A/n: I'm actually moving past chapter three and soon five. Of all my Halo fics, I've never gotten past 3 (save for 000) so here's to me.
And we'll see about your part, fatdude. Maybe next chapter, yeah?
"Dammit, report!" Reichs grunted, picking himself up off the rubble. The other non-comm beside him lay dead from a large iron rod which had come free in the explosion and landed on him. Everyone else was shaking the glass shards and cement chippings off themselves, trying to pinpoint where the attack was coming from. Another mass of plasma arced and exploded in the middle of the disoriented marines, obliterating a handful of men. The others struggled to get off the street as a third mass was lobbed into a storefront where five were hiding.
One in front of the sergeant yelled, "Covenant armour at ten o'clock, sir! Gunners must have called for reinforcements before they got chunked!"
Reichs looked around and hit his radio. "McDonald? Harkins?" The COMM channel was devoid of the two rocket jockeys.
"Sergeant!" the marine pointed at a side street where dozens of Covenant soldiers poured out, flanking a massive wraith tank. Further down the street, Reichs could see the second tank closing in on their position, supported by more infantry.
Jackals marched forward in formation, their shields locked together, followed by a small army of grunts and their elite commanders. The remaining marines opened fire on the foot soldiers, dropping a few with lucky shots. Bullets pinged off the jackals' shields, until they turned red and overloaded from the volume of fire. The Covenant forces broke into a run, wildly firing their plasma weapons while the elites unleashed their energy swords. The sergeant's M7 shook wildly as he fought to control the kickback while it spit out the contents of its magazine. All grunts ran in a straight line and their bodies began to pile up from the sheer volume of fire pouring down the street. Reichs knew this common plan of attack… it was a desperate one, but worked wonders for their enemies, of course, at the expense of their own. They needed to thin the herd.
--
Newly promoted field master Sar'n Resolee sat in the gunner's seat of the hulking wraith tank, watching the battle from afar and conveying orders to his troops. He was promoted specifically for this moment, when he would push the humans out of the section of the metropolis they called "Downtown". He had been promised his uniform in the next shipment, when more officers were brought in. Right now, the Covenant seemed to be doing well. The two sides had been fighting for some time now, but there was finally some decisive action happening. He'd been able to get Covenant armour through the streets without getting ambushed, and the humans he faced were past worn out. Also on the positive side, snipers had not been able to cause any harm mostly due to the chaotic urban combat.
Their snipers were needed all over Beletzkov, and once they entered the Downtown, they could not leave. Whether from moral obligation, to stay and help their comrades, or perhaps they were trapped, cut off from the rest of their forces. Or because once they were stuck here, they were unable to tell which direction was safe, and the only way out was forward.
It was not so different for the Covenant. Granted, they could take more of a beating than the humans could, but any soldier left in the middle of a battlefield for a painfully long period of time will break down. And the tactics the humans had chosen to employ were wearing down his troops down, as well.
Taking the city was another story. However, today, these humans seemed determined, but he was certain they would not last. If his soldiers could not flush them out, another bombardment from his tanks would do the trick. They had nowhere left to run.
--
"Grenades! Toss 'em in the middle of the street," Reichs ordered, dropping his M7 to rip the three fragmentation grenades off his shoulder and hurl them as far as he could into the Covenant cluster. Others did the same, slowing the charge down somewhat as bloody corpses were flung in every direction. They fired into the smoke, cutting down the Covies who survived the blasts.
The wraiths had not fired during the charge, and when the smoke cleared, Reichs gaped in disbelief as the original two had linked up with a third and its mob of Covenant reinforcements. The marines hastily fed more ammunition into their weapons and prayed to survive the oncoming wave. Most were down to their last magazines and had no additional grenades.
Reichs was prepared to go out like this. He was prepared to not return at all, when he disappeared into the apocalypse that was downtown Beletzkov. He volunteered to clear this section because someone needed to do it. The sergeant held his submachine gun out in front of him, dragging the sight over the moving shapes. When they got close enough, he'd unload all sixty rounds, reload, and just keep shooting.
--
"Kill them! Flank them if you have to!" Sar'n growled, slamming his fist onto the armoured plating. "The prophets are tired of waiting, my brothers! This battle has dragged on far too long, and every human you kill brings us closer to salvation! You," he beckoned to a red-armoured warrior. Sar'n reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his armour, pulling his face to the field master's. "Lead the charge and finish this. Glory awaits you, brother. Do not fail me!"
The veteran-sangheili grunted and brought a plasma rifle to his chest. He barked out orders to the waiting Covenant.
--
A red-armoured elite roared and motioned forward, and as his soldiers advanced, an explosion ripped through the wall behind him, tearing through the alien's body. The stone crumbled and a scorpion tank rolled through the breach. The main cannon boomed, its shell finding two jackals and an elite. The Covenant soldiers screamed in their alien tongues, attempting to retreat, much to the dismay of their commanders, and the ones that stayed to fight ended up in pieces. The marines beside Reichs cheered as four more human tanks found their way into the battle. The air filled with the chatter of 90mm guns, opening up and cutting down anything that moved up the street.
--
Before the attack had even started, Sar'n watched his offensive force as they were broken up and torn apart by human reinforcements. The human armour swept the street clean of Covenant with brutal efficiency. The wraith beside Sar'n launched a projectile high into the air, followed by his own tank, then the third. The first landed completely off its mark, the second managed to catch a scorpion tank on its forward track pod, melting the plating and treads like plastic, and the last landed in the middle of the retreating Covenant line.
Resolee had such high hopes for his military career, but all was lost now. He slowly rose to his feet, calmly resting his hands on the edge of the gunner's seat.
--
The scorpion tanks swiveled their guns return fire on the wraiths. The booms echoed through the streets, and everyone present knew that was the last sound they would hear of the fighting. The elite tank commanders didn't even have time to jump out of their vehicles when the first and third wraith tanks instantly went up in a large blue explosion, and two shells struck the second, engulfing a lone elite in a fiery blaze.
Sergeant Reichs stood, declining an offer of a smoke from a corporal, and made his way over to a now inactive scorpion tank. The canopy was propped open, and the tank commander was conferring with a marine lieutenant. Once the tanks had broken through, it was like a whole 'nother world discovered. Some believe it's hard to get lost in a city, but they obviously had never been to Beletzkov. Following the tanks through the breach was a completely different unit who had finished fighting on the other side, and was now working to secure the rest of Downtown.
The tank commander was inspecting the damaged track-pod when Reichs came over. It was hard to make repairs in the field, but since most of the area was secure, they could afford to send someone over. The most probable solution was to abandon it, though. There were hundreds of vehicles all over the city with only minor damage to them, but would take too much time and resources to be towed back to a shop and repaired.
The lieutenant heard Reichs and turned around. He asked, "Sergeant, how're the men holding up?"
There was laughter from a group playing cards, while most lay back and rested up for the coming fight.
"They're just feeling relieved, sir. Nice save, by the way."
"We heard you guys fighting a while back but couldn't find a way around the rubble. So we figured we'd go straight through the buildings."
"It's good you did. I don't think we would have lasted long, even without those wraith tanks." Reichs looked around and asked, "How was it on your side?"
The lieutenant took a seat on the tank before replying. "Less messy, I'd say. But we got a hell of a lot of snipers... us and them. I'm thankful the Covies are just awful at shooting."
"Me too, sir."
The lieutenant exhaled visibly and zipped up his jacket. "Wise guy in my company says it's gonna snow tonight."
Reichs snorted and gazed up into the permanent grey clouds.
Woodrow wasn't surprised when the light sprinkle of snow escalated into a full-blown blizzard when, of all nights, he was standing on the rooftop of an office building, waiting to look over the newcomers. However, both he and Lukas had retreated to the stairwell and were shivering underneath their coats. On the bright side, the weather might prove to be useful, masking the pelicans when they flew through the city. Until then, they were stuck in the unheated roof-access stairway waiting for reinforcements that might have decided to not even come.
He rested his head, listening to the constant plinks of a leaking pipe and the vibrations reverberating through the ground from bombs elsewhere. Beside the sound of the howling winds, he heard the faint whine of pelican engines. Nathan bent over and smacked his friend on the side of his helmet, jolting Lukas from his sleep. The spotter yawned and eased himself up, gripping the steel railing of the staircase. Woodrow set his own helmet on his head and walked onto the roof, into the snow. Lukas made his way over to the generator and activated it, illuminating the outline of the landing zone.
Two pelicans materialized through the dark skies, their lights dimmed but visibly blinking. A spotlight from one drop ship switched on, searching for the two snipers. Once in view, Nathan waved both arms indicating he was present. With the light still trained on him, the first pelican glided closer and settled down on the left side of the roof while the second one took the right. A moment later, both transports sat snuggly and Lukas once again plunged the roof into darkness.
The rear hatches whirred open, revealing marines bathed in the red blood-tray lights. They took their time, reluctantly standing and jumping down into the layer of snow and the cold; those damn pelicans were probably heated. They fanned out with their weapons at the ready, sweeping the area with their flashlights.
Various shouts of "clear!" were heard all over the roof, annoying Woodrow greatly. The marines formed a semicircle around the two snipers, waiting for him to speak. He wasn't getting any warmer, so he wanted to make it quick.
"I'm Corporal Woodrow, and this is Private Lukas. I'm told fifteen of you are the snipers?"
The one closest to him, a twenty-odd year old, who looked like he'd forgotten to shave that morning, looked around and spoke. "Yeah, the rest of us are armed escort and then reinforcements to help fight."
Woodrow raised an eyebrow. There looked to be over thirty marines altogether, some still hanging around the pelicans. "If you were reinforcements, we'd see waves of pelicans crammed full with as many men and women they could fit touching down… we need waves of pelicans crammed full with marines touching down. No offense, but we're going to need a hell of a lot more help than just you guys."
The marine looked uncomfortable for a moment and said, "The brass doesn't want to send any more guys over. They're all being pulled back and stationed on Earth to prepare for the Covenant invasion."
Nathan shook his head. "We're holding the Covies at Beletzkov. We succeed; we might push them back away from Earth. The brass must realize thatBeletzkov needs all the men it can get so we can put up a fight..." he trailed off. The realization dawned on him. "Oh, son of a bitch."
The marine just looked away from Woodrow into the night sky.
A/n: Finally got it done. Tomorrow is Christmas, so have a good one and enjoy your gifts. Happy holidays to all.
