Chapter 15
Town of Newington, South of Byzas
Thracia Province, Actium
May 6, 2545
1016
Tariq
BOOOOOSSSSHHHH!
"INCOMING!"
"Reverse, REVERSE!"
CLANG!
Tariq grimaced as the fuel rod cannon slammed into Lillian's lower glacis plate before she could fully back down behind the hill. The entire tank shook and his screen turned to static as the radiation from the explosion caused all the electronic devices inside the tank to go on the fritz.
"Private, status report!" Noble bellowed.
"We're good First Sergeant! No penetration!"
"Get us back up!"
Corona quickly threw the tank forward and as Lillian slowly crested the hill, Tariq glanced at his monitor. The system had almost finished resetting, and would probably be back up in a second, but Tariq didn't have a second. As soon as Lillian reached the top of the hill, Tariq switched over to his backup sights and pulled the trigger.
RATATATATATA!
He hosed down the general area where he remembered the fuel rod coming from with his coax, but the shooter had long since disappeared from sight so Tariq wasn't sure if he had gotten him. With no body to account for, Tariq was going to assume the shooter was still active and was about to follow up his burst with a HEAT round, but his turret controls got seized by someone else.
"Heavy weapons, top left window, building with the red roof! Eight hundred meters!" Noble roared.
Tariq glanced at his sights, but couldn't see the shooter. But considering Noble had much better sights than he did, he was inclined to trust her callout.
"On the way!" Tariq roared and pulled the trigger.
Lillian jerked as her cannon recoiled, and Tariq watched as the room in question exploded.
"Troops in the open!" Corona suddenly bellowed. "One of them has got a heavy weapon!"
Tariq looked around, but with an entire town sprawled out in front of them, he had no idea where Corona was talking about.
"Give me a location, I don't got no eyes!"
"I got 'em, I'm marking them with the RWS!" Noble roared.
BAMBAMBAM!
Tariq swiveled his optics around to spot the fall of Noble's tracers. He spotted the target in question, three Skirmishers dashing across the street, one of which was carrying a plasma launcher. The weapon itself probably wasn't heavy enough to damage the armor on an MBT, but it could potentially do a lot of damage to Lillian's more sensitive equipment, like her optics, making the Skirmishers worth taking out.
"Alright, I see them, I'm engaging!" Tariq declared, bring the turret to bear and opening up with the coax.
Tracers skipped off the ground and one of the Skirmishers unexpectedly seemed to trip and fall to the ground. Before he could get up, Tariq hit him a couple more times with his coax, making sure he stayed down, but unfortunately the Skirmisher he hit was not the one with the plasma launcher. The other two were able to make it across the street and they quickly dashed into the nearest building and out of sight.
"Gunner, drop fifteen, target that building with HEAT and fire when ready!"
Tariq quickly dropped his sights. "On the way!"
The main cannon recoiled again, and the entire front of the building exploded, but Tariq was too distract by a green streak headed their way to notice.
"INCOMING!"
"Back up!" Noble screamed.
Corona slammed the tank into reverse and Lillian jerked before immediately rolling backwards and behind the crest of the hill as the fuel rod cannon can flying in. The hill shook as the fuel rod exploded, sending mounds of steam into the air as the snow was vaporized by the intense heat.
Without waiting for an order from Noble, Corona threw the tank into gear and advanced forward, moving Lillian into the same spot she occupied only moments before.
"I think that shell came from the clock tower!" Noble declared. "Gunner, put a shell into it and see what comes out!"
"Got it!" Tariq hastily loaded his weapons. "On the way!"
As the tower collapsed, their radio abruptly crackled.
"05 to 06, we are in position, ready for your assault, over!"
"Copy that 05! Cataphract Actual to Cataphracts 1 and 3, you are cleared to begin your advance on the objective! Sweep and clear!"
"This is 07, we copy your traffic; we're advancing on the mission objective now!" Noble immediately said into the radio. "Driver, forward! Take us into town! Gunner, you're weapons free; the entire town has been declared hostile so you see movement, you assume Covenant, and you shoot it! Don't wait for my approval!"
"Copy!"
"I'm going up top!"
Noble popped open the hatch over her head and Tariq let out a slight shiver as the cold winter air started filtering into the tank. He glanced over his shoulder to see Noble strapping herself in, with the top half of her body sticking out of the tank.
Lillian started driving downhill and Tariq quickly looked forward, scanning the town ahead of them for movement. He could see the tracers from 3rd Platoon skipping all over the place as they fired on the town, but he couldn't see what they were shooting at and Tariq was a bit reluctant to just start shooting at random, especially since they weren't going to be resupplied until the town had been captured. And they were still a long way from accomplishing that.
"Driver, try and match your speed with the rest of 3rd Platoon!" Noble yelled over the intercom. "Maintain the integrity of the line!"
"3-3, this is 3-1, you're drifting, what the fuck, get back here!"
"This is 3-3. The problem is 3-2. Hey! 3-2! Maintain your spacing, god dammit! 07, you still with us?"
"Copy! Driver, hold back just a little to let the IFVs catch up," Noble ordered, then paused. "Actually... hey Sergeant Helmand! Are the IFVs supposed to be on the line with the rest of us or hanging back a bit?"
"Let them hang back a bit!" Tariq yelled over his shoulder. "They don't have as much frontal armor as we do, so we want to make sure the tanks are what gets hit first, at least until we get to within a hundred meters of the town!"
"Okay! In that case, Driver, speed up just a little!"
Tariq noticed Helmand glance in his direction as he stepped on the accelerator, but he ignored him.
"Hey! 07! Enemy target on the top of that roof with the penis shaped attic window! You see him?"
"Ah… negative! Gunner, you have any idea what 3-1's talking about?"
"I don't see any movement, but I think I got the window! Firing a burst!" Tariq reported as he swiveled the turret around and fir his coax.
"No no! Go up more, up!"
Tariq angled up more.
"That's it, squirt that shit down!"
"INCOMING!"
A fuel rod cannon projectile slammed into 3-3 holding position just to their right. The explosion washed over the tank and through his periscopes, Tariq could see 3-3's TC ducking his head back inside. He spun his turret around, trying to spot where the shot came from.
"3-3, status?" Noble demanded.
"We're okay, just a little singed! Fuel rod hit our mantlet; no penetration, but explosion might have damaged our main gun!"
"Stick to using your coax and RWS until the engies(1) can take a look at it!"
"Roger that 07."
"Did anyone see where that shot came from!?"
"This is Dragoon 2-2, we got eyes on! Follow our tracers!"
To their right and slightly behind them, Tariq could see one of their mechanized infantry support IFVs firing their main cannon. He watched as the 40mm shells flew through the air and slam into one of the buildings in the town below, punching holes into the wall but not knocking it down.
"Someone hit that building with HEAT!"
"07's got it!" Noble said. "Gunner, hit that building! Left twelve!"
Tariq rotated his turret around. "On target!"
"Send it!"
"On the way!"
BOOM!
The wall exploded, opening up that side of the building and Tariq quickly fired a couple of machine gun burst into the building. At first, he couldn't see any movement and was about to turn away, when a small team of Covenant infantry burst out from an entrance on the side of the building.
"Foot mobiles in the open, left of the building! I tally one Elite with a fuel rod gun! Gunner, load up a canister, set the warhead to airburst, and see if you can't drop that ugly bastard and take out that weapon at the same time!"
Grunting in acknowledgement, Tariq hastily hit a few buttons, checked his laser finder for the range, and quickly plugged the numbers in. As soon as his status light turned green, he jammed down on the trigger. "On the way!"
BOOM!
The canister round exploded right over the heads of the Covenant infantry. Tariq couldn't help but let out a laugh as the Elite was torn to shreds by the tungsten pellets. The pellets also managed to hit the fuel rod cannon the Elite had been carrying and even from this distance, Tariq could see the hole in the side of the receiver, permanently disabling the weapon.
"Good shot Gunner!" Noble complimented, sounding impressed. "That's one less anti-armor weapon we have to worry about! Let's find the others!"
PSSSSHHHH! CLANG!
Tariq jerked as another fuel rod cannon was abruptly fired from the town and slam into 3-1's tank.
"Shit! Of course, right after I said something!" Noble spat. "You see where that came from?"
"Negative, there's too many fucking windows man!" Tariq swore. "I'm searching now!"
"How many fucking AT weapons did the Covies bring with them!?" Tariq muttered under his breath as he fired his coax at a potential hiding spot.
"TC, 3-1 is dropping out of formation!" Corona warned. "What do you want me to do?"
"Don't stop, keep advancing!" Noble ordered. "3-1, 07, status?"
"07, 3-1. We got hit in our front left track, its dragging ass. Fuck! Yeah, track is fucked, we're not going to be able to maintain our position in the formation."
"Understood 3-1! Okay, hold back! Taipan 1-4, move to support 3-1. Everyone else, let's go, continue the advance! Keep the pressure up guys, we're almost there!"
Glancing at his side periscope, Tariq could see one of their two assigned combat engineer breaching vehicles maneuvering to go assist 3-1. He wasn't too sure what they could do, as they were combat engineers and not mechanical engineers, but he supposed they could provide cover while 3-1 attempted to enact repairs.
"07, this 06!" Lightfoot suddenly yelled.
"Go for 07!"
"07, be advised, we've got an Air Force strike coming in, center of town! Time to target, one minute!"
"Copy that 06! Okay, Driver! Slow it down just a bit, let's try and avoid getting hit by our own side! 07 to all Cataphract-3 vehicles, we got an airstrike inbound, one mike!"
SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH! BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!
A series of Anvil II rockets came streaking in, striking somewhere in the center of the town. Tariq glanced up to see a pair of Air Force AV-19 "SkyHawks" come flying in, firing rockets and autocannons.
"That wasn't one minute," Tariq said, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "Damn Zoomies can't even read the time right. And who the fuck even called these guys in anyways!?"
"Must have been the strike we tried calling in ten minutes ago," Noble reported. "Actium Air Force was supposed to have provided us with a squadron of gunships for support, only they weren't in position by the time we were ready."
"Well, they're in position now," Tariq said with a disgusted snort. "Fifteen minutes fucking late, as usual. Typical Zoomies: always showing up after the battle is over! You know, it's bad enough dealing with the damn Chair Force, but now we also got to deal with the Cunt Munchers too!?"
"Focus Sergeant!" Noble snapped. "Let's take advantage of this suppressing fire. All gunners, this is 07, slow down your rates of fire, try and conserve ammo! Driver, forward! Get us in closer!"
Lillian surged ahead and Tariq glanced up to see the SkyHawks clearing the airspace. Seconds later, yellow streaks began filling the air. Tariq recognized them as 120mm artillery shells being fired from a heavy gunship, probably an AC-220 "Vulture." He couldn't see the aircraft as it would have been circling at about three thousands meters over the town, but he could see the effects it was having. Entire blocks were reduced to rubble as the Vultures and the SkyHawks swept the town from one end to the other with their cannons. Then -
"Cataphract, this is Hawkeye alpha one six, we are at bingo fuel," Tariq heard the SkyHawk pilots report. "We are returning to base. Good luck down there. Out."
And just like that, Tariq could see all UNSC aircraft peeling away, leaving the airspace clear of all friendlies.
"You kidding me!? Fucking Zoomies won't even stay for the entire fight!?" Tariq exclaimed, not sure if he should have been frustrated or outraged.
"Maybe they're needed elsewhere?" Corona suggested but Tariq immediately shot that idea down.
"Bingo fuel means they're running out of gas moron," Tariq snapped. "If they hadn't been fucking around doing god knows what, maybe they could have stayed a bit longer…"
"Forget about them Sergeant," Noble barked. "We should be close enough to start deploying infantry, wouldn't you agree?"
Tariq glanced at his forward periscopes. They were within a hundred meters away from where the open field ended, and the first row of buildings began. "Yeah, here's a good place to dump the crunchies!"
"Driver, halt!" Noble immediately ordered. "All Cataphract-3 vehicles, halt! Dragoons 2-2 and 2-4, push up and begin deploying infantry! All Cataphract-3 gunners, suppressing fire... NOW!"
Tariq opened up as Corona bought the vehicle to a screeching halt. He fired a quick burst at the most likely spots Covenant anti-tanks teams would be hiding, before going back and starting the process over again. Just outside of the vehicle, he was vaguely aware as two M432 "Armadillo" IFVs(2) began pushing slightly forward of the battle line, their cargo bay ramps slowly hissing open
Tariq's computer abruptly let out a shrill, and an alert flashed across his screen, warning him his coaxial machine gun was rapidly overheating.
"TC, my coax is overheating, I need to change the barrel!"
"Okay, I got you covered!" Noble replied and Tariq could hear their pintle mounted GPMG starting up.
Hitting 'confirm' on his screen, Tariq glanced at his periscopes as the automated system kicked in. Their infantry support was just beginning to leave the Armadillos. Leading the way out of the Armadillo to their right was Chenko, looking grim. Tariq shook his head. He still couldn't believe Chenko had decided to reclassify from a 19L(3) to an 11M so soon after Draco III. But then again, he supposed everyone handled traumatic events like that differently.
"Back up!" Tariq roared as his status light turned green and he started shooting again.
"07, Dragoon 2-2. Last man is out!"
"This is Dragoon 2-4, infantry deployed!"
"Copy that Dragoons. All IFVs fall back into formation! Infantry squads, form up behind your assigned tanks and standby to advance on the town!"
"Roger that 07," Tariq heard Chenko smoothly reply over the radio. "Moving now."
Noble waited a couple minutes for the infantrymen to scramble into position. "Driver, forward! Slow though, don't outrun the infantry. All Cataphract-3 vehicles, advance!"
With a rumble, all vehicles started crawling forward.
FWOOZFWOOZFWOOZ!
Out of nowhere a plasma cannon abruptly opened up on them. Lillian's hull was lit up as plasma fire raked over them. Presumably the Covenant were aiming for the infantrymen behind them, only the tank was in the way.
"Fuck!" Noble yelped as she ducked back into the tank. Tariq could hear plasma hitting against her hatch as she slammed it shut. "Enemy plasma cannon, second floor, left building! Driver, continue forward. Gunner, hit that building!"
"Guns can't elevate that high! We're too close!"
"Dragoon 2-2, take out that gun!"
"Roger that! Firing!"
BOOMBOOMBOOM!
40mm shells decimated the window the plasma cannon was firing from, but Tariq was too distract by the sight of an Elite running out onto the street in front of them.
"Contact front!" Tariq warned before firing a burst.
The machine gun hit the Elite, but not before he was able to throw a plasma grenade in their direction. "GRENADE!"
Corona abruptly gunned the tank, lurching forward and position the vehicle right over the grenade as it landed on the ground. Tariq could feel the slightest of rumbling as the grenade detonated, but he barely noticed as a radioactive green spike struck the window to one of his periscopes with an audible TONK, causing him to involuntarily flinch.
"Foot mobiles behind the corner of the first building, front right!" Corona called out.
"Got them!" Tariq yelled, spotting the two carbine-equipped Skirmishers firing on them. "These idiots do realize just because we deployed infantry, it doesn't change the fact we're still a fucking tank, right!?"
"Who the fuck cares Sergeant, just shoot them!" Noble snapped.
Chunks of masonry fell to the ground as Tariq's machine gun fire chewed up the wall, and he was pretty sure he saw one of the Skirmishers grabbing at his eye as they both ducked back. "They fell back around the corner! TC, want me to expend a HEAT to take them out?"
"Negative! 2-2 Alpha, hit that wall I'm lazing with a couple of grenades!"
"Got it. Frag out!"
BLOOP. BLOOP.
Tariq couldn't actually hear the grenade launchers firing, but he'd been around them long enough his brain automatically filled in the sound effects as he saw two 40mm HEDP grenades fly downrange and smash into the wall, knocking it down. One of the infantry guys started suppressing the corner with his SAW.
"Watch that right flank Gunner! Driver, you see that chain link fence directly in front of us? Knock it down and then slow down to a crawl!"
A simple chain linked fence was all that separated the field from the edge of the town; Corona merely tapped it with the front edge of the tank and knocked an entire section over.
"07 to all Gunners, continued suppressing! Dragoons 2-2 and 2-4 Alphas, move out and start clearing the area in front of us, over!"
"Copy 07!" Tariq heard Chenko immediately reply. "Alright boys, we're in business! 4th Squad, move up the left flank! 2nd Squad, on me, we'll take the right! Just like how we did it in MOUT(4) training ladies, let's take it nice and smooth. Watch your corners and move it out!"
Through his screen, Tariq watched as two squad of infantrymen sprint the remaining twenty meters of open ground to the nearest building. They hit the wall and then, after taking a moment to stack up, rounded the corner and began advancing down the street.
"Driver, follow them! Make sure they don't get further than nine to ten meters away! Gunner, as of right now, Sergeant Chenko is your forward observer now! He calls it out, you shoot it! Everyone, keep your eyes peeled, I'm going up top!"
Tariq could hear the commander's hatch opening up behind him, but he refused to allow himself to get distracted as he pressed his eyes against his sight. In front of him, Chenko was just about to kick in the door to the first building, but before he could even touch it, the door was cut to shreds by plasma fire from deep within the building. Chenko hastily jumped out of the line of fire, somehow managing to not get hit as two of his men came running up. Both of them pulled out a frag grenade and then, after nodding at each other, tossed them inside the building.
BOOM!
Chenko tore into the building as soon as the grenades went off and Tariq could see the flash of gunfire.
"First building cleared, moving!"
Chenko reemerged from the building, hastily strapping a stolen plasma pistol to his belt for a war trophy, which was something of a habit he had picked up on Draco III and technically against Army regulations, but fuck if Tariq was going to be the one to report him. He and his squad started moving down the street, but word must have gotten out that the UNSC had deployed infantry and were now vulnerable to small arms because Covenant soldiers were starting to emerge from the woodwork.
Two blocks down, an Elite Major abruptly appeared from around the right corner and just started spraying his plasma rifle downrange, forcing Chenko and his guys to dive for cover. Tariq didn't bother waiting for the call, he just immediately returned fire, hitting the Elite a couple of times and causing his shields to light up. But before Tariq could finish him off, another Elite emerged from the opposite corner carrying a fuel rod cannon and fired off a shot.
PSSHHH!
"INCOMING!"
WHOOSH!
The fuel rod cannon streaked towards them, but it had been fired just a bit too low and it hit the ground about two meters in front of them, bouncing off the road and flying right over the tank.
RATATATATAT!
Noble opened up with her machine gun, decimating the civilian car the Elite had been using for cover but both aliens ducked back behind the wall before they could be hit.
"07, continue suppressing fire! 2nd Platoon, advance bounding overwatch by fireteams! Go go go!"
In front of him, he could see Chenko and one of his automatic riflemen dropping to one knee and just spraying down the entire street with gunfire as four other guys dodged around them and started running forward towards the next intersection.
CRACK!
A needler ricocheted off one of the rifleman's helmets as he attempted to cross the street, knocking the man to the ground. He quickly scrambled to his feet as another needler shattered against the road right next to him.
"Contact, up high! 07, do you have a shot?"
Tariq scanned the area but he couldn't see where the shot had come from. "Negative!"
"2-2, 2-4, we have eyes on! We're engaging!"
"Driver, move up to let 4th Squad use our tank for cover!"
Corona floored it, putting Lillian right in the middle of the intersection. To his left, Tariq could see two men from 4th Squad prop their weapons on Lillian's front left track and just start spraying the buildings to their right while a third rifleman lifted her DMR and fired a few shots over their heads.
"Target destroyed, MOVE!"
"2-4, 07, building is cleared, we're moving on!"
"Copy 2-2, 2-4 is set to clear the next building!"
"Let's do it then people! Breaching, breaching!"
Tariq watched as one of 4th Squad's guys run up to the next building with a shotgun and blast the hinges off. Planting his feet, he then kicked the door in.
BOOM!
The man was blown backwards off his feet as the door unexpectedly exploded!
"SHIT! MAN DOWN! 07, hit that fucking building!"
"Driver, halt! Gunner, squirt that building down!"
Tariq gritted his teeth as he blasted the building with his coax. In the meantime, he could see the wounded man trying to crawl back towards the tank, one of his legs bent at an odd angle, and a leaving a trail of blood behind him.
"MAN DOWN! MEDIC!"
"What the fuck was that?"
"God damn door was booby trapped! We need some sappers up here, ASAP! And bring up one of the 'dillos!"
"We know if any Covenant were inside?"
"Get one of the tanks to put a HEAT through that fucking wall, just in case!"
"Gunner, you copy? Put a HEAT into the fucking building!"
"Get that guy out of the way otherwise he's going to get hit!" Tariq roared, pointing at the wounded man.
"2-4, get your man out of there! He's too close: overpressure from the 120 is going to kill him!"
"We'll get him! Need you to pop some smoke first!"
Tariq hit his smoke dispense, launching a smoke canister down the street as two men ran up to retrieve the wounded soldier.
"We're clear! HIT IT!"
"TC, button up! All units, ON THE WAY!"
KABOOM!
The wall exploded, sending a wave of debris to go crashing to the ground as Tariq put a HEAT round right into the first floor of the building at point blank range.
"We need to get our WIA out of here! One of the 'dillos needs to come up and retrieve him!"
"Dragoon 2-4, move up and retrieve your wounded in action!" Noble barked. "Corona, push up the block some and give Dragoon some room to maneuver! 2-2, we're pushing slightly past you to give Dragoon some room!"
"Copy!"
Corona stepped on the accelerator, pushing Lillian up and into the next intersection.
CLANG!
Lillian shook as she was struck in the side by something heavy!
"07, contact, left flank! Goddamn, we got two fucking Ghosts just fucking sitting there!"
Tariq swung his turret around, but the left barrel hit the wall of the nearby building, preventing him from bringing his guns to bear. Undeterred, Tariq spun his turret to the right to gain some momentum, and then quickly jabbed his stick to the left, spinning his turret with enough speed his main cannon was able to burst through the brick wall, but by then the Ghost were quickly speeding away.
"Hit those assholes with a canister!" Noble screamed.
"On the way!"
WHOOMP!
Concrete and asphalt shattered as Tariq fired after the retreating Ghost vehicles. One of the Ghost made it away scot-free but the second one was unlucky in that it got hit by a single pellet launched by Tariq's canister shell. Even though it was only hit with one, the Ghost were so lightly armored, that single pellet was enough to rip one of the stabilizers right off the vehicle, causing it to flip and throw the Elite driver to the ground.
The Elite quickly scrambled upright, blindly firing his plasma rifle in their direction as he sprinted for cover in the nearby building. But before he could make it, one of Chenko's men skipped a 40mm grenade of the ground and let it detonate right by the Elite's head. The ensuing explosion not only knocked the Elite back down, the electromagnetic pulse also disabled his shields.
"Contact, in the open! Shoot that motherfucker!"
The Elite jerked several times as bullets impacted his armor but he still tried to pick himself off the ground. Tariq could see Chenko run up to a nearby car, prop his rifle against the hood, and fire a few aimed shots.
bang bang bang
The Elite's head jerked to the side as a round punched right through his helmet, splatting his brains all over the road, and he collapsed to the ground.
"FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!" Tariq heard Chenko scream out.
"All units, keep your eyes peeled, we still have at least one Ghost active in this town. 2-2, keep moving, keep moving!"
"Cataphract 07, this is Dragoon 2-4, we're retrieved our wound. Request permission to fall back?"
"Granted! Get him out of there!" Noble yelled into her radio. "Gunner, what's our ammo situation looking like?"
Tariq glanced at his screen and swore. "Not good First Sergeant! We're out of HEAT! Shit, when did that happen? I'm down to four canisters, and six beam riders! Also only got about a thousand rounds left for my coax!"
"Damn we're burning through ammo fast. We got to let someone else take the lead. 3-2, this is 07, over."
"Go ahead 07."
"3-2, we're running low of ammo. Need you to take over on point."
"Copy. Moving now."
"Driver, move us over to the right and let 3-2 overtake us. Dragoon 2-2 Alpha, give us a second, we're rotating tanks around."
"Copy that, holding!"
Corona moved the tank over the right, mounting the sidewalk as he did, and Tariq could feel the concrete curb cracking under Lillian's massive weight. He swiveled his sights around to watch 3-2 move up in front of them.
"Head's up Driver, 3-2 is moving past us on our left," Tariq called out.
"I saw them, but thanks!"
"Driver, as soon as 3-2 is in position, continue the advance. Gunner, 3-2 was covering the right side, so check that. I'm going back up!"
The hatch opened once more as Tariq spun his turret to the right to cover that flank as 3-2 maneuvered into position.
"This is 3-2, we're set. Moving!"
The entire convoy started advancing again. Tariq glanced forward, but with 3-2's tank now in the way, there wasn't much for him to see. He could still see their infantry support moving up both sides of the road, but there wasn't much he was going to be able to do to help them. He could still hear them though.
"Benson, put a grenade through that window! You see the one Freddy is shooting at!" he heard Chenko saying.
"Yeah, yeah, I got it!"
"Goddamn, those assholes are stubborn. We're still taking fire from that building. Hey, 3-2! Mind putting a shell through that window and give him what for?"
"Copy. Gunner, you got it?"
"Roger. On the way!"
Tariq could see 3-2's tank recoiling and a building a couple blocks down came crashing down on the road as it collapsed.
"Wow. Are we trying to save this town or level it?" Corona commented, sounding regretful.
"Yeah, well, welcome to urban warfare 101. It's extremely destructive. Just be glad all the civilians were able to evacuate before this town got it hit by the Covenant cause now we don't have to worry about accidently killing our own people," Tariq snapped.
"Contact, front!"
"Shit, I think it's the same damn Ghost from before! Don't let that asshole get away this time!"
"Gunner, standby to fire!"
Tariq glanced forward to see what was going on, only to look up in time to see a violet-pink beam of light pass right through 3-2's tank commander's chest. The beam cut right through the man's chest plate like it wasn't even there, and the man immediately slumped at his station.
"SNIPER!" Tariq screamed, looking for the source. At the same time, a lot of people began talking at the same time.
"Oh my god! This is 3-2, our TC is down! Sergeant Frimpong is down!"
"That was a fucking beam rifle, anyone see where that came from?"
"Sniper! Everyone, get down!"
"Fuck. 07, be advised, we have a KIA, Staff Sergeant John Frimpong."
Tariq ignored the radio calls as he looked around and spotted the clock tower. He thought he had destroyed that thing before entering the town, only apparently he hadn't as it was still standing, abet, its clock face was completely destroyed. It was within that clock tower, Tariq spotted the floating pink dot of light.
"TC, Gunner has eyes on sniper! TC?"
Tariq couldn't see Noble as the upper half of her body was sticking out of the tank, so he spun his exterior periscope around to look at her. She was sitting there, staring at the still body of Sergeant Frimpong, still sitting lifelessly at his station as people scrambled for cover around him. A look of horror, shock, and guilt was plastered all over Noble's face, and it wasn't hard to figure out what she was thinking. Unfortunately, it wasn't helping them now.
"First Sergeant Noble!" Tariq screamed, trying to get her attention. "FIRST SERGEANT NOBLE! Shit!"
Grabbing the controls for the RWS, Tariq spun it around. The last thing he wanted to do was fire the heavy machine gun as its muzzle was practically right next to Noble's face, but he needed to kill that sniper before the Jackal could get away, and because 3-2 was in the way, he couldn't rotated his main gun around to do it.
BAMBAMBAM!
"3-2, 07, follow my tracers!" Tariq barked over the radio as he hammered the general area around the Jackal sniper, trying to prevent him from getting away. Outside and in front of him, he could see 3-2's turret slowly rotating around.
"On the way!"
WHOOMP!
The clock tower exploded as 3-2's shell hit, but Tariq wanted to make sure the clock tower was actually destroyed this time around.
"3-2, keep firing on that clock tower! 2-2, this is 07, do you have a SRAAW(5) with a thermobaric warhead?"
"Copy!"
"Hit that tower! Bring it to the fucking ground!"
"Contreras, bring up the M76! Hit that fucking tower!"
Through his sights, Tariq watched as an infantryman run up with a shoulder-fired recoilless rifle.
"Rocket!"
A cloud of dust was kicked up as the soldier fired. Tariq followed the rocket as it streaked through the air, and watched as it slam into the tower about halfway up. There was a loud roar as the entire tower finally collapsed.
Movement behind him caused Tariq to glance over his shoulder, and he watched as Noble slump back inside the tank.
"TC, you still with us?" he demanded to know.
"I put him in front," he heard her muttered and he resisted the urge to scream at her. Still, he couldn't help but tersely say:
"Yeah, you fucking did. And you can think about it all night later if you want. But in the meantime, you got to focus. We're in a hostile town surrounded by a fuck ton of bad guys. I got to know: are you still going to keep 3-2 in the front if they're a man down!?"
Maybe it was something in Tariq's tone that got through to her, but Noble quickly shook her head before glancing at him.
"Yeah," she said. "We're almost through the town and we should be linking up with 1st Platoon any moment now. Keep the momentum going."
"First Sergeant? You don't need to tell me that; tell 3-2 that," Tariq drily noted.
Noble blinked in surprise and shot him an annoyed look, but nevertheless grabbed the talk button to her headset.
"3-2, this is 07: I know you got a man down, but you got to keep pushing! We should be linking up with 1st Platoon any moment now, so keep advancing!"
"Copy that. Um, 07, with our TC KIA, we're down a pair of eyes, so you know we're not going to be able to cover all the angles, right?"
"I understand that 3-2, but 07 has got your six and we've got infantry support. You're just going to have to make do."
"Copy. Advancing now. 2-2 Alpha, did you copy all that?"
"Yeah, we heard. We're moving onto the next building. Breaching!"
Tariq could hear gunfire ringing out over the radio as he slowly panned his gun sights around, searching for more snipers, AT teams, and enemy contacts just in general. He could hear Noble going up top again, though he vaguely noted she wasn't sticking her entire body out this time and instead, was trying to keep low, probably to avoid any more sniper fire. It seemed a little unnecessary though as by the sounds of it, the Covenant were finally giving up the fight.
"Hey, watch yourself! Don't go tearing off after those two Skirmishers, they might be trying to lure us into an ambush!"
"3-2, push passed this next corner, see if anything hits you."
"Copy, moving now."
The area lit up with plasma fire.
"Ha! What'd I tell you? Plasma cannon, top left window! 3-2, take him out!"
"Troops in the open! Looks like they're falling back! Don't let them get away!"
Tariq's motion detector pinged and he glanced at his screen to see a number of friendlies rolling up from the south.
"Cataphract-3, this 06," the voice of Lightfoot filled Tariq's headset. "We're rolling up on your right flank. All Cataphract 1 and 3 victors, begin pivoting north and force the Covenant retreat in that direction."
"Solid copy 06," Noble replied.
In front of him, Tariq could see 3-2 rounding the corner. At the next intersection, he glanced to his right and a couple blocks away, he could see the tanks of 1st Platoon making their own way through the town, preventing the Covenant from retreating in that direction. Sandwiched between two UNSC armored battle groups, the Covenant only had one direction to go: to a large open field just on the outskirts of the northern part of the town. Unfortunately for the Covenant though, the UNSC was already there waiting for them.
"Cataphract 1 and 3, hold position. Cataphract 2, troops in the open, all friendlies are clear, you are free to engage, over."
"Affirmative! Engaging!"
On the other side of the field, roughly seven hundred meters away, there was a fairly large creek bed that suddenly lit up with muzzle flashes. Positioned there were the tanks of 2nd Platoon, the company executive officer, as well as a couple of vehicles from Bowman, the company's assigned SPAAG support. Having positioned themselves there before Tariq and the rest of the company had even entered the town, 2nd Platoon had spent the entire battle waiting for this moment.
Machine gun and heavy autocannon fire rippled across the field, smashing into the retreating Covenant. Caught out in the open with only light vehicles for support and with their opponents just outside of the effective range of their weapons, all the Covenant could do was die. Tariq could see Skirmishers and Elites just get cut to shreds by the sheer amount of automatic weapons fire getting thrown their direction. And as if that wasn't enough -
"Longbow zero three, this is Cataphract Actual. Fire mission: target, Fire Concentration Hotel. Covenant infantry in the open! Twelve rounds, HE airburst, fire for effect!"
- artillery began raining down from above. Exploding anywhere between ten to fifteen meters off the ground, the shells rained hot shrapnel down on the heads of the Covenant, leaving them nowhere to hide and no way to survive. As Corona brought the tank up to the edge of the town, Tariq let go of his controls, sat back, and simply watched the slaughter unfold in front of him.
It wasn't long before the last Covenant fell dead to the ground, and a cease fire order was given over the radio. Unfortunately, there was no time to celebrate.
"Lancer, this is Cataphract: Objective Zebra has been taken, I say again, Objective Zebra has been taken," Tariq heard Lightfoot say over the radio. "Break; Dragoon 2-3 and 2-4, push out and secure the field. Cataphract 2, come up and secure the left flank. Cataphract 1, Dragoons 2-1, and 2-2, push out to the western edge of town and assume defensive positions. Taipan, set up a company CP at this location."
A navpoint appeared on Tariq's computer but he didn't pay it any heed because almost immediately after Lightfoot clicked off his radio, Noble came over the channel.
"07 to all platoon commanders, give me a fuel, ammo, and casualty count," he heard her order. He glanced over his shoulder as she came sliding back into the tank. "That means you too guys: ammo and fuel. I got to go talk to the XO on working on getting us a resupply. I'll be back."
Tariq nodded and Noble disappeared out of the hatch. As soon as she left, Tariq let out a groan. Taking off his helmet and headset, he massaged his ears. It didn't seem to matter what he did, after several hours of wearing his headset, his ears always seemed to hurt.
"Jesus," Corona muttered from his spot at the front of the tank. "I thought the air raid was bad but that was intense."
Tariq snorted. "You haven't seen anything yet kid. Just wait until we have to fight against something stronger than a simple reconnaissance unit."
"What!?" Corona twisted around his seat to stare at Tariq with wide eyes. "What do you mean, 'reconnaissance unit.' That was a just a scouting force?"
Tariq stared at him like he was an idiot. "No shit Sherlock. What, did you think we were facing the entire fucking Covenant Army? Why do you think we only saw infantry and light vehicles? What we just destroyed here was only a screen force for the Covenant landing site."
"But they did so much damage…" Corona said rather weakly.
Tariq nodded as, glancing outside through his periscopes, he noticed a couple of medics climbing to the top of 3-2's tank and gently removing Sergeant Frimpong's body from his station. Frimpong's death was a bit painful, as he was one of the veterans from the Draco III campaign. The only solace Tariq could take comfort in was the fact that Frimpong's body was able to be recovered at all, which was more than could be said about some of the people that had been left behind on Draco III. But that was only small comfort at best.
"Yeah, well," Tariq finally said, "now you understand just how tough the Covenant are. If light infantry are capable of doing this much damage, think about how much damage an entire armored division could do."
Corona was silent for a moment. "Well, at least that explains why we got thrown onto the attack so suddenly," he finally commented. "I thought we were going to get resupplied first, but I guess command wants us to hit the Covenant before they can reach full strength."
"'Attack?'" Tariq echoed. "Who's attacking? Cause it's certainly not us. Our job was to capture this town, and we just did that, so now our job is go hull-down and wait for the Covenant to come to us."
"But I thought our orders from Command were…"
"Yeah, I know what our orders are," Tariq interrupted. "But the words of some asshole sitting in a heated room a bazillion klicks away doesn't change the facts on the ground just because he's got a cluster of stars on his shoulder."
"What do you mean?"
"Look Private, let me explain some facts to you: according to the UNSC Army TOE, an armored division like ours is supposed to have a grand total of four maneuver combat brigades, plus an aviation brigade, plus a sustainment brigade. That's six brigades, right? When we got deployed to Draco III, we were at ninety percent allocated strength. By the time we got pulled out, we were down to about thirty. We got sent back here to be rebuilt, but in the three months we've been here, you know how many units are back up to pre-deployment strength?"
Corona shook his head.
"One. Ours. 2nd Brigade. 3rd Brigade and the Aviation Brigade don't even exist at this point whereas both the 53rd Sustainment Brigade and 1st Brigade are only up to fifty percent allocated strength. I don't even know fuck all about 4th Brigade. What's my point again? Oh right. The fact we were the only unit back up to full strength is the reason why we were the only brigade to get partitioned out to go reinforce just about every single military installation in the AO. But because we've been scattered to the four winds, we're no longer in a position to launch a decisive strike anywhere against the Covenant drop zone. So our best bet right now to dig in, hold the Covenant back, and wait for reinforcements. It's that simple."
"INCOMING!"
KABOOOM!
Tariq jerked in surprise as a Covenant plasma mortar slammed into the ground nearby and exploded, releasing its deadly payload into the air.
SWHOOOOOSHHHH! SWHOOOOOSHHHH!
Another two mortars came flying in! One slammed into the front of a nearby building, blowing the wall to pieces and throwing debris in all directions.
"Shit, we got more incoming!" Tariq screamed as he looked around and spotted another three mortars hanging in mid-air. "Find some cover!"
Outside, he could see the infantry and other support personnel scrambling around, looking for shelter from the artificial storm. While he and Corona, burrowed deep inside their metal nest, were safe from the barrage unless they were unlucky enough to take a direct hit, the same couldn't be said for everyone else that had been wandering outside. He saw one mortar exploded nearby, throwing a chunk of shrapnel at one of the medics, which thankfully got deflected by the shoulder pauldron the man was wearing. Looking to his right, Tariq spotted Chenko diving head first into one of the Armadillos nearby, the ramp slamming shut behind him, and he let out a sigh of relief: like the Grizzlies, unless the Armadillo took a direct hit, anyone sitting inside would be safe.
Then he spotted Noble running towards them.
"RUN FIRST SERGEANT!" Tariq yelled into his radio. "Driver! Get the First Sergeant!"
Corona immediately shifted the tank into gear and started driving towards Noble. Feeling a weird sense of déjà vu, Tariq nevertheless hauled himself out of his chair, reached up and pushed open the hatch to the turret as Noble climbed onto the tank. Tariq just barely managed to get out of the way as Noble dove headfirst into the vehicle.
"You okay First Sergeant?" he immediately asked her as she shut the hatch behind her.
"I'm good!" she breathlessly replied. "You? Both of you?"
"We're good First Sergeant!" Corona responded.
"Any casualties?"
"Haven't heard anything yet."
"This is Cataphract Actual! Aerial recon has picked up a large group of Covenant soldiers and vehicles approaching the town from the east! All units, assume defensive positions and standby to defend this town!"
"Shit, the Covies must have either just landed a troop transport or they're throwing all the vehicles that have made it to the surface so far because this attack is coming far sooner than it should have been!" Tariq yelped.
"Sergeant, 1st and 4th Brigades of the 53rd Armored were supposed to have launched an attack from the north flank of the Covenant drop zone and driven them out of the city of Byzas, and in our direction," Noble noted. "At least that was the plan. Could this be a result of their attack?"
"I doubt 1st and 4th would have been able to get their shit together that quickly First Sergeant," Tariq yelled back. "So I highly doubt their attack has even began! This has just got to be a localized counterattack!"
SWHOOOOOSHHHH! SWHOOOOOSHHHH! KABOOOM! KABOOOM!
Tariq flinched as another two mortars landed nearby, one of which struck less than three meters away from their position. "Man, they really don't want us here!"
"Driver, keep us moving, make us a harder target to hit!" Noble ordered.
"Shouldn't we be going to the frontline to get ready for the counterattack?"
"Dude, we have fuck all for ammunition," Tariq immediately pointed out. "First Sergeant, when the hell is the resupply convoy supposed to reach us?"
"They're on the way, but in the meantime, we need to find an alternative source of ammo! Listen, 3-1's tank is still fucked up; we're going to need the mechanics from our FSC to get their track fixed. In the meantime though, they've still got about half their ammo reserves left. So we got to get out to 3-1, transfer their ammo from their tank to ours, and then head to the frontline and redistribute as necessary."
Tariq stared at her. "You realize, First Sergeant, that means we're going to have to drive out to an open field, get out of the tank, transfer a bunch of heavy ass shells from one vehicle to another, all while doing it in the middle of a mortar barrage!?"
"Yes, I realized that Sergeant, but as you so helpfully pointed out, we need the ammo!" Noble snapped. "Driver, get us to 3-1's position!"
"Yes First Sergeant!"
Tariq gritted his teeth, but decided to keep his mouth shut. Unfortunately, he could do the math and realized there was just no other way.
They drove through the town as mortars rained down all around them. Every time a mortar hit the ground, Tariq couldn't help but flinch. Intellectually, he knew that trying to hit them was like trying to hit the bullseye on a dart board, only, the player was standing one room away, wearing a blindfold, and the board was moving. Still, it wasn't impossible, and the Covenant only need to get lucky once.
Plasma continued to rain down all around them as they headed to where 3-1's tank was still sitting. Even here, completely on the other side of the town where the attack was coming from, the barrage was still rather heavy and Corona had to work hard to avoid driving into some of the craters left behind least he accidentally get them stuck. They headed out to the field they had originally passed through in order to assault the town where 3-1's tank was still sitting there, waiting for repairs. Taipan 1-4 was gone, probably having been ordered to go assist the other engineers in setting up hull-down positions for the rest of the company, while 3-1's crew was nowhere to be seen.
"3-1, 07, you copy?" Noble frantically said into the radio. "What's your twenty?"
"We're inside our tank," came the reply. "What's up?"
"3-1, we're headed to your location now. We need to strip out all of the ammunition from your tank and put it in ours!"
"Copy!"
"We're going to make a chain. Sergeant, you and I will be outside. We'll hand the shells to Private Corona who will be inside loading the rounds onto the racks. Got it?"
"Got it," Tariq barked, unbuckling his harness at the same time. He took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself as Corona began backing Lillian right up to 3-1's tank so that both tanks were back to back, making transfer just a bit easier.
Clang.
There was a slight rumble as both tanks hit each other.
"GO!" Noble yelled and then disappeared out of the hatch. Tariq quickly followed her.
Outside, the noise of the plasma mortars streaking through the air and exploding nearby caught Tariq completely off guard; he always forgot how muffled things could get while inside a tank. The noise did make him very much aware of just how vulnerable he was outside of his tank, wearing not much more than his level IIIA soft armor and fire-resistant coveralls, and he resolved to work as fast as he could.
As they leaped over to 3-1's tank, the hatch opened and 3-1's commander, Lieutenant Romero, came climbing out with a HEAT shell in his hands.
"Here, take this!" he yelled, handing it over to Noble, who immediately transferred it over to Tariq. Tariq in turn stuffed it through their hatch and down to Corona, who grabbed it.
"Come on, hurry up!" he screamed.
"INCOMING!"
A plasma mortar came screaming in, causing everyone to duck. The mortar exploded a few meters away, showering them all with dirt and melting snow.
"Come on, keeping going!" Noble urged, handing Tariq another shell.
As he dumped the shell into the hatch, Tariq could hear fighting beginning to ring out in the distance.
"Covenant are dropping smoke to cover their advance!" Lightfoot was saying over the radio. "All personnel, keep your heads on a swivel and watch for infiltrators!"
"HUNTERS! All call signs, we have Hunters on the field!"
"Covenant are pushing up Hunters!"
"Cataphract Actual, this is Taipan 1-3, I have eyes on multiple Shadow APCs advancing alongside the Hunters!"
"Cataphract 1 and 2! Target the Hunters! Cataphract 3 and all Cataphract support vehicles, target the Shadows before their infantry can dismount! All units, standby to fire on my mark!"
"Any chance of a resupply?"
"This is 07, I'm working on it!" Noble yelled into her radio. "07 to 3-3, is your main cannon working?"
"Uh, we're not sure yet and we're not exactly willing to test it out to be honest, over."
"Strip out your main cannon ammo and redistribute it among 2nd Platoon! We'll do the same with 1st Platoon!"
"All units, OPEN FIRE!"
The roar of heavy cannon fire on the other side of town caused Tariq's head to snap up, and almost missed catching the belt of machine gun ammo Noble tossed at him.
"Sergeant, pay attention!" she snapped. "This should be the last of it! Lieutenant Romero, 3-2 needs a new TC! Recommend you take over sir! As for your crew, I could use their help with the ammo redistribution!"
"Okay, sounds good to me First Sergeant!" Romero yelled back. "Alright, my guys, get your shit and come with me!"
"Get back to your station Sergeant and help Corona finish stowing those rounds. And make some room: it's going to get tight in there!"
"Roger that First Sergeant!
Tariq hastily slid back into the tank, thankful to be back inside his cocoon of steel. Shoving Corona back into the driver's seat, Tariq grabbed the last couple of loose shells and shoved them into their racks before tossing himself back into his own seat.
Noble came diving back into the tank, followed closely by the crew of 3-1. Tariq made room for them as best as he could. Most tanks weren't design to carry more than three crewmembers at any given time on the inside of the tank, and Lillian was no exception. Unfortunately with mortar rounds still dropping down in the field and town that surrounded them, this was the only way to ensure everyone made it safely.
"Move it out Corona! And try to avoid hitting any speed bumps!" Noble ordered, wedged somewhat awkwardly between Romeo and 3-1's gunner.
"I'll do my best!" Corona promised, throwing the tank into gear.
"Lieutenant, did you rip out the radio and blue force tracer from your tank just in case we lose control of this town?" Tariq asked over his shoulder.
"Yeah, I got them right here!"
"3-2, this is 07, come in!" Noble called into her radio as Romero lifted the devices in question.
"Go ahead!"
"3-2, we're headed towards your location: 3-1 Actual is going to take over as your replacement TC! We need you to ping your location so we know where to go!"
"Copy that 07, pinging now!"
A navpoint appeared on Tariq's screen.
"Driver get us to that location!" Noble barked. "And try to avoid traveling in sight of the enemy; with this many people inside the turret, we're not going to be able to shoot the main gun or traverse the turret!"
"Understood!"
Tariq gritted his teeth as the headed towards the edge of the town. Now that they were getting closer to the fighting, not only could he see plasma mortars still falling from the sky, but now fuel rod cannons were also getting added to the mix as the Covenant Hunters fired back at the UNSC tanks.
He suddenly spotted 3-2's tank down the block ahead of them. 3-2, along with 3-3, were hanging back a few blocks from the frontlines, probably in a reserve position as neither of the tanks were firing. Both vehicles were set up inside a couple of buildings, the tanks having driven through the outer walls and parked themselves on the ground floors in order to seek shelter from the incoming plasma.
"Sir, are you ready!?" Noble asked as they got closer.
Tariq could feel Romero nodding his head behind him.
"Standby! Driver, halt! Lieutenant, GO GO GO!"
Romero scrambled out of the hatch and through his periscopes, Tariq could see Romero tumbling off the tank and onto the ground. A fuel rod cannon exploded nearby and Tariq winced as Lillian was pelted by all sorts of shrapnel, but Romero nevertheless climbed to his feet, completely unscathed. They watched as he sprinted over to 3-2, climb on top, and throw himself inside.
"3-1 Actual is secured!" he announced over the radio, and Tariq let out a mute sigh of relief.
"Copy that 3-1, break. 07 to 1-1 Actual, we're inbound with a small resupply. What do you need?"
"07, go to 1-3 first! He's got the least amount of ammo! I'm pinging his location!"
Another navpoint appeared on Tariq's screen and without waiting for an order, Corona immediately turned and headed towards it.
"1-3, 07. What do you need?"
"I need everything 07! But mostly HEAT and canister!"
Tariq could see Noble silently counting. "I can give you six of each. But no more!"
"That'll work!"
Noble glanced at the remainder of 3-1's crew. "Okay, you two, plus Sergeant Helmand, and I will transfer the shells over. Private Corona! Stay in the tank and keep it running. Get ready!"
Tariq watched through his periscopes as they approached 1-3's position. Unlike the other tanks, 1-3 had positioned himself in some sort of construction sight, taking cover behind a bulldozer. Just beyond the dozer, Tariq could see the open field and the Covenant forces that were advancing across it. There was a long line of Hunters approaching them, all of whom were firing their weapons, with the Shadows hanging back just slightly behind them. By the looks of it, the Covenant were using Hunters in lieu of actual tanks, and he was suddenly struck with the realization that this must have been what it looked like to the Covenant forces defending the town when Tariq's company was making their approach.
"Get ready!" Noble yelled as Corona brought as close to 1-3 as he could without exposing himself to Covenant fire. "Go go go!"
Tariq grabbed a shell and impatiently waited for everyone else to exit the tank before scrambling out after them. Unfortunately, 1-3 was just a bit too far away to form a human chain so Tariq quickly grabbed another shell, tossed himself off the tank, and began sprinting towards 1-3.
BOOOOSSSHHHH! BOOOOSSSHHH!
A fuel rod cannon from one of the Hunters slammed into the cab of the bulldozer, blowing it up. Swinging their turret around, 1-3 quickly retaliated.
WHOOMP!
1-3 fired both barrels, causing Tariq to stumble as the muzzle blast picked up all sorts of mud, ice, and rocks and threw them all over the place. It was worth it though because downrange, Tariq could see a Hunter take both shells straight to the chest, causing the creature to simply explode, coating the ground with bright orange goo. The Hunter's partner took one look at the remains of his friend and let out a roar that audible even across the field.
"Come on! I need more shells!" 1-3's commander screamed and Tariq hurriedly handed the round he had over as the Hunter started charging towards their position in a mad frenzy. But before the Hunter could take more than a couple of steps, a 155mm artillery shell landed right in front of the creature and exploded, knocking it over.
"Lightfoot just called in an artillery strike!" Noble screamed as more shells dropped out of the sky. "That's going to slow the Covenant down, but we still got to get to 1-1's position! Hurry it up people!"
Tariq tossed his last shell into 1-3's tank before leaping straight off the tank and collapsing into a roll as he hit the ground. One of the crewmembers from 3-1 tried to do the same thing, only he didn't bother collapsing his legs as he hit the ground, causing an audible crack to fill the air. The man let out a scream of pain as he immediately bent over, gripping his ankle.
"Come on, get up dude!" Tariq urged, running over and grabbing the man by the back of his vest, hauling him to his feet.
CRACK!
The man immediately collapsed again, a pink needle growing out from between his eyes.
"Infantry in the open!" Tariq screamed, looking out towards the field and seeing a bunch of Covenant infantry beginning to pour out from one of the Shadows. Tariq lifted his SMG and fired an extended burst in their direction, even though at the distance they were at, it was unlikely he would be able to hit a single one of them.
"Sergeant, come on!" Noble roared from the top of Lillian and, shooting one last look at the dead man beside him, Tariq sprinted back towards the tank and dove inside.
"Cataphract, this is Hawkeye alpha one six," Tariq heard someone say over the radio as he strapped himself back into his station. "We are en route to your location, ETA, three minutes."
"Hawkeye, this is Cataphract Actual! When you come in, come in from the south! We got enemy advancing east of our position at one five zero! I need immediately air strikes on their position! Might need an Arc Light! Do we have any Shortswords available in the area, over!?"
"1-1, we're headed to you now," Noble suddenly interjected, cutting through all the chatter on the radio. "Ping your location, out!"
A new navpoint appeared on Tariq's screen and Noble dropped her radio.
"Driver, get us there, now!"
Tariq could feel the tracks grinding against the ground as Corona jammed down on the accelerator, before they were able to obtain some traction and the tank abruptly took off. Speeding towards the new navpoint, Tariq started to prepare himself, grabbing a canister shell from the racks and cradling it in his arms like it was a baby.
"1-1, we're at your location!" Noble grabbed a couple of boxes of machine gun ammo. "Come on guys! Let's go!"
She scrambled out of the tank with Tariq following close behind. Climbing to the top of Lillian, he threw himself off the side, and landed right on top of Noble, knocking her to the ground and causing her to accidently drop the ammo cans. Upon hitting the ground, the cans immediately burst open, spilling bullets all over the place.
"Shit! Sorry!" Tariq yelped as he dropped to his hands and knees to try and help Noble clean up, but she roughly grabbed him by the arm and shoved him away.
"I got this! You go!" she demanded and Tariq nodded, taking off in the direction of 1-1.
Like the tanks from 3rd Platoon had done, 1-1 was parked inside a nearby building for cover. As he ran towards them, Tariq could see the remaining crewmember from 3-1 on top of the tank, handing a shell over to 1-1's tank commander.
BOOOOSSSHHHH! BOOOM!
Unexpectedly, Tariq found himself flying backwards through the air!
He hit the ground with enough force to knock all the breath out of him, and he rolled over to the side, gasping for air as a ringing noise filled his ears. A shadow of a figure fell over him, and Tariq reflexively lifted his SMG in response, but it was only Noble.
'Get up!' he saw her mouth, and he tried, but his legs were shaking too much.
"GET UP SOLDIER!" Noble screamed into his ear as the ringing started to fade away, and he felt her grab him by the shoulders and haul him to his feet. Half walking, half limping, Tariq allowed Noble to drag him back into the direction of their tank. Still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened, he glanced over his shoulder, only to see 1-1's tank was now a giant flame wreck.
"06, this is 07, 1-1 is down, I say again, 1-1 is down!" Noble was screaming into her radio. "Come on Sergeant, get back in the tank!"
"What the hell just happened!?"
"They took a direct hit from a fuel rod! Must have set off the loose shells they had inside the turret or something because that tank went up like a tactical nuke!"
Tariq grunted as he struggled to make his way back to Lillian. Ahead of him, he saw Corona poking his head out from the driver's hatch.
"Come on guys!" Corona screamed. "We got an air strike coming in! Shortswords are about to carpet bomb the entire field in front of us! Get to cover, get to cover!"
Tariq swore as he heard the steady roar of an incoming jet bomber growing louder and louder by the second, increasing in pitch as it began drowning out all other sounds. Somewhat awkwardly, Tariq managed to climb aboard the tank, get in through the hatch, and slam it shut behind him in time to hear:
"Cataphract, Snapdog. Bombs away, bombs away, bombs away."
BABOOMBABOOMBABOOMBABOOM!
The entire field in front of them lit up as nearly thirty Mark 209 bombs were simultaneously dropped right on the heads of the advancing Covenant! Tariq could just barely catch glimpses of entire Covenant squads getting consumed by the fireballs before they disappeared behind the massive upheaval of dirt and earth. The entire colony seemed to shake as the shockwave tore through the surface and Tariq could hear the clang as shrapnel struck Lillian's armor at near supersonic speeds.
And then suddenly, it was all over, leaving nothing behind but a smoking pile of ruin that used to be an entire Covenant attack force.
"Okay, I take back what I said," Tariq commented in the eerie silence that followed. "Fucking Chair Force can do whatever the fuck they want, as long as they keep doing shit like that."
"Enjoy it while it last Sergeant. They were only able to pull that off because we still have local air superiority. If we lose that…" Noble trailed off.
Tariq nodded in understanding, and for a moment, all three of them just sat there, trying to catch their breath.
"What the hell is that?" Corona suddenly asked, breaking the silence. Tariq glanced at him.
"What the hell is what?"
"That, in the distance. On the horizon."
Tariq sat up and looked in the direction Corona was pointing. In the very, very far distance, he could just barely make out what seemed like a purple beam of light going pointing straight up into the air. Curious, Tariq grabbed the controls to his optics and swiveled them around, maxing out the zoom. The purple beam seemed to start from the ground and go straight up, into the sky, and disappear into the lower atmosphere. For a brief second, there was a flash, and Tariq thought he saw something solid traveling straight down through the beam.
A cold chill went down his spine as Tariq abruptly realized what he was seeing.
"That?" he breathlessly replied.
"That's a gravity lift."
XXXXX
UNSC Kilkis
High Orbit, Actium
May 6, 2545
Spaatz
Spaatz fold his arms over his chest as he regard the image that was currently occupying the tactical display in front of him. It wasn't the cleanest of images, being a screen grab from an Army unit, which had captured the image from very far away, by an optic that wasn't necessarily designed for this sort of thing. Despite this, there was no mistaking what the image was of.
"The Covenant… have begun to set up a gravity lift on their drop zone, sir," Kanin informed him. "I estimate by the time the gravity lift is completed, the Covenant will be able to transport an entire battalion-sized unit to the surface within a few seconds, complete with armor, artillery, and air support."
Spaatz nodded. "Which vessel is this gravity lift tied to?" he asked.
"As of this current moment sir? The ORS-class heavy cruiser. Although theoretically, any Covenant warship is capable of connecting, sir."
Spaatz grunted in acknowledge before dismissing the image with a simple wave of his hand. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Well, technically, this is exactly what we wanted," he admitted as he turned around to face the holographic images of his three intelligence chiefs.
"It is, sir," Harper replied. "By taking the time to establish a gravity lift, the Covenant have revealed their hand: they are fully committing to this landing site. As we had hoped."
"Yes," Spaatz allowed. "It is going exactly as we had planned." And it really was. Everything was seemingly going according to plan. Yet for some reason, seeing that image of the gravity lift, Spaatz was suddenly struck by the feeling that, somehow, he had just made a terrible mistake. But he couldn't tell what it was. And that was making him nervous.
He resisted the urge to fidget. The problem was, things had been set in motion that, once started, couldn't be stopped. The only thing Spaatz could do now was see this entire sequence through to the end.
And hope.
Hope that when the other shoe finally dropped, things wouldn't end in a complete disaster.
Taking a moment to mental prepare himself, Spaatz turned to Kanin, who was standing beside him patiently waiting for orders.
"Well," he began. "The Covenant have finally committed, and now I think it's time we did the same. Kanin? Assemble the fleet. Whatever ships we can spare."
"It's time Task Force Whiskey joined the fight."
1. Engies: Engies is just short for "engineers"
2. The M432 "Armadillo" IFV is not a canon vehicle, but one of my own creation. It appeared in my other story, Missing in Action. There was a brief mention of the vehicle in chapter 3, but it didn't play a large part until chapter 13 where it was the vehicle Moss and his squad used to retreat to their Pelican extract.
As per my description of the vehicle from that story, the Armadillo is similar in appearance to the Scorpion MBT in that is has the same four-bogey tread configuration as all UNSC tanks do, its armed with a M8545 40mm autocannon (not a canon designation,) an M247 coaxial machine gun, a M247 GPMG commander's machine gun, a dual-barrel Argent V missile launcher on the side of the turret, smoke dispensers, crewed by at least three men, and is capable of carrying a seven man infantry squad.
The name is derived from the real-world Swedish designed "Armadillo" armored vehicle that was never adopted by any army, though technically that vehicle is an APC, not an IFV like the UNSC one is intended to be.
3. 19L or 19 Lima is not a real US Army MOS code (at least as far as I can tell.)
As per Wikipedia, for the US Army Armor Branch, there are currently six MOS codes in usage today. The one for being an enlisted tank crewmember (whether it be a driver, gunner, loader, or tank commander) would be 19K. However, that MOS code is specifically reserved for the M1 Abrams series of vehicles. As the Abrams is the only tank in current usage by the modern day US Army, it is the only code available. However historically, other tanks have had their own codes. For example, 19E referred to crewmembers of the M48 Patton tanks, 19G for crewmembers of the M551 Sheridan, and 19J for members of the M60 Patton. (Information obtained from this website: www. mosdb. com
In light of that, I decided to devise two codes of my own: 19L (19 Lima) for crewmembers of the M850 Grizzly, and 19M (19 Mike) for crewmembers of the M808 Scorpion.
4. MOUT: Military Operations in Urban Terrain. A US military term for urban warfare, according to Wikipedia, the acronym has mostly been replaced by the term UO, or simply, Urban Operations.
5. M76 Short Range Anti-Armor Weapon (or SRAAW): like the Armadillo, this is not a canon weapon, but one of my own creation. It first appeared in chapter 5 of Missing in Action, though it doesn't get used until chapter 6, most notably when Moss uses it against a Covenant Hunter.
From my author's notes for that chapter, the M76 is a single shot, disposable recoilless rifle that fires a 110mm hollow charged warhead, though as shown in this chapter, variants with other warheads are available. Based on the appearance and role of the modern-day Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank weapon, the weapon with warhead weighs a total of 12.9kg (or 28.43lbs) with a maximum effective range of about three hundred meters. The weapon has a saltwater countermass in the rear of the launcher, meaning there is no backblast making it safe to use in enclosed areas.
In my original notes, I said it was only issued out to the UNSC Army's light infantry units, like the Airborne, but I've changed my mind and I'm just going to say it's a general issued weapon to all UNSC Army combat units.