"Ok, so its harder than I thought…" Kelly looked over the AT-AT's various controls curiously. The first movement had been a near disaster as the top-heavy giant had tipped on the verge of falling over.
"I hate being in this tin can. Give me some open ground to…"
"Chief, we have contacts! Inbound aircraft on rendezvous with accompanying ground forces."
"We're sitting ducks in this thing we need to…"
The AT-AT shook and moaned as the control panel in front of Kelly exploded in fireworks of sparks.
"Move! Now!" Kelly felt John grab her and jerked her from the seat. The three Spartans bounded into the cargo hold and out of the hole previously left by the rocket. Kelly began to free-fall from the walker's belly when the wave hit. Her initial momentum was magnified many times over as fire washed around her vision. Kelly impacted the ground hard and slid along the snow, carving a path away from the AT-AT.
Kelly looked back over her shoulder and was horrified as the huge fiery hunk of metal that used to be the walker fell towards her. Kelly quickly brought her knees to her chest and pushed off like a defensive tackle eager to get to the quarterback on a blitz. The ground shook below her feet as she lost footing and rolled. She found her footing again and looked back to see the remains lying on the ground, fire burning in spite of the snow and ice.
A howl rushed past and Kelly turned to see two oddly shaped aircraft fly by. Red lasers streaked from the craft and impacted the Leviathan. Tracers erupted from the ship and blew off one of the enemies' Hexagonal wings, sending it into a free spin right into the side of the Leviathan.
Four more ships passed across the valley on their way to attack.
Of all the times not to have a Jackhammer.
"Spartans, we need to regroup. We have multiple vehicles coming down the valley. The front walkers will hit the trip line in a minute, but we don't know if that is going to bring them down. Admiral, we may need some help with this one. Round up any marines and rockets you can find. We have lots of vehicles out here."
"We'll give you what we have. Stanforth out."
"What do you have?" Kelly caught up with John as Linda peered through her scope next to him.
"A couple more walkers. 3… make that 4 two legged walkers. Lots of infantry, maybe one-hundred." Linda's rifle barked loudly.
"Ninety-nine."
"Red team, what's your status." Kelly heard a scream as Fred's comm became active.
"Grace! Dammit, Joshua, get her back to the Leviathan NOW!" A shot went through Kelly's heart as she listened in. Gunfire buzzed in her comm unit although it didn't register.
"Fred, what the hell is going on?" Fred seemed to ignore John's pleas for an update
"She is hanging on - Joshua, get some biofoam in that wound! - but we have to get her back to medical. Joshua is going to take her while I cover them. Damn large cannon took off most of her shoulder."
Howling from the Empire's craft boomed overhead. It was replaced by a roaring boom as the ship turned into a massive fireball; a Longsword's chin-mounted turret shooting it full of holes. Some of the concussion washed over Kelly, but she ignored it.
"Kelly." John's voice snapped her back to reality. "She will make it."
The words didn't do much to reinsure Kelly as she thought of her friend, her sister in war.
"Fred, we will rendezvous with you and help hold that line. Hopefully the Admiral can give us more support. Let's go blue team."
Kelly sprinted across the once white and pristine floor of Kerane valley. An increasing number of pockmarks scarred the tundra as lasers blasted snow into the air. White powder exploded all around as Kelly ran. She dropped to one knee and steadied her aim as an enemy ship passed overhead.
Fire shot from the BR-55's barrel as the bullets found their mark. The craft veered sharply to the left as it turned upside down and crashed into the bank of snow and rock ahead. Quickly back to her feet Kelly pushed on. Sweat lined her skin and her breathing quickened as she pushed herself harder.
Kelly knew that John and Linda would not be able to keep up, but her mind insisted she go faster. One Spartan had fallen and she was not going to let Fred do the same. Her legs burned as she trekked through the newly fallen snow. The new layers were starting to become a problem.
She dropped down from a small landing as Kelly spotted Stormtroopers closing in on Fred's position. She primed and tossed a grenade amongst them. Bodies went flying as others who managed to escape death turned to face the sprinting Spartan. Kelly slammed into the side of one as she gunned down another. She stepped on the first's facemask, crushing it and ceasing the soldier's movement.
A hail of gunfire dropped two more as Kelly's shields sank. More and more Stormtroopers concentrated their fire on this new threat as they continued to fall. Warnings blared as Kelly's shield dropped. She quickly rolled and sent another grenade into the enemies' mist. The flash sent soldiers in all directions, separating limb from torso and shredding others. It was when Kelly stood back up that she saw him.
Fred snuck up behind an enemy soldier and stuck his knife in the base of his skull. He then pulled the dead Stormtrooper close as lasers pelted the body. Fire from Fred's rifle sent more enemies to the ground as Kelly added her own. Suddenly the shooting stopped and only two were left standing.
"How is she?" Kelly slammed another clip in as John and Linda arrived at her side.
"She took a hard hit. I think she will make it. Not sure what it will take to get her and the armor back in action though."
"What are they doing?" Kelly turned at John's words and noticed the two remaining AT-AT's had stopped their advance.
"Shit, do you think they sensed the Lotuses?"
"Possible, although they will make good targets just standing there. Marines should be on their way out."
"We've got Troopers coming out." Kelly turned to see the walker's bellies once again open. Lines uncurled as they hurdled toward the ground below. One by one the Stormtroopers quickly descended and began spreading out.
"They are going for the trip lines. Take 'em out?" Linda was already targeting something, her near-perfect stance being the epitome of poise and patience and death.
"Affirmative. You and Fred hit the back line. Contact the marines for the assist. Kelly and I will hitch a ride and slow down the rear advance until you guys catch up."
"Tango six-one-two, Spartan one-one-seven requesting a ride."
"Roger that Chief, Your taxi is en route."
The Pelican rocked as lasers impacted its hull. The two-legged walkers had tracked them coming in and were closing in as Kelly's stomach fluttered. The quick descent ended and the gate began to lower as a drift of snow blew into and around the dropship's interior.
Kelly snatched the Jackhammer off her back rubbed it lovingly, glad to have more serious firepower for the fight to come.
"You know it will never last…" Kelly looked to John and the two shared unseen smiles.
"Don't worry, just telling love here that we have to get a little vengeance for Grace."
Kelly and John both grabbed extra Jackhammer ammo boxes and pitched them into the snow below.
"Surely. Ready?"
The two hit the ground running as the Pelican lifted slightly and began hugging the ground, consciously avoiding the walkers below the ridge.
The situation below was more than Kelly expected. She counted ten of the two-legged walkers up front, what looked to be several hundred troops, and two AT-AT's flanked by two more two-legged models bringing up the rear.
Through an obfuscated sky came several waves of aircraft, their engines howling ever louder as they approached. They immediately began an assault on the Leviathan as its guns began swatting them from the sky.
"Looks like they got serious on us."
"Somehow I feel this is hardly their version of a serious assault." Benchley's stint of silence was broken, which startled Kelly.
"Oh yeah, forgot you where here Benchley."
"Quite. Anyway, I think I have developed a plan that would get us out of this situation."
"Oh? And what is that?" Kelly watched as another fighter exploded and rained down remnants onto the Leviathan's hull.
"We get back to the ship and let them come to us."
"That doesn't sound like too good of…"
"Let me finish. We can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I have been monitoring chatter from the Leviathan and it appears that repairs are mostly completed. The slipspace drive is ready at least. Look at all the snow and the valley and no way out other than forward toward the ship or back where they came from. Now look at the Leviathan."
Kelly almost felt stupid. "Of course. The engines. They aren't in danger, they are our ticket out."
"So basically we drown them?" The Chief's voice was thoughtful as he turned toward the Leviathan.
"Exactly. Or at least make them have to swim instead of walk. We heat up the engines and concentrate fire in the valley. I think we need to get some more lotus mines and plant them on the outer banks. Bring the snow down on top of them and help crack the ground beneath. Then heat the place up. Then we get out of here."
"Fred…"
Already on the way to the Leviathan Chief. Will rendezvous with the pelican and Meet up with you shortly. Fred out."
The Pelican came in low and powered off next to Kelly. The ramp lowered and out walked Fred and Linda, followed by several marines that quickly spread out.
"3rd, 5th and 6th platoons are set up on the opposite bank. Not a lot of men to spare after the fight with the covenant. We got new orders from the boss."
Kelly's hud lit up with a tactical overlay of the valley. She studied the Marines' position as Fred continued.
"He is agreeable with the idea of turning this area into a lake, but we will need to bring down more snow and ice. The marines will set up mines along the west ridge in front and back while we take the east. We will then hit them to cause them to slow down and detonate the charges. With any luck the resulting avalanches should provide a nice makeshift trap to box them in. At that point we hightail it back to the Leviathan while they heat things up. They are currently taking fire from the front AT-ATs but the armor is holding. Any questions?"
"When do we start?"
"Ten minutes ago."
Kelly placed the last of the rear explosives and armed it. "Lotuses are live, Chief."
"Good, we are set up here too. Blow the line and get back here for extraction."
"Roger that."
Kelly was a good three hundred yards when the line detonated, and still struggled to keep her balance. She looked back to see the edge of the cliff disappear in a puff of white as she turned and began running. Her running quickly slowed, however, when a fireball that used to be the Pelican erupted in the sky.
"Dammit."
The remnants of the drop ship rained down into the valley below as Tie-Fighters swooped and dipped before climbing back up into obscurity.
"Kelly, they just…"
"I know, I know."
Shit
A/N: Thanks to everyone who has been reading the story so far. Hope you are enjoying it! Please feel free to leave some comments (good or bad :) )