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Taking Halo: Chapter One, Hot Drop
Posted By: Steele<hoffmansteele@hotmail.com>
Date: 12 April 2003, 9:03 PM
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Taking Halo: (Chapter 1) Hot Drop!
Dramatis Personae:
Colonel William Jenkins—1st *MAS Battalion Commanding officer
Major Jason Reynolds—1st MAS Battalion Executive officer
1st Captain James Armstrong—Bravo Company Commander
Gunnery Sergeant Patrick Myers—Bravo Company 1st Sergeant
Staff Sergeant Matthew Duncan—Bravo Company Sniper
Specialist Nicholas Moore—Bravo Company Demolitions Expert
Colonel Rick Santinez—2nd Armored Calvary Battalion Commander
Captain Greg Weaver—Commander of the Roost
Lako 'Ikaptammue—Covenant Ship Master
Karen Hunt—UWN (Universal Wide News) Reporter tasked to the UNSC Roost
*MAS—Mechanized Armored Suit
0100 Hours, November 1, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
UNSC Roost, unknown system, near 2nd located Halo
Colonel William Jenkins knew this was going to be a tough mission. He could feel it in his bones. He wasn't the type to believe in fate and whatnot. He just had experience and he knew when ONI said, "There's been some slight miscalculation..." they really meant, "Alright boys, we've fucked up big time and we're sending you in to become cannon fodder to make the politicians happy." He also knew this was one of those times.
The Office of Naval Intelligence officer, a tall pasty-white man with a sharp nose and glasses, surveyed the crowded room with a glance and continued, "The 1st MAS Battalion will be deployed near what we believe is the control room. They will then proceed to take and hold the control room at all costs. Once we have complete control over the control room, reinforcements will be sent to reinforce the control room.
"Meanwhile the 2nd Armored Calvary will wipe out remaining Covenant forces on the ringworld. Once the control room is secured the 1st MAS Battalion will proceed to the Library and surrounding areas to make sure the Flood is still contained. We do not know if there is even any Flood here. If there are Flood make sure they are contained, and do not, whatever you do, let them feed. This is extremely important.
"Next the 1st MAS Battalion will retrieve the Index. If there is a Monitoring AI Construct, capture it. We know from the first Halo that they can be psychotic, so watch out. The Roost will remain in orbit and hold off any Covenant ships. We still don't know why there weren't any already here.
"Other than that, there isn't too much to say other than—Good Luck!" The ONI Commander saluted and left the room, leaving the 1st MAS Battalion's and the 2nd Armored Cav's officers in an uproar.
Jenkins stood up and faced his Battalion officers, "Alright gentlemen you heard the man. All assignments should be uploaded to your APA by now. If you have any questions talk to my AI, Raja. We drop in an hour, so suit up, prepare your companies, and get to your SEVs (Suit Entry Vehicles)."
Jenkins followed his officers out and went to get suited up. He hustled through the Roost's enormous walkways until he reached the Engineering/Bay area, and walked in. He walked over and took a moment to grin at his suit.
The Mechanized Armored Suit was the answer to a super soldier. Spartans took way too much time and money to train to be used in large numbers, so the MAS had become the answer. It was a large two ton, seven foot tall slab of metal. The suit was shaped like a human, except its head was just a spherical dome viewport. The Suits were very tough. They could pick up a Scorpion Main Battle Tank and hurl it. They were also indestructible to most infantry. They didn't have shields, but their armor could easily stop Plasma bolts and grenades. The only infantry danger came from Fuel Rod Guns, and they could only knock a suit out of commission for a short while.
The MAS had been designed to destroy enemy armor, but it was quickly discovered that they could wipe out large numbers of standard infantry with ease. Their only faults were that they were extremely expensive—one suit was as much as ten Scorpion Tanks, and that they required extensive training.
Jenkins popped his suit and hopped in. The cool inner liquid gel sent a chill through his spine. The suit closed up around him, and he felt the slim needle inject into the base of his skull—straight into his neural interface. The suit whirred to life, its fusion generator pumping power through the suit's systems.
The suit was controlled from his neural interface. Basically it read his thoughts and moved accordingly, it also cut his reaction time down to one-fifth of the normal. A tech walked up to his suit, punched in a few numbers on his APA, and gave him a thumbs up. Jenkins dropped his helmet in place and walked out of the suit harness.
The two-ton suit moved without a sound. It seemed to float gracefully across the floor. He walked over to the armory and grabbed his weapons. The first was a large rifle, the MA7C. The MA7C consisted of a long barrel, a magazine, and a pistol grip. The weapon weighed over 80 pounds and was only used by MAS units, because it was too heavy for anyone not wearing a suit. It used a 12.7x99mm bullet in a 50 round clip. The weapon had four modes of fire: Single, Burst, Auto, and Grenade.
Jenkins ammo was stored in special 'compartments' on the suit and was easily accessible. He grabbed his backup weapon. The M6E pistol was an enlarged version of the standard M6D pistol. It was a lot bigger and used a 14.5mm round. But other than those two differences it was basically the same, except for an increased range.
This was just the standard armament. The suits could be equipped with a number of weapons, including artillery. These suits, nicknamed Artys, were equipped with two 80mm mortars with twenty rounds apiece. While their direct fire weapons were rather weak, at range nothing could smother a target with fire better.
There were also other types of suits, including: Demolitions, Sniper, Heavy Weapons, Mine Remover/Layer, Medic, Scouts, and Fliers. The battalion consisted of 600 suited troops without support personal. The 600 were divided up into four companies: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta. Each company consisted of 150 personnel divided into 3 platoons. Each platoon was divided into three squads consisting of twelve troops. The remaining suits were support suits and special operations suits.
Used effectively, suits could wipe out forces ten times their size with light casualties. The suits only fault was cost. This was going to be the first mission in which the suits were deployed in a combat situation and would make or break them.
After equipping himself properly, Jenkins got into the SEV and waited for the drop, which was two minutes away. A tech came to check on him and he flipped him the OK sign. After what seemed like an interminable wait a green light popped on in his HUD and his SEV disengaged from the Roost, reached minimum safe distance, and rocketed down toward Halo's surface.
Halo was a giant ring, the inside covered with a mix of greens, browns, reds, and blues. It was a technological marvel. Whoever had built it sure knew what they had been doing.
Jenkins SEV hit the atmosphere and shook from the turbulence. The inside heated up to over 100 degrees, but inside his suit, Jenkins was nice and comfortable. Helljumpers drop in without a suit, I feel sorry for those poor bastards. He looked out over the land and was amazed by its beauty. After the war these things sure will make nice vacation spots. If there are any humans left.
Raja his AI, spoke, "Colonel, based on telemetry data from the Roost plus my analysis, it appears the Control room will be about 3 kilometers from where you land. Your company should land near you. Hector, the Roost's AI, did an excellent job on drop coordinates."
"Thanks for the useless info," Jenkins mumbled. A moment later the SEV's skin sloughed off and the alloy crash cage revealed itself and deployed its airfoil chute. Raja sent a signal to the rest of the SEVs and they all oriented themselves so they'd all land less than a kilometer apart.
Colonel Jenkins's SEV hit the ground perfectly. He extricated himself from the SEVs wreckage and gathered his supplies. While waiting for his Battalion to group up, he used Raja and what sensors she had control of to check out the terrain.
Around him, a red windswept desert reached out in all directions. To his left there was a large canyon with bridges running across the top, held up by electrical blue traction beams. At each end of the bridge was a large weather worn door. Through that canyon or those bridges, he knew was the control room. But based on reports from the first Halo the control room had been located in an area with a very artic climate. Well, I guess the weather systems are natural, Cortana seems to think so.
He didn't have to wait long for the rest of his battalion, almost before he had finished surveying the area, Bravo Company had come sprinting down the hill, their suits carrying them at 70mph speeds. Captain James Armstrong jogged down the hill and stopped right in front of him, his suit knocking up dust, and saluted.
Jenkins returned the salute crisply and asked, "You seen Major Reynolds?"
"Last I heard, he landed with Charlie Company, but by now he's probably back with Alpha and on the way here. Delta was right behind us, sir," James said, his voice betraying his anxiety.
Beneath his suit, Jenkins pursed his lips. "Hmmm...Okay, I want Bravo to secure the LZ, but be ready to move out when the other companies get here. Did you detect any sign of Covenant activity?"
"No sir," James answered and ran off, shouting orders.
"Strange...me either," Jenkins said to himself. "Raja check with the Roost, see if her long-range sensors can detect anything."
"Checking...Roost detects no Covenant activity. But be advised, before we dropped in system, our scout ship, Prowler, reported two Covenant Carriers deploying troops and supplies. The Roost, has pinpointed their LZ, but they've disappeared. They could be lying in ambush," Raja answered him, her feminine voice all too human.
"Thanks for the heads-up," Jenkins said, then spun to face his XO, who was trudging down the sandy hill with Alpha and Charlie Companies. "Jason, where the hell have you been? If you're going to start half-assing it, I'm going to have to find a new XO."
Major Jason Reynolds, smirking beneath his domed helmet, replied, "And what, leave your sorry ass in charge, without someone who knows what their doing?"
"You mean, and what, leave your sorry ass in charge, without someone who knows what their doing sir," Jenkins corrected.
"Look at you, always pulling rank."
"Well like they say: Rank hath its privileges."
"Anyway sir," Jason continued. "Delta Company isn't too far behind. They had some trouble with 2nd Platoon. Apparently Private Milowski somehow managed to land head-first into a quicksand pit."
"Milowski...the same one who got sucked into a Longsword's engines during a training exercise?" Jenkins inquired with a chuckle.
"The very same, sir," Jason confirmed, grinning. "He was never blessed with a Marine's luck."
"It shows. Look here they are now," Jenkins said, pointing at a shallow rise. "Form them up and get ready to move out."
Jason nodded in response and went to get the MAS Battalion ready to move.
Covenant Battle Cruiser, Purity of Spirit, system edge
Covenant Ship Master Lako 'Ikaptammue stood at the center of his Cruiser's control room, his battle scarred face impassive, as he listened to his assistant's report. When he finished, 'Ikaptammue made him wait an uncomfortable period of time before responding. "Are you sure you saw these 'Metal Humans.' It sounds impossible."
His assistant bobbed his head, "No, Ship Master. I assure you that I saw the 'Metal Humans.' The filthy creatures were covered in metal and their heads were domed. They were at least seven feet tall and armed with all sorts of primitive weaponry."
"If what you say is true, we'll need to prepare an ambush for them. You may proceed about it however you wish, just make sure they all die, but make sure you capture one for study."
"We are the Gods' instruments," his assistant recited the True Saying in an awed voice. "I will endeavor to make the infidels die most-painfully, Ship Master."
"One more thing, 'Recunnae, before you go. Do not fail me. The Exalted ones do not tolerate failure," 'Ikaptammue said, his words dripping with superciliousness.
'Recunnae opened his mandibles—the equivalent of a frown—and left. 'Ikaptammue turned to back to his light panel and shivered. He was looking at one of the human vessels. His panel read: HUMAN CARGO SHIP, TYPE UNKNOWN. That worried him. Most of his kind thought the humans were filthy, primitive, stupid, and barely sentient. But he knew they were wrong. He had only fought the humans once in a ship-to-ship battle and he knew they were very ingenious.
His Cruiser had been at Sigma Octanus along with a Destroyer and two Frigates when a human Destroyer had jumped in system. His fellow Ship Masters thought the ship would be easy pickings and had gotten slack. The Human ship then caused their own weapons to destroy the Destroyer and eliminate the two Frigates in a matter of minutes.
'Ikaptammue had deployed troops and jumped to Slipspace. Ever since that day he had been wary of human ships. What their Ship Masters lost in technology they made up for in numbers. He knew, even though he'd never admit it aloud, that the Humans tactics were far superior to their own.
If it wasn't for their superior technology and numbers, he secretly knew they'd never stand a chance against the humans. Clicking his lower mandibles he turned his mind to other matters.
Hanger Bay of UNSC Roost
Universal World News Reporter Karen Hunt strode across the deck, aware of the appraising glances the marines and navy personal threw her way. She briskly walked over to the Pelican the UNSC had given her to use. She knew they weren't happy to have her here, but like she always said: The Public needs to know.
Stopping in front of Colonel Rick Santinez, who was sitting on top of his Scorpion, and smiled dazzlingly. "Good day, Colonel," she said offering her hand. He took it and shook, holding it longer than necessary. She continued, "I was wondering if I might ask you a few questions?"
"Why certainly, ma'am," he replied his seductive Latino voice surprising her.
She smiled at him again. "So what exactly are you and the 2nd Armored Calvary Battalion going to do when they land on the Construct?"
Rick frowned, but then turned and faced the cameraman behind her, as she shoved the microphone in his face. "Well our job will be to take out all Covenant armor on the ringworld. After that we will proceed to the control room and reinforce the Marine detachment there. If all goes as planned we shouldn't have too much too worry about."
Karen nodded and carried on, "What type of opposition do you plan to go up against?"
"Well, hopefully not too much. Mainly just Covenant tanks and assault vehicles, but we aren't too worried. We always beat the Covenant on the ground."
She nodded and pointed to the tank behind him, "Is that what you will be using?"
He grinned, "Yes ma'am. This is a M808C Main Battle Tank, also called Scorpions. They're armed with a 90mm High Velocity cannon and can shoot up to 30 rounds a minute. They have a maximum road speed of around 85mph. These babies," he said patting the track of the tank, "will make Swiss cheese of those Covenant Assholes."
All you had to do to get the talking, she knew, was to ask about their equipment. She turned to her crew and gave them the cut sign. They'd be able to edit it later, since she wasn't allowed any live feed.
She turned back to the Marine and noticed his eyes roving her body. She didn't blame him. She had been Miss Edina in her teenage days. She had long black hair and bright green eyes. Her body was tall, slender, and perfectly proportioned. The fact that she was wearing a skin-tight skirt didn't seem to escape the Marine either. She was about to take her leave when the intercom blared.
"ALL HANDS, BATTLESTATIONS. REPEAT BATTLESTATIONS. COVENANT CRUISERS IN BOUND!"
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