Note: I do not own Halo or Wall.E
Date: January 15th, 2552
Location: Rodum, Takra, Niobe Aino system.
Rodum was Takra's greatest city, It's size was twice that of the state of Rhode Island of the United States on Earth and It's population was over 20 million. This city was matched by only a handful of other metropolis', mainly New York City, which was why Rodum had been nicknamed as 'Niobe's New York' because of It's comparison in size and population to one of Earth's largest cities. Rodum was very similar to New York City too. It seemed to be made up only of skyscrapers, each one towering thousands of feet tall, average being about 2,000ft, and had a major port, both for ships and transports. What really made it similar to New York City was that it was built around a large lake and in the centre of that lake was a small island with a titanium statue of the now long gone colony ship Novus Initium, meaning 'New Beginning' in Latin. It had landed here just over two centuries ago and had started Rodum out as a small growing city. Now if someone from that landing ship was to travel through time and see Rodum as one of Man's biggest cities and the biggest in the Niobe Aino system, it would be mind boggling.
Rodum, however, was well known for something else as well. It was where many UNSC military bases and BnL scientific research centres were located, making it one of the most highly concentrated UNSC presence locations in the entire Human empire that spread out across many world. It was estimated that about 250 million UNSC military personal were based here with about 100 ships. To add to the city's military personal concentration, about four UNSC orbital space defence platforms were placed above the city, so many over one city was mainly because of the size of it. It truly was a fortress that looked absolutely impregnable, as if no one or nothing, no matter what in size or strength could take the city.
At least, that was what was believed. It was unimaginable to think that this great metropolis could be destroyed. Unfortunately, that thought, deemed unimaginable, unthinkable, even absolutely impossible, had become a reality, and it was happening now in the form of a battle that had been raging furiously for the past two weeks.
Large swathes of Rodum were burning, turning the sky black with smoke and a golden orange/red colour from the glow of the fires burning across the city, overwhelming it like a tidal wave. It was a sunny afternoon across other areas of the planet, but for Rodum it had been enduring a long and deadly night for two weeks, two very long weeks. All buildings from small apartments or houses in the bottom districts of the city to hotels, luxury apartments and viewing platforms and night clubs of the higher districts were part of this fire, fuelling It's power for it to continue It's path of destruction. Explosions filled the sky and ground as large shapes passed overhead. These were large craft with two huge spires sticking out of the bottom of the front of the craft, three huge engines at the back and a purple/silver top with a curved front. They were CCS battle cruisers, about six of them, and they belonged to Man's greatest enemy: The Covenant.
The Covenant were a collection of alien races known as Grunts, Jackals, Elites, Hunters, Drones, Brutes and Prophets, who were the most rare of the Covenant and were, thereby, their leaders. Humanity had come into contact with the Covenant about ten months ago on March 3rd ,2551, and it was a day that Humanity would never forget.
Now, ten months later, the Covenant, with their superior technology and overwhelming numbers, had smashed their way across the Niobe Aino system, slaughtering and killing at will, and just three weeks ago had invaded Takra, the most populous Human world in the system, which is why it was dubbed 'New Earth', and had fought their way through most of the planet's major cities, killing millions of civilians and UNSC military personal and forcing billions more to flee to the safety of the first Sol, the home system of Humanity which the Covenant did not know of, but many were thinking, and probably even knew that it was only a matter of time until the Covenant did find the first Sol and finish Humanity and end this bloody war.
For Humanity, they were on a life line that was, for now, hidden from the Covenant, but this was a war they were losing, and it would take a miracle to save them from destruction.
Every few moments, the CCS battle cruisers would fire purple lasers down onto the city, creating more death and destruction on the ground below. This was the Covenant's favourite tactic, and the one Humanity feared most, in destroying their enemies. After wiping out any space defences and planetary defences that could threaten their craft, the Covenant ships would fire high energy deadly lasers onto the planet's surface, turning It's surface to glass, hence giving this tactic the nickname 'glassing', and rendering it uninhabitable. Many worlds Humanity had colonized had suffered this fate and Takra, which was going through this fate on an enormous scale at the moment, was not going to be the last.
In the Gontinur district, part of the centre of Rodum, there were many walkways going from one building to another, allowing the city inhabitants and visitors to take quick and easy shortcuts rather than having to go to ground and enter another building. Attached along the sides of most of the Gontinur district skyscrapers were sky trains rails, a surface equivalent of a subway system, which would stop at several platforms also attached to the sides of the buildings to take or drop off people to and from different locations around the city.
On one of these platforms, a group of four UNSC marines, all armed with battle rifles, ran out of one of the blown open doorways on the one hundred and twenty fifth floor of one of the districts skyscrapers. Smoke poured out of the doorway after the soldiers as if it were trying to catch them and prevent them from leaving. A loud echoing boom erupted from far below at the street and one of the soldiers ran over to the edge of the platform and looked down. A few large shapes moved about on the street well over a thousand feet below. One of them fired a green laser from It's front at the bottom of one of the neighbouring skyscrapers further down the street, causing an enormous explosion that slightly rocked the platform.
"My God," the soldier gasped as he watched a great fire erupt from the base of the building.
"Delta 406, this is Bravo squad 30 on the Mitsunari complex's one hundred and twenty fifth platform requesting evac, over," another of the soldiers said into his radio attached to his uniform's chest.
"Bravo 30, this is Delta 406 en route to your location. ETA five minutes,"
The soldier who was over at the side of the platform turned and walked back over to his squad members.
"Covenant are tearing the city apart down there," he said.
"Thank God that's not where we are," the soldier who had spoken into the radio replied.
"What about the ones chasing us?" the third soldier asked. "They got James on the ninety second floor and were still chasing us,"
"Well we lost 'em on the one hundredth floor," the first soldier replied. "Marcus, you see anything behind us as we got past the hundredth floor? Marcus?"
The three soldiers looked back at their comrade, who was looking through the blown out doorway into the building as if he could see through the smoke that was pouring out of the building. He was a heavily built soldier with short black hair and blue eyes. He was about twenty five years old and had been born in New Milboar just a few hundred miles away to the south down the Milboar highway. He had been in the UNSC for four years and had seen a bit of action, but the past ten months had been the only thing that seemed to exist to him. He had fought on many of Humanity's colonized worlds like Vorgra, Lupo, Eucia I and II and on Takra in his birthplace New Milboar and now here in Rodum.
"Marcus," the first soldier repeated, making him turn. "You see anything chase us from the hundredth floor?"
"No," Marcus replied. "We lost 'em,"
"Good,"
BOOM! A blinding explosion filled the sky behind him. Shooting round to see where the noise had come from, the four stared with wide, shock filled eyes at a CCS battle cruiser firing a purple glassing laser at one of the skyscrapers a few thousand feet away in front of them, which is what created the huge explosion. The top of the skyscraper was engulfed instantly in fire, which burned away for a few moments before a loud grinding and crashing noise filled the air and the building collapsed to the ground far below.
"I hope that pelican gets here quickly," the third soldier said.
The others nodded in agreement and watched as the CCS battle cruiser past them, heading away from the district towards the city's docks where civilians were being evacuated to the island in the middle of the lake where transport ships were evacuating the civilians out of the city. Marcus sighed in defeat. Much of Rodum had been devastated by the fighting and it was obvious from the start that the city, and the planet, was lost. Like one of his friends had said to him: 'The Covenant never let a planet leave their sights once It's within them'.
"Bravo squad 30, this is Delta 406. Your within my sights. Let's get you guys outta here,"
The four looked in the direction of the lake and saw a small craft approaching. A pelican, their chariot to freedom and safety.
"There they are! Kill them!"
The four shot round to see a tall figure, about eight and a half feet tall with blue armour around his arms, legs, torso, back, hands and neck. On his head was a light blue helmet, which only just revealed the four mandibles of the creature that made up It's mouth. It was minor Elite with a plasma rifle in his hand. Around him were several smaller figures that had elephant like feet, large triangular pieces of armour sticking out of their backs and had methane breather masks over their mouths. They all had orange armour and were armed with plasma pistols. They were Grunts, about four of them.
Marcus fired a burst of ammo from his battle rifle at the Covenant soldiers, hitting and killing one of the Grunts. The Elite and three remaining Grunts returned fire on the squad, hitting the third marine in the face and causing him to yell out and stagger backwards.
"JAKE! NOOO!" the first marine yelled, running over to grab his friend.
Too late. Jake fell over the edge of the platform and by the time the first marine reached where his comrade had been, he could only look in horror as he disappeared into the clouds of smoke coming from the streets far below.
At once, rage filled the marine and he shot up and fired blindly at the Covenant.
"You bastard aliens!" he shouted through anger. "I'll kill all of you!"
The marine's blind anger in firing caused the Elite to dive for cover. His three Grunt companions were less fortunate. One of them was hit and killed instantly with three bullets to the side. Another was hit in the arm and staggered behind the doorway wall, light blue blood trickling down his arm onto the floor. The third had managed to dive out of the line of fire but his arm ended up going in a pile of burning rubble. Screaming in pain, the Grunt ran around, waving his arm frantically trying to put out the fire. The Elite growled in annoyance and fired a shot from It's plasma rifle at the Grunt, hitting it in the back of the head, killing it instantly.
A few moments later, the pelican reached the platform. When it was about ten feet from the edge of it, the craft turned so the entrance to the craft was facing the marines. A machine gun was set up on the resting area of the pelican and a marine was manning it.
"Quick, get in!" he said to the three marines on the platform.
They did so, having to cover their ears as they went past the machine gun, which began firing away at the doorway. The Grunt with the bleeding arm had stuck It's head out from behind the wall and was stuck several times, causing it to yell out and flip backwards onto the floor, dead. The Elite stuck his plasma rifle out from behind the wall and fired a barrage of light blue blasts at the pelican, hoping to hit and kill the marines. Thankfully, all missed. The marine on the machine gun aimed the weapon at the wall and fired a few shots at it. They soared through the air and sliced through the wall. A loud roar erupted from inside the building and the Elite staggered out from behind the wall, clutching It's arm and side as purple blood seeped from the wounds. The marine on the machine gun fired another few shots at the creature, hitting it once in the chest, throwing the creature to the floor.
"Alright, take off!" the marine on the turret shouted to the cog pit.
The craft jolted slightly as it ascended away from the platform. Marcus reloaded another clip into his battle rifle whilst the other two marines sat down.
"I thought there were four of you guys," the marine on the turret said to them.
"Just before you reached us, we lost Jake, one of our friends," the first marine replied lowly. "A blast got him right in the face."
"Oh," the marine on the turret paused for a moment, taking in what his comrade had just told him. "Sorry, man,"
"It's ok-"
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Marcus was thrown onto the pelican's floor, blood coming from his side and the side of his head. The two marine sitting on the seats, rushed to his aid, grabbing him and putting him on the seats. The marine on the turret looked back down at the doorway to see the Elite, only just alive and managing to stand, try and raised his plasma rifle again. The marine fired a few shots from the turret at the creature, hitting him in the chest, throwing it to the floor. He fired another few shots at the body, just to finish it off. The pelican then flew off in the direction of the lake, making sure it kept far away from the CCS battle cruiser.
"Is he alright?" the marine on the turret asked as he turned to his wounded comrade.
Blood was still pouring from Marcus' side and head. One of the marines tending to him had pulled up a medical box and taken a few cloths from it and was pushing down hard on the wounds to try and stop the flow of blood. The other was fumbling through the box, trying to find a morphine serum. After a few moments, he found one and injected it into Marcus' wounds and they began bandaging up his wounds. When they were done, Marcus sat up.
"You alright?" the first marine asked him.
"Y-yeah," Marcus grunted in reply, placing a hand on the side of his head.
"Oh, good," the second marine replied. "Thought you were a goner for a second then,"
"How far are we from the island?" the three heard the marine that had been on the turret, who was at the cog pit door, ask the pilot.
"Not far now, about three miles," they heard the pilot reply.
The marine in the doorway nodded and turned back to the group.
"You guys may want to get some more ammo. One of the ammo boxes is under the seats," he told them.
The two marines nodded and took out a box labelled Ammunition across the top and opened it, revealing several clips of ammunition for battle rifles and pistols. There were a few grenades in there as well.
Marcus turned his head and looked down at the ruins of Rodum, or what was left of it. He sighed in defeat and rested his hand on his bleeding side. This was it. Rodum was lost, and the rest of Takra would follow shortly after. Hope was the only thing left for the planet now.
The pelican entrance doors closed as it flew through a cloud of smoke coming another of the burning skyscrapers in Takra. The CCS battle cruisers continued to glass the city, spreading more death and destruction on the inhabitants and It's defenders below.
