And So It Begins
DAY 1
Reaction Force Staging Area
Planet Nyko
1036hrs
"All outposts beware we have lost contact with Outpost Gamma."
Private Scott Damson sat upright upon hearing the transmission through his radio.
"We need a reaction force at their location."
He climbed outta the troop bay and jumped into the passenger seat of his M831 Troop Transport Warthog. Several men from his squad joined him, his squad leader jumper into the driver seat.
"All set?" Sergeant Lobel asked.
"Yes Sergeant."
The other two vehicles in front and back of them started up as well and the three-vehicle convoy set off.
"Where was their last known Sarge?" Damson asked.
"Five klicks west of here."
"They send out any distress signals?"
"None."
They passed through a small patch of woods before starting up a ridge. They crested the ridge, and began down the other side. They could see a large canyon in the distance
"They were stationed along the canyon," Sergeant Lobel shouted. "Lock and load!"
"Help….somebody…..help…this is….Gamma," a voice cried through the static on the radio. "Made…..forces everywhere…..tanks, lots of ….."
"Gamma do you read?" Damson shouted in the handset. "This is QRF One."
A loud scream broke through the static followed by silence.
He saw the lead Warthogs gunner pull the charging handle on his M41.
"Incoming, one o'clock high!" someone in the back shouted.
Damson looked up and saw a ball of blue plasma coming for them.
Lobel swerved as the mortar round struck behind them.
"Wraiths on the far side."
He spotted several rock like objects hurl more plasma mortars at them.
"Damson get on the radio, we're getting out."
"Command, this is QRF One, we have been engaged by Covenant forces and are pulling…"
A mortar landed next them flipping the Warthog over. Damson was thrown from the vehicle. He groaned and rolled onto his back. Several more mortars streaked across the sky. A pair of hands grabbed him dragged him behind the Warthog.
"…We need air support," Lobel was saying.
He picked himself up and grabbed a BR55 lying on the ground. He peered through the site and aimed at a Grunt wildly firing his needler. He let loose a three round burst, satisfied when he saw purple blood squirt from the creature. He was about to fire another burst at a Spectre gunner when the gunner brought his gun around and fired a long burst at them. Five rounds struck his chest, his armor stopping three of them, the other two burning into his skin.
Damson screamed and collapsed, clutching his chest.
"Damson's down!" someone shouted.
"Sarge is hit to!" another voice cried.
A Skyhawk roared overhead.
It circled around running parallel with the canyon. Coming in low it strafed the Covenant forces with its 50mm cannons. Geysers of dirt kicked up as the 50mm bullets chewed through the infantry. Another Skyhawk followed the first doing the same. Two Wraiths exploded, engulfing the Covenant that sheltered near it.
A squadron of Banshees dropped outta the clouds, chasing away the two Skyhawks.
"Damson hang in there!" someone told him. "We got help coming."
"Get that Warthog over here," another shouted.
He was half carried and half dragged to a Warthog and laid next its M41. The gunner leaned over inserting Biofoam into the wound in his chest.
They began to move, plasma streaking above them.
"Shit they're in front of us," the driver cried.
He gunned the accelerator and swerved to the right.
"Hang in there buddy," the gunner told him.
Damson did not reply.
"How's he doing?" the driver asked
"He's gone," the driver replied manning the M41.
2/105th ODST Staging Area
1310hrs
"Everyone shut up and pay attention," Gunny Sykes shouted, the men quickly quieted down. "Go ahead El-tee." Lieutenant DiSopa stepped up onto the Scorpion.
Cussler leaned quietly against the side of a Warthog, sipping a canteen cup of coffee. Dixon stood next to him, fiddling with the scope of his –55.
"Marines, the Covenant have attacked Havana. We stopped them when they tried to cross the Havana Gorge, which runs right through the city. Now we've been ordered to counter-attack to take the other side."
DiSopa pointed to a holomap displayed next to him.
"There are three bridges that cross the gorge. Each company will assault a bridge and will be supported by six Scorpions and ten Warthogs. D Company will not partake in the attack. "
Many of the men whispered their approval, not wanting to be apart of what seemed to be a suicidal attack.
"I don't know if any of you know this," DiSopa continued. "But the Division's Recon platoon was stationed on the western side of the city. We lost contact with them when the Covenant attacked the city."
Cussler grimaced, knowing where this was going.
"Goddammit," Dixon sighed.
"D Company will be dropped around their last known position. The area is too hot to land the Pelicans so we'll be parachuting in. Recon's last transmission was that they were falling back to the park. The park is in downtown, located here and is our drop zone," DiSopa told them pointing to the map. "We will have Skyhawk jump jets and Pelican gunships for support and Scorpions and Warthogs when they become available. It is estimated that we will only be cut off for one to two hours."
"Everyone pick up your chutes and move to your assigned Pelicans and I'll see you on the ground."
Cussler dumped the rest of his coffee, and stuff the cup into his pack.
"First squad, lets move!" Sergeant Edwards ordered.
John fell in with everyone else as they sprinted for their Pelican. The crew chief stood outside handing them their chutes as they entered.
"Lock and load now," Edwards told them, "and try not to shoot yourselves."
Cussler slipped into his chute and took a seat.
"Well this is going to be fun," Dixon said.
The Pelicans engines roared to life and smoothly lifted into the air. He watched out the cargo door as their staging area grew smaller and smaller being replaced by wooded ridges and hills. Two Pelicans dropped in behind them as they rocketed over a ridge and climbed into the air. The Pelicans behind them accelerated and moved to the left and right as the ten Pelican squadron took on a wedge formation.
"Three minutes out," the crew chief shouted.
John unholstered the M6C on his hip, sliding a round into place, and reholstering it. Sergeant Edwards calmly stood next to the door, holding on to hand rail, staring out. Dixon was fiddling with his helmet, whipping a rag across his black helmet and visor before putting it on. It was impossible to tell each other apart from the front. They had their last names written on the back of their helmets, below ODST, but that was it. Cussler was able to pick out the fire team leaders: Fraizer, Acker, and Palmer by their M7s. He was also able to identify Alyssa Cole who carried an M99C sniper.
"One minute."
John sealed his helmet. His ammo and grenade count displayed on the bottom right of his HUD and a motion sensor flashed to life on his bottom left.
His stomach knotted, insertions always made him nervous. Havana appeared below them.
The Pelican jerked hard to the left suddenly.
Dixon was thrown from his seat. John grabbed him by the vest to prevent him form sliding out.
"Were taking AA fire, get ready!" the crew chief shouted.
The dropship shook violently and began to lose altitude.
"We're hit," someone cried.
Alyssa Cole and Cpl. Acker went sliding towards the door. Alyssa managed to grab onto the cargo net next to the door. Acker slid right out.
"Go, go, get outta here," the crew chief screamed.
Cussler jumped to his feet, helping up Dixon. Edwards was signaling for everyone to jump. John moved to the door when another stream of plasma fire struck the craft. He was thrown towards the cockpit as the Pelican took another hit. The dropship nosed down and sped towards the ground, the pilot managing to keep it from striking building.
The crippled Pelican rapidly losing altitude and gaining speed, cleared the park and came down hard onto a street, slamming into the wall of a building.
Havana
Planet Nyko
1320hrs
"Let move Marines."
Corporal Sampson, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Marine Regiment, jumped up from behind the tank and rushed onto the bridge, his fire team following.
"Come on."
Plasma rounds sizzled past them. A pair of Banshees came in low and strafed the bridged. Marines began to scream around him.
"Keep moving," he shouted.
Ahead he could see the Warthogs, the M41 and Gauss cannons gunner were firing madly, trying to suppress the Covenant. The ODSTs were taking cover behind the Warthogs, some still trapped on the bridge, their attack stalled.
"Incoming mortars," someone cried.
Sampson kept moving, knowing that safety was on the other side.
"Keep moving."
The Banshees swooped down for another pass, firing their fuel rod cannons. Sampson didn't turn to look at the destruction they were causing. He kept running, his eyes locked on the Warthogs. He was halfway across.
"Follow me."
A Covenant "Air Artillery" bomber appeared over the city. Its three guns glowed blue and fired. Three mortar rounds landed on the bridge. The Banshees came in again. A Covenant Shade opened up from a rooftop. Plasma scorched the ground around him.
A Scarab appeared in-between two buildings. It fired a stream of plasma at the Warthogs. Its secondary cannon opened up on the Marines crossing the bridge.
Sampson flattened himself as a stream of plasma flashed over head. The firing stopped and Sampson jumped up and continued to run. He was almost across the bridge when a mortar round exploded next to him, throwing him into a steel support beam. The world blurred around him as he tried to clear his head. A medic slid next to him. He began to cut away the burnt sections of camouflage. The medic was reaching into his bag when a plasma round struck his head. He collapsed onto Sampson's legs.
Sampson attempted to push the dead medic off but found he was losing strength. The passing Marines continued to be cut down by waves of plasma fire, while Sampson's world went black.
Camp Eagle
Planet Nyko
1700hrs
"General," his aide announced entering his quarters, "Colonel Reynolds' gained the other side. He said that his first battalion was chewed up bad but they reached the other side. They attempted to push in farther but they stalled. Also most of Captain Power's company is scattered on the western side. They are regrouping at the City Park, but are cut off. Most of his units are calling for support and evac.
Kirkus looked up from the map on his desk.
"Give them everything we have and get them out of there."
"Yes sir."
His aide left the room.
"Why haven't they glassed us yet?" Kirkus thought to himself looking back down at the map. He was reaching for the pot of coffee in the corner when the air raid sirens went off.
Havana – City Park
Planet Nyko
1725hrs
Cussler slowly opened his eyes.
"Come on we gotta get out of here."
Edwards was hovering over him, his helmet gone. He reached down and hauled John to his feet.
"We gotta get to the park, follow me," Edwards shouted, as he began to sprint down the street.
Cussler began to follow, but stumbled and almost tripped. Fraizer came up to him and gave him a hard slap in the helmet.
"Move your ass."
John followed, as they moved down the street. He could hear firing in the distance, along with the high-pitched yelps of grunts.
"Incoming, take cover," someone cried.
Plasma stitched the wall above them.
"Contact, Covenant squad, two o'clock."
John crawled behind a nearby vehicle. He got on his knee and fired a burst towards the Covenant. He reached for a grenade.
"Frag out!"
The M9 fragmentation grenade detonated in the middle of the tightly packed Covenant. An Elite was blown through a shop window, the grunts being thrown about.
A plasma round struck near him. Cussler spun around and saw another squad coming up the street.
"More behind us."
John fired another three round burst, seeing a grunt keel over, spraying purple blood. Dixon was next to from him, firing from a doorway.
"Hunters!"
A pair of Hunters rounded the corner in front of them. Their fuel rod cannons glowed.
"Fall back, get into the alley," Edwards shouted.
One of the Hunters fired. The round struck near their position. Amanda Ruch was caught in the splash.
"Ruch's down," Cussler shouted. "Dix, cover me!"
Dixon crouched and began to fire three round bursts at the Hunters, the bullets harmlessly bouncing off. Cussler moved to where Amanda lay, struggling to crawl for cover. He threw her over his shoulder and passed behind Dixon, who was still firing, tapping him as he passed.
John followed the rest of the squad, as they retreated down the alley. The squad slowed and finally stopped in a small courtyard, off a side street.
Daniel Bryans, the medic from 3rd fire team came over and laid Amanda on the ground, he began to work on her.
"Hold your fire coming in," someone shouted.
Four Recon men stepped into the courtyard, two of them were carrying a wounded comrade. Recon Marines were different. They developed hostility to other Marines, like ODST. They would isolate themselves from others, except members of their platoon. They wore digital woodland camo fatigues and armor. Their helmets were modeled off the ODST's full-face helmets, but Recon had smaller faceplates. Their helmets also were more advanced, easier to switch comm channels, biometers, and longer range FOF tags. They also carried MA5K Carbines instead of the BR-55.
"I'm Sergeant Major Hazner, Recon platoon, who's in command here?"
"I am," Edwards replied, moving over to the Recon man.
The two stepped out of the courtyard.
The other two moved to a corner and set their wounded buddy down, inserting more biofoam into the wound on his chest.
"You want me to check him out?" Bryans asked, moving towards them.
"No we got him," the one replied without looking up.
"You sure?" Bryans asked again taking another step towards them, "that wound looks bad."
The one Recon man looked up, you couldn't see his eyes, but you knew what they looked like by the voice, "I said we got it."
Bryans nodded and took a step back and went back to working on Ruch
Cussler leaned back against a wall, pulling out a canteen. Dixon sat next to him, inserting a fresh mag into his BR55.
"Alright, we're moving out," Hazner announced coming back in. "We're going straight for the park, no stopping to take cover. Just run and gun."
"My guys let's go," Edwards ordered.
Cussler stood followed and they exited the courtyard. They sprinted out to a main road and proceeded up it. The park was insight ahead. Several Pelicans were hovering over the park, ready to extract.
Plasma flashed by, impacting on the walls and vehicles round them.
"Covenant behind us."
"Keep moving," Hazner shouted.
Cussler felt something burn at his leg. The leg went numb and he collapsed to the ground. He looked up see his squad continuing up the street, oblivious to the fact that he'd been hit. John rolled onto his back and fired a burst at the approaching Covenant, dropping a grunt. He began to crawl into an alley, dragging with his left arm and pushing himself with his good leg, still gripping his –55 in his right hand.
He managed to reach the alley, allowing himself a minute to rest. He turned to check down the alley. A pair of blue armored legs blocked his view. Slowly Cussler looked up. An Elite was standing over him, a plasma rifle pointed at his face. The Elite grinned.