Chapter Eleven-The Triumphant Few, Part I
A/N: Once again I split the final chapter (which was supposed to be 10) because it was getting too long. 16,000-something words. So here's the first part, and I'll get the next one out within two weeks. Also, a lot of indenting errors were caused by MS Word's automatic indenting system, which cannot be converted in HTML. I tried to find and fix most of them but if you see any ignore them.
On board the UNSC cruiser Maw, Admiral Stanforth gazed at the Covenant homeworld through the port camera. It was a glittering blue-green sphere, oblivious to the battle raging on it. He was lost in its beauty for a moment before a sharp blast knocked him off his feet.
Cursing, he got back up. "What just happened there?" he yelled.
"Sir, we just took a pulse laser blast. Nothing serious, our shield is still holding up fairly well at 87%. However-" the JG Lieutenant broke off his report when he looked up at the forward viewscreen. A giant hulk of a ship had just appeared from behind the planet. The Admiral quickly accessed the files on the Covenant flagship, which was destroyed by the cruiser The Pillar of Autumn, at the Reach battle. He found a silhouette of it, and then brought it alongside the giant Covenant vessel: an almost perfect match, except that the destroyed flagship had a large turret on its prow.
"Send a warning to all the other ships! That's a flagship! All ships break formation! NOW!" Admiral Stanforth ordered urgently as the huge ship moved closer with every passing second. "Zoom in on that thing! Send an encrypted transmission to Earth and see if they can spare any ships! We need help as we've never needed it before!"
The forward viewscreen centered and zoomed in on the Covenant craft. It was sleek, like the rest of the Covenant ships, but much larger. Twin red specks of light appeared on the giant vessel. They discharged in roiled crimson balls, splashing over the heavily reinforced shields of the Aurora and draining a quarter of them away instantly.
"Plasma! Havoc, get a targeting lock on that ship now! Fire when ready!" the Admiral ordered. Suddenly, he hesitated. The Covenant flagship at Reach did not use ordinary plasma; instead they used an extremely fast gray-white beam. So why were they using plasma when they had a much better weapon? He could only wonder as the battle raged on.
On the Covenant homeworld…
"Warthogs, spread out. If we're bunched up, we'll be an easy target for any heavy artillery the Covenant have," warned James.
Suddenly, a group of Banshees in an arrowhead formation screamed in from a mountain range. Plasma shots filled the air. Quickly, the Warthog drivers swerved aside to avoid the deadly energy. Plasma-chain guns brought down a few aircraft. The remaining forty-odd Banshees broke formation and picked targets. Deadly Fuel Rod Cannon shots slammed into the ground, leaving smoking craters. A Warthog swerved to avoid one shot and collided into James's Warthog.
"Watch where you're going, Marine! Were you listening at all in basic training?" the SPARTAN yelled angrily.
Meanwhile, the Scorpions were firing their plasma cannons at the fighters in vain. The Banshees were too fast, so only a few shots hit. Their plasma-machine gun tracers, however, caused more damage.
Ghosts flew in from behind a hill, spewing plasma at the Warthogs.
"The Banshees were just a distraction! Scorpions, target those Ghosts before they get too close!" James ordered as he sighted the MAC gun at a Banshee. "Warthogs, keep firing at those Banshees!"
One Warthog was swerving to avoid a Ghost and drove straight into a Fuel Rod blast. The front half of the vehicle was burned away. The driver was instantly killed and the passenger Marine tumbled out with downed shields and badly scorched armor. The rear plasma-chain gun and gunner, however, were intact and he continued firing for a few seconds before jumping out to help his wounded comrade to get out of the thick of the fight. He supported the Marine to a temporary camp that had been set up, with Marines manning plasma-chain gun turrets around it. After helping his fellow soldier into the temporary infirmary, he ran off towards the nearest tank, leaping on to it.
James put a giant hole through a Banshee with his MAC gun. It came crashing down, a useless flaming hulk. The sky was still thick with the deadly flyers, however. Three of them converged on one Warthog, picking off the gunner and wounding the driver with furious streams of plasma. Before this, however, the brave gunner had holed up one of the Banshees, sending it down. Angrily the veteran Marine passenger took his fallen friend's place, dealing out destruction to the airborne foes that had killed so many that he knew.
"If we keep losing forces at this rate, we won't have enough forces to take the fortress!" yelled Sergeant Jacobs, a well-respected Marine, through the COM channels.
"You're right! We're pulling back to the temporary base! All troops fall back! Scorpions, cover us with some heavy fire, but don't stay too long! Move it, Marines!" ordered James.
The Warthogs sped off, still firing. They heard booms not far behind; this was the Scorpions, who finally were able to fire their main cannons at the Ghosts because the Warthogs had been there, and firing at that time would have killed their allies. The plasma-charged shells like tissue paper tore through ghosts, and the tracers and passengers shot down Banshees. After causing some chaos within the Covenant ranks, they withdrew with turrets still pointing back should the aliens try a charge. The cruiser hovered overhead the camp, because the crew onboard had detected high plasma energy levels at the fortress, which meant more plasma cannons.
Contrary to most of the humans' beliefs, the Covenant did not attempt an attack.
"This isn't like the Covenant…they've got something up their sleeves for sure," mused James as he munched on some combat rations. "Troops, stay on the alert. They may try attacking at any time."
After finishing his food, James slapped on a fresh battery and loaded in ammo into his assault rifle, then leapt to an open plasma machine gun turret.
"Motion detectors are picking up movement on the east side! All troops, get ready to fire!" a Marine yelled over the COM channel.
James was ready, being on the eastern side of the base. In the corner of his eye, he noticed a slight movement in the foliage. Turning quickly he fired his turret at the distortion.
Grunts burst in on all sides. James turned the turret to face the threat and fired. The aliens dropped like flies. One Grunt that he had missed readied a plasma grenade. James did not see the creature.
"Covering fire!" yelled a Marine as he fired his MA5BP at the Grunt's head. It fell, methane hissing from its mask, the grenade dropping next to it. It detonated, vaporizing the body but doing no other damage.
"Thanks! Nice shot!" James said while firing at a few Jackals that had appeared. The plasma-charged rounds sliced into their shields, disabling them and peppering them with holes.
Several Elites rolled in through the vegetation, plasma rifles blazing. They focused their fire on a lone Marine, bringing down his shields and penetrating his armor with combined fire. He dropped to the ground. James swung the heavy gun toward the Elites. James fired angrily, quickly cutting through the Elites' shields and armor. No more enemies appeared. He abandoned the turret and raced for his Warthog. "While they're distracted, move out! Scorpions, follow behind!"
The Warthogs rocketed out of the foliage, surprising several sleeping Grunts on the other side. The Scorpions lumbered on behind. The fortress could be seen in the distance, with its tall spikes rising majestically into the sky. Taking a quick glance at his HUD, James checked the estimated survival time for the ships in orbit. It read one hour, twenty minutes. There was very little time left. As the Warthog drove on, he wondered where the Banshees that had been harassing them earlier were, as he knew many had survived. He kept alert as the Warthog sped on over the grassy terrain.
On the UNSC Cruiser Maw…
The Admiral grimly surveyed the readouts scrolling over his data pad about the giant Covenant ship. The missing turret pod was the turret that contained the deadly beam that had destroyed so many UNSC ships at Reach. He breathed a sigh of relief; however, the ship still posed a tremendous threat. It could launch six plasma torpedoes at once, since it had three dual-cannon plasma turrets. Two turrets were mounted near the needlelike bow of the ship, while the other was located aft. It also had twenty-four pulse laser pods and thick armor. Despite its size, the vessel had maneuvering thrusters and twelve plasma engines, so it could move around at an astonishing pace. The Admiral paused to think about his personal question before: why did the Covenant use older weapons when they had a much deadlier one? Even without the new beam, the ship was definitely superior to normal Covenant vessels, but he guessed that the new weapon was highly experimental, hard to produce, or something similar to that.
"Target the MAC guns at that ship. Push the engines to 200%," ordered Stanforth.
"Sir, according to past references filed by the Pillar of Autumn, this type of ship seems to be very tough. Its shields can take large amounts of punishment. I suggest you use some plasma Archer missiles to soften it up before firing the plasma MAC," suggested the weapons officer. The Maw had 400 forward plasma Archer missile pods, in twenty rows of twenty, a hundred more missile pods than what the famous Halcyon-class cruiser Pillar of Autumn had. The cruiser also had 100 aft missile pods. All the missile pods held thirty-six Archers. Each plasma-sheathed missile could do about twice the damage of a normal one. The Maw could do tremendous amounts of damage without even using its three plasma MAC guns. These could inflict nearly three times the damage of a normal MAC, since the plasma made both the direct impact damage and transfer of momentum to the target much more powerful. They could rip a normal Covenant frigate or anything smaller into millions of tiny fragments, just like the Super MAC guns did. Larger ships, like destroyers, cruisers, and carriers would just take tremendous damage. The plasma charge was a big help against wearing down shields, too. Despite all this, the Admiral still wondered if it would be enough to destroy all the Covenant ships.
"Noted. Get a firing solution and fire forward Archer pods A1 through A10. Charge the MAC guns," ordered Stanforth. A second later, there was a series of thumps and 360 Archer missiles swarmed toward the giant Covenant ship. On the viewscreen, the missiles were seen as blue streaks in the distance. The ship's pulse laser turrets tracked the incoming missiles and fired. The familiar blue strobes of light hit the missiles, but it seemed to be absorbed by the plasma-sheathed missiles. The Admiral noted this effect on plasma-charged projectiles. Before he could think any more about the effect, the missiles impacted on the giant Covenant ship. The shields flared silvery-gray, contrasting with the bright blue-orange explosions of the Archer missiles.
"MAC guns ready, sir," reported the weapons officer.
"Arm forward Archer pods A11 through A20. Havoc, get a firing solution for MAC round impacting with the missiles. Fire when ready," commanded the Admiral.
A few heartbeats later, there were a familiar series of thumps as the Archer missiles fired again. After the missiles had progressed considerably, the great ship shuddered and the lights dimmed as the plasma MACs fired. Three giant fiery-blue streaks of light sped after the missiles.
"Havoc, zoom in on that Covenant ship!" cried the Admiral. Although he did not provide any explanation, the AI knew what ship he was talking about.
The forward viewscreen centered and zoomed in on the targeted area. The ship did not attempt to move out of the way, however, twenty-four blue smears appeared along the great vessel.
"Pulse lasers!" yelled Stanforth. "Havoc, fire all port maneuvering thrusters!" There was a rumble and the giant cruiser moved out of the line of fire.
The pulse lasers lanced out from the Covenant ship. Eight shots were clean misses, but the other sixteen had re-adjusted their trajectory before firing. The deadly beams of light played along the shield, which glowed solid yellow and blazed out of existence. The ship rocked and several standing officers were thrown to the ground. The Admiral was grasping a handrail, and saw everything. The Archer missiles and MAC rounds struck. The Covenant ship was covered in the blue-orange explosions of the missiles and the huge blue streaks of the MAC rounds. The enemy craft's shield shimmered and popped, then gave. One blue flash, a MAC round, got through and smashed into the side of the titanic ship. A huge hole was ripped into the ship and a portion of the hull was mangled and burning from the concussion. Twenty missiles also made it through, holing the badly damaged area further. The vessel spun in circles from the venting atmosphere until the pilot managed to right the ship. It turned to face its side to the Maw. The plasma turrets turned, and they heated to a hellish red-orange. The Covenant flagship was getting ready for a broadside.
"No! Our shields are still recharging from those pulse lasers! They'll take ten seconds to fully recharge to 100%, and we don't have that much time! Our shields only start to recharge at 10% per second after five seconds, but all types of, even Covenant, shields stop recharging when hit! That means we might not even get a halfway charge!" screamed the officer at ops station.
"If they take us down, they'll go with us! Charge the MAC guns! We're going to blow them to hell with us!" yelled Stanforth.
Planetside…
James's question about the Banshees was quickly answered. Fifty of the deadly aircraft screamed over a clump of trees to the Warthogs' left. They caught many of the gunners unawares. Plasma slashed out the Banshees' weapon pods. Some fired Fuel Rod shots. Two Warthogs were blasted into oblivion before the Marines realized what was happening.
"Warthogs, break formation! Don't get hit by Fuel Rods!" ordered James quickly. He aimed the mini-MAC at a Banshee swooping down on a Warthog stuck on a rock. There was a flash and the Banshee turned into a falling piece of scrap metal. The Warthog that he had saved quickly freed itself and James turned his attention away from it.
The Covenant fliers split into groups, each group pursuing a Warthog. They learned to avoid James's with its deadly mini-MAC gun. The plasma-chain guns were not much a relief, however. Banshees spiraled down like leaves in an autumn gale. Despite this, one group was successful. A Warthog stopped, its engine melted away by a hail of plasma. The driver and passenger leapt out, heading for cover behind rocks. The gunner bravely continued firing and shot down three before he was killed by two Fuel Rod blasts.
By now the tanks had arrived. Some pilots of the aircraft realized how big a threat they posed and quickly flew away. The unlucky ones that did not notice were utterly disintegrated by the plasma cannons.
Since the humans only had eleven Warthogs and ten Scorpions left, they retreated to the camp, which was quiet after the recent battle. The wounded were left to be treated by the medics and fresh Marines took their places.
James decided to defend the base until the wounded Marines were ready to man the stationary plasma machine guns. He couldn't leave the area undefended. While he waited he gave his troops a quick briefing on the new plan.
"Troops, the cruiser has detected high amounts of beta particle radiation in five points near the fortress. This means the fortress itself has at least five of those giant plasma cannons. I also expect the fortress to be heavily shielded. This will be like taking on a Covenant starship with foot troops. I cannot say that all of you will survive, but we'll have to do our best. Ignore everything else-just concentrate on punching through the shield and destroying those guns! Only the passengers can target and distract the ground forces. To protect us we can use the three portable shield generators we brought aboard the captured Covenant ship. My Warthog will tow these. The cruiser will periodically move in to fire its weapons. It will take hits but then it will retreat to recharge its shield and weapons. Once the guns are down, the cruiser can move in and decimate any remaining ground forces. Then we infiltrate the fortress itself. Now let's move!"
The human forces moved out again, in a spread out formation this time. They slowed a bit so the Scorpions could stay close. James had this idea, as they might need the extra firepower, even if the main cannons were not used. The coaxial machine guns were still very powerful, and most had passengers, which added to the stream of plasma-charged bullets.
They moved on through another forest. Ghosts started harassing them on all sides. The Covenant had realized that using foot troops would be suicidal, so they had sent in the Ghosts. There were two flaws to this: the trees limited the vehicles' maneuverability, and therefore were easier targets. The aliens' second mistake was send Ghosts behind the human soldiers, this way, the tanks had a clear shot without Warthogs in the line of fire. However, the Covenant had one advantage: numbers. There were easily fifty of the hover vehicles and despite the humans' efforts fifteen Ghosts broke through the defense and concentrated fire on a Scorpion. One, two, four, six, seven of the floating vehicles were blasted away, but the others continued firing. The ceramic-protitanium armor was slowly melted away and the tank started flickering with flames. The crew and passengers quickly leapt away from the smoldering vehicle as it was engulfed in the fire. The remained of the Ghosts were quickly disposed of and the six extra Marines trudged back to the base.
Although the humans had a high kill ratio to the aliens, they simply did not have enough troops and vehicles to do continue losing one or two Scorpions or Warthogs every time they engaged in a skirmish. There were still many Covenant forces waiting at the fortress. James realized this and had the Scorpions push the engine as much as they could. If it overheated by the time they reaching their firing range of the fortress, the engine wouldn't be needed anyway. The Warthogs easily kept pace.
Before long they had reached the fortress. It was a giant building, the plasma cannons jutting out near the top. The Scorpions started shelling. The shield shimmered and took the hits easily. The Warthogs also fired their plasma LAAGs at the cannons. The Wraiths stationed around the building fired, giant balls of plasma heading toward the grouped humans. James leaped out of the Warthog and quickly activated the shields. The egg-shaped shots smashed into the trees above, obliterating the plants. The SPARTAN leapt back into the gunner's position and fired the MAC at a plasma gun. The passenger was shredding Grunts, Jackals, and Elites with his plasma machine gun. Shots from plasma pistols, plasma rifles, and needlers were useless against the three layers of heavy shields. The Wraiths fired again. The deadly plasma blew away the last of the covering trees. The next salvo would hit the shields. The Covenant soldiers that were not in vehicles retreated into the fortress, as they were helpless against the plasma-charged bullets spewing out at them and could not hope to damage the portable shields.
What few Ghosts that remained were quickly destroyed by the Warthog and Scorpion passengers. Banshees were still thick in the air, however, Fuel Rod Cannons and plasma cannons firing crazily. Wraiths could not get a clear shot because of all the aircraft. The first layer of shields flickered and went out-it would take ten precious seconds to recharge. The passengers fired their MA5BPs (assault rifles), M6DPs (pistols), M90Ps (shotguns), S2 AMPs (sniper rifles), and M19P SSMs (rocket launchers) up at their airborne foes. Many exploded in chunks of purple metal and flame, but sometimes they would crash down on the shields, damaging it further. The second layer popped, blazed yellow, a flashed away. It looked like all was lost for the humans' plan, but suddenly two red streaks passed by overhead. It was the plasma from the cruiser! It melted completely through Banshees as if they weren't there, then slammed into the fortress's shield, which flickered silver, then cooled once more. It still had not been broken.
However, the plasma torpedoes had caused much chaos within the Covenant ranks. The shields had enough time to recharge before the aliens began the attack again. The Marines and James kept firing, wondering how long they could hold out.
In orbit over the planet…
The Admiral stared grimly at the MAC status screen. It read 71% charge. It didn't look like they would make it. The red blotches at the turrets of the huge Covenant ship were burning bright now, hard to look at for more than an instant, maybe five seconds away from launching. They wouldn't make it. The Admiral felt sweat trickling down his neck. There wouldn't be any time to evacuate-they were all dead.
Suddenly there was a flash to his right-the Revenge had just fired its twin plasma MAC guns. The rounds streaked across the blackness of space, crossing the distance in mere seconds. The super-charged projectiles sliced through the enemy ship's recharging shields and made two giant holes in the hull. Three-fourths of the ship's hull was now crumpled and mangled from the concussive damage of the MAC rounds. The Maw's bridge officers sighed in relief.
Atmosphere vented in dozens of places, spinning the Covenant ship erratically. The plasma fired while the ship was pointing at one of its own frigates. One torpedo zipped out the explosion that followed, arching towards the Maw. By now, however, the shields were back online at 100%, so the hull remained intact.
For now.
The threat was far from over. Seven enemy ships still remained, and Havoc reported some more bad news. "Sir, the Vengeance is pulling out to recharge its shield. It took several pulse laser hits before it made the intrasystem jump, so the ship's port armor plating is down to two point seven one meters from three meters."
"All right, Havoc, we're pulling back with the Vengeance. Tell the Aurora and Revenge to move back also. Don't use extra power to make an intrasystem jump; we'll need the power. Just push the engines to maximum operating parameters," ordered Stanforth.
"Engines running at 350%, sir," reported the ops officer. "ETA to the Vengeance's position is thirty seconds."
"Affirmative. Keep those MAC guns hot! We'll need them! Havoc, track any target you want-keep a firing solution for the MAC guns on it," commanded the Admiral.
On the rear view screen, the destroyer and cruiser fired a last few plasma Archer missiles and turned. Their engines flickered to life and with a rumble they sped after the Maw. Since all human ships had been refitted with the new reactor technology, which had been upgraded since the Pillar of Autumn used it, they outran the Covenant battlegroup, but not by a very large margin. The alien vessels could still be glimpsed fairly well without zoom through the rear cameras.
"Push the engines as far as you can!" said the Admiral, not satisfied with the progress.
"Aye, sir. Engines are running hot at 400%. ETA in twelve seconds."
Now the Covenant ships started to lag behind. The sleek vessels slowly faded to specks in the rear camera viewscreen until Havoc hit the scopes and brought the sizes back up.
Within seconds the Maw, Aurora, and Revenge reached the other ship's positions. They fired maneuvering thrusters to turn around. After nearly a minute had passed the Covenant ship that Havoc had targeted was in firing range. Three MAC rounds streaked toward a light Covenant destroyer. Only one of the MAC rounds struck true, burning down the ship's shields. The other two sailed harmlessly into space.
The other three ships had fired as well; three MAC rounds from the Aurora decimated a Covenant frigate, and two rounds each from the Revenge and Vengeance took out a cruiser. 360 plasma Archer missiles from the Vengeance slammed into a carrier's shield, which flickered and went out.
The Admiral flicked on a mic. "Longsword Squadrons Alpha through Charlie, get out there! Stand by to engage enemy fighters!" Sure enough, the teardrop-shaped Covenant craft streamed out of the carrier's bulging launch bays in droves, heading straight for the small human battlegroup. Seconds later, three MAC rounds from the Aurora decimated their mother ship, but by then many fighters had already been launched.
It seemed like the Aurora, Vengeance, and Revenge had also realized that the threat and launched several squadrons of their own fighters. The humans and even their AIs had enough problems on their hands without targeting the 70mm plasma point-defense machine guns. There were flickers of the yellow shields of the Longswords and the silver shields of the Seraphs. The blue streaks of the Seraphs' miniature pulse lasers and the bullets from the Longswords' 120mm plasma chain guns lit battle scene with an eerie glow. Larger blue flashes indicated the Longswords launching their plasma ASGM-10P missiles, each of which were about equal to an plasma Archer missile's power.
Another alien carrier released its fighters. They swarmed towards the raging single-ship battle, which had moved away from the capital ships. Both the Covenant and human pilots had realized they would soon be blasted out of existence had they stayed in the firing path of the plasma torpedoes, pulse lasers, plasma MAC guns, plasma Archer missiles, and plasma point-defense autocannons.
The Admiral cursed, then clicked the mic back on. "All Longswords, I repeat, all Longswords, go help your mates out before they get overwhelmed!" He paused to turn off the mic. "Send a message to the other ships to get all of their fighters out there also," he ordered the COM officer.
Within seconds another wave of the arrowlike human fighters had launched from the four ships and headed towards the fighter skirmish. Stanforth watched them go until a blast brought him back to the battle at hand.
Now the remainder of the Covenant forces had arrived and were surrounding the humans. They focused fire on the Vengeance. Plasma torpedoes lashed into the destroyer's shields. They flashed yellow and cooled when suddenly several volleys of pulse lasers and another two plasma bolts hit the shields also. They flickered once then went out. A few fighters that had remained behind started attacking the ship. The small pulse lasers could not do much about the protitanium armor, but soon a larger Covenant vessel would target the ship. The human ship fired off its twin MAC guns at a frigate that was charging plasma torpedoes, which shattered. Quickly, the other human destroyer and two cruisers moved in to take damage for the Vengeance. Plasma and pulse lasers crashed into their shields.
"Fire MAC guns at that destroyer!" ordered the Admiral. "Arm Archer pods B1 through B20 and get a firing solution on a destroyer!"
The three burning blue streaks obliterated the enemy into millions of tiny metal pieces. 720 plasma Archer missiles crossed the black void between the Maw and the targeted ship and peppered the shield. More than 200 missiles made it through, burning flaming holes all over the starboard side of its hull. The force of the atmosphere venting blew it straight into the firing line of a frigate, which conveniently fired as this happened. The destroyer floated in a few large chunks, its crew killed by the plasma Archer missiles, the plasma from the frigate or had asphyxiation from being sucked out into space.
Despite this luck, a task force of about twenty Covenant ships had emerged from Slipspace. Plasma and pulse lasers hammered into the human vessels' shields, which slowly weakened. The Covenant formed a ring around the beleaguered humans. Although the human ships had been heavily reinforced, eventually the aliens would break through the shielding, burn away the protitanium and tear apart the superstructure.
The Vengeance's shield had now recovered, but now the Revenge's was down, and before the others could cover it the destroyer had taken numerous starboard pulse laser hits and one plasma torpedo hit and the armor was down to two point zero three meters.
Stanforth had been wondered one question all along, and it was the same as the ground forces' thoughts, but now it became clearer than ever: would they be able last out long enough? The Covenant had obviously called for reinforcements, which the Admiral felt were drawing too closer for comfort.
Planetside…
Another salvo of plasma streaked towards the fortress. However, without the on-board AI navigating, the crew of the Covenant cruiser had put it a little to close. The plasma guns swiveled and fired. These bolts were slightly different than normal plasma, however. They were tinged purple-red and were much longer than the bolt most humans were used to seeing. It hit the cruiser as the ship's bolts hit the fortress. The shield on the massive building flashed and went out. The troops cheered as the Scorpions fired at the new type of plasma guns, but it was quickly stifled as they saw the familiar glimmer of silver-gray-which meant another layer of shields protecting the guns themselves. Instead, the giant tanks swiveled their guns to target the luminous shield projection ports to prevent the initial layer of shields from recharging. They jutted out more than other parts of the building, probably so they were past the first layer. A few moments later, the ports were smoking craters in the side of the huge fortress.
The plasma that hit the cruiser had sliced through the shields, which were kept at lower power because they did not expect to be hit and the power was instead diverted to the engines and weapons. Two bolts came through and scored two large ragged holes in the side, going right through armor and decks. The lucky thing for the humans was that nobody was aboard that particular section, and since they were not in space there was no venting of atmosphere. However, it still was nothing to celebrate about.
Wraith shots hammered into the shield. The passengers with heavy weapons brought down a few, but it wasn't enough. Finally, some of the Scorpions had to divert their firepower to take down the enemy tanks. Plasma shells ripped through the armor as if it wasn't there. The tanks retreated behind a large barrier of rocks. Their mortar weapon allowed them to fire even though their front was blocked, but the humans were not stupid. They angled their shots so it would explode behind the tanks, and the detonation of the shell would destroy some Wraiths.
Not all, however. The egg-shaped plasma continued to rain down on the shield as the battle continued. The first layer flashed out of existence. The Scorpions fired at the rocks. It would take a few more volleys to completely destroy the Covenants' cover. The second layer began to weaken. The human tanks fired again. The Wraiths responded with their own weapons. The second layer was holding by a fraction. The Scorpions fired another salvo, and the rocks were blown away. Some Warthogs also diverted their attention to the bulbous tanks and cut them down. Many managed to fire one last wave of shots, though. These destroyed the second layer. However, there was not much need for the shield any more. Or was there?
James was just about to give the order to move out when masses of Hunters appeared on the hill on the other side of the fortress. They were spread out to avoid being massacred by the tanks, and it was very hard to score a decent hit at that range without a sniper or rocket launcher. Green blotches appeared along the Hunter line. Fuel Rod shots rained down on the third shield. The Scorpions fired, but there were too many and they were spread out too much. The third shield quickly faded out. The lethal green streaks of light melted away trees and the surrounding foliage. Two Warthogs were hit, one was completely destroyed, and another had everything but the gunner and the plasma chain-gun disintegrated.
"Retreat! We can't take that firepower!" ordered James hurriedly. As they turned to leave, another Warthog was hit, this time the gunner and rear gun were burned away. The driver and passenger leapt out before the rest was turned into a pile of liquefied metal. They ran quickly after the retreating forces. The Scorpions were a little too slow; one of the cumbersome tanks was hit by seven Hunter shots and burst into flames. Its crew of two leapt out before the Scorpion exploded, and the two surviving passengers had long since fled.
When they reached the rally point, which was the current location of the Covenant ship, James had the crew turn on the gravity lift and two by two for Warthogs or one by one for Scorpions the human troops were sucked up into the sleek alien cruiser.
Once onboard, James gave orders for his troops to seek medical attention if they needed it and get some rest. Weary as he was, he headed straight to the control room for a tactical update on the space battle. Then he gave orders for the crew shifts to be changed and headed to the Elite quarters, which had been converted into crew quarters.
The door slid open and the familiarity of the scene caused him to grip his modified assault rifle harder. He relaxed as he saw Marines chatting, lying in bunks, inspecting weapons and armor suits, and other such leisurely tasks. He walked over to his special private room and locked the door. Once inside, he pulled off his MJOLNIR suit and pulled on his normal crew clothes. He set the alarm to ring in two hours and hopped into his bed, but not before putting away his weapons and suit in a personal armory and unlocking the door.
In orbit…
Admiral Stanforth cursed as he read reports on the Revenge. He noticed a Covenant cruiser readying more plasma torpedoes to fire on the weakened Revenge. "Havoc, get a firing solution on that cruiser! No not that cruiser, the one aiming for the Revenge!" Fire MAC guns when ready!" Seconds after this command, the lights dimmed and the cruiser shuddered as the great cruiser unleashed three more bright MAC rounds. They slammed through the shield and slashed through the ship, contorting parts of the hull until it was barely recognizable. The cruiser spun madly until blast doors or bulkheads were sealed off. It retaliated with the plasma torpedoes it had been charging.
"Arm and fire Archer pods C1 through C5 at that cruiser!" he commanded. Although he was only firing 180 missiles, the plasma-charged explosives were enough to finish off the wounded vessel. He watched as the two ruby balls of light grew brighter and brighter until it seemed to fill the whole viewscreen. "Havoc, divert 50% engine power to forward shields!" he yelled out quickly. The craft slowed considerably before the two deadly blotches of light slammed into the shield. The ship rocked and creaked and the viewscreen was filled with the crimson glow of the alien weapons and golden flash of the human ship's shields.
"Shield report!" he shouted to the ops officer.
"Shields at 72%, sir, that extra power from the engines helped a lot," replied Havoc before the JG officer could respond. "Should I divert power back?" questioned the AI.
"No, moving is not much of concern. On second thought, we need to get out of this ring of death. Switch the power flow back and charge Shaw-Fukijawa Translight Engines. Get an exit vector on the other side of the planet. Notify the other ships as well," ordered the captain. "And get those Longswords back into their respective ships."
"But sir, you said it yourself, that'll cause a major drain of-"
"I don't care if it'll drain power-we'll have more of a chance if we get out," the Admiral cut into Havoc's statement. "Do it. Now."
"Aye, sir," said Havoc, in a slightly smaller voice. His voice was heard giving orders to the Longswords and other ships over the COM channel. The black arrowheads in the distance regrouped and fired afterburners to reach their mother ships. The Seraphs strained to keep up but lagged behind. The Covenant pursed the human fighters all the way to their docking bays and then started attacking the ship with their small pulse lasers. Blue streams of 70mm lights flashed in the vacuum, penetrating the fighters' shields and hulls almost instantly.
The space in the battle zone warped and twisted with a sickly green light and the four human warships disappeared. The alien ships that had fired had their shots slam into their own ships. The shots that had been disengaged dispersed in clouds of plasma.
After this confusion, it took mere seconds for the Covenant to track them. The order was given to warp in after them. The fleet, now down to about 120 ships, appeared in normal space to be hit on four sides by plasma Archers and MAC rounds. Havoc had also cleverly placed a HARBRINGER-I class nuclear missile at the exit vector. The new warhead had more densely compacted explosives and lithium triteride casing, the same as the rumored Novas in development-"planet killers." It gave the missile a power of sixty megatons, a full thirty megatons more than the HAVOK tac-nukes. The large missile detonated in a fiery red-orange explosion that engulfed ship after ship. The Maw,Aurora, Revenge, and Vengeance had pushed their reactors to critical level, fleeing from the nuke. The remnants of the Covenant fleet were utterly vaporized by the enormous power of this destructive device. Three ships that remained were mangled beyond recognition, burning, radioactive, and motionless.
Stanforth breathed a sign of relief. He opened a connection to the rest of his "fleet." "Good work, men. Now that the Covenant had been sent to where they belong, we can give those ground forces some-"
He was cut off midsentence. Fifteen Covenant ships had appeared out of nowhere, surrounding the Revenge. Fortunately they were all frigates, headed by a destroyer. They remained dark and motionless, typical of a Covenant Slipspace jump.
Now there was no hope of saving the Revenge. The Admiral ordered an evacuation of the ship using life pods and dropships and transfer of all systems and weapons controls to Havoc. He ordered all ships to attack the inert Covenant to buy the crew more time. Three salvos of MAC rounds-three more hulks in the space above the homeworld. Havoc also took out one ship with the Revenge's guns and another with a swarm of missiles. The Auroraalso fired off hundreds of missiles. Small lights started winking on along the hulls of the smooth Covenant ships. Fifteen seconds later, one more ship was gone from hundreds of plasma Archer missiles and the rest were powered up and fully operational. About an eighth of the Revenge's crew had evacuated. Stanforth cursed; they needed more time. Half of the Covenant ships turned and fired thrusters to engage the other three ships.
Blue light from alien energy weapons danced on the Revenge's hull. They lashed out, deadly fingers of light reaching out and touching the ship's shields with devastating force. Stanforth noticed that the engines were dark and no ripple near the MACs that indicated they were charging. In fact, over half of the lights on the ship had gone dark or red. Obviously the captain had diverted almost all reactor energy to the shields. Another minute slipped past, and amazingly the shield was still holding up, although Havoc notified Stanforth that the shields were down to 47%. The Covenant started to use their plasma weapons. Their lateral sections started to glow red.
"MAC guns ready, sir," said the weapons officer tersely.
"Fire at will!"
Once again, the guns flashed and spat destruction out at a Covenant frigate. It turned and fired all eight of its pulse turrets at the cruiser. It seared off of the shields, which crackled and hissed before fading. A millisecond later, there were only fragments of the ship left.
The Vengeance released its fighter squads. They swarmed to escort the escape craft for the Revenge. By now two minutes had passed since the first evacuation order.
"Havoc, Revenge's status?" asked Stanforth.
"Shields at 7%. 75% of the crew have evacuated. The remainder are piling into the ship's ten Pelicans. They'll be off within the next thirty seconds, sir," reported the AI. "MAC guns offline. Fourteen Archer missile pods still loaded."
As they watched forward viewscreen, the Revenge's shield dimmed from a plasma bolt, then flashed out. Three pulse laser bolts carved paths in the protitanium. Out of the four docking bays, they saw the dropships slide out and ignite their engines. They were three times as fast as the old models used on Halo. As they watched, a pulse laser cut straight through one of the vessel's shields, through the armor, hull, and out the other side. It exploded immediately.
Havoc launched all the remaining missiles, and then took control of the fusion missiles on board. The upgraded life pods were usually too fast to hit, and a glancing blow would be deflected by the shields. The dropships zipped between Covenant frigates and Seraphs, either being too far away from a pulse laser turret or too close to one of their own be hit. Despite this, nine of the life pods and three dropships were brutally destroyed by the Covenant. Seconds later, plasma torpedoes ripped the once-proud Revenge into large chunks that floated lifelessly in the combat zone. They had not noticed or targeted the three HARBRINGER-I missiles, however…
The AI did one last check to make sure all friendlies were out of the blast radius, then sent the coded detonation order to the warheads.
The huge blast reverberated silently through the blackness of space. Even quite a distance away in the Maw, the Admiral could feel the vibration and the ship rocked slightly. The only survivors were seven of the Covenant ships had moved out to engage the Maw, Vengeance, and the Aurora. The ships that had stayed existed for a millisecond longer, then were gone-completely disintegrated by the enormous destructive force of the three warheads.
The Admiral growled angrily over the COM. "Aurora, Vengeance, let's give the Revenge and the crew that lost their lives a final salute! Fire all MAC guns!" The three remaining ships fired as one, eight blazing blue rounds as a final remembrance to the lost ship and the dead crew members.
After this emotional act, the Admiral was back to his senses. They were now at a serious disadvantage with only three ships remaining, even though there were no Covenant ships in the immediate vicinity. Once again, he found his thoughts drifting to the ground team. He squashed these thoughts away as the remaining thirty-one life pods with the Aurora. The dropships split up, two of the seven remaining to each ship, and three to the Maw. Whatever the future held for the three remaining ships, they wouldn't go to the end without a fight.
Inside the captured Covenant cruiser…
James leaped out of bed the instant his alarm went off. He quickly readied for battle and strode briskly out of his cabin, heading for the hastily added shield charging station in the Marine quarters. He saw to his satisfaction that the Marines were pulling on their own armor and lining up at the shield charge station. Once James reached the station, he stepped inside and keyed a series of commands. The two pillars started turning slowly, radiating a soft gold-yellow color. He watched the shield bar fill up in his HUD. When it was full, he pressed another button and the pillars spun quicker, which were now glowing a violent shade of red. With a blast like a plasma pistol, it discharged its energy load onto the SPARTAN's suit. The shield bar blinked red and pulsed a familiar warning through his armor's speakers, then refilled. Satisfied, he stepped out of the charging station and marched towards the bridge.
The heavy blast doors slid open and James stepped into the command center. Commander William Elysium was standing where a golden commander Elite would-in the middle of all the holograms on the center platform. He was chosen to lead the cruiser because of his extensive knowledge and study of Covenant systems. The AI, Keyes, made in memory of the heroic captain, walked among the displays in holographic form, occasionally modifying something. He had been made the same way as Cortana, from a flash clone of a living person's brain-an unusual procedure. He had a similar mindset and appearance to the late tactical genius. Most AIs were made from deceased peoples' brains. Several control stations had been set up in a ring around the platform, lieutenants manning them. Technicians and AIs had worked countless hours and days to reconfigure the ship for humans. The displays around Elysium showed weapons status, shield status, hull status, COM traffic, radar and other scanner readouts, and cameras around the ship. One was zoomed in on the residence of the Prophets.
Elysium turned and greeted the SPARTAN. "James, good to see you're well. That fortress's shields are stronger than anything we've ever faced. They must have a huge underground reactor fueling the generators or a third layer of shields. It's also quite possible they have both. Either way, we need some backup to penetrate it," he explained.
"We could ask the ships in orbit, if they're not too busy," said James.
"Just what I had in mind. Keyes, open a connection to the Maw on secure channel Alpha-Red," the Commander said to the AI.
The COM screen flashed, then showed the familiar, commanding figure of Admiral Stanforth on it. He had a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead.
"Sir? Is everything all right up there?" asked the Commander nervously.
"It depends of what your view of "all right" is. Alright, Elysium, you'd better have some good news for me. We've just lost the Revenge. I hope you've been doing ok planetside," said the Admiral."
"Well, sir, we haven't penetrated the heavy shielding on the Prophets' fortress yet. But our losses haven't been catastrophic. However, that building's shields took several minutes' worth of pounding for Scorpions, Warthogs, rockets, and just about anything else we could throw at it-including a salvo from this ship. James and I are requesting assistance to take down that thing's shielding, sir," reported Elysium.
Stanforth cursed quietly. "It might also be easier to hold off Covenant ships from inside the atmosphere, the descent will wear down their shields, and we have a Covenant cruiser to make up for the Revenge. But it will also be more dangerous for the ground crew, and we won't be able to use nukes. Well, no matter what way I look at it, it seems that if I refuse your request this mission will be over. You've got the assistance. We're on our way. Stanforth out." The display winked off. The Commander and SPARTAN both gave a sigh of relief.
Back on the bridge of the Maw, Stanforth outlined the descent plan. "We're going to get burned from the descent. Divert top shield power to the lower sections. Fire thrusters briefly, then let gravity to the rest. Havoc, calculate engine re-activation time so we don't slam into the ground."
Seconds later, the three massive ships were going down through the atmosphere. The bottom of their shields glowed yellow, sparkling and cracking. They held easily, and soon they met up with the Covenant ship. It was an odd battlegroup-two massive gray human cruisers, the majestic silver Covenant cruiser roughly the size of those ships, and the smallest ship, the destroyer Vengeance.
On the screens of the ships, Stanforth's weathered face flicked on. "All ships, charge MAC guns. Elysium, for your ship MAC guns translate to plasma torpedoes, and plasma Archers translate to pulse lasers. Ready a salvo of MAC rounds. Fire on my command," said the Admiral.
The four ships turned towards the distant fortress. The air rippled with the magnetic fields and the air of the Covenant cruiser burned an angry crimson.
"This is the Aurora, we're good to go."
"Vengeance, guns at your command."
"Elysium reporting; plasma ready."
"Fire!" ordered Stanforth.
Two red fireballs and eight blue streaks sped towards the structure. The MAC rounds hit with destructive energy. The shield rippled outwards from the impact like a raindrop. The plasma impacted later, distorting the protective surface. It stuttered then returned to its normal state. The guns on the fortress heated purple-red, then lanced out at the Vengeance. Havoc had strategically placed the ships so that their weapons were at maximum effective range, so the shots scored only glancing blows. The blasts were so powerful that they still blew away three-quarters of the shield. The ship withdrew to recharge its shields. The pulse laser turrets on the captured cruiser glowed electric blue, nearly ready to fire.
"Aurora, get out into their firing range for a second to lure them to fire. Move or get back as fast as you can or get burned to hell. Have all power to forward shields. Elysium, your pulse lasers are much faster than an Archer, so they'll be useful for this. Transfer fire control to Havoc. Havoc, get a firing solution to have laser impact as those bastards are firing," commanded the Admiral. Mystified, but unhesitatingly loyal, the ships complied.
The Aurora's engines flared and the ship rumbled forward. In the distance, the guns on the fortress charged again. With a bang, the ship's captain hit maneuvering thrusters and the ship rocketed out of the deadly beam's path. It streaked onwards and then dissipated. At the same time, Havoc fired the pulse laser turrets. They obscured the guns in bright neon light for a second, then all that remained of one turret was molten metal, smoke, and flames.
The crew on the ships cheered. Even Stanforth flashed his rare smile. "Good work, Havoc. But they'll only fall for that trick once. Now we have no other choice but to punch through that shield. Are those Archers ready?" he asked the weapons officer.
"Yes, sir," the Lieutenant replied.
"Fire at will!"
An entire row of twenty pods opened, and 720 missiles left blue trails leading to the fortress. The other two human ships took the hint and launched Archers as well.
The Admiral tapped a button, opening a COM channel. "Keep hitting the shield with anything-it can be even one missile, because it'll stop the shield from recharging. Havoc will give you constant firing solution updates to keep fire constant." The AI quickly went to work, along with the rest of the crew. Now that the ships were in atmosphere, the rear of the empty Archer pods could be opened and mechanically reloaded without explosive decompression and having techs sucked out through the pods. Techs handled the giant reloading machines, which had a five-pod by five-pod grid that could load twenty-five pods at once. The ship carried 500 bundles of thirty-six missiles, one reload for each forward and aft pod.
Swarms of Seraphs descended from their overhead cloud cover. Their energy weapons flashed and impacted on the humans' shields. The Admiral cursed and quickly gave another order out. "Dammit, where did those fighters come from? Don't divert your fire, they're trying to split our attention! Launch your own single ships to deal with them!" Longswords blasted out of the launch bays like a group of bats. Sleek teardrop Seraphs joined them out of the captured ship's bays. Their controls, like the captured ship's bridge, had been extensively modified and reconfigured for human hands. They also had FOF tags planted inside, so the heads-up display on the Longswords' windows wouldn't mark them as enemies.
The fighters fired chainguns and mini-pulse lasers. The Covenant broke their tight formation to minimize losses, but they did this too late. Several of their fighters were cut down before they even moved. The rest picked targets to engage. It was an endless cycle of chasing and being chased by enemy fighters-at least endless until one was cut into pieces by enemy fire.
The meager human fleet continued bombarding the residence of the Prophets. Every hit was shrugged off as if the MAC rounds and plasma were nothing more than mere annoyances, although a human or Covenant flagship of equal size to the fortress would have been disintegrated long before now. Granted, the aliens could not retaliate, but it was become clear that the shields weren't going down quickly, either. The ships needed time, time that was quickly running out before the next Covenant fleet was recalled.
"Havoc, this isn't working. And at this point I'm fresh out of ideas. I need you to come up with something, and fast," said Stanforth urgently.
"There is one possibility, sir. I have detected a faint network of metal, most likely piping or tunnels that lead straight from the wreckage of the plasma gun platform to the base of the fortress. This passageway is very faint and frequently blocked by things, which I assume are legions of Spec Op or other high-ranking alien veterans. Going through these will either be the key to victory or suicide. Another thing worth mentioning: there is a slight signal from a FOF tag inside the fortress. Can't get exact readings on who it is, but it's definitely worth looking at. It's your call, sir," reported Havoc.
The Admiral had his response ready. "It may be highly risky, but we have no other choice. Have James and a select elite team ready by 1900 hours. In the meantime-"
Once again, enemies descending from the atmosphere cut him off. "Alien bastards, how many times is this going to happen? In the meantime, we will engage any incoming Covenant ships. Aurora, Vengeance, Elysium, let's engage! All fighter squads: attack the fortress. Those guns are too big to track you effectively, just don't fly right in front of one and don't approach on a straight attack vector. Keep weaving back and forth. We just need you to prevent that shield from recharging!" ordered Stanforth. The fighters broke off from their battle and hit their afterburners. In an orange and blue flare, they blasted towards the fortress. Plasma from its guns streaked by, doing nothing more than making their shields flare from the heat-shockwave.
The Seraphs that the humans had been fighting pursed them, but made the mistake of running straight into the four capital ships. With a flash of plasma autocannon and pulse laser point-defense weapons, the fighters disappeared in puffballs of plasma and smoke. The Covenant ships were now in range. The tactical display screen readout showed thirteen ships charging them. Pulse lasers fired and were absorbed by the opposing ships' shields. Archer pods opened and discharged their deadly contents. A plasma bolt hit the Vengeance as it moved to cover the retreating fighters. It turned and retaliated with its twin MAC guns. The destroyer that had fired at it turned sharply to avoid one round. The other slammed into the shield, which simmered and barely shook the damage off. A second later, Archers from the Vengeance tore through the weakened barrier and crumpled the nose up like paper.
Suddenly, a giant Covenant ship descended through some cloud cover, shields glowing from a recent atmospheric descent. A turret turned and fired on the Vengeance. The silvery beam burned away at the shield, broke through it, and drew a long gash in the ship's armor. Decks could be seen through the ragged hole in Vengeance's hull.
"Damn! It's a flagship! And it has the advanced new Covenant weaponry! Concentrate fire on it! Vengeance, haul ass out of here any way you can!" yelled Stanforth. The destroyer turned and fled on full burn. It shrank to a small dot in the distance. Four frigates pulled of from the attack on the others to chase it.
"All ships, fire MAC guns! Archers to impact after!" ordered Stanforth. Six MAC rounds flashed and slammed into the shield. It winked out and two rounds smashed into the hull. Twin plasma bolts from Elysium's ship punched two gaping holes in the hull. The turret swiveled to face the Aurora.
"Watch it, Aurora! All power to forward shields now!"
The protective screen distorted as more power was channeled to the front. The turret sparked and the beam impacted. The shield glowed yellow and the beam held, then sliced through, scarring the armor with the power of a Covenant pulse laser-much of it had been stopped by the heavily reinforced shield.
The deadly beam turret on the ship swiveled and fired at the retreating Vengeance. It cut through recharging shields, meters of protitanium, and several decks. By a stroke of luck the Covenant gunners had hit an area that had been previously damaged by a pulse laser and therefore was weakened.
"Vengeance, damage report!" said the Admiral.
"Sir, we have major damage on three decks-a hole right through them. It went right through our armor plate and near our MAC capacitors-our guns are offline," responded an officer on board.
Both MAC guns offline. The Admiral knew that the offensive capabilities of the ship were seriously reduced. With only a limited amount of Archers, the ship was nearly useless in a large firefight. With one ship destroyed and another with no MAC guns, the situation was becoming more hopeless. There were no extra linear accelerator coils to replace those lost, so it could not be repaired.
One hour later…
The captured Covenant cruiser hovered over the elite team's insertion point. The human ships were in a tri-point formation, protecting it. The battle was over, with no ship sustaining any more serious damage after the flagship was brought down. James and a team of forty ODSTs floated down from the ship's gravity lift. All were armed to the teeth with both human and alien weapons. They entered the half-melted structure cautiously, crouching low and fingers on triggers. A NAV point showed on all of their HUDs, what Havoc had outlined as the door leading into the tunnel.
An ODST rounded a corner of a smoked-out control panel and saw a faint contact flicker on his motion tracker. He flicked on light amplification on his HUD and saw a shadow move behind a stack of blackened crates.
"Sir, I've got contact, my position," he said over the team's personal encrypted COM channel.
"Roger. Squad, surround the area," commanded James. The team fanned out and took up firing positions behind rubble and other cover. The Spartan moved in, assault rifle leveled. He leapt out behind the crate.
He saw a wounded Grunt lying in pain on the floor, black patches on his white armor. A needler lay nearby, but the Grunt made no move to grab it. James moved forward and jabbed the barrel of his gun in the Grunt's face.
"Alright, Grunt, you're going to tell us exactly what's down the tunnel," he said in a calm but unmistakably deadly voice. The Grunt's headpiece, aside from provided the methane for the creature, was recently upgraded to contain human to Covenant translation software so it supposedly could listen in on human orders and provide intel.
"What…tunnel?" croaked the alien through the translation software.
James whacked him with the butt of his rifle. The Grunt squealed in pain. "Don't play stupid with me! You know what tunnel I'm talking about. Tell us or die!"
"I don't know about…any tunnel," replied the Grunt slowly.
"Well, we're not getting anything out of him. Either he doesn't know anything or he's not talking," said James. He opened a channel to the ship and reported the wounded Grunt so they could capture it. His team continued on in pairs. An ODST Sergeant arrived at the blast door supposedly leading to the tunnel. He kicked it open and pointed his assault rifle through it. Nothing.
The Helljumpers were about to move in when suddenly the Sergeant's shields flared and an Elite growled.
"They're camouflaged! Open fire!" said James as he targeted a blurry outline in the wall. A Helljumper flicked on his shotgun's flashlight, making the stealth Elite a little easier to see. A few bursts from the humans' weapons and the silver alien slumped to ground.
"Damn, now they know we're here for sure. Ditch all the stealth plans, if you see one of those alien bastards, don't hesitate to blow their brains out!" said the Sergeant. "Watch your asses now…"