"INCOMING!"
Posted By: Tycho [OSC]<eaglsfanatic@halo-net.com>
Date: 19 January 2000, 6:59 p.m.
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They sky lit up again as more hot plasma landed in the trenches, its roar drowning out the screams of a few more marines of the 109th Light Recon. In the light of the blast one could make out the outlines of the Covenant forces making its way across no-mans land through the barbed wire and pitfalls. Our squad opened fire on the few shadows we saw our side of the bunker, dropping only one alien before they reached the trenches. The fight was now hand - to - hand, and it seemed to be a fight that the few, but resolute ,marine survivors could only hope to win.
It had been what seemed to be a standard "drop and pop" mission when the 109th Light Recon had been handed its orders. The 109th were to be dropped 50 klicks away from the local marine HQ with orders to scout out a sighted Covenant scout force and engage them. The 109th had been assigned a detachment of specially trained and equipped commandos to deal with any armoured threat that the Covenant may posses. It all began well with a by-the-book deployment and initial recon of the surrounding terrain.
This was the third straight day of combat that the holed up marines had seen., and the sighted Covenant reinforcements weren't going to make this any easier. The fighting was thick all up and down the line of trenches that the marines were defending. As the aliens started jumping down into my squads portion of the trench we let loose with one last hail of shots before we had to draw our knifes and pistols. Two more of the enemy were gunned down by the fierce hail of deadly accurate shots before they were upon us. A good friend of mine was cut down right next to me as he struggled against the stuck pistol in its holster. A strange calm had come over me as the fighting had gotten closer, I could hear, smell, and even taste everything around me with perfect clarity. I could almost count the number of blood droplets that fell from my comrades severed arm as I pumped round after round into his attacker. The world around me was in total chaos , yet I seemed to experience everything in slow motion.
The trouble began as soon as we set foot into an unused marine bunker. It was a solid bunker, made from a hill with trenches extending around its base and with a wide killing ground cut from the forest in almost 100 metres in all directions. As the 3rd Squad was laying out new barbed wire around the perimeter the call was given to prepare for combat, the Covenent were on their way. We managed to finish preparing our defenses before the first Covenant group were sighted on a cliff face overlooking the shallow valley we were in. Less than 30 minutes later the assault had begun.
I turned to face a large, very ugly and mean looking, alien appearing as if it were about to drive its plasma knife through my chest. As my training took over I ducked into a tumble that brought me under the sweep of the plasma knife and through the big bugs defenses. I drove my pistol into the things chest and let loose on an entire clip before the thing finally dropped over. I didn't have time to reload as another Covenant Shock Trooper tackled me to the muddy ground. I saw everything clearly, as if it were scripted and I had seen it thousands of times before. I was about to pick up my combat knife when the alien was suddenly lifted from on top of my body by the rest of my squad. My squadmates had cleared the trench of this wave of assailants, and much to my surprise only three more marines were out of action along our line. When I looked up out of the trenches I saw that the Covenant forces were retreating to the treeline, no doubt massing for another attack. I wondered how long we had until another wave would come to try to remove us from this rock.
The Covenant had sent in its flyers first. Those odd looking, ungainly contraptions were small and lightly armoured - but what they made up in defenses the pilots made up for in skill and speed. Just five of those Zartspeeders ( ha ha ) had managed to kill and entire squad before the remainder of the division had shot them out of our sky. Just as the wreckage hit the ring the second wave hit us. Hundreds of alien warriors swarmed out of the forest, screaming their hate with bellows of rage. The pitfalls and barbed wire we had set up managed to tangle up the attacking force about 20 metres away from out line. With a single united cry, the 109th gave battle to the aliens.
It was nearly 6 hours and well into the morning hours before we even heard anything emanating from the treeline and Covenant battle lines. I was sipping healing stimulants with my squad when I heard that our commandos had manages to sabotage the enemies artillery, and possibly delay them until our supposed reinforcements arrived. I was about to go to the 'fresher when I heard a loud boom hiss that was the trademark of the Covenants plasma artillery. So much for the commandos. I ran back to my place in the line and awaited the next wave of alien warriors. My buddy next to me asked inquisitively :
"See any good Holovids lately Conrad?"
"Nope, didn't get into the rec bunker back at HQ before we were shipped off" I replied, just as the shots of the rifles of the attacking warriors arced past us.
"too bad, I was hoping to see that new one with Calib Durst"
Across the lines one word was cried.
"INCOMING!!"
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