1Chapter 5: Hellfire and Damnation

Firebase Delta

Captain William Rogers went through his preflight checklist for his Longsword. Everything the on-board computer ran a full system diagnostic, and put everything in the green.

"All right, Green squad, report in."

"Two is ready go."

"Three is good to go."

"Four has everything in the green."

"Five is ready to rock and roll!"

"Six is ready and willing."

Rogers smiled at his pilots' efficiency. He flipped several switches and adjusted his throttle. He was told this was going to be a normal strafing run to support a Marine attack, but in all his time here, Rogers had never needed more than two or three Longswords to provide air support. His orders insisted he'd take at least six, which was Firebase Delta's entire fighter complement. That guaranteed that their target wouldn't be left standing for long, but that also meant there would be no more Longswords available to support any other Marine units out there.

This traget's gotta be big to have six Longswords going after it.

"Two, confirm the target location."

"NAV beacon reading nice and strong, Lead. ETA is five minutes."

Somewhere in the Aeolan wilderness

Kakat was part of a Covenant force tasked with holding this hilltop. Unfortunately, the hilltop was very exposed, and prone to airstrikes, which the humans seemed to love calling down. On duty with him was fellow Grunt Raran, who was manning their only Shade turret.

"Raran."

"What is it, Kakat?"

"I have a bad feeling."

"You always have bad feelings."

"I think there are humans out there."

Raran sighed. Kakat was always nervous and on edge during his shift.

"Kakat, I thought we went over this already. There were no humans here five units ago, no humans thirty units ago, no humans a cycle ago, and no humans for ten cycles! What will make this day any different?"

Kakat just stood there, unable to speak.

"That's right. There are no humans out there. You saw them. They are all too scared to come out here."

"But-"

"Kakat. There. Are. No. Humans. Here. Ever."

Then a sharp crack filled the air, as if to rebut Raran's last statement.

Kakat whipped around to find where the sound came from.

"Raran, did you hear that?"

No answer.

Kakat was almost too afraid to turn to face his fellow Grunt.

"Raran...?"

As if on cue, the moment Kakat turned around, Raran fell off the Shade and slumped to the ground, the top ten centimeters of his head missing. Before Kakat could do anything about it, however, the Grunt felt three spikes of pain blossoming from his back. Kakat looked down, and saw his armor stained blue with the color of Grunt blood. His blood. Kakat screamed.

Sergeant Paccone charged up the hill, kicked the Grunt over, and pumped four pistol rounds into its head.

Gunfire filled the air for a few short seconds, but gradually faded away. One Marine came running up to Paccone.

"Sir! We've cleared the hilltop!"

"Good job, soldier. How many?"

"Lets see, there were about four more Grunts, three Jackals, and an Elite. We took some casualties taking them out, but the wounds are minor."

"Excellent. Now go find wherever that sniper went. Tell her and her little boyfriend that we're moving out."

"Yes sir!"

As the Marine dashed off down the hill, Paccone took out a map and scanned it again. According to the briefing ONI gave him, the outpost they were supposed to find shouldn't be too far. He checked their position and noticed that they were only about three miles away now. Paccone had no idea what was at that outpost, but he had orders to get the outpost, make contact with any remaining Marines there, copy the outpost's databanks and then wait for retrieval. It was a simple grab and go, but Paccone couldn't help but feel there was more to this mission than he thought.

Covenant Base Camp

Lieutenant Wellings sat crouched beside her Warthog, still keeping watch on the Covvie base.

"Boxer, what's the ETA on those Longswords?"

"ETA one minute."

"Good. All squads, report."

"First squad is go."

"Second squad is here."

"Fourth squad is ready."

Wellings frowned. Third squad didn't report in.

"Third squad, report your condition."

There was a static buzz, and what sounded like gunfire. Suddenly, a voice filled the radio.

"This is third squad! We ran straight into a Covvie patrol! They're bugging out, but our position is compromised!"

Wellings turned to look at the base. Sure enough, there were already dozens of Grunts, Jackals, and Elites forming up on the eastern side. She quickly turned to Boxer.

"ETA?"

"Fifteen seconds."

Wellings could already hear the distinct humming sound of Longsword engines, and apparently, the Covenant could too. Many of them looked up in the sky in puzzlement, unsure of what to do, though some of the smarter ones wisely made their way to any available cover.

Then, like angry gods punishing the sinners, six Longswords soared over the edge of the crater and started letting loose with their weapons, unleashing waves of hellfire and damnation upon the enemy.. Like ants, the entire Covenant formation scattered in all directions. Some of them managed to climb over the lip of the crater and make a dash for the trees, only to get cut down by the Warthogs waiting for them on the other side. The braver and more foolish Covenant ineffectually fired in the air in an attempt to shoot down the aircraft, only making themselves more obvious targets. In the crater itself, missiles and 50mm rounds shredded anything and everything to pieces. Anything that was even vaguely flammable exploded and flared brightly. What was left of the Covenant force tried to make a mad dash for the alien structure, but one Longsword pilot caught them and flew over, dropping off a warhead filled with cluster mines. Explosions rippled across the front of the structure as Covenant soldiers saw their feet and legs being flung though the air like broken parts of a toy.

Then, with all of their ammuntion and fuel expended, the Longswords kicked in their afterburners and raced home as quickly as they had come. The remainder of the Covenant force, scarcely fifty soldiers, began to crawl out form whatever cover they had found, believing the worst was over. Oh, how wrong they were.

Wellings kicked her Warthog into high gear and accelerated. The vehicle gave an unearthly roar that would put fear into the hearts of even the bravest Marine, and leapt over the lip of the crater, heading straight for the Covenant. Fifteen more Warthogs did the same. With enemies bearing down on all sides, there was no possible way the remaining Covenant could win. Though there was almost no radio communication between the fours squads, each one knew what to do. They kept their distance from the Covenant force, and began circling around, slowly tightening the circle and firing 30mm shells and Jackhammer rockets into the writhing mass of enemies in the center. This tactic was standard for their unit, and was aptly named the "Death Roll".

In less than a minute, every Covenant soldier lay on the ground dead or dying. The only things left standing were the Death's Heads and the ominous alien structure.

Looking up at the massive gray building, Williams walked up to his commanding officer.

"So El-Tee... what now?"