Hrangel Mountain Range, Harkovo Province, Tridian Vale
21:13
The UNSC arsenal had evolved to fight against the covenant, everything that could be done to make armor and weapons tougher and deadlier had been done, so when those weapons were used on lightly armored insurrectionists, it made quite the impact. Literally. Cassian fired off a quick succession of shots from his M6G at a group of insurrectionists. Their heads popping like balloons, the M6 sidearm for Spartans replaced the typical FMJ-AP ammo with High Explosive rounds, useful against unshielded covenant, devastating against humans. Next to him, Dreadwolf left off a burst from her MA37 assault rifle, dropping another insurrectionist that had rounded the corner. It seemed that they'd been caught entirely off guard, which as Dreadwolf had mentioned, was unusual regarding the circumstances but he chalked it up to over-confidence, but at the same time, made their job much easier. Not only were most of their targets in a state of shock and easily put down but killing Hasagawa had left them without their main leader, for a group of ragtag rebels, they had lost basically any sort of command structure. They met minimal resistance on their way to the main gate, any that tried to come between then met a brief and painless end.
Dreadwolf kneeled by the door, "Alright this is the main gate, seems like the powers been cut, probably because of the alarm. We'll be using the rest of the cytrex, but it should blow the door open." Cassian nodded in response and took a knee behind her, keeping an eye out for hostiles and for any insurrectionists that get a stray shot off. His shields would last, but one unlucky angle and it could down the ODST. It was quiet, after they'd reached the door there hadn't been any sign of hostiles or even a blip on his radar.
"It seems someone took command, they're either waiting on the defensive or are planning to rush at once. I wager the latter, for now you're separated from the rest of the squad and you're backed into a corner. I'd prepare for an assault."
Cassian silently agreed and mulled over his plans. "You still have those AP mines?"
Dreadwolf didn't turn to face him, "The antilions? Yeah, they're in pack next to me, only got about four or so left, us them wisely."
He set to work setting up a perimeter, the actions coming back to him naturally, his time acting against insurrectionists and militias made it like second nature. You couldn't act like you would against the covenant, while obviously the species are different, there's key aspects that separate the two in tactics. The Covenant are stronger yes, they're technology is superior and so when going up against the covenant all you need to focus on is killing them and wearing down their shields and armor, but humans…they're a different prey all together. Our armor is weaker, and only Spartans so-far have shields, so when placing the antlion mines, you don't have to aim to kill, only to wound because you don't have to break through advanced shields or armor. So, one can place the mines further apart, maximizing casualties. Covenant also don't care about their dead, the Sangheili are honor bound warriors. Sure they care for their comrades and don't want them to die, but its seen as a disgrace if a wounded soldier is cared for medically on the battlefield, they either survive the wound and were strong enough to live, or they weren't and died heroically on the field of battle, but humans, they're sentimental creatures. Your friend goes down next to you and you're no longer focusing on taking the enemy, but trying to get him out of fire, admirable but for this instance ultimately foolish.
However, there's one major aspect that's in favor of the humans, our tactics and strategies. Humanity loves a good underdog story, you rarely hear the stories of when a powerful army crush a weaker one, but you'll never forget the stories of the armies that came from nothing and won. Sure, humans have some honor, but not like the Sangheili, we'll play dirty to win and we'll do it over and over again. Adversity breeds change, it breeds progress, it breeds desperation, the Covenant have never had to face this before, they've never had to struggle to beat someone tougher than them, if they have, they've forgotten it. Their tactics haven't changed over the course of the war, they're simple and predictable, they only win because of their overwhelming firepower, but let's not kid ourselves here, it doesn't change anything. Still, its why the Covenant try to avoid ground wars, they might actually lose, and they have before, all because we think outside the box, we've adapted and changed. This rambling has all been to lead back to why the insurrectionists while weak, should never be thought of as less anything but a dangerous opponent, they're human, and they'll adapt.
Cassian had been so accustomed to fighting the covenant, that while the motions of planning for a human attack had become second nature, his thoughts on how the enemy would advance were still stuck on the covenant. Its why, despite everything, he was over-confident in his own reserved and detached self, its why when a blast hit the side of his head and rocked him, he was dazed at what had happened. When an enemy is weaker than you, when you're overconfident in your abilities, when the enemy is fighting for their land and their home, you'll win eventually through sheer force of power, but the enemy make you pay for that victory in blood.
Cassian stared up at a clear blue sky, his thoughts a blur, his suits internal alarms blaring at the loss of shields. He snapped out of it almost immediately and took cover behind the nearest wall, Dreadwolf following suit.
"God damn, that sniper came out of nowhere. I'm just about done with he explosives, but you have to get him off my back and in the ground."
Cassian nodded and he heard another distinct sound of his shields regenerating, "Kara did you see where he came from?"
"You're an absolute fool for almost dying in such a ridiculous manner, but I did. Far right builder, second floor, the third window from the right. He'll have your position zeroed; you can stick your head out again, but I wouldn't recommend that unless you feel like getting a concussion."
Her point was fair enough, Cassian knew as well as anyone else that shields and armor only protected from penetration, blunt trauma carried through and it was more than possible for a concussive force to knock him out. It didn't change the fact that there weren't many options, he could take the blow but that'd disrupt his aim and allow the sniper another shot…unless.
"How good your aim?" He turned to face Dreadwolf, she gave him a wobble with her hand and replied that she'd passed marksmen training but not with flying colors. "Well it'll have to do, the sniper is in the far right builder, second floor, the third window from the right, about 132 meters. I can't take the shot because he'll have our positioned zeroed. But if you take the shot from behind me, he'll either take the shot on me or refocus on you, either way it'll give you enough time to fire a shot."
"Alright with me." She shrugged and Cassian handed her his SRS, she shrugged and weighed it in her hands before adjusting the aim. "Gotta ask though, you got a death wish? I don't care much for you walking refrigerators any more than anyone else, but it'd be a pretty pathetic way for a UNSC to die."
"Don't worry about it, I'll live. Alright on three we'll take the shot." They inched towards the corner of the wall and crouched low. Cassian held up his hand and begun putting up finger after finger, one three they both stepped out crouch low. Cassian in front with Dreadwolf crouching behind him, the sniper rifle barrel passing over his left shoulder. The enemy fired first, but it seemed he was confused at the sight, the bullet went high and to the left, skimming off Cassian's right shoulder pad. Dreadwolf didn't hesitate, she fired and seemed to have been successful when there wasn't a retaliation shot.
"I don't think it was a clean kill, but I definitely got the side of his neck. If he's still alive he'll bewishing he wasn't." Dreadwolf said and handed the SRS back to Cassian, she jogged back to the door and finished up while Cassian kept watch. He had agreed with Kara that they'd probably come in force, but it seemed like that wasn't happening, it'd been far too long to see no movement. While earlier he'd mentioned human strategy and tactics, it was a double sided coin, for all the intelligence and strategy of man, there was also an unending sea of stupid and reckless action, this could very well be an example of that. Dreadwolf walked up behind him, knocking on his armored shoulder.
"Explosives are rigged to blow, I've told the Staff Sergeant, they'll be ready when the doors go." Not long after Dreadwolf pressed the detonator, it wasn't a glorious explosion like one might see in a movie, it was dirty, loud, and just barely did the job, she wasn't lying when she said that we didn't have much. Through the smoke came the squad of ODSTs lead by the SSGT, they'd came through expecting a fight but instead came into to see an empty courtyard and no bodies.
"Where the fucks the action?" One from the squad called out from the back.
"Well he's crass but he ain't wrong. I was expecting more fightin when we got through, but this seems… ah…rather empty." Cassian replied with a shrug. "Well they might yet be holed up, we'll go as group, Lieutenant you take point, Queen watch our backs."
Progress slow through the facility, they'd had to check every room and corridor they passed as they made it into the heart where Hasagawa died. A lack of enemies aside from the sniper put everyone one edge, the whole place could be bobby trapped and they wouldn't know it, or they could get surrounded and despite advances in fighting the covenant, the ODST armor wouldn't stand up to a barrage of bullets from all directions.
"I know its obvious, but I don't like this."
"Neither do I, if its not a trap, then they already left." He whispered to Kara, he was a few meters ahead from the main squad, but it looked like this would be an example in favor of human tactics. They'd realized that they couldn't stand to a special forces squad and bugged out, but there's no telling if they left traps to try to take any of us down as we explored. He voiced this to the SSGT as they reached the room that was having the meeting when Cassian had so rudely interrupted. Hasagawa's body was still there, unceremoniously slumped in his chair, over half of his face gone and the rest painting the window and wall. While there were still smaller buildings that hadn't been checked yet, it was clear that the insurrectionists had left, thinking on it the sniper had probably been used to buy time, however short that would be.
"Alright, every split off into pairs and search this entire god damned facility. If I find that you skipped a single inch I swear to the mother o Jesus of fucking Christ that you will scrub the entire inch of the frigate with a toothbrush made from your own fucking hair. Am I clear?" A resounding 'yessir' before all paired off save for the SSGT and Cassian, he turned back once more to his leaving squad, "And I hope this won't come as a shock to anyone because I hope your all halfway competent, but check for fuckin' traps, I don't want none of y'all idiots dying because you couldn't be bothered to look down." Cassian had already started searching the corpse of Hasagwa for any vital information while Kara was in the mainframe, searching for any relevant info. Hasagwa had been taken care of and hopefully they'd relevant information, which technically is what their mission objectives were, but its slightly dampened when those success are immediately followed by, 'And most of the insurrectionists got away', leaderless or not they're still a threat.
The Staff Sergeant turned to face him, "Well fuck, command ain't gonna be happy about this."