Chapter 4
Erin and Andrew walked out of the transport, Andrew with one hand over his forehead to block out the sun.
"Commander Solomon," a man walked up to the Marines coming out of the transport. He shakes hands with Andrew and Erin,
The two introduce themselves.
"What do we have Commander?" Erin asked over the roar of the transport engines and the mess of other mechanized noise pollutants.
Andrew stood back from the Commander with the other Marines; he had barely said anything since he had been shot.
"We're expecting the first wave of Phantoms to do a fly by here. Our job is plain and simple, kill 'em all. We can't let them get to the cities core, the MAC cannon in the middle of the city will try and damage the cruiser to the point that it retreats, then we can take it out in space, where it wont take half the city with it.
Erin was about to say something but waited until a patrol of Longswords screamed past. The sounds of their engines echoed for a good two minutes. Aggravating the Lieutenant.
"What do you want us to do?" She finally asked, referring to the group of Marines standing behind her.
"Artillery. Make sure it stays alive, they're our best bet at removing those phantoms. The Covenant will try to land within their blind spot and take them out by killing the Marines manning them, then likely they will turn them against our Longswords, OR, detonate the shells, and we don't want that. If –" The Marines looked up to the sky,
"Fucking Hell, they're early…"
The Artillery commander swung his hand forward while screaming some orders. Then the AAA guns let loose, they began blasting furiously at the sky, trying to destroy the Elite drop pods before they hit the ground, they did a good job, but the sheer number of the Elite's was too many.
"Commander, the Civilians?" Andrew said spinning Solomon around by his shoulder,
"Evacuated."
Andrew nodded. And prayed Solomon wasn't just saying that because he knew that's what Andrew wanted to hear.
The Marines were stationed on a large building, not high at all, maybe 20 floors, but that was in the central column, the majority of the Marines were on the extremely broad section of the building, reminiscent of the Pentagon building. But it was circular, and was solid; it didn't have any gaps, just a solid roof.
Scorpion tanks, Warthogs, and all kinds of war machines scurried around below.
"PHANTOMS!" one of the spotters yelled. The marines started to point their artillery guns lower. One got there before the others and fired off a shell directly into the front of a phantom, the beast exploded into a billion pieces in the air, the burning wreck slammed into the ground. It was a lucky shot.
The ships flew over the Marines, letting loose a wave of Grunts and Jackals, some Elites.
Andrew placed his battle rifle level to his eyes after tossing a frag out. He squeezed the hair trigger gently, and watched as three shots slammed into a Grunt's face, Andrew decided it'd be best to switch to single shot to conserve ammo, he had killer aim too, so it's not like it would hurt.
The elevator door opened to the seventh floor balcony of the tower in the middle of the structure. The balcony wrapped around the entire structure. Allowing snipers on all sides. Erin and several other Marines burst out, and began setting up spotting posts and Sniper rifles. Erin motioned for a spotter to be positioned beside her. The spotters could direct air strikes, artillery, and snipers. They were also highly trained Snipers, so that if their partner was killed they could take over.
Erin pulled back the bolt on the side of her rifle and readied it to take out some Covenant bastards.
A Grunt helplessly waddled into her Crosshairs.
The Marines below heard the crack of the Sniper rifles beginning to level the Covvie forces. They all felt a little calmer inside, with a sniper, especially a lot of them, you were a lot safer, that is, if they're on your side.
"Uh oh, Phantoms back!" Someone said over the intercom that connected the Marines.
The last few jackals and Grunts fell, well, the ones that weren't hiding.
Andrew raced away from his position out in the open. To behind a steel barricade, with a dozen or so Marines behind it as well. He propped himself up on the sandbags on the inside, (the sandbags are placed on the inside rather than on the outside because the Covenant plasma bolts get so hot that they can melt through the metal, and if they do they can be stopped by the sandbags. It's like snuffing a fire with dirt.)
Andrew reloaded his Battle Rifle. He had seen combat before, and he knew all to well what was coming next. He could hear plasma artillery from Wraith tanks all around him; the fucking bastards had landed. He looked to the sky, towering above the city was a Covenant Battle Cruiser, he could see the bit of damage the UNSC Battle Cruiser had done to it. But there wasn't much. Andrew decided to not look back unless he needed to, its not good for the morale to see something like that, and know that its hostile.
"PHANTOMS HAVE UNLOADED!" The Marines hear in their earpieces.
Andrew dropped his rifle and grabbed a hold of the turret that was aiming at the Elites advancing towards them. He opened up.
The flashes coming from the muzzle of the turret were almost blinding to the Aliens.
"What's that?" Erin asked her observer, then proceeding to give the directions.
The spotter looked through their advanced binoculars. It was alive whatever it –
"Shoot it," the spotter said.
Without questioning the person of a lower rank, without even saying a word, Erin responded with a crack of the Rifle.
Andrew heard a crack, then the sound of a bullet hitting concrete behind him, he spun around leaving the turret unmanned for a moment, to see a cloud of purple blood vanish into the air and an Elite drop out of nowhere and land on the ground. About three seconds later blood began pouring liberally from its back, where the shot had exited. The bastard. A cloaked Elite.
Andrew looked through his binoculars, he could see Erin up in the Sniper perch, and she was aiming in his direction, the muzzle of her rifle smoking. He would have to thank her later.
Andrew got back on his turret, and began blasting away at the Elites. Then for some odd reason he glanced to the other side of the Battlefield, there were six Marines, one of them being Commander Solomon, they weren't doing so well. And their turret was damaged. Andrew looked to his left. This barricade has three turrets! He pulls out one of the turrets. Then motions to three Marine's,
Erin could see Andrew making a run for Solomon's position, with three Marines' and a turret. He was attracting a lot of attention from the Elites, she decided to cover him.
Andrew could feel the ground rumbling from the Artillery, turrets, weapons in general, Hunters. Hunters! It seemed to take forever to get there but he did it, with all three Marines.
"COMMANDER! GET ME A LINKUP TO LIEUTENANT BRYANT!" Andrew screamed to Solomon over the deafening racket of combat.
The commander nodded then motioned to the Marine in control of the radio.
"Erin you there?" Andrew said over the radio.
"Lieutenant!" the spotter said to Erin while they motioned to the direct line radio.
Erin tried to listen to the radio, instead of the Battle.
"Erin we have Hunters, I'm going to deflect their shields with suppression fire from my turret, you need to cap them, are we good?" Andrew said trough the radio.
Erin acknowledged him by giving the thumbs up from the sniper perch. She was kind of interested that they were on a first name basis when they had only met about an hour ago. Yet she was perfectly comfortable with it.
Andrew got up to fire the turret, but a sudden sharp pain forced him down again behind the barricades. He held his side, where the exit wound was.
"Andrew? Are you hit?"
Andrew could hear Erin's voice through the radio.
"I'm fine!" Andrew yelled in order for the sound to get through the radio over the noise of the battle, and he wasn't close enough to the radio.
Andrew let loose on a Hunter, the monster's shield instinctively moved to intercept the shots, but the alien under-estimated the strength of the bullets. These turrets were relatively new, and they kicked ass.
The Hunter's shield went up, exposing its orange belly; Erin took the initiative to fire the first and last shot.
The bullet entered from the side, almost tearing the beast in half. Andrew smiled, the plan works. He was caught off guard.
Solomon had just tossed a Grenade out to clear an Elite and some Grunts. Andrew looked back to see a Hunter powering up his Fuel Rod Cannon, then looked back to see Solomon's hand moving down to pick up his rifle again to finish the Elite off. It seemed to happen in slow motion, the green streak tore through the air, Andrew, who was about seven meters away, could even feel the heat. Solomon's rifle was torn apart by the blast, then his head soon followed suit.
A spray of red defiled the air behind Solomon's body. The decapitated Commander landed on the ground sprawled out.
Andrew opened up again; he got the Hunter from the side, as it was lurching forward. The beast was literally torn apart by the bullets.
A roaring sound suddenly shattered all other sounds in the area. UNSC and Covenant alike, they all looked into the sky, the Longswords were back. They released their cargo. Not all of it, which would be overkill, and also have some unintended effects on the friendly combatants, just the right amount to level the playing field a bit. The Marine's were sorely outnumbered, and their numbers were steadily falling. Orange flames engulfed the most Covenant occupied areas of the mile long building roof. It was a beautiful site to see. The enemy slaughtered so efficiently. But now there were massive holes punched into the concrete and steel roof. And the Marines wondered how long the building would stay up.
Another roaring sound, the Marines vision changed to witness the Pelicans dropping re enforcement's, Warthogs, and Scorpion tanks. The Covenant forces began to retreat, or regroup. Andrew wouldn't let them. He hated them, because of them he had been forced to tell all those people that they would never see their loved ones again. Now he was ensuring that the Covenant would get the same damned message.
"Command is sending a BattleCruiser!" The Marine's heard in their helmets.
"My God! We're going to win!" Andrew yelled while firing his turret.
"PHANTOMS BACK!"
Suddenly an Elite drop pod landed a few meters behind Andrew. It burst open and a Gold Elite wielding a plasma sword leaped out.
It swiped through a Marine instantly upon 'unsheathing'. Andrew knew his turret was nearly out of ammo, and was seriously damaged, he let it go. Andrew looked around for a weapon; he had left his rifle at the post where he got the turret. Fuck. He could think of only one thing to do, because of his close proximity to the edge of the structure, he ran at the Elite. The alien slashed at Andrew's neck. Andrew fell deliberately on his back, raising one foot and kicking the Elite in the stomach. He hit it like a freight train. The Elite staggered back, roaring. Andrew jumps up and grabs the Elite's wrist. Somehow managing the strength the break it, along with his own hand, causing the Elite to drop the sword. Suddenly the Elite's armored hand slams into Andrew's gut. He could feel several things breaking and going wrong inside him.
Pulling himself together, he spun his foot under the Elite's foot causing it to fall on its side. Andrew thrust his metal boot into the Elite's side, each kick forcing it closer to the edge. He felt something give inside the Elite as he finally kicked it over the edge.
Erin finished off her Ammo supply. Then glanced back to Andrew's position to see how he was doing. She couldn't see him; all she saw was Solomon's headless body, the two halves of a Marine, A LOT of blood, and a few fires. She dropped her rifle and ran back into the elevator, hit ground, readied her SMG and waited.
"MEDIC!" Andrew screamed while coughing up blood and clutching at his stomach. Plasma bolts and Bullets raced past him as he carelessly walked out into the Battle.
Erin blasted her way through a cluster of Grunts surrounding Andrew's last known Position. Nothing, wait. She looked through all the helmets on the ground. She picked one up, 'WOOD' was printed on the back, its Andrew's. She hears something in the distance. It's Andrew. He's barely able to stand, he is unarmed, his breastplate it cracked down the middle, making it just a weak piece of metal, and his helmet is in Erin's hands.
A loud mechanical roaring. The sky turns red for a few seconds, and six, SIX Light Battle Cruiser jump through the clouds.
"MARINES! PULL BACK, THEIR PURGING IT!" the voice echoes throughout the headsets of all the Marines.
The Battlecruisers will wait as long as they can, then, their blasting this place.
Erin dropped her SMG, buckled her helmet to make sure it didn't fall off, and ran as fast as she could towards Andrew, his helmet in hand.
"ANDREW WE GOTTA LEAVE NOW THIER GOING TO TORCH THIS PLACE!" Erin yelled over the roaring engines above. She gave Andrew his helmet. He put it on and bucked it with his one good hand. She placed her arm around him to guide him towards the drop ships, his back felt like mush, something really beat him up. Couldn't have been a Hunter, he would be in pieces. Of course, this is Andrew Wood, not a normal Marine.
The drop ship's rear gunner trained his turret on the two Marine's running towards the ship, he might have to fire past them if there were any Covenant threatening them or the ship. They got close enough, he started firing on the remaining Covvies, wow. More Wraith tanks and Ghosts we're appearing on the roof of the building. The Covenant didn't know what was about to happen?
The two Marines jumped onto the Drop Ship. It was now at full capacity, there were a lot of wounded Marine's on it. The infirmary at the base couldn't help them much so the Drop Ship pilot was instructed to take them to a hospital, Toronto Western. The Battle Cruisers began charging their weapons.
"We're off!" The pilot exclaimed over the intercom.
It was a hot day again. The air rippled above the concrete. Dropships and Longsword bombers flew around the skies of Toronto. It would take a while to recover from the Battle, but they won. It cost a lot but they won. A black Car drove down the street, this neighborhood seemed quite well to do, of coarse, it was a suburb. A nice clean suburb. Being here you wouldn't have even known the Battle had taken place in Toronto's core, but it was all over the news, and there was just no way not to know.
The car stopped outside a cookie cutter house. Flags that read 'support our troops', and United Nations Space Command waved outside of it in the breeze. Erin Bryant opened the door of the car. She glanced at her shoulder in the side mirror, the two silver bars looked out of place, 'Captain'. A high rank didn't suit her. Not in her mind. She pulled on her white gloves and grabbed the brown envelope on the seat beside her. She didn't want to do this, but she didn't want anyone else to do it. Erin cursed the Covenant for ever existing.
"Fuck" she said under her breath as she closed the car door. Now she knew why Andrew hated doing this. She jogged up to the house with her hat under her right arm, left if you were looking at her from the front, and walked up the three stairs that led to the bright yellow door. She knocks three times.
A man came to the door. Seeing she was from the UNSC he called his wife over.
Erin knew what to say, but she was instructed to read it off the paper, because it's more formal, but she always though it was so that the Messenger didn't have to make eye contact with the people, and so that they had something to do with their hands.
"Sir and Madam, the United Nations Space Command regrets to inform you that your son, Andrew K. Wood, was killed in the line of duty, on an operation that was essential to winning the war."
Erin's voice cracked a bit during the delivery. She was forbidden to say anything else than words of comfort, or official things, like where the dead Soldier's uniform could be picked up.
Erin handed the mother the brown envelope.
"You worked with him" Andrew's mother said.
Erin nodded while looking away as she walked back to the car. She was going to drive back to base and demand a transfer from Major Redward.
Thanks to everyone who read this story and who left a review! I honestly didn't think anyone would. But it turns out it's my most successful next to 'Rines. Which I never finished. I've grown quite fond of the Erin Bryant character, so expect to see her in future fan fictions. Now I'm off to work on my next FF, StarCraft: The Red Moon Insurgency.
-Will