November 1st 2552 Covenant Planet Code Named Paradia
Kelvin exhaling deeply, takes a knee and rests his hand on Kristi's head. Another ball of plasma slams into the ground, its getting closer and closer. Kelvin looks up at the 20 meter tall wall, a pit growing in his stomach.
"2-14, do you have the pack of C-12 still?" Kelvin asks and turns to Rickor. Rickor nods and points to the pack on his waist.
"Enough to get past the wall at least."
"Stealth clearly, isnt part of the plan anymore. Claymore, we still have a job to do, no matter what we will complete the mission." Kelvin again looks at the wall and pauses. A brilliantly bright ball of energy impacts so close to Fireteam Claymore they can feel the concussive force in their bones.
"Alright, here's the plan, we sprint it. Get within 50 meters of the wall lay down cover for 2-14. He plants the charge. Boom, from there same plan you head to the objective and I'll get transportation."
"Alone? You're going to wander a Covey city alone?" Tara asks in disbelief. Kelvin nods, he stands in a fluid motion.
"No time to debate, On my mark." Time slows for the Spartans in anticipation of the coming battle, rain hammering down against them. Clay glances over the cover of the hill, from this distances he can see the top of the teeming with Covenant.
"Three!" Clay takes a breath in and gets into a sprinting pose. He can see Mel next to him do the same. His mind goes clear, the only thing that matters right now is getting to the wall and taking down this factory.
"Two!" A salvo of plasma artillery launches from behind the wall, more Wraith mortar tanks have enter the fight. From their trajectory, Clay is certain that this salvo will inflict damage on Claymore.
"One!" Clay exhales the breath, the plasma flying towards is moving in slow motion. The rain turning to steam before it even touches the plasma ball, gives the air a ghostly wavering aspect.
"Mark!" The Spartans dash forward, the plasma passes over head and impacts 15 meters from the hill they were using as cover. Still close enough to cause Tara to slip and be caught by Clay. While still running he drags her up and she gets her feet back under her.
The Covenant defenders on the wall take aim and open fire. From this distance the plasma bolts aren't particular accurate, but the sheer volume of fire still makes the sprint a dangerous action.
"Hold fire!" Kelvin says between breathes on team comm. "You'll just waste your ammo." Clay bites back a retort and focuses on not slipping in the mud. A plasma bolt hits of his chest armor, and slaps across it, but thanks the distance it doesn't inflict any real damage to the Spartan, his chest armor is a different story however. It boils from the extreme heat and part of the armor peels back, the camo it once provide is no longer functional. Clay curses and runs harder, hoping it was just a lucky shot.
Running over and around hills the Spartans dodge most of the incoming fire, the Wraith Tanks haven't given up and are still peppering the country side with plasma. Clay sees a plasma bolt impact Kelvin, but Kelvin doesn't even slow down.
Mel slides into a small ditch behind a hill. She unslings the Saw from her back, and pulls the charging handle back. A torrent of lead pours out of the weapon and towards the defenders. Burst after burst from the Saw knocks Kig-Yar and Unggoy from the wall. The Covenant take notice of her and start directing fire her way.
Clay dives in next to her as plasma begins to fall faster than the rain on them. He reaches in his gear pouch and retrieves the energy shield. Clay actives it, and holds it over Mel right in time as the plasma scores several bulls' eyes.
Tara hefts her MA5K carbine and, in single shot, starts to pick off the wall's defenders. Rickor rushes past her and towards the wall.
"Fire, fire, fire , fire! Cover 2-14" Kelvin shouts over team comm. He drops to one knee and raises his own MA5K carbine. He could feel his blood dripping down his stomach the plasma bolt had inflicted major damage to the young Spartan. And yet he still calmly picked his shoots and cover Rickor.
A Sangheili Field Marshall at shouts out at the top of the wall and points at Rickor. The rain of plasma starts to turn to him.
Clay reaches down to his belt again and pulls the grenade free. He primes it, and with the shield in one hand he launches the grenade side arm at the Sangheili. The grenade flies through the sky and hits the Field Marshall squarely, before blasting the Sangheili into a cloud of gore. Rickor, dodges the plasma and makes it to the wall. He moves quickly to get he pack off his waist and sticks it to the wall. He types into the device and has to clean rain from the screen several times during the arming.
A Unggoy squadron prime grenades and toss them off the wall at Rickor. Rickor, is just a hair faster and is already falling back when the grenades hit the ground and detonate. Rickor dives in cover and crawls back into the side of the.
"Oh-8, charge planted!" Rickor yells over the sound of automatic fire and plasma bolts.
"Once we blow the wall, get inside as fast as you can. Disengage, the enemy and move to the factory. Hopefully you will lose them in the city."
"What about you?" Clay asks between gritted teeth, as the energy shield, takes another hit.
"I'll find us a Covey ship." Kelvin looks to the group of Spartans, and back to the wall his hands reloading his carbine with super human speed. He takes another shot at a overly eager Unggoy, and the Unggoy crumples to the ground.
"You can't fly for shit…. sir," Clay reluctantly adds the sir as an after thought. He reaches to his waist, pulls his side arm, a M6G magnum and aim at a Kig-Yar his shield covering Mel still he fires the pistol the first round misses but the second finds its mark, right between the avian creatures eyes.
"You know I'm the best pilot, I'll go with you." Clay finishes his thought.
"No I need you too take command of Claymore when I'm not there. You are Claymore-Two for reason Spartan." A needle crystal explodes next to Rickor and the shrapnel pings off his armor.
"We are running out of time!" Rickor calls out. Kelvin looks at Clay, making it clear there is no room to argue.
"Alright, fine." Clay mutters, and he turns away from Kelvin and looks towards The rest of the squad. "Once inside the city stay close and don't open fire unless you have to. We need to try and regain stealth." Three green acknowledgment lights flash in his HUD. He sighs and awaits Kelvin's orders.
"See you on the other side Claymore," Kelvin then holds up two fingers and swipes them across his visor. "On your go 2-14."
"Fire in the hole!"
Clay's world ignites in a sun like white fire. All the Spartans are blow backwards and off their feet. A ringing noise is all Clay can hear, and he is slow to get on his feet. Unsteadily he takes a step forward to the wall. The shield is flickering in his hand, indicating an over charge and that it would need time to recharge before being used again. He sets back into his pouch and stumbles to one knee.
The C-12 was shaped charge why was there so much blow-back? Clay struggles to think clearly. Maybe it was damaged in the drop, it wasn't the cleanest drop. It doesn't matter now.
Clay glances around the rest of the team's armor is a bright white, the explosion had blown out their photo reactive panels. The team all struggles to the wall, which is now sporting a massive gap. A 500 meter wide section of wall was turned to ash and dust, and any unlucky Covenant soldier manning that section was as well.
Clay's dizziness recedes, he pushes himself up with one arm and jogs towards the gap. The others follow, he can only tell that from his motion tracker as his hearing still hadn't returned. Covenant troops seem to be even more shaken than the Claymore as virtually no shots are fired at the advancing Spartans.
Once inside the walls the team takes cover behind a rounded purple alloy building. Kelvin motions for the team to split and he moves further into the alien city, alone.
Clay shakes his head clear sound returns as the headache sets in. He points down a street towards the waypoint he sees in his HUD.
"Take the alleys stay out of the main streets." He whispers. The team moves in reply and moves to the front of the group.