Chapter 4: Drastic Measures
As the marines progressed towards downtown, the city began to seem even more lifeless; if that was even possible. Brandeis kept them updated with whatever was ahead and they managed to avoid any more Covenant patrols when all of a sudden-
"Six! Are you receiving me? Oh god they're everywhere! Six, if you can hear me, get to downtown ASAP! We managed to lure the Covies away from the Hogs so take 'em and get outta here!"
Six stopped still for a second, trying to take the information in. then said to the marines
"Marines, we gotta go right now! Brandeis, sitrep!"
"Negative sir, I just found a Covenant convoy, and it's blocking the main roads. We'll have to take an alternate route. I saw a back street on the way in, it's just southeast of your position."
"Copy that, we'll meet you there. This way marines!"
Six led his marines to the side street where Brandeis was waiting.
"This way guys, we can get there quicker if we jump over the railing on the bridge."
Brandeis gestured towards the collapsed pedestrian bridge just up ahead.
The marines ran up to the bridge and jumped through the already broken safety rail on the side and slid down the rubble, down to the highway. Six, however, stayed back, for a bit. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of blue between two skyscrapers which was followed by a plasma explosion that took down a building. "Wait," thought Six "if that blast just took down a building, it must pack a hell of a punch. What kind of vehicle has that kind of firepo- oh, oh crap, we're dead." Six caught up with the marines shouting
"Guys, move it! The bastards brought a Scarab with them!"
"Wait, what? Why would they need a Scarab here?" asked Springett
"I don't know and frankly, I don't care. Right now, I just want to get the hell out of here."
replied Sherman absent-mindedly.
The marines hurried along the highway towards downtown where the other group of marines where in the fight for their lives. They had been ambushed by an Elite strike team led by a Zealot class Sangheili, or Elite, wielding an energy sword. The Covenant forces had quickly overrun the marines and forced them to retreat. The marines, in order to continue the mission, had retreated in such a way so that the team led by Six could still get to the Warthogs. Six and his team circled the Elite's team and silently climbed into the Warthogs. Except, one of them was no ordinary Warthog, instead of having a standard LRV: M41 12.7mm LAAG machine gun turret, the Warthog on the right was equipped with a prototype M68: 25mm ALIM gauss cannon, experimental technology in which the projectile is launched at super-high speeds using a magnetic coil to accelerate it. The result of which is an extremely powerful gun for its size which can pierce armour as easily as a bullet can pierce skin.
Logan and Clegg took the respective turrets and rained hell on the Jackals around the Elite. The Elite, caught by surprise, took a few seconds to draw a gun to fire back and in the ensuing chaos, lost most of its over-shield before it managed to pull out a concussion rifle and fire it. By that time, though, the Warthogs had gunned it towards the Elite and the last trace of it was a guttural crunch as the Warthog slammed into it, tow-cable hooks, 'tusks,' first and then rolled over it, crushing it instantly. The remaining marines came out and called for an emergency evacuation for their wounded. Six's team had already driven out towards the western part of the city.
Suddenly, Six had another idea. He keyed his commanding officer's channel
"Sir, what exactly are we doing here? I know that we're part of a counter-insurgency effort, but why did the Covenant come here in the first place? The artefact was deactivated and extracted when the Insurrectionists attacked, wasn't it?"
"You are not the first person to ask me that today. And in truth, I don't know why the Covenant chose this planet specifically to attack but I have received word that there is a Scarab in the area, is this true?"
"Yes sir. I saw it in the distance before. It was firing at buildings in the upper-class district."
"Did you see any civilians?"
"No, it's truly a ghost town."
"Good, get out of there now. We're going to bomb that city and hopefully destroy that Scarab. We can't just let it wander into another into a populated area, the results would be catastrophic."
"Sir, I must protes-"
"There is no argument; we are bombing the city in exactly; 0037 hours. You are to report to co-ordinates 198.46 by 250.1."
"Roger that sir." finished Six and closed the channel.