Chapter 3: Aiding the Eighth
Will hurried up the last few stairs of the blown out stairway. A light flickered on and off, caught in a never ending cycle as the cold air and snow flakes blew in through the charred concrete and steel walls. The fog had already claimed the eightieth floor of the building his was in and he carefully came up to the shattered windows. All around him was the remnants of what had been a normal day at work. Coffee cups were frozen solid and those computers that were still functioning had whatever work their operator had been looking at when the Dreadnought dropped through the atmosphere ringed in hellfire. Quietly crouch-walking up to the window, his boots crushed the blown out glass into the generic carpeting. Hundreds of feet below him was the Covenant compound, glowing through the haze. No sounds reached him at the height he was lurking at but he wouldn't take any chances of making a mistake and alerting them to his presence. Pulling out a small GPS module from his backpack, Will pointed it directly at the ground and activated it. It beeped twice and flashed an error message. The fog was blocking the signal from reaching the ground.
"Shit," he said out loud before messaging Harris. "Lieutenant, we've got a problem, this fog is blocking the signal from my position. I can reposition and try to send it again…"
"Do it if you can. But, don't, under any circumstances, openly engage the enemy."
"Affirmative, Oh-Four-Three over and out." Will stepped away from the ledge and walked back through the office building. He took the stairs four at a time, making it to the bottom in only a few minutes. His instincts kicked in and he disappeared out of the building and onto a street parallel to the one the encampment was on. The waterfront area had been hit the hardest in the attack because of it's position under the Covenant capital ship. Craters pockmarked the streets and mangled bodies littered the streets while the skyscrapers that towered over head were now empty shadows of their once mighty grandeur. The Spartan slowly and methodically made his way along the sides of the buildings until he was a few blocks down from the encampment. Situated on the flat street of the waterfront and mixed between the MAG-LEV train rails, skyscraper bases, and the many plush clubs and restaurants was the center of all the Covenant activity in the city. Portable shield generators glowed brilliantly and slightly distorted the figures of the aliens that walked behind them. Levitating in the air were small guard towers manned by Jackals and their Beam Rifles. Tents had been arranged in the center of the compound and had even more shields situated around them. Will pulled the GPS out again and leveled it at the largest tent. Holographic gold ribbons "fluttered" in the wind and the unmistakable crowns of Brutes in the Royal Guard armor moved back and forth. For a few seconds he considered pulling back and alerting the Colonel about the possible presence of a Prophet or high ranking Covenant but the Covenant weren't the biggest threat anymore, at least once they were removed from Earth. Will pulled the trigger on the side of the module and three invisible lasers triangulated the position of the tent.
"Coordinates sent, possible ranking Covenant in proximity," He reported to the Lieutenant before jogging down the street. A quiet rumble of thunder off in the distance and the 120mm high-explosive rounds screamed into the air. A safe distance down the street, Will squatted down and watched the Covenant camp become enveloped in rolling flames and dust. One stray round impacted on the side of a building and exploded, pushing it beyond it's limits. Cracking in the middle, the skyscraper tumbled towards the water and landed on top of the obliterated camp. Tendrils of blue plasma licked at the air through the thick wave of dust and snow that was rushing towards Will. Turned his head away from the cloud and felt it slam into him. Small particles of concrete, alien metal, and chunks of ice ricocheted off of his shields but they held at half strength. Once it had passed by him he stood up and looked at his armor which, instead of being a jade green was now a dark grey color.
"Verify delivery of ordinance." Harris asked over the comm channel. Will flicked on his binoculars and scanned the pile of debris.
"Affirmative, right on target, sir."
"Excellent, hold tight, we're on our way. Harris over and out." Waiting for the Marines, Will quickly removed the dust on his rifle to prevent jamming. A few hundred meters down the road was a large group of Marines in their white, grey, and black arctic camo BDUs. He headed over towards them and met up with the Lieutenant. Standing in the rear like a giant was Kat.
"Nice look," she whispered over their private comm channel. Will didn't respond but looked at himself. The Marines fanned out to secure a perimeter and Harris called the Colonel.
"This is Lieutenant Harris reporting. We've eliminated the Covenant camp in the city and are waiting for the other squads to link up so we can lead and attack on the ship."
"Negative Lieutenant, Eighth platoon is under heavy attack and needs immediate reinforcement. Go there and help."
"Yes sir! We're moving out, Eighth needs our help." Harris stood up and the Marines cried out, scrambling over the wreckage. A few explosions rocked the city when they were running and anxiety began showing on the faces of the Marines. They arrived at a corner in the road and the sounds of the battle were almost deafening. A loud crack of a sniper rifle broke through and an Elite fell in front of the Lieutenant, missing it's head. He looked back and began making motions with his hands indicating half of the platoon would get some covering fire to go across the street. One of the machine gunners came up to the front and prepped to fire. He took a few deep breaths and continued to shift his grip while fifty marines making the dash lined up next to him. Someone tapped the gunner on his shoulder and he rolled around the corner and unloaded. The machine gun quickly began tearing the slanted street to pieces as the Covenant, who were behind their portable shields and easily numbering over a hundred, looked around confused at the new enemy behind them. Those Marines who were dashing across fired off burst after burst from their BR55s, spraying different colors of blood all across the street. Will slid around the corner and opened fire when Kat tapped his shoulder and shot across the road. He found one Elite with his shields down and put three bursts into his skull which exploded onto the Grunts around him. After the first seconds of confusion, the Covenant troops regained their composure and started firing back. Blue plasma splashed around the machine gunner who ducked back around the wall. A couple of bolts hit Will and his shields dropped to twenty-five percent. Alarms blared in his ears and he got back behind cover. Harris was just behind the gunner and was again flicking through satellite photos.
"Eighth platoon is just about a block and a half up that way, they're surrounded on three sides by the Covenant troops. We ran into the largest group but they're farthest away also."
"Linda, Chris, this is Will, our platoon is down on the waterfront. If you can just put some heavy fire on the Covenant in front of us we can cut through them and link up."
"Alright," a sniper rifle shot rang over Linda's intercom. Will got sight of a Jackal's upper body explode in a cloud of purple. A new intensity of fire came down on the Covenant and rounds impacted on the battered road. Marines pulled grenades from their load bearing vests and primed them. Harris counted from five and they got out of cover and threw theirs. One Marine was pummeled by plasma and fell to the ground, his grenade's handle popping off. Will hurried out and kicked the grenades into the air. The small green orb arced over the Covenant and detonated at almost the exact same time as the others. Orange flames washed over the aliens and the one in the air exploded sending shrapnel down on those below. Once the black smoke had disappeared, the full scope of the carnage became evident. All colors of blood were sprayed on the pockmarked walls, windows were blown out, and the remains of bodies slid down the road. Only a few severely wounded Elites remained and they were quickly taken down.
"Move out!" Harris yelled across the street and the Marines swarmed up the road on either side. They arrived at the next road and could see the shapes of Marines shooting to Will's 2 and 10 o'clock positions. "Sergeant Maloney, take your men around and flank those Covenant, I'll go right! Remember, we've got friendlies on the other side of the Covenant so make sure you know where your shots are going!" The Lieutenant's voice barely made it over the sounds of gunfire and the two groups split. Will stayed in the front with Harris and came up to the corner of the street they were on. A few Covenant were visible and the machine gunner opened fire again. Other Marines, including Harris and Will, jumped out from behind the building and opened fire while charging forward. A group of Grunts fell to the ground while the Elites roared in rage and started to fire. Their shots hit the mark on a few Marines who fell to the ground screaming in agony. One Elite fired off a few rounds from his Carbine and hit a Marine in front of Will. His head exploded in a cloud of bone and blood that sprayed on Will's visor but when he tried to wipe it away all it did was smear. He cursed loudly and grabbed a handful of snow then wiped across the gold lens. Luckily it melted fast enough and washed enough of the blood of to let him see again. More Covenant came around the corner and walked into the wall of lead that the Humans were spraying. Like usual, the first to fall were the Grunts who were less skilled than a Marine. Will was the first to round the corner and slammed the butt of his rifle into the chest of an Elite caught off-guard by the cyborg. It's chest collapsed in on itself and the Elite crumpled to the ground, a steady flow of purple blood coming from his mouth. He fired a few bursts into it to make sure it was dead and took off again. A few bolts of plasma impacted around his feet and he crouched down before picking off three Grunts cowering behind a burnt out coupe. One grenade went off in the middle of the street and vaporized a group of Jackals who had arranged themselves in a defensive ring. Chunks of meat fell all around one Jackal who wasn't killed got ejected into the sky, falling to the ground in a crumpled heap thirty meters away. The last of the Marines came around the corner and jogged to their formerly besieged comrades. Will looked across the street and saw the other squad finishing up the last of the Covenant on their side. He walked past a pile of dead bodies in blood stained snow. Other Marines were leaning up against something, nursing whatever wounds that they had. Off in the corner he spotted a Spartan stand up. Human and Covenant blood covered his armor and the silver metal underneath their green paint was showing. Will looked at his own armor and saw that over the grey dust was the same montage of colors. Both of the Spartans saw each other and met up.
"You look like you've been busy," Chris said.
"I could say the same. Where's Linda?" Chris just looked around in the sky and Will understood instantly. He flicked on his squad markers and three blue triangles appeared. The one he was looking for, though, was a few hundred feet in the air. Located in the rubble of a blown out portion of a building, Linda was only visible because of the tag. "Nice spot."
"Thanks, it took a little bit to get up here though."
"I bet, but come on down, we've cleared everything."
"Affirmative."Linda's comm cut off and the tag started moving. The other half of their platoon met up with the beleaguered Eight and started moving the wounded into safer areas. Three D77-TC Pelican drop ships flew over to them and loaded up those who couldn't walk. Will went over to Lieutenant Harris and spoke to him.
"My squad and I could assault the ship if you would like."
"Negative, reports are that the Covenant are leaving."
"They're abandoning the city?"
"Yeah, and every other city they landed at, apparently they lost the heart to fight." This didn't sound like the Covenant Will had fought for his entire life, they didn't just lose the will to fight. But sure enough the purple ship's engines roared to life and started to accelerate through the atmosphere but it wouldn't make it. A loud sonic boom smashed through the city. Windows shattered all around them, spraying shards of glass all around them. Another explosion rocked the city and from where Will was standing he saw the front portion of the Dreadnought's nose exploding in blue flames before slamming into the ground. Dark clouds of dirt and snow rose up into the air and the ground shook beneath their feet. More explosions continued to ripple across it's hull as the once beautiful ship buried itself into the ground. Over head a Marathon-class Cruiser dropped through the clouds and hovered where the Dreadnought used to be, it's MAC cannon steaming.
