Stage 26: Fire your weapon, soldier!
Last Age: Fall of the Forerunner Empire
Three days after Halo 04 Activation
A brilliant flash of light ruptured across space and the Ark appeared from nothingness. The ship slowly stopped its forward motion and the two crew members looked at each other as they stared at the distant star.
"Where are we?" Litran questioned as she looked at the tiny sun in the distance through the screen that appeared in front of her. At the bottom of the command deck, Bitran walked to the navigations computer and checked the logs.
"I programmed a random jump. The computer is scanning for recognizable…" Bitran paused as the screen flashed to life. "Dessaranth?"
"What?" Litran glanced at the screen as the video magnified two fold, showing a small molten world. Dessaranth was the third planetoid from the small sun and in the past it had two moons, now only one satellite orbited the uninhabitable world. "That was once our home, during the time of our ancestors. How did we come here?" Litran looked down to the navigation system and watched as Bitran scanned the computer display.
"All random jump coordinates are the same." Bitran replied. "The stellar navigation coordinates will not change. The ship won't reenter slip space. This is not right." Litran walked down from her command pedestal and stood at the helm controls.
"This is not a good time to be stuck in space." She tossed her long red hair over her shoulder and sat at the controls. She pressed several controls but nothing happened. "The helm is locked."
"What?"
"A pre set path has been programmed. We're heading for Dessaranth."
After several moments the Ark entered the thin toxic atmosphere that once supported human life. It was now nothing but a thin layer of ash which was caught in the gravity field when hundreds of volcanoes erupted, spewing their magma and gasses into the vastness of space. The Arks landing gears extended and the ship lurched to a stop.
Litran looked at Bitran, "That was the automated landing procedure, but why here? We can't rebuild our race on an uninhabitable world."
Bitran walked to another system and read the display, "The Ark is ready to transmit the instructions to the Seed ship. It's ready to reactivate to begin repopulating the selected worlds."
"No, not until we figure out what we are doing on this world." Suddenly the Ark began to shake violently. A massive system deep within the ship was transforming and several of the ships systems began to expand upward out of the ships hull. "What…"
Bitran glanced at the computer counsel, "By the Gods! Atmosphere processors initializing?" Bitran raced to the command deck's rear door and grabbed his helmet. "Litran, Come on!" The two reclaimers sealed their armor and raced to the exit hatch near the command deck. The gravity lift powered on and they jumped inside and were lifted to the top hatch. They exited the ship and walked along the top of the massive hull as several circular vents opened along the top. Bitran counted nine vents along the Ark's upper hull, and each vent had a ten foot radius.
"Bitran, what's happening?" Without warning a thick cloud of white steam began to spew out of the vents at a powerful rate. The cloud like steam hissed as it exited the ship and Bitran noticed that his visor was beginning to become saturated with condensation. He then checked his readings by placing his hand into one of the vent's powerful streams. Litran nervously grabbed him, fearing that something might happen, but she was overjoyed when he began to shockingly cheer.
"It's oxygen!" Bitran shouted. "Nitrogen, Argon, Carbon Dioxide and various other elements, but it is simply Oxygen." A rumble of thunder roared overhead as the atmosphere shifted slowly. Pressure was changing and soon rain began to fall upon Litran and Bitran's head. Bitran cheered even more, thrilled that the Ark could perform such a task.
"Bitran, the founders never told us the ship could do this." Litran nervously added. "This isn't right."
"The Gods of the founders are forever wise, Litran. They have always kept secrets, even from their most trusted servants. Perhaps the founders didn't know what the Ark was capable of. Think about it, it's perfect. Who would ever come to a dead world looking for us?"
"But the Law Keepers found a way to keep their memories. Once the Seed ship awakens them, they'll come after us."
"Why would they come here? If the law keepers are able to find a way to remember, then they would know that our home world was destroyed; uninhabitable. All of the records within the Forerunner Empire state that Dessaranth is nothing more than a rock in space. They would never come here to look for us." Bitran grabbed Litran by the shoulders and gazed into her reclaimer armor's reflective mask. "We are free. Free from the empire, free from the law keepers hatred, and free from the title of reclaimers. We do not have to serve the founders any longer."
"Free?" Litran questioned. Her entire life had been in service to the empire. Fighting, conquest, and subduing rebellions, was it all finally over? She sat on the hull as Bitran continued to cheer the exciting possibilities of being free from the empire's powerful grasp.
Two months passed and the Ark continued to vent its planet regenerating chemicals into the sky. An atmosphere had once again reformed and the sun shined brilliantly through a blue sky. Lakes had formed from the constant showers and distant storms cast rainbows across the horizon.
Bitran and Litran walked to the rear of the ship and neared a small room. They stepped into the room and once again marveled at the rows of DNA samples that lined the system of terminals. For the past ten days they had been growing the various creatures that would be the first life forms upon their new home.
"It'll take time to bring them all back. And then we can create more of us. Enough to rebuild and reproduce naturally, the way the Forerunners demanded of us." Bitran examined the list of creatures that were soon to reach maturity and Litran hugged him affectionately.
"The only good thing that Law Keepers have shown us is the consequence of too much cloning. Their bodies are frail and weak. They live long lives but suffer greatly for their constant cloning practices. I only wish we could have warned the founders of the Law Keepers deeds."
"Don't concern yourself with it any longer, Litran." Bitran commented as he happily worked at the computer station. "You are no longer the commander of all Reclaimer forces, and you don't have to worry about the Law Keepers betrayal."
A smile crossed Litran's face and she kissed Bitran on the back of the head. She walked away from the room and stepped out the door. She then walked down a short hallway and found herself at the ships exterior door. The door parted, and a gust of wind washed across her face. Her long hair whipped in the air and the clothes she wore flipped upward, exposing her athletically long pale legs. She closed her eyes an inhaled the fresh air as the sun rested against her face. She looked onward at the sunset as birds fluttered into the sky. She rejoiced at the idea that life was quickly blossoming around the Ark, life that she and her mate had recreated. But the animals, reptiles and insects instinctively began to breed and their numbers climbed. Grass began to grow as far as her enhanced vision could see and it would only be a matter of time before the nature would begin to heal itself, without the aid of the Ark.
Litran was happy they had found peace in their own Garden of Eden. But peace can not last forever, and soon Litran and Bitran would once again be forced to face troubling times. The future of their new world would be drastically affected.
- - - - - - - -
East Africa
Covenant Defense net
15:00 October 26, 2552
Puffs of dark clouds floated in the air as a cold front moved across the desert plains. The high cloud front provided excellent visual camouflage for any inbound ships, and the Rogue Fantasy lingered in its wake. The stealth ship's camouflage blended perfectly with the dark grey and white clouds as ten pelicans dropped from its bay. The reckon group, lead by Melanie 04, dropped through the clouds without engine power. They plummeted to the ground letting gravity do what it naturally does. Everyone clinched their seats, holding on as the g-forces tugged at their bowels. The pelicans then began to level off, as they dropped below covenant scanner range. Pulling up hard and close to the ground, dust exploded from the sandy dunes five miles from the covenant front.
All ten pelicans hovered and dropped five warthog troop carriers, and their cargo of Marines. Melanie jumped from the back of her lead bird and waved for Wesley to join her. He ran across the soft desert sand as the soft wisps of the pelicans engines roared back to life and into the air. The birds soared into the sky and vanished into the clouds. This was perhaps her last chance of seeing the light of day, and she marveled at it. But Melanie was a battle ready Black Ops Spartan; that was what Dr. Smith was calling them. She loved the title, and she was determined to make a name for herself by not dieing in this battle. Melanie wanted to see this war to the end.
Sixty marines and ODST scavenged their supplies and double checked their gear as Melanie looked them over. "Recon group, form up. We move fast and silent. The sergeant wants a detailed report in ten minutes, so let's get in range and setup. You know the drill. Load up and move out!" Sixty of the best eyes aboard the Rogue Fantasy loaded their supplies and they all boarded the warthog troop carriers. The extended bed on the back of a standard warthog was able to carry an addition six troopers, but they found a way to carry ten. They sped off over the hills.
Within three minutes they were in range of the closest Covenant front. The sound of mortar cannon fire echoed across the region as they approached. The warthogs scattered and parked near separate dunes. Com chatter was instantly cut and each squad leader knew their assignment. Snipers and spotters climbed the ridge, while the warthog drivers covered the hogs in a desert canopy to camouflage them from the numerous banshees and phantoms patrolling the region.
Melanie led her pack of eleven to the top of the ridge, and then dropped to a crawl as she approached the top. Similar activities were happening on various dunes across the ridge. Her repainted ODST armor blended well into the sandy environment and she was grateful for the repaint to her modified armor. She pulled up her goggles and glared into the encamped Covenant forces more then three hundred yards away. The massive plasma mortar canon was charging for another volley, and then spat its deadly blue super heated plasma into the air. Its target was three miles away, the heavily reinforced Camp Eden. Camp Eden was north of their position so Melanie was assured that the cannon wasn't firing at them.
As Melanie peered through her goggles she saw brutes, jackals and drones by the hundreds lingering about. A cruiser hovered in the hazy distance, stationed over another part of the defensive net several miles away. The ship wasn't her concern, breaking this weak point was. The Rogue fantasy had just received an update from ground forces out of Egypt and Cairo. A major offensive was set to take back the region around Camp Eden, and the Master Chief was leading the charge. But in order to get all of the troops into position a section of the net had to be taken down. The Rogue Fantasy was the only ship that could successfully deploy a regiment without notice. Several dots of blue plasma spotted the sky; arcing toward Camp Eden. She estimated ten volleys of mortar were being shot within her visual range.
Camp Eden was heavily defended and second only to the Hive in Australia. Camp Eden was the home of the Artifacts and Forerunner Research branch within ONI, and it was also a testing ground for new weapons against the Covenant. Even with the monstrously large mortar canons, the Covenant was unable to breach its defenses.
Through her goggles, Melanie marked off all the targets. Wraith pilots, stationary plasma turrets operators, plasma mortar operators, banshee pilots and command leaders were all red flagged. She then passed the information to every pair of goggles throughout the recon group and assignments were made instantly. Melanie's group would handle the command officers, Wesley's group would take down the mortar gunners, and the chain would continue thusly. After the initial volley of shots the group would fire at will, killing anything that moved. It would then be up to Eric and the others to do as much damage as possible.
Melanie inhaled and whispered to the sniper at her side, "Target one, clear shot." She gazed through the scope and eyed the highly decorated brute proudly strutting around the camp. The sniper at her side stopped breathing, and she knew it was time. "Clear. Clear. Clear." The sniper pulled the trigger and the SR99C cracked its deadly arsenal from the barrel. The sound was loud, but from their distance no one heard it. In Melanie's scope the Brute dropped to his knees lifeless as other brutes and jackals alike began falling into the sand. The first volley was over and as expected, the camp was in an uproar as thousands of troops began running around in a panic.
- - - - - - - -
The brute captain dropped to his knees as a spray of purple blood spat from the side of his head. His flag of honor waved as he crashed into the sand. The brute guard at his side stepped forward to assist him, but he also crumbled upon his own weight. A snap exploded near a mortar canon as the brute operator fell from the controls. Roars echoed throughout the camp, a battle cry, but no enemies had been reported.
A lone soldier wondered out of a trench and was horrified as several brutes dropped at his side. He tumbled backwards, into the trench and snarled in frustration. He raised his plasma rifle, looking for something to kill. When no enemy was spotted he began to sniff the air; nothing. There were no enemies within the camp.
He poked his head up from the trench and inhaled a lung full of air, and then he tasted the putrid aroma of human sweat. He glanced up, to the ridge in the distance, down wind of his location. Snipers, he instantly thought. He watched as a brute raced across his face and jumped into a ghost, only to be knocked out of it by a deadly precise sniper shot. The brute knew that they were pinned and had to signal the regiment as to where the humans were. A wraith tank sat ten feet from his position, he would have cover from the enemy fire and he could fire on the human's positions. He leapt from the trench and sprinted across the sand.
- - - - - - - -
Another brute raced across Wesley's scope. He was running toward a ghost and Wesley dropped him just as he boarded the speedy craft. Wesley zoomed in for another target as his spotter called out, "Same zone, in the trench. He smells us. Wait for a clear shot. Wait. Wait. Wait." The brute sprang from the trench and began to mad dash toward a nearby wraith. "Clear…" The rifle coughed. Wesley and his spotter watched as the brute tumbled forward and stopped at the base of the wraith tank; his blood pouring into the sand. "Zone two, two targets…" They moved on, picking targets and taking out any of the brutes that were trying to get to heavy weapons.
Over their head and high above the clouds, soared thirty pelicans, loaded with ground troops. In the lead phantom, Eric stood at the copilot's side and eagerly waited for the signal.
The com hissed, "This is recon 001. Heavy weapons and vehicles contained. Enemy units are still high, LZ is hot! It's now or never." Eric quickly recognized Melanie's voice, and even if things were worse, there was no chance of turning back.
"All platoons advance!" Eric barked over his com to the other pelicans. "I repeat. All platoons advance."
- - - - - - - -
The Mirratord worked in silence, they worked alone and they worked in secrecy. All those matters were taken into account as Simyaldee and his nineteen Mirratord warriors activated their advanced active camouflage and sprinted into the camp. Simyaldee, Gridolee and Palab led the charge. Unseen by normal eyes, the brutes would have to be looking for them in order to see them. The group of twenty had successfully snuck to the back side of the camp and were now about to pinch the brute forces in a death grip.
Palab jumped onto the back of an unsuspecting jackal, placed his hands on the creature beak and snapped its neck with little effort. All around him, other covenant forces were mysteriously dropping to their knees, silently dieing as invisible Mirratord grunts and elites killed them in a silent massacre. This was their environment, this was their war, and by the time the brute forces realized what was happening they would be dead.
Simyaldee watched as the human pelicans soared toward the camp, and suddenly everything became chaotic. Brutes were shouting and running toward the front lines as human sniper weapons were cutting them down. Simyaldee had told his Mirratord warriors to remain at the back of the camp in order to avoid the sniper fire, but what he saw ahead of him had to be dealt with. A row of Jackal snipers formed ahead of him and they would do severe damage to the human forces. They had to be eliminated.
Simyaldee whispered, "Gridolee, follow me. Palab, continue to deal with the traitors at the rear of the camp." A massive shift in light stood at Simyaldee's side and he knew that Gridolee had found him. They quickly began to sneak closer to the jackals.
- - - - - - - -
The roar of pelicans above Melanie's head grew to deafening levels, but she didn't let it alter her gaze. She focused through her goggles at the brute camps beneath. The sniper at her side did like wise and they continued to fire on any brutes that approached the stationary plasma turrets or wraith tanks.
But had she looked up she would have seen an awe inspiring sight. Through the clouds darted thirty pelicans and each with their engines maxed to full speed. They pressed hard toward the brute camps as missiles streaked from their wings. Explosions rocked around the front of the covenant camps, destroying a large segment of the camps heavy weapons. Enemy banshees and phantoms began to soar toward the human offensive of pelicans. Hundreds of them prepared to fire on the pelicans, but as they came within weapons range of the pelicans, seventy Skyhawk fighters appeared behind the pelicans. The small and nimble atmosphere fighter, soared through the mass of pelicans and fired into the drove of incoming banshees and phantoms. Both sides opened fire and smoke littered the sky. Skyhawks exploded, banshees smoldered and phantoms crumbled to the ground.
The explosions above Melanie's head forced her to look up as shrapnel quickly began to fall toward them. "Debris! Get clear, move toward the front line!" Melanie prayed her words were enough as the sniper at her side jumped up and ran down the sand dune. She quickly followed his lead. She looked to her left and right as she watched all of her snipers and spotters running toward the covenant camp only three hundred yards ahead. But her worst fear quickly began.
Purple streaks zoomed into her line of snipers as they ran down the hills. The debris crashed into the sand harmlessly behind them, but now they faced covenant snipers from inside the camp. Three marines dropped in a heart beat as more and more sniper fire ripped through them. She ran ahead, knowing that there was nothing else she could do. The sniper at her side gagged as a purple blur cut through his throat. He tumbled forward and dropped his sniper rifle. Melanie didn't break stride. She scooped up the rifle, and with all of her enhanced speed she darted ahead of the line of marines. She pulled up the rifle, gazed through the scope and pulled the trigger on anything that moved, but the sniper fire suddenly stopped. Plasma rounds continued to streak toward her, but the snipers had stopped firing. She thankfully tossed the thought aside and sprinted toward the camp.
- - - - - - - -
Gridolee and Simyaldee both knew that their moment of silence had ended. They gripped their dual energy swords and dashed toward the line of sniping jackals. The four swords exploded from their hilts and every brute and jackal nearby instantly realized what they had just heard. Two jackals were instantly decapitated. Two more jackals were impaled from behind. Chaos was ensuing around them, and the two elites marveled in it. Gridolee dived into a mass of jackals, letting his size and weight knock them to the ground. He then slashed the mass of them across the chest. He stood up and deactivated his camouflage, knowing that his position was no longer a secret. Three brutes glared at him and fired with their plasma rifles, Gridolee held his ground knowing that his Mirratord shields could easily withstand the plasma from three rifles. The brutes roared as they fired controlled shots at the large elite and growled in frustration when he wouldn't die, but they had no warning of the elite standing behind them.
Simyaldee impaled one of the brutes from behind. The creature frantically screamed in terror as he was lifted off the ground. The other brutes looked at him in horror as a thin glowing blade of energy sparked out of his chest. The blade was ripped free, and the brutes watched as their comrade tumbled to the ground. Simyaldee also powered down his camouflage and watched as the brutes panicked. They dropped their weapons and rampaged toward Simyaldee in typical brute fashion. Gridolee watched as the two brute stampeded toward the Mirratord second. He began to run toward Simyaldee, hoping to help, but Gridolee paused as he watched his leader prepare himself. Simyaldee was standing his ground, and placed one foot back. He lowered his left blade and angled his right across his chest.
"One strike." He yelled to the charging brutes, but he meant for Gridolee to hear it as well. The two brutes lunged and Simyaldee spun on his forward foot, stabbing the brute to his right through the neck. The brute to his left swung his mighty fist but missed, unable to keep up with Simyaldee's speed. But before he could turn around the brute's own head tumbled to the ground. Gridolee gasped at the speed and flawless reaction time of his leader. The Mirratord second had clearly earned his place as the head of the Mirratord. Gridolee stepped toward Simyaldee and his mouth gapped open in awe.
"Second, what move…"
Simyaldee quickly interrupted, "Not know. We still have a battle to win, and many traitors to kill."
- - - - - - - -
The first wave of pelicans approached the camps' edge, unhindered thanks to the skyhawk fighters that came to their aid, but Plasma fire spilled across the pelicans' hull from weapons fire inside the Covenant camp. Onboard alarms rang out as Juggernaut chocked up on the controls.
"Damn it, it's hot as hell down here! You're going to have to drop from a moving bird, Sarge. My pelican can't take much more of this!" Juggernaut shouted as he jostled from left to right. Hundreds of plasma rounds, from various hand held weapons, exploded around the ship and Eric patted Juggernaut on the shoulder.
"Take us down to ten feet, open the door and then get your birds out of here." Eric raced to the back of the Pelican and glanced at the weary eyes of the soldiers under him. "Ten foot jump, brace yourselves and roll when you hit the sand. We are under fire!" The rear of the pelican hummed as the ramp lowered and more pelicans could be seen following so close that Eric felt he could jump out and onto them. One of the pelicans took several shots into its engine and flames snapped at its wings. The pelican listed and tumbled as its wing clipped the sand below. It rolled in the sand as it exploded, scattering human bodies in all directions. The flames were so close that Eric felt them upon his face.
He pulled himself out of the daze and shouted, "Go! Go! Go!" He jumped from the pelican's ramp and his momentum carried him forward as he rolled. He sprang to his feet and leveled his battle rifle. He planted his rear foot, pulled down the visor to his helmet and sprinted forward as the other marines and soldiers dropped behind him.
Plasma rounds zoomed past his head, explosions erupted around his feet, but he pushed forward. Marines shouted in agony at his side and death was all around. Cries that would make any man crumble in fear as soldiers were mowed down by waves of plasma fire, but Eric pushed forward. His muscle strength and years of experience screamed for him to race ahead. He had to get within the Covenant ranks and cause as much trouble as he could, or else his whole line of marines would be cut down. He dodged sideways as a brute reared his head and leveled a brute shot. The grenades exploded around him, but he didn't falter. The brute went to reload and Eric sent a three round burst against the brutes helmet. The brute rocked backward, stunned as his helmet tumbled of his head, but then Eric sent another round through his unprotected skull. His path was unguarded, and Eric lowered his shoulder and crossed the trench into the first camp. He didn't want to look back and see if he had support, all he cared about was shutting down the brutes' encamped position. He pulled his combat knife from his back holster and carried it in his left hand loosely, as he steadied his battle rifle with his thumb.
He turned to his left and saw three Jackals. He pulled the trigger three times, three shots and then there were three dead jackals. They had yet to raise their shields, despite all the combat happening around them. A roar caught his ear, and he turned back to see a brute rampaging toward him. He jumped back and fired several rounds into the brute's head before it moaned a deathly sigh. A drone dropped on top of him from above, shrieking as its legs and arms clawed at his armor. Eric raised the combat knife into the thick skin of the creatures head and slapped the blade deeper into the drone. It shrieked and fell to the ground, twitching in pain. Eric took a knee and reloaded his rifle. The familiar bark of battle rifles filled his ear as looked around and saw several more marines and ODST pulling up to his side. Thankfully, some of his squad had survived the first charge.
The thunder of a raging brute cut through the roar of weapons fire and Eric regained his focus just as a brute began to fall upon him. Eric braced himself, knowing that his strength could not resist the might of the beast. A high pitched sound zoomed past his ear and Eric watched the brute fall backwards in disbelief. The sound was obvious; a sniper round. Eric exhaled as he finished slapping a fresh clip in the butt of the battle rifle.
Melanie sighed in relief that her shot was dead on. She sprinted forward, and stopped a few feet behind Eric and looked around the camp. Marines, jackals and brutes littered the area, firing and cursing at each other with full hatred. Several jackals were trying to flee the battle but were savagely mowed down by their brute commanders. A few drones hovered above, but were quickly shot down by random marines. A jackal leapt out from behind a plasma mortar and fired several shots at Melanie. She easily dodged and fired a round at it, but the sniper round pinged off the jackal's shield and it slowly stalked forward, firing at Melanie rapidly. She had to drop back and seek cover. She switched her sniper rifle to her left hand and pulled up her side arm with the right. She wanted to charge the bird like creature, but it had a lock on her. She fired a few round to surprise the jackal and give herself some time to find cover, but a plasma round seared across her shoulder. Her modified ODST armor super heated and the gel layer around her shoulder boiled away. A second shot from the jackal hit the same spot and this time the armor flash heated, and scorched into Melanie's shoulder. She screamed as she fell backwards into the sand.
From out of nowhere Mathew 08 sprinted toward the jackal and fired several battle rifle rounds at the jackal's shield. The creature shrieked and tried to fire back, but was terrified that the human was charging at it. Mathew kicked the shield and the Jackal stumbled backwards, dropping his shield enough that Mathew could get a clear shot. The jackal screamed as the battle riffle rounds entered his frail chest. It toppled lifeless into the blood stained sand. Mathew pushed on, firing at another target in the distance. He hadn't seen Melanie, only the jackal, and in true soldier fashion he fought on. Melanie staggered to her feet and reloaded her magnum. The pain in her arm and shoulder was excruciating and she struggled to ignore it. She peered around the camp and began to look for Eric.
Eric stood up and pointed three fingers to his left and right, without knowing who was behind him. Eric's instincts told him that he had more support then he thought, and sure enough dozens of marines had survived the initial charge. Several soldiers split to the right and left, falling into make shift squads, while a few men followed Eric deeper into the encampment.
They neared a new trench and it quickly seemed as if a hornets' nest had been shaken. Twenty or more drones sprang into the sky from the sandy trench beneath. Plasma rained over Eric and his small team of marines, and they instinctively returned fire. The high pitched squeaks and heavy hum of the drones' wings filled the air and everyone fired wildly. A heavy burn filled Eric's chest and he stumbled to his left for cover behind a stationary mortar cannon, several marines followed his lead while others continued to fire at the wild flying bugs. Several of the creatures fell to the ground, but more and more marines fell under the drones' constant plasma fire. Eric checked his rifle and leapt into the drones targets, hoping to draw most of their fire.
He pulled up and fired into the humming bugs, killing two quickly, but plasma rained on top of him yet again. He fired several more deadly rounds and killed several more drones quickly; the marines marveled at his aim. He staggered to the right and realized that his gamble had paid off; he was drawing all of the enemy fire. He continued to move and then saw that the bugs had turned there backs to the reaming, hidden, marines. The drones were annoying and fast, but not very smart. They became tired from the constant flying and landed just as the marines jumped out from their cover. At close range the marines suppressed the drones under Sub Machine Gun fire, each cursing and spitting upon the dead creatures corpses.
Melanie ran toward the commotion and saw the silhouetted image of ODST battle armor and walked closer. She stumbled behind him and was happy that she had found Eric. Melanie could always tell who Eric was, even with his armor on, buy the way he moved. She quickly pulled out a med kit and popped the seal on the right side of her armor.
Eric, still feeling the burn on his chest, turned to see that Melanie had joined his ranks and was bandaging a wound on her shoulder. He couldn't see the expression on her face because of her visor, but he knew that for such an amount of blood her wound had to be serious. Eric waved for the marines to push ahead, knowing that this zone of camps had been secured, and he stepped closer to Melanie. The marines raced ahead, checking the trench and killing any stragglers that had been left behind. They then ran into Simyaldee and Gridolee. The two groups stared at each other, pondering what to do. The alliance had been formed but hatred between the two species still brewed highly.
Simyaldee spoke, "The rear of the camp has been cleared. My forces are eliminating stragglers and will continue to patrol this area." The marines simply nodded and returned to scanning the camps.
Eric knelt over Melanie, "Fall back to the front line and get a medic to check it out." Eric whispered over a secure channel.
"No time. Sounds like the others need us toward the left flank." Melanie tied down a field wrap and dropped the empty sniper rifle she held. She picked up a fallen marine's battle rifle and slapped in a fresh magazine.
Melanie didn't have to say anything else because Eric knew it was pointless to argue with her at that point, "Form up on me. We're going to press the left flank." Eric shouted. Four marines in ear shot quickly raced over and joined Melanie and Eric as they jogged toward the heavy weapons fire to the left of the camp. The closer they came, the easier it was to see how dyer the situation was. A lone wraith tank was suppressing the marine forces and several ghosts were speeding into the zone.
Eric and Melanie took aim and fired on the ghosts, as the wraith dropped plasma mortar on top of them. They quickly took cover but two of the four marines didn't get clear in time. Their screams echoed around them as the superheated plasma melted away their bodies. The other two marines took cover behind a small hill of sand and prayed that the brutes weren't able to lob mortar on them.
Eric peeked around the smoldering tank that he, Melanie and a flock of marines were hiding behind. He could see more tanks and ghosts speeding toward them from another camp emplacement in the distance. The gig was up. The covenant finally caught on to their attack and support was on the way. Eric quickly surmised that if the camp to their left was sending reinforcements than the right camp would do the same. They were about to be surrounded.
He opened his com line and yelled, "Rolling thunder! I repeat. Rolling thunder!"
From over the sand dunes that once served as Melanie's recon position, came a thunder of roaring human engines. Five gauss hogs ramped over the dune and sped down the hill, they immediately raced toward the lone wraith and the ghosts. But then another wave of human vehicles crept slowly over the hill in the form of five scorpion tanks. But it didn't stop there as ten pelicans dropped in from overhead and prepared to deploy a payload of marines into the camp.
The skyhawks above made quick work of the banshee and phantom supports, but covenant seraph fighters were quickly screaming into the area. A more intense air battle was underway, as the region slowly became a war zone.
The pelicans hovered over the front line that Eric and his first wave cleared, and began to lower their troops into the sand. The last of the support troops to exit the pelican made a massive impression as all eyes gazed upon her new Mark VI armor. Kelly stood tall and gripped her Jackhammer tightly as she turned toward the right flank, her new armor had not yet been fully explored but she could already feel the improvements with every step she made. Two scorpion MBTs followed her along with two warthogs and they formed a defensive line against the oncoming covenant support wave. Ghosts, wraiths, specters, and foot soldiers began marching toward them, but Kelly took aim on the most threatening object following the pack, a four legged scarab.
"Chief, that scarab is less then a mile away!" A marine driver in his warthog screamed. "We don't have enough firepower to take it down!"
"We have our orders to hold this zone until the Master Chief gets here, so hold fast!" Kelly roared back as she let the magnetic hold on her back grip the Jackhammer Rocket launcher. She pulled down her BR55 battle riffle and checked the clip. Slapping it into the battle rifle's butt stock generated a quick change in her heads up display. The BR55 appeared with a full ammo count, including the spares in her hip carrier. Impressive was not the word she wanted to say, but none the less she said it. She twisted to her side several times in an attempt to shake off the Jackhammer mounted to her back, but it held firm. A smile grinned across her face as she flagged down a nearby Warthog.
Two warthogs raced as their gunners fired into the mass of oncoming ghosts, while the scorpions let loose from a distance. Smoke erupted from the blue flames of smoldering wraith tanks that had been completely caught of guard, but the looming presence of the scarab still presented a problem. Leading the charge of warthogs was Rose, and she was driving hard and reckless. With a gunner on her gauss canon turret, and a marine sharp shooter in her passenger seat, they sped between the advancing ghosts and circled them. The more maneuverable ghosts were easily taken down by the heavy fire of the warthogs' gauss cannons, but Rose spotted Kelly waving toward her and she sped back toward the line of scorpion tanks.
Kelly raced to the passenger seat and opened her com, "Sergeant, there is a scarab headed our way from the right flank. I'm off to slow it down."
Eric replied over the com, "Stay sharp. That new armor doesn't make you invincible. I'd tag along, but we have six wraiths beating down on us from the left flank. Take that scarab down and get back here. The Master Chief and his support will arrive in twenty minutes."
"Roger that." The marine in Rose's passenger seat hopped out and Kelly jumped in, surprised to see Rose behind the wheel. "Santos?"
"Where you headed, chief?" Rose sharply questioned. Kelly was apprehensive about letting Rose drive, knowing that she was only a civilian, but the nearest warthog was still jousting with several ghosts.
"See that big metal bug? Get me there." Kelly pointed to the towering four legged land walker in the distance and the Warthog jerked forward. All four wheels kicked sand into the air as the warthog prowled through smoldering wreckage of ghosts, wraiths and the unfortunate warthog that was outnumbered. Two ghosts hummed from a clearing and accelerated toward them. The marine turret gunner took aim.
"Keep her steady, babe!" Marks shouted. Rose was startled to hear his voice, but returned her attention to the oncoming ghosts. It felt like an eternity since she had last heard or seen Marks. The gauss cannon spat its payload in successive fashion and sent one of the ghosts tumbling forward. The brute pilot rolled in the sand and then leapt on top of the warthog. Kelly ripped her battle rifle's butt across the brute's chest and then grazed it across his head. The stunned brute gripped Kelly by the helmet and they began to tussle. Rose could barely see past the brute's hairy legs as it roared aggressively toward the Spartan. Kelly pressed her left hand against the brute's neck and the creature screamed from the intense pressure. It slammed its fist onto Kelly's arm, knocking her death grip away. Marks kicked at the beast, but the brute ignored him completely.
"I will kill you, demon." The monstrous beast bellowed. In the tussle, Kelly dropped her rifle and it tumbled between the seats. Marks struggled to pull his sidearm out, but he watched as Rose quickly pulled up her magnum sidearm.
She placed the gun to the brute's temple, "Get out of my car." The magnum popped, and the massive ball of fur and muscle tumbled lifeless into Kelly's lap. She rolled the body out of the side and it skipped in the sand. "Marks, the second ghost is on our tail."
"On it." The gauss cannon spun and Marks began to unload on the chasing ghost as the warthog sped ahead. Kelly reached down and grabbed her battle rifle. She was slightly impressed with Rose's calm confidence during the situation, but then noticed that Rose's hand was trembling slightly. Perhaps she wasn't as calm as she was letting on.
- - - - - - - -
Wesley dived into the sand at Melanie and Eric's feet. He fumbled with his riffle and primed a grenade. He chucked it over his head toward the oncoming ghosts and was satisfied when the ghost tumbled sideways. Eric then leveled his riffle and fired upon the brute pilot.
Once the brute was dead, Eric turned to Wesley, "You wounded?"
"No sir." Wesley nervously replied.
"Good. Get back to the scorpions and tell them to pull up to our position. I've got longswords inbound to drop some artillery into the area." Eric then placed his hand to his helmet. "Say again?"
Eric's helmet speaker buzzed, "I repeat, Sergeant. Longswords are being intercepted by seraph squadrons. They can not break through. You are on your own."
"Roger." Eric fumed as he changed frequencies. "Captain Monroe, copy?"
"I read you sergeant. Looks like you all have a lot of heat coming your way." Monroe stated as an explosion sounded in her background.
"Sounds like you're under fire." Eric huffed.
"A seraph mistakenly ran into us and gave away our position. His squadron was quick to relay our position. They've been taking shots at us for the last three minutes. Skyhawks are giving us some cover, but we're taking a pretty good beating."
Eric sighed in frustration, "I guess that means you can't send out a few pelicans?"
"Sorry sergeant. We open our landing bay and they will attack anything that comes out."
"Thought so. Hold your own Captain. I'll work with what I've got."
"Stay alive, Sergeant." Monroe cautiously commented. Her tone was bleak, and Eric could tell that the situation was more extreme then she was letting on. "This war needs you."
A shout came across the speaker and Eric instantly realized that it was one of Captain Monroe's command officers. "We've been boarded."
Captain Monroe quickly shouted, "All hands, prepare to repel boarders. I say again, prepare…" The com died. Eric gazed through his visor and his head sunk lower. The covenant was causing severe damage to his lines, they had thousands of support troops on the way and they had officially cut him off from the Rogue Fantasy. He then thought about Rose. Was she going to be alright aboard the ship? He hadn't seen her and hoped that she was still on the ship, but now that the Rogue Fantasy was under fire and being boarded, he quickly became concerned for her safety.
He gazed at Wesley. "Get those tanks up here, now!"
"Right." Wesley jumped up and ran toward the line of scorpion tanks that were sitting on the sand dune. Plasma rounds flared toward Wesley, and Eric jumped up to provide him with cover fire. At his side, Melanie was struggling to hold up her rifle as more and more blood began to soak through her armor.
"Eric…" Melanie moaned as she sat down at Eric's side. The constant bark of rifle fire sounded around them as more and more Marines raced to Eric's side. Eric ducked down and took cover as he began to reload.
He slapped in a fresh magazine and gazed at Melanie's shoulder, "Medic!" Eric grabbed Melanie and pulled her away from the defensive position. A troop transport warthog rolled close and Eric picked Melanie up and dropped her in the back of it. Three medics were in the back and two of them jumped out and began to search for other wounded marines. The other medic pulled off Melanie's chest armor and helmet. A mortar blast erupted a few feet from the warthog and Eric realized he had to pull the hog out. More wounded marines were staggering into the warthog as Eric ran to the driver.
"Pull back to the original Recon LZ and tell the Medic's to setup a medical camp there. Make one trip every five minutes and pull out as many wounded as you can."
"Yes, sir!" The driver waved for the remaining wounded to climb in as the mortar explosions came closer and closer. "Come on! Get in!" The last marine climbed in and the hog's four wheels spun feverishly as the transport raced back toward the sand dune ridge line. Eric could only watch as Melanie and the other wounded were pulled out to safety. But it could only remain safe if he could hold the zone until the Master Chief showed up. Wesley and three scorpions were rolling toward him and Eric jumped onto the side. He pointed toward the wall of wraiths and each scorpion fired their massive shells into the distance. The sand beneath the scorpion bounced from the shockwave of the cannons power. One wraith exploded on impact and then the other wraiths turned and fired on the approaching human tanks.
- - - - - - - -
A focused beam of highly volatile plasma burned past Rose's warthog, and she steered clear of the scarab's main weapon. The sand where the plasma beam impacted began to boil and everyone realized that one shot was enough to kill them. Six ghosts were chasing them but they kept a respectable distance thanks to Marks' gauss cannon. Kelly peered ahead at the towering walking covenant weapon and instantly realized that the armor on the Scarab was tough. It would take more then her Jackhammers to bring it down. She wanted to see if there was anything she could use against the scarab and the armor responded to the thought. Her visor zoomed in on the area she was looking at and she wowed in excitement.
"Built in goggles!" She mumbled in excitement. Beyond the scarab was a row of banshees. They were most likely grounded because of the skyhawk fighters that loomed overhead; easy prey for the UNSC Air Force pilots. "Rose, keep going toward that camp in the distance."
"The camp?" Rose screamed in protest.
"Don't worry. Once we get close enough, I'll bail out and you two get back to the Target Zone. I'll be fine."
The warthog raced beneath the towering scarab and one of its legs stomped the ground just as the warthog zoomed by. The hog hopped slightly, barely avoiding being stepped on. The rear mounted plasma shade on the scarab began to fire wildly at the warthog, but Rose steered clear thanks to Marks' warning. His curses filled the air and Rose spotted the incoming plasma waves in the rearview mirror. She swerved and accelerated clear of the weapon. The Scarab pressed forward and ignored the three humans, as the ghosts continued to give chase.
Ahead of them, several brutes raced out from shelter and began firing at the oncoming human vehicle. Kelly hefted the Jackhammer from her back and sent one round toward the group of brutes. The plume of sand and fur was a pleasant sight and only a few lucky brutes survived. Once the dust settled Kelly watched as a small wave of jackals raced to the brutes' aid. Their shields glowed brightly as they made a defensive wall between the brutes and the charging humans. Kelly reloaded another rocket into the jackhammer, and reattached it to her back. She then smirked at the brute's stupidity and courage. The brutes and jackals were eagerly awaiting the three humans, but they were waiting several yards behind the first row of banshees.
"Turn back to the target zone, I'll handle it from here!" Kelly jumped from the speeding warthog and her half ton of armor thumped into the soft sand below. Rose turned the hog around, using the emergency break to make a quick turn and floored the hog back toward the scarab.
"Hey babe, you don't have to pass the scarab again! Take a wider route!" Marks shouted as he fired the gauss cannon toward the brutes and jackals. He wanted to give Kelly as much cover fire as he could.
"I'm not letting her tackle that thing alone!" Rose shouted in return. She had no idea of what Kelly was planning to do, but all she could do was stall and wait. "Now focus on those incoming ghosts!" Marks turned the cannon about and fired at the ghosts that were chasing them, but were now directly ahead.
Kelly raced forward as the last blast from the gauss cannon sailed overhead. Marks' assistance was greatly appreciated and the jackal's defensive line was thoroughly eliminated. Kelly tossed a frag grenade for good measure and watched as the pile of dead brutes and jackals were torn to shreds. She slipped into the banshee and powered it up. The hum of the engines cascaded as the overhead unit closed on top of her. She slipped her hand into the control reticule and throttled the alien craft into the air. She twisted the accelerator and streaked toward the scarab.
Rose turned hard as another ghost washed its plasma across the hood of the hog. Marks was having a hard time adjusting his sight to Rose's wild driving, but he managed to shoot down two ghosts. Another ghost cut off their path and Rose made another sharp turn. The spinning tires tossed sand into the air and nearly blinded the charging brute in his ghost. He wiped away the sand that burned his eyes and felt the tremendous pressure of the gauss cannon slamming into his side. Another shot tore off his torso and the ghost powered down; crashing into the sand. Rose jumped a small sand dune and then found herself beneath the scarab as a banshee soared overhead. Oddly enough the scarab's shade gunners were madly shooting at the covenant craft. It didn't take much time for her to realize that Kelly had taken the banshee to board the scarab.
"She's nuts!" Marks shouted; realizing that the Spartan was going to board the covenant scarab.
"Yeah, and unless she dies, we aren't leaving her." Rose yelled as she frantically steered the vehicle to avoid the oncoming ghosts. Marks took aim and continued firing.
Kelly banked and rolled as the scarab's top and rear mounted shade turrets fired at her. She barrel rolled and fired a plasma torpedo at the top turret, destroying it with one shot. She then hovered over the main top deck of the scarab and jumped out of the banshee. With a hard thud she landed and planted her hand to hold her balance on top of the rocking mechanical beast. Her motion tracker instantly buzzed to life as covenant forces spilled out of the control room and onto the main deck beneath her. She had one advantage; she had the upper position and a choke point. She turned and raised her battle rifle as a brute raced up the small ramp toward her. The choke point was narrow and only one enemy could charge at a time, and unfortunately the brute was unaware as to whom he was dealing with.
The brute's eyes grew wide as he gazed at the demon, "The demon is here!" He roared, but no other words escaped his jaws as Kelly sent a three round burst down his throat and out the back of his skull. The ball of fur rolled backwards as the other brutes watched him slam onto the deck below. They all roared in anger but knew that charging the human would result in the same manner.
Kelly watched her motion tracker closely and saw that they were all huddled together and directly beneath her. She had to take the shot. She unlocked the Jackhammer on her back, raced toward the back of the scarab, ran down the choke point, turned the corner that opened up to the main deck and pulled the trigger on the rocket launcher. A short wave of plasma washed over her shields as a satisfying thud and rumble filled the air. Jackal, drone, and brute bodies were sent in all directions. Kelly lowered herself to a knee as her shield quickly recharged. She took aim at the door to the control room and waited for another wave of enemies to attack. Her tracker showed four red dots running up the short ramp toward her and she fired into the door. The dots quickly stopped. Kelly reloaded the jackhammer and mounted it to her back. She then picked up an M90 shotgun she found on the deck, apparently in the possession of one of the dead brutes.
Kelly slowly crept into the dark control room and turned to the left side at the base of the ramp. She looked throughout, searching for the pilot and any other resistance. A sudden blip on her tracker confirmed that at least one hostile remained. She leveled the shotgun and tossed her last frag grenade toward the location of the blip. A brute jumped clear of the grenade and it exploded near the control panel. Sparks shot across the room as the brute stood tall and began to beat his chest with his fist. The scarab lurched to a halt and they both staggered slightly, but Kelly never let the brute out of her sights.
"Face me demon! I shall be rewarded greatly for your death!" The brute rampaged and raced toward the Spartan on all fours. He was snarling and roaring with wartime frenzy. Kelly pulled the trigger and the M90 blasted its rounds into the brute's thick hide, but he continued to charge and Kelly knew she didn't have a chance to pump another round into the chamber. She side stepped, but the narrow path only gave her so much room to maneuver. The brute swung his fist in rage and missed, but his shoulder collided with Kelly and they both tumbled to the floor. Kelly's shields dropped to half power, showing her how strong the brute was, and she rolled to her feet. The brute was also standing and Kelly lowered the butt of the M90 on the brutes jaw, spinning his head to the left. The brute raised his arm and swatted Kelly across the chest, knocking her off her feet and into the opposing wall. She grunted from the sudden jolt and raised her shotgun as the brute charged at her again. She pulled the trigger and the brute crumbled backwards. His head was nearly taken off by the shotgun's power, and his purple blood scattered across the room.
Kelly dropped to her knees and held her chest, because the brute's last swing had taken down her shields completely. The punch felt as though her chest had caved in. She stood up and coughed up a wad of blood into her mouth guard as the vacuum sucked it out of her mouth automatically. The vent on the front of her helmet ejected the fluid and spat the mucus filled blood on to the scarab's control room deck. The pain slowly faded away as the Mark VI armor injected her with a mild solution to relieve the pain. She slowly stood and walked toward the control panel. On the screen she could see Rose and Marks racing beneath the scarab, and dodging the plasma weapons off several ghosts. Kelly scanned the controls and began to move the scarab about. She then found something similar to a weapons control. She angled the scarab's head and waited for the ghosts to come in range. With one quick push of a button the scarab fired into the mass of ghosts and melted them. Only the charred hulls of the ghosts remained. Secondary explosions followed and Kelly exhaled, confident that she could take a slight break.
Rose spun the hog and watched the group of ghost flutter as their power cores erupted. She looked up at the scarab and waited to see what it would do next. It slowly began to lower itself closer to the ground. The belly of the monstrous machine softly touched the sand and Kelly jumped off the back of it. She landed and then walked toward the warthog.
"Good job chief!" Marks shouted from the gauss canon.
"We're not done yet." Kelly replied. "Santos, I'm out of com range for the Sarge. You report back and tell him that we've captured a scarab. Marine, you're with me. I'll need help operating the turrets on this thing." Marks jumped from the back of the hog and ran toward the scarab. He began to climb up the side toward the top deck as Kelly continued to talk to Rose. "We'll take it back to the Target Zone and use it to help lock down the area. Tell the sergeant that we'll be there soon."
"Yes sir." Rose smiled. She watched as Kelly jogged back to the scarab and climbed up the side toward the top. Rose then noticed that more ghosts were approaching from the enemy camps. "Chief, more ghosts!" Kelly turned and spotted the support ghost and climbed to the top.
"Get going! We'll be okay!" Kelly shouted back to Rose. Rose hesitated but quickly sped away. She felt a small sense of exhilaration knowing that she had done something useful. She helped their forces capture a weapon that would easily tilt the balance in this battle, and perhaps the battles to come. She raced across the sand and watched as three Scorpions fired toward the left flank, where Eric and his troops were holding firm. She pulled up the two scorpion tanks that were quickly taking aim at the scarab and waved at them.
"Hold your fire!" She shouted to the operators. "We have control of the scarab! The Spartan took it down and is bringing it in for our support!" The marines nearby all jumped for joy as they cheered at the exciting news. "Take out the ghosts under the scarab's feet!" The scorpions quickly altered their aims and began firing on the massing ghosts buzzing around the scarab. Rose accelerated into the target zone and pulled up behind Eric's tank line as they fired on wraiths in the distance. She sprang from the warthog and raced toward Eric's position eager to share the news with him.
"Snipers on the ridge!" A marine shouted as purple streaks began buzzing through the camp of human soldiers. Eric dropped to his knees and a sniper round pinged off the scorpion he was standing near.
"There!" Eric pointed to the hilly sand dunes between the target zone and the covenant's approaching left flank. "Three targets." The tanks turned and pulverized the region where the sniping jackals lay. Sand exploded all around them and their screams were suddenly snuffed. The tanks ceased fire and the sand settled revealing several dead and charred jackal forms.
Rose jumped lifted her head after instinctively diving into the sand. She looked around and noticed that the snipers had stopped firing. She then saw an ODST in sand camouflage stagger forward and crumble to the ground. Wesley suddenly appeared at the man's side, and Rose feared the worst. The man was obviously a Black Ops.
"Medics!" Several marines throughout the camp shouted. The three snipers had done a fare share of damage and several marines lay dead or dieing. Eric turned and looked to the nearby marine at his feet. The man had a fused hole through his chest and was clearly dead. The marine was only three feet away when he died and a thought told Eric that it could have easily been him.
He turned back to the tanks, "Resume fire on that camp." The tanks raised their barrels and fired several rounds into the air. The shells soared across the region and into the camp nearly a mile away.
"Sergeant Raynord, this is Cortana, do you copy." The static burst filled Eric's ears and he smiled knowing that reinforcements had finally arrived.
"Copy Cortana. The Target Zone is secure, you're clear to bring in the assault teams." Eric stepped away from the line of tanks and began to look around.
"Excellent Sergeant. The Chief and I will debrief you when we land. Our operation will need to commence immediately. Sergeant Johnson and his team have already prepped the advanced recon squad and they are dropping into Camp Eden from orbit. We'll go into more detail when we arrive." The com faded and Eric looked around the camp at the other bodies nearby. He then noticed that Wesley was hovering over a fallen Marine.
Wesley looked back at Eric and pondered what to do. He cradled the Black Operations soldier's head in his arms, as blood poured from his helmet. A female marine joined Wesley and huddled over the fallen soldier. The sniper round had fused the wound but struck a major artery in his chest and was causing his lungs to fill with blood.
"Medic!" Wesley continued to scream. Eric watched as the female marine sat beside the wounded soldier and pulled his helmet off with mournful eyes. She was horrified but relieved when she saw Roy's face. Eric walked toward the group and realized that it was Rose holding his helmet. He was shocked to see her, hopping that she would have stayed on the Rogue Fantasy.
Eric stopped at Wesley's side and glared down at the Black Op he was holding. Pain was etched across his face and he slowly rolled his eyes to look at Eric. Mathew suddenly appeared and raced to Eric's side, scouting for any other snipers and making sure that the Sergeant wasn't killed on the battle field. He also peeked toward the fallen soldier and looked into Roy's face. Shock quickly flashed across his mind and Mathew could only lower his head in grief.
Blood gargled from Roy's mouth as he reached out toward Eric. Eric dropped to his knees as a mortar round thudded a few yards away. He grabbed Roy's hand and felt his life fade away. His arm slumped to the ground and Eric heard a soft sob coming from Rose. She saw the number '19' written on his hip guard and she glared at him.
"Sarge, we took down the scarab… the chief, she's piloting it. I… I helped." Rose stuttered, struggling to contain her shock as she looked back into Roy's face.
Wesley yelled out again, "God damn it, Medic!"
"He's gone." Eric sighed. He reached down and snatched the dog tags from Roy's collar. "Private Williams, get to the tank lines and monitor the suppression fire, and keep me posted. 08, monitor the right flank and give the chief as much support as she needs."
Wesley reluctantly pulled away and ran toward the left flank. Mathew placed a hand on Roy's chest, then lowered his head quickly and ran toward the right flank. Eric took the helmet from Rose and put it on Roy's head. He then took off his own helmet and sighed at Rose; she suddenly lost control.
"I… I thought it was you." She sobbed uncontrollably. She flung her arms around Eric and held him tight. She didn't want to let him go; squeezing him tighter with ever breathe.
"What are you doing out here?" Eric softly questioned. "I was looking for you everywhere."
Rose was finally gaining control of herself, "I didn't want you to find me. I wanted to fight, and I know you would have made me stay behind." Eric huffed and smiled softly at Rose. He wanted to talk to her, but the constant explosion and random plasma bolts quickly switched him back into a military mentality. Something was coming, he could feel it.
He slipped on his helmet, "Alright Santos, you want to fight?" Eric turned to the left flank and watched as numerous ghosts sped toward them. The tanks were taking out some of them, but their numbers were great. Behind them were dozens of specters and a full battalion of charging brutes, jackals, and drones. And through the thick cloud of sand he could see several wraiths setting up to fire. "Pick up your weapon and follow me. Stay behind me at all times. There's nowhere to go now."
"Incoming!" Wesley shouted to the camp of marines, ODST and Mirratord warriors. Eric and Rose ran to Wesley's side and peered over the horizon. Hundreds of troops had massed and they were making a desperation charge. The covenant was determined to take back the ground they had lost and they were doing it in full force.
Simyaldee stood at Eric's side and peered into the charging fray. "Focus your tank fire on the wraiths."
"Yeah, I know. Otherwise we'll have plasma raining on our heads. And that's exactly what the want us to do." Eric huffed as he clinched his jaw.
"Need an extra gun?" Melanie stated over the com as she raced toward Eric. Her arm was barely in a sling, but she was still able to heft a battle rifle. She slumped over beside Rose and the two of them sprawled out in the sand. They both took aim with battle riffles and gazed down the barrel.
"Stay at Rose's side and keep your heads down." Eric stood tall and stepped on the side of the nearest tank, "Tanks, continue firing at the wraiths in the distance! Marines and ODST form a line along this bank! We have to hold this position!" The mass of covenant troops stormed toward their encampment and a cloud of sand filled the air behind them as they drew ever closer. "Jackhammers, to the front! Mirratord, spread out along the line and prepare for hand to hand combat." Palab positioned his grunts along the human line as he took position at the farthest point of the line. Simyaldee and Gridolee did the same. Simyaldee stayed at Eric's side will Gridolee moved closer to the middle of the formation.
The line of UNSC and Mirratord forces stretched along the entire left flank as three tanks were spread out amongst them; firing at the wraith tanks behind the charging covenant forces now only four hundred yards away. The closer the covenant came the louder the ground rumbled.
"08, what's the status on the right flank?" Eric questioned into his com.
A static sound the reply, "The scarab is under heavy fire, but holding its own. We're doing what we can to give the Spartan support."
Eric knew that there would be no way to escape if this operation failed, "Hold your own 08. We've got a battalion charging from the left. All my forces are focused on them, so if the scarab falls we only have you guarding our back."
"Stay frosty, Sarge."
"You to, 08." The com died and Eric estimated that the charging brutes were now only two hundred yards away. He looked down at Rose and she was calmly staring down the barrel. He looked up and shouted, "Rocket boys, lock on to the ghosts… " he paused, letting the front line of ghosts come a little closer.
"…Fire!" Eric screamed to his forces.
"Fire!" Gridolee shouted to the group closest to him.
"Fire!" Palab barked to the group nearest him.
Waves of human Jackhammer rockets and covenant plasma weapons crisscrossed, and each of the deadly arsenals impacted along each of the forces front line.
A static burst filled Eric ears as he took cover from the plasma rounds that shot past him. "Sergeant Raynord, this is Cortana. The chief and I are here. Looks like you could use some assistance."
To be continued….