Darkfire7881: Thanks for the review! That's actually part of the reason why I started writing fanfiction; like you, I was interested in seeing a Halo game from the perspective of just a regular, squishy, non-enhanced human, just trying to survive the war. I initially came to this section, thinking the fandom would be able to fill that void, but unfortunately there weren't a whole lot of stories that matched what I was looking for, so I decided to go ahead and write my own.
Also, thanks for the advice. I always trying to give my chapters a read-through before I post them, but like you said, it can be difficult to catch all the mistakes. If you, or anyone else of that matter, happen to notice any, feel free to point them out and I'll correct them as soon as possible. Thanks!
Chapter 10
Gaithersville, Thracia Province, Actium
May 6, 2545
0946
Tariq
"All military call signs in the vicinity of orbital defense generator echo, one, zero, niner, be advised enemy aircraft detected in bound, four minutes. I say again, enemy aircraft inbound in the vicinity of orbital defense generator echo, one, zero, niner…"
Tariq was a ball of frantic energy. With Noble busy trying to give Corona accurate directions to their destination, Tariq had in effect become the backup radio operator, monitoring the net for any relevant communicates and what not. But now with enemy aircraft potentially moving in, Tariq was not only doing that, but also prepping all weapon systems for an air attack, watching his sights and periscopes for visual contact of the inbound, repurposing his acoustic locator to help with detection of said inbound, as well as maintaining contact with their attached platoon of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns because they were the only ones in the column who had their own vehicle mounted radar systems. With so many things to keep track of, Tariq barely had time to breath, much less think.
"GUNNER, ANYTHING?" Noble yelled at him through the open hatch. Noble was riding with the top half of her body sticking out of the crew hatch for better visibility against the coming fighters, but the downside was at the speeds they were moving at, it was kind of hard to hear her, even with their intercom system.
"Negative First Sergeant! Scopes are clear!"
"WHAT?"
"NEGATIVE! I GOT NOTHING!"
"THERE'S NOTHING OUT HERE EITHER!" Noble reported back. "DRIVER, TAKE THIS NEXT RIGHT!"
Tariq threw his arms out to brace himself when Corona reflexively and suddenly took a right turn, only, he took it about fifteen meters short of the actual turn and instead, bumped into a civilian box truck parked there, putting a sizable dent in its side. Corona immediately realized his mistake and tried to jerk back onto the road, but Lillian wasn't exactly a car where only the front wheels could turn, so instead of curving back to the road, the tank abruptly stopped as it sort of spun around in the same spot.
"Sorry sorry sorry," Corona hastily said.
"Jesus fucking Christ kid!" Tariq immediately yelled. "Are you trying to throw the fucking track again!? Because that's how you get a thrown track!"
"Sergeant Helmand, shut the fuck up," Noble ordered as she ducked her head back inside. "Private Corona, I need you to calm the fuck down and pay attention to what's going on around you. I know you're nervous, but it doesn't do anybody any good if you flip the damn tank before the fighting even begins."
"Sorry First Sergeant," Corona breathlessly said.
"Don't be sorry, just do it," Noble bluntly ordered. "Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. You good?"
Corona didn't look too good to Tariq, but he bobbed his head nonetheless.
"Good. Now, focus. Get us back on the road and in fifteen meters, that's when you'll take a right."
"Understood First Sergeant."
"Good. Driver, get us moving again."
"Yes First Sergeant," Corona breath before throwing the tank in gear and easing back onto the road.
"06 Actual to 07. What is the hold up, this time!?"
Tariq snarled and grabbed a hold of his talk button but before he could depress it, Noble grabbed his hand.
"I'll deal with Captain Lightfoot, Sergeant," she said, throwing him a warning look. "Get back to your station and keep an eye out for hostiles."
Tariq nodded and turned back to his monitors as Noble lifted herself out of the hatch. He was glad Noble was finally deciding to deal with their company commander as Captain Lightfoot was seriously beginning to piss him off with his incessant need to ask them for their ETA every five fucking seconds.
Due to the heavy amount of civilian traffic that had been severely hindering their progress, the battalion commander had given them permission to pull off the highway and onto the side roads to explore alternative routes to the power generator in the hopes there would be less of a gridlock. This turned out to be the right move as there was significantly less traffic on the side roads, but unfortunately while the highway would have taken them directly to the power generator, no such side road existed, forcing the entire convoy to take a rather circular route to their destination. That in turn was adding more travel time to their itinerary, which was apparently causing Lightfoot to stress out.
In some ways, Tariq couldn't blame Lightfoot for freaking out. The column was already twenty to thirty minutes behind schedule due to the damn traffic and with Covenant aircraft potentially inbound, if the battalion didn't reach the power generator soon, not only would the generators be extremely vulnerable, Tariq and the others would be caught out in the open in the middle of a Covenant air attack. And in Tariq's opinion, there was nothing worse than being stuck in an armored vehicle while being attacked by enemy aircraft.
That being said, Tariq didn't understand why Lightfoot was getting pissy at him. It's not like Tariq was capable of speeding things up.
The good news though, was at least they were getting close to the generators. Through his magnified optics, Tariq could see ODG Facility E-109 in the distance, sticking out from the side of the mountain and looming over the small town they were traveling through.
"Sergeant, what's the call sign to our SPAAG support again?" Noble called out.
"It's Bowman 2-3 First Sergeant," Tariq yelled back.
"Copy that," Noble said, and then Tariq heard her click on her radio.
"Bowman 2-3, Cataphract-07 Actual," he heard her say over the radio. "Give me a sitrep on our incoming, over."
"Cataphract-07, this is Bowman 2-3, we're picking up negative contacts on our radar. We're not… wait a minute, we just got a hit. It's… oh shit CONTACT! Enemy bandits at altitude forty-five thousand meters and descending fast! Direction, two fifty degrees, west-southwest at our eleven o'clock! I tally seven, no, eight dozen bandits!"
Tariq's head snapped up and he immediately turned his gunner's sights in that direction. Sure enough, he spotted dozens and dozens of spacecraft descending from the sky, their hulls wreathed in flames from the friction of their rapid descent. Seconds later through his acoustic locator, he heard the roar of their sonic booms, followed by the screaming of their engines.
"Shit... TC, Gunner has got eyes on enemy contacts!" Tariq announced.
"SAME HERE!" Noble yelled back and Tariq glanced over his shoulder to see her ducking her head back in, a pair of high powered binoculars in her hands. "Looks like they're headed straight for the ODG!"
"How far out are we Top?"
"We're still about seven mikes out!"
"07, 06 Actual, what's the ETA to the ODG, over?"
"We're still about seven mikes away sir, over," Noble reported over the radio.
"07, I don't care how you do it, get us to that station faster!"
"Copy that 06. Out."
Noble dropped her radio and glanced at the rest of her crew. "Alright guys, listen up. Driver, keep going straight until I tell you otherwise. I'm going to check the map for a faster route, but we might ultimately have to off-road this bitch. Gunner, maintain observation on enemy bandits and keep me posted on the situation. Go."
"Yes First Sergeant!"
Tariq jammed his face back on his sights as he felt the tank pick up speed. In the distance, the Covenant fighters were spreading out, breaking into individual platoons as they prepped to begin their attack on the ODG. In the meantime, Tariq could see the contrails from about a dozen missiles as they rose from the ground to meet the coming threat, and he quickly realized the ODG had open fired.
"Top, the ODG has just open fired on the Covenant," Tariq reported, watching as the missiles streak towards the nearest enemy fighters. Then he saw a series of green streaks and realized the Covenant had just returned fire. "Covies are beginning their attack!"
The sky above the ODG lit up with explosions as the battle began in earnest. Orange flashes followed by blue fireballs indicated hits on Covenant ships while blue and green streaks indicating Covenant return fire filled the skies. Through his acoustic locator, Tariq could begin to hear the boom of individual explosions, along with the fwoozfwooz of plasma cannon fire. Underneath it all, Tariq could also hear the infamous screeching of Banshee interceptors, and the noise cause shivers to go down Tariq's spine as he was suddenly transported back to Draco III, and the heavy fighting that had occurred there only a few months ago.
"Got it!" Noble triumphantly announced, snapping Tariq out of his reverie. "Alternative route. We're going to go off-road at some point, so everyone make sure you're strapped in because it's going to get bumpy."
Tariq nodded in acknowledgement as he grabbed his crash restraints and made sure they were tight. At the same time, behind him, Tariq could hear Noble repeating everything she had just told him over the radio to the rest of the battalion, as well as the actual route they were going to take.
"Fine 07," Lightfoot immediately said once Noble had finished. "Whatever we do, make it fast! We're already getting flooded with calls for help from the Marines at that ODG!"
Tariq glanced through his sights. The skies over the ODG were a frenzy of activity: Covenant fighters diving in and out, missiles, tracers, plasma bombs, lasers, and so many explosions, if Tariq didn't know better, he would have thought the base was celebrating U-day a few months early.
"GUNNER!" Noble snapped, catching Tariq's attention. "Any chance we could support those Marines from here?"
Tariq seized the controls for his range finder and pointed the laser in the general direction of the fighting.
"Negative First Sergeant!" he bellowed. "Maybe the SPAAGS could engage with their Argents, but we are way way out of range!"
"Alright, let me get a hold of them and see what they can do!"
Noble grabbed her radio and Tariq glanced at his range finder again, only to notice the distance between them and the fighting was rapidly decreasing, far faster than their current speed would suggest it should. Bewildered, Tariq smacked his control panel in case it was malfunctioning due to the cold and when that didn't fix it, he glanced through his optics, only to feel his blood run cold.
"FIRST SERGEANT! WE GOT INCOMING!" Tariq bellowed
Simultaneously, over the radio, he could hear Bowman yelling, "All victors, all victors, be advised, we're picking up signatures of two dozen Banshees breaking away from the fighting and heading straight towards us! Time to contact, ONE MIKE! INCOMING!"
Outside, Tariq could hear the shrieking of Banshee engines growing louder and louder as they got closer to firing range. At the same time, the haunting wail of an air raid siren began to go off as civilian authorities finally picked up on the approaching fighters and what few civilians that were still outside, Tariq could see then dashing for the relative safety indoors could provide.
"Sergeant Helmand, how soon until those Banshees come within range of our guns?" Noble asked and Tariq ran some quick mental calculations.
"Maybe another two minutes with beam riders, another five minutes with other munitions, and probably another ten minutes with the RWS!" Tariq decided.
"And how soon before we get in range of those Banshees?"
"I don't know, maybe thirty seconds or less?" Tariq suggested. "The problem is, our munitions have to fight against gravity to climb to their altitude, limiting their range! The Banshees don't!"
"FIRST SERGEANT! THE BANSHEES ARE FIRING!" Corona suddenly bellowed and Tariq glanced through his optics, only to feel his eyes widen as the entire line of Banshees suddenly opened up with their fuel rod cannons, sending over two dozen radioactive green projectiles in their direction.
"INCOMING FUEL RODS, TWELVE O'CLOCK!" Tariq screamed.
"DRIVER, STANDBY TO BREAK LEFT ON MY MARK!" Noble barked out as the fuel rods streaked towards them. "GUNNER, DEPLOY SMOKE SCREEN!"
Tariq hastily reached out and punched a series of buttons. Outside, a number of canisters were ejected from the smoke dispensers on either side of Lillian's turret and tossed a couple of meters into the air where they promptly exploded, quickly surrounding the tank with black smoke.
"DRIVER, BREAK LEFT!" Noble roared and Corona immediately jerked the tank to the left, pulling to a stop behind a delivery truck sitting abandoned in the middle of the road.
Immediately the fuel rods came screaming in, causing the entire ground to shake as they began exploding all around them. Outside, Tariq could hear the fuel rods slamming into the road and the buildings surrounding them, and Lillian shook as she was pelted by all sorts of shrapnel and debris. Their smoke screen prevented the fuel rod cannons from obtaining a lock on them, but the Banshees had fired so many of them, inevitably some of them ended up heading straight towards the tank. Fortunately they hit the delivery truck instead, turning the entire vehicle into one giant fireball, but leaving Lillian no worse for wear.
"Fuck!" Noble yelled as the barrage subsided. "Driver, gets us moving again! Gunner, can we return fire yet?"
Tariq checked his range finder as Corona accelerated. There was a scrapping noise as Corona drove over the flaming wreak that had been the delivery truck not even thirty seconds before.
"Negative First Sergeant!" Tariq reported. "Maybe Bowman can but we're still out of range!"
"Alright, copy that! Cataphract-07 to Bowman, do you guys have a shot on those Banshees, over?"
"Negative 07, we're still about thirty seconds away before we reach our max engagement envelope!"
"So we have no way of discouraging those Banshees from engaging us?" Noble snarled.
"No, we got to get closer!" Tariq yelled back.
"Shit. Okay, Driver keep accelerating forward! Close the distance!"
"INCOMING!" Tariq warned as the Banshees fired again and another salvo of fuel rod cannons came streaking towards them once more.
"Gunner, standby to engage smoke! Driver, on my mark, break right and get behind that building!"
"Affirmative!" Corona yelled back while Tariq merely placed his hands over the controls for the smoke dispensers to show he was ready.
Lillian continued to barrel down the street and Tariq found himself nervously swallowing as the fuel rods streaked closer and closer.
"MARK!"
Tariq punched the buttons and almost instantly another black cloud formed around them. At the same time, he could feel Lillian lurching to the right as Corona turned but before she could get far -
CLANG!
Something hit Lillian in the rear and instantly caused her to grind to a halt! Before Tariq could work out what the hell just happened, the fuel rods came streaking in, two of which slammed into Lillian's side.
BOOM!
The entire tank shook as the fuel rod cannons caused the explosive reactive tiles Lillian had mounted on her sides to detonate, which helped minimize, but not completely mitigate the damage. The smell of ozone and melted metal immediately began to filter through the tank.
"Shit. Shit!" Corona started cursing but Tariq ignored him as he panned his optics over the area to check the damage.
"Forget about that! Driver, get us moving again!" Noble demanded. "Gunner! Give me a sitrep!"
"Damage doesn't look too bad, but I don't think we'd want to take a hit like that again!" Tariq reported.
"I agree!"
At that, Tariq whirled on Corona. "Dude, what the fuck was that!?" he demanded to know, grabbing a nearby water bottle and chucking it at the back of Corona's head, only to miss. "You trying to get us all killed!?"
"Gunner, cut that shit out, it wasn't his fault," Noble snapped. "Fucking Cataphract 3-1 crashed into us! The entire column is too close together, we need to spread out! 06, this is 07."
"Go for 06!"
"06, we are way too fucking close together," Noble snapped. "With the entire battalion streaming down this one road, all we're doing is presenting those Banshees with one massive target! We need to spread the fuck out, at least until they come within range of our weapons, over!"
"I agree 07," Lightfoot replied. "We need to spread out. Cataphract-05, take Cataphract 1 up the left, 06 will take Cataphract 2 up the right, and 07 take Cataphract 3 up the center!"
"Wilco. 07 out!" Noble lowered her radio. "Alright Driver, you heard the man! Forward!"
"You know First Sergeant, by dispersing, Bowman is going to have one hell of a hard time keeping us covered," Tariq pointed.
"With the Covenant out of range, Bowman can barely keep us covered now," Noble snapped. "At least this way, if the Covenant take out the lead vehicle, the entire convoy won't get fucked. Plus, breaking up into small groups will hopefully force them to break in to small groups also, making them easier to take out!"
"INCOMING!"
Without waiting for Noble, Corona jerked the tank to the side and Tariq watched as a fuel rod cannon shoot passed them and slam into the tank directly behind them, Cataphract 3-1. The rod exploded against the upper glacis plate, engulfing the entire vehicle in radioactive green flames.
Tariq let out a mute sigh of relief as 3-1 emerged from the fireball relatively unscathed, but the relief was short lived as he realized that while none of the UNSC forces had been destroyed yet, if the Banshees continued to fire unopposed like this, they would eventually be able to burn through even the thickest part of their tank's armor.
"Shit, this is getting old," Tariq snarled to himself as he checked his range finder, but as expected, the altitude the Banshees were flying at placed them out of range for all of his weapon systems. "Someone has got to be able to fire back by now! Come on Bowman! You guys have got to be in range by now!"
SWOOSHSWOOSHSWOOSH!
As if on cue, the roar of rockets getting launched filled the air, and Tariq swiveled his optics around in time to see a couple of Argent V anti-aircraft missiles departing from their tubes on either side of one of the SPAAGs from Bowman. The missiles started climbing, rapidly gaining altitude as they streaked towards the approaching Banshees.
The Banshees quickly detected the approach of the missiles and immediately deployed countermeasures, causing a small gray cloud to form beneath them. At once, the missiles veered away and started to go for the decoys, but before they could hit, the missiles unexpectedly all exploded, throwing shrapnel forward in an angular blast pattern and catching the Banshees completely by surprise.
KABOOMBOOMOOM!
The sound of the missiles blowing up overlapped with the sight of sparks flying from the hulls of the Banshees as they were peppered by the shrapnel. The shrapnel alone wasn't enough to outright destroy any of the Banshees, but against a lightly armored vehicle designed for speed and maneuverability and not survivability, it was enough to cause some serious damage to some of the Banshees. Before the Covenant could recover, Bowman quickly fired another salvo.
SWOOSHSWOOSHSWOOSH!
Another handful of missiles departed from their tubes and shot towards the Banshees. This time they were far more effective.
BOOM!
There was a blue flash and one of the Banshees immediately dropped out of formation, its entire cockpit covered in smoke. Tariq could see the Banshee wavering in mid-air as the pilot struggled to regain control of his damaged aircraft but before he could, there was another explosion as one of his anti-gravity pods spontaneously combusted, sending the Banshee spiraling towards the earth. Tariq watched the Banshee sped towards the ground, tracking it journey with his optics before it disappeared behind the buildings.
"Woohoo!" Corona cheered as seconds later, an explosion caused the buildings around them to rattle. "We got one!"
"Don't celebrate yet kid," Tariq snapped. "We're not out of the woods just yet."
The Banshees, seeing one of their own getting knocked out the sky, instantly shifted tactics. Breaking formation, they scattered into individual squads of three Banshees each to present a smaller target, and then immediately dove towards the ground to get within the minimum engagement range of the SPAAGs.
"Here they come!" Noble warned, even as Tariq watched the Banshees grow larger and larger in his optics, finally coming within range of Tariq's weapons. "Gunner, load up and standby to engage!"
Tariq quickly checked to make sure he had a missile loaded in both of his barrels, and then swiveled their targeting laser around and began locking onto the nearest Banshee. "Gun ready!"
"Fire!" Noble snapped.
"On the way!" Tariq warned before pulling the trigger.
Tariq could feel Lillian jerk as the right barrel on her main cannon recoiled, and a 120mm dual-purpose air-defense anti-tank missile spat out from the end of the gun. The missile was launched a few meters away from the tank before its onboard motor kicked in and it suddenly took off, zeroing in on the targeting laser.
As expected, the Banshee Tariq was targeting immediately saw the missile coming and quickly deployed countermeasures, filling the air with either chaff or flares, Tariq couldn't tell. But unlike the missiles that Bowman had fired, Tariq's missile wasn't locked onto the Banshee itself, but his targeting laser and thus wasn't fooled by the decoys.
The Banshee pilot must have realized this because at the very last second, he began evading but by then, it was far too late: the missile arched towards the Banshee, slammed into its canopy and into the cockpit itself, the hardened warhead of the missile easily punching through the Banshee's thin armor. Tariq could only imagine the look of panic on the Banshee pilot's face before the missile exploded.
"Target destroyed!" Noble yelled as Tariq watched through his optics as whatever was left of the flaming Banshee came crashing down to the ground. "Shift target!"
Tariq instantly reacted, switching over to one of the two remaining Banshees. The Banshees started evading, but they weren't able to avoid getting locked on by Tariq's laser. "Gun ready!"
"Fire!"
"On the way!"
Tariq pulled the trigger again and watched as another missile was launched from the end of Lillian's cannon, this time from the left barrel. The missile began speeding towards the lead Banshee but before it had even gotten halfway, a green glow quickly formed underneath the Banshee and he suddenly fired a fuel rod cannon straight at Tariq.
"Incoming, fuel rod cannon!" Tariq warned.
"Driver, break right!" Noble ordered and Corona immediately obeyed, jerking the tank to the right.
The fuel rod cannon curved towards them in compensation for their movements, and Tariq started to brace himself in anticipation of a hit, but abruptly the fuel rod cannon clipped the top of the nearby street light, causing it to prematurely detonate. The light pole came crashing down, landing right on top of Lillian as she sped by underneath, banging into Tariq's targeting laser with enough force to actually shift it to side.
"Shit!" Tariq yelped as he suddenly lost the lock on his target, and his missile veered off course and headed for whatever target in the distance his laser was now painting.
He grabbed the controls to his laser and tried to reacquire the Banshee, but by that point, the Banshee and the missile had already passed each other, and Tariq had to wait for the missile to curve back around. But in the process of doing so, the missile burned up most of its fuel and before it could even come close to the Banshee, its motor died, causing the warhead to immediately self-destruct.
"Fuck!" Tariq yelled as he frantically loaded up another two beam riders and tried to reacquire a lock on the retreating Banshees.
CLANG! CLANG!
The sound of heavy plasma cannon bolts striking Lillian's armor echoed through the tank. Tariq glanced behind him to see another trio of Banshees on approach, nearly leveled with the ground, hosing Lillian down with plasma fire. Tariq tried to swing his laser around, only to find he had lost control of the designator. It took him a few moments to realize it was because Noble had seized control of the device and was using it to lock onto a different target.
"Incoming Banshees, five o'clock, high!" she warned and Tariq whipped around to see a Banshee diving almost straight down towards them, his fuel rod cannon aimed straight at Lillian's vulnerable turret roof.
Realizing the new Banshee was a far more dangerous target, Tariq spun his turret around but found he couldn't elevate his barrels that high. But with the laser, it didn't really matter.
"On the way!" Tariq warned and then pulled the trigger, emptying both barrels.
A missile flew out from the end of both barrels and immediately curved straight up and shot in the direction of the Banshee, like they had the first time. But unlike before, instead of ineffectively deploying countermeasures or even evading, this Banshee threw himself into an aileron roll, spinning around mid-air on his axis. To Tariq's surprise, both of his missiles missed, shooting passed the Banshee with mere centimeters to spare.
"Missiles failed to connect!" Tariq screamed in alarm. "INCOMING!"
"What?" Noble demanded with a start. "Shit! Troops, fifty!"
RATATATATA!
The sound of the heavy machine gun mounted in their remote weapons station mounted on the top of the turret roof flooded Tariq's ears and red-orange tracers filled the air as Noble started to unload on the Banshee, hoping to take it out before it could fire. Bullets pinged off the Banshee's hull but undeterred, Tariq could see a green glow beginning to form on the Banshee's underside. But then –
BOOMBOOMBOOM!
One of Bowman's SPAAGs opened up. With two, dual-barreled 40mm auto-cannons, the SPAAG unloaded approximately fifty high explosive rounds in the time it took Tariq to blink. The very air around the Banshee exploded with miniature explosions. As one 40mm shell alone was enough to destroy a Banshee, fifty was enough to completely shred the vehicle. By the time the barrage ended, there wasn't anything left of the Banshee to fall to the ground.
"Good shot Bowman!" Tariq heard Noble say into the radio, but Tariq ignored it to search for another target.
All around him, missiles, tank shells, and machine gun tracers were skipping all over the place as every single vehicle in the battalion unloaded on the Banshees. For the most part, most of the ordnance failed to connect as the Banshees were moving just a bit too fast and evading just a bit too effectively for the tanks to track, but at the very least, all the firepower was preventing the Banshees from effectively shooting back. But that's not to say they weren't trying.
FWOOZFWOOZFWOOZ! KABOOM!
The road beside Lillian was chewed up by plasma fire and a near miss from a fuel rod cannon as two Banshees whipped by overhead, illuminated by a mass of tracers. Without thinking, Tariq helped add to the mess, firing a snapshot with whatever was loading in the cannon, which turned out to be a couple of beam riders. Without a laser to lock onto though, all they did was act like dumb munitions, flying passed both Banshees and blowing a large hole in a nearby building.
"First Sergeant!" Corona suddenly called out. "We're coming up to a T-junction! Which way do I turn?"
"Go straight," Noble instantly ordered.
"...what? But there's no way to go straight First Sergeant," Corona protested.
Tariq glanced through his periscopes and sure enough, on the other side of the road, there was just some traffic lights, a sidewalk, and then a large parking lot. Just beyond the parking lot, there was a large department store. Like Corona had pointed out, there didn't appear to be a way to go forward.
"At this point, the fastest way to the ODG is to go through the building. I told you guys it was going to get bumpy," Noble wryly noted upon seeing their surprised expressions. "Driver, keep moving forward!"
"...yes First Sergeant!" Corona bellowed after a moment of hesitation and stepped on it.
Tariq braced himself as Corona slammed into a bank of snow piled on the edge of the sidewalk, plowing right through it and knocking over the traffic signals at the same time. Cutting across the parking lot, Corona ran into two parked cars that happened to be sitting there, shoving them to the side, and headed straight for the store itself. Tariq glanced over his shoulder.
"First Sergeant, you really think that floor is going to be able to hold our weight?"
Noble shrugged. "Guess we're about to find out," she admitted.
Tariq cringed. "Hope no one is hiding behind that wall," he muttered to himself as the store loomed ahead.
As an afterthought, Tariq quickly spun the turret around so the main cannons were facing backwards, just so he wouldn't run the risk of damaging them.
CRASH!
Brick and sheet metal was sent flying in all directions as Lillian slammed into the side of the store at a little over seventy-five kilometers per hour, punching right through. Tariq jerked in his seat as the floor beneath the tank immediately crack and gave way, but fortunately the floor only collapsed a few centimeters before they hit the top of the concrete foundation, which held firm. Then Corona sent the tank lurching forward, smashing through the checkout area and sending wooden splinters and plastic chunks in all directions as the counters were crushed beneath Lillian's massive treads.
Quickly recovering, Tariq grabbed the controls to his optics and panned them around, reflexively checking the area for hostiles. There didn't appear to be anyone around, human or Covenant, and with them being indoors, they were temporarily out of the sight from the Banshees so Tariq allowed himself to relax long enough to enjoy the ride.
As the tank plowed through the building, and despite the seriousness of the situation, Tariq quickly found himself giggling like a little schoolgirl. He couldn't help it. As a little kid, Tariq had always like to pretend he was some sort of unstoppable juggernaut, just like from the comics. He had spent many a day at the doctor's office, with a banged up head after having run headlong into a wall in the hopes he could somehow run right through it like they always did in the TV shows, which was obviously impossible for a little kid. Part of the reason why Tariq had decided on become a tanker was because he had always wanted to know what it felt like, being completely invincible. On Draco III, he had gotten a taste, but since most of the fighting he had seen had taken place out in large open fields, he had never experienced what he was experiencing now.
Lillian sped forward, cutting a path of destruction through the center of the store. As the store wasn't exactly designed to withstand the full weight of an MBT, much less an entire battalion of them, there wasn't anything inside that was capable of stopping them or getting in their way. Whatever wasn't brush aside was unceremoniously crushed beneath Lillian's weight. Tariq let out a bark of laughter as Corona sideswiped an entire row of shelves, knocking them over and causing a domino effect through the entire building. Seconds later, Tariq had to resist the urge to applaud when they crashed headlong into an entire shelving unit, bring the entire structure crashing down on them. Chaos reigned as boxes and other store goods went crashing down to the ground.
The sound of all sorts of boxes, pallets, and shelving brackets crashing down on the tank however, did cause Tariq to snap out of reverie, and he grabbed his optics and swiveled them around to double check the integrity of the top of his tank. He wasn't so much concerned about the possibility of damage to the tank's armor, as he was about their machine guns and other equipment mounted on the outside of the vehicle. Fortunately, a quick glance showed that their mounts were made up of sturdier stuff than the shelves were, at least. Though the amount of crap that was getting stuck to their tank was a bit of concern for Tariq.
"Everything intact out there Sergeant?" Noble called out over the chaos as Tariq pulled back from his optics.
"So far!" he yelled back. "As long as nothing heavier than what's already fallen on top of us hits us, I think -"
KABOOM!
Tariq jerked as the ceiling ten meters in front of them exploded, causing a huge mass of concrete to start falling towards the floor.
"Look out!" Tariq reflexively bellowed in warning, but Corona had already seen it coming and quickly moved out of the way.
The mass hit the ground and shattered, throwing concrete shards in all directions. As Lillian sped past the hole, Tariq looked up in time to see two Banshees speeding past the building.
"What the hell was that!?" Corona yelled.
"Banshees! They've opened up on the building! I think they're either trying to hit us through the roof, or they're trying to collapse the building!" Tariq warned, even as another two holes were blown into the ceiling by fuel rod cannons.
"Gunner, can we shoot back?" Noble asked as Corona awkwardly dodge around the falling debris.
"Negative! I can't elevate the cannons that high!"
"Then just keep moving!"
"Copy!"
KABOOM!
Another explosion rocked the building as the Banshees blasted another hole into the ceiling, sending another mass of concrete crashing to the floor. It was pretty clear the Banshees had no idea where Lillian was as that explosion had taken place on the other side of the building, far from where the vehicle was actually passing through. But Tariq knew all the Banshees had to do was continue to pump fuel rod cannons into the building and through the process of elimination, they would eventually hit something. That was, assuming the building would even still be standing at that point.
BABOOM!
An explosion ripped through the roof directly above them, sending another giant slab of concrete falling to the ground. Tariq's arms snapped out to brace himself as Corona slammed on the brakes, bringing the tank to a screeching halt as the slab slammed into the ground directly in front of them.
"Holy shit," Tariq gasped as he eyeballed the slab. "That was close."
"Thanks," Corona breathlessly replied.
"I didn't say you did a good job," Tariq snapped.
"Don't reply to that Private," Noble immediately barked. "Just getting us moving again!"
Corona bobbed his head and started to back up, only Cataphract 3-1 was sitting directly behind them. "First Sergeant, I'm hemmed in! I need 3-1 to back up first!"
"Dude, you're driving a fucking tank, not your mommy's fucking minivan!" Tariq snapped. "Just fucking floor it!"
Corona shrugged and then slammed on the accelerator. There was a grinding noise as Lillian slammed into the slab and started pushing it, but then her tracks caught onto the edge and they started climbing up the side. The slab and mound of crap sitting on top of it was only about a meter tall, but because it was mostly steel and concrete, it was sturdy enough to support Lilian's weight and she starting going straight up and over the pile instead of crushing it. As they climbed, Tariq found himself staring straight up at the hole in the roof above them just as a Banshee went whipping by and he reflexively fired both barrels.
At first, Tariq was sure he missed, but then about fifteen meters to their left, there was a loud explosion and the burning frame of a Banshee came crashing through the roof. Tariq grinned darkly to himself.
Lillian finished climbing over the slab and came sliding back to the ground. As soon as they were back on the floor, the tank took off, speeding off towards the back of the store.
Driving their way through a pile of hardwood lumber, they came across the rear wall to the building. This time Corona didn't even hesitate, pressing down on the accelerator and pushing right through at high speeds. Once on the other side though, Tariq found himself and the entire tank airborne for almost a full second, before Lillian came crashing down, jostling the tank. This time Tariq's restraints weren't quite able to catch him, and he snapped forward, banging his head against his controls. Glancing behind him, Tariq watched as the rest of Cataphract-3 leap off the same loading dock they had.
"Driver, continue going straight and into those woods," Noble ordered as Tariq rubbed his head, grateful he was wearing his helmet. A couple of Banshees went screaming by overhead and he swiveled his turret around but they were moving too fast for him to track.
Rotating forward, Tariq watched as they cut across the asphalt and towards the back of the lot where a small wooden fence was all that divided the property of the store and a small forest.
Corona ran right through the fence and into the woods, bowling over a small tree as he did and throwing splinters and snow in all directions. Then they were making their way through the forest, uprooting trees and smashing branches. Tariq glanced up and through the snow covered canopy above them, he could just barely make out the Banshees circling above them like vultures.
"Gunner, can you engage?" Noble called out.
"Negative. Can't elevate my barrels that high and there's too many branches that will interfere with my laser to get a lock," Tariq instantly reported.
"Well, maybe those Banshees will leave us alone -"
FWOOZ! KABOOM!
An entire metric ton of dirt and snow was overturned as one of the Banshees randomly fired a fuel rod cannon into the woods.
"Fuckers are persistent, aren't they?" Noble snarled. "Gunner, I got to help navigate. Take over the RWS!"
"Copy that Top!" Tariq replied as he locked the turret in a rearward position, then slaved the RWS to his controls. His screen flickered, and then suddenly he wasn't viewing the world through the narrow vision of his optics, but from the top of the tank.
Taking a moment to orientate himself, he switched over to thermals and panned upwards, searching for targets. Unlike the main cannon, the RWS had an elevation range of up to eight-five degrees, allowing him to easily target the Banshees.
Spotting one right away diving towards them, Tariq pulled the trigger.
RATATATA! RATATA! RATATATA!
His first burst missed as he was still working out the lead, but his next two burst were mostly on point.
"Driver, start going diagonally to the right a little bit," Tariq heard Noble ordering as he continued to fire. "There should be a service road that should take us directly to the ODG. Get on that."
"Copy!" Corona called back and moved as ordered.
Tariq bit back a curse as a branch smacked against the RWS, throwing his aim off. Spinning the RWS around to shake the branch off, Tariq reacquired his target and continued firing but it wasn't easy. Unlike the road or even the warehouse, the ground wasn't leveled, making for a very bumpy ride, and unlike the main gun, the RWS wasn't equipped with a stabilizer. Because of that, most of his bullets seemed to be hitting the trees instead of the Covenant.
"Fucking shit!" Tariq snapped as the two Banshees he was shooting at disappeared.
CLANG! CLANG!
Metal rang out as a couple of plasma bolts hit the side of Lillian's turret. Tariq spun around and spotted another duo of Banshees flying right at him, cannons blazing. Aiming at the lead one, Tariq unloaded on him.
RATATATA! RATATATA! RAT - CLICK!
"Shit! I'm out, I gotta reload!" Tariq yelled, unbuckling his harness.
"3-1, this is 07, we're black on our RWS, we need to reload. Cover us!" Noble yelled over the radio as Tariq grabbed a couple of ammo cans from their spot on the floor.
Shimmying out of his seat, Tariq worked his way passed Noble and to the hatch at the top of the turret. Punching it open and ignoring the chunks of brick that came tumbling in, Tariq popped his head out.
"Oh shit!" he yelped, quickly ducking back down as he saw a large tree branch headed in his direction.
The branch smashed into the RWS and shattered, showering Tariq with snow, splinters, and sawdust, but he ignored it as he climbed outside and worked his way towards the machine gun. Popping open the ammo carrier, he ripped out the empty can and tossed it off the tank.
"Top, I need those cans!" he yelled into his intercom.
One of them immediately poked out of the open hatch.
"Here take them!"
Tariq grabbed them and fanatically began working on reloading, weaving the belt of ammo through the feed chute and into the chamber. He racked the charging handle a couple of times.
"Sergeant, heads up! Incoming at your nine!"
Tariq's head snapped up to see a Banshee headed straight towards them.
"Ah crap! I'm switching to manual!" Tariq warned.
Ripping out the remote access cable from the rear of the RWS and hastily extending the spade grips, Tariq spun the machine gun around and squeezed the trigger.
Tree branches exploded as the heavy machine gun rounds punched right through them. It wasn't anything new, they'd been doing the same thing earlier, but now that Tariq wasn't crouched behind several centimeters worth of composite material and steel, it suddenly seemed a lot more impressive. Even the noise felt devastating, even with his noise canceling headset on, and Tariq had to resist the urge to stop shooting and slap his hands over his ears.
The Banshee quickly returned fire, and Tariq suddenly realized how very vulnerable he was now sitting outside. He did his best to hid behind the RWS, trying to make himself as small as possible as he continued to lay down machine gun fire.
CLUNG!
Tariq was nearly thrown off the tank as Lillian went over a large bump, and they suddenly found themselves on a small, snow covered paved road. Recovering quickly, Tariq continued to fire as the Banshee roared passed.
"We're coming up to the ODG!" Noble reported and Tariq glanced forward to see the road leading straight to a military checkpoint, manned by a couple of UNSC Marines, with the main facility of the orbital defense generator looming behind it. "Gunner, get back inside!"
Plugging the RWS back in, Tariq awkwardly crawled back into the tank and slammed the hatch shut. He slid back to his station as the Marines hastily disabled the checkpoint's defenses, and the tanks sped through the now open gate and towards the ODG.
"Driver, pull to a stop by that building over there," Noble ordered. "3-1 Actual, dismount and come with me to get briefed. Sergeant Helmand! You have the vehicle!"
"Yes First Sergeant!" Tariq yelled back as Noble unplugged her headset and scampered out of the tank.
Grabbing the controls to the turret, Tariq hastily took a look around. Things weren't looking good. Blast craters coated the ground, several of the buildings were on fire, and there was debris strewn all over the place as Banshees and other heavier aircraft launched attack after attack on the facility. The Marines were responding in kind, with machine gun and missile fire filling the air, and the sight of a burning Seraph hulk nearby stood as a testament to the heavy fighting that was taking place, but it wasn't enough. Even as he watched, a fuel rod cannon slammed into one of the Marine's trailer mounted M95 "Lance" surface-to-air missile systems, blowing it to hell. There didn't appear to be any sign of infantry, but honestly, the aircraft alone seemed to be doing a credible job of damaging the ODG. He was beginning to wonder what good tanks would do in this situation.
Tariq suddenly heard a pop over his headset and a light on his console turned on, indicating the exterior infantry telephone mounted on the back of their tank had just been taken off its cradle. He activated the rear camera to see who it was, only to come face to face with a frazzled looking Marine wearing the insignia of a 2nd lieutenant with the phone pressed against his ear.
"How many tanks do you have!?" the Marine demanded to know without preamble.
Tariq glanced around and quickly realized they must have been the first group from the battalion to arrive.
"We got five tanks and a SPAAG sir," Tariq reported.
"WHAT!? You shitting me? We were supposed to get reinforced by an entire armored battalion! Where the fuck are the rest of your vehicles?" the Marine demanded to know.
Tariq glanced at Corona, who could only shrug.
"They're coming sir," was all Tariq could think of to say.
"Fuck! Alright, fine. Take your tanks and follow me! We need to - "
"INCOMING!"
The scream was the only warning they had before a massive explosion erupted from somewhere behind them. The blast was so powerful, even Tariq, nestled deep within a cocoon of steel, still felt the concussion from the shockwave on his body as it rippled across the ground, and his ears were left ringing ever so slightly.
"Actual to 07! What the fuck was that!?"
"This is 3-2!" someone shouted before Tariq could respond. "3-4 just took a direct hit from a plasma charge! 3-4 is down, I say again, 3-4 IS DOWN!"
"Son of a bitch!" Tariq gasped, spinning his turret around to look.
The plasma charge must have landed directly on top of the turret and set off all the tank's ammo and fuel, hence the intensity of the explosion, because 3-4's turret was completely obliterated. Pieces of it were strewn all over the place, and one of the barrels to the main cannon was sticking out of the ground a few meters away like a dart, having been thrown so hard by the explosion it had embedded itself a good half meter into the concrete road. As for the main body of the tank, the explosion had split it open like a banana, and welded the tracks directly to the ground through the sheer heat of the blast. Of the tank's crew, there was no sign, having been no doubt instantly incinerated.
"Son of a bitch," Tariq repeated. "Dude, we got to find some cover, we're sitting ducks out here. Lieutenant sir, do we have…"
Tariq started speaking into his radio but as he glanced at his rear camera, he realized the Lieutenant he'd been speaking to not even a full minute ago was gone. Stuck outside out in the open, the Lieutenant had not had any protection from the explosion, and the overpressure wave alone had torn the poor man to shreds, leaving Tariq's camera splattered with blood and guts. Tariq grimaced and quickly switched off the camera.
"Shit."
"07, this is Actual, give me a sitrep!"
"Actual, we're intact but we're sitting ducks out here," Tariq reported, and winced as a plasma charge landed several meters away, showering Lillian with debris. "Those Seraphs are carpet bombing the shit out of this place and it's only a matter of time before another one of us gets hit. We need to find some cover, now! Over."
"Affirmative. The Marines have some bunkers they've built specifically for us. Come by the building and pick up me, over!"
"Copy that."
Tariq lowered his radio. "Driver, forward! Get us close to that building so Actual doesn't have to run out in the open!"
There was a grinding noise as Corona shifted into gear, and then Lillian lurched forward towards the building. Seizing control of the RWS, Tariq began firing into the air, trying to lay down some cover fire.
As they approached the building, Tariq looked around and spotted Noble, SMG in hand and awkwardly crotched behind a Hesco barrier wall next to Cataphract-3's commanding officer as well as a couple of Marines from the generator.
"Corona, you see the First Sergeant?"
"Yeah, I got her!" Corona yelled back as he directed Lillian in her direction.
As the tank pulled up alongside her, Tariq reached up and started to pop open the hatch, but instead of climbing onto the tank to get in, Noble stood up instead and started waving her hand.
"07, follow me! I'm walking us over to the bunkers!" was all she said before she took off running.
"What? Fucking shit, don't do that! God dammit. Driver, forward! Draw up parallel next to the First Sergeant, and use the tank's bulk to give her cover!"
Corona jammed on the accelerator, launching the tank forward until he was parallel with Noble. Then he did his best to keep pace with her, giving her a narrow corridor where she was between the tank and the wall of the building. In the meantime, Tariq turned the turret outwards and began searching for something to shoot at. He spotted a flight of Seraphs in the distance and he swiveling the RWS around and opened up on them, only to have the rounds fall very short of them as the Seraphs were flying far higher than Tariq had realized, and the .50cal rounds just didn't have enough power to climb that high. Not that they would have been all the effective, even if they could.
Ducked down in a crouched run, Noble led them pass the buildings and out into an open area where at least two M95 SAMs were set up, protected by one M9 "Wolverine" halftrack. Between the batteries were the bunkers. They weren't anything special. A large inverted concrete halfpipe partially sunken into the ground and large enough for an entire Grizzly MBT to fit underneath, protecting it from air attacks. There were two ramps at either opening to the bunker. At the rear, there was a gradually declining slope to allow the tank to drive into the bunker. At the front, there was a far steeper ramp angled at about sixty degrees that a tank could drive up onto and give its turret the elevation range it needed to engage in either indirect fire missions or against aerial targets.
"Driver, get us into cover. Move it, now," Tariq snapped and Corona floored it, all but diving underneath the halfpipe. And not a moment too soon as a fuel rod cannon slammed into the bunker, causing the entire structure to violently shake, but the meter thick reinforced concrete wall held fast.
Tariq moved to the side as Noble came diving into the tank, slamming the hatch shut behind her and locking it.
"Okay, listen up," she hurriedly began. "Covies have already taken out the primary generator but secondary systems are still up and running. But if that gets taken out, then that's it, we've lost the battle. We can't let that happen. The Marines and their SAMs are more than capable of taking out the high altitude Seraph bombers and Phantom gunships, but the fucking Banshees keep running interference and those trailer mounted Lances don't have enough armor to withstand those attacks. So our job right now is to take out those Banshees so those SAMs can finally do some work. That means Gunner, do whatever you have to, to get it done."
"Top, any sign the Covie are deploying ground troops?" Tariq immediately asked.
"No, and there doesn't appear to be any showing up any time soon. So expend all ordnance if you have too."
"What about the rest of the battalion, any sign of them First Sergeant?" Corona interjected.
"Yeah, two platoons from Joker Company, Hippeis-1 and 3, just showed up at the eastern gate, so everyone is coming, but for now it's just us. So let's get to it!"
Tariq grunted and turned his attention back to his station. He loaded up a couple of beam riders into the main cannon, switching their warheads from laser guided to self-seeking mode, then waited for Noble and Corona to get ready.
"Ready?" Noble asked. "Driver, forward!"
Lillian surged forward, up onto the steep ramp, to the point where Tariq started to feel like he was no longer sitting in his chair, but laying on it. As soon as they emerged from the bunker, Noble highlighted a number of targets.
"Target! Incoming Banshees, five o'clock!" she bellowed. "Both barrels, fire when ready!"
"On the way!" Tariq hollered, and pulled the trigger.
The missiles departed the barrels but Tariq couldn't see if they hit because immediately, Noble roared, "Driver, back! Gunner, reload!"
Lillian grumbled and snorted before slipping back under the cover of the bunker. Tariq impatiently tapped his foot as he waited for the autoloaders to finish reloading. "Up!"
"Driver, forward!"
Lillian emerged from the bunker once again.
"Target! Flight of Banshees bearing one zero three!"
"On target!" Tariq immediately replied.
"Fire!"
"On the way!"
Lillian's main cannons recoiled again.
"Driver, reverse!"
Lillian backed up into cover again as Tariq waited for his status light to turn green again.
"Gun ready!"
"Forward! Solo Banshee, direct twelve!"
Tariq checked his sights for the range. "On target!"
"Send it!"
"On the way!"
The guns barked and this time because of the Banshee's angle of approach, Tariq was able to watch as the shell fly through the air and score a direct hit, instantly destroying the vehicle.
"Driver, reverse!"
Tariq's sight picture disappeared as the tank backpedaled into the bunker. Behind him, Tariq could hear the clunk clunk as the autoloaders worked. "Up!"
"Forward!"
Lillian lurched forward, and Tariq felt his eyes widen as he saw a green glow headed their way. "INCOMING!"
"Reverse, REVERSE!"
The tank quickly jerked back into cover, and the ground shook as the fuel rod cannon just barely missed them, hitting the bunker instead.
"We good? Gunner?" Noble asked, glanced over at Tariq.
"All good!"
"Driver?"
Corona turned around and gave her a thumbs up.
"Good! Forward!"
Corona gave the tank a bit of gas.
"Enemy Banshees, two seven niner!"
"On target!"
"Fire!"
"On the way!"
This time, Corona didn't even wait for the order, immediately backing up as the main cannons recoiled. Tariq watched as his reload counter ticked down and the status light turned green.
"Gun ready!"
"Advance!"
Lillian emerged from the bunker just in time to see one of the Lance batteries nearby firing a missile, and Tariq was able to track the rocket's path as it flew straight up into the air and scored a direct hit on a far distant Seraph, knocking it out of the sky. Tariq watched as the Seraph went spiraling towards the earth, but at about three hundred meters above ground level, the Slip-lip pilot was somehow able to recover his fighter, pulling out of the fatal dive and drawing parallel with the ground.
"New target! Damaged Seraph, three zero five degrees, northwest by west! Range, two six three zero meters! Gunner, let me know when you have target!"
Due to the heavily armored nature of the target, Tariq hastily removed the missiles from his cannons and swapped them with HEAT rounds instead. He impatiently jiggled his leg as he waited for his status light to turn green, while at the same time, silently wishing he hadn't dumped his SABOTs rounds when loading up his tank several hours ago as they would have been a far more effective shell to use against the Seraph when compared to HEAT rounds
"Set!"
"Fire!"
"On the way!"
The main cannon's recoiled and Corona started to back up.
"Driver, hold! Target, miss! Gunner, reengage!"
"Fuck," Tariq muttered as he hastily thumbed the button for another two HEAT rounds. Throwing his face into his gun sights, Tariq panned his turret a bit to the left to compensate for the lead as his status light turned green.
"On target!"
"Fire!"
"On the way!"
As the guns recoiled, Tariq hastily switched over to his coax and opened up on the Seraph, hoping to get lucky. Above him, he could hear the RWS going off as well as Noble opened up with the .50cal.
RATATATATATATATATATATATA!
In the distance, Tariq could see a flash of blue as the HEAT rounds hit home. The Seraph instantly swan dived, and this time the pilot wasn't able to save himself. A blue explosion lit up the horizon.
"Target destroyed!" Noble triumphantly reported. "Driver, fall back!"
As they returned to the bunker, Tariq glanced at his ammo counter.
"Hey, First Sergeant, head's up, we're burning through ammo fast!" he warned.
"How many shells we have left? And give me the breakdown!"
"We got twenty-eight shells left: twelve canister, eight HEAT, and eight beam riders left!" Tariq reported.
"Shit. Okay, keep an eye on the situation and keep me posted!"
"Copy!"
"Driver, advance!"
Lillian emerged from cover.
"Target! Flight of Banshees bearing two two one! Engage with canister!"
Tariq hit a series of buttons, tossing a canister rounds into the left barrel. "Gun ready!"
"Fire!"
"On the way!"
Tariq fired both barrels, spraying the area around the Banshees with several thousand tungsten ball bearings. He could see some of the Banshees getting hit, but as expected, at this distance, the canister rounds alone weren't enough to knock any of the Banshees out of the sky. They were, however, enough to force the entire flight to divert and Tariq could see them quickly climbing as Lillian retreated back to cover.
"Gun up!"
"Forward!"
Lillian climbed up the ramp, and Tariq was immediately confronted with the sight of a Type-29 "Vampire" close-support fighter unloading its plasma cannons into the nearest Lance battery, destroying it instantly.
"Where the fuck did this thing come from?" Tariq demanded to know, even as on his monitor, a red holographic square enveloped the vehicle.
"Target! Fire when ready!"
"On the way!"
Tariq squeezed the trigger, firing both barrels at the vehicle. Unfortunately, all the canister rounds did to the Vampire was cast one hell of a light show as they ricocheted off the vehicle's hull, doing light to no damage. At once, the Vampire turned its heavy needle cannon in their direction.
"Reverse!" Noble barked as the Vampire open fired, sending needlers the size of spears in their direction.
The needles streaked towards them as Lillian quickly backed into the bunker but unlike the plasma bolts or fuel rod cannons, the needles actually followed them into the bunker. There was no time to react; all Tariq could do was brace himself.
BOOM!
Three needlers struck Lillian right in the mantle and exploded, throwing crystal shards in all directions. The entire tank shook but fortunately the blamite rounds were optimized for penetrating moderately armored fighters, not main battle tanks.
"Everyone alright?" Noble yelled out.
"Gunner is green!" Tariq reported.
"I'm good! I mean, Driver is green!" Corona yelled back.
"Driver, check our hull! Gunner, what the hell did you hit that vehicle with?" Noble demanded to know.
"Canister rounds!"
"Why the hell would you do that!?"
"You had me fire canister rounds just a few moments before, and I thought you were going to have me do it again, so I reloaded the main cannon with canisters," Tariq admitted.
Noble let out an audible sigh. "And this is why we were supposed to have seven fucking days to train up," Tariq heard her mutter under her breath.
"Armor is intact First Sergeant!" Corona reported.
Noble shook her head. "Gunner, you and I are going to have work on our communication," she told him gently. "But for now, load up one HEAT and one beam rider. Switch beam rider to laser guided and standby to engage!"
Tariq nodded and quickly did as she ordered. "Gun up!"
"Driver, advance!"
The tank rolled up the ramp and they were confronted once again with the same Vampire from before. "Target! Vampire, direct twelve! Gunner, target the main engines with HEAT and fire when ready!"
"On the way!"
Tariq fired at the same time the Vampire did, and he gritted his teeth as Lillian was raked with a combination of plasma cannon and needler fire. There was an explosion from outside the hull as the tank's left smoke dispenser was blown off, causing a cloud of black smoke to instantly form, but the damage wasn't enough to distract Tariq from watching as his shell flew through the air and slammed into the Vampire's engine housing, blowing a neat hole but not much more than that. He waited for Noble to order Corona to retreat, but instead, he noticed she was aiming their targeting laser directly at the hole on the Vampire they had just made.
"Beam rider!" she yelled. "Fire!"
Tariq squeezed the trigger. "On the way!"
"Driver, reverse!" Noble screamed as the missile sped downrange, even as more needles started zeroing in on their position.
BABOOM BABOOM BABOOM!
Lillian shook once more as she was struck by a series of needlers. This time though, an alarm began sounding and through his optics, Tariq could see flames shooting out from Lillian's right side hull where one of their primary fuel cells were located.
"Fire on the right hull!" Tariq screamed.
"Driver, cut the fuel feed from that cell, switch over to the auxiliary, and standby to advance!" Noble bellowed even as she punched the button for the fire extinguisher, and Tariq could see white foam shooting out from the hole in the armor. "Gunner, load up two HEATs and let me know when you're ready!"
Behind him, Tariq could hear the autoloader working in overdrive then his status light turned green.
"Gun up!"
"Driver, forward!"
Corona grunted as he shifted into gear. Lillian scooted up the ramp and Tariq started to take up the slack from his trigger when he noticed the Vampire was gone.
"Where's the Vampire?" Noble hollered as she swiveled her periscopes around.
With his heart in his throat, Tariq grabbed a hold of his own periscope with one hand and quickly followed suit. He let out a sigh of relief though when he spotted it to his right.
"Got it!" he yelled. "Three forty degrees, north-northwest! It's going down!"
And indeed it was. Through his periscope, Tariq could see blue flames shooting out from the Vampire's engines as it slowly glided to the ground like an airship that had a gas leak. It was a little hard to tell through his periscope, but it appeared to Tariq they had managed to score a direct hit with their missile, blowing the Vampire's engine and forcing it to the ground.
"Looks like we got it the first time!" Tariq reported. "It's going down! It's going down! It's down!"
"Good shooting Gunner!" Noble complimented. "Alright, new – "
BADABOOM!
Lillian was roughly shoved to the side as a plasma charge slammed into the ground a few meters beside them. Waves of dirt washed over them as another two charges detonated roughly in the same spot in quick succession.
"BACK UP! BACK UP!" Noble screamed even as the tank quickly began reversing. A fuel road cannon slammed into the ramp right where they had been moments ago, leaving a behind a large crater, but for the most part Lillian was unharmed as she backed up into the bunker. Unfortunately, this time it seemed as if the bunker wasn't able to offer much protection as another three plasma charges detonated directly on top. Chunks of concrete tumbled onto the tank and Tariq looked up in alarm to see cracks forming in the roof.
"The Covies have got us zeroed!" Noble yelled. "How the hell have they zeroed in on us?"
With a sinking sensation, Tariq glanced at the spot where their destroyed smoke dispenser had fallen. As he suspected, black smoke was still billowing out of the smoke grenades there, filtering out from the bunker entrance and up into the sky.
"They're zeroing in on that smoke!" Tariq screeched, pointing. "Top, we got to get out of here! The Covies have a lock on this bunker, and they're going to keep pounding it until they crack it wide open!"
"Driver, back up! Get us out of here!" Noble immediately ordered.
Tariq could see sweat pouring down Corona's face as he threw the tank into gear and slammed on the accelerator. Lillian jerked and sped out from the rear of the bunker. Immediately, they were set upon by a pack of Banshees which had been seemingly waiting for them.
CLANGCLANGCLANG!
"GUNNER, YOU ARE WEAPONS FREE!" Noble howled as Lillian was struck several times by plasma bolts.
Tariq immediately jammed on the trigger to his coax machine gun, firing nearly a hundred rounds in a single trigger pull. Orange-red tracers filled the air as Tariq desperately tried to track the speeding Banshees before they could do any more damage to his vehicle.
"Banshee, nine o'clock high!" Noble yelled out, firing the RWS as fast as she could.
Tariq swiveled the turret around and fired as soon as he spotted the Banshee, only to miss with his HEAT round. He followed up with more machine gun fire from his coax, before firing again. This time his aim was a bit more on point, but even still the HEAT round only clipped the top of the Banshee's canopy and because the electric trigger on the warhead's nose didn't hit, the round failed to detonate. He impatiently loaded up beam riders while he continued firing with the coax.
"Banshee, six o'clock, low! Follow my tracers!" Noble commanded.
Tariq spun around to see a Banshee getting illuminated by Noble's tracer fire flying in low, probably trying to score a direct hit on Lillian's more vulnerable rear end. Bring the turret around, Tariq fired a single missile while at the same time, hosed down the Banshee with machine gun fire. The missile missed, but the Banshee must have been already damaged by something else because a single tracer round from his coax struck the Banshee's left gravity pod, causing it to explode. Despite this, the Banshee continued to speed towards them but Tariq didn't see him charging any weapons. He suddenly realized what the pilot intended to do.
"He's trying to ram us!" Noble screamed as she swiveled her gun around and pulled the trigger, only for an audible click to fill the air. "Shit! I'm out, I'm out!"
"I got him!" Tariq lowered his gun and pulled the trigger, only for his screen to flash red. "Misfire! Fuck! Misfire!"
He glanced at his optics only to see the Banshee getting closer and closer and he knew at the speed the Banshee was flying at, it had a serious chance of outright destroying Lillian. There was only one thing he could think of doing.
"GET OUT OF THE TANK NOW!" he screamed, unbuckling his harness.
It took Corona and Noble a few precious moments to realize what he said before they reacted. Noble immediately popped open the hatch above her and hauled herself out while Corona tore out of the driver's hatch and threw himself clear of the tank.
Hesitating only long enough to grab his SMG, Tariq pulled himself out of the tank and dove straight off the top of the turret, fortunately landing in a pile of snow which helped break his fall. Glancing behind him, he could see the crippled Banshee heading straight for Lillian and he cringed, wondering if he was going to be able to get clear before it hit.
SWOOOOOSHHH…BOOOOM!
A missile came out of nowhere and punched right through the Banshee, ripping it in half! The back half instantly blew up while the front half hit the ground, bounced, hit the ground again, and then began sliding across the snow. It took him a moment, but to Tariq's horror, he realized at some point the Banshee had hit something on the ground and was no longer on a collision course with Lillian, but was now sliding directly towards him.
"Crapcrapcrap!" Tariq yelped as he tried to stand up to run away, but slipped on the snow, landing face down. He immediately rolled to the side as he heard the Banshee come across him.
HISSSSSSSS!
Tariq curled up into a ball as he heard the Banshee sliding across the ground, melting its way through the snow, covering him in slush, and missing him by mere centimeters. He laid there in that ball, breathing heavily until he heard the Banshee finally come to a stop.
Taking a moment to try and compose himself, Tariq waited until he had managed to get a hold of himself. Slowly uncurling himself, he forced himself to sit up and take a look around.
The first thing he saw was the front half of the Banshee sitting in the snow barely three meters away from where he was. The back half was all black from the explosion and torn to shreds from the missile strike, with jagged piece of metal sticking out in all directions. Looking behind him, Tariq turned to see where the missile had come from, only to see a number of Grizzly tanks and Armadillo IFVs come pouring into the base from the same gate Tariq himself had come from. The missile had been fired by one of the IFVs and as Tariq watched, the back ramp opened up and a bunch of infantrymen came running out. Leading them was his friend Chenko, and Tariq couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief at that.
Carefully climbing to his feet, Tariq started brushing himself off, when he heard groaning from somewhere behind him. He froze, and slowly turned around. From within the remains of the Banshee, he could see something moving.
Whipping out his SMG, Tariq extended the stock and slowly advanced on the Banshee. Keeping his SMG at the low ready position, he cautiously walked around to the other side of the Banshee only to see –
"You got to be fucking kidding me," Tariq groaned as he lowered his weapon.
Despite his plane having been blown in half, somehow the Banshee Elite pilot was still alive, and trying to break free of the remains of his fighter. The Elite was completely fucked up, as would be expected, with his normally light blue armor completely covered in black soot. Not only that, as the Elite tried to force his way out of his seat, Tariq could see both of the Elite's legs had been blown off, and the only reason why the Elite hadn't bleed out yet was because the explosion had cauterized his stub shut.
At the sight of Tariq standing over him, the Elite immediately thrusted an arm out (which was missing a couple of fingers, Tariq absentmindedly noted) and tried to grab a blackened piece of metal lying on the ground nearby, which Tariq belatedly realized was a plasma rifle.
"Well," Tariq commented as he watched the Elite helplessly struggle. "I'll give you fuckers one thing: you are persistent."
He lifted his SMG.
Bang.
The Elite slumped to the ground, a fresh hole between his eyes. Tariq viciously kicked the body for good measure.
"SERGEANT!"
Tariq jumped as Noble and Corona emerged from around the tank and ran towards him.
"You alright Sergeant?" Noble yelled as she holstered her sidearm and walked towards him, clearly intent on checking him over for injuries. Tariq waved her off.
"I'm alright First Sergeant," he told her. "Just barely missed me."
"Fuck Sergeant, that was close," he heard Corona gasp and he inclined his head in agreement. But then Corona asked a question that caused Tariq's heart to freeze once more: "But where the fuck did all the Covenant go?"
Tariq snapped his head around. For the first time, he noticed all the Covenant fighters that had been attacking them were gone, leaving the skies empty. "Um…"
The sound of footsteps running through the snow towards them cause him to tense up, but Tariq quickly relaxed as he realized it was only Chenko.
"Dude, where the fuck did all the Covies go?" Tariq demanded to know before Chenko could say a word. Chenko shook his head.
"We saw them all headed due east as we were pulling up," he breathlessly informed them.
"What? Why?" Noble asked. "This facility is still operational. Why would the Covenant suddenly abandon their mission?"
"Maybe our reinforcements scared them off?" Corona suggested, but Chenko immediately shook his head.
"Nah man. They were already pulling away before we even got close."
Tariq felt a chill go down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold. "Chenko, buddy, what's due east of our location?" he asked, feeling faint.
Chenko looked at him strangely. "Um, a bunch of rivers, some shit towns, and…" he froze.
"The city of Byzas," Tariq finished.
"Oh crap," Chenko gasped.
"Hang on. Time out guys," Noble interjected. She pointed a finger at Tariq and Chenko. "You guys think the Covenant left to go attack a civilian target?"
Tariq and Chenko nodded.
"Why the hell would the Covenant abandon their mission of attacking a strategic military installation to go attack a civilian city center? That doesn't make any sense."
"It does if you consider the Covenant's overall goal of this attack," Tariq pointed out. "They wanted to glass this planet and wipe out all of humankind. They need their capital ships to do that, but in order for those ships to get in close, they need to take out the Navy's orbital defense platforms. There are two ways for them to do that: take out the generators…"
"Or take out the station itself," Chenko finished.
"Hang on," Corona interrupted. He pointed at the building that were still standing behind him. "If our generators are still up and operational, but the Covenant fighters just left… does that mean…"
"That means…" Tariq began as he turned he gaze skyward. "The Navy has just gotten its assed kicked. And now…"
"We've got a very long day ahead of us."