!WARNING!
This story contains content not suited for younger readers, such as Violence, Blood and Gore, Language, and Explicit Sexual Content. This Chapter's Rating will be placed at T-Rated. Future Chapters may, and most likely, will switch back and forth between the T and M ratings.
Regardless, Reader Discretion for this Chapter is advised.
I don't own Halo or Naruto.
Bold-My Own Words
Bold & Italic-Locations, Time & Calendar
Normal-Narrative
"Normal"-Person Speaking
'Normal'-Thoughts
"Italic"-Foreign Language
'Italic'-Radio Chatter
/Italic\-AI/Computer typing
Shinsei Seasons:
Spring: April 25 - August 4
Summer: August 5 - October 11
Fall: October 12 - January 6
Winter: January 7 - April 24
Episode 3
-Christmas in Saigai/Gold Laundering Pt. 1-
(Part 3)
1344 Hours Local Time
December 19, 2543 (UNSC Military Calendar)
Shinsei
Shinsei Provisional Government/UNSC-Occupied Territory of the Sea Islands (Formerly the Sea Confederacy)
Sea Island
Port City of Saigai
UNSC-designated Sector 11; 700 meters from the Saigai Desalination Plant
4th Platoon, Hestati Company, 18th (Hellas) Engineer Battalion, 4th Hellas Guards Brigade (attached battalion)
"Back area is clear! Tear that bitch down!" He spoke into his comms as the two Mk-III Cyclops gripped the sides of the house wall and methodically started tearing it down. The wood and paper materials that made up the house's construction stood no match for the 14-foot tall demolition vehicles as they tore down the 2-story building. The building had seen better days. It had been bombed out and partially burnt as a result of the five days of fighting that occurred inside the city during the Sea Confederacy Campaign. It was just another building that needed to be torn down before they could start reconstruction in this block.
Not that any of it mattered to 2nd Lieutenant Andon Levski, as he watched the building come down bit by bit. For him, this was just another assignment before they were rotated out on the 30th. And good riddance. He was ready to go back home, go see mom and pa back on Timor Island. And maybe get out of this rain for a change as he wiped some of the rain droplets off of his eye-pro.* Apparently, it was hurricane/typhoon season here at these islands, and there had already been a couple of smaller tropical storms that had battered the islands in the months they'd been here. A category 3 hurricane (or typhoon, whatever the hell they wanted to call it.) was being predicted by the meteorologists to form and make landfall sometime in early January, so hopefully, they'd be gone before then.
Saigai had fallen rather quickly in the opening hours of the invasion, its troops having been quickly routed or destroyed by pinpoint UNSC airstrikes and assaults from the 4th Hellas Brigade's 1st and 2nd Battalions, along with a few elements of the 121st Ranger Regiment. The fleet of pirate ships, numbering nearly a hundred that had been stored in the harbor had been quickly destroyed by ruthless missile strikes or a simple gun run from a pair of autocannons that filled them with holes. Not a single ship had been left afloat by the marauding warbirds. Even the civilian ones had been targeted, albeit after they made an attempt to leave the harbor. By the time the engineers had landed, the city had been secured and nearly a couple of hundred combatants out of the estimated two thousand had been captured, the rest either fleeing or dead. (Mostly dead) Save for a couple of skirmishes, all the 18th had to do by the time they deployed was to build up the infrastructure for the Army's new FOB and help clear up the rubble in certain sectors of the city deemed strategic by Command.
Shifting the buttstock of the M392 he had in his hand, he looked back to check on the MPs, who were stationed around the checkpoint to keep the civilians away from the buildings they were tearing down. For the most part, they were doing a good job, keeping the more curious civies from getting too close. Most of the civilians were more than fine staying away from their new 'lords,' as they kept calling. Levski felt weird hearing some of the natives address him like that, but mostly disregarded it. They'd learn that the UNSC didn't need to be addressed like that and would stop eventually. At least nobody was shooting at them or throwing fireballs and shit, now.
If only this damn rain would piss off. Almost as if to spite him and his thoughts, the rain seemed to impact his wet-weather gear* even harder than before.
After about 10 minutes, the remnants of the building were completely torn down, with nothing but rubble left piled out where a building had once been. As the Cyclopses backed off some to give room, an H9 Hauler with an open flat-top rolled up with another H9 behind it. Both vehicles were towing a trailer-mounted autonomous claw crane for use in demolition and debris clearing. The vehicles' ground guides quickly guided the two vehicles as close to beside the rubble as possible, driving over what had once been a massive crater prior to being filled up, before deploying the claw crane to pick up the debris. The whole process would take a couple of hours to clear all the rubble away, but that was fine by Andon. His platoon and parent company would be getting rotated out with Maverick Company back to base at 1700 hours, so by the time they were done, it would almost be time to go back to base for some well deserved R&R. Then, come tomorrow afternoon, the entire Battalion would be put on reserve, awaiting rotation to be sent back to New Tripoli on the 30th.
The claw crane tore into the debris, grasping huge chunks of wood and paper that were quickly placed into the two dump trucks. With pinpoint precision and speed, the pile of rubble was slowly but surely disappearing.
"What do you think, Lieutenant?" Someone called out.
Snapping out of his thought, Andon swung around saying, "What's that, sorry?" when he turned around, he saw a trio of his soldiers huddled around, each having a cigarette in their mouth. They all were covering their cigarettes to keep the rain from accidentally putting them out.
The soldier in the middle, Staff Sergeant Sergios Ganilis, who stood out with the prominent slash scar running across his nose and cheeks, puffed out a smoke cloud before repeating, "I said what do you think, sir? You think they're actually letting us rest, or are they going to send us on another bullshit op?"
"I've spoken with the CO a few times. From what she's been told, we're pretty much done after this. Maybe a trip to the wash rack or maintenance bay to give our vehicles a one-over before we ship back, but aside from that barring an emergency, it's pretty much all we've got left except for waiting to rotate out." Levski answered, nodding in thanks as he took a cigarette offered to him by Ganilis. Tapping the end to ignite it, he placed the cigarette in his mouth and inhaled. As he exhaled a cloud of smoke, he followed up with, "About time, too. I'm ready to leave this place and go back to something more familiar."
"Damn straight, Anthypolochagos. Don't know about the rest of you, but I've had my fill of super-powered assholes for maybe the next 20 to 30 years." Ganilis replied, checking the sights on his M7 as he did, "Makes me almost miss the Covenant. Almost."
"Amen to that. Except for the whole Covie part. Screw that." Specialist Palleli partially agreed as she glanced back to the crowd of native spectators watching the UNSC tear down houses. None of the natives had gotten too terribly close to the UNSC personnel since being liberated from Shao Peng's forces, but they weren't exactly scorning or hateful towards them either. Most of the time, they kept a respectable distance from the UNSC, but simultaneously would speak to them when approached, albeit cautiously until they were finally assured the UNSC wasn't going to harm them. From what Levski had seen, most just seemed to be grateful that their new 'overlords' weren't tyrannical or trying to enslave or loot them of what little they had. (Not that some looting hadn't taken place. It was generally kept quiet by the lower enlisted or noncoms and limited to buildings that were clearly abandoned. Despite the UNSC's best efforts to curtail any attempts, it was nearly impossible not to keep the troopers from doing some kind of looting if they were certain they could get away with it.)
"Sucks we won't get home before Christmas, but at least I'll get to see my kids before their birthday." Corporal Barides remarked, earning nods and words of approval from the group. For many within the platoon and, frankly, the brigade as a whole, most of them had family waiting for them back in New Tripoli. Many of the settlers of the City and the surrounding islands largely originated from Hellas, which meant most of the island chain's population was Greek and Macedonian in origin. (Roughly 75%, although the Island chain was home to a large minority of Sudanese, Japanese, and Colombians as well.) And as it had been with their Greek and Macedonian Ancestors, the people of Hellas were deeply rooted in their community and family ties, having a strong emphasis on unity and looking after one another's families. Thus, many of the Greek/Macedonian communities that are now calling Timur home had more often than not been neighbors or close friends back on Hellas. Levski's own family, his parents, two sisters, and uncle were all back in New Tripoli's 'Little Thessaly District' waiting for him to come back home. Provided nothing happens between now and their leave date, they won't have to wait much longer.
But there were still a couple of things left unsettled, as he looked back on the street. The memories of just two months prior began to resurface...
Flashback
1600 PM
October 17, 2543
Sector 11 Checkpoint, Saigai
The mood amongst the troopers within Saigai was about as gloomy and downtrodden as the weather, to say the least. After a week of relative peace and quiet in what was expected to be a quick and easy campaign, word had gotten out quickly that early this morning the assault on Qushan, one of the last obstacles in securing these islands aside from capturing or killing the pirate lords controlling the islands, had begun. The UNSC forces had been, until this point, rapidly advancing across the island in the wake of abysmal or poorly coordinated resistance by the pirates, even with them being discovered to have UEG firearms. Sure, it was a shock to see that some assclown (an innie, no doubt) had sold them a shitload of civilian and law enforcement firearms, but what good does that do in the wake of gunships and APCs?
"So if nothing happened, why are we, a bunch of gamiménoi michanikoí, pulling security with the rest of the garrison after being put on full alert, sir? I've barely been able to stay dry for the past couple of days, and now I'm drenched because some light bird* put us all on guard duty four hours ago and won't tell anybody why." One of the specialists next to him, Kitevski, continued ranting and whining about them being stuck out in a storm pulling guard duty. They'd been in their barracks a few hours prior, resting from a morning excursion to clear away the rubble and expand the desalination plant's facilities they'd set up days prior.
"Because that's what we were told to do, Kitevski. I don't like it any more than you, but bitching about it won't do us any good. So lock it up!" Levski snapped back, not any happier about being stuck out in the rain. Especially after they'd been up since 0500 this morning and he was hoping to get a small nap in after lunch chow. But no. Of course, barely a few minutes after he laid down, Captain Demidis barged in, telling everyone to 'get their shit on and prepare to deploy cityside.'
And now here they were, guarding an intersection just down the road from the Desalination Plant... four hours later in the middle of a storm hitting the island.
He could faintly hear thunder in the distance as he walked around the intersection their platoon was charged with securing upon the road. Sector 11 was vital as it was not only one of the three main roads within the city connecting to the majority of the major sections within Saigai, but it also connected the desalination plant on the water line to the local Supply Depot 4th Brigade HQ had stationed their headquarters next to. It was the main road running through the center of the port city, which would allow the FOB to rapidly deploy any and all of its forces to any section of the city within 10 minutes. Losing it or having it clogged with debris was not an option, so the UNSC was taking great care to make sure that the roads were secure. The problem? There wasn't enough troops to cover every single stretch of road. The UNSC only had two companies of infantry, a recon platoon with their warthogs and bison, and about half of the 18th Engineer Battalion on hand to maintain the entire city, save for the 4th Hellas' HQ and Logistics company. Barely a thousand troops to garrison a city of roughly 80,000. A battalion of Military Police and the 4th Guard's 1st and 3rd Infantry Battalions were all en route, but they wouldn't arrive for several more hours. Six at least. Not to mention, most of their air and artillery assets had been sent east to support the final pushes towards the capital, Asanobe, so they had little in the way of air support and next to nothing for artillery save for HQ's mortar platoon.
"So any idea what this is about? I've heard some shit happened in Qushan, but nobody can confirm anything." Staff Sergeant Ganillis asked, walking up to the Lieutenant. The only reason he could tell it was the Sergeant in this downpour was that he was the only one in the platoon who'd managed to hold on to his MA37 when Command had ordered the support companies to turn in their assault rifles and saws. Most of the engineers were now carrying either M7 submachine guns or for one soldier in each fireteam, an M90 shotgun. Ganillis had politely, but firmly, told the supply personnel that if they could pry it from his cold dead hands, they were welcomed to old 'Papagos,' as he affectionately called his old MA37. The higher-ups ultimately relented and allowed the senior sergeants and officers to keep their rifles.
"I know as much as you, Sergios." Levski answered, withholding a sigh, "I heard something similar, too, when I was with the Captain and the other officers, but nobody knows what happened. HIGHCOM is keeping it tight-lipped at the moment."
"Which usually means something's gone terribly wrong." the staff sergeant shook his head in frustration, taking a sip from the can of BLAST Energy Drink in his hand. Looking back to the platoon's intersection, he could see a few of the soldiers ushering in the handful of people who hadn't wisely gone home to vacate the streets and stay in their homes until told to come out by the officials. (In other words, them.) But most of the people in these lands were smart enough to stay inside during a storm like this.
Over the roar of the wind and rain, they could hear an engine roaring as an M15 Razorback approached the intersection's security checkpoint. As the vehicle was stopped, a single trooper got out of the passenger side and began walking toward Levski. Just as the lieutenant was about to shout at the soldier and demand identification, he quickly caught himself when his tactical goggles' HUF IDed the man as Captain Alex Demidis, their company commander. If it hadn't been for the downpouring rain, the Captain's salt and pepper-colored goatee would have been impossible to have missed. Levski didn't salute Captain Demidis, not out in the field. Even if the circumstances were different, no one wanted to be responsible for an officer getting greased.
Instead, he simply said, "Captain Demidis, sir!"
"Andon. Sergios." The Captain greeted back, nodding, "I wish I was coming here with better news, but it's pretty bad."
"Any news on what's happening? Does it have something to do with all the rumors we're hearing about Qushan, sir?" Sergios quickly asked, and just as Levski was about to chastise him for asking a company commander about rumors and hearsay, the young lieutenant was surprised to see the Captain nod in confirmation.
"The boys in Qushan got their shit rocked, to put it lightly." Demidis answered, snorting slightly as he continued, "These pirate fucks somehow amassed a shitload of troops and counterattacked our forces as they pushed into the city. Not only that, but all of their shinobi, the ones who've been strangely missing this whole time even though we know they have them? Well, they finally made an appearance. In force, too."
"Shit..." Levski muttered, dreading what he was about to ask next, "How bad is it?"
"They hit the troopers with thousands of pirates armed with small arms and at least a couple hundred ninjas. Casualties have been heavy. And now, it looks like we're going to get our own little Qushan, too." The Captain explained. Even with the downpour, the silence between the three could have been deafening. Levski had so many questions. How had a bunch of country bumpkins and pirates armed with nothing but small arms and ninjas managed to rout a mechanized task force of UNSC Army troopers? What the hell were these ninjas capable of?
"Recon teams, both on the ground and air have identified a large force of pirates moving towards Saigai. We don't know what their total strength is or what they're bringing along, but we suspect they may have a few ninjas in their ranks, too. And they'll be hitting the city within the next thirty minutes."
"Iisoús Christós." Levski swore in his mother tongue, "How many?"
"It looks to be at least 500 pirates, according to recon. There could be more on the way or hidden in the city, but again, we're not sure." Demidis answered, "As for the ninjas? If they have any, it can't be more than a squad or so. From the reports, it sounds like they concentrated most of their ninjas against us in Qushan. At either rate, it doesn't make a difference. We've been given orders to secure both the desalination plant and the road leading to it all the way up to Sector-11 here. Your platoon is in charge of this checkpoint here."
"Wait, they want us to defend the plant against hundreds of attackers? Us? Are they nuts?" Ganilis asked incredulously, earning a glare from the old captain. "Is there a problem, Staff Sergeant? You don't think we can't handle a few hundred pirates?"
"Sir, with respect, we're engineers. Noncombatant ones, at that. If we're having to do fighting, then something has gone horribly wrong. We should be some of the last people having to fight." The staff sergeant protested.
"Well I hate to tell you this, Sergios, but something has gone horribly wrong. This city is about to be attacked by a marauding band of murderers and slavers who want to rape and pillage their way through this city. We're the only thing standing in their way and we don't have enough troops on hand to repel. So everyone is getting called up to fight." Captain Demidis jabbed a finger into Ganilis' chest plate, "Including us. So we will hold these checkpoints and the plant, as is expected of us, until we are relieved by reinforcements. Am I understood?"
A chorus of 'yes sir,' some albeit reluctant, rang out from the troopers, which earned a wordless nod from the Captain as he quickly followed up, "I know it's not what we signed up for, but this is the hand we've been dealt. So we need to make do and do the best we can with what we have. Hell, I'll be running back and forth helping wherever I can. Reinforcements are on the way, I promise they are. But we'll have to hold the line until they get here. I know you boys and girls won't let me down." with that, he hurried back to the Razorback to go warn all the other platoons of what was to come. If they were lucky, the pirates might get cold-feet about the attack and back off.
Present Day
Levski had been such a fool to think that things would simply have gone their way that day, that the pirates would just say 'fuck it' and leave. He watched as the vehicle-mounted claw cranes tore into the debris, almost in a trance at how chaotic the pieces came crashing down into the bed of the truck. Chunks at a time were grasped and placed in the dump trucks. The crashing of rubble into the truck caused him to wince, reminding him of the explosions and sounds of buildings collapsing. The sounds resonated throughout his mind like a grenade going off.
And the rain, the neverending pelting rain, started to sound more and more like gunfire.
1619 PM
October 17, 2543
Sector 11 Checkpoint, Saigai
"STAY DOWN! JUST STAY DOWN, ROSSALLI!" The Lieutenant could hear Staff Sergeant Ganilis shout at a private, Rossalli, who'd been hit and was now slumped behind the platoon's lone Chaingun-mounting Warthog as the pirates poured fire onto their location. Bullets could be heard smacking into sandbags and titanium or tearing through the cheap wood and paper used for housing in the city as hundreds of bullets were exchanged. The Pirates were attacking them from two different roads and set up several machine guns in buildings about 100 meters from the checkpoint, catching many of the engineers in a crossfire as the Engineers returned fire with every weapon at their disposal. They didn't have much, just their personal weapons, mostly submachine guns, and the lone chaingun on one of their four Warthogs. And now that Chaingun wasn't firing. Against them, the pirates seemed to have all kinds of rifle caliber civilian weapons and even some old machine guns. In both firepower and numbers, the engineers were getting overwhelmed.
"We need somebody to get back on that gun!" Levski called out, popping up to fire a trio of rounds from his DMR. He wasn't entirely sure, but it looked like he might have hit someone. No time to dwell on it, as Ganilis quickly called back, "Anybody who tries to mount that gun will get pumped full of holes! We need to lessen their fire!"
"Androu! Move your squad forward through that building and put suppressing fire on that machine gun!" Levski ordered Sergeant Androu, who complied and led her 8-man squad through a building on the left to conduct a flanking maneuver. The rest of the engineers did their best to lay down suppressive fire on the pirates as the squad made their move. Some of the pirates must have thought they were retreating, as a couple of dozen charged forward suddenly to try and rush the engineers' positions. The results were as expected, with all of the charging pirates being put down with ruthless efficiency. This provided a two-fold benefit for the engineers as now they had fewer guns shooting at them, and in turn more room to maneuver. There couldn't have been more than a hundred attacking them, but that was still 100 versus 36. And from multiple directions.
Not favorable odds for any defender.
'Lieutenant, this is Second Squad.' Sergeant Androu spoke over comms, 'We're conducting our maneuver. Got good Lima-Oscar-Sierra on the machine gun. Over.'
"Solid Cop-" Levski started to say but quickly hunkered down lower beneath his sandbag cover as a barrage of rounds smacked into it, "Solid copy, Second Squad. The quicker you take out that position, the better ours will be. Out." He quickly peaked back up and fired off another three rounds from his DMR, before quickly ducking down to change mags. At the same time, he tried raising command once again. The local BATTLENET was in pure chaos, with multiple squads and platoons reporting they were under attack across the city. HQ was attempting to provide support with the handful of mortars it had, but they had also been given explicit ROE stating they could not use the mortars within the city. That meant no mortar support for Hestati Company.
"Hestati-Actual, this is Hestati-4! We are under heavy fire at Sector-11! Requesting immediate support! How copy, over?!"
'Hestati-3, Hestati-Actual. Negative on support. We're under heavy pressure at all sites. No assistance is available at this time. Continue to hold out as best you can, out.'
"Theé diáolo!" Levski swore in his native tongue. He looked over to where the lone chaingun warthog was, with Rossalli still taking cover behind the hog and trying to dress up her thigh. Almost the whole pant leg was stained red with blood, and if she didn't get medical attention soon, she was going to be in serious trouble.
"Sergios! Take your fireteam and get ready to retrieve Rossalli. We'll provide cover fire."
"What about the Hog?" Ganilis asked. Levski took a look at the vehicle. The whole front of the vehicle was riddled with bullet holes, the windshield glass shattered from hundreds of rounds fired into it. Three of the tires had been deflated. The warthog was a wreck. The Chaingun had taken some hits but looked as if it was still operational. However, with the amount of fire being thrown at them from what he assumed were at least six or seven different machine guns, anyone else who tried to mount that gun would just suffer the same fate as Rossalli did. It was a wonder none of his troopers had been killed, yet. That or the pirates just really sucked at aiming their new toys. But the chaingun... It was a difficult call to make, but...
He shook his head at the staff sergeant, "Don't bother mounting the gun! We'll just have another casualty to deal with. Now go! Go, we'll cover you!" Levski quickly popped up and, along with some of his troopers, laid down suppressive fire on the pirate positions. For troopers wielding mostly nothing but submachine guns, it was an impressive display of firepower as dozens of M7s spewed hundreds of rounds of hate at their attackers. Most of the attackers quickly ducked in cover, though a few were struck by an occasional lucky bullet. Levski swore under his breath at the supply teams forcing them to turn over their MA37s. While the M7 wasn't a bad weapon, in fact, it was made exactly for these kinds of close-quarter urban warfare. The problem was that the pirates were just out of range to be effectively hit and engaged with the M7's small caliber. This meant many of the shots were missing. Nevertheless, as the old saying goes, 'throw enough shit at a wall and something's bound to stick' applies here as well, as every now and then Levski could hear the scream of some pirate cocksucker getting hit by a bullet. The pirates' fire output seemed to drop significantly, most of the pirates still not used to having so many lethal projectiles being thrown at them, as Ganilis and his two subordinates quickly rushed over to grab Rossalli. They quickly secured the injured private and dragged her away from the immobile warthog, not even giving the still functioning chaingun a second thought as they moved away from it.
'Lieutenant, this is Second Squad. We're in position. Going loud.' Sergeant Androu suddenly spoke up over comms, followed quickly by the sound of eight submachine guns suddenly firing into the flank of the pirates' position. They were rewarded with the sound of several pirates screaming out as they were attacked unexpectedly in their flank. Several of his men started cheering at the sound of the pirates finally getting some hate sent their way.
And just as he was about to issue new orders to redirect some of the troopers' positions, he saw a bright flash of light in the corner of his eye, then heard a massive explosion in the distance. Several people then frantically started shouting over comms, but the message was more or less the same:
'THEY HIT THE DEPOT! IT'S GONE!'
Present Day
"Lieutenant?" Levski was snapped out of his thoughts by Private Rossalli. The young freckled redhead was giving him a look of concern at him spacing out. She was lucky that her injury had been a clean shot and not hit a major artery. She managed to make a full recovery and was back with them within a month, though she still limped from time to time when she'd put too much weight on the leg. Nevertheless, the young woman was as tough as a tank, as he'd never heard her complain once about her injury. If anything, she seemed to wield it as a badge of honor.
"Sorry, Rossalli. What did you say?" The lieutenant was quick to respond, but the young private simply shook her head as she looked up at him, "Thinking about the battle, sir?"
Initially planning to deny it, Levski relented and simply nodded with a sigh, "It's crazy how badly that went for us, yet incredible how lucky we were at the same time." Rossalli chuckled humorously, "Yeah, those are five days I don't care to relive anytime soon." Both of them turned to see the cranes now picking up a single chunk of debris from the destroyed street, this one a pure piece of warped metal.
The only thing helping identify it was the olive green color scheme and the lone badly damaged tire typically used by a warthog.
1702 PM
October 17, 2543
Sector 11 Checkpoint, Saigai
The shockwave struck him just a half-second before the thunderous roar of the C12 charge going off could be heard, throwing him forward slightly as Levski's platoon pulled back from the now-decimated checkpoint. Levski could see a couple of the buildings collapsing into a smoldering crater, along with the remains of three of their warthogs. Levski had the sole surviving/functioning hog, an 831, loaded up with the injured and driven straight to the desalination plant while the remaining 28 members of the platoon conducted a tactical withdrawal to Sector 12's checkpoint, the last stop before reaching the plant itself.
The lieutenant swore slightly at how many pirates were still pursuing them as he heard rounds zip past him. He was hoping the blast would kill a good number of them or slow them down. It had achieved the latter, giving them about a 2-minute head start before the pirates went after them, but it seems like their improvised boobytrap only killed maybe a dozen or so of their attackers. It was still a dozen less than before, but that still left dozens of pirates coming after them. Worse still, aerial recon confirmed that hundreds more pirates were emerging from either the countryside or from within the city itself to join in the attack. Add that to the confirmations that the supply depot had been destroyed and there were ninjas within the AO, things were getting progressively worse by the minute.
"Keep moving! Go! Go!" Levski shouted to his troops as he turned around and fired his DMR at a trio of pirates surging after them, quickly putting down all three and then quickly moving back. Despite not being infantry, the engineers still maintained a disciplined retreat worthy of any infantry unit. Retreat, then stop to turn around and provide cover fire for their comrades, then go right back to retreating. Any infantry commander seeing them right now would have been proud, but Lieutenant Levski was more interested in surviving at the moment as he heard another bullet smack the wooden wall next to him, missing his head just by inches.
'Hestati-Actual to all Hestati-elements! Be advised, we are ordering a general retreat! Abandon the checkpoints! I say again, all Hestati-elements are to fall back to the plant and form a defensive perimeter! Hestati-Actual, out.'
"Gee thanks for telling us now, kólos!" Levski snarled aloud to no one in particular. There was nothing more that they could do except fall back and hold out at the desalination plant. It was the only position left that offered any fortifications. Earlier in the occupation, the engineers placed a solid defensive perimeter of sandbags, barbed wire, watchtowers, and reinforced checkpoints to make sure no one fucked with the plant. Their best bet at surviving would be to fall back there and wait for the big guns to appear.
Provided they could get there, first.
As they rounded the corner of a street, they could see Sector 12's checkpoint further up the block. 3rd Platoon's security checkpoint. Finally, they'd make it to some friendly faces and make their way back to the plant where they could hold out.
He was still having this thought when the checkpoint suddenly came alive with the sound of two machine guns firing. The lieutenant barely had time to lunge to the side and slam himself into a building wall for cover as the street was suddenly filled with bullets. Helpless to do anything, Levski saw three of his soldiers be struck down by the barrage of bullets and collapse into the street. The rest of the platoon dove for cover on either side of the road within the various houses. The fire from the checkpoint picked up even further as the platoon scrambled for cover.
At first, Levski started shouting into his comms for 3rd Platoon to cease fire but realized that these weren't the telltale weapons used by a UNSC engineer platoon. Still, the very civilian model weapons the pirates were using. Peaking out, his heart sank as he saw not UNSC troopers but pirates manning the checkpoint. 3rd Platoon was absent from the checkpoint. He didn't know whether they were dead or simply abandoned the point, he didn't know, as they'd reported being under attack earlier. He knew that several dozen pirates had beaten them to the checkpoint, and his entire platoon was effectively cut off.
Levski tried to peak out to fire off a few rounds but had to slip back into cover as bullets started coming in from behind. Their original attackers had started catching up with them, catching the engineers in a dangerous crossfire. He heard another of his troopers get hit as the unit did its best to return fire from either direction. But there was simply too much lead being thrown around above them to do much of anything. Their wooden cover was all being slowly destroyed by all the gunfire. Eventually, these bullets would penetrate the wood and start hitting something less resilient.
They had to get out of there before they were genuinely surrounded, and, taking one look at the street, there was only one way Levski and his platoon were going to do that. Split up and run.
"Ganilis! Take the platoon on your side and head west! Lose them in the houses, then make your way to the Plant!" Levski ordered through comms, looking around him in the alley he was taking cover in to count how many troopers were with him. Five, excluding himself. Everyone else was on the other side of the road with Staff Sergeant Galinis, "We'll find our own way to the plant."
"We are not leaving you here, Andon!" Galinis immediately protested, but Levski cut him off.
"Yes, you are! We need to split up and lose them. Otherwise, they'll overrun us with bodies. Now move, Staff Sergeant!" Levski bellowed out as he rallied the troops around him to follow. He started bolting through the alley onto the adjacent street. The soldiers quickly moved through the alley, with a couple cowering civilians screaming as they ran by onto the next road. Levski was elated to see that the pirates weren't everywhere in the city, with no pirates insight on this street. But that wouldn't last long.
"Keep moving! Go! They'll be on us any moment." Levski ordered as the small group of now isolated engineers continued running, cutting through one set of buildings as they entered street after street to escape their pursuers. It seemed like a neverending maze of buildings and streets that were continually run through. Hours seemed to go by, with no end in sight.
And all the while, they could hear the city erupt into battle around them.
Present Day
Levski looked on as the wrecked warthog was loaded onto the dump truck, the soldiers that had been near the rubble taking several steps back in case any debris falls off the wreckage. A resounding crash could be heard throughout the block when the crane released the destroyed hog, causing more than a few of the more weary civilians to stop what they were doing and look before going back to their everyday tasks.
Andon continued reminiscing about the 5 days of hell they endured when the pirates launched their bold but ultimately doomed counterattack. Much of the city was devastated by the fighting, yet it had still been nowhere near as bad as Qushan incredibly. (According to participants of that battle.) Yet despite all the damage, it had been a blessing as now it allowed the UNSC to rebuild parts of the city, but to their standards and specifications. Much of the Sea Confederacy's population would be relocated to either new regions or whole new planets altogether where the former UNSC soldiers were stationed, which meant that there would be a lot more real estate available for them to use. But such plans would take time, so for now, the higher-ups were focusing on rebuilding the cities and establishing mining operations to start harvesting the region's rich metal deposits. In a few years, this region would become one of the new centers of industrial might for the UNSC forces on the planet, providing them with all kinds of vehicles, equipment, and munitions to help fuel the war industry (and the civilian). But after everything that's happened, was it really worth it? They'd lost thousands of soldiers for a bunch of islands that would take years to fully exploit and profit from. And what will the soldiers get from all this? A speech about how they all did a great job, and maybe a pat on the back for a job well done. Then? Nothing. Just back to them being sent on some other bullshit assignment that might get them all killed. And what about the immediate future for their colony on this world? The local economy wasn't entirely stable as much of the colonial infrastructure was still being built up and established. Most if not all of the families of the 4th Brigade, especially the 18th Battalion, were living on Shinsei, either in New Tripoli or over on the other side of the planet in the New Pella Region. And with the economy as it is, things were not looking very promising for their families' futures. The constant threat of attack wasn't good for the confidence of an economy, nor was the risk of shipments being hijacked or delayed because of Innie bullshit. If this was how their future was going to be, an endless series of skirmishes and battles with super-powered humans while worrying about whether or not the Innies were going to turn on them, then they needed to do something to make sure that even if they were killed, their families would be well off and financially stable.
And then, a discovery was made in the city. One that only they, the platoon, knew about for the moment...
It won't be easy. It would take a lot of planning and work, not to mention a bit of luck and probably some help. But, with luck, they wouldn't leave this city or the region empty-handed, and they could go home with their own family's immediate future secured.
His troopers deserved that much, at least, as the young lieutenant rolled the native gold coin in his hand while he observed it.
*Eye-pro is a nickname for eye protection, in the military typically referring to shooting glasses or ballistic goggles that are typically worn by troopers.
*Wet Weather Gear is what the military typically calls its rain clothing. Wet Weather Gear is also typically used as light cold-weather and wind-resistant gear, due to its ability to trap body heat and protect it from harsh winds.
*Light Bird is a nickname for a Lieutenant Colonel.
And that's it for the first part of this little side story. Planning on this being either a two or three-part mini-story. Really looking forward to exploring stories like this and more in the future. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know how it was in the reviews and I'll see you next time!
-Azores