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 Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:39 pm
Reaching Devin after holding off some more flood that had been coming after her while she was down, Jon was covered in slash wounds since he had to fight with his knives, but he would heal quick if they dusted off ASAP. "Let's go, I could use a nap." he said to her, gasping slightly.
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 3:58 pm
Devin looked up at Jon and nodded
faintly before she pushed herself up off the ground by use
of her right arm. The pain wasn't much, but still it could
get infected and that wouldn't be pretty, especially if infectuous
germs from the Flood got into her blood stream from the wound.
Getting out of there sounded as good as a glass of ice tea and she
hustled. Her legs were tired from jumping around, but she didn't let
it show and let them take her as far as they could until they came within
a good distance of the RZ.
Only a bit further..... Devin hopped over a slightly busted
barricade of the RZ and moved behind the marines who were firing
upon the on coming Flood. She slid down behind a barricade and
waited patiently as a med cleaned the wound and bandaged it along
with the other hit she'd taken from earlier that was located at her calf.
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 5:25 pm
Jon followed Devin and jumped next to her behind the barricade, the Med wnet to him after she was cleaned up and Jon said "Clean me up but after that just let it be, Theres too many cuts and no time, we should wait a little while more until Mendez gets here and then Dust off."
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Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:17 pm
With her leg bandaged up and cleaned,
Devin pushed herself off the ground and crouched behind the barricade
as she aimed her MA5C at a nearby Flood spore. The small, infectious
bubble popped like a pimple when the bullets hit and its remains
splattered against the barricades. As she continued firing, Devin
could hear the screams and agonizing moans of her fellow marines that
hadn't made it to the RZ. Their bodies bubbled and burned as they
became one of the Flood creatures and when they found themselves
brought back to life, no, not life, but a fate worse than death, they
had lost all traces of their humanity and their memories had been
dispersed of. She would end their suffering as quickly as she could
before this happened to them, though it pained her to do so, as if
she were losing an old friend or family member. They were like one
big family, the UNSC marines, and they looked out for each other.
So when Devin though about it, she found herself more than happy
to end their suffering and let the bullets fly. The mutated bodies of
former marines hit the ground hard like a rock being dropped from
a tree. She would need to keep this up for as long as she could,
or atleast until Mendez showed up and they were o.k.ed to head out.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:45 am
"Fools! Heretics!" Winter bellowed vocal cords bursting with hatred, anger, and deception. The once glimmer of hope was all but washed away in a flood of malice. It consumed him driving to the edges of human sanity, but the question Winter asked himself wasn't where his mind was heading but what was his mind? Was, what sort of creature had he become? Body of man a weapon honed by years of raging violence and a mind warped and molded together with his dearest Sarah and the Forerunners from long ago.
He could see them. Shadows in the corners of a dark room whispering to one another. Their servant failing a single duty doomed to suffer because of it. Where they planning to slowly pick away at his mind? They were there and it was there burned like a stamp into his mind. It could never go.. It would never leave..
Envy of those who marched on the holy annihilation of the prophets bit him like a angry dog. Firsts flung against the prison walls hopeless attempts for freedom. "Why am I alive? Why?!" The scream fell hard into the prison Elite guards edging themselves away from the insanity of their prisoner. "You heretics!" The word would not settle with the elites for that was a word for the Prophets a race of alien that had lead them down the prim rose path to the edges of obis to their destruction. They had been betrayed and now they were betraying him. A mission so simple and yet a cage he was locked.
Joan of Ark flanked by her dearest countrymen whom she had brought together under one flag had yelled their love for country; she screamed of her duty to France to battle one final time. The soldier Winter had his mission, like Joan of Ark he should have been leading soldiers forward on a task set to him by those who had come long ago. His whimpers were filled with dirty tears washing away at his dirt smothered face. Jesus had finished his mission on earth why not him? Why not him who had a task set before him to be stripped away so quickly? They had finished their missions and had died for their works but why not him? Why couldn't Winter complete the mission etched into his purpose.
Why?
Falling to his knees his fingers groping at the slick prison walls he crumpled before the forerunners absorbed in his pain and personal suffering. He had failed but to whom did he say sorry? To them who had given a task they should have know he could not complete?
Their leader of human blood had left on his great journey and because of him Winter had survived his mind morphed and reborn and for Winter there the stench of a alien prison cold and damp..
To the voices he fell. Like dancers they danced around his head performing a symphony so melodic so beautiful. Like a babe he curled himself upon the floor clutching his beating chest with his hands cuddling himself into sleep. Sleep was his only escape from reality he hugged it trying to keep with it.
Of course sleep couldn't last long.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 12:56 pm
Crimson numbers spiraled down to 00:00 on a small satchel's electronic timer, and as the last of the marines filtered out of the facility through the barricades, the entire generator complex lit up with a flash of effervescent light. A wave of force, invisible but very much tangible, hit everything around the facility with the impact of a sledgehammer, lifting those still near the entrance right off their feet.
Every window of the facility instantly shattered, shards flying outwards for a hundredth of a second before being sucked right back in by the vacuum the specialized charge had created. Then the incendiary charges went off, and the flood let out a horrible, unified scream as they were buffeted by superheated flames now fed to incredible size by the influx of oxygen.
The screams went on for another few seconds, hundreds of combat forms perishing in the man-made inferno. Soon, even the forerunner alloy of the installation walls began to melt, and the entire facility collapsed on itself, forming an impassable barrier for any further parasitic pursuit. The few combat forms still alive and unscathed stood for a few moments, casting warped and twisted silhouettes against the fire-lit earth before turning and disappearing into the clouds of acrid smoke.
Farther away, observing intently from the EZ, Lee watched as Captain Mendez led the last remainders of the task force to the rally point. The nearest flood dispersal pod was far the way they had come from, and by now the small numbers of parasites at the rally point had been promptly weeded out. Clicking his com to prompt Karr, Lee spoke to the Chief Warrant Officer:
"Karr, why aren't the flood continuing their pursuit? Where are they going?"
From his high vantage point, leading what was left of the two battalion's air support vehicles, Karr's motion tracker showed all hostiles going for the same direction: the Ark's center. And over there, an immense amount of energy seemed to be collecting as the horizon seemed to shift. That's when Karr noticed it, a new Halo ring rising through the mist and waterfalls. Almost reverent with admiration, the CWO stared for almost a full second before giving Captain Lee an answer.
"They're all headed towards the center of the ark, Sir... They're going for the control center and the new Halo."
Lee was still coming to terms with what this meant as Mendez caught up to him. Jogging into the small outcropping Lee had chosen for himself, Captain Mendez stood in front of the shorter asian man with a battle-worn marine on each side. Being part of the command channel, Mendez had heard all of the previous exchange. Looking Lee straight in the eye, his stern expression conveyed his worry for what this could mean.
"So, what does this mean? Are we going for the CC or high-tailing it out of here?"
Lee shook his head. "No. We evac then wait for orders from Commanders Keyes or Hammer. We'll work out our course of action on the Shadow of Intent."
Pelicans came into view over the rocky ridge, and the marines still alive breathed a collective sigh of relief.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 3:20 pm
Jon had watched Mendez leave the generator facility before the satchel went off...one of the most destructive mid-range charges Jon had ever seen...Jon didn't hear Mendez and Lee conversing...but he knew it was about something important...standing next to Devin Jon watched with a look of utter happiness and relief as the evac Pelicans came into view...the sunlight shining on their hulls seemed like the light of heaven to the tired and wounded Marine, who was still covered in small cuts all over his body and large tri-gash on his chest from the brute he let get to close before he killed it.(happened near the beginning of the mission.) "Well...we made it Sarge." Jon said to Devin next to him before cracking his neck "argh...I need a nap...brutes hit hard..." Jon wondered if he would get a promotion when they got back to the Shadow of Intent .....nah, Jon was an experienced soldier, he had probably seen more combat than the higher ranked Devin...but he never stood out much to his superiors...oh well, Jon didn't care...he was extremely grateful to god and his fellow marines just for surviving.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:55 pm
"Yeah....We sure did." Devin allowed
herself to breath easy for this short period of time as the
birds came into view. She had strapped her MA5C to her back
and stood next to her fellow marine, thinking of how lucky they
had been. Was it really luck that got them this far? Was it their
own experience and battle-ready skills that kept them alive through
all these endeavors. Perhaps it was fate that allowed them to
survive through the gruesome battle, but Devin guessed she
would never know.
Her brown hair, wet with sweat and blood, hung down her face, tangled
and ratted from being tossed back and forth by the Flood like monkey in the middle. She moved it aside so she could see and let out a deep, long
sigh of relief.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:01 pm
The second Jon walked into the pelican he collapsed into the softest seat he could find...he couldn't stand up right then, he was so tired.
"So, how many battles have you seen?" Jon asked Devin once their pelican was almost ready to take off "I've seen a lot, I can't remember how many...I always seem to get caught in the worst situations though..."
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:11 pm
Devin didn't sit and instead stood against the wall as
she assisted injured marines aboard the pelican. She took her time
answering his question since she really had to think about it. So young
and yet Devin had seen quite a few battles during her time, but probably not as many as Jon.
"Can't really say..." That was all she could think of as a reply at
the moment. Her mind was so lost right now and so preoccupied with
internal issues and she wasn't sure she could give him a straight answer.
By this time, anyways, Devin had aided the marines into the pit of the pelican and
took another glance out at what was once a battle field to
make sure none had been left behind in the rubble. When it seemed all
clear, except for a couple marines boarding the ship, Devin took
a seat and buckled herself in. Her mother had always told her to
wear a seat belt while driving or while in a moving
vehicle, and Devin figured this situation would
have counted for that rule.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:16 pm
Jon always had wondered why he never stood out enough in battles to be promoted to anything higher then a Corporal...guess it was jsut bad luck, but it didn't matter, the people of higher rank than him like Devin just deserved it more than him, simple.
"yeah, it's just something you lose track of, hopefully when this is all over, there will be nothing to keep track of." Jon said to his new friend, making it obvious how much distaste he had for fighting.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:32 pm
Devin nodded when he had finished speaking,
for she would be just as grateful when the war ended...if it ended.
She didn't try to get herself too hopeful...she was too afraid of
having her hope crushed in a split second, but she would remain postive.
That's the very least she could do. Remain positive. And being the
rank she was she was determined to set a good example for her
fellow marines and please those higher than herself.
In the midst of all this chatter, Devin couldn't help but stop and think
about her dad and brother who had been lost to the war not too
long ago; only a few months before she joined the UNSC. She
could feel them with her at this very second; giving her a pat on the back, smiling at her, and explaining to her of how proud they were. But then
she would think of her mother whom was so distraught when she left
and she worried about how she was doing. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the talkative voices of the marines as they mourned
over the death of their friend or gloated about how many of those
"slime-balls" that they had blasted during the battle.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:43 pm
Jon had been trying hard to keep attentive, but he was so tired from having to resort to dropping his MA5C-ICWS and using plain old combat knives,( all of his wounds didn't help either) that he fell asleep in his small seat.
Jon, Devin, and five other marines stood on earth, their fellows all around them cheering, as a Master Sergeant walked up to each of them and put medals on their chests, Jon was promoted to a Sergeant and given a better Gun, it was what Jon had waited for for so long...
Jon woke up as the pelican shook from a turn "huh?!....oh, guess I just nodded off...how close are we?" Jon said, looking to Devin.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:10 pm
Devin had lost herself amongst her thoughts
and had hardly noticed they'd even left the ground until Jon
had asked her this. She turned her attention from the ceiling of the
pelican, along the walls laden with marines and weapons, both broken
and new, and set her gaze upon Jon.
"Uhhh....I don't...I'm not quite sure..." She
rubbed the back of her head and took a look around at the
pelican pit in which they were located.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:27 pm
"Oh." Jon said quietly. "Well hopefully soon, I need a bed, not a seat made to be used by Battle-ready troops...but I guess I'm doing better than everyone who didn't make it..." Jon brightened up suddenly "Hey! what do you say to some combat practice after they patch me up back at HQ?"
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