Chapter 3
Erin Bryant walked through the echoing corridors of the Underwater Observation Post. Well most of it was underwater. There was a small section above water where some censor equipment, telescopes, and a docking pad were.
"Lieutenant I-"
"Don't tell it to me Corporal, I can't to anything about it," Erin said as a crewman approached her with sensor readings.
She wasn't taking anymore assignments from this post. Her tour here was done and she was going back to Toronto.
She pushed open a door,
"Commander," She said while putting a few papers on the man's desk.
"This is the transferring paperwork I asked for?"
Erin nodded.
"Alright, take a seat, I'll get this processed," the Commander said as he started clicking and typing away at his computer. It looked rather funny to see the old man fiddling around with the machine, from behind the machine. Because one could not see what was on the screen and the Commander seemed to have a habit of making odd expressions when concentrating.
Erin had been posted at this place for just over a year. She hadn't even been ashore for that time, the soldiers here lived in constant fear that a Covenant ship would somehow find the station and bomb it. That fear had been at the back of everyone's head for as long as Erin knew, but ever since the Covenant found Earth and had the audacity to set they're hoofs on its soil, that fear was on everyone's mind non-stop.
"Alright Erin, your data has been transferred, now get to the surface, the ships' leaving soon."
The two stood up and saluted each other.
Aboard Orbital Defence Station Gehenna's Wing 2:
The station's MAC gun recoiled after spiting another round into space, blasting a Damaged Covenant cruiser to bits.
"That's one more down sir," the Officer manning the gun reported in.
"Admiral! Enemy Cruiser's have broken the barrier, their in direct route to Earth, one has already penetrated the Atmosphere," The tactical Officer reported.
"Private," The Admiral said to a Marine working on a Communications console.
"Wire a message to ALL UNSC Command centers on Earth. We have a broken link."
"Admiral, the Cruiser just destroyed an underwater observation post!" the Tactical Officer reported.
Earth, above the Atlantic Ocean:
The ship flew at top speed, in its attempt to outrun the shock wave generated when the Station exploded. The Marine's in the ship stared out the window in terror as debris skipped across the ocean's surface like giant molten stones.
Erin glanced out the window, now obviously she's seen Covenant Battle Cruisers before, on screens and holograms, but NEVER in real life. This thing was truly a monster. It filled up the whole sky, and lit it up with its plasma weapons and its massive engines, well, if you can call them that, there were no obvious engine exhaust points on it. It was like a big blue teardrop with a claw hooking under it and almost touching the larger back area. It pushed water out of the way via it's anti gravity system. There was a gold tint in the sky, Erin thought she knew what this was, she was right. A UNSC Battlecruiser jumped through the clouds, swooping down and blasting the enemy ship. It looked like it did a great deal of damage to the shields of the Covenant cruiser. The teardrop was pushed down slightly by the assault of the brown block like UNSC ship. This was the most amazing site any Marine has probably ever seen. Two HUGE starships, engaging in combat on a planet, not in orbit, not in the atmosphere but only a few hundred meters from the surface. The UNSC ship was extremely agile for something that big. The even bigger destroyers couldn't move like that, this one was a Battlecruiser. It was meant to be able to torment the much larger Covenant Battle cruisers, in a fight between the Covenant and Human starships, the Humans were almost always outgunned, outnumbered, and out defended, if you can say that.
The UNSC Battlecruiser shot straight up, curved a bit in the air, and slammed its engines forcing it down again, launching a myriad of weapons into the enemy ship. Then something unexpected happened, as the UNSC vessel was pulling up it's right hand rear engine clipped the nose of the Covenant ship. Brown metal was sent flying in all directions, and the engine began to absorb its own debris. A wave of shock rippled throughout the Marines onboard the ship speeding away from the destroyed installation.
The UNSC ship tried its hardest to move upward again, it was probably trying to breach the atmosphere, because if it stayed in an area with gravity, the lack of that engine would have it dragged into the ocean. The ships exterior plating began flaking off, and the damaged engine looked as though it was only hanging on by a thread. Boom. The engine exploded at its joining point, flew off the ship and extreme speeds and slammed into the Covenant Battlecruiser. Lighting up the sky even more. Now the Marines in Erin's ship were screaming, gasping, and all around terrified. The air was alive with the hum of engines as the burning behemoth roared over the tiny transport. Every last Marine on board raced to the other side of the ship to try and look out the window.
Toronto:
"Sir, reports are coming in from New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland, it seems that the Covenant Battlecruiser that penetrated the OBC just shot down a UNSC Battlecruiser just a few miles off shore. AFTER destroying an underwater observation post.
"God damnit, I don't like where this is going," Major Gordon Redward muttered.
"Major, the Cruiser is headed DIRECTLY towards the Megacity, we're going to need all the Marines that we have, this could get very nasty. ONI won't let the OBC give us anymore ships after that one was shot down. We're on our own."
A nurse walked into a brightly lit hospital room, he heard the TV going as army boots clapped along the tiled floor. Inside was a soldier packing a bag, he looked decently tall, had dark skin, probably mixed race, and extremely short hair. The nurse looked at his clipboard for the man's name.
"Lieutenant Wood, the transport is here,"
Andrew nodded as he put his hand on his back and winced a bit.
He walked out of the room.
"Wood, good to see you in one piece,"
"Thank God for neighborhood watch I guess," Andrew said lightly. In reference to the person who called the Police after hearing shots.
The Major and the Lieutenant stepped into an elevator.
"The Doctors say you have a strong will, normally they don't let patients out a week after a gunshot wound like yours, but you know, their being forced to. I hope you aren't too tired." Major Redward said to the very quiet Andrew before the elevator doors slid open revealing the hospital rooftop.
The two Officers walked out of the elevator and towards the ramp leading to the transport.
Erin Bryant and the transport Pilot walked down the ramp to meet the two Marines coming towards it (the ramp). The four Soldiers saluted each other,
"First Lieutenant Erin Bryant, this is AFC (Airman First Class) Kevin Walker. He will be with us the entire operation." Erin said as she introduced herself and the Pilot to the other two Marines.
"Major Gordon Redward,"
"Second Lieutenant Andrew Wood,"
Major Redward wouldn't be coming along with them for this Operation. He was needed back at HQ.
"Heard you were a Reaper," Erin said to Andrew as the door to the transport sealed shut.
"I am a Reaper Ma'am," Andrew said to the Officer.
"No Ma'am, I only outrank you by one rank, and lets both admit it, there's more trust between Marine's when we're on a first name basis,"
Andrew nodded and smiled. He was fine with that. This person looked like a competent Soldier, Andrew could tell that about people right off the bat usually.
The transport rumbled off the platform, and the Marine's on board all got that light feeling you get when hovering.
I can tell, there's something bothering her in the back of her mind…Andrew thought to himself.