Wrote on: Monday, January 31, 2011 at 1:08pm
(((AN:// So I had to do this for an english project, and the book I "read" was Halo: The Fall Of Reach. Leave a comment and tell me what you think.)))
Last Stand
Crouched quietly behind a small hill, I steadily reload my battle rifle with the very last clip of ammo I had on me. Peering over the hill I took cover behind, I see in the distance one of many cities burning in flames from a recent attack by plasma turrets. The entire sky is grey with ash and smoke from the recent chaos the whole planet is enveloped in.
With my advanced head gear and altered eyes, I zoom in at the scene, stunned by what I view. It is a land covered by a carpet of death and destruction. Flames lick and scream at the skyscrapers that inhabit the dying city. I know the architecture only has moments to keep standing. How many civilians are trapped in those buildings? Over 700 million civilians live on this colonized planet Reach. I idly wonder how many had the chance to escape this human cultivated wasteland.
I can’t tell if it is night or day from the ash blocking out the sky, so I looked in the bottom left corner screen of my visor to read the time. 12:34 A.M. At the same moment, I noticed a crack in my cobalt tinted visor, and wondered why I had not noticed before. Displeased, I looked down to further inspect my powered armor. The white and crimson paint on the advanced exoskeleton framework has been chipped and peeled in areas behind my calves, shoulders, and chest. I dare not take off my helmet to inspect the damage to it either. I carry a very sarcastic and very valuable A.I. unit, who goes by the name Cortana, in my head.
“And just how many clips did you manage to grab, Chiara?”
You can say she can be quite the nagger.
“Well excuse me for trying to save both of us. We could have been the ones stranded out there,” I rebuked.
The A.I. unit suddenly appeared on top of my knee standing no taller than 5 inches. She’s nothing against my staggering 7 foot tall frame. Cortana appeared as a female hologram whose skin glowed a vivid light lavender. I could see the binary language of 0s and 1s that rapidly flowed throughout her holographic form. I doubt a regular human eye can see how rapidly the codes move in her skin, or if the naked eye notices numbers there at all.
Cortana chuckled back at my rebut.
Within Cortana is the Human race’s salvation against the Covenant, a theocratic military alliance of alien races, who’s attacking this colonized planet Reach. The Covenant is united under a religious worship that “ring-worlds” known as “Halos” will provide a path to salvation. Nothing is known about these rings except that it is the reason the Covenant has prosecuted a genocidal campaign against the human race. Cortana has priceless Intel about these ring-worlds: their purpose, creators, and Covenant intentions.
The only hope for mankind that isn’t a computer are Noble Spartans, genetically altered super soldiers, like myself, whose sole purposes are to be the best weapons against the Covenant. Only about 70 out of 180 people survive the surgeries and treatments to be a Spartan, and no one is willing to become one. I was kidnapped by my government when I was 5 and created into a Spartan. In order to keep the human moral up, we Spartans end up becoming legendary heroes to strike fear in the minds of the alien terrorists. Brutal and willing to die for any mission, and yet surviving against the odds, Spartans are truly spine chilling, brave, admirable, and an awe to stare at.
Right now, I am entrusted with transporting Cortana and the information she carries, to the space ship The Pillar of Autumn.
En route to the slip space ship’s dock, I was ambushed by a mass of alien forces. My entire team, composed of 6 other Spartans, died protecting and defending Cortana and I, to ensure the success of this mission.
I am the last of my team, and I lost all of my friends.
This will be the most important mission I have ever carried through. I must reach the shipyard where the Autumn is located and deport Cortana from this planet for the survival of every human in the galaxy.
“Chiara, we need to plan our next moves carefully.”
I have been fighting and sneaking through Covenant forces, to get Cortana to Captain Jacob Keyes aboard the Autumn, for the past several hours; now my ammo has been depleted to only sixty bullets and one plasma grenade. I glance to the bottom right of my visor screen and see about 20 alien soldiers 30 yards away, scouting the hills, on my radar. I am positive they are searching for me, and Cortana. The shipyard’s coordinates are 70 yards beyond where the aliens currently are.
“Do you think they have a vehicle we can hijack?” I asked.
Cortana widened her eyes. “You can’t be serious? That’s crazy! There are surely other options we can take!”
I am becoming impatient. “Well, you are the smarter one here. Why don’t you come up with a plan?”
Cortana turned in the direction of the aliens who were slowly closing in on our position. The A.I. let out at sigh and placed a hand on her hip.
“Well lucky for you, I like crazy.”
The A.I. evaporated and was suddenly downloaded back into my head.
“Let’s get moving Spartan.”
I picked up my rifle and silently whisked to an adjacent hill, morphing into the shadows stealthily. The aliens were only about 20 yards from my position. If I move suddenly I will give our position away and they will pick me up on their radars. I need to wait and hope they pass by me and continue on. With the patrol unit, I see cruisers occupied and unoccupied by the aliens in their camp. If all possible, I need to hijack an unoccupied vehicle and hope Cortana has enough time to reroute its systems so I am capable of driving this unknown technology.
As this thought forms in my head, I hear the padded footsteps of an alien heading right towards my location. I pin myself to the side of the rocks deeper in the shadows, unsheathing the long dagger that had lied perfectly across my chest in a unique “c” curve, waiting for the opportunity to ambush the enemy. The lanky 8 foot alien walks right by me, and I do not hesitate to snatch it by the neck and throw it into the shadows. I quickly snap the vertebra in its neck and assassinate the enemy with my blade deep within its neck and throat. The creature let out a last gasp of breath before falling limp. I wipe my dirtied blade onto its filthy body and placed the instrument of death back into its holster. I carefully shift slowly to view the remaining enemies in the terrain. They all seemed to have slowly passed by in the time elapsed, not noticing the death of their fallen comrade.
I moved hastily 9 yards from the enemy camp behind a desecrated building, slamming my body against the concrete and take in a breath. I check and recheck my weapon, ensuring it will shoot.
“I pick up 5 enemies guarding three vehicles in the warehouse 5 yards from you, Chiara. I suggest a distraction to lead them away from the entrance of the warehouse.”
“Don’t need to.” I reply.
It seemed there’s a guard shift at that exact moment, because all five of the aliens are walking away to the corner of the warehouse to greet the replacements. With my advanced hearing, I listen attentively for just the right time to make my move for the entrance without the guards hearing me. This is my only convenience without giving away my cover.
I bolted for the entrance, rapidly accelerating my body through the grass, up the hill, and towards the open entrance. The only sound I gave away was the 2 steps I took on the concrete into the dark warehouse.
My eyes dilated into night vision accordingly to fit the lighting of the warehouse, seeing that there is hardly any light. Ahead, I see 2 of the vehicles Cortana spoke of, and in a flash ran straight up to one of them. The vehicle was a deep orchid color with two wings extended out from it. The seat reminded me of a motorcycle. This shouldn’t be too hard, I hope. I jump inside one and took out the hand held disk Cortana inhabited from my head, and into the dashboard of the vehicle’s system. She quickly got to work, and in 4 seconds had the motorcycle started. The craft had lit up into spectacular illuminations and gave off a soft humming sound from the motor. It’s hovering above the ground. Interesting. I popped the disk out from the dash and shove Cortana back inside my cranium. Suddenly, I felt a zap in my head.
“Ow.” I said flatly.
“You know I’m delicate and don’t appreciate being shoved like that, and I would like a thank you!” She bickered.
Before I could respond, I hear the growls and yells of an alarmed alien. I’ve been spotted!
“Drive this thing! Go! Go! Go!” the A.I. shouted at me.
I rammed the handles forward and the vehicle lurched straight ahead. The wing of the motorcycle chipped against the entrance of the building from my inexperienced driving, and spun me almost out of control. I let up on the handles and turned toward the direction of the boarding dock, speeding past the guards who only had a few seconds to register that I, a blasted Spartan, was flying by in their stolen craft.
I went from 70 yards from the warehouse to then 60 yards in about 3 seconds flat. The environment was zooming passed me at the speed I expelled in; remarkably I can still register every detail from the vehicle’s functions to the scenery around me.
“Bogies are gaining up on you!” warned Cortana.
Plasma shots were being projected all around me, and I took evasive actions, steering left to right, to shake the enemies off my hide. I could see the architecture of the building where the dock is up ahead. I’m almost there!
Abruptly, the left wing of the orchid alien craft got hit and veered me out of control.
Everything was spinning too fast, and I knew the craft was going to explode. Out of options, I abandoned the craft and jumped out with a leap of faith, rolling on the ground for what seemed like forever. I heard the craft explode and catch on fire. I groaned and quickly sat up; I knew the aliens were not far behind me in their own vehicles. I needed to move now!
Beside me, I saw my battle rifle and yanked it up from the ground and sprinted to the building ahead of me.
“The Autumn can’t leave the dock until the enemy fleets leave the skies! There are just too many!”
I ran inside the building and ducked behind an armored iron fortress. I inhaled and exhaled quickly, gulping in air to get much needed oxygen into my body. I looked up into the sky to confirm what Cortana had said was true.
And in fact, it was.
It is mind boggling how many enemy fleets are in the sky. There had to be thousands of ships gathered in the sky. I had never seen so many Covenant aircraft in one location, and more kept zapping from thin air from the slip space warps. I was completely flabbergasted at the number of ships flying about, ready to shoot down every civilian and non-civilian craft the humans had in the sky.
“Chiara, there’s a coilgun emplacement on the second floor of this building. It will help blast many of the aircrafts out of the sky to get the Autumn off of this planet. You need to get to it now!”
But in the corner of my visor’s screen, my eye caught enemy aliens on my radar on the floors above me. Great. I was still hidden behind the barrier, and I knew my weapon only had a limited amount of ammo that I wished to conserve.
I flew up the stairs of the first floor, jumping on one step for every three, making up for what little time remained for the Autumn’s chance of survival at this rate.
I hid behind another collection of metal barriers, and took out the last plasma grenade I had on me. I peeked over the top of the metal to calculate the distance the group of enemies was from me. About 20 feet. I pressed a small button on the grenade, which ignited an aura of light around the explosive, and threw it onto an enemy, dead on precise. The grenade stuck onto its shoulder, and as it shrieked out, the entire group was obliterated. I continue forward to the hoard of dead bodies and grab a plasma rifle, and run to another location. I know that the sound of the grenade going off will alarm the others.
I see more forces appear as I run up the second floor of steps and pull the trigger of the weapon I was holding. Hundreds of needle like projections shot out as bullets locking onto the aliens that my system registers as enemies. Many of these creatures are smaller and easier to take out in seconds, but suddenly each takes out a plasma grenade and run toward me. The crazy things are attempting to blow themselves up to kill me! I shoot them in order of when each detonated their grenades before any could get too close to me. As their dead bodies hit the ground, their plasma grenades went off in a brilliant array of lights. I took minimal damage, but the shields in my armor rebooted almost instantly when I was no longer being harmed. I checked the ammo in the plasma rifle and saw that it was out of ammo, and discarded the useless item on the floor.
I moved on to find the coilgun emplacement beyond a gate on the floor. I ran passed the doors of the gate and stood in front of a humongous, black, lustrous, plasma turret that was pointed towards the heavens at the enemies. It had to be at least 20 stories high and 60 feet wide. I located the tiny miniscule seat and jumped in, ready to fire and the fleets in the sky.
I clicked open the holographic screen and turned on the super weapon, flipping up the clamps that covered the tiny red buttons on the handles of the controls.
I aimed, and fired.
A huge current of electrons shot out of the gigantic turret in a hoard of jumbled mass, and smashed straight into one of the hundreds of ships that were now flying towards my location. It felt incredibly awesome to be in control of this much destruction of my enemies. I felt like the most powerful force for the planet.
“Great job! Just a few more and we can get to the dock and get off this forsaken planet!” Cortana cheered.
I must have blown about one hundred of the ships up until the endless flow seemed to have finally subdued. I know this time wouldn’t last for long. This is the only opportunity the Covenant will allow for Cortana’s escape onto the Autumn before regrouping with bigger aircraft to blast me away with.
I swung my legs out of the seat and ran toward another gate at the other end of the floor; that must lead straight out to the dock.
“Cortana, do you read me? Repeat: Do you read me? This is Captain Keyes speaking.”
“Captain! We hear you! The Spartan and I are right outside the dock! We see the ship!”
I dashed out into the middle of the dock. There were destroyed military aircraft and dead human bodies littered everywhere. The monumental military aircraft with the words Pillar of Autumn engraved upon its side appeared and opened up its massive gate, and there stood Captain Keyes in his prestigious uniform with many decorated medals adorned upon it.
“We don’t have much time! Get in you two!”
But then, I hear more enemy space craft slip space into the sky to replace the ones I so gracefully annihilated. The number of fleets just quadrupled in size. How many of these creatures are out there?!
I realized that the only option there was now, was to stay behind to ensure the ship and Cortana gets off this planet. The full force of the realization made my body feel a hundred pounds heavier. It will be my last mission alive.
“Wait! Don’t you dare-!”
I cut Cortana out with a pop, and carefully handed her over to Captain Keyes’ extended hand. He stared at me, and then looked down at the disk Cortana was inside, grasping what my intentions were.
“Take care of her, Captain. I’m staying behind on Reach.” I stated.
The Captain stood straight, and saluted me, to which I returned with just as much respect and honor.
The gate slowly closed, and Captain Keyes’ last words to me were “Good luck, soldier,” and the ship was ready to take off.
I sprinted back inside the building and jumped back into the coilgun emplacement, and proceeded to blast every single enemy ship I see with vigor, desperation, and anger at this choice I was forced to make.
My sacrifice will not be in vain. I refuse for it to be.
I saw the Pillar of Autumn hover briefly before accelerating into the sky at incredible speed out of sight, making its way for space.
I kept blasting ships over and over again. But soon, the ships became too over whelming, even for this humongous super weapon I was in. Three of the ships fired their plasma turrets at me all at the same time, and the entire coilgun exploded, ejecting me out at least a hundred feet away from the piles of molten metal and fire that lay where the super weapon just stood.
I groaned in agonizing pain and rolled over to my side. Even for my advanced super armor, I knew my body is badly damaged from the incredible explosion I withstood. One of my eyes is injured and bleeding heavily. My visor’s crack spread all the way across to the other side of my helmet, further impairing my vision.
I sit my back up against a wall, and grab my battle rifle that still seemed to stay with me this whole time. I waited for the fleets to land and invade the dock.
The aliens filed inside, wave by wave.
I began shooting whatever I saw. Everything now seemed to move in incredibly slow motion. Enemies were falling as I sprayed bullets into their bodies when they rushed at me. The beasts were getting closer with each kill I make, and I was running out of ammo in the last clip I carried; I know the inevitable will happen in a few moments.
Then, I heard the empty clicks of the automatic weapon shooting nothing left out of it, and knew that it was over.
An alien ran up and grabbed me by the collar of my armor and punched me square in the cheek with its spiked jagged hand. I heard my armor give out exasperated beeps and red flashes of warning, stating to take cover to recharge my shields. I retaliated with a swing of my mighty fist into its ugly face, staggering the beast, but not enough to drop me.
The creature returned even angrier and began pulverizing me, over and over again relentlessly, until my helmet finally flew off my head. I heard the visor crack completely, and shatter.
My long, golden, curly locks rolled out, no longer imprisoned by my helmet. I felt blood stream down freely on my tan cheeks. I peeked open my unbloodied auburn eye to glare death in the face of my enemy. I heard the creature give out a cruel laugh at my defenselessness, and watched as it raised its hand up to curl back into a tight fist.
My name is Spartan Noble Chiara. This is my last stand against the Covenant, and my sacrifice was not in vain.
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