Chapter 22 – Huz
May 10th, 2545 (08:35 Hours – Military Calendar)
Aquilla System, Actium
High Mediolanum, Republic of Pavia
Outer edges of Katerini Block, Near 2nd Premiere Wall
:********:
To Colonel Garrison, the landscape of the 3rd Tier's promenade was little more than a cobblestone strip of burning vehicles and buildings. To the Covenant, it must have looked more like a massive funeral pyre, one most of them seemed eager to run into.
The siege of the Scenic District was underway with one wave of Covenant Soldiers folding over the other in a near endless stream of opposition.
Garrison's Column C had departed from Sycion and made their way up the 2nd Premiere Wall via Gatehouse-9 through 12. The Armored elements went onto the lift platforms first, and they were the first to roll off into the fray when the fighting began on the promenade. But the Scorpion Tanks weren't the first ones off. Instead, the M313 Heavy Recovery Vehicles or 'Elephants' were sent in ahead of everyone.
Having taken some inspiration from seeing the Olifants in action at the Eden Mall back in Ano Liosia, Colonel Mentieth decided on a new means of countering the expected enemy defenses. Yesterday, the UNSC Carchemish had come back from its trip to Treviso, having arrived with a new cargo from the 53rd's Base near New Verona.
The gift to the UNSC forces of Task Force 1 were dozens of Elephants. The 3-story tall vehicles were 14 meters wide, measured nearly twice that in length and packed enough armor to push a platoon of Marines straight through the thickest enemy ground fire...and they had been deployed to do just that.
Like Garrison's Column C at Gatehouses 9 through 12, Colonel Mentieth's Column B had launched from 15 through 18 in Kastoria and Lieutenant Colonel Serakovich's Column A was sent to 21 through 25 and 27 from Veria. Two Elephants were assigned to each individual gatehouse along with a contingent of Scorpions, Hogs, Marines and ODSTs that would accompany them into the 3rd Tier. The moment the lift platforms' ramps descended, the heavy vehicles were the first ones off, going guns blazing into the chaos beyond.
The Covenant made no pretext of attempting to draw them in. They had already taken up positions behind the dead traffic lines of vans, trucks and cars left behind by the city's denizens. The overhanging skyscrapers also allotted them greater defensive capacities since they could use their various windows to fire down on the encroaching threat. It seemed the Covenant were intent on pulling out all the stops, even adding Wraiths and Ghosts to the mix, the former usually taking positions down off-branching streetways. That way they could set down fire on human forces from a safe distance. The latter moved in pods of four intent on keeping them contained to the immediate areas surrounding the lift platforms.
What the Covenant hadn't counted on were two factors: The fire support of the UNSC Tower of Babel and thespeed and power of the Elephants.
Combat Controllers armed with radio sets and H-165 Target Locators were marking enemy positions and vehicular units on the ground for the Babel's bridge crew. Not long after a target was painted with the characteristic red perimeter circle, usually in less than five seconds, a hailstorm of seven missiles would descend on whatever was highlighted. The collective efforts of at least 12 binaries of ODST and Marine Combat controllers in their sector created a perpetual rain of missiles. Destruction pounded across the promenade as well as the outer streets, destroying areas of traffic lanes and reducing initial positions of heavy resistance into cinders and splashes of blue gore. Still, the rules of engagement applied, meaning there would be no ordnance drops on the surrounding skyscrapers. The danger of causing one of them to block the path of advancing UNSC forces or even worse, to collapse on top of them, kept the Babel's offensive options limited to the promenade and outer streets. That left clearing the buildings to the boots on the ground who did more than their fair share of the job.
The Heavy Recovery Vehicles or Elephants moved fast, crashing through the initial lines of abandoned cars before the enemy could react. Their crews used firing ports to shoot down Covenant that scrambled away around them while others in front of the behemoth were crushed beneath their enormous treads.
Garrison had led the push from Gatehouse-9 atop one of the two Elephants. He was thus among the first to enter onto the promenade with an entourage of Scorpions and Warthogs close behind. He'd helped himself to the M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun setup on the third level near the driver's cabin. While the position was utterly exposed, it provided him the best vantage point from which to raise hell on anything and everything moving below that wasn't human.
After stitching high-caliber holes through a squad of Grunts cowering behind a passing garbage truck he swiveled leftward to drill into the shield of a Hunter. He pinned it behind its barrier long enough for a Scorpion to punch it in the side with a tungsten shell. The creature promptly fell over, its worms spilling onto the cracked tarmac at its feet.
He spotted a squad of Marines that had gotten slightly ahead to engage a group of Shield Jackals wedged between a few cars. Several lengthy bursts from his turret shredded through half of them so that the Marines could finish off the other half with ease.
A trio of pink needler rounds bounced off the side of his gun palisades, drawing his attention over to an orange-armored Major racing between the traffic lanes on his right. He gave it a well-deserved concentration of 99-millimeter rounds that tore away its shields and painted the street around it a fresh shade of blue.
"Red-Actual to Neptune-Actual, might want to deal with that little congregation on your left, over?"
Garrison followed the direction over to an intersection that they were passing, lying between the cobblestone promenade and the beginning of the highway leading to Gatehouse-9's lift platform. A small platoon of Covenant were putting up a last-ditch effort to hold the line using deployable energy barriers, barricades and cars for cover. They were one of several surviving pockets along this section of the promenade between Gatehouse-9 and 10. Their efforts were quickly becoming a moot point thanks to the four Elephants pushing through their lines, forcing the dead traffic lanes out of the way for those coming up behind them. For this pocket, it was being sandwiched between Garrison's Elephant and another whose topside-gunner, Colonel Taylors, was already opening fire.
"Roger that Red-Actual." He switched to a different commlink. "Neptune to Able-1 and Able-3, we need to provide salvation for some lost souls 20 meters to our northwest."
"Copy that." The two ODSTs said. Two gunports opened on the starboard side of the Elephant and a pair of triple-barrels pressed through it to start their deadly rotation.
Garrison brought his own M41 to bear on the group below. Six streams of heavy fire ripped into the Covenant soldiers from the left and right, three from either Elephant. The crisscrossing cascade whittled down their barriers, stripped away their barricades and eviscerated the enemies hiding behind them. In under 10 seconds the last Grunt spiraled into the air on trails of methane leaking from a bullet-riddled gas-tank that blew up not long after.
"Sector clear." Garrison said when movement caught his eye.
As the Marines and ODSTs advanced, the nearby buildings around the promenade were becoming more and more occupied. One of them, a skyscraper to the east, was their main concern.
He recognized the blue and white-accented triangle sign on it as belonging to the Freighter Insurance Company Far Delta. The labeling right beneath that branded it a 'System Headquarters confirmed as much. He'd been in one of those buildings before, back on Miridem when he, Mentieth and Major General Horvath had planned the assault on the De Gaulle Starport. Now the enemy was the one occupying it en masse.
Dozens of Elites and Jackals were moving along the different levels of office spaces. Their movements were visible through the glass windows, many of which they began shooting or breaking open to provide them with superior firing positions on UNSC forces advancing across the promenade. They were doing the same inside two parallel buildings to the right and left of the headquarters.
"Neptune to Red-Actual, got my sights on Far Delta and two other buildings to the southeast and northeast. Covies are lining up for us."
"I see'em.'" Taylors replied. "Recommend we take care of Far Delta since it's the biggest. I'll get my boys on the other Elephant to target that LLC on the northeast."
"Copy, I'll have my people do the same with that southeast partnership." He switched links. "Able-1 and Able-3, we've got new targets." He set a Nav point on the Far Delta Building then switched links again, waving over to the topside gunner on another Elephant to the south of his own. "Goliath-1, set sights on that partnership building. Don't leave any scraps for the Jarheads coming in behind you."
"Roger that." The ODST said and began relaying orders to the cabin driver.
All four Elephants, like the other four further south down the promenade, began lining up to face their targets, crunching over the last of the traffic lanes to get closer. The Covenant troops within the buildings waited for them to get in range, then opened fire.
"Spool up!" Garrison began stuttering his reply across the most occupied levels of the Far Delta building, eliciting bursts of plasma, shattered glass and blue blood. The Elephant turned slightly to port to provide the other two gunners with a better visual. They immediately joined him in shattering more rows of windows and more alien bodies standing on the other side. But as a drawback, the portside turn increased the targetable surface area for the several plasma cannon crews operating inside the building. Torrents of plasma washed over the vehicle's tough hide. Though it remained sturdy, concentrated bursts slagged the titanium armor in some places and set it aflame in others.
A lucky burst of plasma struck one of the open firing ports below. He heard screaming from Able-3 as his gun went silent. Able-1 shouted for one of the squad's medics to tend to him and for another to take his place. The screams were drowned out by Garrison's own plight as he homed in on the plasma cannons to take them out one at a time. Though they started to set their sights on him he was fast enough to the draw to silence the last before it could cause too much trouble. By then Able-1 and 5 were backing him up again. Together, with the help of a few hyper-accurate tungsten shells from a pair of tanks sticking close behind, they raked clear the remaining levels. After 30 seconds, the last resistance in the building was cut down, leaving little more than showers of twinkling glass and drops of alien blood that showered over them as they moved on. The same went for the two silenced buildings to the northeast and southeast.
It wasn't long before the next obstacles appeared in the form of squadrons of Phantom dropships that crested and looped around skyscrapers on the edges of the Scenic District. They descended to cut off the UNSC forward elements breaking out from the promenade to the intravenous network of streets and highways.
Three of the dropships came down to hover over the highway that Garrison's Elephant had driven onto. The first two each dropped off a Wraith tank. The third was about to release a lookout tower armed with two active plasma cannons when he shouted, "Able-6, get up here now!"
Private Gadsden ran up the rear ramp onto the topside deck. Unlike before, he was decked out in his radio set as well as a target locater held firmly in one hand. He ran to the Colonel's side near the edge. Garrison pointed him towards the Phantoms in their way. "Get a marker on them!"
"Sir!" Gadsden crouched down, aimed his locator and established a flickering, green beamline on the enemy aircrafts. A moment later a 30-meter-wide red circle appeared on their HUDs, encompassing the 3 dropships while setting a warning triangle on the one at the center.
The salvo from the Tower of Babel came 3 seconds later. Seven of the high-impact missiles arced across the sky to strike the three highlighted targets, destroying the one at the center so that its remains crashed onto the lookout tower below, creating a bright chain reaction that incinerated anything trapped in between. The second Phantom was skewered as a missile punched right through its hull to damage the Wraith directly below. Another missile struck out its tail stabilizers before a third blew into the cockpit, annihilating the pilot and the crew in a rippling explosion. The third dropship managed to veer away only to receive a missile that crippled one of its impulse drives. It flew off with a notable slant, its heavy plasma cannon getting off three concussion shots before it disappeared around a corner. Though two of the shots missed, the third slammed into the Elephant's driver's cabin to blow out the windows in a shockwave.
Garrison eyed the damage. "Sergeant Eberlein, still with us!?"
"...Yeah!" The Sergeant at the controls answered. "And so are those Wraiths!"
The echoing warble of two energy mortars drew the Colonel back to the enemy tanks 50 meters up ahead. Both had lobbed deadly blue comets that were already well on their way. With his turret he started working on the tank left wounded by the missile strike. "Charlie Team, get on the deck! We've got targets!"
The Marines from Charlie Team, one of a platoon from Serakovich's 1st Battalion sitting in the cargo bay below, responded with praiseworthy speed. They reached the top deck just as the energy mortars landed on the tarmac, having overshot the Elephant by an uneasy distance.
Four of the SPNKR-wielding Marines ran past the built-in crane to take aim at the enemy armor then set loose a rocket each. Garrison had weakened both of the Wraiths to the degree that the pair of rockets heading for either one was sufficient to snuff them out.
He allowed himself to relax a little as they passed by their broken and smoldering remains. Only a little. There was still work to be done, and something told him that all that had only been the easy part.
Behind him, he heard the last metallic creaking of the hydraulic gears that finished bringing Gatehouse-9 up to the gateway's threshold. He'd sent it back down like the others in this sector to get more elements of Column C onto the 3rd Tier. Their collective lift platforms folded down, releasing a fresh flood of hundreds of Marines in combat green, ODSTs in their black BDUs and storms of 53rd vehicular elements that poured out onto the promenade. They filtered around the deadened remains of the previous enemy defenses to link with friendlies already fanning out into the skyline. Then the gatehouses were off again to bring in the next batch.
Further back, Pelicans and Hornets began flying over the wall and into the 3rd Tier. Some of the Hornets hovered above the newly reforming convoys as they streamlined into the Scenic District. Others escorted myriads of Pelican dropships further into the city to establish forward positions around designated objectives. That way the 24th Air Recon made it easier for everyone coming behind them to reach and secure those already cleared objectives, then continue on to the next in a game of tactical hop-scotch.
Garrison took the temporary lull in the fighting to report in on a private comm-link shared between the commanders. "This is Garrison, me and Taylors have cleared the promenade. We're pushing into the city for our first stops, over?"
"Roger that, doing the same thing on our side." Serakovich replied. "The split-jaws tried a Seraph bombardment on us, didn't work though because of the Babel, thank God."
"I don't think the people that worked on the Tower of Babel were so thankful to the Almighty but hey, to each his own." Major Krauss jeered. "Same goes for us. Me and Mentieth are rolling'em out. Won't be long now before we reach Mount Parnassus and Ossa over on the other side there-"
The sound of a firing cannon cut off his sentence. "I wouldn't worry about the mountains just yet, Major." Mentieth said. "We still need to take this city." There was another cannon shot. "Serakovich, Garrison, Taylors, do what you can to push-on. And remember, we want to minimize collateral damage so the further in we go the less we'll be able to call on fire support from the Babel. Keep that in mind. Mentieth out."
Colonel Taylors' Elephant came in next to Garrison's and matched their speed along the highway. The man on the gun nodded off to him and he returned the gesture.
"You heard him." Taylors said, his grin evident in his voice. "Try to reduce collateral. That'll probably be hard for you, you know, after the pipes and all."
"Your being here is collateral enough in my opinion."
"I think you'll find that statement cuts both ways, Colonel Claus."
"Just know you're still a cyborg in my book so you better live up to that name today."
Taylors yanked back his turret's charging handle then let it slide into place with a fresh belt of ammo. "Sir, yes sir."
The two Colonels began wheeling their weapons from left to right, searching off-branching roadways, passing windows and rooftops for any signs of the enemy. The scores of mobile ground forces forming up behind them echoed their example, checking corners with rifles, turrets and cannons as they moved deeper into the 3rd Tier.
:********:
Duncan watched the second Banshee disappear in a flash of blue-white flames as his rocket caught it in the fuselage. He gave an excited whoop then held on as the Staff turned hard around the circumference of the ovular skyscraper that they were rounding.
Several hundred meters further up and about that same distance in the sky, he could still see the Phantom they were after. It had stayed on its eastward flight despite the fact that the second Banshee in its entourage had been taken out, the first having fallen earlier to a precise lock-on from Mito's M79 and Yuri's LAAG. The pilot obviously didn't care who they were leaving behind. Or maybe they understood that what they had aboard was too precious to even risk turning around.
For the past 10 minutes, Squad Epsilon had been on the heels of the Covenant dropship that they'd seen land on the Luna Alta. Before this, Duncan had used the 'Reroute to contact' option on one of the holo-pedestals to gain access to another pedestal on the same floor as the Minister of Iconography. When the feed winked on it showed the alien clergyman being handed off by what looked like special guards to a pair of Ultras aboard the Phantom. Seeing that the prophet was indeed dead, he quickly told the Staff what he'd found.
The fighting began not long after as swarms of Banshees broke over Convoy-10's outer formation in several places. Eventually a hole was formed in the second defensive line that became a cause for concern, then gradually turned into an advantage for Epsilon.
Duncan just so happened to glance at the nearest pedestals to watch the Phantom take off without the Spartans being able to stop it. With his own eyes, he saw it moving away and pointed it out to everyone else.
The Staff ordered for them to pursue, namely because they couldn't allow the Covenant to simply get away with such an important cadaver, one they could use to potentially demoralize the enemy if they got their hands on it. So they used the very same gap in their lines as a means of driving out of the plaza and into the city.
Adding further fuel to the fire, they picked up the Master Chief's message shortly after departing. Thanks to him they learned that a very important Elite, if not the most important in the city, was presently onboard the eastbound dropship. That made this an even more perfect opportunity.
Five minutes later and here they were driving in the wake of their target but never out of sight of it.
At first the airborne escapees had tried to let ground forces mop them up. However, several dead Ghosts and four burning Shade wrecks later, they changed tact. Two of the Banshees broke off to attack them. That wasn't nearly enough, not for Mito's M79 that battered their frames, Yuri's turret that made one corkscrew into a Highrise or Duncan's rocket launcher that gouged the second clean out of the sky.
In more recent times it seemed that the Phantom and its escorts were reverting back to letting ground fodder take care of the matter, or to at the very least slow them down.
The two Warthogs had crossed an intersection on the boundary of the Larissa block before entering into western Edessa when the next set of obstacles came into view.
A pair of Wraiths slipped out from adjacent corners to their right and left some 100 meters ahead. Their mortars tracked them.
"Ep-4, serpentine!" The Staff ordered.
"On it!" Hector kept the lead Hog going but swerved between the inner and outer lanes with the Rocket Hog behind him doing the same. The slow-moving tanks struggled to track their movements. Still, the closest fired.
Epsilon disengaged their maneuver to weave under the energy mortar that arced overhead to slam into the veranda of a corporate building, a near miss. However, they stopped maneuvering long enough for the second Wraith to get a good aim. Now that they were closer, the next mortar's trajectory was more accurate, making them peel off to the left and right to let it impact the open space between them. Circling around the small crater, the Staff came back behind Hector. The two Hogs raced past the tanks which fired after them to little affect as the wailing mortars fell farther and farther behind.
The Phantom and its escorts were still a good distance away and far out of the M79's range. They would need another 200 meters just for Mito to get a lock-on, not an easy feat given that their target was always on the move.
Mere seconds after the Wraiths, they found themselves dealing with a growing number of Covenant pedestrians headed west. Company-sized contingents were making their way down the highway likely headed for the fighting at the wall. The enemy troops tried overwhelming them with potshots taken from the sidewalks as they zoomed past. Everyone else had to duck their heads while Yuri and Mito did their best to suppress them. The addition of the occasional corner-side lookout tower made running through western Edessa just a little less tenable.
They had just turned onto another highway when the ground began to rumble, not continually like an earthquake, but stochastically, like footsteps. Giant footsteps.
Something massive collided into the other side of a skyscraper further up the highway. The building shook before a secondary impact caused it to give way, its windows shattering as it began collapsing forward onto their path.
"Gun it!" The Staff ordered.
"Copy!" Hector floored the acceleration in tandem with the other Hog so that both sped forward into the oncoming destruction. A debris cloud was swiftly billowing outward from under the lower floors which were crushing down on top of each other. Still, they shot into the rising smoke even as the 300-meter structure falling over their heads grew ever closer.
In the darkness Duncan felt pieces of smaller debris bouncing off his armor and pinging across the vehicle as they followed after the faint silhouette of Hector's. Around them the shadows of Scorpion-sized debris rained across the roadway, forcing them to drive more defensively. They swerved around them in prediction of where they would land. But the rumbling grew unnervingly closer with each second of their progress going unbearably slower.
At the seventh second, Epsilon emerged onto the other side of the highway, clear of the smoke that bloomed after them as the skyscraper fully collapsed in an earth-shaking boom. They were momentarily caught in the cloud again then broke free in time to avoid the waterfall of debris, and so did something else.
Duncan heard it coming and turned back to get a view of the colossal shadow moving above the fallen skyscraper. A pair of metal, insectoid legs pushed through the haze like a curtain to crash down on the tarmac. The shadow's image became illuminated by a growing green glow before it released a throaty, multivocal roar.
"Scarab, six o'clock!"
The Staff spotted it in the rear-view mirror. "It's about to fire, Ep-4, go evasive!"
"Yessir!"
Epsilon's Hogs broke left and right as the expected stream of emerald plasma shot through the smoke to split the roadway along its length, separating them by a sizzling, 20-meter-long trench. Another near miss.
No sooner did they get out of its relative range that a second threat appeared another 100 meters ahead. This time the towering assault platform grazed another skyscraper to send debris tumbling forward as it strode into their way. The Scarab turned to face them, setting its four jointed legs along the sidewalks to steady itself for a shot that quickly metastasized on the frontal focus cannon. It roared and fired. However, the head swiveled from left to right so that the streaming discharge was spread out.
The Staff sized up the incoming plasma. "Ep-4, left in 20 meters then right in 50!"
Hector took the lead in swerving hard left away from the landing plasma. Then at the designated distance he turned hard right so that they crossed underneath the curve of the discharge. By mere chance of speed, they avoided the wall of green flames that came down behind them. Mito, meanwhile, let off another rocket salvo on the focus cannon that stopped it from pulling off another shot.
They drove under the Scarab's prodding legs, weaving around the rear set that nearly crushed them as the platform maneuvered around to face them. Even in escaping to the other side they weren't free from the rotating gaze of the rear anti-air turret which shot a series of bolts that thundered after them, searing the area at their backs. Still, it missed and they moved out of range once more.
Looking up, the Phantom and its escorts were still visible, just a bit more distant than before.
The sight of their quarry was cut off by a squadron of 4 Seraphs that soared beneath the dropship, headed for its pursuers. The tear-drop fighter at the head of the diamond formation was the first to release a single bright pin-point of light. It expanded out from its drop bay into a lance of blue-white plasma that screamed down towards the highway.
"Split up!"
At the Staff's behest, the Hogs again drove off from each other. They hugged the sidewalks as the first plasma charge napalmed across the highway. The wall of superheated plasma energy created a brief air suction that dragged them closer as it fueled its rapid thermal expansion. Then the air stilled once the blaze's advance subsided, only after covering a quarter of a kilometer.
The second and third fighters on the wing of the formation dipped down at two opposing angles that would make them swing across the highway. Their near-vertical descent strained their impulse drives so that their propulsion blew out columns of windows on the skyscrapers they flew past. At 50 meters to the ground, they dropped their loads. The two plasma charges scythed down a pair of skyscrapers on opposing sides of the highway, shattering more windows and blowing out through the other sides before they reached the tarmac. The lances of energy crossed and twirled over each other to seal off the way forward.
"Left exit-route, take it!"
Hector drove left for the upcoming exit and the Staff shot after him. However, the thermal expansion had started, and in getting closer they were exposed to the suction effect which nearly pulled their vehicles into a sideways tumble. They reached the exit at the last second and their tires slammed back down safely onto the road.
They sped around a 'Q' shaped roundabout while keeping their target always in sight. Emerging onto another highway further north, they were greeted almost immediately by the appearance of the fourth Seraph fighter heading straight for them.
Hector swung right and the Staff left, but the fighter also changed course, setting itself on a direct attack run for one of the Hogs.
"Hey-hey-hey, it's focusing on us!" Duncan said, bringing his SPNKR to bear despite knowing it would do little good against the craft's energy shielding.
"Hold on!" The Staff flattened the accelerator in an attempt to get ahead of what was coming. In response, the Seraph realigned itself accordingly. It made a sharp dive and released a plasma charge that sliced diagonally across the highway towards the Rocket Hog.
The Staff watched its path, patiently waiting until it reached within 20 meters before he was confident enough to veer right of its trajectory.
Obscene amounts of heat washed over their bodies as the plasma charge flashed past less than several meters to their left.
Duncan felt the cold sweat on his forehead evaporate. He heard the whistling roar of a gale as the air around them was sucked in by the thermal expansion. The air rapidly became turbulent enough to make the Hog lift off and spiral leftwards as the lean of the vehicle conspired with what became a wind tunnel to pull them off the ground. They twisted sideways several times, holding on so to not be thrown clear. At the end of the momentary expansion, they landed roughly back onto the tarmac less than a meter from the wall of flames. Nevertheless, they had survived and regrouped with Hector's Hog.
"You guys alright!?" Nova asked.
"We're hanging in there!" The Staff replied. "They must be coordinating these air strikes to stop us from going after their boss! No matter what, keep on that dropship!"
"Yes sir!"
The ODSTs drove on.
Much to their surprise, their newest route had brought them closer to their quarry. There was now less distance between them and the Phantom, at least 200 meters less. What remained was for them to speed up to cover the next hundred for a lock-on. But the sight of the 3rd Premiere Wall loomed closer, a reminder that their window of opportunity was slowly closing.
The pursued party had also taken notice of how close they'd gotten and three of the Banshees flew off from their formation to descend upon them.
Rather than another frontal assault, two of the attack craft disengaged from the third that continued on towards Hector's Hog. The other two disappeared behind the skyline. Then as the ODSTs came onto a section of elevated expressway leading over a lower part of the city, the Banshees reappeared, rolling out from buildings to come out behind the Rocket Hog. They were coming for the M79, a tactically sound decision given that it was the only weapon that could deal any real damage to the dropship.
They both tracked their mutual target, fired off a plasma torpedo then rolled aside to avoid the response. Mito managed a lock-on but the rockets crashed into a passing building as the flyer flipped behind it.
The Staff turned to avoid the torpedoes in a half-completed figure-8 then rode back on the trail.
On the other Hog, Hector had just swerved around a torpedo that instead crashed into a parked van. Yuri dappled the flyer's hull with round after round, making it bleed flames that convinced it to promptly break off its attack run.
Duncan took aim of one of the Banshees as it reappeared from behind a building on their rear-right. He waited until a diamond lock-on symbol blinked in his optics. He gave the Banshee one more second when it looked about to fly under a higher expressway. Once it was under its shadow, he sent out a single rocket that whistled after it.
The craft barrel rolled to the side, something he'd planned for. His patience paid off as the rocket missed but struck the nearby wall of the underpass. The blast was close enough to damage one of its wing canards, setting it alight. The entire thing began to wobble. Without warning a small explosion on the canard set off a chain reaction that blew off the entirety of its left wing. The pilot must have been struggling to maintain control because the Banshee shot up into a twisting ascent until it crashed into a skyscraper, subsequently exploding across its glassy surface.
"One down!" Duncan said. "Ep-10, how's things on your end!?"
Mito had just launched another volley. He watched it arc upwards to consume the second flyer in a fit of bright light from which fiery debris rained. "Mine's is down!"
On the other Hog, Yuri was delivering one gatling burst after another at the last flyer. It barreled left, right then aileron rolled higher to dodge everything he was throwing at it.
"Need some help, Ep-5!?" Duncan asked.
"NYET!" Yuri growled. "Banshee is mine!" He readjusted his reticle to sweep over its flight path whenever it barreled to the side. This time he caught it for a good two seconds of continuous fire that elicited more flames from the increasingly pockmarked hull.
"YES! Come on Split-Jaw, come down to Matchstick!"
As if it heard him, the craft unexpectedly banked downward on a curving attack vector. It hooked upwards to slash at the Hog's front with its turrets. Yuri answered in kind with lead for plasma, the latter of which streamlined from triple-barrels straight into the fuselage. The concentration of fire produced a large burst of flames that swiftly enveloped the entire craft. It turned into a fiery missile heading for a collision with the street.
Still a good 30 meters above the ground, the rear canopy was opened and the Elite pilot threw himself clear of the dying flyer.
The strange, curving horned-guard in red and yellow armor brought two plasma rifles to bear on the human vehicle. Even while it fell it shot down on the hood. But Yuri had kept aiming and kept firing, blowing out its energy shields halfway to the ground. Nova scored a three-round burst into its head right before it landed with the sound of broken armor and snapped bones, a sound that turned into more of a crunch as Hector drove over it. The ownerless Banshee crashed behind them and exploded on impact.
The Staff caught up to Hector's Hog then focused on the Phantom which now had even less ground on them, less than 100 meters.
"We're gaining." Hector said as they drove over a roundabout onto an adjoined highway leading ever deeper into the east.
"And so is that wall." The Staff planted a Nav marker on the 3rd Premiere Wall itself which stood more imposing than before. The marker read '500 meters' and was dropping drastically. "If they get past it, we'll have to chase them over. A sub-tunnel entry will be our best bet at that point. Try to stop it before then."
"We're shooting thing down or what?" Yuri asked.
"That's the plan, Ep-5, the only one we've got. At this rate that minister's body is forfeit but we need that Field Marshall dead. Once he's out of the picture their leadership will be completely decapitated."
"Sounds like a plan if there ever was one." Nova noted. Her attention shifted to the buildings bordering the more open area that they had drove into. She flinched. "Ambush!"
At her word the newest firefight began. Dozens of windows on the adjacent skyscrapers blew open to spew streams of plasma that raked the more jammed traffic lanes below. The new fireworks show centered heavily on the two UNSC vehicles careening around the abandoned civilian variants in their way.
What Duncan presumed to be plasma cannons, too many to count, were opening up on them from upper positions that would be harder to hit. The same rule applied for them since the additional lanes of abandoned cars inadvertently blocked the bulk of the enemy plasma.
The Staff shouted over the chaos. "Keep going! Don't stop!"
They maneuvered in and out of lanes while Yuri and Mito dished out returns, bulleting windows or blowing out entire floors to silence the cannon crews hiding within.
The audible HEP of a Banshee drew their focus to the skies where one of them, the very last escort, had appeared for a near vertical strafing run. It released a torpedo at the rear Hog then rolled backwards to make a run at Hector's
With less space to move, the Staff had to hit the breaks to let the torpedo crash harmlessly ahead of them. Driving back after the other Hog, Mito and Yuri buffeted the aircraft' using rockets and turret fire.
Wising up, it quickly backed off and boosted away behind a neighboring building.
After 20 seconds of constant assailment the last cannon crew fell behind them.
"That was too close." Hector sighed.
Duncan took the chance to load his final rocket into his SPNKR. "Think they've got anything else for us?"
They reached a fork in the highway that branched around a Highrise. They passed down the left route and came out onto the beginning of an intersection just 200 meters before the 3rd Premiere Wall. Though the Phantom was less than a quarter of that from them, the problem of distance was still in play. To make matters worse, as they passed into the wall's shadow a familiar sight came into view.
Three Wraiths were patrolling the area around the local gatehouse with a trio of Ghosts covering the entrance to the subterranean tunnel beside it.
"I'd say yes." Nova said in answer to Duncan's earlier question.
"Ep-10, can you get a lock?" The Staff called back.
Mito's grip flexed on the M79's controls as he zoomed in on the lone Phantom. After three seconds the lock-on icon appeared. "Got it." He pulled the triggers, sending six rockets on a self-altering course for the Phantom. Their flight covered the distance quickly and impacted the rear of the craft with six shaking explosions. Though it remained in the air, the two hanger bay doors slid partially open, allowing the crew to fire back with the onboard plasma cannons.
Thankfully, the blue showers missed widely. The same couldn't be said for the Covenant garrison at the wall that finally noticed them coming. The Wraiths posted across the far end of the intersection turned to face them. The three Ghosts copied them in dispersing around the tunnel entrance.
Mito got off another volley that struck the tail of the craft, then another. By the time they'd gotten within 100 meters of the wall his fourth rocket volley had slammed into the dropship's underbelly, birthing blue flames on the hull. His last salvo ended with even more flames spreading over the metal surfacing.
The first Wraith finally hurled an energy mortar in their direction followed shortly by the other two.
The incoming mortars forced them to peel away from each other. As they passed over the intersection's middle, Yuri blazed the nearest tank with suppressing fire. The act succeeded in distracting it and buying time for Mito to fire off another barrage.
But the Phantom had started rising in conjunction with the premiere wall. It was climbing away. The ascent made Mito's rockets have to race after it. Seeing what was coming, the Phantom's twin impulse drives flared under a renewed strain to go faster. Still, the barrage caught it, destroying its heavy plasma cannon completely. The flames spread ever further on its underbelly and licked at the hanger doors, forcing them to close.
"Come on Ep-10!" The Staff shouted.
"I'm trying!" Mito loosed another salvo, one meant to finish off the already weakened craft.
Duncan watched the rockets race after the Phantom which had already reached two thirds of the way to the wall's top.
Then he heard the HEP of an impulse drive and saw the last Banshee, burning and wounded, fly up from behind a skyscraper. It rolled into the decreasing airspace between the Phantom and its demise. Five of the rockets instead impacted the flyer, destroying it in a flash of silvery-blue light. The last struck the Phantom's damaged tail but did little more than make it reel forward. It recovered quickly.
"No-no, come on." Mito fired another panicked salvo. However, the Phantom slipped over the top of the wall, leaving their heat-seeking to lead them into the surface of the slanting barrier. Their explosions detonated harmlessly near the top.
The Staff floored the accelerator again, hell-bound for the tunnel. "Ep-8, clear out those Ghosts! We're going after them!"
"Yessir!" Duncan set his SPNKR on the tunnel, ignoring the energy mortars landing all around. He fired off one rocket then another to strike the Ghosts sitting between them and the tunnel entrance. The first slammed into one of the assault craft to utterly erase both it and its Grunt driver. The remaining two drove away from the blast-radius of the second rocket, inadvertently opening the way forward.
A shadow fell over Duncan from the side. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Wraith boosting towards them. It suddenly stopped, the propulsion drives winking offline so that it crashed onto the tarmac. It exploded a second later after its exhaust port succumbed to Yuri's turret.
The other Hog zipped out from behind the wreck. Instead of going after theirs, Hector piloted away to let Yuri bat off the two remaining Ghosts coming after them.
"We'll make sure these guys don't follow!" Hector said. "Get going, Ep-1!"
The Staff nodded back as they drove into the entrance.
Duncan saw the other Hog weaving expertly under energy mortars and turning to address a newly arriving squad of Ghosts coming from the city. Then his view of them was cut off by the blinking red-lights of the tunnel's ceiling.
The road became a gradual incline. They rushed through the vacillating darkness at top speed, wheeling around abandoned vehicles and bodies in their way.
Seeing that his ammo was dry for the SPNKR, Duncan ditched it over into the street, brought out his MA37 and clipped his plasma pistol to his thigh bracer. He had a feeling that what would come next would be nothing short of close range.
The Staff glanced over at him and Mito. "Ep-8, Ep-10, you know what to do. Don't let me down, understood?"
"Yessir." They said in unison.
The remainder of their upwards journey passed by quickly. After a minute the exit came up and they drove out into the light of day.
What greeted Duncan's senses first was the sheer lack of any buildings at all. Mount Parnassus and Mount Giona's towering visages lay to their north, their floral-caped masses unhindered by the presence of any tall skyscrapers. The same could be said for the other two mountains to the south, Ossa and Ida, altogether being part of the coastal mountain range that hemmed in the city of High Mediolanum.
They'd come out into an area of grassy plains that spanned out for kilometers from the top of the nearby wall, only stopping at a line of forestry that marked the beginning of Pavia's interior.
The wide-open plains ahead were partitioned by what looked like interstate highways leading further into the interior. However, the highways were bisected by a small chasm running north to south with a river at the very bottom. There, the paved highways connected to draw-bridges built on either side of the chasm.
The Phantom, wounded as it was, was flying low over the highway, headed for the nearby draw-bridge and the open air beyond.
They drove after it, moving over the highway to reach the beginnings of the bridge until the Phantom was less than 30 meters away.
"Ep-10!?"
"Aiming!"
Just as Mito was getting a lock-on, Duncan heard the sharpening scream of an impulse drive. He saw it then, a Seraph fighter flying in from the south. "Incoming!"
The fighter dropped a plasma charge that expanded behind it as it continued north. The charge thundered across the bridge in front of them, blowing through the metal infrastructure to send flaming metal slags showering over them. Their sightline on the Phantom disappeared behind the rising wall of flame. But there was no stopping, not now that they were so close.
"Hold on!" The Staff gunned it towards the breach.
Duncan clung to his seat as the Hog drove up the slight incline provided by the damaged infrastructure. They flew into the air above the chasm, rising just above the flame for Mito to get a lock-on. He fired another six rockets in the middle of the jump.
Yet the distance to the other side was too great. They were about to tumble down to the river far below when the thermal expansion of the plasma charge finally kicked in. The air suction drew them into the barrier of fire. They burst through the other side of it just in time to see the last rockets impact the Phantom's underbelly. It was enough to rupture one of its two drives in a flowering explosion that knocked the craft into a tilt. It banked hard to port, then to starboard and finally back hard on its portside in a turn too sharp to recover from.
The last thing Duncan saw was its sudden descent before the Hog nose-dived onto the edge of the other side of the bridge, throwing them clear of the vehicle. Then everything went black.
:********:
Duncan slowly came to at hearing the low roar of some dying animal. The sound gradually clarified to that of raging flames some ways off.
Realizing that he was lying on his stomach, he groggily lifted his head, a surprisingly weighty act. He looked back to the bridge. Through his hazy vision he saw that it was still on fire but that he was already on the beginning of the grassy plains. He saw the Staff's prone form lying off to his left. But there was no sign of the Hog, or of Mito.
There was something else coming closer, footsteps...too heavy to be human.
His rifle was gone. He took a shaky breath as he reached for the plasma pistol on his thigh bracer.
A heavy boot landed on his back, forcing the air out of his lungs as it pushed down on his spine, pinning him in place.
Gasping, he watched helplessly as a long fingered, reptilian hand reach down and took the pistol from off his BDU. As it lifted away, he followed the hand up to the two glowing eye visors of the owner.
An Ultra stood over him, one boot planted firmly on his back. Someone else' pained grunting drew his eye to the Staff who had a second Ultra also pinning him underfoot. It yanked the shotgun off his back harness and tossed it aside.
Flickering flames in the corner of his vision drew him to the wreck of the Phantom. The downed craft lay on its side 10 meters away with fires spreading across its downed frame. Movement in the open hanger bay caught his attention. He saw a hand grab hold of the edge.
An Elite pulled itself out of the hanger. His vision cleared to help him recognize the armor as belonging to that of the Field Marshall. It landed on the ground holding a purple robed prophet over its shoulder. While he didn't know how their expressions worked, the alien seemed to glower down at the two of them.
Duncan tried to pull himself out from under the Ultra. It merely pressed down harder so that he could barely breath. Then he saw it aim a plasma rifle at the back of his head.
Memories raced through his mind. He remembered being held in his mother's arms. He and her were waving goodbye to his dad for the last time as he walked to the Starport terminal, waving back at them with a duffel bag draped over his shoulder. He saw Erica's longing smile in waving him goodbye as he hopped into Uncle Rick's Warthog to head for his training at Camp Ravenport. There was the picture of him, O'Reilly, Cosmo and Stanton standing together and smiling at the camera during their graduation ceremony aboard Nassau Station. Then there was the first time he saw Noah.
His last thought was of the rest of Epsilon, everyone that wasn't here now. He was surprised really, not at the fact that he was about to die, but at realizing after all he'd both seen and been through in the last 2 years that it was really this easy.
"HEY!"
The Ultra on his back stopped what it was about to do. Like its partner standing on the Staff, it turned towards the bridge.
Mito stood on the very edge.
Sunlight shined off the sharpened metal of the crimson Yamamoto Aka like a drip of water. He bore his katana in a swordsman's stance, holding the blade at eye-level. The tip pointed past the Ultras to the Field Marshall standing before the burning dropship.
"If you want to kill them, you'll have to kill me first!" He jabbed a finger at the Field Marshall as its cohorts aimed at him. "I challenge you to a duel for our honor as warriors! If you win, you can kill these two! If I win, you'll let them go! Come on, unless you're somehow afraid of a human with nothing but a piece of pointy metal."
Duncan was lost for words. As was the Staff who could only stare dumbfounded at the young private.
"Mi-" The Staff tried but was cut off by the Ultra pressing down on him harder. But neither it nor its partner fired on Mito. Instead, they looked back to their leader.
The Field Marshall looked taken aback. Its mandibles shifted in thought. Then, to Duncan' surprise, it slowly and delicately rested the body of the Minister of Iconography onto the grass.
And again, it did something unexpected. Its jaws maneuvered into what Duncan could only surmise to be amusement. He knew these things could understand some human languages. But he wasn't aware to what degree until the alien gradually rested a hand on the handle of the energy sword clipped to its belt.
:********:
Field Marshall Duracomee had never felt this way in his life. Though he searched for it deep within the core of his memories, he could tell that this experience was unique, matchless in its visceral nature.
Three emotions were at war in his soul in a fight for supremacy. There was the dread of the eternal punishment that likely awaited him for his failure. There was the anger that these humans had done so much to uproot his plans to escape with the minister, to damage his legacy as a commander, as a Sangheili and a follower of the path. Then, finally, there was the absolute amazement he felt coursing through his body at the sight of this lone human, this vermin that dared stand before him with sword in hand, demanding in its filthy language for a duel as though they were equals. Yet somehow, seeing it standing before him asking for such a challenge brought all three emotions into balance, forming an uneasy triumvirate that set his attention on the reddened, metal blade.
The weapon being held against him was of an archaic design. However, the sunlight glimmered off its tip in such a brilliant way that it held his gaze.
There was something different about this human. What it was exactly, his mind couldn't discern. But deep within his soul, the answer hit him with the full force of a rebuke directly from the mouth of the Gods.
He'd been running, escaping...fleeing from the battlefield.
What Sangheili warrior worth their salvation would do such a thing, even with a prophet in their possession? What came first, he wondered. His duty to the San'Shyuum or his duty to the sense of honor that his people proudly bore upon their shoulders.
Deep down he felt that the latter was truer as the whispers of the former died away within the eternally shut eyes of the minister lying at his feet. He looked back to the sword.
Humans weren't known to fight with close-range weapons such as these. They certainly couldn't be good with them, not against the Sangheili whose superior proficiency and technology would enable them to cut down such arrogance with just the swipe of an energy sword. Regardless, this human shock trooper felt that it could pull off such a feat. That alone was insulting, and refreshingly so.
Perhaps, in some way, this was the Gods' will in helping him to correct his mistake, to aid him in redeeming himself before them by, at the very least, slaying this human that had come so far to stop his retreat and been so brazen as to challenge him to a duel. It could be a test for only one purpose:
To prove that he was still a warrior.
If this was truly their test to redeem him, which he was starting to believe it truly was, then he would meet it head on and regain what honor there was to be had in the eyes of the divine.
He spoke to the creature roughly in its own language while holding out his energy sword at his side.
"Your challenge, human" He said, the blade flickering to life in his hand, "is accepted."
Huz - Chased