Chapter 2: Seattle
The Phantom's engines pulsed rhythmically as Will fiddled with the throttle slightly. Small particles of dust were quickly blown away from the twin engines' exhaust and began heating the metal floor to a dark orange color. Linda was the last one aboard, carrying what was left of the equipment they had and the dead body of the marine who had come along with them on accident. She gingerly laid his body onto the alien craft's floor and walked up to the other Spartans who were gathered around the cockpit. The gravity lifts sealed shut and Will began to depressurize the hangar bay they were waiting in. Alarms echoed inside the four story room for ten seconds before they cut out and the shimmering shield in front of them quickly faded away. A small white haze floated off into space along with anything that wasn't locked down before hand. Will nudged the throttle forward a little and the Phantom's nose dipped down and exited the hangar.
"Admiral Hagart, this is Spartan-Oh-Four-Three. We are leaving the Covenant ship now and are awaiting destination coordinates." Static hissed over the Phantom's speakers and the Spartans waited for a response. Off in the distance a Super MAC station exploded in orange and white flames before slowly tumbling down towards the surface. Will tapped a symbol and switched to the UNSC K-Band. "This is Spartan-Oh-Four-Three, over." He hoped his call would break through the chatter of the main command channel.
"This is Rear Admiral Hirohito, Colonel Nickerson has requested reinforcements in Seattle and up until now we haven't been able to give him any."
"Affirmative Admiral, we're on our way. Over and out." Will punched in the coordinates and sped off through the battle that was still raging in space. Covenant AA flak exploded all around their small craft but it trailed off, apparently following another target. A few missiles raced through the sky and impacted against a Seraph fighter a few kilometers off of their port side. The Atlantic Ocean swept past them to their right and Will prepared the Phantom for entry into the atmosphere.
Soft snow flakes floated through the air and lazily dropped to the already white ground. Off in the distance explosions echoed quietly and would abruptly be interjected by a rattle of automatic fire. The tall buildings glistened in the overcast sky and other than the battle that was raging all around, it would have been a very pretty winter morning in Seattle. Furthering this point was the presence of an almost pristine Covenant Dreadnought hovering a few thousand feet over the water. Colonel Nickerson pulled a pair of binoculars from his load bearing vest, and, from his position atop Queen Anne Hill, surveyed the scene below him. He focused on a few columns of black smoke rose into the air and dissipated into the cold fog. Something caught his ear and he turned around and watched as a dark shape flew towards them. Directing his binoculars on this new object, he saw that it was Phantom coming at them. From behind his neoprene face mask he ordered the AA turrets to open fire on it. Thunder echoed loudly as the cannons open fire, spewing explosive rounds in the direction of the Phantom. A few explosions made it's silver shields flare up and someone's voice crackled through his earpiece.
"Hold your fire! Friendlies on board!" Nickerson ordered them to stop and watched his suspicious soldiers creep up towards it as it descended to the ground. For a few seconds it hovered in the air not doing anything and he could see the agitation growing. Not wanting to be caught off guard, he shouldered his BR55 and kept it near him. At last, a tall shape descended from the orb of blue in the under belly and stepped onto the concrete ground. Three more followed afterwards, all heavily laden with equipment.
"Whoa! It's a Spartan!" someone yelled out and all of the Marines came in closer to get a better look at the super soldiers. They made their way through the mass of people and saluted to the Colonel when they were free.
"Sir, Spartan-Oh-Four-Three reporting. Admiral Hirohito ordered us to help you secure the city." Nickerson saluted back and turned around to face the city below them. He spoke with a voice that sounded quite young.
"We weren't expecting them to take any interest in actually capturing the city so we were caught off-guard when they dropped through the clouds and started to set up camp." This surprised Will. He had expected the Covenant to try and come back to their home planet as fast as possible to help their hierarchs. Then again the message maybe wasn't even sent out and they're just following the plans they had laid out. "Right now I've got a few battalions spread throughout the city and they seem to be containing those that have come down well enough but it's definitely taking its toll on our guys. I don't know how you like to operate, either as a group or by yourselves, so I've got no idea where to send you."
"Each of us can join in with a unit and coordinate between ourselves if you'd like, sir," Will suggested. Nickerson moved his jaw and from under the black material he could see his lips contort.
"Alright, I'll get you a transport out there and you can do your thing."
"Yes, sir," all of the Spartans responded and Nickerson did a double take when he heard the two female voices. He lifted his arm in the air and pointed to two Warthogs that were parked a couple of meters away. Their engines roared to life at once and they sped up to the Colonel and the Spartans.
"Take the Spartans to First, Third, Eighth, and Twelfth platoons." The two drivers responded with a "Yes, Sir" and the Spartans jumped aboard, Kat and Will on one, Linda and Chris on the other. They sped off through the deserted city towards their destinations.
Will sat anxiously in his seat with his rifle just a few millimeters from firing off a round. Buildings and wrecked cars zipped past them and they crossed over a few streets before getting onto the empty freeway. Scattered about were lonely cars sitting like time capsules in the cold winter air. Snow was piled all over the road and the Warthogs revved their engines a little more than usual as they drove over the slick roadway.
"First and Twelfth platoons are on the far side of the city," their driver yelled out over the icy wind. Just as he said that the other Warthog exited and headed towards the waterfront. Following suit, their driver took another exit and entered into the dark city. The fog here, although not any thicker, felt like it was pressing itself upon you without any chance of an escape. A few of the windows were broken on the buildings and a quick scan of the ground below revealed crumpled bodies just barely visible under the fluffy white snow. Off in the distance a machine gun rattled off a burst of gunfire and fell silent. Kat was sitting in the back of the Warthog, leaning up against the LAAG and letting her heavy boots bounce off of the bumper. The rhythmic tapping suddenly fell silent and Will felt the Warthog shift around a little. He twisted around and saw standing up.
"What is it?" he asked but she gave no response. Will listened carefully and heard what she had heard. "Stop, stop the Warthog and shut it off." The driver looked at Will worriedly but decided to do as he said. There was absolutely no noise for almost a minute but then, out of nowhere, a deep thrumming reverberated through the dead streets. Both of the Spartans hopped out of the Warthog and ran up to a wall and watched as the driver scrambled over to them and pulled his M6C from it's holster. Up above them, a dark shape floated through the air with small portions of it glowing a ghostly blue. It slowed down over the Warthog and descended down through the fog and became visible. The Phantom's turrets swiveled back and forth unendingly as it scanned the streets for a target but finding none it rose back up and flew away at the exact same speed as before. Will and Kat stayed where they were, up against the glass wall, but the driver started to walk back through the snow towards his Warthog. Before they could call him back the thrumming pounded the streets but this time it was much faster and stronger. In the distance purple-pink plasma lances tore the streets up. The two Spartans smashed through one of the glass doors they were leaning up against but the driver wasn't able to make it in time. Strafing the vehicle, the Phantom vaporized the driver in a splash of superheated air and destroyed the Warthog which exploded and landed on it's side, flames roaring off of the dead carcass. Where their driver had been was now replaced with the remains of his leg, smoldering in the snow. Will laid on his back watching the split second carnage and waited a few minutes before getting up. The Phantom never returned, leaving the Spartans alone once again. They walked out of the building and cautiously made their way down the sidewalk, rifles at the ready, their heads constantly swiveling back and forth for any sign of danger.
"Do you have any idea where we were headed?" Kat finally asked over their comm channel.
"No, I don't think we should keep heading this direction though," he replied as the faint glow of a gravity lift began to poke through the thick fog. Another burst of machine gun fire pierced the silence, but this time it was much closer and pronounced. With their enhanced hearing, they were able to hear faint yelling and shouting to their left. Looking down the street a few muzzle flashes reached their eyes a few seconds before the rattling sound of their weapons. Will sprinted off towards them as fast as he could. His powerful legs pounded into the street leaving small imprints and he called out that he was on his way.
"This is Spartan Oh-Four-Three coming from your three o'clock so hold your fire!"
"You're kidding me! A Spartan to reinforce us?"
"Affirmative, I'll be there in a few seconds." Dark shapes slowly materialized through the haze and he almost barreled over a Marine who was laying prone with a sniper rifle. The sounds of battle flooded the surrounding area and he figured out what the forty or so Marines were doing. They were arranged in a crescent shape with the majority facing a street that dipped down steeply towards the water and was near the point where the gravity lift hit the surface. A few bursts of plasma flashed through the air but it seemed half-heartedly fired. Another hail of withering fire erupted from the determined Marines, intermixed by the loud chugging of the machine guns they had set-up. Will flicked over to a thermal filter and saw the shapes of a few Grunts about thirty meters down from him. He slid his BR55 into his shoulder and steadied his aim before popping off three consecutive bursts into one of the Grunts. A cloud of head erupted from the dead body and it fell to the ground. Noticing the newcomer, some of the Marines turned around and stared in awe.
"Where's your commanding officer?" he asked. Someone pointed to a First Lieutenant leaning up against a metal barrier with his rifle resting on it. A quick burst came out and Will spotted another Grunt slump to the ground. "Sir, Spartan Oh-Four-Three reporting."
"Good timing, we've been hearing reports that the Covenant are pouring out of the ship. These guys have been bugging us for a little but I think we've gotten them all."
"We would have been here sooner but we were strafed by a Phantom patrolling the city and our vehicle and driver were killed."
"Don't worry about it." The Lieutenant finally turned from the metal barrier and looked at Will. Like most of the soldiers fighting in the city, his face was covered by a black neoprene head mask, only revealing his grey eyes. "Are you the only one?"
"No, she's over there." Will pointed to a Spartan standing with a barrier stopping at waist level, her rifle in the pit of her shoulder.
"The more the merrier. I was waiting to lead an assault once I had more men but considering you two are here I think we'll be okay." Will nodded and looked back down the street. The amount of gunfire had severely slackened and the Marines were now content to just keep their eyes on the surrounding streets and watch for anything coming at them. Will noticed images were flipping back and forth on the Lieutenant's monocle and he knew he was looking at whatever tacsat photos he could get a hold of. "That doesn't look good. About a hundred meters down the road and another forty over is a Covenant compound that's been set up. Before we can move anywhere we need to take it out because from what I'm seeing on the thermal scans, there's a lot of activity. I'd like you to go and mark it for an artillery strike."
"Yes, sir."
"Alright, let me upload the coordinates," a smallmessage in the shape of an ancient letter appeared on Will's HUD for a few seconds, "just radio once you've arrived and marked it."
