1003 hours, September 4, 2552 (Military Calendar)
UNSC High Command (HighCom) Facility Bravo-6
Sydney, Australia, Earth.
"Reach is gone. Everything on it is blasted to bits, burned, glassed over, and vaporized. Everyone on Reach is dead. Dead. Dead. Dead." Colonel Ackerson said, jabbing his finger into the Lieutenant's chest for emphasis.
Lieutenant Wagner was being put under this treatment during this emergency meeting. Reach had just been attacked, and glassed, by the Covenant not six days before, smashing through the last UNSC shipyard, and the only defensible planet protecting Earth.
Admiral Hood stood up. "Colonel, that is enough. Now take your seat or I will have it permanently inserted up your ass!"
Ackerson turned, anger set deeply into his features, though only bearing the slightest hint of the hatred held in check only by years of military training. After glaring at the Admiral for the slightest of moments, Colonel Ackerson reigned in his temper, moving back to his seat without further comment, as did the Admiral.
"Unfortunate as it is, Ackerson is correct. With our loss at Reach, we have only the Mars shipyards, and the entire SPARTAN program is wiped out. You're dismissed, Lieutenant, we'll send for you again if need be." Wagner snapped a salute, then walked out of the room.
"What do we do now?" General Strauss asked after the door had closed. "With the fleet in tatters, and the SPARTANs wiped out, how can we win this war? How can we defend Earth, and the remaining colonies?"
Admiral Hood sighed, shaking his head. "The orbital defense grid, and the remnants of the fleet will have to be enough to hold off a Covenant attack. We'll have to step up production of the grid to have all 300 stations operational before the end of the year. In the meantime, Colonel Ackerson, project Elemental is undergoing its final tests, correct?"
Ackerson smiled inwardly, enjoying his chance to finally rise above that quack, Halsey. With her out of the way, he could finally bring his own projects into play.
"Yes, Admiral. In fact, they are due for a final upgrade to their unit before they will be fit for front line duty." The Colonel replied, his demeanor as emotionless as before.
"Good." Hood said, nodding slightly. "Just in time, too. While Reach was attacked, a few ships at Talon managed to hold off a small Covenant force. Project Elemental will be given a week before being sent to Talon, along with the destroyer Raptor. We can't wait for the Covenant to attack Earth to give them combat experience, so the attack will work in our favor."
"Yes sir, project Elemental will be ready."
1020 hours, September 4, 2552 (Military Calendar)
UNSC Training Facility Romeo Foxtrot (TF-RF)
Southern Continent, Holloran IV.
A noiseless wind blew through the rubble strewn street, flickering the small fires throughout the run down buildings, casting eerie glows around the shadows created by the perpetually dim light of Holloran.
Holloran IV, the fourth of 5 planets orbiting a medium sized star, was always cast in thick clouds, only rarely seeing a time where sunlight could touch the thick forests and icy seas. Originally colonized for of its rich uranium deposits, Holloran IV had since become a lesser mining colony of which many people would not know of its existence. The perfect planet to hide on.
As the wind died down, heavy footfalls could be heard. Small stones shook on the ground as the footfalls grew closer. Stepping from a dark alleyway, an absolutely alien figure stepped out into the street, pausing to observe the street, light from the fires reflecting off the V-shaped visor on the figure's head.
The figure stood at two and a half meters tall, with the head melding into the shoulders and breastplate. The arms looked as though several inches of iron had been rolled around a man's arm, with the left arm ending in a three fingered metal claw along with the barrels of twin 7.62mm machine guns, and the right arm ending in an underslung 60.38mm grenade launcher, and a small .50 caliber tri-barreled chain gun. The legs were nearly the same, though thicker, ending in overlarge, bifurcated hooves. Only the double barreled, back mounted 102mm rocket launcher and the gunmetal gray coloring of the armor truly gave away that this was a suit of mechanical armor instead of some alien beast.
The armored figure stepped forward, waving its arm to signal more of the armored men into the street. Seven in all, each suit looked exactly like the first, with the exception of three, one whose right arm weapons were replaced with the barrel of a 14.5mm sniper rifle, and the other two with defoliant projectors instead of the grenade launchers the others had.
These armored figures were the result of Project Elemental, one of Colonel Ackerson's special warfare projects. Even though not nearly as well funded as the SPARTAN-II project, Project Elemental was still making leaps and bounds in the making of powered armor suits better than the ancient Mark I suits, and the Elemental Mark III Power Armor had been the result of the operation thus far.
While not as sophisticated as the Mjolnir armor of the Spartans, the Elemental armor had an advantage that any normal person in a fit physical condition could operate it without much difficulty, the reason being that the armor amplifies strength, but does not amplify reaction time, and only added to speed with its longer stride than an unarmored person.
Weighing in at close to a metric ton, the power armor to some would be too slow, bulky, and unwieldy to be of use on the battlefield. This was counteracted by the addition of three thrusters, each connected to a separate tank filled with hydrogen supplied by small air processors in the body, referred to as 'jumpjets'. With one thruster on the back of each leg, and one on the back, an armored soldier (generally referred to by the armor's name) can literally 'jump' to a distance of 90 meters away in any direction, with a maximum height of 40 meters, giving the Elementals unparalleled mobility on any battlefield.
The lead Elemental, Major Jack Stryker, surveyed the street around him, opening up a comm channel on his team's frequency. "Alright, the objective should be a block down this street, and another street over. Echo 2, post on the rooftops, stay low and follow us."
Acknowledging, gouts of flame erupted from Echo 2's jumpjets, propelling her up the two stories to land on the rooftop. The roof supports groaned slightly under the weight, but it would hold. "For the rest of us, dispersion pattern Zeta. Echo 7, behind me, Echo 6, you're on rear guard. Keep your eyes open for ambushes or other traps. Tango Company may be the new guys around here, but you can bet they won't be keen on losing. Word has it they were the unit the Spartans trained against, so we can expect a heavy defense."
Affirmations of his orders answered back as the 5 Elementals behind spread out in a zigzagged line. Slowing down, they began to walk more carefully, which effectively lessened the impact of over a ton of man and metal coming into contact with the ground.
"Echo 2 to Echo lead. One Tango company sniper taken care of."
Jack held up his armored left hand to stop the others behind him. "Roger that, Echo 2. Do you have visual on the enemy position?"
"Yes sir." Came her reply. "Patching through a visual." In the next couple seconds a box appeared on his Heads Up Display, and a couple more for him to patch the video to the rest of the team. From Echo 2's position, the entire position could be seen. Several barricades had been made around a large park, all centered around a slight hill in the eastern half of the park. On the hill he could see their objective, a small red flag, flanked by an M808B 'Scorpion' Main Battle Tank.
"Looks like a tough egg to crack, sir." Echo 3 said, a sense of awe in his voice. "I don't think I've ever seen so many guns in one place before."
Staring at the screen, Major Stryker nodded his head in agreement, though nobody could see past the polarized faceplate. He knew the Scorpion would be using live rounds, as would the rest of Tango Company, where his team only had stun rounds. In a firefight, the tank would flatten them. Scrutinizing the defenses, he devised a plan of attack. "Echo team, stay here. Echo 2, when the show starts, take out targets of opportunity as you see fit. Everyone else, stay here and wait until I give the go ahead. You'll be hitting the outlying bunkers first, but if that tank moves to engage, back off. I don't feel like testing the armor against one of those shells. Echo 3, you're with me."
The two began moving forward, his team taking up positions to move against Tango Company. Moving along the desolate streets, they avoided any openings within range of the enemy, skirting into alleyways to avoid patrols, trying to avoid contact, and lose the surprise they needed.
Within ten minutes they were in position, located near the eastern side of Tango Company's position, within easy jumping distance of both the flag, and the tank. Clicking his comm twice, the plan was set into action.
All at once, four Elementals came soaring above the rooftops along Tango Company's south western flank, chain guns and grenade launchers raking both stun rounds and stun grenades over several bunkers and foxholes even before leaving shallow impacts into the ground upon landing. Advancing in a rough delta formation, their chain guns blazing at the further targets, while using their smaller left hand machine guns to mow down those marines lucky enough to have gotten close, all the while indifferent to the hundreds of rounds ricocheting off of their heavy armor.
As the battle commenced, Stryker, along with Echo 3, came soaring from behind. During the short flight, the tank let loose with its main cannon. As the 90mm shell sped downrange, Echo team ignited their jets again, moving enough to avoid all but the shockwave of the powerful device. Flailing slightly through the air, they landed hard, but were able to stand, however shakily, and resume their attack in a more spread out force.
Only marginally aware of how close his team had come to death, Major Stryker came down onto the turret of the Scorpion, determined to take it out of the fight. As Echo 3 landed three meters behind the tank, forming a protective perimeter around the tank, Stryker quickly bent to one knee, gripping the main cannon of the awesome war machine. Making use of the suit's immense strength, he began to pull up, bending the cannon up with a gut-wrenching screech of the stubborn metal. Satisfied that the main cannon was out of play, he raised his right foot and brought it down hard onto the 7.62 coaxial machine gun, bending it down and making impossible to use.
Jumping down to the main chassis of the tank, he jammed his left arm at the cockpit covering, he drove his three fingered claw through the armor plating and ripping it off with the ease of a fork to an orange peel. Reaching down, he grabbed the driver of the tank by the front of his uniform, and tossing him aside like a ragdoll. Mimicking the motion to remove the gunner, he quickly fired off a duo of grenades into both compartments, hopping down as the devices detonated, disabling the controls to the Scorpion.
Turning to survey the battlefield, he came to find a marine training a rocket launcher square at his chest barely five meters away. Few things could really blast through an Elemental's thick armor, and unfortunately this M19 rocket launcher just happened to be one of those things. Even more unfortunate, was the fact the marine was standing too close for Stryker to use his jumpjets in time to avoid the 102mm shaped charge.
The only fortunate thing in this situation, however, was that it was one that the Elementals had trained for, as the marine soon found out as a 14.5mm stun round slammed into the launcher. As the force of the round shook the soldier's grip, causing the launch tube to jeer away from the its target, the major took this chance to raise his left arm and rake the man over with two dozen rounds of his machine guns. As the booming report of the accurate weapon sounded, the marine fell, dropping the launcher to the ground.
Sending his silent thanks to Echo 2's eagle eyes, Stryker moved forward, being sure to step onto the M19, crushing the launch tubes. The battlefield was in chaos at this point. With the Scorpion out of commission, and Echo 2 making a point to take out anyone near another launcher, Tango Company had no effective means of stopping Echo team, and were beginning to break ranks and run as the Elementals individually made their way over the field.
Striding over to the objective, Major Stryker grabbed the flagpole in the three fingered claw and tore the entire pole out of the instacrete base.
Over several loudspeakers, hidden among the wrecked buildings, came the deep Texan voice of Major General George Hammond, the commander in charge of the Elemental's training. "Elemental and Tango Company forces, stand down, training mission is completed. Everyone stand down. Medical and debriefing teams dispatched."
Instantly, the firing ceased as the marines began regrouping to gather the wounded. Not one had been killed. One final burst of jumpjets rang across the park as Echo 2 came down from her post, then jogging to rejoin the team gathered around the flag.
"This was supposed to be hard? This was a cake walk compared to basic." Echo 2 said as she came to a stop.
"Speak for yourself, Rodriguez. That shell that came close to tearing through me is gonna leave a bruise the size of a Warthog." Echo 5 responded.
"That's enough you two." Major Stryker said, ending their chat. "This was better than expected, and you should be proud of that. When we get back to base, the drinks are on me, but for now you can help with the wounded and the cleanup when the support personnel arrive."
Despite their grumbling, the soldiers acknowledged the order, moving around the field to help clean the mess they were the cause of. Stryker remained standing there, looking out across the field, surveying the chaos that had been inflicted by only seven marines in power armor. 'To think, that only the seven of us can do all this. This has been an eye opener for me.' He thought to himself, turning to look back at the still smoking tank. 'If we can do this to ourselves, with only non-lethal weapons, I can just imagine what we'll do to the Covenant...'
He looked down upon the green striped flag he was still holding. 'In the end, though, what difference can my team really make?' He stared hard into the cloth, as though trying to set it ablaze with his stare. After a long moment, he raised the pole up and jammed it into the ground beside where it had been firmly planted not minutes before. "Let the brass think about winning the war, I just have to focus on winning the battle."
Turning away, Major Stryker walked away, leaving the flag to wave in the cold breeze of Holloran IV.