The Covenant were sitting at the far end of the plain to the east of the city, waiting for the order to attack. The capital city of Theros IV, New Moscow, was the last major human stronghold on the planet, and the Covenant wanted to change that.
The fourth planet in the Theros system had been fought over for the past month, and the UNSC was on the verge of losing the planet. Almost two hundred million citizens and Marines had been killed so far, and the top brass were getting ready to declare this colony another defeat.
But none of these things were in Lance Corporal Logan Taylor's mind as he crouch-walked along the outskirts of the city, looking for a good sniping position. The twenty-two year old Marine had just graduated from the UNSC's sniper training program, and this was his first deployment. He wanted some action, to take the fight to the Covenant, as he had been trained to do for the past year and a half.
Here. A low wall ran behind some trees on a small hill. Perfect: elevation, cover, concealment. Taylor crouched down behind it and propped up the bipod of his S2-AM rifle onto the wall. He briefly wondered whether or not concrete would stop a bolt of plasma. He discarded the thought and peered through the scope, looking for targets.
Not that red Elite. Not those two Jackals. There. A golden helmet glinted in the sun. He zoomed in, and let the rifle rise and fall with his breathing as he radioed in the sighting.
"Lancer-six to Lancer-lead, have spotted a commander, over."
"Affirmative, six. Do you have a shot? Over."
"Yes, sir. Should I fire? Over."
"Negatory, six. You know our orders. Report it to Archer. Lead out."
Lancer squad's orders were to take out Covenant snipers, to save the HVTs for Archer squad.
Taylor reluctantly tagged the target's location, and sent that along to Archer squad's leader. The data readout over his left eye flashed once and data scrolled across it.
Affirmative. Target location received. Out.
He frowned and moved his sights away from the golden Elite, looking for Jackals with sniper rifles. Unknown to him, one such Jackal spotted him first.
A flash of purple off to his right blinded him for a split second. The air crackled with heat, and Taylor threw himself onto his back instinctively.
"Covie sniper!" He almost screamed it into his mic.
"Calm down, Corporal! Are you hit?"
Taylor looked at the right side of his body. His uniform was singed a little. But no burns.
"Negative. I… I'm fine, sir."
"OK. You have permission to engage as soon as you find him. Out."
Taylor looked at the low wall in front of him. There was a small, smoking hole near where he had been crouched. That answered his question.
He crawled on his back two meters to his right, directly behind the tree. Slowly sitting up, he switched his scope to infra-red, and propped the bipod on the wall again. Looking through the tree, he saw a bright orange patch in the distance. He zoomed in and the blob took the rough outline of a Jackal.
Taylor's marksmanship training kicked in. He steadied his body, and held his breath. The crosshairs became nearly motionless. Slowly, the trigger came back toward him, and finally the rifle punched him in the shoulder. There was a loud CRACK! as the round flew straight and true downrange. The Jackal dropped its rifle and fell backwards, clutching its chest, which was now only half there. Taylor exhaled.
His first kill.