Disclaimer: I do not own Halo and if I did that would be cool. I do own all characters as they are my own creation. Anyways read and enjoy Chapter Two
Chapter Two
Orozspatak
1423 Hours, August 12th, 2552 (Military Calendar)/
Reach, Oroszpatak, Epsilon Eridani System
Carter grabbed hold of the back of Private Lenihans collar and yanked the young ODST back from the edge of the wall. A second later the plasma grenade that was on the other side of the wall detonated, showering the two troopers in dust and bits of debris.
"That's why I told you to stay from the edge like that," Carter shouted as he picked himself up. The rest of the squad was behind them pinned against the walls as they tried not to get a face full of plasma.
Ever since their arrival at FOB Phoenix two and a half weeks ago the ODST's of Echo Company had been patrolling the nearby town of Orozspatak. Orozspatak was a fairly large Hungarian inspired town. It was very elegant despite its position in the midst of the Badlands. It had cobblestone streets and tree lined avenues and many shops that people packed and shopped at as they carried on their daily lives.
All that changed when the Covenant came.
At first the Covenant resorted to long range attacks on the city; shooting artillery and other assortments of plasma weaponry to bomb the city. Echo Company and the resident UNSC Army Battalion, members of the 12th Infantry Battalion quickly evacuated all the civilians before too much damage and casualties were taken.
Next the Covenant striked with small hit and run teams. Sending in small squads of varying types of troops and light vehicles like their Type-32 Rapid Assault Vehicle, or as they referred to it Ghost, to test the humans' defenses. The UNSC forces were able to hold their own easily against these minuscule attacks. That's when the bastards brought in their armor.
The Type-26 Assault Gun Carriage, or more commonly known as Wraith by the UNSC, was the Covenants premier tank unit. They were called that because they usually were the last thing you heard before becoming one.
The Covenant rolled in with their tanks and air support and quickly began to push the UNSC forces back. Over the last three days the Covenant had been pushing them back block by block and only today did they reach the Urlan River that bisected the cities East and West side.
But now they seemed to be everywhere. Artillery from across the river were tearing the hell outta the Orozspatak defenses. On West side, the UNSC were getting hit in the back by Jackal snipers and mortar fire. Spirits must've been slipping troops over since midnight.
Carter risked a peek around the corner. A fog had settled in the town of Oroszpatak around mid morning and had stayed ever since. He spotted the enemy however as their armor made them glow like a firefly. A red armored Major Domo Elite lead a squad of grunts down the narrow boulevard towards his position. The squat little aliens' totted plasma pistols around while the Elite held his Plasma repeater high and at the ready. The aliens hadn't spotted them yet, but they were advancing down the street at a quick pace and would eventually run into them. Carter and the rest of the squad couldn't move because of a squad of Jackal sharpshooters on top of the houses across the street.
The bird like aliens was popping up behind the chimneys and from windows as they took potshots at Carters squad. A fog had settled in the town of Oroszpatak around mid morning and had stayed ever since. Visibility was limited what you g Carter activated his VISR and instantly everything became shrouded in a yellow hue. This helped him mark out friendlies in green and enemies in red. He peered across the street to spot trace amounts of green through the fog.
Cpl. Springs piped up from the rear of the group, "Sarge! Where the hell is the rest of 1st platoon! And for that matter where the hell is the rest of Echo."
"I think the rest of the platoon is across the street," Carter replied. He turned around and signaled PFC Gomez to come forward. He signaled across the street, "I'm moving across the street to link up with the rest of the platoon. I need you to back me up."
Gomez stared around the corner then reluctantly agreed.
"Joe!" he barked turning to his machine gunner, "Lay down some suppressive fire!"
"You got it Sarge!" Joe moved to the front of the group. He steadied himself against the wall and aimed around the corner. His MK25 made itself known as the ODST fired in short controlled burst down the street.
One grunt took a direct burst to the head and indigo blood splashed onto the street. The other grunts in the squad scattered as the light machine gun poured hot lead at them. The red armored Elite however roared at the challenge and returned fire, absorbing the machine gun rounds like a sponge would water.
"It's now or never," Carter turned to Gomez and nodded. With that the pair took of across the cobblestone street. Carter hoped the fog would've provided sufficient cover, but appeared it didn't. Plasma splashed on the ground all around their feet. It was a surprise neither of them got hit.
Carter dove the last five feet and almost collided with an ODST firing his MA5B down the street. "Hey watch it asshole!" the trooper shouted dodging out of the way.
"Staff Sergeant, glad you could join us," Lieutenant Kaneda said from a crouched position over a portable holo map. 3rd Squads leader Sergeant McAllister was with him. He gave a curt nod as Fenix approached.
"El-tee what's the skinny?" Carter inquired making his way over to the Japanese man.
"Look around you Fenix," Kaneda said motioning around him. Carter looked around at the state of 1st and 3rd squad. There were four ODST bodies lain out on the ground neither were moving. A trio of troopers lay against the wall each nursing plasma burns on different parts of their body.
Plasma burns were the worst. They burned and only after cauterizing were they treatable. A band of ODST's were trading fire with the Covenant down a back alley way and the rest were putting sporadic fire down the street at the other group of aliens, but like Carter's squad they were pinned down as well.
"Sir we need an escape plan fast," Carter stressed as the sound of plasma began to pick up again. "I know that Staff Sergeant, but the Covvies have knocked out all our F-99 Drones and without that we got no bird's eye view of the city, so I don't know what the fuck is happening out there, but…"
The Lieutenant motioned to the holo map, "This is where we are and this is where the rest of Echo is," he moved his hand along a line to where it showed mini holograms of marines crouching. "The Captain was able to establish a rally point at this police station for all of our company to rendezvous at."
"When was the last time you heard from her?" Carter inquired studying the map. If the red highlighting on the map was correct, it appeared the covvies did indeed have control of all of Orozspatak up to the Urlan River. There were even splotches of red on this side of the river.
"About ten minutes ago, but then our radio man got hit," McAllister said pointing to one of the lifeless Helljumper corpses. Kaneda shook his head, "It's pointless any ways the aliens are jamming our communications so we can't establish radio contact with anyone not within a hundred yard range."
"Probably less range then that," Carter muttered, remembering that he couldn't even establish radio contact with the LT despite being right across the street.
"Right. This police station is about two blocks away. Now normally that would be a ten minute jog at the most but with this fog visibility is down to almost zero and with the possibility of Covenant all around that will probably double the time it will take to get there," a nearby explosion showered the trio in dust. Kaneda shook it off and continued, "Sergeant McAllister's squad has taken the most casualties so he will head off first with the wounded. My squad will cover his and since your squad is at full strength you cover us and follow suit ASAP."
You would make my squad the last out, Carter thought to himself angrily, though because of his visor no one could see his facial expression. "Yessir," he said through clenched teeth.
Kaneda turned to the two of his men; one of which was the one Carter had almost ran into, "Amendola and Lopez, give Staff Sergeant Fenix some covering fire as he makes his way back across the street. The two ODST's nodded and stacked up on the wall. Amendola shouted, "Covering fire," and the Helljumpers fired their weapons around the corner.
McAllister signaled to his men to grab the wounded and dead and prepare to move.
Fenix signaled to Gomez to follow and the pair sprinted back across the street. Much like before plasma peppered the ground around their feet and miraculously they didn't get hit.
"How's our situation looking?" Springs shouted over the din of his MA5B firing full auto. Fenix shook his head, "Not good, but we have a plan. We located Captain Hartford's position. We got to cover the rest of the platoon then we will make our escape."
The thought of having no one to cover them seemed to slowly dawn on the squad. Fenix knew each one of them was angry right now that they were getting the butt end of this retreat, but none of them said anything out of respect for their superior's decision.
"I know it sucks but we will move soon so just put down suppressive fire and hope you hit something," Fenix commanded beginning to fire his own assault rifle at the approaching Covenant.
The whole squad opened up putting covering fire down on the xenophobic aliens.
"Staff Sergeant we are clear, get your men outta there," Kaneda said through the COM. He was surprised that the el-tee was able to establish any sort of contact with him.
"Alright boys and girls let's get out of her!" The squad complied and they slipped in between the buildings down an alley way and then they proceeded east down the connecting boulevard. A blue waypoint appeared on all their HUD's that marked the police stations general location.
It was a long jog to the police station. Every time they tried to make a dash to the next available cover a hail of plasma fire would drive them back. A plasma mortar blew the tiles off nearby roof showering them with shards. The Covenant barrage was so intense that many of the buildings within the city were unrecognizable.
The police station finally came into view. The squad made their way pass a few derelict cars to the police stations side entrance. Two Helljumpers guarded the entrance. Carter addressed them, "Where is Captain Hartford?"
One of the troopers, tagged as Cunningham on his HUD, remarked, "She's in the main office towards the back. Carter nodded and turned back to his Latham, "Stay here with the squad and guard the exit with these troopers."
Latham saluted curtly, "You got it sir." Carter shook his head, "Shouldn't salute to a superior when in the field."
"Hey, if a buzzard sniper picks you off I become squad leader," Latham joked. Carter laughed and began to make his way through the station. It seemed oddly quiet despite there being a war raging on outside.
He saw a few troopers from 5th and 6th squads of 2nd platoon trying to board up one of the doorways with furniture from the station. Carter went farther in pass the jail cells and was shocked to see this is where the wounded were being kept. There were so many and they filled up multiple jail cells. A Corpsman went among the wounded checking up on them.
He walked pass a few black body bags that were occupied. He knelt down and showed his respect to each and every one of them. A young private was present watching over the area.
"It was crazy, we barely made it out of there in time," He said. Carter noticed he was trembling slightly. Carter walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay son we will get out of here."
"Thanks Staff Sergeant," the young trooper said going back to his business of collecting and sorting the deads dog tags. Why have a young man like that do corpse detail, Carter thought as he finally reached the main office.
A group of officers crowded around a portable holo table, including Lieutenant Kaneda. Captain Hartford stood there as well. She stood there with her beautiful eyes and blonde hair. They all turned as Fenix approached.
"Ah Staff Sergeant Fenix," Hartford said in a calm voice, "still alive I see."
Carter smiled, "It'll take more then the Covenant to stop me from seeing your beautiful face again." Hartford shook her head, "Your flirting isn't going to get you anywhere Fenix."
They turned back to the map and began discussing again, "Looks like they got a couple of guys up in the museum; I can't think of any other building around where they would put a forward observer. I also think they got buzzard snipers up there, too," 2nd Lieutenant Joe Webb, 3rd platoons leader remarked pointing to a spot on the map.
The museum was literally right next to the police station and would be a good spot to put an OP and it would explain why the Covenants plasma rounds were getting more and more precise.
"I got Corporal O' Brien and his spotter PFC Dewy trying to locate any Covenant up on the roof of the museum, but until then we have to stay low," Hartford noted.
"We still need to clear an LZ for casevac. Our wounded aren't going to last to long," Kaneda pointed out. Hartford rubbed her temples, "I know Lieutenant, but we need to get rid of those forward observers."
"Why don't we just slip some troops into the museum and clear the Covvies out?" Fenix suggested. Webb shook his head, "We can't get to the museum. We got about a platoon's worth of Elites and Jackals held up in the parking lot between the two buildings and that stops any chances at us getting over there."
"And the Covvies are lined up along the east bank like they're waiting for a race to start, so that cuts out slipping behind that Museum to the promenade," Lieutenant Speirs retorted out. He was the 4th platoon's commander, "And besides we don't have enough men to spare."
"How much of the company do we have left?" Fenix inquired.
"We have about twenty-three KIAs and about half that wounded," Hartford sighed.
Twenty-three killed out of a company of ninety six men and women. He had heard about entire battalions of marines being wiped out in an entire night. He hadn't believed any of it but now he was starting to believe it was true.
They had kind of gotten lucky in the sense that they took shelter in a police station. There was a medical wing full of local anesthetics, anti bacterial and dressings. Though it was lacking in anything that could deal with serious wounds. They could keep the wounded ready for a little bit, but without casevac anyone marked class 2 wouldn't make it. Hell the people marked class 1 and 3 and could still hold a rifle were still combat effective.
"Casevac is not going to happen anytime so…" Hartford stopped herself abruptly as she received a transmission over her COM. She nodded a few times and finished off with a "yessir." She looked up at the group with a smile on her face, "Well gentlemen Colonel Striker seems to sending a blessing from god. We got two F-99 UCAV's en route from FOB Phoenix that is coming in for a precision air strike, E.T.A five minutes."
F-99 or more commonly known as Wombats, were the UNSC's premier unmanned aerial vehicle that could be used as a reconnaissance vehicle or a combat air support unit. With the Covenant dominating the skies with their dropships and Banshees, it was a surprise that two of the drones could get anywhere within Orozspatak.
She walked over to a counter and picked up a small black box. Carter instantly recognized a laser designator when he saw one. "One slight problem, we got to mark the museum for the drones before they pass."
"I'll do it," Carter volunteered. Hartford nodded, "You know how these work Staff Sergeant?" Fenix nodded.
She handed over the black box and said, "Good luck Fenix." Carter slung his MA5B on the magnetic plates on his back and took the offering and proceeded to the roof. He went up the stairs and opened the door that led out onto the roof slowly. He knew Covvie snipers were watching for movement on the roof closely.
He crawled out onto the roof keeping the laser device tucked within his arms. He crawled out to the first bit of cover which was a rectangular air conditioning unit.
The sound of a SRS99 cracking a shot off nearly made Carter piss himself. He precariously around the AC unit to spot two Helljumpers lying prone nearby. One of them was armed with the SRS99 sniper rifle he had just heard.
His FF tag marked them as Cpl. O'Brien and PFC Dewey. These were the sniper team Hartford had mentioned earlier. Dewey turned too him and motioned Carter to stay low, which the Staff Sergeant complied.
"Target, second to last floor, buzzard sniper," Carter heard Dewey mutter to his team mate. O'Brien adjusted his aim to the new target and unleashed a shot.
"Shit miss," Dewey informed. O'Brien pulled back the charging handle and muttered, "Bastard was a lot faster then I thought."
Dewey turned to Carter, "Staff Sergeant you shouldn't be up here." Carter motioned to the device he was cradling, "We got two F-99's coming in hot, I got to mark that museum so they know what they are hitting."
Dewey motioned to a ventilation shaft on the far side of the roof, "That'll be your best bet. We will cover you but stay low they got plenty on snipers up there." Fenix nodded and slowly made his way across the roof. It wasn't as easy as he thought it would be and more then once he almost took a plasma beam through the head. O'Brien fired a few shots and over the COM he was able to confirm that the sniper had gotten a few hits. It slowly dawned on the Staff Sergeant that he was being used as a rabbit to bait out the Jackal snipers while O'Brien took them out. Sons of bitches.
Finally after about two minutes of crawling and dodging he reached the ventilation shaft. He set the laser designator on top of the metal vent. He turned the device on and had to wait until the laser designator synchronized with the Wombats. He was afraid with all this cloud cover that it wouldn't work but he was rewarded with a beeping noise and the small screen on the laser device lit up and showed a real time video screen of what the lead F-99 was showing.
They flew over the outskirts of the city. Everything was portrayed in a weird grayish green color. But Carter could see multiple spirals of smoke rising out from different areas of the city. Plasma fire and tracer rounds could be seen through the light fog.
Through the view screen Carter noticed the Wombats were approaching the museum. The entire building was lit up in a dull red. The F-99's marked himself and the sniper team on the roof as friendly green outlines.
Carter looked up just in time to see the drones streak overhead and drop their payload. Two pairs of AGM -552 Hellfire Missiles streaked out from the drones' undercarriage and found their target on the museum.
Carter felt the urge to duck and cover his ears. The sound was deafening and the resulting fire from the inferno burned down hundreds of pieces of artwork of Reach's and humanity for that matter past. The thought stung for a moment but the result of getting rid of the Covenant up there seemed to be worth it.
O'Brien and Dewey strolled over to the Staff Sergeant. "Holy shit, that was one big ass explosion," Dewey said excitedly. Something told him this was the PFC's first air strike. Carter remembered his first air strike back on New Constantinople when he was a Private himself.
Carter nodded to the young man's enthusiasm but keyed his COM to speak to Captain Hartford, "Captain this is Fenix, the enemy positions within the museum and the museum itself are eradicated."
"Very good Staff Sergeant, I knew you could do it. I already requested for the evac birds to come in and land in the parking lot, it'll be a quick in and out so I want you up there with my snipers to provide over watch," Hartford instructed him.
"Yes Ma'am," He turned to the two snipers and informed them of their new task.
There were still a handful of Covenant on the far side of the parking lot but they were quickly wiped out by the ODST's on the ground. Two D77 TC Pelican Dropships flew over them and landed skillfully in the parking lot. Wasting no time the wounded were quickly brought out and loaded onto the Pelican.
The two birds slowly began to ascend back into the sky. Carter was watching them but suddenly noticed movement coming from the rubble of the museum. "O'Brien Elite with a fuel rod in the rubble three O' clock!" Carter shouted.
The sniper wasted no time. He sighted up and with one shot he took the Elite's head off. Through reflex the Elite pulled the Fuel rod guns trigger and the gun discharged its plasma into a nearby wall.
"Good shot," Carter said almost bewildered. O'Brien nodded and went back through peering through his scope. There good fortune was short lived however when a bone chilling roar split the air.
He peered out to the edge of the parking lot and nearly pissed himself again. Standing there with a long energy sword within its hands was an Elite Field Marshall in its maroon ornate armor.
Field Marshall's were like the generals of the Covenants ground forces. They usually never led from the front like this and seeing one in the flesh was a rare sight. It also wasn't a good one if you were on the other side.
Two Ultra class Elites in their silver armor joined their leader, energy swords of their own drawn. With another horrendous roar the Field Marshall charged.
The Helljumpers in the parking lot closest to the Elites instantly began to retreat. They knew better then to get in close with Elites with energy swords. All but one however, a young private tried to hold the line by spraying with his MA5B but it had no effect on the charging Elite.
The private was bisected by the Elites sword. Carter turned away just as it happened; it was too much too watch. Once within the general defense of the building the ODST began to fire on the Elites.
The two Ultras didn't stand a chance. There arms flailed around like they were in a swarm of flies as they were hit with rounds from all over With over thirty rifles firing down onto them their shields dissipated and they collapsed under the barrage. The Field Marshall, however, was able to hold out and continued forward.
A Helljumper wielding SPNKr rocket launcher took aim at the Elite and fired. Carter was awe struck as the Field Marshall expertly dodged the rocket by actually flipping over it. The Elite kept coming and with a powerful leap was within the midst of the first troopers.
It was a massacre. The Elite expertly cut the troopers too bits. One was decapitated with a clean cut another lost her left arm to the sword and another took a powerful left hook to the face which broke the poor troopers visor showering shards from the visor in his face.
Carter took aim and fired hitting the Elite directly in the chest but to no avail. The Elite looked up and Carter could have sworn it was looking right at him. It looked as if it was about to leap onto the roof, but more troopers regained their senses and opened up on the Elite.
The fire finally began to overwhelm it and its shield finally dropped. The Elite gave a final snarl and sprinted to safety away from the Helljumpers to safety.
"What the hell was that!" Lieutenant Kaneda screamed over the general COM. Carter was going to have to remind him too keep his cool over the COM. There was a rush of responses as many troopers answered at once. It was Captain Hartford who got everyone to be quiet.
"Shut up all of you!" She roared, "We are going to move on to the nearest bridge over the Urlan. Most of the other bridges crossing the river have been destroyed except for this nearby bridge." If all those other bridges were destroyed that meant that the majority of the Covenant across the river will be coming right at them.
"I want all platoon leaders to reorganize their platoons," Hartford ordered, "We move in five."
Carter rolled his eyes, here we go again.
Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed that one. I was going for a very realistic battle scene something my old fanfic We Were Soldiers slightly lacked. Well that's all for now. Read and review!