Chapter 3 - Communication Breakdown
Jungle mist poured into the soldier compartment as the Pelican dropped in low for its final approach. The total trip had taken nearly 12 hours, and both the Marines and Crusaders were ready for some action. As the ship continued to drop towards the thick canopy below, the soldiers could hear the landing stabilizers roaring while the Pelicans dropped into a small opening in the trees and bush. They were still hovering a good 15 feet above the ground when the pilot keyed up the intercom.
"Okay everybody, this flight's been fun, but it's over. Get out, on the double. After you complete the mission, signal us via the comm. device inside the compound. From there, HQ will take control of the center by remote, and any of you who survive will be lifted out of here."
The Marines began piling out into the thick brush below them, shouting enthusiastically. The Crusaders were the last to jump out of the ships, the Chief going first. The five landed in some matted grass and watched as the Pelicans quickly flew away into the midnight sky. The Chief took no time in looking over his men, the scenery, and other important details. As he did so, a soldier he supposed to be the Marine commander came forward.
"Hello Master Chief, good to see you and the rest of your group. My name is Sergeant Brian Lantec. I don't know what the lieutenant told you, but you are to direct us as you please, however, we still reserve the right to act on our own. Our well being is of no concern to you. We're just here as backup." The Sarge cracked a weak smile. "With that over, I sure as hell hope you have a plan, cause' I'm running a blank."
The Chief gave him a curt nod and addressed the entire group around him. "Our first move will be to put some distance between us and this drop-zone. There's no doubt the Covenant picked up our Pelicans on approach and already have sent out an assault team to deal with us. Once we get far enough away from here, I plan to move quickly back towards and around the base's defense perimeter. According to the map I've received, there is a slight rise in the land about 400m north of the comm. center. This will be our first objective. From there, we'll have a good firing line down into the clearing around the base. Anyway, we need to go right now, move out!" Both his team and the Marines gave a quick "yes sir!" and headed out into the brush.
*********
Tiro Tymonee' stood at the large observation window of the human communication center. He watched thoughtfully as his gleaming purple Wraiths circled the installation in the night. A formation of Ghosts slid past on a patrol round. A large group of Hunters, visible only due to the intense perimeter lighting of the facility, stood further out into the clearing. His sensitive hearing picked up the whine of a squad of Banshees soaring over the building. He somewhat smiled to himself as he watched his perfectly orchestrated defenses flow smoothly. However, his thoughts were interrupted as a lower ranking elite came up behind him.
"What news is so important that you must barge in here and interrupt my time of solitude?" Tiro asked gruffly. The lower elite cringed at the aggravation in his superior's voice. He knew this was one person he did not want to make angry. Tiro was not only a gold armor-clad elite and decorated Field Master, but one of the prophet's very best, which was why he was able to overtake this well guarded installation so easily.
After a few moments, the subordinate managed to make eye contact. "Your Excellency, the human radar detection gear in this installation has picked up what appears to be four human class-B drop ships. Last readings show them putting down momentarily in a spot 5 units due South of here. I've only come here for your orders sir."
Tiro immediately took the possible insertion of human troops as an insult to him and his warriors. "Send out a standard search and destroy team, on the double!" He gave a cocky smile. "These humans shall pay for such a foolhardy act."
**********
After nearly two full hours of walking, the Marines and Crusaders neared their objective. The situation appeared better than the Chief had hoped for. The hostile search team had failed to find them, giving them more time and a greater chance at an ambush. The rise which he had selected had a near perfect view into the valley below, but retained the natural airborne cover provided by the dense forest. Slowly and carefully, the Chief surveyed the land for a brief moment before giving his orders. He turned around to address the platoon of soldiers before him.
"Ok everyone, listen up. The lieutenant said this is a non-stealth attack. However, rather than heading in with our guns blazing and heads up our asses, I've opted to begin the assault ambush style. Let's get in position quickly and quietly, on the double!"
"Wolf," he said, looking at his teammate, "you and the other rocket jockeys get up to the very edge of that rise. Get a good vantage point that allows a clear range of fire, but don't reveal yourself to any airborne units. You are to pick out and track the targets presenting the most threat, mainly Hunters and any mechanical units. I want all Wraiths taken out immediately. With the tightness of our current formation, a single volley could take us all out. Finally, hold your fire until I give the command."
"Got it boss!" Wolf gave a quick nod and led a group of marines to the top of the rise.
"Church, you and your sniper buddies over there get up and in between the launchers. When the order is given, concentrate your fire on infantry units only. Again, no one is to fire until a command is given."
"Understood Chief, we'll be ready to go ASAP," the Crusader responded. He and a group of 10 snipers headed out to take their positions.
"Fox, Rage. You will accompany the remaining marines in the charge at the base. For now, you are to guard our six just in case these Covenant are smarter than I expected." The two Crusaders and Marines nodded and began to fall out and take positions at the base of the rise.
"As for Lantec, the special ops. troops, and myself; we're all on Banshee duty. From what I can make out, there are a total of 10 Banshees in the air above this facility. You all concentrate on your own targets while we take out those flyers, ok?" All the Marines gave their acknowledgements as they switched over to the main combat frequencies.
As the Marines made their final preparations, the Chief walked over to the Sergeant and took one of the long-barreled devices from the pack he'd been carrying. "So," the Crusader said, not particularly fond of the weapon, "this is the tech department's newest gizmo?"
"That's right sir." The officer responded. "We like to call it the bug-zapper. It's specifically designed to take down airborne targets, Banshees. It uses a large compressed air cylinder to fire a small munitions tipped with a tiny electrode at high velocity, delivering a super powerful EMP blast on impact. This device can instantly cripple a Banshee, or even a Ghost, given a hit to a gap in the armor plating. Anyway, it's a lot better than a rocket or gunfire."
Now impressed, the Chief shouldered the weapon and quickly familiarized himself with it. "Ten Banshees, 12 gunners... I like these odds," he thought, smiling to himself. Activating the device's auto locking system, he scanned through the treetops to find a target. He located a quick moving banshee heading a bit left of their current position. The weapon's computer projected the probable flight path of the vehicle, as well as displayed an estimated aim point. Checking a final time to make sure the other members of the bug-zapper team were ready, he keyed up the comm. system. "BANSHEE TEAM, OPEN FIRE!"
There was a suppressed 'THUMP' as twelve compressed air weapons fired in unison. A few seconds later, ten Banshees could be seen plummeting down from the navy sky at incredible speed. The Marines watched as, one at a time, the aircraft rammed into the ground and exploded in a ball of blue and orange flame. All the patrols, mechanical units, everything; came to a grinding halt. The enemy was in disarray as explosions rocked the clearing. One Banshee dropped directly on top of a Wraith tank, causing both vehicles to explode. Hostile units were scrambling to avoid pieces of flaming debris, and chaos reigned supreme. The Chief simply smiled and gave out his next order. "AMBUSH TEAM, BEGIN FIRING!"
Nothing could be heard in the instant the Marines and Crusaders fired. Sixteen Jackhammer rocket tubes fired in unison. A few seconds later, a wave of explosions shook the area as the rockets from the first volley made contact with their targets. Glad to see the four Wraiths left, along with some Ghosts explode in flames, the Chief ordered the next volley. Eleven S2AM snipers began a constant barrage of fire. Multiple infantry units fell instantly as the hyper velocity slugs made contact. In this round, all the remaining Ghosts were pulverized by two or more rockets. Ground units continued to fall as sheet after sheet of sniper rounds tore through them.
Suddenly, through the smoke of the explosions and the dirt thrown up by them, the Chief noticed a lone hunter sliding out to the right, fuel rod cannon charged. Nobody was firing on it, and it was ready to launch a blast from its weapon. Before the Chief could give out an order, the Hunter fired. One Marine, lucky enough to take his eye from his scope in time, screamed, "INCOMING!" Soldiers scrambled as they tired to move out of the way of the arcing projectile's path. Two seemingly beams of light instantly light up the sky. One of the beams hit the green projectile head on, destroying it. The other flew with amazing speed towards the Hunter. Before the large creature could react, it was blown to the ground, minus a good portion of its torso.
The Marines, puzzled, took some wandering looks around. They soon focused on Wolf, who held her specialized launcher, tubes steaming. "Wow...," one of the Marines ventured. "Nice save!" Wolf smiled, even though the man could not see it, and nodded her thanks for the complement.
"I agree Wolf, very nice." The Chief had barely finished him comment before a plasma shot sizzled over his head. It appeared the Covenant had taken advantage of the distraction and had organized a hasty offensive. "Snipers, get back to work, they're probably coming at us with everything they got!"
The snipers returned to their positions and saw the remaining guard units were heading towards their position. However, the screen, comprised of only elites and grunts, was destroyed by a single wave of sniper fire. Only one elite, with three visible bullet holes in its body, continued to run up towards the humans. The snipers reloaded and fired one shot each. The force of eleven sniper rounds hitting at once flung the elite back down the hill into a heap of its dead comrades.
Seeing this as the moment of opportunity, the Chief rallied his troops and Marines for the charge ahead. "Marines, drop all long range weapons and prep your rifles. I want five lines of ten soldiers each. Wolf, Fox, Rage, and I will be up front. Church will wait up here until we're nearly across to provide any cover fire if need-be." The soldiers around him grew impatient. "OK, are we ready?" A powerful "YES SIR" was shouted by all.
After watching the men take positions and getting with his team up front, the Chief turned to look at the installation. He pointed out their target; a wide open entrance to the base in the form of a half-open cargo bay door. His finger slipped down the assault rifle he was carrying and flipped off the safety. "All right men, CHARGE!"
**********
Tiro strode down the hall as he made his rounds of the human installation. The hallway to the main control room was rather narrow, but the lower ranking Covenant did their best to move out of his path as quickly as possible. However, one Grunt wasn't paying attention, busy talking in its strange language to its partner. The elite stopped, watching the unaware Grunt's partner quickly step out of the middle of the hall. Before the other Covenant could turn around, Tiro drew back a heavily armored leg and punted him a long distance down the hall, directly into a wall. The Grunt did not move. The elite smiled to himself as the hall was quickly emptied of all activity, leaving a clear path for him.
He ascended a small incline in the hallway and arrived at a heavily armored hatch. He reached out a clawed hand and tried to punch in a code on the door's keypad, cursing the humans for the size of the small buttons. Finally, he hit a green switch and the door slid open. Tiro waiting only a moment before stepping through.
The control room was set up much like a three-dimensional dart board. There were three levels, each dropping about 6 feet from the one surrounding it. At the highest and outmost ring, monitoring equipment lined the walls showing outside conditions and internal security screens. The middle ring served mostly for control of the base's automated defenses, most of which were destroyed in the takeover. The innermost ring, the bulls-eye of the dartboard, was devoted to control of the powerful communication equipment. With this equipment under Covenant control, the humans were at a great disadvantage in the war.
Tiro's head swiveled from left to right as he surveyed the troops around him. Grunt technicians were seated around the main computer terminals in the center of the room, operating the communication equipment. Other Grunts throughout the room stared emptily at view screens linked to base security cameras. However, upon noticing the commander's presence in the room, all the soldiers snapped to attention, then went back to their work at twice their earlier speed. Tiro cracked an elite "smile" as he watched their reactions. He moved with an imperialistic stride as he walked down the ramp towards the center of the room. He had just made it to the terminals when a loud explosion shook the floor beneath him.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" the elite growled at one of the Grunts in the security ring.
The grunt looked back trembling, and then turned to his workstation. "I don't know your Excellency... transferring feed from external camera 182 to the central view screen." The elite's cocky attitude quickly faded as the view screen flickered on, just in time to show a Banshee crash into one of his beautiful Wraith tanks. Both went up in a huge ball of blue-red flame. More Banshees fell from the sky, each rocking the base as it exploded on impact with the ground. Tiro's well planned patrol paths broke up as soldiers ran to avoid the falling aircraft. Troops that couldn't move in time were engulfed in balls of flame or impaled with burning debris.
"I want a damage report, NOW!" Anger and rage boiled in Tiro's voice. The technicians worked feverishly to collect as much info as they could for a report. The lead technician turned back to the elite.
"Banshee assault team has been completely neutralized. We have lost one Wraith, two ghosts, and approximately 7% of out perimeter troops. No damage to the base or communication equipment." Tiro took as moment to process this information. The humans had committed a great indecency to him, and they would pay. Before he could say anything to his troops, another of the Grunts spoke up in a frightened voice.
"Multiple close range radar targets inbound! They're headed right for us your Excellency!" Tiro could do nothing but watch as numerous streams of orange flame headed towards his mechanized units. Before the vehicles could move, the objects made contact and took more than half of his units out in an orange blast. A series of dull thuds could be heard from the outside. A few seconds later, another wave of explosions shook the ground. Some of the Grunts sat frozen at their workstations, mesmerized by the carnage going on outside. Suddenly, the view screen was clouded with white projectile contrails. Cracks echoed throughout the valley.
"Munitions used appear to be human explosive projectiles and large caliber sniper rounds," a grunt spoke up. "Our forces are falling much too fast!" The technician paused for a moment. "We have confirmation of complete destruction of our mechanized units. Our remaining ground forces are being decimated by sniper fire. I need an order your Excellency..."
The gold elite continued to watch as his glorious army fell apart in front of him. Managing to control the mounting rage building within him, he spoke up to the entire control room. "There is nothing we can do for our brothers outside. Put this base under lockdown protocol, right now! You are to prepare for a human invasion. Finally, ready the trap we have prepared shall they try a head on charge." The thought of his backup plan allowed Tiro to smile for a moment.
The sounds of carnage and destruction stopped almost as quickly as they had started. Nothing could be seen on the external view screens, at least at first. Then, the elite noticed a small speck appear on the bluff just north of the base. "Someone zoom in on that, now!" he ordered. A nearby Grunt tapped a few buttons on the control panel, and the image magnified to show a human soldier. However, the sight of this one made the elite's heart skip a beat. The human was wearing a suit of brownish-green armor. "Just like the human from Halo..," Tiro thought.
The armored human looked down at the base. Then with only a wave of his hand above his head, he began jogging down the hillside. The mood of the room grew solemn as he was followed by another armored human…then two more. As if it weren't enough, five rows of human Marines followed the four armored monsters. Tiro noticed his hand had a slight quiver to it, and had also noticed the others in the room picking up on this. "Give me an intercom linkup to this entire base," he mumbled to a technician beside him. He grabbed the odd human device and began to speak.
"This is Field Master Tiro Tymonee'. I am telling you now we are about to enter the fight of our lives men. The outcome of this battle may very well determine whether or not we eliminate the human scum from this universe. Most of our external defenses have failed, so be prepared to face a group of as many as fifty Marines, and as we have learned recently, four of those vile "Spartan" warriors. Fight well! Fight hard! Make the Prophets proud!" As he clicked off the device, he watched the human advance. His fear had been replaced by excitement and the thought of a glorious battle.
"Activate our backup defenses now! Raise the turrets!"