Chapter Three
Holding the Line
1650 Hours, August 12th, 2552 (Military Calendar) /
Reach, Orozspatak, Epsilon Eridani System
Five minutes after being given the command to move towards the bridge the sixty odd men and women left in Echo Company were making their way down the desolate streets of Orozspatak. Carter and many others were constantly scanning the homes around them for enemy contact. Every window, doorway or alley was observed. No one wanted to be ambushed while they were in the open.
They turned down another boulevard and the bridge in question was in sight. It was a large arch bridge, something reminiscent of the Lupu Bridge of old China, except much of the bridge was cobblestone, not steel. A few derelict cars were left from when their occupants abandoned them in a hurry to leave the city.
As the Company got closer, Carter could spot an array Army Troopers in their tan BDU's. They seemed to have created a barricade between them and the bridge consisting of the abandoned civilian cars. A plethora of weapons were at their disposal, including three M808B "Scorpion" Main Battle Tanks, a pair of LAAG warthogs and quite a few heavy fifties.
As they got closer one of the troopers, bearing the gold bar of a second Lieutenant, approached turned and began to approach them. Captain Hartford signaled for the company to halt. She moved over to the Army officer and shook his hand.
"So you are our reinforcements?" The Lieutenant asked looking past the Captain and eyeing the company of ODST's, "Never thought brass would send Helljumpers."
"Well they did," Hartford stated. She looked around at the defenses, "You guys been here a while?" The Lieutenant nodded, "Yup been for the past few hours. We relieved another company in our battalion that was taking a heavy beating from the Covenant. Poor SOB's were mauled by Artillery and air support."
The two began to walk in the direction of the barricade. Hartford took everything in as it happened. Almost every building in the vicinity had at least some damage from plasma artillery. There were huge craters where some of the rounds impacted on the street. "So what's the skinny on the Covvies?"
"The bastards took the east side of the city a few days ago. They have been trying to cross every bridge to the west side so they could get their armor across, but we have been blowing them up accordingly. Heck just a few hours ago two bridges, this on and one further down the river, were the only ones left. That is until the Covvies broke through the defenses on the other bridge. That one had to be blown too."
"Why don't we blow this bridge as well?" Hartford inquired. The Army officer shook his head, "Brass wants this bridge intact for some goddamn reason." Hartford shook her head, "Leave it to command to order something so stupid. We could easily have blown the bridge cutting the enemies armor from crossing. At least then we have a chance of routing the bastards from this side of the Urlan."
The El tee shrugged and looked out over onto the bridge, "Looks like my recon teams are pulling back. That must mean the covvies are mobilizing." Hartford glanced out and saw small teams of troopers retreating from the bridge back behind the barricades.
Hartford took notice that there were about a company on Army Troopers manning the line, "So you want to tell me why a 2nd looey is in charge of an entire company?"
The officer sighed and said, "Well the Captain stopped an arty shell early this afternoon and his XO was killed during one of the covvies quick raids across the bridge."
Hartford sighed, "I'm sorry El tee. Where do you want me and my Company? I'll give you tactical command seeing as you know the terrain and defense better." The El tee nodded and motioned to the buildings on the right and left, "I could use your men on the flanks in the townhouses." Hartford nodded and turned on her heels heading back to her Company.
"What's going on Captain?" Kaneda inquired when she got back. Hartford motioned to the townhouses, "We need to support the flanks. I want 1st and 2nd platoon on the right and 3rd and 4th on the left."
"And where might you be during all this?" 1st Sergeant Turner, 3rd platoons commander asked. Hartford motioned to the Army troopers, "I'll be in the middle flank coordinating the defense with the Army 2nd Looey." Turner nodded satisfied.
"Alright 1st platoon on me!" Kaneda shouted. Fenix and what remained of 1st platoon and 2nd platoon began to make their way too the homes on the right side of the street. On the other side 3rd and 4th platoon were doing the same thing.
Five minutes later half of 2nd squad, including Joe, Suzie, Latham and Carter, was holed up in a room on the uppermost floor of the townhouse closest to the main street. They appeared to be in the master bed room of the previous owners. The room even had its own bathroom. However, a gaping hole was prominent in the side facing out to the Urlan, courtesy of a Plasma mortar. The rest of the squad was downstairs on the lower level where they could get heavy fire on the covvies down there.
It was a tight fit with so many bodies in one room but they made due, each had their own firing positions already set up and were ready to go. The door to the room opened up and three Helljumpers strolled in. One was caring a mortar on his back.
He recognized Sergeant Fillister, the leader of the Companies Mortar platoon. Carter got up shaking his head, "Nope not happening Fillister, this room is already packed as it is." Fillister depolarized showing his pretty baby face, "Sorry Staff Sergeant, but the El tee wants us set up with a clear line of sight on the bridge and this room was the best place."
Carter rolled his eyes, "Fine but stay out of my men's way." Fillister nodded and got his men to setting up the mortar. Carter went back to his position next to Latham. The sharpshooter sensed something was troubling his squad leader, "You okay Sergeant?"
Carter turned to him, "Yeah, it's just that nervous feeling you get before battle. You know the calm before the storm." Latham nodded, "Aye, I know it all too well. Remember when we were sent in Feet first to Sigma Octanus IV to reinforce the marines at Cote d' Azur. I was practically sweating bullets from nervousness, but you calmed me down sir and now it's my turn to return the favor."
Carter chuckled to himself, "Yeah but at least we were able to win on Sigma Octanus IV. I have a gut feeling Reach isn't going to be so lucky."
"I am not so sure sir. We aren't dealing with that many Covenant. If we can get a good counter attack going on them we can drive them right out of the system."
"I hope so," Carter said looking out over the Urlan River to the other side. The fog prevented him from seeing too much but he could just make out the tops of some of the largest buildings over there, "I hope so."
With that it went silent. It stayed like that for another half hour. That is when the Covenant first struck.
Their opening salvo consisted of a plasma bombardment. Someone yelled out find some fucking cover!" but Carter was way ahead of him, diving into the bathroom of the bedroom.
Globs of plasma came over in lazy arcs to their side of the river. They landed, vaporizing anything they hit. The plasma shells began to slam into the ground at regular intervals; each one shaking the ground tremendously.
Carter heard the screams of those that were wounded. Those were the unlucky ones. The lucky ones had been flash fried when the arty hit.
Carter also heard another sound. This one brought a small smile to his face. It was a telltale whistling sound of the UNSC M-145D Rhino Self propelled artillery pieces behind the line returning fire.
The 320mm shells flew over head and Carter heard them as they found their marks on the other side of the river. Carter didn't envy the beings getting slammed by that stuff. Sure Covenant Plasma Artillery was really dangerous, but at least you had a chance to see it and possibly dodge it. Human artillery was a lot faster and near invisible as it slammed down onto you. Hell, you never even have a chance to hear the shell that hits you. Carter thought it was an even trade off however.
He heard a loud whirring noise that wasn't artillery and looked up just in time to spot a squadron of six Covenant Seraph-class Fighters streak overhead intent on silencing the UNSC Arties.
"What the hell are those things doing down in atmosphere?" Joe asked to no one in particular. It was a good question the teardrop Seraphs usually were used for space combat. Seeing them in atmosphere was a rare and practically none existent sight seen within the twenty odd years of war humanity has been at with the covenant.
"I don't know," Suzie piped up, "But those Rhinos better get their asses moving before they are all over them."
The two faction's artillery pieces dueled it out for a couple minutes more before they both slowly stopped. Carter peeked out from the bathroom, "Is it done?" Joe and Suzie both peeked up from their hunkered positions and peeked over the rim. Joe turned to Carter giving him the thumbs up sign. Carter reestablished his position he was in before the bombardment. He peered outside.
The fog had subsided substantially. No doubt the plasma mortars evaporating much of the air as they flew towards the UNSC infantrymen's position. A slight rain seemed to have replaced it and was coming down steadily. All along the small line Army troopers and Helljumpers were coming out of their hiding spots. Many hadn't made it and many were injured. The screams for medics soon piped up as people slowly got organized on where everyone was.
"Everyone okay?" Carter asked looking around at his and Fillisters squad. There was a grumbled response of yes's and affirmatives as everyone got back into position. The Covenants arty hadn't hit anything on his town house but he couldn't attest to the other ones. He had just been lucky.
The sound of someone yelling, "Aw shit here they come!" over the general COM pulled Carter out of his thinking. True to the man who screamed its word, the Covenant was coming slowly across the bridge from the east side.
Carter took in their numbers instantly. They were moving forward in a staggered formation consisting of at least two hundred grunts in the front, around half that number of Jackals and at least a hundred Elites. They were all being supported by a plethora of vehicles ranging from Ghost, Specters and even a trio of Wraith tanks.
At their head a golden armored Elite Zealot. A flashing white energy sword was present in its hands. Carter cursed under his breath; Zealots were a pain in the ass to take out when they had a whole lot of support with them.
"Trevor!" Sergeant Fillister shouted at one of his men, who was wearing a satchel filled with what appeared to be mortar rounds on his chest, "HE now! Let's make these bastards regret the day they decided to step onto Reach." Trevor handed him a red tipped mortar. Fillisters gunner took the weapon and after the Sergeant made a few adjustments to the mortar tube, the gunner slipped the mortar in. The 60mm mortar flew out with a solid Wump. Everyone in the room jumped.
The round flew out and over and landed right in the midst of the group of grunts. A few more mortar rounds from other teams landed with the first within the Covenant formation. It sounded like fireworks on the fourth of July. The simian like aliens were thrown every which way as they were blown literally to bits. Limbs, blood and other unmentionables landed on top of their comrades but this seemed to affect them little.
Carter sighted through his iron sights on one of the lead grunts, although he was sure at least a half dozen other people were trained on the same grunt. "Wait till they enter the kill zone."
The leading Zealot halted, but the Grunts and Jackals kept marching forward. Their footsteps making it sound like a stampede was approaching. Carter wasn't sure who fired the first shot, but after that all hell broke loose.
Grunts were mowed down as the weapons of the UNSC claimed them. The little squat aliens didn't falter however, they kept moving and now they were returning fire. Carter had to give them credit, the little bastards were brave or they were plain stupid.
The grunts were soon joined by the shield wielding Jackals. The vulture like aliens formed a phalanx with their shields and advanced as one. Bullets harmlessly pinged off of their fluorescent shields. The bastard Jackals were a tough son of a bitch to kill with those shields of theirs. A few of the jackals shields dissipated and their wielders were left open to fire. Carter put down a couple that were shield less.
Latham however had a Battle Rifle. The scoped weapon could get many clean shots on the Jackals exposed head and even the tiny bit of exposed side that the shield didn't protect.
As a marksman, Latham and the other marksmen within the UNSC force present chose to go after the more harder to kill Jackals and Elites.
The Covenants ranks parted and multiple Ghosts sped forward. They were primarily piloted by grunts, but a few Elites had control of one here and there. They strafed the UNSC lines with their twin mounted forward plasma cannons.
"Someone take out those ghosts!" Captain Hartford barked. A few seconds later two blazing rockets flew out and hit their intended targets. Two of the ghosts went up and over in an explosion of blue and cobalt. Another salvo of rockets found their mark and even a heavy fifty opened up. The rounds pinged off the chassis of the purple hovercraft. A couple blew up as the .50 cal rounds found their marks. A pair of warthogs leapt forward and engaged the remaining Ghost. Seeing they were outmatched the Covenant hovercraft fell back.
The Elites finally entered the fray. With a almost deafening roar the hundred or so Elites all charged forward. Carter, who had been so focused on the grunts and jackals, was almost taken a back by the sight. But who wouldn't be scared of over a hundred pissed off and armed Elites charging their lines.
Now, saying they were charging was probably an over exaggeration. It was more like they were moving forward and slowly engaging the UNSC. Not all of them had swords, actually only a few did, as the ultras up were the only one allowed to wield the honorary weapons. The rest settled for plasma rifles, plasma carbines or needle rifles.
They flitted from car to car taking cover when ever they could. Elites were a lot smarter then their subordinates and stronger and that's why they were greatly feared.
A green plasma bolt flew pass Carters head and he instantly ducked. "Latham you see where that shot came from?" Latham didn't answer, he fired two three round burst before giving the thumbs up sign.
Carter sighed in relief, he had always trusted Latham's skill as a marksmen. He peered back over the rim and instantly wished he hadn't. The trio of Wraiths had begun to fire their plasma mortars over their own troops into the UNSC lines. A warthog went up in flames even a scorpion was destroyed by the plasma. As it melted the hatch flew open and two troopers came out with flames all over their body. Their screams were bloodcurdling. Army troopers came over and patted the flames out as fast as they could, trying to save their comrades.
The Covenant forces were beginning to overrun the barricaded positions on the street. Army troopers and Covenant forces engaged each other in heavy hand to hand combat. Carter knew that Captain Hartford was down there and hoped to god she was okay.
With their forces to close to the barricade the Wraiths turned their attention to the townhouses the ODST's were held up in. "Shit get down!" Carter roared as the first plasma mortar found its mark on the townhouse next to theirs. He could here the screams for medics from the poor Helljumpers that had been wounded.
Another round found its mark. This time on the bottom part of their townhouse. Carter quickly got on the COM and radioed in to his squad members that had been down there. "Springs are you guys okay down there!" There was no response only white static. "Springs!" he shouted again.
There was a cough on the other side of the COM and a voice answered, "Yeah we are okay Staff Sergeant. But you better get the hell outta there that plasma round fucked up the infrastructure of the house. It's going to collapse soon."
"Shit," Carter muttered under his breath, "Alright we will be out soon." He turned to everyone else in the room that was busy firing on the quickly advancing Covenant. "Sorry to interrupt, but we better get the hell out of here. This building is going down." The shaking of the building as another plasma round hit it was enough to get everyone moving.
They made their way out the door. Sergeant Fillister, his gunner, and Joe made it through the door before the door frame and most of the wall surrounding it collapsed, effectively cutting their route off. "Damn!" Carter said. He looked around and saw the newly formed hole from a recent plasma explosion, "Out the window."
They made their way over to the opening. The ODST named Trevor hesitated as they got near the edge, "out there? Are you kidding me?" Carter pulled the rappel cable out of his utility belt and hooked it onto the side of the wall, "Hell no trooper, now hook up or get crushed!" Faced with those options Trevor reluctantly hooked up as well.
Carter looked over the edge. They were about twenty meters from the ground. He made sure everyone was secured before he leapt over the edge, the others followed suite. He rappled down about five feet before stopping and glancing up to see a few two feet long needles fly pass their lines. A covvie marksman must have had them in its sights with its needle rifle.
"Move it!" He shouted dropping down once again. Another few needle rounds flew pass. One of them cut clean through Trevor's cable. Carter watched helplessly as the ODST fell the twenty or so feet to the ground, his screams audible over the sounds of battle. He landed on top of a car. His body bent at an impossible angle.
Carter finally got to the ground and made his way over to the fallen trooper. He took a moment to mourn the young mans death, before taking his dog tags and moving on. He found the rest of his squad huddled behind a truck. As he approached, Springs made his way over, "Sir this whole operation is going to hell real fast. What are we supposed to do?"
Carter shook his head, "Hold here. I'm going to find the captain and see what she says. However, if you are ordered to fall back do it without hesitation. That goes for everyone." The whole squad nodded, knowing the seriousness of the situation.
The rain picked up as Carter made his way over to where the Captain last was at the barricade. He waited for a retreating Scorpion that was on fire to pass before he continued on. All around him troopers were slowly falling back. None of them were full out retreating, though they were slowly being pushed back as they traded fire with the Covenant.
Carter never found Hartford, as she was yelling over the COM, "All UNSC personnel fall back to Rally Point Baker. I repeat fall back! Then Covenant has amassed reinforcements from some fucking Super Carrier over the Viery territory. If we don't fall back now then we will be cut off and overran." Carter cursed under his breath. That's why there were Seraphs in atmosphere. They were coming from some Covenant carriers.
He looked back at the barricade. The Covenant was all over the first line of defenses. Troopers fought valiantly. He knew that those troopers wouldn't be able to escape and were fighting for their lives.
He watched as a female trooper was falling back. She tripped over herself and landed with a thud. Her helmet came off and her gun slid out of arms reach. Other troopers ran pass and didn't even bat an eye in her direction. She looked up and she and Carter made eye contact; though since he had a visor on it obscured his face.
Carter made a move to help her but was too late. A gray bird like creature that resembled a Jackal with a mane was quickly upon her. Carter recognized it as a Skirmisher, a sort of distant cousin of the Jackal. The fast moving aliens were used as close combat specialist. Going in close with the enemy and engaging them before falling back.
This particular skirmisher was upon the woman in seconds. Carter could only watch helplessly as the alien flipped her over onto her back and began to tear and her with its razor sharp claws. Her mouth opened in a silent scream as the alien ripped into her. Blood and entrails spilled out everywhere.
Carter raised his M6D and aimed. He fired the first round into the female troopers head, taking her out of her misery. The skirmisher looked up in surprise when its prey had been killed from a pistol round. The last thing it saw was Carter aiming at it with his pistol. Two shots to the head and a shot to the stomach killed it.
Carter turned and began to fall back along with the others.
Carter had never been in a full retreat such as this one. Sure on New America, when the Covvies had routed their position from that one snowy mountain, they had fallen back. But that was different; they had had artillery and even a few air strikes covering them. Here it was complete chaos. It was literally every man for themselves.
Carter had never run so fast before. His lungs felt like they would explode and his calves were burning. He hadn't been a track star in High School, he had played baseball, but he really wished he had done track now. What the hell has baseball done for me; he thought to himself, all I can do is throw a grenade farther.
He was brought out of his thoughts by a screeching sound above. The Seraphs from before were all over the retreating UNSC group. Many troopers fell under the strafing by the star fighters.
As they turned down another boulevard Carter spotted the Rhino Artillery units falling back as well. Looks like they made it.
The slower troopers were quickly enveloped by the wave of Covenant forces that were quickly approaching. A few other unlucky troopers were gunned down by plasma rounds to the back.
Carter and the others fell back around another corner and he was welcomed by a marvelous sight. Nine Armadillo APC's were gathered around the town square. He could only smile as their ramps lowered. The ODST's and Army Troopers piled into the back. The Armadillo's 40mm computer controlled gun opened up on the Covenant as they came into view.
The loading ramps closed. It was pitch black for a second before the emergency lights flickered on bathing everyone in a red hellish glow. The engines came to life and the convoy quickly began to fall back. Even though he couldn't see outside Carter knew that the Covenant was all over. The sounds of the 40mm Gatling gun going off was testament to that.
The rocking of the vehicle and the fact he was dead tired was enough to put Carter to sleep. He was shaken awake by Joe, "Sir we made it out of the city. You should come see this."
The APC's had stopped and the loading ramps were down. ODST were pouring out of them. Carter and Joe joined the rest outside. He instantly noticed that there were less of the APC's. "Where are the other Armadillos?"
Joe was the one who answered, "They veered off back to Phoenix to pick up the rest of the Army battalion. They are going to meet us in the town of Slovak in a few days, but that's not what's important now. That is" he said pointing. Carter followed his gaze and gasped.
Orozspatak was burning. And not just like fire burning, it was literally melting. Plasma was raining down from a large Covenant ship in the sky that must have been at least twenty five kilometers long. It was within the cloud cover and it looked like only the stern was over Orozspatak.
"Oh my god," Suzie muttered. Her helmet was off and her hair was down. She turned and buried her exposed face in Carters chest plate. The staff sergeant was taken aback by this at first. But he slowly reached around and embraced her. No one else in the squad or the company for that matter seemed to notice. Everyone was too busy watching their chances of saving Reach slowly slip away.
Author's Note: This chapter seemed to start off strong for me but as I went on with the battle my writing faltered. I'll try to do better next time. In the mean time please review and thanks for reading.
