Chapter 13: Scratch my Back
New Mombasa
Shiz Maramee never had a chance to enjoy his new command. The Wraith commander tumbled down the hatch and back into his tank, his brains leaking out of the hole in his head. It was only milliseconds later that the other Covenant troops were alerted by the signature crack of a sniper rifle. Before they even had a chance to take cover, however, grenades clattered down from above and a rocket came screaming down like a vengeful beast. Covenant troops were thrown in the air like rag dolls while the dearly departed Maramee's Wraith tank exploded in a hail of shrapnel and fire.
Confused, the rest of the Covenant force began firing wildly at the buildings around them while trying to find cover. The Marine squad managed to inflict around twenty more casualties before the Covenant caught on and began focusing their fire on the parking garage the Marines were hiding in.
"All right, fall back!" Paccone yelled.
One by one, the other Marines began pulling back from the edge of the railing and retreated across a pedestrian bridge that connected the garage to an office building that was out of the Covenant's line of fire.
"Come on Sam, let's get out of here!" Leo said, getting nervous at the increasing fire.
"You go first. I'll catch up!" Sam stayed behind for several more seconds as she zeroed in to pick off one last Elite.
Mako cursed as a bullet struck his head. Fortunately for him, the bullet had hit at an angle and bounced off his shields. Still, it felt as if his head were struck by a naval cruiser at full speed. His vision blacked out for a split second, and Mako suddenly found himself sprawled on the floor. Instinctively, he tried to get, but then realized he had just given away the fact that he was still alive to the sniper.
Sam silently chastised herself for failing to get a clean kill shot on the Elite. She tried to aim for a second shot, but an energy rifle beam shot past her a little too close for comfort. Even though the Covenant snipers were not even close tot he caliber of the Marines, they were still competent enough to zero in on a target if it stayed in one spot too long.
"Wellings, get your ass over here!" Paccone yelled.
Not wasting a second, Sam picked up her rifle and cleared the garage rail. She took one last glance at the Covenant force below, and reckoned that they had inflicted about fifty casualties. Maybe thirty dead and twenty wounded. Not bad for a squad of green Marines.
Mako found himself conflicted with his emotions. One on hand, he was saddened to see that Malamee had been killed in the initial ambush. Mako had known and respected the commander for being fair and tactically sound. On the other hand, Mako felt a perverse delight at the senior Elite's death. With Malamee gone, Mako was the most high ranking Elite remaining, which meant that Malamee's entire force was now technically under his control. It was a command that Mako felt that he long deserved, though at the cost of a fellow Elite's life.
He looked as his troops began to clear the road. Unfortunately, they had no time to stick around for very long. They had to secure this sector of the city and with the human forces closing in, they had to find defensive positions fast, not to mention that staying put would just be asking for another ambush like the one that just hit them minutes ago. The dead were thrown unceremoniously onto the side of the street, the wounded were loaded onto waiting vehicles, and the wrecked Wraith was shoved aside. He had to keep moving. It would not be long before the ambushers called in their infernal air support to destroy the rest of them.
Eignub Inc. Office Building
"I told you, don't bother." Leo sighed as Kumi tried to radio for air support. "Any decent officer would know to get his ass out of there after an ambush, even the Covvie ones."
"It's not that Leo, I'm trying to get a satellite scan." Kumi replied, still trying to find a frequency not hampered by the Covenant jamming. "Sam's spotted something just two miles south of here, but she can't quite make out what it is."
Leo turned to Sam, who had her rifle mounted on a nearby desk and was peering out the window.
"There's something out there." Sam squinted through her scope. "It's being shielded by those buildings over there, so I can't make out what it is, but there's definitely something there."
"Sarge?" Leo glanced over at Paccone, who was scouting out another pedestrian bridge. "What do you make of it?"
"I've got an idea, but you really don't want to know." Paccone sealed the bridge hatch and moved onto the next one. "Scohar! I want you to secure the stairwells and elevators! Plant some Whiplash mines and make sure any Covvies that want to come get second thoughts."
Scohar nodded and moved off, reaching into his pack for the explosives. Kumi meanwhile finally managed to pierce the interference.
"Okay, I've got LandScan Seven ready and waiting. Give me a position."
"Grid sixteen."
Kumi repeated the words through her radio and said, "Okay, visual feed is coming in three, two, one."
Everybody's HUD began to display a high resolution scan of a section of New Mombasa. Sam kept a close eye on the map, until she spotted a small, pixilated blob trudging slowly down a street. She squinted a little, and waited for the picture to magnify before discovering that it wasn't just one very large blob, but three fairly large-
"Scarabs." Paccone said simply. "Never thought I'd see those things again."
"Oh jesus." Kumi bit her lip. She looked as if she were on the verge of cracking. "Three Scarabs? We are so dead!"
"Keep it together, Private!" Paccone barked. Snapping all of the Marines back to attention.
Leo raised his hand. "Permission to speak sir?"
"Go ahead."
"Frankly, I don't even think a Spartan can stop one of those things, sir."
"Don't be silly." Paccone cracked a smile. The one he usually gave when he recalled some past battle. "Now I know that Scarabs may look big and scary, but they're not nearly as indestructible as people say they are. Why, me and Karla managed to take one down just by ourselves one time..."
"You're kidding." Kumi shook her head.
"Well, don't worry. If it moves, we can kill it. Isn't that right, Sam?" Paccone eyed the sniper as she peered out the window again.
"They're splitting up." Sam said as she adjusted her scope. "One is headed deeper into New Mombasa. One is headed for Old Mombasa, and the third… oh shit."
Leo grimaced. "I don't like the sound of that."
"The third one has just turned, and it's headed straight in our direction."
"We're screwed!" Kumi was beginning to panic, and Leo was inclined to follow her lead until Paccone shouted.
"Sit down and shut up, Private! I've killed things so ugly, so nasty, and so goddamn scary that even the mention of such said things will be enough to make you shit out a kidney!" Paccone glared at Leo and Sam, who remained silent. "Now, we can kill this thing easily as long as you understand how it works. A Scarab is basically just a big walking tank. That's it. Kill the crew, and it's just a big useless hunk of metal. Now get your shit together, because we're moving out in five! Anything else you might want to add?"
"I think we're going to need harpoons and tow cables, sir." Sam wisecracked.
At that moment, Scohar burst in from one of the stairwell doors. He glanced around somewhat blankly at his fellow Marines and asked, "Did I just miss something?"
Old Mombasa
Just minutes after the convoy began rolling, the mechanized column had already blown through at least three minor skirmishes, often with Covenant stragglers. Of course, not much could stand between an entire Warthog company and a quintuplet of Scorpion tanks. The devastated buildings and dead Covenant left in their wake was testament to their armored fury.
In order to keep from having all of her resources bottled up a tight and vulnerable group, Karla had split her forces into four columns. Each column was lead by a Scorpion tank (in the case of Karla's column, two tanks) and had one platoon of sixteen Warthogs following close behind for support. Each column took a separate street to make the sweep more efficient, and to spread out the human forces so they could react faster. Unfortunately, the streets of Old Mombasa were not designed for heavy traffic in mind, and the columns were always having to constantly change direction or reverse when they met a dead end or bottleneck.
If they were fighting a more tactically adept force, Karla knew that they would have taken complete advantage of the situation. With the narrow streets and bottlenecks, just a platoon of men with proper anti-vehicle weaponry could hold off an entire armored company for hours. Fortunately, the Covenant had little grasp on actual tactics, and preferred to just bum rush any enemy they saw, regardless of how badly they were outclassed.
Suddenly, Karla had an unnerving feeling that something was wrong. Compelled to look up into the sky, she caught sight of a Wraith plasma bolt falling right on top of her column.
"All units, scatter!" Karla screamed into her radio.
Acting quickly, the rest of the Warthogs immediately veered off into side streets and alleys to avoid the plasma bolt. However, the Scorpion tanks and the leading vehicles could only speed forward, since their section of road did not branch anywhere.
The mass of energy slammed into the middle of the street with unprecedented precision. Seconds later, more plasma began to rain down, hitting buildings, roasting trees, and melting derelict vehicles. To Karla's horror, she saw one plasma bolt slam into the base of a building, incinerating its foundations and causing it to tip over across the street, essentially cutting her column in two.
Finally, the rain of plasma stopped. The Covenant gunners had either lost their interest or found a better target to direct their fire. Karla took the chance to check up on her unit. So far, she only had two Scorpion tanks and three Warthogs, including hers. She picked up her radio and tried to contactthe rest of her column.
"We're okay here." Sergeant Riker replied. "No serious casualties or damage, but it could've gotten really nasty if you hadn't told us to make a break for it."
"All right." Karla glanced over at the pile of rubble that was now blocking the street. "Is there any way to get through the rubble on your end?"
"Uhhh, none that we can see, Captain." Riker paused for a second. "We can try using our engineers to blow the thing, but that could take days. We're probably going to have to go around it."
Karla nodded and examined her tactical map. Unfortunately for her, she was stuck in a long boulevard that had no connections to any other street other than a large plaza the very end. Karla made a mental note to kill whoever designed the layout for this city.
"Okay, it doesn't look like we'll be meeting any time soon. You're best chance is to regroup and link up with third column and keep moving. We'll meet you at the rally point." Karla looked over at the direction of the bridge connecting Old Mombasa with the New. Even though it was only about three miles away, it may as well have been three light years with these damn streets.
"Roger that, Captain. Good luck." Riker replied.
"Orders, Captain?" Captain Merck, who commanded the lead Scorpion, queried.
"We keep moving to the rally point." Karla said. "Full speed ahead."
Almost instantly, the Scorpion gunned forward. Karla had seen Merck fight before, and knew for a fact that he was an extremely aggressive tank commander. He was always itching for a fight, and has proven to be one of the best Scorpion commanders around, with over thirty kills to his name.
Captain Wrall, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He was commanding the second tank, and Karla knew for a fact that unlike Merck, Wrall was extremely conservative in his tactics. Rather than charge blindly into battle, Wrall often preferred to hang back and wait for his opponents to make a mistake, then take them out at range. His kill count rivaled Merck's with twenty six kills.
Suddenly, Karla caught movement in the shops on the sides of the boulevards. It was zero chance that it was civilians. The mass evacuation and the threat of Covenant invasion made sure of that, and if any people were remaining, chances were they were criminals or looters, and wouldn't be missed. Karla decided err on the side of caution.
"Williams, Myard, spray the shops. Kreefe, hold off until you can get a clear shot."
Two 30mm cannons roared as they tore the shop fronts apart, shattering glass and crumbling walls. Suddenly, like a beehive being struck by a stick, dozens of Grunts and a couple of Elites burst out of the stores, braving the whithering fire and clambering onto the Scorpion tanks up front.
Wrall was very aware of the Covenant leaping onto Shiela like barnacles, and could see the same happening to Merck's tank, No Mercy.
"Somebody scratch my back!" Merck yelled through the radio. It was long standing saying in armor units. Whenever they were being assaulted by infantry, it was common practice for the thanks to protect each other by spraying each other with machine gun fire. The tank's armor would easily protect the crew, but the same could not be said for the infantry.
Thinking quickly, Kazi brought her turret in line and sprayed Merck's Scorpion with machine gun rounds. The Grunts fell off like flies as they were torn apart by the bullets. At the same time, Merck's turret swiveled around, striking the head of the Elite, who was attempting to pry the hatch open, and snapping its neck. No Mercy returned the favor by spraying Shiela with a protective blanket of machine gun fire. Wrall could hear the bullets pinging off the hull like rain, and occasional meaty thump of a dead body rolling off the hull. Kazi noticed Shion trembling as the pinging got louder and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Don't worry. This stuff happens all the time. Not much can get through a Scorpion's skin."
"What's the situation out here, Captain Wellings?" Wrall asked. Even with the cameras mounted on Shiela's hull, visibility was always poor in a tank.
"You guys are clear. The Grunts are falling back and we're mopping up the last of them." Wrall could hear the distinct whine of a gauss cannon firing in the background, and tried not to picture what a hypersonic metal rod would do to a Grunt.
"Merck, Wrall, hold your positions." Karla continued. "We're almost at the plaza, and I have a feeling the Covvies might be hiding something in there."
"Roger that." Wrall could hear the disappointment in Merck's voice. His blood was up from the skirmish, and he didn't want to waste his adrenaline just sitting around.
"Okay people." Karla waved at the other two Warthogs. "We're going in on foot for this one."
Though primarily trained to be a mechanized attack unit, Karla had made sure that her company was properly trained in infantry tactics, since you couldn't spend all of your combat time resting in the seat of a Warthog. With impressive speed and stealth, Karla, Williams, Tarin, and her remaining six Marines managed to sneak up to the plaza unnoticed. What they saw, though, was alarming. There was a Wraith tank sitting at the other end of the plaza, keeping an eye on the entrance. Fortunately due to derelict vehicles scattered around the streets and plaza, it couldn't see the Scorpions just several hundred yards down the road. Karla could also see a platoon of assorted Covenant troops protecting the Wraith as well.
"Merck." She radioed the lead tank. "There is Wraith at the other end of the plaza. Can you shoot it from here?"
"I can't see a goddamned thing, Captain." Merck said gruffly. "And what I can't see, I can't very well shoot. I can charge forward and-"
"No." Karla quashed the idea. So far, the Covenant had no idea they were here. She wasn't about to give away the element of surprise. "There's a small side alley about thirty meters to your left. If you go through there, you can flank-"
Suddenly, the No Mercy's engines roared and the Scorpion shot forward. Karla cursed as she and her other Marines ran for cover. The damn glory hound.
Seeing the oncoming Scorpion tank, the Wraith quickly fired, but the shot was desperate and landed twenty meters short. No Mercy pressed on and responded with its own shot. The shell hit and pierced the Wraith's front armor. The Wraith then dropped to the ground like a rock and exploded, scattering the platoon of Covenant troops, who were quickly finished off by No Mercy's guns.
"See Captain?" Merck boasted proudly as No Mercy sat idly in the plaza. "I'm not sure how things are done in your unit, but this is how its done in the Armored Cavalry!" There was a faint chorus off "Hoo-rah!" in the background.
Suddenly, Wrall shouted, "Merck, you idiot, get No Mercy back into cover before-"
At that moment, No Mercy was hit simultaneously by two Wraith plasma bolts. Karla was knocked back by the force and heat of the resulting blast. Her radio link to Merck buzzed with the interference of a cut signal, and there was no doubt that there were no survivors in the melted hulk.
"Shit, can nothing go right for once?" Karla muttered under her breath.
Meanwhile, Shiela's crew was speechless for a moment. In the space of a few seconds, one of the unit's most celebrated tank aces was gone in a flash of plasma.
"Well, if you ask me, the bastard got what was coming to him." Scottie said.
"I hope you're not thinking about putting this tank in reverse." Kazi responded. "You seem to do that a lot when stuff like this happens."
"In your dreams, you wench."
Wrall noticed Shion's shocked expression and said, "Don't worry, they do this all the time. As far as I know, neither of them really mean it."
"Wrall!" Karla's voice crackled through the radio. "What's your status?"
"We're ready to go." Wrall said. "What happened up there?"
"Well, thanks to Merck, we've apparently found out that there are two more Wraiths hiding out on the left and right edges of the plaza, and both have clear lanes of fire onto the street. Once you drive in, you can nail one of them, but you'll never have enough time to fire on the second before he nails you."
"What about that alley you mentioned earlier?"
"I was getting to that." Karla sounded miffed, as if she didn't like being hurried. "Now here's the plan…"