Chapter 11: Baptism of Fire
Aeolan Forest
By the time Karla reached rally point Alpha, she could already notice that the rest of the platoon had gathered. She did a quick count of her troops and noticed two Warthogs were missing. She instantly recognized which ones were.
"What happened to Jacobs and Frances?"
Their squadmates in Squad Three remained quiet. With Jacobs and Frances' Warthogs gone, their squad strength had been quite literally cut in half. Also, both drivers were well known among Squad Three. Their squad leader, Sergeant Ranney, finally responded.
"Jacobs' Warthog took a fuel rod hit head on. There wasn't much left to recover after that. Frances' Warthog caught a plasma grenade in the tires and blew off the entire front half. Jones and Forrest got thrown clear and we managed to pick them up. Frances wasn't too lucky."
Karla nodded and gauged the status of the rest of her platoon. So far, they had lost two Warthogs and four Marines killed. There were also countless injuries among them from stray plasma fire and combat exhaustion was threatening to overcome most of the Marines. Even now, she could see signs, especially among the greener Marines, of cracking.
"Okay, pack up and lets get moving. We're going back to HQ."
"We're not going to help Outpost 6?"
"Ryan. Our Warthogs have several new dents and holes in them, we are all low on ammo, and not to mention bone-tired Add in the possibility of having to fight a numerically superior force that is now aware of our presence here, and we get a very nasty combination. And yes, I hate the fact that we have to leave those guys there on their own now, but going on a suicide attack isn't going to get anything done."
"Sorry I even mentioned it, El-Tee!"
UNSC Outpost 6
With only about three dozen Marines against three hundred Covenant troops, Sam thought that the soldiers were taking it pretty well. Most stayed behind the makeshift barricades that had been set up, with a weapon and an eye trained on the treeline, but some others took the time to relax and take a smoke, or play cards or talk with fellow Marines. Sam had now idea how they could something like this right before a battle, but she suspected it was what they usually did to calm their nerves.
Sam looked behind her. Leo was transferred down to ground to help out with the defense, and with her on the roof were five other snipers, each with their own little killzone set up. Though no words were ever exchanged between them, their body language and eye movement suggested a contest between the snipers. An unofficial "whoever kills the most Covvies wins" challenge, and Sam had no mind to lose it.
She heard a faint rumble in the forest, and recognized it as a Warthog engine. Oupost 6 had a total of seven Warthogs kept in the bunker motor pool, but on all of them, the weapons were either inoperable or not there. At least three of the seven were configured into troop transports, which pretty much made them useless in battle. Because of their limited use, Paccone pressed the Warthogs and their drivers into scout duty. If the Covenant were coming, Paccone wanted to know when and where.
Scout Five burst out of the treeline, and the moment he managed to bring his Warthog to a stop, jumped out and ran to Paccone.
"Sir!"
The sergeant turned from his inspection to face the driver.
"It better be good news, Private."
"It is! We've come back from our patrol route, and we made contact with the Covvie force!"
"And that is good, HOW?"
"I'm not finished yet, sir! Apparently, something tore them up pretty badly earlier All of their equipment was mangled and in pieces, and there's barely a hundred troops now."
"That's the best damn news I've heard all day! What attacked them?"
"Don't know sir, but whoever they were, they left in a hurry. We saw Warthog tracks going all over the place."
"And the Covenant?"
"They'll reach the outpost in about thirty minutes."
"Good job, soldier. Recall the rest of the scouts and get them back to the bunker. We've got some fighting to do."
As if the Covenant were working clocks, they managed to reach Outpost 6 in exactly half an hour, though they gave away their attack well before that. Every Marine on the line could feel and hear the marching of a hundred feet coming closer and closer. There were several loud explosions. That meant the Covenant had already breached their outer perimeter and tripped the Scorpion mines they planted in the forest. The next several minutes were filled with silence, until plasma bolts started to fly out from the treeline indiscriminately. Several Marines were taken by surprise and cut down by sheet of plasma. The rest either ducked for cover or returned fire.
And that was what most the early battle consisted of. Two sides firing randomly at each other, unsure of whether they were actually hitting anything or not. Because the Covenant were still well behind the treeline, the snipers couldn't get a clear shot at any of them, so they lay back and waited for an opportunity. After several more minutes of trading ineffectual fire with each other, the Covenant finally made their move. About three dozen Grunts, and a dozen Jackals emerged from the treeline on the south side. The Grunts were all huddled behind the Jackals, who made a line of shields to protect the grunts from gunfire. They advanced slowly, shrugging off the rounds being fired at them. A grenade or Jackhammer would have scattered their formation, but those grenades were scarce, and there were no more rockets, thanks to many previous battles.
Sam and another sniper saw that the Marines on the south side were in trouble. The other sniper started picking off grunts who weren't fully shielded by shield wall, but Sam knew that wouldn't do any good. She scanned the Jackals for any potential weakness and quickly found one. One Jackal, right in the middle of the line, didn't have is shield raised high enough to protect the top of his head. Sam zeroed and blew its skull clean off.
With a weak link in their shield wall the Grunts and Jackals knew that they were in trouble, and attempted to fall back, unfortunately for them, the Marines quickly exploited the gap in their lines. The Marines rose up and focused their fire in the gap, killing several grunts. The grunts, overcome by fear, broke formation and ran back for the treeline, making them easier targets for the Marines. Without any sort of Grunt backup, the Jackals had nothing to cover their rear or flank, so they raised their shields and tried to fall back as well, though in a more controlled fashion.
Then, out of nowhere, a lone Warthog leapt out and ran down about four of the Jackals. Sam looked up and scanned the Warthog closer, and realized that Paccone and several Marines were taking up positions on the passenger seats of the Warthog, and of all people, Leo was driving it.
"Things just keep getting wierder"
Leo quickly whipped the Warthog around, smashing into another Jackal and brining the Warthog into the Jackal formation's rear.
"Good job, Private!"
Paccone and the other Marines fired into the backs of the bird-like creatures and quickly killed them. More plasma came out of the forest, and struck the Warthog.
"Private! Get us the hell out of here!"
"On it, sir!"
Leo hit the accelerator and drove out of the plasma storm, but not before two Marines sitting in the back were hit and killed. Paccone shoved both of the bodies out of the back and motioned for two more Marines on the relatively quiet East side to replace them. At that moment, a new offensive was launched on the south side. More Grunts, and this time, Elites, poured out in a frontal assault against the defensive line.
"Private, you think you can get this dancing again?"
"No problem, sir!"
Sam was busy picking off Elites and watching Grunts being cut down. But what bothered her was the lack of any commanding officers. Usually, attacks like these would be led by at least one crimson Elite. Sam actually liked them, since their bright red armor made them very attractive targets. Sam stopped firing on the southern quadrant and directed her attention to the other three. The north side was fairly quiet and still at full strength, to repel a possible attack from the rear. The western side as still strong, though some Marines were transferred to help out the south. The eastern side was the weakest link, since that quadrant had the least amount of Marines defending it. Sam kept an eye on the treeline, and noticed movement. It looked like some sort of distortion or heat wave, except Aeola was not exactly a very hot planet, and heat waves moved up, not forward.
Sam suddenly realized what was happening. The attack on the south side was just a diversion. It was to draw attention away from the flanks, so a squad of cloaked Elites could sneak in and attack them from the inside.
They'll be ripped apart!
From what she could tell, the Elites were already halfway across the pavement and moving slowly. Sam raised her rifle and fired four shots into four different distortions. There was no time to reload, so she dropped her rifle and drew her M6D pistol. Though the pistol didn't have remotely as much punch as a high powered rifle, the fortunate thing about cloaking was that it drew a lot of power, so Elites usually had to choose between protection or stealth, and stealth was not going to help them this time.
Without even using the pistol's scope, Sam fired off several quick shots. She saw several clouds of blood and dust raise as bodies fell on the pavement. The six Marines on that side were confused at what was going on at first, but quickly caught on. The spread of bullets convinced the remaining Elites that maybe using their shields would be a better tradeoff. Suddenly, six Elites popped out of thin air, and Sam knew she only had seconds before the Elites could switch their shields on. She fired her five remaining rounds, and scored five hits. The first Elite had his eyepiece pierced by a bullet and toppled to the ground. The Elite right behind him took three rounds in the chest and also went down. The third Elite was hit in the neck and chest and fell, clutching its throat in agony. The remaining three Elites didn't stand much of a chance against six Marines armed with fully loaded assault rifles.
Suddenly, there was a loud shriek. One of the snipers looked up and screamed.
"Banshees incoming!"
Before Sam had a chance to react, plasma bolts rained down onto the roof of the bunker. Three of the snipers were instantly cut down by the rain of energy. The other two made a dash for the roof hatch. Sam saw a second Banshee cut in from another direction, but before she could warn the other snipers, there was a green flash. The next thing Sam knew, she was about four feet from where she was standing earlier, and what was left of the other two snipers was a patch of glowing red metal. The two Banshees circled around for another run, strafing the roof mercilessly. Led more by instinct rather than reflex, Sam rolled over the edge of the roof and fell about four stories. When she hit the ground, Covenant assaults and rogue Banshees were longer her problem.
There was a bright flash of light. Leo risked a glance, and saw the entire roof of the bunker go up in an explosion of plasma fury.
Sam
"Private! Keep your eyes on the road, goddamnit!"
"What?"
Leo whipped around and noticed he was straying from the battle.
"Sir, we have to do something about those Banshees!"
"I know that Private, just try to get close!"
"What-"
Paccone got on the radio and started yelling orders.
"Okay, northern quadrant! Pour fire on those Banshees! Aim high and try to force them down!"
Seconds later, assault rifle rounds flew through the air and whizzed above the Banshee. The pilot, spooked by the mass of concentrated fire, dropped altitude the point where he was hovering just inches above the pavement.
"Private! Full throttle, NOW!"
Leo quickly caught on to what Paccone was planning, jammed the accelerator, and hoped he remembered to put on his seat belt.
Leka Vumanee dropped his altitude to avoid the human fire. He could hear rounds pinging off the sides of his craft, and that made him nervous. Banshee armor was not very sturdy, and Leka did not want to test the armor's limits at this moment. Hoping to throw off their aim, Leka dove to the point where his Banshee was skimming the ground. Before he could pull up, however, Leka caught something on the edge of his vision, and hesitated for a split second.
That second was all the Warthog needed to connect with the Banshee. It's left wing pod was instantly crushed between the jeep and the aircraft like paper, and the resulting momentum sent the Banshee flying into the treeline, where it impacted against a tree and exploded. What surprised Leo the most, however, was the fact that the Warthog was still running.
"You gotta love those engineers at GM! They know how to make a jeep!"
"Sir! We've still got one Banshee left! And I don't think it's going to fall for the same trick!"
"No worries, Private! We've got a different plan! Just get close so we can do it!"
"Do what, sir?"
"Don't all Warthogs still have that tow cable and winch?"
Leo laughed.
The final Banshee was flying around the bunker firing indiscriminately. With no heavy weapons to take it down, the Marines on the ground were at its mercy. The pilot was so arrogant, he flew it just several feet off the ground, though just high enough so a Warthog wouldn't be able to ram it. Just then, a lone Warthog whipped around and headed straight for the Warthog. The Banshee turned to face it, fuel rod cannon charging.
What the Banshee didn't see was the second Warthog coming in from behind.
The second Leo passed under the Banshee, Paccone threw the tow cable up. The magnetic end of the cable immediately latched onto the underside of the Banshee. Like a party balloon, the Banshee was jerked away and being dragged along, its engines no match for the Warthogs brute strength.
"Now get ready, Private! On my command, we're going to slingshot this thing straight into the treeline!"
"Yes sir!"
"NOW!"
Leo quickly hit the brakes on the Warthog and made it do a full 360 degree turn. At the same time, Paccone cut the power to the magnetic end of the tow cable. Like a whip, the remaining momentum in the cable sent the Banshee flying straight through the treeline, and knocked several large pines over before finally exploding. Paccone smiled.
"Leo, you are a terrible driver."
Leo was taken off guard. This was the first time he had heard the sergeant call him by his first name.
"Probably why we were demoted to Marines, sir!"
Paccone laughed.
With the final Banshee gone, the Covenant attack pretty much lost all of its steam. What was left of the original force, about three Grunts and a jackal, was quickly rounded up and taken prisoner. Leo was a little more than proud of the fact that they won, until a very ugly thought struck him.
"Sarge, where's Sam?"
Three Hours Later
"Hey, wake up, sleepyhead."
Sam managed to open her eyes a little, but she was unsure if she was really awake or not.
"Hey, come on, stop that Sam, I know you're still alive down there."
Sam tried to close her eyes again, until she felt someone patting her face.
"This is no time to be sleeping on the job, Eagle Eyes."
Sam's eyes snapped open, and was about have her fist connect with the man's smiling face when she suddenly realized it was Leo.
"Ha, I knew that would wake you up."
Sam looked around and noticed she was in what looked like an infirmary.
"What happened?"
Leo casually sat down in a chair, still smiling.
"Well, after the battle, we were digging around for survivors and wounded when we found you lying in a heap along the east side. We also heard a lot interesting stories from the east-siders as well. Said that if it weren't for you, the entire left flank would've gone under."
"Yeah, so give me a medal."
"Actually, they're really considering it. The sarge is even willing to put in a good word for you."
"But the Sarge hates me."
Leo shook his head.
"Not anymore. From what he said a couple hours ago, we're no longer 'newbies' and now 'part of the squad.'"
"Really?"
"He called me, and you, by our first names. If that's not a step forward, then I don't know what the hell it is."
"You're sounding just like the old Leo I know now."
Leo stood up, and gave Sam a mock salute.
"You better get some rest while you can. I'm pretty sure command is going to dump us on the front again the moment we get back."
"Now you sound just like my mother."
Leo raised an eyebrow.
"But I thought you never knew her."
Sam's mood suddenly darkened, and she looked away.
"Don't remind me of that."
Leo, realizing his mistake, left the infirmary, leaving Sam alone with her thoughts.