Introduction
Hello and welcome to the story!
For those of you who are long time readers of my work, you'll probably notice by now that every time I write a story, I try to do something a little bit different each time, and this story is intended to be no different.
In my past work, readers will probably noticed that I really enjoy focusing on what I consider to be the "non-playable characters" of the Halo Universe, i.e., the everyday regular people struggling to survive in a universe that's proven to be extremely hostile to mankind. Your average Airman, Marine, Sailor, Soldier, Militiaman, and civilian who, in general, aren't really that remarkable or spectacular in any way shape or form, and who are just trying to make their way through some rather difficult times. I like to focus on these people mainly because I feel like there's a lot of potential stories to be explored that don't really get much attention in the canon media (usually, for good reason.)
This is not one of those stories.
Instead, the focus of this story is that on those who are special. Or more specifically, those in special operations units. I usually avoid these topics mostly because there's a lot of stories about them that are far better than anything I could ever hope to write (many of which can be found on this very website,) but I'm doing it now because… well, why not? I thought I'd give it a try and see how things turn out. What's the worst that could happen?
With that being said, aside from the different subject of this story, I am trying something else that's different: in the past, most of my stories have been rather character driven, to various degrees of success. This story is intended to be more plot driven, with more focus given on the action and the on-goings of the mission as opposed to the development of the main characters. Now, obviously in a plot-driven story, the plot itself has to be something special to succeed, and while I'm not saying this story will be the most original or exciting, I think I've got a couple of plot twist that will keep this story engaging, at the very least. We'll have to see how it turns out.
At any case, to avoid contradicting or even spoiling my on-going story, Battle: Actium, this story is set two years later, in January of 2547, during the Battle of Skopje. There will be references to my other stories, however as always, prior knowledge of those stories will not be required.
Thanks for your time and I hope you guys enjoy!
(Note: due to scheduling conflicts with my on-going story, Battle: Actium, updates for this one will be slow, maybe once every three months or so.)
Prologue
Date: 14.01.2547
INCOMING TRANSMISSION…
WARNING! TOP SECRET! EYES ONLY!
FROM: General Beatrix Ptolemy, Supreme UNSC Commander, Skopje Ground Command
TO: Brigadier General Marcus Evan Lorne, Commanding Officer, Unified Special Warfare Command – Skopje Detachment
Subject: Operation: RAZOR BLADE
Evan,
It's confirmed. Winter Contingency has been declared on Skopje. Covies has established seven landing sites across the entire colony. I don't have enough troops to handle all that.
I'm launching Operation: RAZOR BLADE. Put together a joint task force from whatever SOF assets High Command has stationed here. Whatever you need: ODSTs, SAS, Air Commandos… and those special Navy troops I'm not supposed to know about, if you can manage it.
Start working your way up the Covenant chain of command. Maybe if we kill enough of them, it'll be enough to save this colony…
Let me know what you call it.
Good luck, and may God save us all.
- General Ptolemy
Semper Fi
END OF TRANSMISSION.
XXXXX
Date: 14.01.2547
INCOMING TRANSMISSION…
WARNING! TOP SECRET! EYES ONLY!
FROM: Brigadier General Marcus Evan Lorne, Commanding Officer, Unified Special Warfare Command – Skopje Detachment
TO: General Beatrix Ptolemy, Supreme UNSC Commander, Skopje Ground Command
Subject: Barracuda
See subject line.
- General Lorne
"Any place. Any time. Anywhere."
END OF TRAMISSION
Chapter 1
UNSC designated Covenant Bunker "616"
Üsküb Province, Shipka, Skopje
January 16, 2547
0321
Lance Corporal Ruppert "Peanut" Noble
"GRENADE!"
Lance Corporal Ruppert Noble ducked his head as the spike grenade exploded, hurtling shrapnel in all directions, but fortunately his helmet and visor protected him from the worst of it. Leaning around the corner, he leveled his SAW and returned fire.
RATATATA!
"RAH!"
The Brute Minor let out a might cry of pain as he was struck at least once, the heavy 7.62mm bullets tearing a huge chunk of flesh from his right shoulder.
Gripping his wound, the Brute took off running and slid into cover into the nearest impact crater before Peanut could finish him off. Undeterred, Peanut quickly dropped his SAW and pulled out a grenade of his own.
"FRAG OUT!" he yelled before, with a loud grunt, he hurtled the grenade as hard as he could. Recovering his weapon, he watched as the M9 fragmentation grenade flew through the air and land directly inside the crater.
BOOM!
"Come on Peanut!" Staff Sergeant Ashley Greene yelled from beside him as he shoved one last shell into his shotgun and gave the action a good solid pump. "We gotta move! ON ME MARINE!"
Without another word, Greene took off running.
"Shit!" Peanut yelped as he scrambled to his feet and took off after him.
The sound of his breathing quickly drowned out all other sounds as he charged across the muddy battlefield. Spiker rounds and plasma bolts immediately began saturating the area around him and without breaking stride, Peanut lifted his SAW and blindly shot back in the direction the majority of the fire was originating from.
RATATATAT – CLICK!
His HUD let out a loud shrill of alarm as his SAW ran out of ammo, so Peanut lowered his weapon and focused on sprinting instead. He dove headfirst into a nearby crater, and promptly came face to face with the corpse of the Brute Minor he had killed with his grenade only moments ago.
Giving the corpse a good kick to the head just for good measure, Peanut quickly reloaded, dumping the empty drum magazine to the ground and shoving a fresh one in.
"Back up!" he declared. Extending the bipod, Peanut planted his SAW on the edge of the crater and immediately spotted a couple of Grunts running away from him. Without hesitation, Peanut fired a quick burst, cutting both of the small creatures down.
"Peanut! Looks like the Covies are falling back to the bunker! If they manage to get inside, they'll be dug in tighter than a goddamn tick! We gotta go, now!" Greene bellowed.
"What about the others?" Peanut yelled back.
"They'll catch up! Now shift fire left and give me some covering fire!"
"Roger… covering!"
Peanut pivoted to the left and let it rip. Brass began piling up on the ground next to him as he fired in short, but quick, bursts designed at keeping the Covies' heads down. Beside him, he could hear Greene climbing out of the crater and take off running. Moments later, he could hear the boom of Greene's eight gauge shotgun going off.
Needing no further prompting, Peanut hauled himself to his feet once more and took off running, following in Greene's footsteps. Mud splashed against his legs, turning his jet black armor brown, but he paid it no heed. A spiker round unexpectedly struck him, causing him to stumble, but fortunately the superheated metallic spike only ricocheted off his helmet, leaving a nasty grove but doing little to no damage. Not having seen where the round originated from, all Peanut could do was duck his head down and run faster.
Sliding into cover next to Greene behind the carcass of the AA Wraith tank, Peanut took a moment to catch his breath.
"Peanut: you good?" Greene asked.
In lieu of a verbal response, Peanut gave him a thumbs up.
"Good. You're doing good kid, just hang in there, we're almost there. You ready for this?"
"Shit Staff Sergeant, I was born ready for this!" Peanut replied as soon as he had air in his lungs.
Even with his visor polarized, Peanut could tell Greene wasn't impressed.
"Well, we're about to find out! This time I'll cover, you run! Ready?"
Peanut surged to his feet as Greene pulled out a grenade.
"Wait for my signal! FRAG OUT!"
Greene hurtled the grenade over the Wraith and as soon as they heard the explosion, Greene whirled around the corner and began slamfiring his shotgun from the hip.
"Go go GO!"
Digging the balls of his feet into the mud, Peanut launched himself out from behind the Wraith and across the battlefield once more. As he ran, he was vaguely aware of the Covenant plasma cannon sticking out from the bunker's embrasure, firing almost non-stop at the advancing Marines, its barrel turning bright orange.
As he ran, he could see the Grunt gunner pivoting the heavy plasma cannon emplacement in his direction, but sprinting diagonally across the field like he was, the alien wasn't able to a draw a bead on him before he made it to safety, rolling into cover in some sort of slit trench located some fifteen meters away from the entrance to the bunker. As Peanut picked himself out of the mud, he was surprised to find the trench was already occupied by another ODST.
"What up White Boy?" Corporal Giáp "Charlie" Thành declared as he shoved another 40mm grenade into his under-barrel grenade launcher.
"Stop fucking calling me that," Peanut snapped. "Hey: you see the Skipper anywhere?"
"Nah, it just me White Boy," Charlie casually replied as he poked his rifle/grenade launcher combo and blindly fired a grenade in the direction of the bunker.
"Fuck," Peanut groaned.
The splashing of mud coupled with the registration of a friendly IFF tag on his motion tracker approaching them caused Peanut to poke his head out of the trench to see Greene dashing towards them. But before Greene had gone more than halfway -
FWOOZ!
- he was struck in the side by a plasma bolt! Peanut could hear Greene crying out in pain as he collapsed.
"Staff Sergeant!" Peanut yelled and without thinking, started to climb out of the trench but luckily Charlie seized the back of his armor and dragged him back down as plasma chewed up the area around them.
"Keep you head down White Boy! Gonna lose it!" Charlie warned.
"Get off me!" Peanut yelped. Scrambling upright, he glanced over the trench in Greene's direction. "Staff Sergeant! Are you right?"
"Covering fire!" Greene bellowed in response.
Peanut and Charlie immediately whipped around and emptied their magazines at the bunker.
RATABAMBAMBAMTATAT!
Bullets smashed into the side of the bunker around the embrasure, punching holes and sending chunks of the bunker wall flying in all directions. As Peanut finished off the last of his drum, he could see the Grunt gunner taking a single round to the head and disappearing out of sight before he ducked back down to reload.
In the meantime, Greene had managed to make his way to the trench and threw himself inside, landing heavily on the ground.
"Staff Sergeant, are you okay!?" Peanut yelled.
"I just got fucking shot, what the fuck do you think!?" Greene growled as he gripped his side.
"Let me take a look!" Peanut yelled as he reached into his IFAK for his can of biofoam, but Greene slapped his hands away.
"Don't worry about it! Armor absorbed the worst of it! I can wait for the corpsman!"
Almost as if he'd been waiting for this exact moment, another ODST appeared out of nowhere, leaping over an explosion and diving headfirst into the trench.
"Who's been hit!?" the newcomer demanded.
"White Boy has," Charlie immediately reported, pointing at Greene.
"Charlie, fuck off!" Greene barked. "C.F., I'm good, don't worry about it!"
"Don't fucking tell me how to do my job Sergeant!" the corpsman, Senior Airman Ajax "Chair Force" Savrog angrily snapped back. "I've been assigned to this unit for one fucking thing, and I'm damn well going to fucking do it!"
"C.F., shut up. We have got to take that bunker before our objective gets away! Here, take this!"
Unslinging the M76 SRAAW he had strapped to his back, he shoved it into C.F.'s hands before C.F. had a chance to protest.
"You three hit that bunker head on, I'll suppress! Here, Peanut, give me your SAW!"
Before handing his weapon over, Peanut ejected the drum mag. Reaching behind him, he pulled out a two hundred round belt and shoved it into the gun.
"Here Staff Sergeant, you got two hundred rounds! Make it count!" Peanut said as he grabbed Greene's shotgun and a handful of shells.
"Got it! Get ready to move gents! Covering fire!"
Greene promptly began spraying the bunker with automatic weapons fire.
"Hit that fucking bunker!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Peanut watched as C.F. extended the sights and planted the SRAAW onto his shoulder.
"ROCKET!"
KABOOM!
A chunk of bunker was launched straight up into the air and as the dust settled, Peanut could see a man-sized entrance had been blown into the side of the bunker.
"We in business!" Charlie declared. "On me White Boys!"
Peanut scrambled out of the trench, following closely behind Charlie and C.F. With Greene suppressing, they dashed across the field and threw themselves at the wall next to the hole, quickly stacking up in preparation for the breach.
"Peanut first, C.F. follows!" Charlie commanded. "Peanut, grenade! Come on White Boy, give it to me!"
Hastily extracting a couple of frag grenades, Peanut tossed one over to Charlie before activating the other. At Charlie's nod, he slammed it against the wall to trigger the fuse, and mentally counted to 'two' before tossing the grenade around the corner and into the bunker.
"Frag out!" he yelled before turning away from the hole and waited for the explosion.
Boom!
A cloud of dust hurtled out of the hole and before it had a chance to fully settle, Peanut whirled around the corner.
"Breaching, breaching!" he yelled, shoving his way through the breach.
The first thing he saw were two heavily wounded Grunts, struggled to their feet. Without hesitation, Peanut gunned them both down.
"Clear!" he declared, looking around. There were two doors, one leading into the firing embrasure, the other leading further into the bowels of the bunker.
"C.F., clear machine gun pit," Charlie commanded. "Peanut, with me."
Taking up position by the door leading further into the bunker, Peanut and Charlie waited until C.F. was finished. Peanut watched as C.F. disappeared into the embrasure and almost immediately, he heard a suppressed SMG going off. Moments later, C.F. reemerged, the end of his M7 still smoking.
"Clear," he announced.
Charlie quickly glanced at Peanut, who nodded, causing Charlie to immediately wrench open the door leading further into the bunker.
FWOOZFWOOZCRACK!
Peanut reflexively jerked his head back as a hail of plasma bolts and bright purple needles smashed against the side of the doorframe, throwing sparks and crystals shards in all directions. He waited a couple of seconds, and as soon as the barrage began showing signs of abatement, he whirled around the corner, shotgun raised.
At the end of a twenty meter long corridor, there were two Grunts taking cover behind a single panel of a Covenant defensive barrier. One of the Grunts was frantically reloading a Needler while the other was banging a plasma pistol against the floor, as if that would magically cool the weapon down. At the sound of Peanut's approach, both Grunts looked up and let out a squeak of alarm but before they could do anything, Peanut opened fire.
KABAM! klikt. KABAM!
Peanut's first shell caught the plasma pistol-welding Grunt right in the head, the quadruple-ought buckshot practically tearing the Grunt's face right off. His next shell, on the other hand, hit the second Grunt in the left leg, blowing the limb clean off and depositing the alien onto the ground.
"Eeeeeggghhhh!"
Profusely bleeding from the stub and screaming in pain, the Grunt tried to crawl its way across the ground towards safety, but before it could reach, Charlie opened up with his rifle from behind Peanut, hitting the Grunt with a quick burst and putting the alien down for good.
Keeping his weapon raised, Peanut rapidly but carefully continued making his way down the corridor. As he approached the end, he slowed his approach down to a crawl. Pressing his back against the wall, Peanut took a deep breath, and then stepped around the corner with his shotgun raised to check for hostiles.
"ROARRRR!"
Something strong grabbed the end of Peanut's shotgun and yanked on it, causing Peanut to stumble forward as the weapon was ripped right out from his hands. Before he could fall to the ground though, a furry paw wrapped around his neck and Peanut found himself getting lifted straight off his feet and slammed hard against the back wall. His sidearm instantly appeared in his hand and Peanut began pulling the trigger as fast as he could, but the power armor of the Brute Captain Ultra was still intact, and all of Peanut's rounds failed to do more than piss the alien off.
Letting out another tremendous roar, the Brute hurtled Peanut to the ground, knocking all the air out of his lungs, but fortunately Peanut still had the presence of mind to roll out of the way. Charlie and C.F. promptly opened fire on the Brute.
BAMBAMBAM!
Brass casings littered the corridor floor as bullets pinged off the Brute's armor, quickly disabling his shields, but all the Brute did was lift up his arm to protect his face. With his free hand, the Brute grabbed a hold of the defensive barrier and hurtled it down the corridor.
"LOOK OUT!"
Reacting faster than Peanut would have thought, Charlie immediately dove forward and was able to roll under the incoming projectile but C.F. had been in the middle of reloading and wasn't able to react as quickly. C.F. took the defensive barrier straight to the chest which completely bowled him over.
"MAN DOWN!"
From his position on the ground, Charlie lifted his rifle and fired a grenade right at the Brute, but the Ultra was able to easily sidestep the slow moving missile, removing his helmet from his head while he did so and hurtling it right at Charlie. This time, Charlie wasn't able to dodge in time and the helmet hit him straight in the face with enough force, Peanut could see cracks immediately forming in his visor. Charlie collapsed.
In the meantime, Peanut was doing his best to recover his breath, but upon seeing how quickly his team was taken down, decided to forgo that process entirely and immediately go on the offensive. His sidearm was missing, him having accidently dropped it when the Brute had thrown him, but he still had his tomahawk.
"OOORAH!" Peanut screamed as he surged to his feet and charged straight at the Brute.
He brought his 'hawk down, aiming for the Brute's neck, but the Brute had obviously heard him coming and had been able to sidestep the blow.
Undeterred, Peanut slashed his 'hawk and then jabbed forward, attempting to stab the Brute in the abdomen with the top prongs of his blade. Before his 'hawk could connect though, the Brute proceeded to punch him right in the chest.
Despite his nickname, Peanut was far from the smallest guy in his platoon. In fact, standing at about a hundred and eighty centimeters tall and weighing in at about ninety three kilograms even before considering the weight of his armor and equipment, Peanut was actually one of the bigger guys around. However, in spite of all that, the three hundred kilogram gorilla-like alien he was fighting against was more than capable of laying him out flat with a single punch.
Peanut found himself laying on his back, gripping his chest and gasping for breath once more. A shadow fell over him and looked up to see the Brute looming over him. A wicked grin bloomed on the Brute's face, and he started to lift his leg.
BANGBANG!
"RAH!"
The Brute was sent staggering as he was struck several times in the back by bullets!
"COME ON MONKEY BOY! GET SOME! AHHH!"
The Brute whirled around, allowing Peanut to glance down the corridor and see Charlie had managed to recover his rifle and was now proceeding to unload the magazine on the Brute from afar. The Brute stumbled as he quickly lifted his arms to try and protect his face, leaving his upper torso exposed, but before Charlie could take advantage of that -
- click -
- the sound of his magazine running dry filled the corridor.
Charlie took one look at his rifle before tossing it aside and climbing to his feet.
"Come on Monkey Boy," he declared as he reached down and pulled out his bayonet with a flourish. "Let go!"
Peanut could practically hear the Brute grinning as Charlie began charging down the hall straight towards him, and Peanut could see him squaring off to meet the charge head on.
Just before Charlie could reach the Brute, the Brute abruptly lashed out with his fist, but in a move that took everyone by surprise, Charlie ducked right under the blow, diving to his knees and using his momentum to slide right past the alien. As the astonished creature started to turn around, Charlie lashed out with his bayonet, stabbing the Brute in the back of his right ankle, severing the Brute equivalent of the Achilles tendon.
Blood immediately began gushing from the wound and the Brute let out a cry of pain as he reflexively grabbed his wound and dropped to his knees. And that's when Peanut saw his opportunity.
Ignoring the pain in his chest, Peanut hauled himself to his feet. Gripping his tomahawk with both hands, he let out a roar and charged straight at the Brute once more.
As before, the Brute heard him coming but this time, there was nothing the alien could do as Peanut swung his axe -
- and brought the poll spike of his 'hawk down as hard as he could onto the top of the Brute's exposed head.
There was a loud crack as the spike embedded itself into the Brute's skull. Dark purple blood immediately began leaking from the wound, streaming down the Brute's face and into his eyes as he stared at Peanut with a slight look of astonishment on his face. A soft choking noise began to fill the air, and Peanut took a cautious step back as the Brute began swaying. He watched as the Brute mindlessly lift his arm and began pawing at his own face, before the Brute's eyes slowly rolled to the back of his head and he went limp.
Stepping forward once more, Peanut planted his foot on the Brute's shoulder, bracing himself, before digging his 'hawk out from the Brute's skull, the blade making a sickening splurch noise as it slid free. Blood immediately began gushing from the wound, quickly covering the Brute's entire face.
Wiping his blade on the Brute's fur, Peanut was just about to stick his 'hawk back into his belt... when the Brute abruptly stood up.
"Holy shit...!" Peanut yelped, scrambling backwards in alarm as the Brute started reaching for him. "How the fuck are you still alive!?"
Dodging the Brute's arms, Peanut swung his axe once more, driving the blade into the Brute's abdomen, but when the Brute failed to react and instead, continued to try and blindly reach for him, Peanut took a closer look at the Brute's face and realized it wasn't so much that the Brute was still alive as it was the Brute hadn't yet died. Essentially, the Brute was dead, but his body just hadn't realized it yet.
Ducking under the Brute's arms once more, Peanut yanked his axe out as he tried to figure out what to do about this situation. How did one kill what was already dead?
PFT. PFTPFTPFTPFTPFTPFT.
Peanut instinctively blinked as blood splattered against his visor, and he looked up to see seven massive exit wounds had just been blown into the Brute's chest. The Brute collapsed, revealing Greene holding his sidearm, slide locked back in place and the barrel smoking.
"Bitch," Greene muttered as he thumbed the mag release, letting the empty magazine drop to the ground with a clatter before reloading. "Peanut. You okay?"
Peanut quickly patted himself down, checking for injuries. "I'm good Staff Sergeant."
"Good." Greene handed Peanut back his SAW. "Secure the area. Charlie, C.F., sound off!"
"I'm good White Boy!" Charlie declared as he de-polarized his visor, allowing Peanut to see he had blood coming out of his nostrils but aside from that, he looked no worse for wear.
"C.F.?"
"Two broken ribs and probably a bruised sternum," C.F. declared as he came walking out, popping a fresh mag into his SMG. He sounded pissed, but then again, that was par for the course for C.F. "Armor absorbed most of the impact, but damn if that didn't fucking hurt."
"Can you do your job?" Greene asked him, concerned. C.F. snorted.
"Depends. You gonna let me Sergeant?"
In lieu of a response, Greene pointed at the Brute's rapidly cooling corpse laying on the ground. "Check him: DNA and visual confirmation. You know: the works."
"That's not target Zebra," C.F. immediately reported. "Target Zebra was supposed to be a chieftain. This motherfucker here is a captain ultra."
"Check him anyway," Greene insisted. "He was clearly in charge of this complex; he might be on our list."
Grunting in acknowledgement, C.F. awkwardly bent over and Peanut watched as he reached into his med kit and pull out a small forensics kit. Propping open the Brute's mouth with a discarded bullet casing, C.F. grabbed a small cotton swab and began dabbing the inside of the Brute's mouth. Once he was done with that, he activated his TACPAD and carefully placed the swabs on the screen so the navy eggheads upstairs could immediately begin an analysis.
While his computer was running, C.F. in the meantime, had fitted what looked like an electronic mouth guard over the Brute's upper teeth before jamming the Brute's mouth closed. Peanut could see a small light whirling around as the mouth guard began scanning the Brute's jaw structure. At the same time, C.F. had broken out a rag and was in the process of trying to wipe away some of the excess blood from the Brute's face so that he could take pictures of not just the Brute's face, but also of any other identifying marks.
While C.F. had been working, Greene in the meantime had been talking on his radio, but now he turned away, drawing Peanut's attention to him.
"Alright: Charlie, Peanut, listen up! All Covies are down and Buck's team is in the process of securing the area. Surveillance says the Covenant have yet to react to our presence here, but that could change at any minute so right now our priority is SSE! You guys know the drill: start tossing this place for intel! I want pictures, hard drives, maps, radios; the whole nine yards! Anything the Navy spooks can use to expand our kill list. We got three minutes before extraction: move it!"
Peanut immediately turned to the nearest computer. The bunker they were in had been some sort of control room and as a result, there were all sorts of Covenant electronic devices lining the walls. Most of them had clearly been destroyed by the Brute Captain and his Grunt technicians as the computers and holographic screens were covered in plasma scoring and metal spikes, but Peanut started searching anyways: there was no telling what the Covenant might have missed.
As he started digging through one control panel, behind him he could hear Greene announcing over the radio, "Number One, this is Ashley. Control room is secured. Be advised, target Zebra was not here, I say again, Zebra zero one six was not present at target location, over."
As Greene continued his report, Peanut carefully ripped open a control panel with his tomahawk where, to his surprise, he found a data pad. The data pad had a Spiker hole right in the middle of the screen, but when Peanut experimentally touched some of the controls, the data pad immediately sprang to life.
"Found something!" Peanut announced.
Greene immediately appeared by his side and Peanut handed him the data pad.
"Yeah, this is definitely something ONI is going to want to see," Greene declared after a few moments of study. "Good work Peanut."
He gave Peanut a friendly slap on the shoulder as the sound of footsteps filled the air and Peanut looked up to see his squad leader, Master Sergeant Samwell "Number One" Riker come walking into the room.
"Ashley!" he called out, walking over to where Greene and Peanut were standing. "What'd we got?"
"Unsecured data pad Master Sergeant," Greene reported, handing the data pad over for Riker to see. "Looks like it's still plugged into the Covie battle net."
"Excellent," Riker hissed. "This is exactly what we were hoping for." He quickly keyed his mic. "TOC, this is Number One: jackpot. We are RTB, ETA, fifteen mikes."
Switching his mic off, Riker looked around the room. "Good work Marines! Alright, pack it up gents, we're Oscar Mike! Charlie, plant the beacon. Peanut, cover him. Heat's coming gentlemen! Let's get the fuck out of here!"
Riker and Greene quickly left the room while Peanut hastily ran around the room recovering his lost weapons. He waited as Charlie planted a transponder beacon in the center of the room, before the both of them dashed out of the bunker.
Outside, there were already two Air Force UH-144 "Falcons" on the ground, engines running, just waiting for them. By the looks of it, Peanut and Charlie were the last two ODSTs still on the ground, so they hastily sprinted for the Falcon closest to them, one that had an image of a pomegranate print printed just below the cockpit canopy.
"Get in White Boy!" Charlie urged and with C.F.'s help, Peanut hastily clambered aboard and took a seat in the doorframe. Grabbing a hand hold, he glanced over his shoulder as Greene reached out and helped secure him to one of the Falcon's safety harnesses so he wouldn't accidently fall out during the flight.
Once he was secured, Riker reached up and banged on the wall separating the pilot from the crew compartment.
"Captain! Ma'am, we're all secure back here!" he yelled over the radio. "Let's move it out!"
"Copy that Number One. C2, this is Soteira, Kingfisher 3 and 6 are on the move!"
The noise of the engines suddenly grew in pitch as the pilot increased the torque, and Peanut watched as the ground rapidly pull away from him as the Falcon took off. Around them, he could see both Falcons, as well as the two Skyhawks that had been providing the ODSTs with air cover as they extracted, quickly departing the area.
Looking back, Peanut could see the bunker, a squat, dark purple looking building surrounded on all sides by a muddy field. From up here, he couldn't see all the Covenant bodies the assault force had left behind, but he knew they were there.
As soon as they were far enough, Riker pushed a button on his TACPAD and suddenly, a navigation point appeared right over the bunker on Peanut's HUD.
"Number One to UNSC Grafton," Peanut heard him say over the radio. "Beacon is live and all friendlies are clear of the target area. You are cleared hot to engage, over."
"Copy that, Grafton is engaging. Shot, over."
"Shot, out."
Peanut hastily polarized his visor to its darkest setting. He also made sure to turn off his ears and double check his helmet was properly sealed.
He finished just in time to hear the Grafton saying, "Splash, over."
"Splash, out - "
Before the words could fully leave Riker's mouth, there was a sudden flash of light, one so bright that even with his visor at maximum opaque setting, Peanut could still see light seeping through. He looked back in time to see a bubble of compressed air emanating from the impact area, rapidly gaining on the UNSC aircraft. Almost a full second later, the bubble hit.
BOOM.
The entire Falcon began rattling as the shockwave from the blast enveloped them, but fortunately at this point, the Falcons were far enough away that they weren't too adversely affected.
De-polarizing his visor, Peanut glanced back at the bunker, only to see it was gone and sitting in its place was a massive crater and a large mushroom cloud: the bunker, as well as much of surrounding field had been completely obliterated by the MAC round the Grafton had fired. With all evidence gone, hopefully it would take the Covenant several hours, days even, to realize what the UNSC had stolen, at which point the eggheads upstairs would have hopefully finished data mining the data pad for whatever intel they could get their hands on.
Removing the magazine and clearing the chamber to render his SAW safe, Peanut carefully secured his weapon to the magnetic clamps on his back before reaching up and slipping his helmet off. Leaning back to enjoy the feeling of the air rushing through his sweat filled hair, Peanut tried to take stock.
They had failed their primary objective, however that was the result of their target simply not being there. Unfortunate, but that was just what happened sometimes. On the other hand, they had at least managed to capture some potentially valuable intel, destroyed a vital Covenant command and control center, and aside from a couple of non-debilitating injuries, the entire strike force had managed to make it out alive. All in all, Peanut liked to think they had broken-even.
However in the grand scheme of things, he knew ultimately this battle would count for very little. With the entire colony of Skopje under attack, "breaking even" just wasn't going to cut it. The UNSC was going to need some overwhelming victories if they hoped to break the siege.
That being said, Peanut was only a simple grunt. And a victory was a victory, so he was going to treat is as such. He'd leave the grand strategic planning to the generals.
Leaning against the doorframe, Peanut allowed himself to relax for the first time in hours as he watched the aircraft quickly depart the mission area, taking with them all traces they were ever there, with the heavy fighting that was taking place elsewhere on the colony echoing in the distance behind them.
- Believe it or not, "Charlie" is actually based on a guy I know. He's a wacky man from what used to be known as South Vietnam, who fled to the United States at the age of sixteen with the rest of his family when Saigon fell to the NVA in 1975. One of his most notable characteristics is the fact he likes to call everyone, no matter their actual ethnicity, "White Boy," and amusingly enough, he did name his first son "Charlie" (although he did not name his daughter "Victoria" or any variation of the name.)
I normally don't like to base any of my characters off anyone I know, but I felt this guy was too perfect to pass up.
- The M76 SRAAW is a weapon of my own creation. It first showed up in my story, Missing in Action, chapter 5, and several times since in Battle: Actium. As per my notes:
"M76 Short Range Anti-Armor Weapon (or SRAAW) is a single shot, disposable recoilless rifle that fires a 110mm hollow charged warhead (though variants with other warheads are available.) Based on the appearance and role of the modern-day Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank weapon, the weapon with warhead weighs a total of 12.9kg (or 28.43lbs) with a maximum effective range of about three hundred meters. The weapon has a saltwater countermass in the rear of the launcher, meaning there is no backblast making it safe to use in enclosed areas."
Note
As mentioned in the introductory notes, updates to this story will be slow, and infrequent. If you found that you enjoyed this chapter, I highly recommend you add it to either your favorites or your alerts, or both, so that you may receive notifications when it finally does update.
Thanks.