0603 Hours, October 20, 2552
Earth Defence Platform,
Cairo Under attack from Covenant fleet
Time was of the essence and we had none of that. I was surprised by how long it had taken for the bulkhead to open with the sophisticated technology the Covenant used. But anything which slowed those bastards down was fine by me. In these few precious moments we had been able to set up a defensive machine gun, manned by Sgt Johnson. I was crouched behind a small barricade eyes aiming sown the sight. At least now when they came we would be ready for them. We would be ready for them!
"This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill" blared over the loudspeakers in a worrying voice. Many of the staff had not seen combat before and didn't know what to expect. Unlike me which had fought in several campaigns against the covenant in the early years of this war. I had been issued out with the rest to hold the presumed unstoppable covenant force ten years ago from basic when no one had any idea of how to defeat it. The covenant fleet seemed undefeated vanquishing everything in its path until the minor setback of Côte d'Azur in the Sigma Octanus star system. Côte d'Azur was attacked by Covenant ground forces, and the Chiefs Spartans were deployed to find out why the Covenant was so fascinated in the city. It turns out that the museum of the city held a Forerunner artifact that the Covenant wanted and the Spartans were able to use their planned distraction to raise the city with a Havoc-nuke. That was a triumphant day for the UNSC. Shaking my head I cleared my vision and concentrated on the moment. A small beam of light appeared in the centre of the bulkhead and I knew the Covenant was finally cutting through.
"Fingers on the triggers marines" I yelled not leaving my eye off the scope. I had to keep the marines focused. The time would make them unaware. If they were unaware then it could cause sloppiness and if they were sloppy then we'd have a lot more blood on our hands than I'd want. The beam of light stopped and disappeared.
"Hold it, hold it" I murmured. There was a brief moment and then it began.
The bulkhead exploded outwards sending small, tiny fragments of superheated shrapnel in every direction, knocking down a control console in its wrath. In came a swarm of Grunts for the first line of attack. This species resembled to me of a small dog with a childlike attitude. They wore breather masks to suit their methane atmosphere on their home planet or they would suffocate to death. Behind them towered two Elites roughly measuring 8'6" compared to the Grunts 5'. They wore dark blue body armor augmented by full body shielding which recharged when depleted. The physical appearance of both elites was terrifying. Their jaws were quadruple-hinged; they have an upper jaw, and then four mandible-like lips which are lined with sharp teeth. One of them was barking orders to the grunts upfront and both were wielding the traditional weapons of the elites. The plasma rifle. That weapon would leave a mark on what ever it hit being capable of either semi-automatic or automatic fire.
"Let 'em have it marines" I hollered pouring on the fire from my battle rifle. The heavy machine gun opened up ripping apart the breather masks on the grunts and dissecting their puny body armor from them. The Elites stepped up to take aim and heavy caliber rounds sliced through the air straight at them. Normally the Elites shields would deflect minor rounds but they didn't stand a chance with what was about to hit them. The shields failed in a matter of milliseconds leaving the bullets cut into the Elites torso shredding its insides. It was not a pretty sight but it was either us or them. Then a marine next to me got hit from above and was screaming in agony. I didn't know his name and probably wouldn't some other time but looking at that wound knowing that there was nothing no one could do to save him was agonizing. I turned my attention to the attacker and squeezed a shot in its direction making it duck for cover. As it did so there was an explosion from behind it where my rounds had hit an electrical terminal and the Elite was fried as the mains supply connected to his body armor. It was not a pretty sight believe me. Turning my head I saw private "Se7en" ducking beside a support pillar attempting to reload his SMG and on the balcony just above him stood an Elite in blood red armour. The Elite had just noticed and was raising its Covenant Carbine rifle directly at him.
"Se7en, above you" I screamed. Lifting my rifle which I had just realised was reading empty as the Elite aimed for the kill. It all happened so fast. From out of nowhere the Master Chief appeared spearing the Elite Veteran off the balcony and through the control consoles screen. There was a sickening bloody crunch as the veteran hit the floor smothered in flying glass. The Chief stepped off the dead Elite as the room fell silent. He turned and nodded to Se7en as if asking if he was Ok. The floor was plastered in blue and purple blood and the dead bodies of the invaders. I moved from my barricade toward the remains of the bulkhead and saw a Grunt whizzing about on the floor. In the back of my mind I laughed as I shot it dead. Elsewhere on the station I could hear gunshots and as if the chief could read my mind he said "that's where were heading next"
We progressed slowly through the station towards the hangar bay passing through Habitat Alpha. There we had little trouble of breaking down any Covenant resistance with the Master Chief at our side. It would have seemed that we were winning this fight until we got to the hangar bay 17 minutes later. Covenant presence had been increased here as they tried to enter the station from portside. This hangar bay was big enough to fit two pelican drop ships side to side and with not much cover available was going to get pretty hot when the fighting started. I collected 4 grenades from a stash as we entered and restocked my ammo for the battle rifle. Marines were all ready fighting the covenant on each level of the bay but without help soon the Covenants reinforcements would eventually cut them down. They were relieved when we showed up. I had about 4 marines left in my platoon but I believed it was enough to drive them back. With the help of the Chief the fighting only lasted about 5 minutes. We used fragmentation grenades to clear out the bulk of the force and just fired upon them from our vantage point above. Once the room was clear I climbed down the stairs to view the bay windows. There was a space battle going on all around the cluster. Fleet Admiral Harper and his men were doing their best to keep the Covenant drop ships away. Two Longsword fighters flew passed chasing a group of Seraph bombers past the station. It was a real dogfight out there. Many of the covenant ships were leaving Defence Platform Malta.
"Hey, check it out! The Malta's already driven off its boarders." I turned to face who I believed was Private "Anti.
"Malta, what's your status?" asked Cortana over the radio, serious as always.
"I don't believe it! They're retreating, we won!" came the reply from Malta's defence coordinator. They were the last words he ever spoke. I dared to watch as an explosion which trembled through the heavens erupted and blew the station apart. I had to hold on to embrace the shockwave that engulfed us.
"This is bad, real bad!" replied Anti in a worrying voice. I had to get us moving again and quickly before more Covies showed up.
"Chief, Im going to take the rest of this platoon and clear out any Covenant bogies on the higher levels so that the Commanders can get to their ships. Good luck" I saluted him and gathered the marines.
"Come on marines, let's move it out"
I lead the marines up towards the portside of the Cairo treading carefully so that we didn't walk into any ambushes. Only once did we encounter any covenant, a pair of Grunts which seemed to have gotten lost from their squad. We quietly eliminated them as they would only be a threat in large numbers but on their own they were cowards. Another shockwave hit the station and I wondered what it was but decided to ask questions later. Ten minutes passed and we finally made our way to the gangway where the Amber Clad was docked. I heard gunfire ahead and signalled to the squad. We moved along the corridor preparing for anything and came out next to the tram entrance. Sgt Johnson and Commander Miranda Keyes were under fire from Covenant further along the gangway. When he saw us he signalled.
"Glad you've shown up marines. The Covenant are suppressing us down and we need to get the Cmdr to her ship." The door opened next to us and the Chief walked out covered in blue blood.
"Come on, Chief, this way!" We fought hard for the next few minutes and the Covenant would not give us a step. Finally after a thorough clean out with a few grenades it was over.
"Thanks, Chief, I owe you one." Miranda said before entering the Amber Clad. Sgt Johnson shook the Chief's hand and said "Get going. I'll cover the commander" I discussed with the Sgt if my squad and I could hitch a ride down to Earths surface on the Amber Clad.
"Sure" He replied smiling his perfect set of white teeth. "As if we've got anything better to do"