1753, February 16th, 2543 [MILITARY CALENDAR]/ Planet Thrug, Covenant gapping bridge
It's an hour's flight to the bridge. At one point, we fly near to the slow moving convoy. The movement is fairly large. We'll have to plant high powered explosives to take them all out. Even then we might have survivors to pick off. But we'll worry about that when the problem arises.
Turns out the bridge gaps two cliff faces that form a canyon. The ocean water spills in between the two cliffs and rushes noisily past. If there are any survivors of the initial blast, they'll be pummeled by the water below. But we will also have to be careful because the surface of the rock is bare of any form of cover. Our attack will have to be precise and perfectly timed.
I land the Falcon on the opposite side of the bridge and watch as Kia grabs the repelling gear. If she is nervous about this, she doesn't show it.
Within a few minutes, Kia is heading for the opposite end of the bridge to set the charges. 211 follows to ensure her safety and I stay behind to watch for danger.
I have to admit, watching Kia repel down the side of the cliff and under the bridge makes me very nervous. I can't even begin to imagine how she feels about this. But we're Spartans. We can't afford to let fear rule our actions. If we do, we'll surely be dead before we can even think about running. So I steel my emotion and turn my gaze to the horizon, scanning for any threats.
At one point I zoom in on the sky because I could have sworn I saw a Banshee. But when I look, there is nothing there. "Speed it up. I think we're being watched," I tell the two Spartans. "Scouts?" 211 asks through the COM channel. I look again in the sky, warily watching where I saw the flying vehicle. "I think so..." I answer.
Fourteen minutes later, Kia is finished and coming back to the surface when I hear a whistle. But before I can register the sound, the green Plasma Missile slams into the side of the bridge and severs the cable that Kia was suspended from.
211 is blown back and lands on his back but even before he lands the Spartan lets out a cry and instantly gets back up. I rush off of the bridge and go for my Assault Rifle. The Banshee loops up and over the bridge and begins to rear back around. I can't see what's going on, and I can't see Kia. Did she fall? Was she still alive? What the hell was going on?!
"Where's Kia?" I ask over the TEAMCOM. The Banshee was out of sight for now, giving us a small window to find our teammate. "Underneath! She grabbed one of the support beams and got up from there," 211 answers. "Kia, I have an idea," I tell the Spartan. There's a moment of silence which makes me thing she was hurt. But she comes back in a calm tone. "I'm listening, sir," she says.
"Once that Banshee comes back for another pass, I need you to hijack it," I say, my eyes scanning for the attacker. Kia doesn't answer again, but when she does she sounds shocked. "Hijack...sir? I don't know how to operate a Banshee."
I spot the Banshee high up in the clouds over the ocean. It's coming down fast and no doubt priming its weapons. "You're going to learn. Get ready, here it comes," I tell her, positioning myself to watch its approach. As I expected, it lets loose a Plasma Missile which slams into the bridge, narrowly missing 211. "Jump!" I tell Kia as it begins its underpass.
I didn't see her jump, but I do see her rise up with the banshee. She is latched tightly onto the wing, her feet safely perched. I race to the other side to watch her force open the top hatch and rip out the Elite that was operating it. The Banshee dips a few feet before Kia takes over.
"The controls are on either side of the console. Level it out and slow it down by pulling the controls up and back," 211 tells her. He was the one trained with vehicles seeing as how he is an EVA. He had studied Banshee controls enough to know how to fly it.
I watch as the Banshee dips again but then flies sharply upwards. It takes her a few moments, but she levels it out and flies straight. "I lost the detonater when the cable snapped," Kia says, slowly circling overhead. "But I can set off a chain reaction using the Plasma missile."
"You'll have to be quick. I see the convoy," 211 says, looking over his shoulder to the far horizon. There on the very edge of the horizon was a small shape. But soon a large line of ships appeared. Footsoldiers following in front and troop carriers in the middle. "Stay hidden. We don't want them trying to contact you," I say and motion for 211 to follow me off of the bridge.
Kia flies high into the air until all is left is a very small dot. Me and 211 retreat to the Falcon and get ready for the detonation.
It takes another then minutes, but the vehicles reach the bridge. They don't even hesitate before beginning to cross. The soldiers narrow up and begin passing as well.
I look up to see a fast falling figure gracefully arcing for the bridge. She's going in for a nose dive. I can see the thrusters burning fully, propelling the Banshee even faster towards the ground. Just as I think she is about to crash, the thrusters cut off and she snaps into a level flight-line. But just as she levels out, the plasma missile fires and the momentum carries it hard into the undercarriage of the bridge.
There's a moment of hesitation before the ear shattering explosives hit. The entire bridge goes up into smoke and it begins to fall. The farthest soldiers to the other end of the bridge have no time to react as it buckles underneath their feet. I can't hear the screams, but I can imagine them.
The blast from the bridge slams into us and almost knocks the both of us over. But we manage to stay upright enough to see the aftermath.
The entire bridge was blown and nothing was left. Kia had finished off the soldiers that had ran. Our mission is complete.
"Come on back down, Kia," I tell the Spartan, watching her circle overhead. "Yes sir," she answers with a laugh in her tone. I can tell that excursion was exhilirating to her. I would have let her play around a little more but we have another mission in que for us. Involving ODST's this time.
The mission briefing involved a distress call and coordinates. The briefing told us that an ODST team had gotten trapped trying to infiltrate a Covenant barrier. UNSC had tried to raise them and only got broken information. To our understanding, they were engaged in a heated firefight that they were losing. Two of their teammates were already wounded. We are the closest to the fight, so we were being dispatched. But the distress call would bring us very close to the frontlines, closer than we've ever been. Training can only get us so far. I've heard that doing the actual thing is a lot more intimidating.
We board the Falcon and soon take off. We rise high over the nearby mountain range and my ears pop with the altitude. I remember the last time we were this high. Hokai had taken the eight of us into a Pelican and shoved us out at different locations. I was one of the last. We weren't given instructions, as usual, and it only took us thirty minutes to find each other, and another thirty minutes to get back to the base. It was one of the few times we cooperated with Red Team.
I find my thoughts wondering back to Hokai. What he thought of us. Did he know what we are doing? Does he care? I know he wasn't exactly the sympathetic type, but I sometimes wonder...
My thoughts are quickly broken when 211 speaks up nervously. "Sir...what are the frontlines going to be like?" he asks. I can tell he has been thinking about this for a while. It has been bothering him.
I am silent, because I don't know. They have been everywhere I have. Experienced the same things. Heard the same things. I can only guess what we're getting into. "Chaotic. Unorganized," I answer, trying to provide my team with some sort of answer. "Just stay near each other and check your radar. We should come out of this okay."
That seems to satisfy him because he doesn't say anything further. I wish I could provide all of the answers for them. To know everything they want. But I'm in the same boat they are. Teamwork and strategy are the most important things we have right now.
We get our first taste of frontline action when a pair of Banshees rises out of the treelines and comes up to us in a split second. They are pummeling the Falcon with plasma fire, tearing it apart. The beaten bird barely holds together as I whirl around and open fire with the chingun. The heavy rounds quickly tear into the Banshees and one quickly goes down. I can hear Kia taking potshots at the last with her Sniper Rifle, but only one bullet hits. "Safe your ammo!" I tell her, whirling again to face the last attacker. I open fire, leading the bullets to hit the vehicle. But the pilot activates the thrusters and quickly pulls into a loop, avoiding most of my fire. It comes out of the loop and faces us. I can already see its intentions and I jerk the falcon to the side to avoid a plasma missile. With another burst of rounds, the last Banshee goes down.
"Status?" I ask my team, hovering in place to catch my breath and calm my heart. "Fine," 211 answers. "Same," kia says.
I lean back in my seat for a minute before setting forwards again, keeping a watchful eye out for any more attackers.
We safely arrive at the place of the distress call, and we understand the nature of their situation better. We can spot the Covenant soldiers firing on the ODST's who are just barely hidden behind a group of boulders. They are pressed against a cliff-face, completely inescapable. We fly just low enough to see their two wounded team members. From here I can see the large amounts of blood and biofoam.
"Kia, I'm dropping you off here. Cover our six's," I tell our Sniper as we rise above the cliff face. "Roger that," she answers. The Falcon dips slightly as she jumps out and lands on the rock. "211, stay with me and let Kia take out the larger targets," I tell 211.
Once we land, we sneak around the back and climb the boulders into the ODST's hiding place. It only now occurs to me that we should have announced ourselves first. By dropping suddenly into their area, I receive a shotgun blast straight to my chest. The blast knocks me back and drops my shields, making me curse in pain. 211 darts forwards and grabs the top of his shotgun. I get to my feet and am instantly in front of another ODST who had almost opened fire with his Assault Rifle. It's only at the last second that their commander snaps at them to stop. "You fucking idiots! That's our calvalry!" He roars. 211 backs off and I do the same. "I apologize for the miscommunication, sir," I tell the commander, putting my own wepaon on my back. "It's fine. At least you're here. We've been getting our asses handed to us for a good three hours. UNSC couldn't send anyone out until now," the ODST says.
"Why the hell do we have to fight with a bunch of cyclopses?" One of the ODST's asks angrily. "If these damn 'Spartans' think they're so good, why don't they just win the war for us?!"
The commander is on the ODST in an instant, standing an inch from his face. "Are you doing any better?" The commander hisses. The ODST doesn't have an answer. "Then shut your hole and let them do their job!"
With that I signal 211 to move forwards out of the side to avoid detection. I follow close behind and tell Kia to get ready. Once she says she is in position, we make our move.
211 takes a grenade and rolls it into the path of a Jackal. The Jackal can only manage a mortified screech before being blown up. The extended blast damages three other grunts and draws the attention of two Elites. After the grenade, we quickly follow up by breaking cover and move forwards. I crouch to one knee and let 211 go in with his Shotgun. While I am at medium range, 211 is in close. He manages to take down an Elite and five grunts before having to dodge aside to let me take over. The second elite takes an entire clip before I have to reload. The Elite roars furiously and charges towards me with its fists held high. A Sniper Rifle cracks and the Elite is stopped dead in his tracks. Kia switches targets and downs a suicide grunt that was running to my left.
After reloading, I step behind 211 and fire from behind as he charges in once again, stepping quickly around his attackers to shoot them in the back.
Within no time, we've got the last of the Covenant retreating out of the rocks. With their Elite leaders dead, the Grunts are panicking.
After one last volley of rounds, the rest of the soldiers are dead. Kia jumps off of her perch and lands with a roll at the bottom. We go back after one last sweep and talk to the ODST's who are waiting in the open ground.
"You guys are badass," the ODST that was earlier giving us crap says. "I think I've learned my lesson about Spartans; don't fuck with 'em."
"You did well, Spartans. If you can call us evac, you can be on your way," the ODST commander says. I look to Kia who nods and steps away for a moment.
"sir, have you head anything about the nineteenth regiment?" I ask him. "Other than they got a Spartan helping them? No," he answers. I frown and begin to worry. Parkson was supposed to check in fifteen minutes ago. We're in an area that could receive his call, too. It isn't like him to miss something like that. "Where were they last located?" I ask him. The Commander asks one of his teammates who just shrugs. "One of the evac'd cities, last I knew. If you're going to save your teammate, you had better do it fast. UNSC is pulling everybody out," the ODST says. My frown deepens once I hear that bit of news.
"We're going for Parkson," I tell Kia and 211. Kia nods once again. "Evac is on its way for them. It should arrive in four minutes," she says.
As we are loading into the Falcon, I am about to pop the hatch when my COM crackles to life. There is a long minute of static before I hear what sounds like ragged breaths. The sound of footfalls comes soon after, followed by the strange language of an Elite. There's the sound of an impact, then a thud. The line goes silent and I sit in stunned silence.
"Jackson?" Kia asks, poking her head out of the Falcon. I am snapped out of my trance and suddenly realize what had just happened. "Parkson just contacted me. The Covenant have him," I tell her. "What?!" she says, grabbing the edge of the Falcon and bending the metal in anger. "We are going after him, right?" 211 asks in a concerned tone. "Yes. If the UNSC does not call us off," I answer. But even I am unsure if I can obey the UNSC with Parkson in the hands of the Covenant.
With one last check on my tac-pad, I take the Falcon off of the ground and rise high into the air before flying at maximum burn for the city that houses our last teammate.