User:Drone232/Losing Battle

They told us we were going to win the battle. That we still had an advantage that kept us on top. I guess that's how the UNSC got its soldiers, that and the fact that almost every young man wanted the chance to kill one of them Covenant aliens, I know that's the reason I joined. But what they didn't tell us was that every major battle we've fought with them so far has been a complete failure. The UNSC had lost almost every space battle they've fought with the Covenant, they barely fared any better when it came to ground engagements. I pretty much found that out in my first fight against the Covenant on Jericho VII. “Keep firing, we're wearing it down”, yelled the Sargent Simmons, but I knew nothing we could do would wear that thing down. The hulking armored creature took a step forward raising the cannon mounted on its right arm and fired. The bolt of plasma soared through the air and struck the hood of one of our Warthogs, the vehicle exploded in a blast of fire, sending its occupants sprawling to the ground. They called the beasts hunters because if one of them set its sights on you, its not going to stop hunting you down until it knows your dead. We were formally battling a squad of covenant grunts and jackals that were discovered sneaking around our base, most of them didn't stand a chance against our combined firepower until those hunters came in from out of nowhere. They took almost half the squad before several short sword bombers were able to take out one of the hunters, but that only made the other one angrier. It charged right through the middle of our squad and smashed one of the marines to the ground with the giant shield mounted on its left arm. The guy next to me dug the nose of his assault rifle into the beasts back and fired. The hunter turned to face him so that the marine was now starring down the barrel of its plasma cannon. The blast went through him like he wasn't even there, it hit a nearby tree and left a huge charred hole in the trunk. I threw a grenade toward the beast, it caught in the chinks of the hunters armor and detonated with an explosion of orange blood. The creature growled in pain and turned to face me, it lifted its shielded arm high in the air as it stomped toward me. I ducked for cover as a volley of high powered projectiles hit the creature dead center in its chest and it fell down in a thud. I heard the roaring sound of of turbines as I looked behind me to see a group of hornet hover crafts coming in for a landing. “Looks like we came just in time”, said one of the pilots. “ I don't see how that is since half my squads already dead!” replied our sergeant. “It's not my fault, besides we got bigger problems. Commands discovered a covenant encampment a few miles west of here and they need help taking it out so hurry up and get your men ready cause' the battles already started. The sergeant looked at us with those determined eyes of his and yelled, “you heard the man let's move it, get to your vehicles on the double”. All the marines started running back to base to reload and get in their warthogs. “Hey Simmons, you got a marine you can spare, we came through a little bit of a rough patch on the way here and I lost a gunner”, asked the pilot. Sergeant Simmons looked in my direction and called. “Private, your gonna be this mans gunner, got that! “Yes sir! I replied and ran to the pilots hornet. The machine didn't look much like a hornet, more like a fighter plane with two giant turbines for wings. I hopped into the seat on the side of the hovercraft and grabbed hold of the controls for the machine gun. The front hatch opened up and the pilot climbed inside. I heard the roar of the engines starting and the whirring of the turbines as the vehicle began to lift off the ground. It rose several meters above the ground before lurching forward and flying above the treetops. I looked down below and saw the other soldiers in warthogs and scorpion tanks making their way to the battlefield. The hornet aircraft continued on its journey for several minutes before I saw a trail of smoke rising above the horizon. We flew over a large and destroyed UNSC base lying in ruins among the trees. “This was the base closest to the covenant encampment, the covenant made their first attack here” yelled the pilot over the scream of the engines. I looked down to see the remains of both covenant and UNSC vehicles and soldiers sprawled among the ruins. “We were ordered to do a bombing strike on the area earlier, covenant were crawling all over the place, doubt the base would of fared much better without the bombing.” The bodies of marines and covenant sped past as the hornet continued its journey over the forest. We passed over a small mountain as we came upon a large valley hidden behind the mountain. I could barley make out a large object hidden among the clouds looming over the coming valley. After a while the sound of explosions and guns firing could be heard from up ahead. I looked toward the sounds to see a gigantic battlefield coming into view over the horizon. Hundreds of marines were in and around the battlefield fighting back waves of grunts and elites being sent down from a huge covenant carrier ship suspended above the battlefield. Many warthogs, scorpion tanks, and various other UNSC vehicles littered the battlefield as they desperately tried to hold back the invaders. In the middle of the battlefield, making its way toward the UNSC held perimeter, was a massive insect-like vehicle clad in iridescent purple armor. Appropriately nicknamed the scarab by the UNSC, it wielded a huge cannon that resembled the insects head as it shot massive beams of energy toward the UNSC ground forces, leaving a trail of destruction. It bore a large turret on its back that fought off all aerial attack forces while the main cannon blasted away any tanks or warthogs that got too close. “Haven't seen many scarabs in a while, you?” Exclaimed the pilot. “Wanna take a closer look?” I was speechless as I watched the monstrous machine decimate a platoon of scorpion tanks with a single massive blast. The hornet closed in on the scarab's location and I readied myself on the hovercraft's turret. As we came within range, I unleashed a barrage of bullets that peppered the surface of the scarab. My whole body shook as the turret fired continuously on insect-like machine's sleek metal armor. The scarab seemed too preoccupied with destroying other UNSC units than to bother with us. I moved the turret around on its axis and targeted the narrow joints in the scarab's legs. The bullets tore through a few of the cables within the joint which began to weaken slightly. Almost immediately, the scarab turned to look at us, as if in annoyance rather than anger. The hornet swerved to the left as the main cannon fired at us. I felt the hairs on my arms singe as the blast tore through the right engine. “Looks like we're going down, brace yourself!” yelled the pilot as we fell toward the war ridden battlefield. The hornet crashed into the ground near the scarab and the remains of the right engine fell several meters away. I looked out into the battlefield around me and and worked myself out of the wreckage until I was standing several feet away from. I looked back at the cockpit to make sure the pilot was okay. The pilot looked up from the wreckage and yelled, “We're alive!” As if hearing him, the scarab lifted its right leg high into the air and forcefully brought it down onto the hornet's cockpit, completely crushing it. I stumbled back and fell on the ground as I watched the leg lift itself up again and land several meters away. I heard the sound of footsteps and unintelligible barks and growls coming from nearby. Noticing I was without a weapon, I ran toward a broken down warthog and hid underneath. I searched my surroundings for a weapon and spied a plasma rifle lying at my feet. The weapon looked almost like a plastic toy, it felt a little heavier than expected. As I studied it, I squeezed lightly on the handle. The plasma rifle instantly emitted a large blast of heated plasma that scorched the earth where it hit. I heard the roar of UNSC fighter craft overhead and looked up to see a group of short sword bombers fly over the scarab releasing their payload of explosives. The top of the scarab detonated and the whole machine shuddered in pain as it turned around in an attempt to target its attackers. As I watched, I saw a blue and orange plasma grenade out of the corner of my eye lying a few feet away. I emerged from the under the warthog and slowly crawled toward it as silently as possible for fear of being seen. When I was close enough to grab, I reached out and quickly dropped on my stomach as a large bulbous, metallic tank hovered over me. I stared up at the anti-gravity generators lifting the tank inches above my face. “What was that?” asked a rough, high-pitched voice. “Me think it human, you go check” I watched several pairs of stubby blue legs walk toward the side of the Covenant tank. “Fine I check, you watch”, one of the creatures leaned down to look at me, I rolled onto my back and fired the plasma rifle toward its face. The short grunt stumbled back screeching in pain. I quickly leaned forward and grasped the plasma grenade. The other creature peered down at me and aimed its weapon, I tossed the plasma grenade and it stuck to the stout creatures shoulder. It ran screaming toward a group of other grunts who all shouted in terror as the grenade detonated. “What is happening?” roared a deep voice. I rolled out from underneath the tank just as it fell onto the ground. Its tall reptilian driver climbed out of the vehicle and peered around at its surroundings. It began shooting into the distance as a warthog sped toward it, ultimately running it over before it had time to get out of the way. “WooHoooo! Now that's what I'm talking about, I told you we don't need no gunner!”yelled the enthusiastic driver to his wounded passenger. “Hey, can I ride with you guys” I asked them. “Sure, you can take the gunner seat, we need one” answered the passenger, clutching his right arm in pain. “We're alright by ourselves”, exclaimed the driver,” but I guess one more passenger couldn't hurt. Be careful though, last gunner got killed by one of them banshee aircraft, hurt this guy next to me pretty bad.” “I can handle it” I stated as I lifted myself up into the large turret in the back of the warthog. The vehicle sped forward with a lurch and weaved in and out of the wreckages covering the battlefield. I shot at every enemy soldier I saw while UNSC and covenant aircraft fought overhead. As we passed back near the scarab, I raised the turret up and began peppering the scarab's anterior with bullets. It's damaged head turned to face us, this time it looked angry. The warthog swerved to avoid the blasts from its main cannon. A large group of grunts stormed out from behind a destroyed scorpion tank firing their spiked purple needlers. The glowing crystal like projectiles homed in on the warthog and lodged themselves into the drivers left side. The driver yelled in anguish as the crystals detonated, blowing his arm clear off his shoulder. He fell out of the drivers seat in a bloody mess and the warthog came to a stop. I The scarab's main cannon stared down on us and prepared to fire. I leaped out of the warthog's turret and ran for cover as the scarab's blast decimated the vehicle and passenger. Satisfied, the scarab turned to face on incoming volley of missiles from a flight of vulture gunships. Explosions littered the surface of the metallic behemoth and it began to break apart. The covenant grunts that were previously attacking were now retreating as well as all the other covenant soldiers and aircraft in the area. I watched them all retreat and thought to myself”we won”. I yelled it aloud”WE WON!” I looked up into the distance to see something that immediately brought my spirits down. Several other covenant ships were descending into the atmosphere. They began shooting giant energy beams onto the planets surface, burning the very landscape of the planet. I watched in terror and disbelief as all UNSC aircraft targeted the new threat, but to no avail. A sharp pain entered my mid-section as a glowing blade jutted out of my chest. I felt it slide out of my body and I fell to the ground in a heap. I looked up to see a tall reptilian elite wielding an energy sword stare down at me in disgust and then run off to continue its onslaught as the world around slowly blacked out out into nothingness.