Chapter 2
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0500 Hours, February
11, 2580 (Military Calendar) /
Sol System, Earth, New Delphi
There was chaos outside of the fortress walls. Human marines and Covenant Jackals, Brutes, and Buzzers traded shots, and casualties mounted. There were screams of pain as soldiers felt the superheated plasma shots burn through their shirts and armor, touching the raw skin beneath. For every Human soldier that fell, five Covenant soldiers fell as well. However, for every enemy soldier slain, two more seemed to take it's place. Soldiers who were shouting orders could barely be heard over the whine of overheated plasma weapons, the staccato of automatic weapons fire, sniper rifle shots, the sounds of a rocket being launched, the sizzle as an energy mortar hit the concrete, steel, and snow. The constant volley of weapons fire seemed to tear the very fabric of time, slowing everything down, as well as casting an eerie glow around them. Explosions thundered everywhere. Screams, taunts, complaints, they were all there in the night.
As SkyHawks streamed past, white streaks of missiles lunged straight into the Covenant Horde. The Covenant, undaunted, launched a new attack at the gates. The solid steel gates groaned and screeched as the horde launched volleys of plasma and energy mortars at them. Some of the sniper nests which also had guys with rockets, launched a counter-attack at the wraiths. A Wraith stopped firing and took aim at the nest. The soldiers jumped off moments before the nest became a torch in the night.
Corporal Hayfield aimed the rocket launcher at a Wrath that didn't particularly want to be attacked, and let fly one round. Its aim was straight and true. It hit the vehicle with an explosion like that of a thunderclap. The resulting sound was so loud that many of the soldiers near the explosion stopped and turned around. In that momentary lapse of attention, the Soldiers and vehicles on the wall took aim and fired a barrage of fire, projectiles, and plasma that hit that area like a well-aimed punch at an opponents exposed flank. That whole area lit up like a Christmas Tree in the night, and everything was turned to ash. The Covenant tried to rush soldiers in, but as the dropships neared the Covenant LZ, hidden Anti-Aircraft missile sites rose up and launched salvos of missiles toward the incoming dropships, each one dropping out of the sky or exploding in a black cloud of fire and shrapnel.
Suddenly, a portal of a red color opened up in the sky, and a huge ship emerged. It had a vague shape of a hammer with two cylinders in the middle, and engines in the back. As soon as this new ship came out, the AA missile sites automatically aimed and fired at this new thing in the sky. The missiles hade barely exited halfway out of the launch tube when they exploded, by some mysterious force, leaving behind twisted metal and blackened dirt, which had originally been a missile site. As the smoke cleared, dozens of organic and slimy-looking pods fell down from the ship, as well as metallic pods, and landed near the covenant base. The Covenant have been taking advantage of this momentary lapse of attention caused by the ship to regroup and charge again at the human camp. They didn't get far, as the pods burst open to reveal slightly slug-like creatures, with daggers for hands, and a shield-like carapace on its head. As Covenant soldiers turned to deal with this new enemy, the creatures began to fling spines and acid at the covenant. Impaling many of the unshielded soldiers, the covenant aimed at anything around them. As pods headed to Bravo Base, the marines screamed and fired at these pods. They successfully managed to shoot down half of them, but they kept coming. The Corporal looked around quickly, as the whole base started to run into disarray.
"Everyone! Grab what you can, we're evacuating this base! We'll be overrun! Load up a vehicle and head toward the science outpost, maybe we can warn them and help them defend themselves." As the marines did what they were told, some kind of elephant-like thing came through the portal, with dozens of others just like it. They seemed to be giant heading for the covenant base, where the aliens there had secured a foot hold.
"This is Hayfield, can anyone read me? I repeat, can anyone hear me? We are under assault by some type of alien creature. They have decimated the Covenant siege force! We are currently evacuating, but be warned, a MAC station will most likely be disabled. I know you need it, but we can't hold this position. We will fall back to the science research station and hole up there. We'll be able to protect them if the aliens follow us to the station. Can anyone hear me?"
"Corporal Hayfield, this is Major Lee. We'll send some reinforcements and medical staff. If you guys don't make it out, we'll have to nuke the site. Do you copy?"
"Major, I copy. Thanks for the help."
"Hey, you need all the help you can get."