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Author Topic: Precious Cargo - Chapter 23 - Hello, Goodbye  (Read 3121 times)

Offline jokerman

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Precious Cargo - Chapter 23 - Hello, Goodbye
« on: December 07, 2009, 10:12:48 PM »
<boring stuff>
The following story is copyrighted material and all rights belong solely to the author.  Any reproduction or republication of any or all of this publication without the explicit and expressed written consent from the author is strictly forbidden.
</boring stuff>



Chapter 23 - Hello, Goodbye


As the Pelican ascended up above the cliff escorted by three Hornets, the Spartan General announced over the communication system, “Elvis has left the building!  I repeat… Elvis has left the building!”

“Elvis?” the Spartan said quietly.

“His call sign.  It comes from 20th century music.  The King.  The one and only”, replied the General.

“Yeah”, said the Spartan reminiscing.

“What are you going to do now?” the General asked.

The Spartan looked at the Elite’s body and said, “I need to give a friend a ride home.”

The General looked at the Elite’s body on the ground.  The Spartan had placed the Elite’s arms across his chest and his Energy Sword beneath his hands.  After a few moments the General said, “I had never worked with an Elite before.  I had always considered them the enemy.  I knew the war was over but after years of mistrust, it was hard to get used to him being at my back instead of confronting him head on.”

The Spartan and General paused quietly for a moment over the body.  The Spartan finally said, “He was a great warrior, an honorable Elite, and a good friend”.  The General replied, “Yes, he was that”.

After a few more moments the General said, “You took off you helmet for the Elite back in the cave.”

“Yeah”, replied the Spartan.

“The ONI got a good look at you”, said the General.  Then after a pause the General continued, “And so did I.  It was never real to me who you were.  I didn’t know at Purgatory.  No one really ever knew who you were.  There were reports, guesses, ideas of who you might be but everything was denied and dismissed as rumors.  But when you took off your helmet for the Elite…”.  

The General stopped and looked away.  Then he slowly reached up and took off his helmet.  The Spartan looked at the General’s face and smiled inside his own helmet as memories began to flow and flash before his eyes.  

As the visions subsided, the Spartan said, “I thought it was you.  It’s been a long time.  I’m glad to see you made it this far.  And I’m glad I could give you a hand.  After all, what are friends for?”

The General looked hard at the Spartan and said, “It really is you, isn’t it?”

The Spartan looked away from the General and reflected on that question.  Then looking back to the Elite he said, “To be honest, after all these years and everything that’s happened, I’m not really sure ‘who’ I am anymore.”

The General followed the Spartan’s lead and looked at the Elite.  “Yeah…”  Then taking a deep breath the General again said, “Yeah…”.

The Spartan looked up to an approaching figure.  He then turned his head slightly to the General and nodded in the direction of the ONI as he came toward them.  The General put his helmet back on and locked it down.

The ONI stopped and looked down at the Elite.  His black armor was dirty and scuffed from the battle.  Then looking up to the Spartan, the ONI officer determined to get right to business said in proper British form, “General, I am here to inform you that I will be filing my report soon”.  

The Spartan and the ONI stood staring at one another as the ONI continued, “It seems that quite a bit of fascinating information has recently come to my attention.  And it is my duty… nay, my ‘pleasure’… to convey this intriguing collection of accumulated knowledge to my superiors.  I have such an insurmountable overabundance of vital data that it is actually proving to be quite difficult to organize.  So difficult, in fact, that it is very possible that one or two minor details of information may possibly be omitted.  Quite inadvertently, of course.”  

Turning to the General the ONI said, “Pity actually, because I have this nagging feeling that I am forgetting something rather important.  Something that HQ would dearly like to know.  And I do so hate to disappoint.  Especially since the Office of Naval Intelligence doesn’t take kindly to mistakes.”  Looking at the Spartan, the ONI continued, “Not kindly at all.  They have actually been known to go to considerable lengths to eliminate their mistakes.”  Turning back to the General the ONI said with a very serious tone, “No matter the cost”.

“But there it is…”, the ONI said.  “Just doing my part to ‘keep you in the loop’, as they say.  Of course, I'm only doing this because I’m quite certain you wouldn't hesitate to offer me the same consideration.  Now if you will excuse me, I have quite a bit to do.”  The ONI then nodded his head to the General and then the Spartan and politely said, “Gentlemen…”.  

As the ONI officer began to leave, the Spartan said, “Mr. Noddu…”.  The ONI stopped and looked over his shoulder as the Spartan continued, “…Thank you.”  

The ONI turned his head in the direction of the two Spartans and said, “One more thing, General.  Nicely done.”  Looking to the Spartan, the ONI continued, “Nicely done, indeed.”  The ONI then turned and walked away.

As the ONI left, the General said,  “Don’t let him fool you, he got what he wanted.  All the freed slaves are talking up a storm and giving him information about the current inside workings of the former Covenant.  He has years worth of intel that the brass at HQ have been drooling to get.  You probably got him a promotion without knowing it, just like…”, the General stopped mid sentence.  “Don’t worry about him for now.  He’s happy”, the General concluded.

“What about the others?  Were there any casualties?” the Spartan asked.

“Nothing that Medic can’t handle”, the General replied.  “Liam and SüprM@ñ got pretty banged up but they’re okay.”  

The Spartan turned his head slightly at the sound of the familiar names.  The General continued, “They were on the rescue team that breached the installation.  But they’ll be fine.  Matter of fact, I’m putting in for commendations for both of them.”

“Good”, the Spartan said.  “And the ones that were freed?”

“A lot of casualties there.  Those collars are nasty things.  After we weed out who is who, we’ll let them go if they want.  But they are welcome to stay as long as they behave.  The Grunt that you brought in the camp and some of his brood have already decided to stay.  If they don’t eat everything is sight, that is”, the General said as he chuckled.

The Spartan laughed.  Then looking at the General he asked, “What about you?”

“Clean up.  We regained control of the ring but we need to make sure that there are no more of the Chieftain’s tribe left out there.  It’s a big place, probably take a while.  Then back to work as usual.  We use this place for training, to keep the recruits and us in shape.  You are welcome to join us at any time… Spartan”

“If what we saw today is any indication, we are going to need to be ready.  The war may be over but I have a feeling that the fight is not yet done”, the Spartan said looking at the smoke rising from the now quiet battlefield in the distance.

The two looked at each other for a while and then the Spartan nodded to the General and knelt down to pick up the Elite.

“You know back at Purgatory, there was only one escape pod left on that ship”, the General said.

“Yeah, I noticed” the Spartan said as he lifted the Elite in his arms.

“I never thanked you for that”, said the General solemnly.

“And you know you’ll never have to”, said the Spartan as he turned and began to walk away.

The General watched the Spartan walk toward the mountain pass.  Then in a low and quiet voice the General said, “Booyah”.



« Last Edit: December 08, 2009, 06:30:55 PM by jokerman »

Offline Liam

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Re: Precious Cargo - Chapter 23 - Hello, Goodbye
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2009, 12:19:16 AM »
Bravo Bravo  :thumbsup: another masterpiece jokerman, well done. ( And all the chapters names were very nice, choosing a beatles song for the last chapter, nice touch  :winkgrin: )

I'll let ya take a break for now  :LOL: But I want to see more masterpieces outta you, you have a real skill here  d_b


May 13, 09-Got Halo
Later May, 09- Stumbled onto BFM server, loved it
June 24. 09-Joined Forums
August 9th, 09-Applied to be PR
Sept. 22, 09-Earned Vent Access
Nov. 12, 09-Earned Lil Tags!
Mar. 26, 10-Earned Big Tags!
Jan. 3, 11-Stepped Down from BFM
© LiamFilm™

Offline jokerman

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Re: Precious Cargo - Chapter 23 - Hello, Goodbye
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2009, 06:42:55 PM »
I'm really glad you like it!!   d_b

This story ends in two more days with Chapter 26.

... or does it ...

duh duh dunnnnn

 :zoot:


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