Alright, guys. The beginning of the battle for Spero. Enjoy!

Chapter 21: Deadlock—Part 1

0456 Hours, September 29, 2563 (Military Calendar)/
Lambda Serpentis System, Surface of Novus Pacis, City of Spero, Western Sector

Chris breathed in the familiar smell of Spero. But, war changed everything, and this place didn't feel like his home anymore. With a sigh, he hefted his pack and weapon and walked over to the tent that was serving as the barracks while the offensives to take the city were going on. He dropped his bag roughly on the cot and looked around at the empty room.

It would've been so much better if Tyler were here. Chris still hadn't heard anything from his friend and was beginning to worry. Last he'd heard from his friend, Tyler had just gotten to Noceo and was settling down. Since then, he'd only heard news reports from other soldiers, all of them bearing bad news. Noceo had fallen quickly, and was now serving as the Covenant capitol on Novus Pacis.

He sighed and sat down on his bed. They'd begin the offensives soon and he needed at least a little rest. As he lay back on his cot, it wasn't long before he fell into a deep sleep.

0658 Hours, September 29, 2563 (Military Calendar)

Chris jumped violently as he heard the distant sounds of explosions and gunfire. One particularly large explosion shook the barracks slightly, and Chris wasted no time getting up off his cot. The barracks was full now. Soldiers were grabbing weapons and getting ready for the coming fight. He immediately grabbed his battle rifle and helmet and stood to follow them outside.

The early sun cast an orange glow over the city, but since half of the massive capitol was already burning, it made it seem like his whole world was on fire. Artillery was booming in the distance and the ever-present sound of fighting assaulted his ears. Chris quickly ran over to his CO, who was standing on top of a scorpion shouting orders.

"Okay, we're going to try and take back Spero today!" This statement was met with cheers and applause. The man waved his hands to quiet the crowd and started again. "Now, our plans have been accelerated by the Covenant artillery and assault…" Chris blinked in surprise. He had no idea that the Covenant had begun attacking the western side of Spero. They must be trying to take the rest of the city… this could be a problem. Chris shook his head though and paid attention to his CO. "Try and stay out of the streets and stick to cover. We'll try to keep you updated as you move through the city. Let's get to it!" he shouted.

The men around him scattered to their units, and Chris quickly walked over to his own troops. As a gunnery sergeant, he would be in charge of eleven men. Honestly, he missed his security team and wished that life would go back to normal. But his old life was gone, replaced by the hell that is war.

Ugh. Focus, Chris. You've gotta fight ahead of you and you need to protect your team, he said to himself harshly.

He spotted his troops and shouted, "Atten-hut!" Instantly, the soldiers straightened and stood at attention. He nodded and said, "Okay, it's time. You all know we've got a fight ahead of us, so we've all gotta watch each other's backs. Alright?" he asked.

"Yes, sir!" they shouted back.

"Okay then. Arm up and let's head out," he ordered. Very inspiring speech, Chris, he chided himself. Oh well. He'd never actually had to lead men into battle before and this was totally new. He quickly checked his weapon and made sure his grenades were in good shape. It seemed like this was going to be a tough fight and he needed all the weaponry he could carry.

Minutes later, he shouted to his troops that it was time and the twelve of them ran through the streets with thousands of other soldiers. On his HUD, the city was mapped out and he saw that there was a massive red spot a half mile ahead. Chris tried to focus on running through the streets, but he couldn't help but think: Are there that many Covenant? The CO had said that the aliens had begun attacking, but he never imagined that there would be so many. This was more serious than he'd thought.

Up ahead, he saw a large group of soldiers stopping and firing at the top of a hill. Chris knew they were on one of the main streets in Spero and up ahead was the dividing line between the human and alien sides of the city. Several large cement roadblocks were on the street, providing cover for fighting troops, but that wasn't all. All the surrounding buildings had been pounded by artillery and had been reduced to mere skeletal figures compared to their previous forms. Only a few walls were left of each of the buildings, and each and every area of cover was occupied by a marine, defending the hill from the Covenant assault. Besides that, debris from collapsing buildings littered the streets, providing more cover. Craters filled the road, making it nearly impossible to drive over in a warthog or mongoose. An elephant or scorpion was large enough to driver over the craters and make it to the frontline.

Chris waved his team forward to a building near the road and ordered them to get behind cover. Whatever this building was before the war, it was impossible to tell it was so devastated. Chris crouched behind a cement window frame and looked down at the steep hill at the Covenant.

They had a similar situation, as far as the destruction goes. In fact, every building in between the two forces was leveled and crumbling down beneath the massive fighting. The ground shook with each explosion. At the bottom of the hill, hundreds of Covenant soldiers were firing at the human lines. Wraiths released massive blue projectiles onto the UNSC forces, and banshees screamed over head, pelting them with plasma. The pulverized street was filled with the aliens as they desperately launched charge after charge, hoping to weaken the defending marines and push on to take the rest of the city.

Chris jumped slightly as a M808B tank fired down at the aliens, deafening him slightly. Now, he noticed more of the tanks moving forward and launching rounds at the attackers. They stopped behind the roadblocks and providing additional cover for the humans. The rounds did serious damage to the Covenant and surrounding environment. He watched a large group of them explode as the projectiles hit them dead-on, leaving nothing but a bloody crater in the road.

Chris smiled to himself, and raised his battle rifle to add to the destruction. He aimed at a large group of Covenant down at the bottom of hill and fired several times. The aliens were taking on so much damage, he couldn't tell who he hit exactly. But so many Covenant were down there he must've hit at least one alien. Again, he smiled to himself and fired down.

Humanity seemed to have the upper hand.

"Incoming!" someone screamed.

Instinct took over, and Chris immediately dropped onto his stomach and covered his head with his arms. The whole building, or what was left of it, shook violently as he felt a large amount of heat, and he swore that for an instant he was shaken so hard he lifted off the ground. Small pieces of concrete fell onto his back, and Chris looked up to see what had happened.

The entire room was filled with dust and he could hardly see anyone else. He coughed in dust and got on one knee to fire down at the Covenant attackers. But the dust provided a screen in front of him, and he couldn't find a target. Rather than firing blind and wasting ammo, he looked around and outside to see the damage. The round had hit closer than he'd originally thought. The tanks outside were burning and dead marines lay dead around the vehicles. A crater the size of a warthog was in the middle of the road, adding to the destruction.

Chris moved back toward his window and fired down at the Covenant, not wanting to look at the damage done to them anymore. The dust had settled and he could see the Covenant now and aimed carefully at a large group of grunts and jackals. Several dropped quickly, but Chris couldn't help but notice that the artillery round had weakened the human lines enough that the Covenant soldiers were able to get closer.

More soldiers moved into the streets to equal out the defenses and soon enough, tanks moved up. Again, the ground shook constantly from their firing and Chris watched large craters appear in the road from the rounds. But, the Covenant kept coming up the hill.

Chris tried to fire down on them, but again, someone screamed, "Incoming!"

This time, it was a banshee firing down directly onto Chris's position. He moved himself up against the wall as much as possible and covered his head. The plasma flew through the building, killing more marines than Chris thought possible on a single strafing run. The Covenant brought their A-game today. They must want this bad.

Chris moved out to fire down at the Covenant again, but he quickly was pinned down by several brutes firing on their building. As he crouched down beneath the cement window frame, he could the ping, ping, ping, of the rounds hitting the building. He watched as the spikes buried themselves into several unlucky marines, knocking them off their feet.

Shit. We're getting killed out here, he thought to himself. When he couldn't hear the sounds of the spiker rounds anymore, he got on one knee and jumped up to fire down at the Covenant. But they weren't so far away anymore. In fact, Chris hardly had to use his scope anymore.

He switched on his helmet's comm. system and shouted over the roar of the battle, "Move out to the street to try and hold them off better, team!" he shouted to his troops. He then switched over to a different frequency and spoke to one of the battle operations officers. "Are you getting reinforcements down here?" he shouted.

There was a brief pause before the calm voice said, "Our troops are spread thin enough as it is. We've dispatched a few more troops to your position. Make them count. Over."

Chris shook his head in anger as he crouched behind the cement roadblock in the middle of the road. The rest of his team spread out around him, filling up any empty spots on the line. Here, the roar of the scorpions was deafening and the ground shook constantly. As Chris glanced back, he saw a large group of marines moving toward them. There must've been at least a hundred, but Chris wasn't even sure that that was enough soldiers to hold back the Covenant flood.

He growled and turned to fire at the Covenant again, alarmed at how close the aliens had gotten. Chris squeezed the trigger several times on a brute, satisfied as he watched the beast topple over. He quickly reloaded, and watched as the new soldiers quickly mowed down a large number of Covenant. But still, they kept coming.

Chris now became very aware of all the marines screaming as they defended this road. It seemed that the marine were dying quicker than the Covenant. Even so, Chris fired into the massive mob in front of him. If he was going to die, he'd take as many Covenant as he could with him. Then, a voice shouted, yet again, "Incoming!"

This time, someone grabbed Chris by his collar and dragged him into the building that he'd been in only moments before. He hardly did anything as he was thrown to the ground, just in time to feel it shake tremendously. For several seconds he didn't move, but the sound of the screaming behind him told him how devastating that mortar round had been. Before he could look at the destruction, his helmet's comm. system came to life. "All defending UNSC forces, fall back. I repeat: Fall back. We've set up secondary defenses further west of your positions. We're simply taking too much damage to hold out at your current locations."

Chris groaned and got to his feet, searching for his weapon on the ground. He looked around for the one who'd saved his life, and saw that it was his XO, Sergeant Jesse Coleman. The man gripped his collar again and hauled him to his feet. "You alright, sir?" he asked loudly.

Chris felt like someone had stuffed cotton balls into his ears. "Yeah!" he shouted back as he finally found his weapon.

It was a sad sight. Watching the UNSC retreat from their positions and giving up more land to the Covenant. But, they had no choice. The Covenant had won this round, clearly.