Thorthemighty321
I think you're right in the idea that the Huragok wouldn't exactly be a surefire way in disarming the nuke. Given their engineering abilities though, I imagine they, at the very least, would know better than to touch the device an enemy boarding team had just left behind. At least, not before securing it.
Broman
Thanks for the corrections Broman! I must have accidently changed something when I uploaded the chapter as that error wasn't there in my original draft. If you see anymore, feel free to let me know.
To address your questions:
- The only change in the Spartan names is that in MIA, I sometimes spelled "Kai" as "KAI" (in all caps.) I did that because Moss wouldn't know if "Kai" was a name or a designation (as Spartan names would be classified information,) so mentally, he was constantly switching between the two. Plus, Moss was going a bit crazy by that point in the story.
- The UNSC Moonlight Sonata was the only Prowler in system at the time of the invasion and wasn't equipped with nuclear mines as part of the reason why they were in the system was to get resupplied.
Chapter 20
Newington, Thracia Province, Actium
May 6, 2545
1147
Tariq
"INCOMING!"
KABOOM!
Tariq couldn't help but flinch as the plasma mortar slammed into the trailer. At this point, it was already empty, but there was still enough hydrogen fuel residue left inside for it to create a decent sized boom. The shockwave hit the fuel specialist with enough force to knock him over, but fortunately there was little to no shrapnel as the light metal body of the fuel tank had been instantly incinerated by the blast.
"Son of a..." Tariq muttered to himself as he watched the specialist pick himself off the ground through his rear camera before hitting the talk button on his mic. "Dude, you better get the fuck out of here!"
"Way ahead of you man," the specialist replied, sounding shaken from the near miss. "Good luck!"
Tariq didn't bother dignifying that comment with a response as he watched the specialist yank the now useless hose from the fuel port and run off.
"Goddamn resupplies in the middle of fucking firefights: now that's going to be the death of me," Tariq grumbled under his breath as he secured Lillian's fuel port cover. More loudly, he announced, "We're topped off and ready to go First Sergeant!"
"Driver, get us back in this fight!" Noble immediately ordered.
"Yes First Sergeant!" Corona yelled back, throwing the tank into gear, and Tariq braced himself as Lillian lurched forward.
Corona carefully maneuvered them through the shattered streets as the shriek of more incoming plasma mortars continued to echo overhead, but Tariq was more concerned about the sheer amount of gunfire coming from just down the street; clearly the Covenant attack had yet to abate. Sucked, but it was what it was. Honestly, Tariq was just glad they had finally gotten a resupply of enough ammo for him to effectively fight back.
"Gunner, load up one HEAT and one SABOT and standby to engage on my mark!" Noble barked.
"Copy," Tariq replied, doing just that while at the same time, reaching out and giving the charging handle to his coaxial machine gun a good tug to make sure it was loaded.
They headed out to the defensive line that had been set up just outside of the town limits, where several other vehicles were already located, firing their primary weapons at targets unseen located inside a large cloud of black smoke on the other side of the field.
"Dragoon 2-2, Cataphract 07, sitrep?" Noble demanded over the radio as Corona pulled into their assigned position on the line, ignoring all the plasma fire that saturated the area around them.
"Covenant are beginning their next push with armor; a lot of armor! Must have been what those cruisers were dumping onto the surface during the time they were holding position over the city! No sign of infantry yet, but they're only a quarter way across the field!"
"Alright, copy that! Listen, a fuel and ammo truck is waiting for you in this quadrant! Fall back to reload while you've still got the chance, break! All Charlie Section victors, standby to provide covering fire for Dragoon 2-2 on my mark. MARK!"
Tariq grabbed the controls for his coax and started hosing down the field with the machine gun. Just on the edge of his optics, he could see a single Armadillo IFV pulling out their hull-down position and retreat back to town, and he continued firing until Dragoon 2-2 indicated they were clear.
"Gunner, slow down the rate of fire and find me something else to kill," Noble demanded.
"Copy! Corona, help spot targets and call them out as you see them!"
"On it!"
Tariq grabbed the controls to his turret and began pivoting left to right. Covenant smoke screens, like the UNSC, were designed to mask targets from view on a wide range of spectrums, but it wasn't perfect. At this range, most of the advancing Covenant were completely hidden from view, even through his thermals, but occasionally the smoke shifted just long enough for him to catch sight of a...
"TARGET! Covenant Hunter thirty degrees, eight zero zero meters!" Noble abruptly called out.
"On target!" Tariq yelled back.
"Fire!"
"On the way!"
Lillian jerked back as she spat an eight hundred millimeter long dart made out of composite material downrange at nearly seventeen hundred meters per second, but Tariq wasn't able to see if it hit because the smoke shifted once more, hiding his target from view.
"Target! Assault Wraith, three three six degrees left, seven seven nine!" Noble called out.
"On the way!"
Lillian recoiled again as she sent another shell downrange but Tariq wasn't paying attention as he impatiently waited for at least one of his cannons to finish reloading.
"Gun up!"
"Target! I got a heat sig, three degrees right, range seven three four!" Corona suddenly yelled.
"What type of heat sig?" Tariq demanded as he considered his munitions.
"I'm not sure," Corona admitted. "I think it was a vehicle!"
"Gunner, hit it with a SABOT just in case it was a Hunter," Noble commanded.
"Copy. On the way!"
BAOOOSSHHHHH CLANG!
Tariq automatic jerked as he felt something hit the side of the turret and deflect off, but causing the entire vehicle to shake nonetheless.
"Anyone see where that shot came from?" Noble demanded.
"Negative!" Tariq yelled back as he swiveled his optics around. "Can't see shit with all this smoke!"
"Forget about it then! Shift target: three six degrees, six seven nine, enemy Shadow!"
"On target!"
"Send it!"
"On the way!"
Downrange, a large fireball suddenly formed in the middle of the smoke cloud as something exploded, lighting up the area and temporarily silhouetting an entire line of Covenant vehicles allowing Tariq to see there were a lot more Covenant advancing on their position than he anticipated.
"Shit! First Sergeant, you see that!?"
"Yeah, I did!" Noble yelled back. "Keep up the fire, I'm calling in an arty strike!"
"Got it! Corona, keep spotting targets!" Tariq commanded as he planted his face into his optics and just so happened to catch sight of a Hunter charging forward, firing his plasma cannon. He reflectively fired a SABOT, and Tariq had the grim satisfaction of watching as the dart scored a direct hit against the Hunter, smashed into his chest and caving it in.
Behind him, Tariq could hear Noble yelling into the radio, "Havoc, this is Cataphract, do you copy? Fire mission, all guns, HE quick! Armor and infantry in the open! Target: fire concentration alpha through delta, drop one five, left fifty, fire for effect!"
As he waited for the artillery to hit, Tariq quickly panned his turret around, trying to spot something else.
"Target! Shadow APC, three four nine degrees, six one seven!" he yelled, mostly for Corona's benefit so he didn't accidentally call out the same target.
Tariq dropped his crosshairs over the Shadow and was just about to pull the trigger when it started taking fire from another tank. Plumes of dirt were thrown into the air as the Shadow managed to somehow dodge the first shell, but then there was an orange flash as the second HEAT shell slammed into the Shadow's side, tearing the vehicle apart like it was nothing more than a simple tin can.
Amazingly, some of the crew managed to survive as Tariq could see the shadowy figures of Covenant infantry, outlined by the now burning APC, jumping from their vehicle. They hit the ground and started to run for their lives, but weren't able to get far. Without hesitation, Tariq began spraying them down with his coax.
RATATATATA!
"Target destroyed!" he announced. "Shifting targets!"
"Banshees!" Corona suddenly yelled out and Tariq jerked his head up in time to see an entire flight of Banshees break out from the cloud cover overhead and start to head in their direction. Two of the Banshees immediately broke away from the group and started to dive towards the UNSC forces.
"INCOMING!"
FWOOZFWOOZFWOOZ CLANG!
The Banshees began strafing the entire line, spraying down the area with plasma. Tariq winced as one bolt struck the top of the tank, doing no damage but to nerves.
Grabbing the controls to their RWS, Tariq swiveled the machine gun around just as one of the Banshees fired a fuel rod cannon, which fortunately missed all the assembled vehicles.
"Bowman, Cataphract 07! You plan on shooting back anytime soon!?" Tariq demanded over the radio even as he opened up.
"We're engaging!"
BAMBAMBAMBAM!
Autocannon rounds rippled through the sky as one of the nearby SPAAGs opened fire. The Banshees nimbly weaved through the fire, but then an Argent smashed into the trailing one, knocking it out of the sky. Tariq turned his attention to the surviving Banshee, but at that moment a fresh pair of Banshees broke through the cloud cover, cannons blazing, and forcing Tariq to divert.
"TARGET! Covenant Hunter, one five degrees, five five zero meters!" Corona bellowed.
"Gunner! Shift your focus to the ground targets! Let the SPAAGs worry about the aerial ones!" Noble barked.
"Fuck!" Tariq yelped as a fuel rod fired by one of the Banshees exploded nearby, but Tariq nevertheless obeyed. "On the way!"
The entire cannon recoiled as Tariq fired a SABOT downrange but in his haste to engage, his aim had been off and he missed the Hunter entirely.
"Miss! Reengage!" Noble screamed, but now the Hunter had a lock on their position. Tariq could see the green glow around the Hunter's arm cannon growing in intensity before he abruptly fired.
"Incoming!"
BOOOSHHHHHH!
A stream of radiative green plasma streaked towards them. Most of the beam slammed into the dirt berm Lillian was sitting right behind, throwing smoke, ash, and all sorts of burning material into the air and temporarily obscuring Tariq's view. Without thinking, Tariq immediately returned fire, even though he couldn't see his target.
At first, he thought he somehow managed to score a direct hit, but then another stream of plasma quickly put that idea to bed.
BOOOOOSSSSHHHH! CLANG!
Temperatures within the tank spiked as the stream slammed into Lillian's upper glacis plate, and Tariq could almost hear the armor in that area melting. Fortunately, that was also where Lillian's armor was thickest, so all Tariq had to do was impatiently wait for the stream to end before he could shoot back. This time though, he made sure he had a proper bead on the Hunter before firing.
"On the way!"
The Hunter exploded, sending chunks of bright orange goo in all directions, but another Hunter quickly took his place, firing a fuel rod cannon in Tariq's general direction, and forcing him to brace himself as Lillian was struck once more.
"Come on!" Tariq snarled under his breath as he fired back. "Where the hell is our damn artillery support?"
As if on cue -
"Cataphract, Havoc. Splash, over."
At once, all sorts of shells began falling out of the sky like some sort of terrifying hailstorm, filling the air with a loud whistling noise that was audible even from within the tank. The entire Covenant line was lit up as high explosive shells landed among them, upheaving a massive amount of dirt and sending shrapnel whizzing in all directions. And it was a tremendous amount of firepower: Havoc was a 203mm heavy artillery battery assigned directly to the 53rd Armored Division and intended for use against heavily armored targets such as bunkers.
But despite all this, the Covenant continued their advance, heedless of the casualties they were taking.
"Havoc, this Cataphract!" Tariq could hear Noble yell into the radio. "Drop fifty and repeat! I say again, drop fifty and repeat fire mission! Over!"
To Tariq and Corona, she barked, "Gunner! Maintain your rate of fire! Don't let any of the Covenant through!"
"Target! Covenant AA Wraith! Three five one, three five zero meters!" Corona bellowed, a hint of nervousness starting to creep into his voice.
"On the way!"
Tariq pulled the trigger, and then violent swore as his shell glanced off the Wraith's hull, leaving a sizable mark where the shell hit but failed to penetrate. "Fuck! Deflection! I'm reengaging!"
He frantically tapped his foot on the ground as he waited for his cannons to reload, but before they could, the Wraith abruptly returned fire, sending an entire salvo of fuel rods in their direction.
"FUEL RODS!"
The entire ground shook as the fuel rods slammed into the area surrounding the UNSC line, showering everyone with dirt and other debris, but Tariq barely give it any heed as he was too distracted by what he was seeing in front of him. By the looks of it, all the Wraiths and Hunters were continuing their advance, however all the Shadows were starting to hang back. Even as he watched, their doors began to open, disgorging all sorts of infantry from deep within their bowels.
"Dismounts!" Tariq called out in warning. "First Sergeant, we've got dismounts!"
"I see them!" Noble replied. "07 to all Charlie Section victors, we have foot mobiles on the field! All Dragoon assets, standby to engage!"
All around them, Tariq could see their mechanized infantry support taking up firing positions.
"All gunners, focus fire on enemy armor," Noble commanded. "All TCs, support the infantry!"
"Understood!" Tariq yelled back, even as he heard their RWS start to fire. "Target! Wraith, zero five degrees, three hundred meters!"
Tariq pulled the trigger and Lillian spat fire once again. With the Covenant this close, Tariq was able to watch as the shell slam into the Wraith right about where the turret connected with the body of the vehicle. The shell exploded upon impact, causing the turret to blow off completely, disabling the Wraith. Tariq was just about to fire another shell to finish the vehicle off, when all the hatches popped open and the crew began streaming out.
"Troops in the open!" Tariq yelled before switching over to his coax and began spraying them down.
His first target was the Wraith's turret gunner. Locking his crosshairs over the blue armored creature, he sent a fifty round burst in his direction and watched as a little under a quarter of the rounds hit, causing the Elite's shields to light up. The Elite immediately dove into a nearby crater, one where Tariq wouldn't be able to hit him with his machine gun.
"TC, we got an Elite hanging out in that crater over there!" Tariq said, firing a burst to both mark the spot as well as keep the Elite pinned down. "Can you get him?"
He could hear the heavy machine gun going off behind him and he watched as a score of tracer rounds pepper the edge of the crater.
"Negative!" Noble yelled. "I don't have the height! Gunner, shift targets, I'll get the crunchies to take him out!"
Tariq didn't bother wasting time to reply and instead immediately panned his turret to the right, trying to locate the other Elite crewman, but at this point the Elite was gone. Whether he had been killed by someone else or had managed to find cover, Tariq didn't know, but he couldn't dwell on it for too long.
"Target! Wraith, dead ahead!" Corona yelled.
"On the way!"
The shell hit the Wraith dead on, punching right through the outer hull and exploding somewhere in the center. The entire Wraith went up like it'd been hit by a thermonuclear bomb. What was left of the chassis was sent crashing to the ground, joining the dozens of corpses of other Wraiths and Hunters that already been destroyed or killed, and leaving behind only about half a dozen vehicles left still intact. Yet, despite all this, and the massive amount of casualties the Covenant had taken already, they continued to press their attack.
"Banshees!"
A trio of Banshees came screaming in, flying parallel to the entire defensive line. The lead Banshee was immediately knocked out from the sky by a series of autocannon rounds, but the remaining two continued their attack run, undeterred. Plasma cannons blazing, they strafed the UNSC forces, and Tariq grimaced as Lillian was struck several times.
The Banshees finished their run but just before they were about to pull away, both of them simultaneously fired their fuel rod cannons. Tariq was too far away to see what they were aiming at, but he definitely felt the blast as whatever they hit exploded, sending a shockwave rippling across the surface.
"Goddammit," Tariq muttered as cries for a medic began filtering through the radio. "TC, any chance we could get the Air Force back and give us some god damn air cover!?"
"Negative! As soon as those cruisers appeared overhead, we ceded control of the air! Those cruisers may be gone now, but it's still going to be a struggle to regain the initiative!"
All of a sudden, Noble let out a string of curses.
"Got to reload!" she yelled. "RWS is out of ammo! Gunner, cover!"
"I'm on it!" Tariq promised as he switched over to his coax. Behind him, he could hear Noble grabbing a couple of cans of ammo before popping open the top hatch.
Panning his turret around, Tariq surveyed the field. By now, the rest of the assaulting Covenant vehicles had been destroyed, leaving only the dismounted infantry to fend for themselves. Without their vehicles, retreat was impossible, but rather than do the sensible thing and surrender, in typical Covenant fashion, the Covenant infantry opted to battle to the death.
"Covenant are charging!" Corona warned and indeed, Tariq could see the Covenant rising out of whatever hole they had taken cover in.
Screaming at the top of their lungs and firing their weapons wildly in all directions, the Covenant struggled through the snow covered field, regardless of the murderous fire that was cutting them down.
Sitting in a seventy tonne vehicle, eliminating the remaining Covenant was almost child's play. Panning his turret to the right, Tariq fired a few quick bursts at a Jackal, completely removing his head from his shoulders. Panning to the left, he shot a Grunt in the leg, sending him crashing to the ground. Rather than simply accept his fate, the Grunt attempted to pull out a plasma grenade, so Tariq simply fired a longer burst, cutting the creature in half. Spotting an Elite nearby, Tariq jerked his turret in his direction and started hosing him down. The Elite was hit several times, his shield immediately collapsing, but before Tariq could finish him off, the Elite took a direct hit from a 40mm shell fired by one of the Armadillos. The ensuing explosion left nothing describable.
Without warning, Tariq's turret stopped moving and all of his electronics went dark as the entire tank shut down.
"EMP!" Tariq immediately bellowed, recognizing the signs of a vehicle that had been hit by an overcharge shot from a plasma pistol. "Corona! Reset the system! I'm going manual!"
"Fuel rod!" Noble suddenly yelled and startled, Tariq glanced through his backup sights to see a Grunt standing up from a hole less than a hundred meters away, fuel rod cannon on his shoulder point right at Lillian. "I'm suppressing!"
Tariq could hear Noble bringing her SMG to bear, and he hastily began spinning the wheel that would turn his turret, trying to bring his coax to bear. As he worked, Noble opened fire, emptying an entire magazine in the Grunt's direction. Tariq wasn't a hundred percent certain, but he was pretty sure he saw the Grunt get hit in the head by the last round. Nevertheless, as soon as his screens turned back on as a result of Corona successfully resetting the system, Tariq popped a HEAT round into one of his guns and locked onto the crater.
"Firing main gun!" Tariq roared at Noble in warning, and waited until she had ducked back inside before pulling the trigger. "On the way!"
The crater vanished in a wave of dirt and mud. As the debris came crashing back down to the ground again, Tariq glanced around for another target, only to see the rest of the attacking Covenant had all been killed.
But that didn't mean the fight was over...
SWOOOSHH... KABOOM! SWOOOOSHHH...KABOOM!
"Incoming plasma mortars! Take cover!" Noble yelled. "All units, keep your eyes peeled for infiltrators!"
Their radio suddenly crackled to life.
"07, this 06, over!"
Tariq could see Noble grabbing her mic.
"This is 07, go ahead!" she said, wincing as a particularly vicious explosion went off nearby. "This 07, go ahead!"
"07, Covies are launching an attack on our eastern flank! 05 is requesting reinforcements! Take half your section, and go and reinforce him!"
"Wilco! 07 to 3-1!"
"Go ahead."
"3-1, we're getting outflanked from the east! Lock this sector down, I'm taking Dragoon 2-3 with me to go reinforce Cataphract-1's position!"
"Understood!"
"07 to Dragoon 2-3, mount up, we're moving out! Driver, move us out!"
Tariq immediately braced himself as Corona instantly threw the tank into reverse and backed out of their hull-down position and started to head towards the eastern side of town. But before they could travel more than a few meters, there was a tremendous explosions from behind them, and Tariq swiveled his optics around to see their former fighting position had just taken a direct hit from a plasma mortar.
"Fucking mortars," Tariq spat under his breath. "Goddamn plasma! Seriously, can't we get some counter-battery action going on!?"
He knew it was impossible though, simply because no one knew where those mortar Wraiths were. When the Covenant decided to park a couple of battlecruisers in orbit directly over the city of Byzas, all aerial assets, including reconnaissance drone, had been immediately pulled back, least they instantly get shot out of the sky. And even though the cruisers had left, it was going to take some time before the UNSC was able to recapture some of the territory they had lost.
In the meantime, all Tariq could do was hang on as Corona deftly maneuvered his way through the shattered and debris covered streets, doing his best to avoid taking a direct hit from a plasma mortar.
"05, this 07, en route to your location, ETA: ninety seconds," Noble rattled off on the radio as they drove. "Sitrep, over?"
"Covies attempted to bypass our position entirely and get behind us, but we were able to put a stop to that with artillery!" the company executive officer immediately yelled back. "But we couldn't stop them all and I think a small scouting force managed to make it through! In the meantime though, we've got contacts; a lot of contacts!"
"Copy that," Noble smoothly replied. "I'll alert our support battalion to be on the alert for enemy infiltrators. In the meantime, we need to hold our position!"
"I agree! Need you to come reinforce our position! Be advised though: our fixed defenses haven't been fully set up yet, so watch yourselves!"
"Understood. 07, out. Alright guys, did you guys hear that?" Noble asked as soon as she put down her radio. "Bravo Section's fix fortifications haven't been built yet, so we might be stuck out in the open. Keep your eyes peeled; we're going to need to be fully alert for this one!"
"Got it!" Corona replied whereas Tariq merely grunted in reply.
They turned the corner and finally arrived at the frontline, where Tariq was able to see what 05 had meant when he said their fix fortifications hadn't been established just yet: unlike the position Tariq and the others had just left, 1st Platoon only had a couple of hull-down positions prepared, but even then they were only halfway excavated. He could see a handful of engineers from their engineer support company frantically working on digging more holes for the rest of the tanks, even as plasma and explosions went off around them, but in the meantime, the rest of the tanks had to fight out on open ground. The result was turning out to be a rather costly battle for the UNSC: Bravo Section and 1st Platoon had originally consisted of seven vehicles, but now only about half of those remained functional. Tariq could see why this position desperately needed reinforcements.
"Dragoon 2-3, deploy infantry! Spread out and find a fighting position," Noble ordered over the radio. "Driver, you see that blue abandoned car in front of us?"
"Yes First Sergeant!"
"Park us right behind that bitch. We'll use it for cover."
"That's not exactly a fortified car First Sergeant," Tariq pointed out as Corona moved into position. "Kind of like trying to hide an elephant behind a molehill."
"We don't have any other option," Noble tersely pointed out. "Without any defenses, the only thing we can do is to try and outshoot the Covenant. Gunner! Standby to engage!"
In response, Tariq switched off his safety.
"Target! Enemy Hunter three five nine meters, one zero one degrees!"
"On the way!"
Tariq pulled the trigger but before he could even so much as register a hit, the Covenant immediately zeroed in on their position and returned fire, and Tariq could feel his eyes widen as three fuel rod cannons shot towards him.
"INCOMING!"
BOOSHHHH!
The first fuel rod slammed into the car Lillian was trying to hide behind, blowing it up and setting the remains on fire. The second fuel rod landed a few meters short of the tank, bouncing off the ground and hitting Lillian's front left skirt cover, but at that point much of the fuel rod's energy had been lost so it failed to do much damage.
The third fuel rod cannon however...
The entire tank shook and something hot shot right over Tariq's left shoulder. It would have hit him right in the chest had he not reflexively moved to the side to activate the tank's smoke dispenser to try to hide Lillian from view.
Looking back, Tariq noticed a neat little hole burned into the back of his chair, and tracing its path back to the wall, Tariq spotted a small hole, with a diameter about the size of his pinky, which had been burned through the turret mantle. It took him a few seconds to realize what it was: the third fuel rod cannon had scored a direct hit against a weakened armor plate on their turret, sending a narrow stream of concentrated plasma right through the plate and into the tank. By some miracle, the stream had just managed to avoid hitting anything vital, but if Tariq had actually been seated properly, the stream would have burned right through his body armor and into his chest, potentially killing him.
Glancing up at Noble, Tariq could see a horrified look on her face, indicating she had seen the same thing he had.
"Fuck, that was close," he heard her mutter before she grabbed her headset. "Driver! Keep us moving! We can't be standing still right now! Keep us moving! Gunner, pick up your rate of fire! I'm calling in a rocket strike!"
Tariq nodded and jammed his face back into his optics, doing his best to try and not think about how close to death he had been just now. In the meantime, behind him, he could hear Noble saying,
"Steel Rain, this is Cataphract! Requesting immediate fire support at grid location Zulu Charlie, one seven six three, five seven seven five, direction zero nine one! Enemy armor in the open, DPICM is in effect! All batteries, FIRE FOR EFFECT!"
While Noble was busy calling in their rocket artillery support, Tariq in the meantime was busy trying to maintain his rate of fire. It was proving slightly more difficult than he was used to thanks to Corona's frantic attempts at evasive maneuvering, but fortunately his turret's barrel stabilizers were still working meaning Tariq wasn't that adversely affected.
Dropping his crosshairs over a nearby Hunter, Tariq fired a SABOT round right at his chest, looking for a kill but unfortunately, the Hunter was able to raise his shield up in time to block the shot. While the composite rod did cause the Hunter's shield to break, the Hunter itself was left unscathed and in retaliation, the Hunter lifted his arm cannon and fired back.
BOOOOSSSHHH!
Fortunately, due to Corona's efforts, the radioactive stream missed, and Tariq quickly fired a HEAT shell at the Hunter's now exposed chest.
The shell exploded, destroying the Hunter's armor and leaving the creature heavily wounded, but alive, and Tariq was in the process of loading a couple more rounds when a pair of shells fired by another tank smashed into the Hunter. The Hunter was blown apart, orange goo showering the field.
Undeterred, Tariq spun around, looking for another target. He spotted an assault Wraith exchanging fire with some other vehicle in the line, and Tariq decided to lend his support. Adjusting his aim, Tariq fired, but just he did, the Wraith took a hit to the side which disabled its left gravity stabilizer.
The Wraith went crashing into the ground at an awkward angle, resulting in Tariq's shell passing right over the tank's turret as it missed. Biting back a curse, Tariq adjusted his aim and sent another shell downrange, and watched as the Wraith's hull cave in moments before the entire vehicle exploded.
"Banshees, up high!" Noble suddenly called out. "Driver, evade!"
Tariq glanced skyward to see another flight of Banshees emerge from the clouds once again. Tracers immediately began filling the air around them, but rounds weren't enough to deter the Banshees as they visibly prepared to dive into a strafing run.
But just as the lead Banshee started to dive, it was abruptly struck by a rocket from above, knocking it out of the sky and sending it spiraling to the ground where it landed amongst an entire squad of Covenant infantry that had been in the middle of getting deployed from their Shadow APC. The crippled Banshee ploughed right into the Shadow, causing both vehicles to explode, with the ensuing fireball consuming all of the assembled infantry.
"AHAHAHA!" Tariq couldn't help burst out laughing, both at the sight and at the realization the rocket that had destroyed the Banshee had actually been fired by their multiple rocket launcher support from nearly forty klicks away. "That's why you don't fly fucking aircraft through the same airspace artillery is dropping down on, ya dumb fucks!"
More 227mm rockets exploded right over the heads of the Covenant. Each rocket was armed with a cluster munition warhead and when they exploded, they sent hundreds of smaller bombs scattering across the battlefield. The bombs by themselves were hardly strong enough to destroy even the lightest of Covenant vehicles, but their presence was enough to delay the Covenant advance long enough for the tanks of Bravo Section to finish the fight.
"Target! Enemy infantry in the open!" Noble screamed.
"Yeah, I see 'em!" Tariq yelled back. "Switching to canister!"
He thumbed a few buttons and as he waited for one of his cannons to reload, he switched over to his coax, firing a few quick burst at the Covenant infantry running around, sending them diving to the ground for cover.
"Gun up!" he roared as soon as his status light turned green. "On the way!"
Tariq pulled the trigger but just he did, Corona went over a bump. The bump wasn't that big, but it was enough to jar Tariq's turret, causing his shell to miss his target entirely.
"What the fuck dude!?"
"Sorry!" Corona called back, sounding a bit distracted. "Trying... to... concentrate!"
"Driver, you're doing fine," Noble assured him. "Gunner, shut the fuck up and keep firing!"
Tariq snarled but rather than snap back, he decided to take his frustrations out on the Covenant, viciously pulling the trigger and watching with grim satisfaction as a 120mm HEAT shell hit an Elite Major right in the head, ripping it clean off his shoulders and causing an almost comical amount of blood to go gushing into the air as his body toppled to the ground.
"Cataphract, this is Steel Rain, rounds complete, over."
"Copy that!" Noble yelled back. "Break, break! Cataphract to Ballista 1-1, requesting immediate fire support at fire concentration echo through foxtrot! HE, fifteen rounds, all guns, fire for effect!"
The 227mm rockets suddenly stopped coming, but it was only but a few seconds before they were replaced by a shower of 120mm mortars fired by their assigned self-propelled mortar support from less than ten klicks away. The heavy mortars landed amongst the Covenant forces, tearing armor and infantry to shreds and leaving massive craters in their wake.
"Go get them stovepipe boys," Tariq muttered under his breath as he dropped his crosshairs over one of the last remaining Wraith tanks and sent a HEAT shell in his direction.
The Wraith started to move out of the way, but abruptly took a direct hit from one of the mortars. The mortar slammed into the hull just above where the pilot was located, and there was just enough time for Tariq to see the blue flames that started to shoot out before his shell hit and turned the rest of the Wraith into a blazing inferno.
"Infantry in the open!" Noble bellowed, even as Covenant plasma mortars began bombarding their position once more. "Fire fire fire!"
Lillian recoiled as Tariq sent a canister round in the direction of a large group of Covenant soldiers. His shell fell a bit short, landing about a meter and a half in front of the group, but it was still close enough the shrapnel was able to knock most of them to the ground like they were nothing more than a bunch of bowling pins. The survivors struggled to their feet, but then three mortars landed around them in quick succession, leaving their shredded bodies to bleed out on the muddy ground.
"Ballista, Cataphract. Added thirty, left five three, and repeat fire mission!" Noble ordered over the radio. "Sweep the rest of the field! Break; 07 to all Bravo Section victors, cease firing! Conserve your ammo and let the artillery do the work!"
Tariq eased up on his trigger but before he could even begin to think about relaxing, their radio came to life.
"06 to 07!" Lightfoot's voice sounded over the radio.
"Go ahead 06," Noble replied, with just barely a hint of weariness in her voice.
"07, we're getting outflanked to the west! Alpha Section needs help! Head over to the western flank and lend your support, over!"
"Copy that 06, we're en-route!"
Glancing over at her crew, Noble gestured at them. "Move it out driver!"
"Man, what the hell?" Tariq groused, even as he jammed another two shells into his cannon. "Why the hell are we the only ones getting shuffled around like this?"
"Probably because I'm the First Sergeant, and that's my job?" Noble dryly suggested.
"Silly me. And here I thought a first sergeant was a staff position!" Tariq retorted, wincing as a plasma mortar landed nearby. "And not an extra ground pounder who was expected to have his ass hanging out in the wind, waiting for it to get blown off by a fucking mortar!"
"We all got to do what we got to do!" Noble snapped. "And if that means we got to go reinforce a position, we go reinforce a fucking position!"
Tariq grounded his teeth together but kept his mouth shut as Corona once again began making his way through town, dodging even more mortars. So far they had been lucky in the fact they had yet to take a hit from one of those things, but if they kept driving through town the way they were, it was only going to be a matter of time before their luck ran out.
Still, what could Tariq do? He was the gunner and at this point, that meant he was just along for the ride.
At they start to approach Alpha Section's position, Noble switched the channels on the radio and all of a suddenly, Tariq could hear the 2nd Platoon commander saying, "Longbow, this is Cataphract 2-1, bring it in close! Drop two five and fire for effect!"
The ground began to shake as 155mm shells began screaming in. Tariq mentally began to prepare himself to open fire the moment he saw a Covenant vehicle, but before their tank could even come within sight of the line, Lightfoot suddenly came onto the radio again.
"07 this is 06, belay last order!" he hastily bellow. "Divert to the northern line! Covenant are launching another attack!"
"Copy! But what about Alpha Section?"
"I'll reinforce them myself! Just get your ass to the northern flank!"
"Affirmative, on the way!" Noble snapped back and without waiting for the order, Corona twisted his wheel and started to head back to their original position.
"That doesn't sound good," Tariq worriedly commented to himself.
"Yeah, no kidding," Noble commented before switching on her radio. "07 to 3 Actual, status?"
"Status is we're fucked!" came the immediate reply. "I've got a battalion sized unit of Covenant armor pounding my position, and I'm down to two tanks! Need reinforcements, ASAP!"
"We're working on it! 07, out! Driver, let's pick up the pace!"
Corona nodded, and hit the gas. Upon reaching the northern flank, he quickly eased their tank into an available hull-down position, and Tariq hurriedly scanned the field. As was reported, there was about a battalion's worth of Covenant armor, backed by air and artillery, making their way across the field. Rockets, tank shells, and heavy machine rounds were crisscrossing the battlefield, but the Covenant were using the burning corpses of their comrades from the first attack for cover.
"Targets in the open!" Noble hollered, even as Tariq open fired. "Ballista, Cataphract! Requesting immediate fire support on fire concentration Bravo, over?"
"Cataphract, Ballista. Negative fire support, all guns currently engaged!"
"Fuck!" Noble spat.
"First Sergeant! Try Havoc again!" Tariq suggested.
"Covenant are a little too close for 203's, don't you think!?"
Tariq winced as a fuel rod cannon, one fired by a Grunt and not a Wraith or Hunter, hit the ground nearby. "I don't think we have much of a choice!"
"Okay! Cataphract 07 to Havoc, fire mission!"
Tariq could hear Noble yelling into the radio, but he ignored her as he searched for more targets. The first thing he spotted was a small Ghost, looking decidedly out of place on a field full of tanks. Nevertheless, the Ghost zipped across the field, cannons blazing, and Tariq could see his infantry support ducking for cover as plasma splattered around them.
"This Dragoon 2-2 Alpha!" Tariq heard his friend Chenko call out over the radio. "Someone take out that Ghost!"
"On it!" Tariq called back as spun his turret around and opened up with his coax. Even from this distance, he could see his bullets pinging off the nose of the Ghost, but the Ghost continued forward, undeterred. Tariq was about to reluctantly expend an entire tank round, when one of Chenko's men sudden rose up with a Jackhammer rocket launcher on his shoulder and fired right at the Ghost. The 102mm rocket slammed into the Ghost, turning it into a fireball.
"Shot, out!" Noble hollered. "Head's up Charlie, we've got friendly arty incoming, danger close!"
Almost as soon as she said that, 203mm artillery shells came whistling in, landing not even two hundred meters away. Buried inside a heavy tank, such a close strike was hardly a concern for Tariq, but even then, he could still hear the shrieking of shrapnel as it hurtled through the air. Yet, the Covenant still came.
"Target! Foot mobiles with heavy weapons, in the open! Hit them with an airburst!"
Chewing on his lip, Tariq rapidly set the warhead on his next shell.
"On the way!" he yelled and watched as the shell explode right over the spot Noble had pointed out. He couldn't see if he had gotten the kill though, as other targets demanded his attention.
"First Sergeant, Covenant are getting closer," he warning.
"Yeah, I'm on it! Cataphract 07 to Havoc, drop seven five and repeat fire mission!"
"Uh, negative fire support. All guns are currently supporting Cataphract 05, over."
"Understood. 07, out. Fuck!" Noble snapped as she tossed her radio down. "We need some more fire support! Sergeant, do we have any more artillery batteries in the AO?"
"Should be some Actium Army batteries somewhere around here," Tariq reported. "But I don't know their call signs!"
He could hear her swearing again, but he ignored her as he searched for more targets. He spotted a Hunter taking cover behind a destroyed Wraith who was firing his arm cannon so much, even from here, Tariq could see the barrel was red hot.
Loading up his main gun, Tariq fired both barrels in rapid succession. The first shell, a HEAT round, smashed into the destroyed Wraith and exploded, blowing a hole through the weakened armor. The second shell, a SABOT dart, passed through the hole seconds later and slammed into the Hunter, ripping of armored plating and shredding his arm cannon. Startled, the Hunter stumbled out of cover, and Tariq quickly switched over to his RWS, firing over a hundred heavy machine gun rounds into the wounded Hunter before he collapsed.
"Got it!" Noble suddenly and triumphantly yelled. "Hornet, a towed 155 battery, and Stinger, a MLRS battery, both of the Actium Army!"
"Better go with the 155's!" Tariq urged.
"I agree! Hornet, this Cataphract 07, fire support WARNO incoming, do you copy? Requesting immediate fire support at grid location Hotel November one six one, four five niner, direction three seven one! Enemy armor in the open! Requesting one HE spotting round. Be advised, this is a danger close strike, over!"
"Cataphract 07, we copy your traffic. Shot, over."
"Shot, out!" Noble lowered her radio. "Hey Sergeant! I got a spotting round incoming! Help me look for it and adjust as needed!"
"Copy!"
Tariq began randomly spraying down the area in front of him with his coax as he waited for the artillery to arrive.
"07, splash, over."
Tariq looked around and just barely managed to spot a mound of dirt getting thrown into the air as the shell exploded a couple dozen meters behind where the vast majority of the Covenant were located.
"Hey! First Sergeant! You're shooting too far! Drop, uh, drop three seventy and uh... left one six!"
"Drop three seven zero, left one six," Noble repeated over the radio. "And fire for effect!"
More artillery started falling, this time on target. However, it didn't even seem to faze the Covenant. And to make things worse -
"Bravo Section to all call signs, be advised, our eastern flank is under attack. Requesting immediate reinforcements, over."
"Negative!" Lightfoot roared over the radio before anyone else could reply. "All reserves are currently engaged! All call signs be advised, we are being attacked from all directions. All units, hold your position!"
"Oh fuck," Tariq muttered to himself. If all sides were under attack and all reserves were currently engaged, that meant if the Covenant managed to break through on any of the flanks, then it would be all over for everyone as there would simply be no way to hold them back.
"Keep firing, keep firing!" Noble urged. "We got to keep the Covenant back!"
"I'm trying!" Tariq desperately yelled back, trying to prioritize the most dangerous targets but with so many Covenant at such a close distance, it was getting increasingly harder to do.
"Christ, look at them! They just keep coming!" Tariq heard Corona yelling and in some ways, Tariq couldn't blame him. There was almost something to be admired about the way the Covenant forces continued to fearlessly, and blindly, charge forward straight into the UNSC's guns. Tariq doubted a human unit would have been able to accomplish the same thing with as much fervor.
Of course, he doubted a UNSC unit would have been stupid enough to put themselves in a position where they needed to, so there was that...
Noble suddenly started cursing.
"RWS is dry, got to reload!" she screamed. "Gunner! Pick up your rate of fire!"
"Fuck!" Tariq yelped as Noble disappeared out of the turret. He could just barely catch sight of her outside, desperately shoving a new belt into the ammo can. "Driver! Break out your personal defense weapon!"
"My what?"
"Your damn SMG! Break it out and prepare for close quarters combat!"
A fuel rod cannon exploded nearby, showering the tank with dirt and Tariq fired a snap shot in the direction the fuel rod had roughly come from. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Corona staring at him with a fearful look on his face.
"There's nowhere to retreat for us, and no one else to reinforce us!" Tariq yelled, answering the un-voiced question. "If we can't hold them back with the main guns, then we're going to have to be prepared to stand our ground with small arms!"
A sickened look appeared on Corona's face before it was quickly replaced by a grim look of determination, and he slowly pulled out his SMG. In the meantime, Tariq continued to fire as soon as his cannons reloaded, but it was getting to be too much. He wasn't sure how much longer he could maintain this rate of fire.
"Lancer Actual to all UNSC call signs in the vicinity of the town of Newington!"
Tariq swiftly looked up at that call over the radio. That was the battalion commander.
"All call signs, mark your positions with transponder beacons and standby for FPF, break! Lancer to all UNSC artillery units in the vicinity of Objective Zippo, FPF WARNO incoming! Targeting grid coordinates being transmitted to each individual call sign. All call signs, confirm recipient of targeting grid coordinates, over!"
"Stinger to Lancer, reception confirmed, over."
"Ballista to Lancer, reception confirmed, over."
"This is Havoc to Lancer, confirmed, over."
As all artillery batteries continued to confirm targeting coordinates, another voice cut in over the radio.
"This is Cataphract Actual to all Cataphract commanders and staff!" Lightfoot yelled. "Sound off! Confirm deployment of beacons and verify your locations, over!"
Tariq could hear Noble swiftly sliding back into the turret and hit a few buttons as all platoons began checking in.
"This is 01, we're in position!"
"This is 05, standing by!"
"2-2 to Actual: in position!"
"This is 07," Noble announced over the radio. "Position confirmed."
"This is 03: confirmed."
"06: in position. Cataphract to Lancer, all Cataphract positions marked and confirmed, over!"
"Understood! All positions marked and confirmed. Lancer to all UNSC batteries: FIRE FOR EFFECT!"
BABOOM! BABOOM! BABOOM!
It was as if the very sky had opened up, allowing the gods to unleash their fury on the ground below. The very ground was torn asunder as five separate artillery batteries and a single mortar platoon simply opened up with everything they had, firing everything from 114mm unguided rockets, to 120mm mortars, to 155mm white phosphorus rounds, to 203mm HE shells, creating an almost literal ring of fire around the entire town. And yet, that still wasn't enough to deter the Covenant.
"All gunners, maintain fire!" Lightfoot yelled over the radio as the Covenant continued to charge forward like they were merely taking a stroll through a slight drizzle, as opposed to a firestorm of biblical proportions.
"Target!" Noble screamed to be heard over the roar of explosions. "Enemy Hunter, direct twelve, one three zero meters!"
Tariq squinted, doing his best to see through all the dirt and smoke getting thrown into the air before spotting the target: charging straight towards them was a single Hunter. The Hunter was already bleeding from multiple shrapnel wounds, but still kept coming with an air of rabid fanaticism.
"On the way!"
Tariq pulled the trigger, blowing the Hunter apart
"Target! Wraith, one zero zero meters!
"On the way!
Lillian's main cannons recoiled as a HEAT shell was hurtled in the Covenant's direction.
"Target! Ghost, nine five meters!"
"On the way!"
The Ghost exploded as it was simultaneously hit by a 120mm canister round and possibly a 40mm SABOT shell.
"Target! Enemy infantry, in the open, seven five meters!"
Tariq pulled the trigger, but instead of feeling recoil, all he heard was a loud clung and alarms began to shrill.
"Malfunction!" he shrieked. "Switching to coax!"
"Getting the fifty!" Noble yelled back. "Driver, small arms! Standby to defend yourself!"
Corona pulled out his SMG, but Tariq hardly noticed. Instead, he was panning his turret left and right, firing his coaxial machine gun nonstop. He wasn't even sure what he was shooting at anymore, all he knew was just to keep shooting.
All across his display, alarms began to sound, warning him his barrel was rapidly overheating and that he was seconds away from running out of ammo. But Tariq ignored them all as he continued to hold down the trigger. And then, all of a sudden -
- click -
His firing pin fell on an empty chamber, and just as it did, everything went silent. Not just his coax, but the artillery, the explosions, the incoming plasma, the screaming Covenant, everything.
Feeling as if he was in a daze all of a sudden, Tariq uncertainly looked around. Everything appeared to still be in place. He was sitting at station inside Lillian, with Corona sitting in the driver's seat in front of him, and Noble sitting in her spot behind him, both looking as confused as he felt.
"What... just happened?" Tariq couldn't help but ask, feeling rather dumb for doing so, but needing to shake that surreal feeling that had suddenly descended upon him.
"The Covenant just broke off their attack," Noble slowly replied, sounding befuddled.
"What? Why would they do that?"
"I don't know?"
Almost as if by impulse, Noble reached up, popped open the hatch to the tank, and pulled herself out.
After a moment of hesitation, Tariq quickly followed her, climbing to the top of the turret. Around him, the remaining members of Cataphract and Dragoon companies were following suit, climbing out the holes that had been their homes for the last hour or so.
Almost as one, they gazed across the shattered battlefield, passed all the bodies and the destroyed Covenant vehicles, to the other side of the field where they could just barely make out the edge of the city of Byzas. There was absolutely no movement to be seen. Even the plasma mortars that had been bombarding the town had fallen silent.
"Where'd all the Covenant go?" Corona asked, his voice wavering ever so slightly.
"I have no idea," Noble began, before simply trailing off and staring off across the field. "I have no idea…"
For a few moments, everyone just stood there, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Eventually though, Noble shook her head.
"Well," she said, "I have no idea what's going on, but it looks like the Covenant are giving us a reprieve. Let's not waste it. TCs! I want a fuel and ammo count! Engineers and tank crews! Start reinforcing your fighting positions. The Covenant might have broken off for the moment but rest assured, they will be back. And when they do…
…nothing's going to be able to stop them."
For anyone that is curious, this is what I envisioned all the artillery support in this chapter as being:
- As mentioned, Havoc is supposed to be a battery of 203mm self-propelled howitzer assigned directly to the division level. The vehicle I picture them using would be the M145 "Rhino," a canon from Halo Wars 1. Though, instead of the "D" model which, like its actual appearance in the game is equipped with a plasma cannon, this version would be the "A" model, an older vehicle obviously equipped with a 203mm howitzer
- Bowman is supposed to be a platoon of self-propelled antiaircraft guns assigned to the battalion level (as depicted in chapter 15.) The vehicle they use is supposed to be the M808B2 Air Defense System, a canon vehicle that is equipped with two, dual-barrel 40mm autocannons, similar to the real-world Russian 2K22 Tunguska. (Not part of the canon vehicle are the Argent anti-air missiles; those I added.) (Also, it's only similar to the Tunguska in terms of weaponry. In terms of appearance, the M808B2 looks more like the Russian ZSU-23-4 Shilka, just with a shorter turret.)
- Steel Rain is intended to be a corps level multiple rocket launcher. In appearance, I picture it as being similar to the US Army's M270 MLRS (equipped with eighteen tubes of 227mm unguided rockets,) only built on top of a M808 Scorpion chassis, as opposed to an M993 carrier vehicle (which would probably make it look closer to the TOS-1 of the modern Russian Army)
- Ballista 1-1 is intended to be a 120mm heavy mortar platoon assigned directly to Tariq's battalion HQ. Vehicle would be an M808 Scorpion, with the turret from the real world Finnish/Swedish AMOS
- Longbow is intended to be 2nd Brigade's (Tariq's unit) assigned battery of self-propelled artillery. I envisioned their vehicles to be similar to the real-world German Army Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzer, only mounted on the chassis of an M808 Scorpion
- Hornet, as mentioned in the chapter, is a battery of 155m towed howitzers assigned to the Actium Army. The howitzers they're using I imagine as being an automatic towed howitzer, similar to the real-world Haubits FH77 of the Swedish Army, or the FH-2000 of the Singaporean Army.
- and finally, Stinger, as mentioned in the chapter, is an Actium Army MLRS utilizing the canon vehicle, the M9 "Wolverine" (from Halo Wars) and firing 114mm rockets, similar to the real-world BM-21 "Grad," formerly of the Soviet Union.
As you can see, about half of the vehicles are based on canon vehicles, the other half based on real-world weapons. If anyone is interested in seeing what they look like, for all the real-world stuff, their English Wikipedia pages have pictures, while Halopedia should be able to cover all the canon vehicles.