As the haze of dust, dirt, and debris slowly lifted, the 25th Tactical readied their weapons and began a quick sweep of the area. The small camp set up was flimsy and ill-protected. A few medical tents surrounded by mounted machine guns and a landing area for transports were all that stood in the way of a Covenant assault group and a city full of evacuating civilians. JP's eyes quickly squinted at a flash of white light in the nearby forest, which was quickly accompanied by a low boom. He saw the Pelican they had just flown in on drop an empty shell, still smoking all the way into the dirt below. Another round entered the chamber as it hovered nearby.
"Wahoo! You sure weren't kidding, sir!" An awestruck marine shouted through his helmet. A crackly laugh came through the static in all of their ears.
"I told you guys. I got your backs till the end. Orders tell me I have to patrol the cities, but I'd much rather make sure you guys have a quick exit when you need it. And nukes, too." Jas replied.
"Sir, what are our orders?" JP quietly asked. The others looked at him with astonishment. The greenie had not only spoken up, he'd asked a very logical question. After all, they really didn't have established objectives. Silence fell over the channel for a brief moment before the familiar voice returned.
"Well, according to my plans, you guys are to move southeast towards the forest. There will be a valley you can travel along about 1 and a half clicks away which should give you defilade from any of their scouts. At the end of a valley there will be a large clearing which I can see from here. There is a Covenant assault team holding a communications tower that will give us a view of their entire troop movement in this hemisphere. Your job is to capture it and hold it at all costs. I'll do my best to clear you a path; just make sure you move fast. Ready?"
"Roger, we'll start moving now!" Their sergeant shouted. "Let's go men! There's killin' to do." JP's heart skipped a beat as his mind entered survival mode. He brought his rifle to his shoulder and took a readied stance. His unit moved quickly and quietly into the forest, passing the wore-out guards manning their guns. With a quick salute, they entered the woods. The familiar chirping of birds and rustling of leaves was replaced by the eerie silence, broken only by the distant sounds of war and the occasional rake of gunfire from the pelican as it mopped up a Covenant scout group.
"Look alive, greenie, we're entering the valley now." A vet whispered to JP as they began a sharp descent into a small valley. JP looked somewhat perplexed at the idea of calling it a valley. To him, it was more like a large ditch. But it didn't matter that much – cover was cover. If it stopped him from dying, he wouldn't care what they called it. There was enough room to hide if they needed, but they weren't interested in hiding. They were quickly moving through the foliage at a grueling pace. At this rate, they'd be in the clearing in moments, firing and receiving fire with Covenant troops.
"Another 5 minutes and you're there. Hang in there guys. You're all clear up until the clearing. I'll try to make you some craters to hide in and mop up whatever I can. I don't have many more nukes on hand, but I got enough bullets to hold 'em all off until you're already taking the tower." Jas shouted over the intercom. JP gripped his rifle tight and ignored his fears and fatigue. The clearing became visible quickly, along with smoking pits of dirt from where the pelican had gave them foxholes. They quickly found themselves diving for cover in the large holes, bringing their weapons up to fire into the opening. There were Covenant grunts everywhere. They were small, awkward-looking midgets standing barely a few feet tall. Yet as small as they seemed, their plasma pistols could cut right through a man in a matter of moments. JP threw himself into a hole and rested his rifle on the ground, lining up his shots. They were outnumbered easily ten to one. He swallowed his fear and squeezed the trigger. Three quick rounds penetrated the helmet of a nearby grunt, releasing the methane gas they thrived off of. With a shrill cry, the grunt fell. Time seemed to freeze. Everything around him became distant, and he focused only on the moment. He had killed one. An enemy soldier had fallen to his hands. This was what he had trained for. This is what he had waited for. Time returned loudly, with a bright flash. Another nuclear round shattered a pair of Covenant tanks that had targeted them. The Pelican hovered overhead like a beacon of safety to the troops. The grunts were dropping like flies, and the Marines seemed unstoppable. JP grinned and line up his next shot.
"I want two Longswords behind me! Pasley, I want you leading the second wing. All ships form attack pattern 7-niner-niner-3." Nikota ordered. David quickly punched the code into his targeting computer and saw the readout below him. Autopilot assisted him into the formation with a slight burst in speed. The two pronged attack completely ignored the two Covenant ships in front of them and continued to the largest ship, the destroyer, in the back.
"Lieutenant, I don't think this will work! What should we do if it doesn't?" A nervous pilot asked. Nikota responded quickly and matter-of-factly.
"Continue the attack until we die or they die. Whichever comes first." David analyzed the attack once again as they swooped past the second ship. Plasma beams fired everywhere, narrowly missing their wing. "Alright, get ready to unleash your payload and make SURE you set your autopilot to follow me and match speed. I don't think any of you are ready to try this on your own. Pasley, is your side ready?"
"Roger that, Lieutenant – all of us are accounted for and ready. Autopilot has been set." David replied. His wingmen did as he and set their computers to follow Nikota after they'd fired. The destroyer's main plasma cannon charged up with an eerie glow.
"Get ready to fire on my mark!" Nikota shouted. Their fingers sat itchy on the trigger, begging to be scratched. The plasma cannon whirred and began its firing sequence.
"FIRE!" She practically screamed. The pilots did as ordered, and their payloads of missiles and bombs flew directly towards the shields where they would hopefully make an effect. The shield dropped as the cannon turned to fire at the perfectly lined up group of fighters from which the missiles had come. Most of them shattered on the engines of the ship with little effect, but their presence had infuriated the captain. To think that a small wing of fighters had the gall to attack the greatest fighting vessel ever conceived! The plasma round fired towards the single-file line of fighters.
"Lt. Nikota! The plasma round is firing!" A pilot yelled. Nikota was one step ahead of him, her hands deftly working the throttle and the controls.
"Roger! BREAK! Engage afterburners and set vertical angle to 90 degrees!" Nikota ordered. The pilots quickly jammed back on their flight sticks and pressed the little red button on their fighters throttle. Nitoka had snuck into David's ship and crudely wrote "GO BABY GO" on his afterburner button. Now, Dave saw why. The sudden acceleration almost knocked him out, his ship shooting straight up like a bullet.
As all the fighters broke from their pattern and avoided the shot, it was only then that the Covenant captain saw his fatal error. The fighters had flown in a straight line directly towards a Covenant troop transport vessel and a medical frigate behind it. The plasma round would easily cut through the troop ship and hopefully be stopped by the medical frigate. The round smashed into the transports shield, rendering it useless. The blast punched a hole through the whole ship, essentially destroying it. The ships communications recorded a brief SOS message as all the Covenant soldiers on board suddenly died. The round continued, however, as the captain looked in dismay. He would surely be executed for his actions. The round punctured the medical frigates shield, and finally entered the ship, where it lost momentum and barely ate through. The captain and his crew were shocked. How could they have made such a mistake? As the dust settled, they looked to see if the frigate would survive. They looked just in time to see a MAC tungsten round from a UNSC destroyer decimate the rest of the vessel. Another round shot straight through the holes in both the ships, rocketing straight for the now-cooling plasma cannon.
"Restore shields!" The captain barked furiously. The crew desperately worked to restore power to the shields from the cannon.
"Sir, we can only restore 25 of the shields until the cannon has fully cooled!" The first-mate cried. The captain looked in horror as the MAC round tore into the plasma cannon. The ship shook as the cannon overloaded with energy and imploded. The resulting explosion from the cannon's destruction was enough to not only completely disintegrate the entire ship, but destroy a small wing of ships that were heading to repair the medical frigate.
Captain Ward rested his hand on Schroeder's shoulder. They both shook almost uncontrollably.
"You don't know how many lives you've saved, Schroeder. You just don't know."
"Thompson! Charles! Move left and flank 'em! There's an outcrop of rocks that should cover you. Put some fire on the big guys so the rest can push through the middle! Pasley, Schneider, Pearce – when I give you the go I want to you charge straight ahead and get to that tower and do not stop no matter what! The rest of you marines cover them! When they're at the tower I want you going in groups of three!" Jas barked through the radio. His pelican had sustained light damage from ground fire, but he was out of nukes and low on ammo. If he timed this right, they could finish their mission quickly from the safety of the tower. He watched the two marines scramble to the left and dive behind the boulders. Using the opportunity to their advantage, Jas' bullets howled into the shields of the elite troopers. As the shields overheated and dispersed, the rifle rounds from the marines finished the job easily. With that done, they focused on the grunts. Drawing their fire away from the other marines, Jas issued the command.
"GO!" Without wasting a moment, the three bewildered troops sprinted to the open main door of the tower, diving in. JP slid on the ground on his chest plate. His heart was racing. To compound his fear, his eye-piece beeped its familiar warning of nearby enemies. It read a grunt less than a meter away. Without thinking, JP brought up his rifle. A loud bang echoed off of the cold, steel walls. The methane-stained blood smeared on the floor as the grunts lifeless body collapsed. JP had not fired a shot. Pearce stood there defiantly, the barrel of his pistol smoking. The hollow clank of the empty casing hit the ground, and with a quick bounce, settled at his feet.
"That was hardcore." Schneider gasped calmly, picking himself up. JP stood too, and the man that was Justin Pearce lowered his pistol. Now he was a killer, and he couldn't be more proud of himself. With the squeeze of the trigger, he had saved his friends life. They stared at each other briefly, with a silent understanding and thanks of the situation. Soon, three more marines barreled in from the field.
"Excellent work, men! I'm reading less than 10 grunts left on the field, and they're regrouping behind that hill! Finish them off and the tower will be secure. I'm out of ammo, so I'm heading back to the LZ to reload and possibly evacuate some civilians. Will you guys be okay?" The voice that came through was happy, proud, and friendly. Their sergeant confirmed their situation, and Jas was on his way. He knew they'd risked everything for one solitary tower in the middle of nowhere, and they couldn't have done a better job. The last few marines entered the tower and closed up the doors, barricading them with the body of the dead grunt and a few empty supply cases – both human and Covenant. A few of the troops head to the top room of the tower to monitor the enemy activity. The room had a large balcony that wrapped around the top, giving them a perfect vantage point of their targets. A few marines entered the dusty communication room just below the top floor and went to work powering up the equipment. The last few stayed near the bottom to guard the doors.
The tower consisted of a large spiral staircase that hugged the walls. It went up 200 feet before the first room, which was mainly a storage room. The floor doubled as a lift and elevator for supplies. Further up the spiral, 50 feet from the storage room, was what appeared to be a bunk room and mess area for the troops stationed there. It comfortably held four men stationed there. Another 50 feet up was the communications room itself. It was smaller, letting the soldier's notice that the tower was getting narrower. Although the tower itself wasn't that wide to begin with, the topmost floors added the fear of claustrophobia. There were very few windows, and when there was one, it was tiny at best. The last 50 feet of stairs led to the observation room and balcony. It was a perfect snipers nest. You could see miles in any direction.
Pasley stood on the balcony, his rifle readied, as he took aim at the last few grunts. They'd begun a slow march towards the tower. He counted seven. He motioned for Schneider and Pearce to join him. They were soon joined by Thompson, a lance corporal in his company. Together, they picked their targets.
"Alright, this should be easy. Shoot as soon as they're at 100 yards from the tower. Aim for below their breathing tubes. Their speed, combined with recoil and distance should land you a direct hit in the face." Thompson instructed. He wasn't a tall man, but his skin was tan. He seemed happy-go-lucky, yet intelligent. A few moments went by. Finally, the relative tranquility of the field was suddenly and briefly pierced by the sound of quick, individual shots. Nine shots later, the seven grunts lay dead. JP and Brandon Thompson shared a quick laugh at the first shots from Mark and Justin. Both shots had missed because they'd fired too early at their targets. Brandon had finished both of their targets off.
"Don't worry guys. I'm not going to bug you about it. You both did well today. The whole team did outstanding considering we only lost a couple of guys. Perhaps what the 25th needed was some new blood after all." Brandon mused with a smirk. The troops stood stoically on the balcony and looked in the distance. To the west, a city was covered in a fog of smoke. Transports were desperately evacuating civilians and dropping marines to stop the Covenant waves. To the east, another city was much in the same situation. Thankfully, both cities were so far away, they were not in direct harm of either. The tower they were in was originally constructed as an emergency relay station in case anything happened to either city. Now, it was the primary communications relay between the northern hemisphere of Reach and the rest of the human race. The sun was setting, and in the darker part of the sky the soldiers could even see their great battleships continuing to engage the mighty vessels of the Covenant. It almost seemed like a dream.
Below them, in the communications room, lance corporal Matthew Charles had finally fixed the short-range radio. Its meager range of 100 miles left them mostly in the dark, but they needed to know what was going on in the cities nearby.
"I got it! Everyone get in here!" Charles shouted. Within moments, every soldier had crowded into the room as Charles activated the radio. They were mortified.
"I've got three Covenant dropships coming down on sector 4! Need backup!"
"Negative, lieutenant – we do not have enough troops! I want you to retreat back to sector 3 and regroup with the 209th!"
"… Massive civilian casualties. I'm guessing at least 80..."
"Negative ghost rider, pattern is full! Repeat cross and – "
"…. BREAK AWAY… UNDER HEAVY FIRE…"
"Don't… don't let… negative… too many…"
"We're dying here, where is that backup!"
"… Already dead…"
"….Impossible… artillery requested… nuclear… authorized for use on… no civilians left…"
"This is Lt. Giovanni Scalia! I'm hit bad and crash landing in sector 4! Repeat – MAYDAY – MAYDAY!"