he'll know what to do.”
“Yes, sir, Sergeant!”
Suddenly, the almost-human voice of an AI came over the speakers. The Chief had a Smart AI with him, the same type of AI that the marine’s mission was to retrieve.
“Thanks for the tank. He never gets me anything.”
The Sergeant replied with a smirk, and said coolly, “Oh, I know what the ladies like.”
Lopez sighed deeply and jumped on the side of the tank as the Master Chief climbed into the cockpit.
