Here's Chapter 9.
-CHAPTER START-
Reach
New Alexandria, Eposz
August 23rd, 2552
Shortly after sunset
The Pelican flew through the ruined city, passing by and between towers as the fires of burning buildings lit the night. Jess and Teana sat across from each other in the seats closest to the open rear door, looking out at the terrible spectacle. Jess shook his head, saddened by the destruction of such a beautiful city.
Soon, the dropship neared its destination: a landing pad currently holding a pair of Falcons and a Hornet. The two Spartans got to their feet, Jess holstering a DMR and an assault rifle. The Pelican slowed, and hovered just above the platform. As soon as the pilot saw his instruments inform him of the sudden slight decrease in weight that signaled the Spartans' departure, he took off again, starting his assignment to look for any surviving UNSC forces.
Carter walked up to join Jess & Teana, putting an arm around the girl's shoulders and walking them over to a waiting Falcon.
"Your reports will have to wait" he told them. "Covenant are jamming all comms to command. Kat needs your help running a counter-op."
He paused, and said "It's good to have you two back."
"Sorry we didn't all come" Jess replied.
"Make him proud." He patted Teana on the shoulder and then turned toward the other Falcon. The girl walked over to the nearby Hornet.
Fly By Night
"Put your wings back on, you two" Kat contacted them. "You're flying these birds."
Jess hopped in the Falcon's cockpit, flipping the switches to ready the craft for takeoff. Its rotors began to spin, and two marines climbed aboard, manning the port and starboard machinegun turrets. Nearby, the Hornet's VTOL jets came to life, Teana linking the craft's targeting reticles to her HUD. The two craft rose straight up about 200 feet, and then leveled off as Kat contacted them.
"The Covenant have deployed comm. jammers at the high-rises across the city. We can't hear Holland, and he can't hear us. When I find them, you hit them – hard."
Nearby, a burning skyscraper's supports gave way, and it collapsed, burning bits of metal and stone plummeting to the ground far below.
"Stand by," Kat reported. "One of our trooper squads went missing after the hospital got hit. I'll mark the location. Complete their mission, and take out that jammer."
A marker appeared on their HUDs, and the two Spartans started flying toward it. A curious Banshee got its wings blown off by a pair of rockets from the Hornet, and it plummeted to the streets. A barrage of chin-gun fire from the Falcon eliminated a Heavy Shade on a roof near the hospital, and one of the turret gunners took out a Grunt that tried to flee from next to the gun. The two craft then set down on the hospital landing pad, Jess & Teana hopping out and ordering the troopers to watch the ships. They entered through a sliding double-door, finding a pack of Grunts, all of them curled up and snoozing. Some knife-work quickly made their sleep permanent, and they then spotted the Engineer floating languidly in the center of the multi-leveled circular room, several panels on the spiky object it wore glowing violet; an overshield projector. A nod, and Jess opened fire with his assault rifle.
The floating alien seemed to come apart under the fire, its spiked metal harness plummeting to the ground. Down below, they could hear Grunts scream in alarm, chattering away as they looked everywhere for a target. A Jackal spotted the two Spartans up above, pointed at them and called out. A rifle shot from Teana silenced it, but the jig was up. The next few minutes were spent fighting through Grunts and Jackals to reach the bottom. At the base level, a Brute Captain armed with a needle rifle guarded the passage to their objective. Focused fire took it down quickly, and Jess dropped his near-exhausted assault rifle for the needle rifle and three clips for it. He shouldered his DMR and peered around the corner.
The hospital concourse was a tall, wide, long, slightly curving pathway. In the center, on a bridge, a pair of Brute Captains stood watch. Three low-rank Brutes were coming toward the Spartans. And at the other end of the room, a squad of marines engaged a trio of Brutes who were protected by another Engineer, the simian aliens guarding an odd-looking machine that had to be the jammer. Jess fired his DMR at the nearest Brute, and it toppled. The other went down via two bullets to the face courtesy of Teana. Jess then used his needle rifle, three shots each taking down the pair of Brute Captains on the bridge. The duo then ran up a ramp onto the bridge, Teana grabbing a dropped plasma repeater. By now the Engineer was in range, and she fired two three-round bursts from her device/rifle. The creature squealed and seemed to explode, and the faint violet glow surrounding the Brute trio guarding the jammer faded away. She switched to single-shot and shot one through the face. The second one got its skull ventilated by concentrated assault rifle fire from the four troopers, and the third tried to charge, only for one of the troopers to whip out a shotgun and blow its brains out as soon as it got close. Jess used his needle rifle to kill another Brute Captain below him, and the two Spartans then ran over to join the troopers. Jess hit a button on the jammer, and it exploded a few seconds later.
"Noble-2 to Nobles 6 & 7," Kat radioed, "I'm showing the hospital jammer offline. Nice work. As soon as you can, I need you back in the air. Wait… you've got incoming tangos!"
"We got jumpers!" a trooper cried, pointing at a quartet of Elite Rangers heading for the group. The first one came in for a landing 10 meters away and opened fire with its plasma repeater. Teana returned the favor, the rapid-fire blue bolts taking down a good portion of the Elite's shields. It tried to jet away, but Jess fired two DMR shots at its head. The first wore down the shields completely, and the second punched through its skull, and the dead Elite flew out of control into a wall. As the Spartans-led UNSC squad moved forward, two more Elites came up, one with a needle rifle and the other with a carbine. A shot from the latter killed one of the troopers, and as it tried to jet away Jess threw a plasma grenade at it. The grenade stuck to the Elite's hip, and went off as it was in midair, blowing the alien in half. Teana switched Cross Mirage to dual plasma-bolt mode, and she quickly brought the Elite carrying the needle rifle to its knees as plasma bolts ate their way through its shields and armor. A knife strike from Jess finished it off. The teen Spartan then charged the fourth Elite, dodging plasma bolts and switching Mirage's right pistol to Longsword Mode. She fired plasma bolts from Mirage's left-hand gun as she went, and when she got in close she dispelled her left gun, gripped the sword handle in both hands, and swung down, bisecting the Elite from head to waist. She then re-summoned her other pistol and switched back to Rifle Mode. Jess gave an appreciative whistle at her handiwork, and the two moved to the entrance to the tall circular room from earlier.
In it, a pair of red-armored Skirmishers stood at the top of the first set of stairs, and they were quickly killed by Jess' needle rifle. The concussion-rifle-wielding Elite Ultra was a bit more of a problem. It dodged a plasma grenade thrown by Teana, and fired two shots at her. The first struck her in the chest like a hammer, draining her shields by 60% and knocking her off her feet. The second one sailed clear over her, passing through where her head had been when she was standing a second ago. Jess opened fire with his DMR from the hip, firing as fast as the rifle would allow. The Elite's shields flickered but held, and the alien roared in indignation. As it prepared to charge him, it suddenly fell to the ground as Teana grabbed hold of its right ankle and yanked its foot out from under it. The troopers, by now having caught up, rushed in and poured assault rifle fire into the downed alien, quickly draining its shields and filling its chest with decidedly unhealthy little extra metal bits. The creature exhaled air from shredded lungs and died. One trooper helped the smaller Spartan to her feet, handing her Mirage, who she accepted with a nod of thanks.
The room clear, the two Spartans bid farewell and headed up the levels (Jess making sure to strip the two Skirmishers of needle rifle ammo). Quickly they reached the top and exited back outside, finding their aircraft still being guarded by the two troopers, who responded to the Spartans' return by getting back in the Falcon's turrets. Jess & Teana climbed back into the cockpits of their respective craft, and rose up several dozen meters. A Covenant ship roared by overhead, looking somewhat like a battlecruiser except a little smaller, and having only two downward-pointing 'fins' underneath the nose instead of four.
COVENANT YERNO-CLASS CRUISER – 1,500 meters
The ship took position over another portion of the city several kilometers away. A high, charging whine accompanied a buildup of light at a single point on the cruiser's underside, and then a red beam shot straight down from it, vaporizing a portion of the city and sending a surge of superheated plasma billowing out from the epicenter, consuming several buildings.
"Command:" a voice came over the radio, "this is Gunnery Sergeant Buck, 11th ODST, over."
"Copy, Gunnery-Sergeant" Kat replied. "Go ahead."
"Need escort on a classified op. Someone who can fly a tight formation."
"Solid copy. Noble-6 and Noble-7 will escort you."
A waypoint appeared on the two Spartans' visors, pointing to a high tower 315 meters west. They reached it quickly enough, and another Falcon rose from it, a pair of ODSTs manning its grenade-launcher turrets. The next five minutes were rather hectic, as Banshees appeared left and right, being shot out of the sky by rockets, bullets, and high-velocity grenades. Finally, after a 1200-meter journey, the escorted Falcon came to a landing atop a square-roofed building on the edge of the city.
"I appreciate the help, Spartans" Buck contacted them. "I'll see you in Hell…"
"Mayday! Mayday!" a panicky voice came over the radio. "7-Delta-1-9 to any UNSC forces!"
"What's your status, 1-9?" Kat replied.
"We found the jammer, but we're gettin' hit hard! Request immediate assistance! Sinoviet Center is-" the transmission cut off with a cry of pain.
"You still with me, 1-9? 7-Delta-1-9, do you copy?"
Silence.
"Six, Seven, I'm uploading coordinates now. Get to Sinoviet Center. Help those troopers if you can, but get that jammer offline either way."
On the flight, half a dozen Banshees caused various amounts of trouble. Thankfully, they didn't all show up at once, and they were dealt with. A Phantom got in their way as well, and Jess & Teana focused fire on the two fins that stuck out of the rear of the vessel. These turned out to be parts of the anti-grav generators, and a chain reaction disabled them; the dropship then dropped like a 300-ton rock, its occupants experiencing a brief several seconds of free-fall before their lives ended messily on impact with the ground. At the Sinoviet Center tower, a pair of Shades guarded the entrance; they were blown to scrap by a few salvos of missiles from Teana's Hornet. She then flew the craft in low, opening fire on the Grunts and Jackals massed on the stairs that led up into the tower proper. The stairs ran blue and purple with alien blood. Jess brought his Falcon in for a landing on the pad, while Teana parked her smaller Hornet at the base of the stairs.
They worked their way up the stairs, trying not to slip and fall on the gore, and soon reached the room, stopping in front of a holo-statue of a UNSC frigate. They both ducked for cover as a focus rifle opened up on them. After a few seconds, Teana ran to the right, drawing the Jackal marksman's fire and allowing Jess an opportunity to shoot it in the head with his DMR. At the top of the next set of stairs, a trio of low-rank Brutes awaited the two Spartans. One was taken down before it could draw its red plasma rifle, but the other two opened fire with their Spikers. Teana stuck a plasma grenade to one of them, nailing its chest and vaporizing a sizeable portion of its torso. The other one got three needles to the face that promptly made its head asplode. A Brute Captain at the top of the last, winding set of stairs fired its concussion rifle down at the Spartans, but the Spartans dodged the shots due to the distance. Jess fired two needle rifle rounds, but the Brute locked down its armor, the shots ricocheting off the crackling white field of the crouched Brute. As soon as it unlocked its armor, three needle rifle shots quickly buried themselves into its neck before it could respond, decapitating it.
"Noble-6, Noble-7," Kat contacted them, "I'm still getting nothing from those troopers. You may have to deal with the jammer yourselves."
They made their way up the stairs, soon reaching a pair of elevators. They got in one, hitting the button, and jazz music played over the speakers during their brief trip up. They reached their destination, to find dead army troopers all over the place, the wooden floor stained with red blood. They walked through the grisly and eerily silent floor, soon finding the jammer. Teana hit the button, and the jammer folded up, whined, and exploded. As they made their way out, however, a buzzing sound could be heard.
"It's a trap!" Teana shouted, and the two Spartans legged it through the corridors, dodging plasma fire from a dozen angry Drones. They reached the elevator, Jess punching in the 'face' of a Drone that tried to join them, and rode down to the opening floor. They hopped down the levels and stairs, reaching their parked aircraft and hopping in, soon getting a few hundred feet up. Overhead, another Covenant cruiser roared past, taking position a few kilometers away. The earlier spectacle was repeated, only this time is was louder and brighter due to the ship's closeness. A strong wind – the shockwave of the blast –made the Spartans have to briefly wrestle with the control sticks, but quickly died down.
"Six, Seven," Kat radioed, "we're getting reports of Elites and Engineers trying to break into the Misriah Complex. Take them out."
It was a short and, mercifully, uninterrupted flight to a nondescript building with MISRIAH printed on the side in 10-foot-tall letters. On the roof, a quartet of Elites fumbled with a door, having failed to brute-force their way through, as two Engineers floated nearby. A barrage of rockets from Teana's Hornet sent them to the afterlife.
"4-Charlie-2-7 to Command" a man's voice said over the radio. "Request immediate assistance."
"Go ahead, 2-7" Kat replied.
"We're at the Vyrant Telecom tower! Got Hunters between us and the jammer!"
"Copy, 2-7; help is on the way. Six, Seven, I'm sending you coordinates for the Vyrant tower. Go get those troopers unstuck. This is the last jammer, guys; we're almost there."
To the Spartans' pleasant surprise, the NAV point highlighted a large tower that was right next to the one they currently hovered over, and it took them only five seconds to reach it. The landing pad and the exterior entrance were highlighted in neon light, and a pair of FRG Shades opened up on the two craft. They dodged to and fro, returning fire with their machineguns until the turrets were scrap. Jess' Falcon flew into the alcove, and his turret gunners opened up on the Covenant foot soldiers up-close. When the area was clear, he flew back out a little and landed on the helipad, while Teana again landed her smaller craft closer to the door. The two Spartans passed through two sets of sliding doors, and reached a large, open area. It was a club, with a spacious dance floor on the lower level, overlooked by a DJ booth. At the top of a set of ramps across the room sat the Covenant comm.-jamming device. Two Hunters stood guard at the tops of the ramps leading up to it, and down on the bottom floor another pair traded fire with a trooper fireteam hunkered down behind some tables and columns. Fitting for a dance club, the Hunters occasionally shuffled back and forth to try and get a better angle, inadvertently dancing to a faint techno beat playing over the speakers.
Jess headed for a balcony on the left, pulled out his needle rifle, and focused on the small spot of exposed orange on a Hunter's back. He opened fire, and the first three needles embedded in the Hunter's flesh. The blast blew off the massive alien's back armor, exposing its 'spine'. Two more three-needle blasts brought the beast down. The other Hunter was too preoccupied with shooting at the humans to notice its bond-brother's fate, and quickly fell to the same attack. The other two, however, had seen Jess' actions, and fired a pair of explosive incendiary capsules at the two Spartans. One bolt hit where Jess had been, melting the waist-height glass barricade. The other sailed over Teana's head by about six feet, the energy bleed causing a barely-noticeable decrease in her shields. Realizing that the same trick wouldn't work again, Jess leapt down to the bottom, Teana following half a second later. Jess ran to the center of the dance floor, finding a dead trooper lying next to a rocket launcher. He picked up the launcher and used the bullfighting method to get behind the nearest Hunter, blasting it in the back. Against all odds, the alien survived, but its component Lekgolo were starting to unravel. Another shot quickened the process, and burnt pieces eel-worm things littered the floor. Teana charged the other Hunter, switching Cross Mirage to Longsword Mode. She rolled underneath a horizontal shield swipe, got to her feet, and swung sideways with all her might. She was rewarded with her foe falling to the ground in two pieces. The upper half tried to raise its cannon, and she responded by jamming a frag grenade in its 'face', rolling away to avoid the blast.
"Thanks, Spartans" the relieved fireteam leader said, "we were almost out of ammo. Jammer's on the upper level."
Jess walked up the ramps, reaching the jammer and permanently disabling it.
"Well done, Spartans" Kat said over the radio. "Head back to your birds and await further orders."
The duo exited the nightclub, walking over to their air vehicles.
Last One Out… Turn Out The Lights
"Noble-2 to Noble Leader" Kat said over the TEAMCOM. "All jammers are down."
"Solid copy, Noble-2" Carter's voice replied. "New orders: all personnel are to be evacuated from ONI HQ. Say confirm?"
"Confirm, ONI tower evac-"
A sudden burst of static and a grunt of pain interrupted the broadcast.
"Noble-2!" Carter shouted. "Noble-2! Sitrep!"
"Covvies are hitting the HQ in force! They must've zeroed my signal!"
"Get that evac started!"
"Roger that! Noble-6, Noble-7, get over here and cover our evac Pelicans! I need you overhead now!"
A waypoint marker highlighted Olympic Tower, 1,200 meters away, and the two aircraft sped there with great haste. Aside from a lone Banshee, the path was clear. They soon saw why: all the Banshees in the area were attacking the tower, along with a quartet of Phantoms. A trio of Banshees spotted the newcomers and broke off to attack them. They were scrapped before their pilots could even blink.
"Command, this is Whiskey-35" a Pelican pilot radioed. "I've got eyes on six long-range Shade turrets in the vicinity of the ONI tower. They're makin' life pretty hard on our evac birds."
"Copy, Whiskey-35" Kat responded. "Six, Seven, take out those Heavy Shade turrets."
The two craft flew in, guns blazing, shooting down two Banshees flying guard over a Heavy Shade. Two pairs of rockets from the Hornet scrapped the turret. The pair moved on, dodging shots, and Teana's Hornet covered Jess' Falcon as it descended a little and blasted a Heavy Shade on a lower rooftop.
"Whiskey-35, you are cleared to proceed with evac" Kat radioed, and one of the three Pelicans awaiting takeoff from the tower flew off into the night, shooting down a Banshee as it went. The Falcon and the Hornet continued on, and got bogged down by Banshees for a bit. As they engaged the hostiles trying to slag them, Kat radioed in.
"Noble, we need that evac path cleared. Shade turrets are priority one."
"No offense, ma'am," Jess replied, "but I think 'priority one' is making sure we don't get blown out of the sky by the swarm of Banshees guarding the turrets before we can take out the turrets."
Another minute in, and two more Heavy Shades were gone, and Whiskey-36 completed its escape. A bit more aerial skirmishing, and the last two Heavy Shades were gone. Whiskey-37 flew off into the night, and the Covenant air forces fell back, vacating the airspace around the tower.
"Excellent work, you two" Kat contacted them. "I'm extending a landing platform. Come home, guys."
Jess & Teana brought their flyers in to a landing pad that extended from the side of the building.
-SCENE CHANGE-
"Look at this place" Jun sighed as he peered through his binoculars at the devastation. "Used to be the crown jewel. Not anymore. He then noticed the two red-armored Spartans walking in. "Hey! You made it!"
"It's a regular family reunion…" a rather depressed-sounding Emile said. Teana reached for Jorge's tags, but Emile stopped her. "Keep them. You were closest to him, and he gave 'em to you. I'll honor him my own way."
"Jorge always said he'd never leave Reach…" Jun said wistfully.
Emile chuckled. "Yeah, the big man was sentimental…"
"He gave his life thinking he'd just saved the planet" Carter replied as walked over to the window. "We should all be so lucky."
"Sir," Jun turned to Carter, "is it true about Gauntlet, Red, and Echo Teams being assigned to civilian evac ops?"
Carter turned to Kat. "Those are senior-level communiqués."
"I hear what I hear" she responded. "Point is, why put Spartans on defensive deployment?"
"I need that link to SATCOM, Kat."
"Chasing it, but this console has more shrapnel in it than transceivers. …You didn't answer my question."
"You want to know if we're losing?"
"I know we're losing. I want to know if we've lost."
There was an uncomfortable silence for several seconds, which was interrupted by a series of beeps.
"Colonel Holland" Kat said with surprise. "Hailing us! What's he doing on an open channel?"
"Let's hear it" Carter replied as he walked over to her. Static resolved into the voice of their CO. "…in the southwest quadrant of the city, over? Sierra-2-5-9, if you are receiving, I am authorizing override of radio security protocols to link with this channel."
"How long for a secure link?" Carter asked.
"Can't guarantee secure anymore" Kat replied.
"Could the Covenant trace it to us?"
"I could…"
"Noble-Leader, this is a Priority One hail. If you are receiving, acknowledge immediately."
Kat picked up the communicator, handing it to Carter. "Keep it brief."
As Carter conversed with the Colonel, Jun snapped to attention as something caught his eye. "We've got movement. Multiple Covenant vehicles vacating the area… and they're in a hurry."
"Got a bad feeling about this" Teana muttered. Considering what happened the last time she said this, the others were on edge.
"Radiation flare!" Kat announced. "Big! 40 million roentgens!"
"I just lost Holland" Carter turned to her. "What's goin' on?"
"Atomic excitement scrambled the signal. 90 million now!"
"Source?"
"Airborne. Close!"
"How close?
Less than 1,000 meters away, a pillar of red light shot down from the sky. A massive shockwave hit, shattering the windows and knocking everyone off their feet. "That close!"
The team rushed to the two waiting elevators; Carter, Emile, and Jun got in one, while Kat, Jess, & Teana entered the other. As the doors closed, Kat went for the button, but missed, her vision still flashing from the blast. She tried again, and the elevator began to descend.
"First glassing?" she asked as she looked at the other two while donning her helmet. "Me too. Don't worry; I'm on it. Our best option is a fallout bunker in Sublevel 2, 96 meters northeast. We get orders from Holland, sir?"
"We're being redeployed to Sword Base" Carter replied.
"Sword?" Jun exclaimed. "The Covenant own it now!"
"Which is why they want us for a torch-and-burn op; keep Doctor Halsey's excavation data from falling into enemy hands."
"If it hasn't already" Kat replied, as the first elevator reached the bottom, Carter, Emile, & Jun rushing out and across the destroyed room toward the bunker. Behind them, the second elevator opened, and its three occupants followed close behind, Kat leading.
"Maybe," Carter said, "but according to Holland, the Covenant are still hunting for something."
"Where does he get off calling a demolition op Priority O-"
A thin particle beam shot down from above, fired from a hovering Phantom's open side door. It hit the back top of Kat's helmet and exited through her lower jaw. She was dead before she hit the ground.
"Kat!"
The Spartans immediately turned their rifles on the Phantom, opening fire in the hopes of revenge as Jess & Teana dragged Kat's limp form into the bunker. The Phantom escaped, the shooter unharmed. Teana frantically checked her fallen sister, but when she got a closer look her heart sank, and tears welled up in her eyes. All the while, the civilians panicked.
"Close the door! Faster!"
"What's happening?"
"The Spartan's dead! They lied! They said Spartans didn't die! They said Reach was safe! They lied! We're all gonna die!"
"Mommy!'
"I'm here, baby. It's okay. It's okay."
As the Phantom flew off into the night, the elite Kig-Yar mercenary marksman known as Yik the Man-Slayer used his knife to carve another little notch in his beam rifle's barrel, congratulating himself on a most prestigious kill.
-CHAPTE END-
