Chapter II: Falling from the Sky
Private First Class Kevin Winters
9th Ranger Battalion, UNSC
Beras III, Beras system
August 19th, 2534 UNSC Calendar
The Halcyon cruiser deploys drop pods, Pelicans, anything it can use to get their people out of the ship in time. We just watch the ship fall towards the ocean, unable to speak at how easily it was taken down. It had taken us multiple battalions and at least two companies of casualties to take down one of their ships, how are we meant to take down so many.
"Holzhy, are we gonna die here?" I ask tiredly as I look over at him.
"If you keep pulling stunts like the jump pack thing, yes." He says with a laugh. "Let's conserve ammo for now, only fire when requested and all that." He suggests.
"Right." I say before turning my attention back to the sky, the sun has been cut in half by the horizon, a warm orange spreading around it as it continues to fall.
"I just hope the Navy knows what they're doing." Holzhy admits as we watch.
"Yeah, me too."
"Winters, I'm gonna get some sleep, wake me up in a couple of hours if you want some shuteye as well." He says before polarizing his helmet. He leans his head back against the half wall before his breathing steadies, he easily falls asleep.
I flip around and set up my SRS99 on the half wall, pivoting it around to ensure no aliens would be kicking down our door tonight.
In the distance the ambient sounds of gunfire and explosions become obvious to me as the quiet night continues on.
I feel myself start to drift off but I quickly snap out of it, returning to my duty. My eyes drift up to the clock in the top right corner of my HUD, it's official that I haven't gotten any real sleep in about three weeks and one day. The statistic bounces around in my head, my first time in cryo stasis and in combat has been the longest I've technically been awake.
The problem with cryo is you don't fall asleep, you just sit there frozen, no dreams, no nightmares, just the depth of your mind.
I hear footsteps coming up the stairs but I continue facing forward as to look as if I am still actually paying attention to what is going on out there.
"Winters." A familiar female voice says behind me.
"Yeah?" I ask, turning my head slightly to see Reyes standing with two other Marines at her side.
"I wanted to talk to you about earlier." She says to him, motioning for her guards to walk off.
"Sorry." I simply say. "It was an exhausting three months." I admit.
"Yeah, I'm not gonna fucking court marshal you over it, I'm gonna get you latrine duty or something when we get out of here." She says. "Just don't let it happen again."
"Right." I say as I turn back to the rifle in my hands.
"You should get some sleep, my Marines can take it from here." She says quietly, as if not trying to alert anything around us, though there could probably be some alien wondering where these voices are coming from.
I nod and flip the safety of my rifle back on before putting it over my back, my armor's magnetic locks engaging to keep it in place.
I stand and shuffle my way downstairs to a couch in the lobby. I crash on it and take off my helmet, looking around the lobby for a moment before placing it on the floor next to the couch. I sigh deeply before closing my eyes and for the first time in three weeks actually falling asleep.
My dreams aren't much better than our reality. My mind takes form on the ground under the Battlecruiser, my feet frozen in place as I stare up in horror as the colossal ship sails towards the ground. Towards me.
I snap awake as soon as it hits the ground. The lobby around me is still quiet, a clock on the wall indicates that it is seven in the morning. I quickly grab my helmet and put it on to my head, listening to the hiss of the locks on my chest plate as the helmet is locked into place.
I scan the glass of the helmet with my eyes, the crack in it from the Elite still very noticeable, almost like a giant crack in porcelain.
I examine my armor, there are burn marks on my pauldrons and on my sides from plasma fire we had taken. I polarize my visor before grabbing my rifle off of the floor and walking upstairs to wake Holzhy.
I shake the sleeping man who wakes immediately, nodding to me as he puts his helmet on and grabs his MA5B. We walk downstairs and out the lobby door, opening our comms to all units in the area.
The Covenant had been busy reducing this city to dust last night, hell bent on removing any trace of humanity from this planet. But those cruisers still sit over where the Battlecruiser had been.
Holzhy and I climb up a rubble pile into a destroyed house, taking cover before accessing the radio. "Code: Alpha, Quebec, Gamma." I read off into the radio, which immediately puts me into contact with the squad leaders in the area.
"Be advised, Ranger marksman spotter team on standby for any team that needs assistance." I say into the radio, waiting for a response.
"This is Sergeant Major Oakley from Fifth Armor, we are currently pinned down at grid 106, 047, over." I hear through the radio. "Be advised, we are currently a part of the evacuation effort, around two hundred civilians in tow."
"Sounds like we're helping civilians, Holzhy." I say to him.
"It would be our civic duty." He says before leading the way to the roof of the almost destroyed house. The grid coordinates the a Sergeant Major had read off are only a couple of blocks up the road inside of the residential district.
We hop roof to roof, quickly and efficiently making our way to the armor battalion. I scan around quickly, noticing a column of pitch black smoke rising into the sky, I point it out to Holzhy before hopping roof to roof to reach it. The source of the smoke is a Scorpion tank, the turret completely gone.
Up the road sits an armored column in a staggered column formation, all of the vehicles splitting to two sides of the road. The armor consists of several Warthogs, one Scorpion and at least three modified Elephants, probably where the civilians are being kept.
The Covenant seems to be targeting the Elephant in particular, favoring to kill civilians instead of the soldiers desperately firing at the source of the shooting. Giant green balls of plasma slam into the Scorpion which immediately retaliates by firing a random shot in the same direction the plasma had come from.
We hop roof to roof until the enemy ambush point is literally right in front of us.
Now, when I had seen the green plasma rocket, I assumed a Grunt had one of those big tank killers. But I am very wrong.
In front of us stands at least ten Jackal snipers, which seem to be making a game out of the whole thing, occasionally holding up a piece of glass to test the accuracy of their foe. They stop when a bigger Jackal, who I immediately nickname 'Big Bird' gets one to the hand. On the other side sits two Hunters, taking cover behind the slanted roof of the house they sit on.
I reach for my BR-55, watching Holzhy as he grabs two frag grenades from his belt. He tosses one by the Hunters and one by the Jackals.
The Jackals die immediately, but our two new friends stand and basically shrug off the explosion. One of them spots us and starts charging. A thought in the back of my mind remembers training against Hunters.
I switch my rifle to three round bursts as I take shots at the colony of orange worms on the sides of the Hunters neck, watching it lift its shield to cover itself, but reveal a tiny bit of worms.
I take the chance to fire at the worms, watching them get sliced in half by my bullets, orange blood flying from its wounds.
"Winters!" Holzhy yells as the other Hunter charges me, swinging its shield at me. If you've ever played the game limbo with a giant fucking shield then you can probably understand how I feel while I nearly fall backwards, the shield scraping the bottom of my helmet as it flies past.
I collapse into a rockstar position, my legs behind my back. They burn and scream in pain, but it is better then getting knocked off of a roof again. My finger involuntarily changes the firing mode to full auto as I spray the worms again, this time killing the bastard.
His wounded friend howls as he charges me, skidding his shield on the ground as he approaches. I wait for him to get close before rolling out of the way, allowing him to charge past like an angry bull.
I quickly flip the SRS off of my back, firing a shot straight through the Hunter, causing a wave of orange blood to cover the roof behind it. The massive alien falls over, breathing his last breath.
I breathe easier when I realize the battle at hand is over. I reattach my rifle to my back before bending over and grabbing my BR-55 from the ground, the gun now scratched from sliding out of my hands.
Holzhy and I jump down to the convoy, where a large Army man greets us with an enthusiastic grin on his face.
"I cannot express my thanks to you in words." He admits to us. "You've saved us and these civilians, the engineers can actually come here now that the Covvies are dead and then we can get moving again." He says. "Thank you."
We just nod before walking off, assuming that they have the situation under control from here on out. We call out on the radio again but all is silent for awhile.
Above us the sky is full of explosions, mostly UNSC casualties as the Covenant fleet wipes ours across the floor, morale is low both in the air and on the ground as we begin to realize that no matter how much damage we do on the ground the air battle would still decide our fate.
It's also beginning to become very obvious that the town we are in currently might be the last ground the UNSC holds on the planet, and the enemy is still crawling around like rats.
As we walk up the road we hear the sounds of an enemy tank ahead of us. We jog into the ruins of a construction site, waiting for the Wraiths and Phantoms to pass.
"Be advised, several enemy armored vehicles spotted on fifth Robinson." I whisper into my radio before marking them on the map, any unit could now see their exact location at any time with the satellites that are still left, although the enemy would soon take them out.
So marking them on a stagnant location for now isn't such a bad idea.
We look around the site for a little while, peeking our heads out to check for enemies which we find pretty easily. A whole camp has been set up by the enemy in the heart of the city, marking that is no problem for me.
Holzhy and I peek out of the construction site one last time before dashing across the road. I slam shoulder first into an abandoned apartment building, caution tape still on the old wooden door as I bash it in. Dust curls around us from all around as we step inside, we both quickly drag couches, cabinets, anything we can find to block the open door.
Once the door is blocked we head upstairs to the top floor, where a boarded up window overlooks the enemy camp perfectly.
I watch Holzhy move to the other side of the room, quietly shutting the door and aiming at it to make sure I don't get flanked.
"This is Winters, I've found an enemy encampment, requesting list of high priority Covenant targets, over." I say quietly while setting up my rifle on the window sill, using the minimum zoom to get a good look at the camp.
On the right side of my HUD I see a list of pictures scrolling up from lowest priority to highest, showing many colorful Jackals and Elites. As I look around one specifically catches my eye, one of the top priorities on the list.
They called them prophets, and I had only seen them in pictures, but now one is right in front of me, and next to him is what looks like a giant purple cylinder, he presses his hand against it causing dirt to shake from it, almost like it had been dug out of the ground.
I continue to watch as the pod opens, revealing what seems to be a map.. I quickly snap a picture using my helmet camera before broadcasting it over the UNSC emergency net.
"What exactly is this?" I whisper over the radio.
"Winters, you need to take the shot on that guy, all units be advised they're here for artifacts." A voice says over the radio.
I allow my breathing to slow, the pressure of the situation beginning to build as I aim down sight, noticing an Elite General standing next to the Prophet.
I take aim at the Prophet, breathing in and out, when I run out of breath I pull the trigger, right as a Covenant drop ship flies in, the gravity gens underneath it push my bullet straight into the skull of the General.
"Time to run Holzhy!" I yell as I throw my rifle over my back, going shoulder first into the door and quickly making my way down the stairs, my BR-55 seems to be automatically in my hands as I rush down, panic spreading through me.
In my minds eye I can see the Prophet being rushed into the drop ship with the cylinder, a sense of failure sets itself in. I quickly banish that thought when I hear the sound of heavy footsteps downstairs.
We still have about two stories to go down, so I grab my last fragmentation grenade, pulling the pin off and dropping it down the stairwell. I use the butt of my gun to smash out a small window which I can barely fit through as I climb out, standing on a small ledge outside of it as my jump pack deploys.
A low fuel indicator burns on the top left of my HUD, I'd only be able to stop myself from breaking my ankles with the amount of fuel that is left unless I conserve it. I push off of the ledge, below me sit Covenant soldiers out for the blood of the General's assassin.
My jump pack deploys several times, allowing me to glide on to the roof of the opposite building, or at least close enough for my gut to smack into the ledge on the roof. My hands scramble to gain purchase on the ledge, I watch Holzhy glide over perfectly, his feet hitting the ground of the roof before he comes over and helps me up.
We start to free run across roofs as the enemy behind us clear out the building we were just inside of. My boots smack against the pavement of the roofs as I dead on sprint for my life, hoping to God that we can get away before they figure out which direction we had gone in.
The setting sun suddenly has my attention, a warm orange spreading over the horizon as day turns to night.
"This is Winters, are there any FOBs established as of yet?" I ask over the radio.
"We've got the Marines in the Grand Hotel and the rest of us have set up shop at the Spaceport." A voice says, two waypoints show up on my HUD, both are marked.
"Spaceport sounds good." I say over our private comm.
"Yeah, but shouldn't we get the Marines?" Holzhy asks.
"Sure, fuck it." I say before heading towards the Grand Hotel. We mostly use the roofs to our advantage, moving swiftly and silently as the night progresses. We see many Covenant soldiers, most of them look bored of being out of combat all day.
Holzhy and I make sure to set plenty of traps to cover up our tracks, whether it's a hand grenade hanging from a clothes line or sharpened sticks in order to stall and maybe give out some splinters to enemies in the area.
After about an hour of taking it slow, we spot the Grand Hotel in all of its glory, Reyes' Marines still sit on the roof, a ring of Covenant bodies surrounding the hotel suggests a battle, but the Marines did not seem to fair well as multiple body bags are neatly lined up on the roof.
We make our way down before I grab my magnum, flashing a flashlight on it at the nearest Marine to let them know our position. The Marine spots me and motions for me to move up which I gladly do.
We move into the lobby before I spot Reyes, her armor has been stripped, a large hole in the belly of her undersuit suggests a plasma hit, the angry red skin revealed confirms it.
I walk over to her and I put my hand on her hip, shaking her lightly. Her eyes flutter open and she looks up at me. "Thought you boys'd never be back." She says weakly before attempting to sit up, failing miserably.
"We're here to get ya'll to safety." Holzhy comments. "Rest of the UNSC is holed up at the space port." He explains.
"How can we get there?" She asks, her senses seemingly returning to her in an instant.
"The enemy has only been position snipers on the rooftops, and the little bastards aren't very active at night." I explain. "We can easily get to the Spaceport from here, we just need full dedication unless you guys wanna stay here until the planet gets glassed." I offer.
She just nods and I help her get up, her Second in command runs up to her and whispers something into her ear before raising his eyebrows at her.
"Gather the men, we're getting to that Spaceport." She says to him. He nods and jogs off, gathering men as he goes.
I find Reyes' armor before helping her attach it, putting her helmet on to her head as a final touch. "Good as new." I comment before walking over to the ammo box, grabbing it and taking an extra SRS clip.
I walk over to the remainder of Marines before leading them outside and to the separate rooftops, the ones that will take us to the Spaceport. We watch carefully for Jackal snipers as we move across the roofs, the Spaceport now in sight.
When we finally make it to the Spaceport we're greeted by several medics and guards rushing out to greet us, the guards setting a perimeter while the medics take our wounded inside of the port. I shrug off a medic as I walk inside, looking around at the amount of refugees and UNSC personnel around the port.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice able male refugees are being handed MA5B's with two clips each, almost as if we are running short of men, which I don't doubt.
A man comes running out of the tent, shouting in joy.
"Reinforcements are here! We've got a fleet of thirty coming to assist us!" He yells, a ripple of hope rushes through the crowd.
The sky above is becomes a fireworks display as the ships enter combat with each other, even though we nearly outnumbered them three to one, friendly casualties will still be high.
UNSC personnel start rushing people to the remaining ships in the port, women and children getting in first while the men and soldiers notice the ground shaking.
Several Wraith tanks, four Hunter pairs and at least fifty plus enemy combatants are making their way up the road towards us, most of them holding a fiery vengeance in their eyes. Everybody with a loaded weapon takes up positions, ready to defend the ships at any cost.
The first ship lifts off, a volley of plasma following it as it soars towards the sky. A Halcyon cruiser flies around the orbit of the planet until it's directly overtop of us, the ship makes it to safety. The cruiser continues to make loops around the planet, effectively avoiding enemy fire.
Meanwhile we spread out as plasma shots rain down on us, anti tank soldiers on our side scrambling to get their SPANKr rockets ready, firing off a couple at the oncoming tanks.
The tank battalion we had helped earlier today are manning the Scorpion that was broken, firing a slug into the first Wraith, putting a hole in it and forcing it to combust in a ball of blue fire.
The male refugees start to fall back, dropping their weapons and rushing towards an unmanned ship as they are ordered to do so. On both sides infantry fall and flail their arms as they are hit. I fire off a shot with my SRS, nailing a Hunter in the neck as it rushes towards me, the enemy infantry now in the port itself. The Hunter chokes and falls over, sliding towards me as it dies.
My helmet starts having trouble buffering out the constant noise around me, the screams and gunfire, the sounds flickering in and out of my ears. My HUD tells me that it's three in the morning, back home I'd still be asleep. Crazy how things change.
The last ship takes off, forcing UNSC personnel backwards, slowly moving back while firing as the horde approaches. I look to my left and watch a man get stuck with a plasma grenade, he runs towards a Hunter and jumps into it with his arms spread wide, taking the bastard down with him. The sight nearly causes me to choke, he was willing to sacrifice himself for this losing cause.
Our slow retreat turns into a full on run, the Wraith tanks are done and only two Hunter pairs remain, but around forty or more infantry aliens remain. The Scorpions cover us as we run behind them, causing them to slowly back up as their cannons spray enemies down.
It's obvious the battle has turned in our favor, the enemy was expecting to destroy our ships before we could escape, but our Halcyon cruiser was probably out of the system by now, and our Navy was probably drinking to their victory.
The realization seems to spread through their lines as Grunts and Jackals break off from the group, running frantically towards the gates. The Elites turn on them and open fire, slaughtering the crowd of their own soldiers. Of course that gives us the chance to shoot them in their backs.
We start pushing back, soldiers jumping on to vehicles to chase down the enemy combatants. We drive them out of the city and cheer as we watch the enemy scurry into the forests around the massive city.
"We've captured sector seven." Reyes announces over the radio, similar responses spring up all over the radio as we start to head back, chatting about the battle as we look for any friendly casualties that are able to be helped, we only find a few.
"All in all a good two days." Holzhy says to me as we walk. "But we've still got more coming if those enemy ships get closer." He says as he points up at the battle in the sky, the image reminding me of the crashed Halcyon cruiser.
"We'll kick their asses if they come back." I say to him with a nod.
_
Authors note
New chapter, sorry I didn't post it yesterday like I promised I would, but I got distracted and didn't complete it until this morning and then my phone wouldn't let me upload it. Yay.
So next chapter will be the last chapter of the deployment and then I've got to do some research on a certain topic to ensure I don't get it wrong. Remember to leave a review of what you think about it so far, or if you have any criticisms ( constructive please ) I would love to hear them.
That's it for this note.
Read on
-Rsk