Heh, lucky number seven, right? Battle chapter here, though I don't feel as confident about the actual in-battle description as I usually do...but, here you go. It might be good to read the last paragraph-or-so of the last chapter if you don't remember it, since this picks up right were the last one left off. Well, here you go!
--- 'Charlie Foxtrot'
"The hell's going on!?" Jack demanded as he leapt to his feet.
"Brutes with active-camo," Henley said. "Must have slipped past our defenses and launched a coordinated attack. They're all over the camp."
"Orders?" Jack asked, picking up his Assault Rifle and loading in a clip.
"Dunno, the brutes are jamming us. Radio doesn't work for shit." The big man hefted up his shotgun and continued, "I vote we head for the HQ, and try and make a defense there."
Jack nodded, readying himself and trying to ignore the screams in the distance. "Let's go."
The two poked their heads out of the door and spotted a bloody brawl. Marine corpses were common in the area, and there were few brute bodies to be seen in the carnage. "Let's make for cover there," He said, pointing toward a small, columned area underneath a hill of earth across the small road. A tree rose up directly above the hill.
Two brutes were taking cover in it, each holding a spiker. "Ah, shit."
"What?"
"I think one of the guys was sleeping down there."
Jack gulped; he didn't want to think about a possible loss in Askar Squad, so he pushed it to the back of his mind. "Let's clear 'em out, then."
The two men broke out of the doorway—they could have easily cleared out the two brutes with a grenade, but in case of survivors in the crevice they were afraid of firing. As one of the brutes took aim with its spiker, Jack raised his gun and opened fire.
The bullets pinged off of the Stalker's armor, but it began to vent cyan steam. The brute growled and ducked back, only to appear around the corner holding the mutilated corpse of a very dead marine. He held it in front of his body like a shield and fired his spiker over the dead man's shoulder.
Jack hustled for cover when the brute was suddenly cut down by BR fire from another angle. Thanking his lucky stars, Jack—with Henley right behind him, moved into the opening.
The second brute, which had been lying in wait for the two, rose up and roared in their faces, drowning out the surrounding noises of battle. Before it could attack, Henley shoved the barrel of his shotgun into its face and fired, and it fell backwards, dead.
At that very same moment, a harsh crackling noise broke into both men's helmets. It then stopped, and was replaced by Fisk's voice. "Got it, Sarge. Its working."
"Copy that," Alem's voice cut in faintly. "Askar Squad, report in now."
"Henley here."
"Jack, here."
"This is Hutson. I'm fine."
"Fisk is ready to kick some ass. But you already knew tha—"
"This is Rodgers."
…There was a pause.
"Zhao and Lansing are not reporting in. If anyone spots them, report it. Everybody try and make your way to the HQ; the remaining brutes are rallying there for a defense. They seemed to have wiped out the tech staff."
"Shit, we're on it."
"Will do, Sergeant." Rodger's voice was drowned out by the sound of his sniper rifle a second later.
Jack turned, and then saw something he had not been hoping to see. On the ground below him, lying in a pool of blood, was a figure wearing ODST armor. Several spikes were visible in its torso, and the soldier had obviously been killed in a gruesome fashion. Still clenched in a death grip were two M6G magnum pistols.
"Oh, no…" Jack said quietly.
"Sarge, we, ah…We found Lansing."
"Yes, Henley?"
"He's…he's dead, Sarge."
There was a long pause. "…Acknowledged. I'm…sorry to hear that. There will be time to mourn, men, but focus on the situation at hand."
Jack couldn't pull his eyes off of the corpse. "Lansing," Henley said slowly. "Man."
"Yeah," Jack said quietly. He didn't move a muscle until Henley's heavy hand landed on his shoulder, shaking him out of his stupor.
"C'mon, Jack. There wasn't anything we could do." He paused. "The HQ's just around the corner.
Jack nodded wordlessly as Henley walked by, heading around the corner with his shotgun raised. Jack checked his ammo and loaded in a fresh clip before following after Henley.
The two thundered around the corner and up the ramp leading into the garage, and saw a gruesome sight. Techs were lying everywhere in what looked like lakes of blood, and the tables and the technology that had been on them were toppled, broken, smashed and shattered. In the very center of the room were three Stalker brutes, firing their weapons. The one on the left held two maulers, one in each hand, and was firing at the figure of a marine hiding behind a toppled table. The one on the right fired its spiker at a charging marine, and the human tumbled over in a grizzly spray. The one in the center, a larger beast will a full coat of silvery fur, held a spiker in its right hand and a mauler in its left, and was roaring to its two subordinates. The trio had yet to see the two Helljumpers, who dived behind a crate in the corner of the room.
"Sarge, Jack and Henley here, in the HQ," Jack said into his comm. grimly. "We've got three bravo-kilos here, mowing down marines. The techs are dead." However, the line was static. Radio seemed to be down…again. He turned to Henley. "What do we do now?"
Henley paused in thought for a second, and then said, "You know that expression, 'fools rush in'?"
"Yeah, I—" and with that, Henley was gone, charging around the corner "Henley!" Jack yelled after him, poking out of cover and watching as the fellow ODST charged.
He would have died instantly were it not for three things. Just as the brute on the right turned to shoot at him, it fell back, a hole in its head from sniper fire. The middle brute was distracted with a marine that was running for cover on the other side of the room, and fired its mauler at it.
The third brute, seeing the ODST charge, roared and ran forwards, firing its maulers. However, Henley jumped forward and rolled, popping up right in front of the startled brute. "Hello."
The brute's head exploded just as the third and final brute whirled around, its sickle-like mauler bayonet slicing into Henley's torso. The ODST fell back as blood splurted out of the wound, hitting the ground heavily.
"HENLEY!" Jack screamed in panic, quickly turning to fire on the last brute. However, it ran for the exit around the corner, and its shields managed to hold until it made it around the corner. Determined to kill it, Jack charged after it, but it, along with five other brute stalkers, leapt into the foliage and were gone. "You fucking bastard!" Jack yelled after it, unloading the rest of his clip into the forest.
Then, quite suddenly, the battle was over. The firing stopped; the brutes had suffered harsh casualties after inflicting even harsher ones, and had then retreated.
Henley managed to gurgle out, "Could use some help here," Before going unconscious. Jack was instantly at his side.
"Medic! I need a medic over here!" A marine dashed out of the nearby stairwell and readied his bio-foam as the radio came back online.
"This is Alem. Situation report, Askar Squad. Now!" He demanded.
"Man, we just got ambushed pretty damn bad, huh?" Hutson muttered into the comm. "We lost a lot of men, Sarge. But I'm here with Rodgers, and we're okay."
"Sir! I'm fine, but Henley's wounded pretty bad!" Jack yelled into his comm.
"He'll be fine," the marine medic said. "Don't worry."
"Medic says he'll be fine, though."
"…Copy that. Fisk and I are okay. Anybody seen Zhao?"
"Negative, sir."
"Negative."
"…Copy that. Establish a defensive perimeter. The brutes might come back any second. I'll worry about rallying the survivors. Get to it, Askar Squad!" Jack did not want to leave his comrade's side, but he knew what he had to do. "…Oh, and Hutson? Dunne?"
"Sir?"
"…You two are on body count."
---
First confirmed KIA in the squad...
PLEASE OH PLEASE tell me what you think--I could really go for some feedback! Thanks for reading!
