Battle: Actium

by Ian Otter

Before the Fall of Reach, the Battle of Actium was one of the bloodiest land battles of the Human-Covenant War. Experience the fighting through the eyes of those who fought, and died, in her defense. (Companion piece to my other story, Missing in Action) (Abandoned.)

43. Chapter 42

This chapter was originally two chapters, however I decided to consolidate and remove an entire perspective as it didn't really add anything to the overall story, and it was kind of redundant. Hence why it's so long.

---

Chapter 42

Town of Newington, Thracia Province
May 7, 2545
0646

Tariq

Boom. Boom. KABOOM!

Tariq reflexively looked up as, over the sound of the explosions in the distance, he managed to pick up on the roar of fighter jets passing by overhead. He couldn't see them, obviously, as even if he wasn't stuck inside a large metal box, the jets would have been flying over the heavy bank of clouds that blanketed the entire field. Nevertheless, he still tried to look.

Over the radio, he could hear some of the younger members of the battalion cheering as they watched the massive fireballs and clouds of dust and debris rise up over the Covenants as a result of the bombs the Air Force had just dropped, but he resisted the urge to join them. Instead, he bounced his foot impatiently against the floor of the turret as he tore his eyes from the ceiling and began glancing at the area around him, looking for signs of movement.

"We should be moving, we should be moving… why aren't we moving?" he impatiently muttered under his breath. "Goddammit! First Sergeant, what's the fucking hold up!?"

He glanced over his shoulder in Noble's direction, only to see her look up from the three separate radios she was currently juggling.

"I'm working on figure out the answer to that question right now," she irritably replied. "Hang on, Sergeant."

Tariq hastily sealed his mouth as Noble returned to her radios. Shit. What the fuck was causing the delay!?

Glancing forward once more, he could see the fireballs had already extinguished themselves, and all the debris was beginning to settle. Shit, this wasn't good – they should have been halfway across the field by now!

He looked back again as he heard Noble toss one of the radios aside.

"Fucking idiots," he heard her mutter. "Alright, here's the deal: someone up high is apparently worried about our general lack of infantry support, so they're moving up a battalion of motorized infantry from 80 Rifle to reinforce us in this advance."

Tariq stared at her. "Who the fuck made that decision? And why the fuck are they getting moved now instead of during the artillery or airstrikes?"

Noble snorted and tossed her hands in the air.

"Who the fuck knows," she groaned before suddenly lifting her index finger. "Hang on, Sergeant: I've got Captain Lightfoot in my other ear. Go for 07!"

Tariq looked away, annoyed, though he did his best to try and avoid directing any of that in Noble's direction; it was pretty clear she had no control over this entire FUBAR of a situation, after all.

"Hey Sergeant? I don't think I'm following: if the Covenant are all dead, then why does it matter if we move out now or five minutes from now?"

Tariq glanced towards the front of the tank's cabin at Corona's question.

"Jesus Christ, you really are some kind of special stupid, aren't you?" he snapped before he could stop himself. Fortunately, Noble was still too busy with the radio to notice. "Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the Covenant, otherwise this war would be going far better than it actually is."

To Tariq's mild irritation, Corona didn't even raise to the bait. Instead, he just stared at Tariq as he patiently waited for Tariq to finish his rant.

Tariq merely rolled his eyes.

"We'll be lucky if that artillery or airstrike even killed a single Covenant soldier," Tariq explained, "as it wasn't intended to. The point behind the strikes was to force the Covenant away from their guns and into cover long enough for us to get in close. But in order for us to get in close, we need to move right now while the Covenant are still struggling to recover from their shock."

"Fortunately, battalion commander would appear to agree with you Sergeant," Noble interjected as she tossed her radio aside. "Order is 'fuck everybody else, move out now.' So, Driver, let's move it out!"

Tariq was mildly impressed. That was strangely decisive for their battalion commander.

He braced himself as Corona immediately threw Lillian into gear and began surging forward. As they started rolling across the field, Tariq leaned back.

"That being said, First Sergeant," he said in a low voice, "we shouldn't be advancing without infantry support."

"We got the Armadillo IFVs from Dragoon backing us up, a couple of M875 EBVs in front of us, as well as a few Sun Devil SPAAGs supporting us. We should be fine, at least until the reinforced battalion from 80 Rifle decides to catch up to us," Noble stated, then paused.

"At least, that's what Lightfoot tells me," she added, sounding just a bit more uncertain of herself.

Tariq just grunted in response. As long as everyone was all on the same page.

He turned his attention back forward as Corona cleared the last of the outposts that made up the outer edge of the UNSC's MLR, and started crossing no-man's land in the direction of the Covenant at a relatively brisk pace.

"Driver, make sure to maintain the integrity of the line," Noble demanded. "Don't drive too fast or too slow; also, keep your spacing and don't bunch up."

"Copy," Corona replied, his voice strained with concentration.

"Gunner, watch our objective and watch out for fuel rod teams," Noble continued. "I'm going up top."

Tariq threw a wave in her direction, but he didn't look away from his sights. Behind him, he could hear Noble popping open her hatch, which also allowed him to hear the screaming of rocket artillery as they passed by overhead and landed roughly about where Tariq and his battalion were advancing towards.

He frowned to himself. That wasn't part of the plan: those rockets were supposed to be hitting just behind the Covenant MLR, to try and prevent the Covenant from pushing up reinforcements. What were they doing hitting the objective? Did the redlegs somehow screw up their targeting coordinates? Or did Division decide to shift targets and hit the objective instead, in order to continue suppressing the Covenant long enough for the vanguard of the UNSC attack to reach them?

Whatever the case was, it was a change in the pre-established plan, and if there was one thing Tariq absolutely hated, it was last minute changes.

At the same time, it wasn't like there was anything Tariq could do about it…

"All units, this is Actual."

Lightfoot's voice suddenly sounded over the radio, cutting through Tariq's thoughts.

"Looks like someone has decided to divert the artillery to support our advance, so all gunners, hold your fire until we get within five hundred meters of the objective, or you've got a PID on something, over," he commanded.

"Gunner!" Noble immediately called out over the intercom. "You copy that?"

"Copy, First Sergeant!" Tariq yelled back, then turned his attention back forward towards the objective as the radio started to fill with low-level chatter from the other vehicles.

The area they were advancing towards – designated Objective "Cobalt" for this operation – was a small wooded area sitting on top of a small hill called "Backwater Creek" because of the small creek that ran through the center. According to intel, the Covenant had established an observation post at the top yesterday, and as part of Operation: SUDDEN PURGE II, Tariq and his battalion had been ordered to take it.

Tactically speaking, the objective wasn't worth a damn. The woods surrounding Backwater Creek was nowhere near as large or as thick as the forest Tariq and his comrades had assault this morning – meaning there weren't a lot of places for the Covenant to hide – nor was the creek itself all that deep or wide to act as an obstacle. Strategically speaking, however, was another story: as the hill was surrounded on all sides by open fields, Backwater Creek served as a perfect observation point over all major roads leading to and from Byzas.

Essentially, if an army wanted to control the major roads leading to Byzas, they had to control the town of Newington. However, if they wanted to make sure their convoys weren't harassed by IDF or snipers, then Backwater Creek needed to be taken.

"Gunner, maintain observation of the objective area," Noble suddenly said over the groaning of the tank as it drove over the small bumps and holes that covered the field. "You see anything, call it out so everyone can be aware of it."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it First Sergeant," Tariq replied somewhat impatiently, and couldn't help but add, "You know, First Sergeant, this isn't exactly my first assault on a defended Covenant position."

Noble ignored him.

"1-1, this is 07," she said instead. "You're drifting. Don't draw attention to yourself by being the lead tank. Hold back just a bit."

"Copy that 07. Hey! 2-2 and Taipan 1-3, spread the fuck out! Don't cluster up like that, you'll make yourself a prime target."

"Got it. Yeah, that's 2-2's fault, sorry. We were trying to avoid driving into some sort of crater; don't want to accidently get stuck."

"Yeah, well, try and maintain your dispersion, understood?"

"Cataphract Actual, this is 3-1. Interrogative: have we lost comms with CAS, over?"

"3-1, this is 07," Noble interjected. "Negative. I'm still up, over."

"Copy that 07. Actual, be advised, 3-1 has a downed comm link. I say again, 3-1 has no comms with CAS, over."

"Solid copy, 3-1," Lightfoot smoothly replied. "You've clearly got comms with the rest of the company, so stay as close as you can to 07 without breaking dispersion; any targets you see, relay to 07 who'll call it in, over."

"Understood. 3-1, out."

"Actual to all call signs: sitrep on the target area. Anyone see any movement, over?"

"Negative."

"Actual, we have, uh, zero contact at the objective area."

"There is no sign of movement, over."

"Man, how have the Covies not react to our presence yet," a voice unknown to Tariq exclaimed. "Hinge-heads have to be blind, deaf, and dumb not to have noticed us coming."

"Bowman 1-2, keep this net clear of all non-essential communiques," Lightfoot snapped. "Actual to all call signs: maintain observation of the target area, and report any signs of activities."

"Copy that Actual."

"Understood."

"Gunner!" Noble yelled into the intercom, which was being fed into Tariq's other ear. "You see anything?"

Tariq carefully scanned the hill in front of them. Unfortunately, despite the multitude of optical and sensors this tank was equipped with, Tariq found it nearly impossible to see anything – with the coming dawn, it was rapidly becoming too bright for night vision to be all that useful at this range and there appeared to still be quite a lot of heat residue remaining from all the bombs and shells that had already been dropped on the Covenant, meaning thermals were out too. Tariq was pretty much down to magnified optics and his standard pair of mark one eyeballs.

"I got absolutely nothing, First Sergeant," Tariq reported.

"Maybe we did get them all after all," Corona piped up from his station. "Maybe – "

"Don't fucking finish that sentence!" Tariq immediately snapped. "Every time someone says something fucking stupid like that, all hell breaks loose moments later. So don't fucking jinx us."

Out of the corner of his eye, Tariq could see Corona giving an apologetic wave, but Tariq had a feeling it was already too late. Slowly sweeping his gun sights left and right, he paused when he spotted a small flash of light.

"INCOMING!"

PSSHHHHHHHHH!

The radioactive green fuel rod stream was ninety percent of the way across the field before the first syllable had evened fully left Tariq's mouth. The stream came streaking straight towards them, but just as it was about to hit, by sheer coincidence, Corona accidently drove into a small depression in the ground, causing the stream to miss hitting the turret by mere centimeters.

"HOLY SHIT!" Noble yelped as she ducked back inside. "Contact, CONTACT!"

At the same time, the entire field was lit up with green light as the Covenant promptly opened up with everything they had. Streams from plasma assault guns, fuel rod cannons, concussion rifles, and even small arms fire began raining down all around the advancing UNSC forces.

BSHHHHHH! BSHHHHH!

A stream of plasma sliced up the ground right next to the tank, leaving a nasty looking gash behind as well as causing all the snow and ice to instant turn to steam. Meanwhile, somewhere to Tariq's left, he spotted a fuel rod cannon projectile ricocheting off the right side skirt of one of their supporting EBVs and disappearing somewhere up into the air. At the same time, he felt the entire tank rock as something exploded behind them, and he didn't even need to look back to recognize the telltale signs of a vehicle taking a direct hit.

"CONTACT!" someone was screaming over the radio. "Multiple Covenant launchers, on the ridge!"

"1-1 to Actual, be advised Bowman 1-3 is down, I say again, Bowman 1-3 is down, hard!"

"Cataphract Actual to all UNSC call signs on this net: we have been engaged!"

"Gunner! Give me a target!" Noble was screaming from behind him.

Tariq had been trying to do just that.

"Target: enemy assault cannon, eight eight zero meters, one three degrees left!" Tariq started to say as he spotted a muzzle flash, but before the words could even fully leave his mouth –

"Fire, FIRE! Gunner, you're free to engage all targets on the hill!"

"On the way!" Tariq roared as he pulled the trigger.

Boom! Klunk-klunk!

Tariq felt the entire tank shake as one of his cannons recoiled, sending a HEAT shell screaming into the direction of the Covenant. He could see the shell explode, sending a plume of smoke into the air, but he couldn't tell if he actually hit anything as his attention was drawn to a fuel rod cannon headed direction for them.

"INCOMING, DIRECT FRONT!"

Tariq was thrusted against his harness as Corona abruptly slammed on the brakes. The fuel rod cannon, which had been lead so that Lillian would have driven into it, instead fell short and exploded a few meters in front of the vehicle, showering them with dirt.

"Contact! Eight three zero meters, zero five degrees right!"

Tariq glanced over to his right to see Cataphract 3-1 firing both their barrels in rapid succession, and he glanced downrange in time to see both shells exploding.

3-1 followed up their initial barrage with a long burst of machine gun fire, and as their rounds streaked over the hill, Tariq was able to spot a mounted assault cannon positioned directly under a fallen tree as it was briefly illuminated by the tracers.

He quickly brought his turret around.

"On the way!" he yelled in warning, before firing.

Boom! Klunk-klunk!

His second barrel recoiled. This cannon had been loaded with a canister shell, which smashed straight into the tree truck and turning it into splinters, exposing the assault cannon for all to see.

Quickly popping a HEAT shell into his first barrel, Tariq fired again. "On the way!"

This time a green flash accompanied the plume of dirt and Tariq could see a large chunk of something get hurtled into the air.

"Fuck you!" Tariq yelled, even as he panned his turret around and started looking for another target.

Unfortunately, the destruction of one anti-tank position was hardly enough to deter the Covenant, and even as Tariq searched for something else to shoot at, a fuel rod cannon exploded against the front of Lightfoot's tank, washing the entire vehicle in green electricity.

"Actual, this is 07!" Noble immediately called out. "Status, over?"

"Actual to all vehicles!" Lightfoot yelled, sounding pissed. "You're weapons free! Suppressing fire! Light that fucking hill up!"

Tariq instantly emptied both his barrels downrange, the recoil of which caused Lillian to jump, before following it up with an extended burst from his coax.

All around him, red-orange tracers were skipping all over the place, and the entire face of the hill was washed away with dirt as the entirety of the advancing UNSC force simply unloaded on the Covenant with everything they had: cannons, autocannons, heavy machine gun fire, and coaxial fire. At the same time, a series of rockets began striking the hill, and Tariq glanced skyward to see two SkyHawks from the Actium Air Force come flying in – clearly someone had call in close air support.

Abruptly, one of the SkyHawks fired a Scorpion anti-tank missile before both birds peeled away, and Tariq watched as the missile rocket down to earth. Microseconds later, there was a massive explosion from the Covenant's position, one that was bigger and even more spectacular than what Tariq had managed to accomplish a few moments ago.

In the face of so much return fire, the Covenant cannon fire began to visibly slacken. But it didn't end entirely…

There was a flash of orange from somewhat behind the tanks and at once, the radio exploded into chatter. Tariq tried to figure out what was going on, but there were too many people trying to talk at the same time, the radio was actually locking up. The only things Tariq could make out was: "Infantry support. Down."

Infantry support… Chenko!

Tariq's heart immediately leapt to his throat.

"FIRST SERGEANT!" he screamed. "FIRST SERGEANT! Which one of Dragoon's IFVs got hit?"

"What!?" Noble yelled as she ducked her head back inside and moved her mic away from her mouth.

"Which Armadillo got hit?" Tariq repeated a bit more slowly, though he didn't bother trying to hide his concern.

Noble gave him an odd look, before a look of comprehension appeared on her face. "None of them. It was a Wolverine half-track from the 80 Riffle battalion that was backing us up."

Tariq let out a sigh of relief. Chenko was alright.

His relief immediately turned to horror though, when he suddenly remembered that Wolverines were nowhere near as heavily armored as Grizzlies or even Armadillos were. And that aside from having a crew of two, they could also carry up to twelve fully equipped infantrymen in the rear. "How many crunchies made it out?"

The dark look that Noble gave him told Tariq everything he needed to know, and he shuttered. Fuck, now that was a bad way to go.

With fuel rods and plasma still pouring in, Tariq wasn't able to dwell on that thought for very long, and he turned his attention back to his station. While the Covenant fire had definitely slackened, his fellow tankers were still working on trying to eliminate, or at least silence, the remaining guns.

"Right side, four hundred meters!" someone was saying. "Need some to hit it with an HE or something."

"I think I got one suppressed! Follow my tracers!"

"Actual, this is 1-3: we're hit. Main optics have been destroyed, but we still got backups."

"Jesus Christ!" Tariq swore. "How many fucking Covenant are up there!?"

"No idea!" Noble provided. "7th CAV sent a RSTA platoon over there last night to try and probe it, but they got repelled, hard. Lost two Bisons and had to scrap a third. Only intel we had on this hill was from recon flights from the Air Force."

Tariq shook his head. Those were some bad conditions to be fighting a battle.

"Lancer to all call signs: we're close enough to begging deploying infantry. All Cataphract and Hippeis tanks, hold position and begin laying down covering fire. All Taipan victors, advance to within three hundred meters and clear all obstacles. Dragoons: standby to deploy."

"Cataphract 07 copies," Noble immediately affirmed. "Driver, halt halt halt! Push forward about five meters; put us in that depression! Gunner: covering fire!"

Tariq began systematically firing all of his available weapons in the direction of the Covenant as Corona positioned the tank in a small depression while Noble opened up with their RWS. The air in front of them suddenly became filled with all sorts of lead and tracers, and all incoming plasma fire abruptly ceased.

At the same time all that was going on, the EBVs belonging to Taipan began pushing forward until they were roughly three hundred meters from the edge of the Covenant positions before coming to a halt. Even as Tariq continued to fire, two panels on the back of each EBV began to lift up until they were pointed forward at a forty-five degree angle.

"All call signs, this is Taipan Actual," the commander of the engineering platoon reported. "Preparing to fire mine clearing line charges in three, two, one… firing!"

The loud howl of rockets filled the air as all four EBVs fired a total of eight MICLIC between them straight into the air, dragging along with them a nearly hundred meter long line of plastic explosives that extended all the way to the edge of the Covenant MLR.

"Detonating charges in three, two, one…!"

Tariq hastily slapped his hands over his ears.

Despite his precautions, Tariq could still feel the explosion deep in his soul as all eight changes went up. It was like the very surface of the colony had split apart – while battlefields in general were very loud places, nothing could quite match the roar of nearly twenty-five thousands kilograms worth of explosives going up simultaneously.

Despite this impressive display of fireworks, the explosives did little to no damage to the Covenant. But then again, they weren't supposed to. Instead, the MICLIC charges were designed to not only destroy all obstacles in their path, but also to remove any mines and IEDs the Covenant might have planted in front of their lines as part of their defense. With the way clear, it was now time for the infantry to come into play.

Tariq grabbed his controls and started firing again even as the EBVs lowered their mines plows and began making their way towards Objective Cobalt, with the remaining vehicles of Dragoon Company in tow. However, before the group could even go more than a few meters –

Boom.

An explosion ripped through the underside of the EBV closest to Tariq and his tank. Tariq didn't see what caused the explosion, but he did see all the bogie wheels and scraps of tank track that got sent scattering across the battlefield.

"Fuck!" he heard the sappers yell. "Cataphract, this is Taipan 1-2: be advised, we just took a hit to our front right track. Attempting to assess the damage… yeah, track is fucked. Cataphract, be advised: we've just been mobility killed."

Tariq felt his heart sink at that, mostly because he had a feeling he knew what was coming next. Sure enough, Lightfoot didn't even hesitate.

"06 to 07."

He heard Noble lifting her radio. "Go ahead."

"You still have that mine plow mounted, over?"

"A-firm."

"Good. Take Taipan 1-2's place."

"Copy," Noble said as she lowered herself back inside and slammed her hatch shut. She glanced around the tank. "Alright guys, we're moving in with the infantry! Make sure we're all buttoned up and let's move out! Gunner, maintain suppression fire on the left, I'll cover the right. Driver, make sure you're plowing the path the sappers just made for us, and keep moving, no matter what. We're gonna have an entire platoon of mechanized infantry behind us, maybe more, and if stop for any reason, we all die."

"Understood, First Sergeant," Corona barked, sounding confident, but Tariq could see sweat pouring down his face.

"Get us into position, then deploy the plow!"

Switching fully to his coax, Tariq began spraying the area directly in front of them and to the left with machine gun, trying to do his best to keep the Covenant's head down. The only problem was, for this part of the operation, success would depend on not Tariq's gunnery skills, but Corona's driving ability; as Noble had pointed out, if Corona stopped or froze for any reason, then a lot of people were going to die.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tariq watched as Corona carefully maneuver Lillian around the crippled EBV, before dropping the mine plow mounted on the front of the tank. With the dirt having just been freshly overturned, the teeth of the plow cut through the dirt rather easily. Then, with a barely audible sigh, Corona threw the tank into gear and began advancing towards the Covenant.

As useful as MICLIC were, they unfortunately weren't perfect. Sometimes, instead of destroying mines or IEDs, they sometimes merely caused them to flip over. They were still very dangerous for any vehicle that rolled over them, which is why it was important for the area that just got exploded to still be plowed. Of course doing so usually left the plowing vehicle extremely vulnerable.

Tariq nervously continued to lay down covering fire on the left. He spotted a Grunt popped up out of nowhere, fuel rod cannon on its shoulder, but Tariq was able to blow the creature away before it could get a single shot off. However, for the most part, Tariq's attention was on Corona as he carefully made his way through the lane. This part was always tricky as there was only one direction to go: forward. Corona couldn't backup because if he did, he'd backup straight into the IFVs that were following them in, yet if he deviated from the path, there was a good chance he could not only get the mine plow stuck, but hit a mine. This was of course all taking place while the Covenant were shooting at them.

In Tariq's experience, some drivers simply couldn't handle that pressure. Fortunately, Corona didn't appear to be one of them as he continued to drive forward without hesitation, and only a slight grimace on his face that betrayed his tension. The tank shook as it took a shell to the side, but fortunately the plasma failed to penetrate.

"Alright Driver, hold!" Noble suddenly yelled. "All Dragoon units: begin deploying infantry and capture the objective!"

"Wilco, deploying now!"

Tariq glanced behind them as the Armadillos all pulled up to form a rough line alongside Lillian, before popping open their rear ramps. Infantry began pouring out like disturbed bees from a beehive, and threw themselves onto the ground just to the left of their respective IFVs where they promptly began adding their fire to the suppressive fire the rest of the attacking force had been maintaining up until this point. Tariq automatically looked around for Chenko, but this must have been a different platoon as Chenko was nowhere in sight.

"Doughs on the ground!" the infantry platoon Leader reported. "All units, advance!"

Almost as one, the entire line of infantry and vehicles began pushing forward to fully clear Backwater Creek of all hostiles, but as they advanced, it became abundantly clear most of the Covenant hold position here were already dead. Blast craters, discarded weapons, and destroyed emplacements littered the area, and what few Covenant soldiers that remained quickly met their end via rifle rounds to the face or fragmentations from hand grenades.

Tariq spun his sights around to see if anyone needed his help, but with the amount of friendly infantry in the area, he decided it would be too dangerous to use any of the tank's weapons. Instead, he slouched down in his seat, content on letting the crunchies mop up.

Grabbing a nearby water bottle, Tariq wrenched it open and took a sip. This operation was barely an hour old, yet Tariq couldn't help but feel exhausted. With any luck, the fighting would end soon, and he could relax once more.

"Lancer to all call signs on this net: be advised, Brigade is reporting the Air Force has picked up the signatures of multiple Covenant ground vehicles leaving the city and heading in our direction. Assume defensive positions, and be prepared to hold your ground!"

Tariq immediately sat up at that. Grabbing his controls, he spun his turret around and pointed it in the direction of Byzas, before going max zoom. What he saw caused him to break out in a cold sweat: an entire battalion of Covenant Wraths and Hunters, supported by AA and Shadows, were leaving the city and headed in their direction.

"Driver! Put us in this position!" Noble demanded as a waypoint appeared on Tariq's HUD. "Gunner! Loaded up SABOTs and standby to engage at max range!"

As Corona spun the tank around and Noble scrambled out of her hatch to reload the RWS, Tariq realized he had been just a bit too optimistic: this battle was far from over. In fact –

- it had apparently only just begun.

XXXXX

"Northern Front," Byzas
May 7, 2545
0655

Adel

The rumbling of explosions filled the air as Adel stared blankly downrange, idly fingering a hand grenade. As soon as the Air Force had finished passing over them, mortars from both the Army and the Marines had opened up, plastering the Covenant directly in front of the line of advance, trying to soften them up even further before the infantry began their advance. Which wouldn't happen until the Army armored units down in the south began their attack, with the reason being: no one knew exactly how the Covenant were going to react to this attack. More than likely the Covenant would opt to hold their ground, but if they didn't… if they simply retreated en masse… then they could potentially run right over the forces in the south if they weren't ready.

Personally, Adel didn't mind waiting. It went without saying, but the more bombs and shells that were dropped on the Covenant, the better off he would be. While countless post-war studies had shown that artillery and aircraft were responsible for causing the vast majority of casualties among the enemy, neither system could win wars by themselves and ultimately, it would the be infantry and that had to go in and kill the rest.

That being said, it was a bit aggravating to have to sit here and wait…

Hooking his grenade back onto his webbing, Adel looked around. The frontline was packed with fully armed and equipped Soldiers and Marines, all waiting for the order to jump off. Occupying his building was of course the members of his team, Sam and X, but also their two new ammo bitches: Gale and Reznick. Aside from carrying four rockets apiece of the Jackhammer, they were also carrying their own personal weapons: an MA5C assault rifle with an under barrel M301 grenade launcher and an MA5B automatic rifle, respectively.

Back up the infantry were a number of armored vehicles, pulled from both the Corps and the Army. In this section of the line, their support would come in the form of one of the Army's M432 "Armadillo" infantry fighting vehicles, which a bit concerning for Adel; after all, not only did IFVs lack the armor and the firepower of an actual tank, but it was also crewed by the Army. And what the hell did the Army know about fighting?

Granted, they had done alright in the last day or so. But that was on the defense, and everyone knew while the Army occupied territory, it was the Marines who conducted all the offensive actions. So, if it was up to Adel, he would have much preferred having a Marine tanker back them up, as opposed to an Army one.

But of course, it wasn't up to him.

Without warning, Lieutenant Lancelot abruptly stood up, catching Adel's attention, as well as everyone else's in the area. Without saying a word, he gestured for everyone to get up, and it took Adel a minute to realize what was going on, just as he heard the sound of all mortars shifting their fire further downrange.

It was time.

xxx

Zek

"GET UP KIG-YAR!"

Zek immediately jerked awake as a heavy boot kicked him, and he looked around, confused. The last thing he remembered was taking shelter inside one of the human's drainage basins, in order to escape all the bombs the humans had been dropping on his position. Now, however, the large concrete slab that had been over his head protecting him was gone, and in its place stood –

- two Sangheili: a Major and a very irate looking Minor.

Zek jumped at the sight, but unfortunately before he could react, the Minor grabbed him and roughly yanked him out of his hole.

"I SAID GET UP!" the Minor roared and, stumbling to his feet, Zek glanced behind him in time to see both Rezan and Ziik receiving the same treatment he had gotten.

"What is happening?" Zek couldn't help but ask as he looked around the area.

This part of the city was a mess: entire buildings were gone, the ground was covered in craters, and mounds of debris lined the streets. It would appear as if the humans were satisfied with the destruction they had wrought, as while Zek could hear more explosions, they were further away.

"The cowardly humans have finally decided to test our mettle in glorious battle!" the Minor gleefully declared. "They advance on our position. But they shall soon find the Holy Warriors of the Light do not falter! Be thankful, Kig-Yar, for even a lesser being such as yourself will be able to achieve glory on this day!"

Despite the Sangheili's words, Zek found himself trembling with fear instead. He would have very much preferred not to face the humans in combat.

He suddenly noticed the Minor staring at him with narrow eyes.

"Kig-Yar! Where is your weapon!?" the Minor abruptly demanded, and Zek jumped in surprise.

"Er… he stuttered, trying to remember what he had done with his rifle. Oh… right… "I lost it, sire!"

That apparently was the wrong thing to say, as Zek could see the Minor begin to glow with rage, and he mentally braced himself.

"You lost…! How dare you lose a most holy weapon blessed by the Gods themselves...!" the Minor started to yell, but before he could finish, he was abruptly cut off.

"Minor, enough," the Major suddenly growled. "Deal with this cur later. At present, take your Lance, and await the heretics in that building."

The Minor bowed deeply.

"As you command," the Minor said in a servile voice before scurrying off, leaving Zek and his comrades with the Major, which Zek couldn't decide whether was a good thing or not.

He turned to the Sangheili Major, half-afraid of what the Major might say or do, and did his best to avoid jumping as the Major abruptly drew his Type-25 plasma rifle. At first, Zek was almost convinced the Major was about to shoot him for whatever reason, but then, much to Zek's astonishment, the Major actually handed the weapon over to Zek.

"Take this," the Major demanded, however all Zek could do was stare dumbly at the weapon, as if it would suddenly come alive and bite him.

The Major noticed Zek's hesitation, and let out a low growl.

"You cannot fight the humans without a weapon, Kig-Yar, so take this!" he insisted and Zek hastily grabbed the rifle.

"Tha… thank you, sire?" Zek said as he awkwardly held the rifle in hand. He wasn't sure how he should react; he had never seen a Sangheili offer their weapon to a 'lesser race,' ever.

The Major merely grunted in response as he pulled a Type-50 concussion rifle from his back.

"Lose another weapon, Kig-Yar, and you shall lose your head," he warned and before Zek could react, turned to Rezan and Ziik standing silently nearby. "All of you Kig-Yar are now under my command. Ready your weapons, and prepare for battle!"

Without another word, the Major took off down the street in the direction of the approaching humans…

xxx

Adel

The sound of mortar fire screaming overhead continued to echo through the streets, however it was clear they were landing further and further away as all UNSC forces advanced down the street towards the Covenant. So far they hadn't encountered any Covenant, only bodies, but everyone knew it would only be a matter of time.

As Adel wearily walked down the street, he couldn't help but marvel at all the destruction both the artillery and the bombers had done to the city so far. Entire buildings had been reduced to rubble, deep craters pocketed the street, and abandoned vehicles had been strewn around all over the place like a giant baby had picked them up and tossed them. Adel had never seen such devastation before, and in some ways, it made him a bit jealous: he could never replicate this amount of chaos, not in a million years. It almost made his wished he'd been an artillery man or even an air winger instead.

Still, infantry life was where it was at, and he wouldn't give it up for nothing, even if they end up finding themselves in some pretty shitty situations. Because as impressive as the damage was, Adel knew along with everyone else in the battalion, there was no way all the Covenant were dead. So, he tightly gripped his rifle and wearily scanned the buildings that surrounded them.

At the moment, the mishmash company of UNSC personnel Adel had found himself with were simultaneously advancing down the street on both sides. Every single person was spaced roughly three to four meters apart. Both Sam and X were in front of him, while their two reservist were behind him. Lieutenant Lancelot led the way, from the very front of the column, whereas their Armadillo IFV support was some twenty meters behind them, following up the rear.

It was quiet. Aside from the soft clattering of rubble against the asphalt, as well as the shrieking of the Armadillo's tracks, no one said a word. Everyone knew they were potentially walking into an ambush, the real question was: when would it be sprung, and in what form would it appear?

Adel kind of wished they were moving between buildings instead of down the street in the open, but unfortunately with as many buildings destroyed, it meant that would have been impossible. The good thing about being on the street meant it would be easier for the Marines to spot incoming hostiles. However, conversely, it would be far easier for the Covenant to spot them. Unfortunately, what other choice did they have?

As Adel nervously flicked the safety off his battle rifle, he apprehensively scanned the rooftops.

For some reason, he just couldn't shake that feeling like he was being watched.

xxx

Zek

Zek slowly lifted his borrowed rifle up as he cautiously took aim. Watching the approaching humans from the relative safety of the building the Sangheili Major had directed him and his comrades in, Zek couldn't help but feel a thrill of adrenaline and excitement. Zek was hardly the most fanatical of Kig-Yar, but even he couldn't deny there was some sort of perverse pleasure to be derived from killing unholy heretics who dared spurn the gentle and guiding hand of the Prophets.

However, Zek's excitement was tempered by the realization that the next few moments would require a great deal of concentration on his part, and that in order for victory to be secured, it would require strong discipline for all warriors involved. The Major's plan for ambushing the humans was cunning, but complex, and Zek was determined not to be the one who ruined it. Not only because in doing so would result in his immediate execution, but should this plan of the Major's fail, then it could result in a victory for the humans. And that could not be allowed.

Out of the corner of his eye, Zek spotted a couple of Unggoy on the street level, scurrying around in shadow of the building. Even as he watched, they readied a Type-33 anti-armor weapon and pointed in the direction of the advancing human Shadow.

All Covenant warriors were now in position. Now all they needed was for the humans to get just a bit closer…

xxx

Adel

Lancelot suddenly held up a closed fist, and Adel instantly dropped down to one knee behind the nearest bit of cover, along with everyone else. He brought his rifle up and began scanning the area that surrounded him, trying to not only spot any hostiles, but hear them.

Unfortunately, between the mortars exploding in the distance, the mute clattering of falling debris as a result of said explosions, and his own rapidly beating heart, Adel found it rather difficult to concentrate. Nevertheless, he forced himself too as, not only was his life on the line, so too were all of his friends.

The seconds began ticking by and Adel did his best to remain calm, least he accidently do something stupid. In front of him, he could hear X nervously drumming his fingers against the hand guard of his rifle, while one of the reservist behind him seemed to be praying. Then –

"Viking 3-3, this Warhammer-1 Actual," Adel heard Lancelot whisper over the radio, and he automatically glanced back at the Armadillo who was being addressed. "Anything on your sensors?"

There was a slight whine of hydraulics, and Adel could see not only the turret panning back and forward, but also the commander's independent sight as the crew scanned the street for Covenant.

"Negative, Warhammer," the Armadillo finally replied. "Our scopes are clear."

"Copy," Lancelot quietly replied.

Looking in his direction, Adel could see Lancelot glancing over his shoulder at his waiting men. Without a word, he gestured for everyone to advance.

Grunting slightly due to the weight of his assault pack, Adel staggered to his feet and –

xxx

Zek

Zek did his best to try and hold his breath as all of the humans suddenly stopped moving and dropped to their knees. Did the humans detect them? But how? No one in the Lance had moved, and with the explosions in the distance, it would be impossible for the humans to have heard them.

For the next few heartbeats, neither side moved a muscle. Instead, all forces involved remained where they were, watching to see who would making the first move.

As Zek stood there, rifle wavering ever so slightly in his trembling talons, he resisted the urge to wipe at his mouth, least he inadvertently reveal his position with his movement. In an effort to distract himself, he glanced down the street, only to see the human Shadow vehicle moving its turret around, as if searching for the Covenant forces.

Fortunately, the vehicle didn't appear to see them, as it slowly returned to its original position, and Zek mutely let out a sigh of relief. However, his ease did not last long because, almost immediately, he felt the Major tense up beside him. Then, he heard the Major say two words over the communications that would seal the fate of the humans for the next coming days:

"Unggoy: engage."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the two Unggoy from before abruptly stand up.

"BIG BOO – "

BSSSHHHHHHH –

xxx

Adel

- HHHHHHH!

A rocket encased in green light shot down the street and slammed into the Armadillo and exploded, sending melting globs of plasma and burning shards of metal in all directions! At the same time, all hell seemed to break loose as the very air seemed to ignite as a rainbow of lights, almost all traveling faster than the eye could track, streak through the air and begin raining down on the UNSC forces, seemingly from all directions!

FWOOZFWOOZFWOOZFWOOZFWOOZ!

Almost immediately people began dropping left and right. A purple needler ricochet off Adel's left pauldron while at the same time, one of the Army Soldiers standing on the other side of the street took a blue plasma bolt straight to the face and dropped like a stone.

"CONTACT!" someone screamed while at the same time someone else was screaming, "DOWN DOWN DOWN!"

"INCOMING PLASMA FIRE, TAKE COVER!" Adel heard Sam holler, but Adel was hours ahead of him as he hurtled himself onto the ground.

"ENEMY CONTACT – "

" - WHERE'S THE FUCKING FIRE COMING FROM – "

"ON THE ROOF, THEY'RE ON THE RO- "

"GRENADE!"

Adel covered his head with his arms as the telltale sound of a plasma grenade going off filled his ears, instantly turning one poor soul into minced meat. Needler fire shattered against the pavement, throwing crystal shards against flesh, some of which actually stuck.

"SHOOT BACK, SHOOT!"

" – FUCKING HEADS DOWN, GET DOWN YOU – "

"INCOMING – "

BSSSSHHHHH!

Another fuel rod cannon came scream down the street and detonated somewhere among the Soldiers holding position behind him, but Adel didn't bother trying to see how many had just become casualties because with a loud war cry, Adel snapped his rifle up and began unloading in the direction the fuel rod had come from.

BAMBAMBAMBAM!

Adel had no idea if he hit anything because he couldn't actually see any targets, but judging on the amount of plasma suddenly thrown his way, he figured he must have. Abandoning his firing position, Adel threw himself back onto the ground as his position was suddenly saturated with all sorts of small arms fire.

FWOOZFWOOZ SPLAT!

"AHHHH!"

Someone began screaming behind Adel and he looked back to see some militiaman he didn't recognize writhing in the ground behind him. Where the man had come from as he hadn't been there a moment ago, Adel had no idea, but he grabbed a hold of the man and quickly dragging him into cover.

"MAN DOWN!" he screamed. "CORPSMAN!"

Their platoon corpsman, Compton, immediately came running up and slid into position beside Adel. Breaking out his med kit, he instantly went to work while Adel hurriedly fired a few blindly aimed shots in retaliation.

Stopping to reload, Adel frantically looked around for another place to take cover behind, as with Compton and the wounded man it was now rather crowded, but with the murderous fire pouring in, it was almost impossible to move.

"GET UP, GET UP! EVERYBODY GET UP AND GET THE OFF THE STREET!"

Adel jerked his head up in surprise at the sound of Lancelot's voice, only to see him running towards him, gesturing wildly, all the while plasma continued to slam into the area surrounding him.

"GET THE FUCK UP!" Lancelot screamed, sounding more pissed than Adel had ever heard him. "ON YOUR FEET MARINES!"

"But we're taking heavy fire!" someone protested.

"WE CANNOT GET PINNED DOWN HERE!" Lancelot yelled back. He ran straight up to Adel and yanked him up to his feet. "WE ARE NOT DYING HERE, MARINE! GET MOVING!"

Seeing the furious look on Lancelot's face, all of a sudden the incoming plasma fire didn't seem so bad, and Adel found himself sprinting for cover inside the nearest building. He ran past X, who quickly lurched to his feet to join him, and then passed by Sam, who was trying to lay down some covering fire. At the same time, over the radio –

"Viking 3-3, this is Warhammer: sitrep!" the voice of Staff Sergeant Reynolds demanded.

"Engine is fucked! Plasma punching right through our front glacis plate and made a fucking mess of our engine! We're dead in the water!"

"Can ya shoot!?"

"Uh… yeah!"

"Then start layin' down suppressive fire! Marines, MOVE, GORRAM IT!"

"Copy! Viking 3-3 engaging! Gunner, OPEN FIRE!"

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The heavy roar of a 40mm autocannon firing on full auto instantly flooded the street and as Adel ran, he could see the Armadillo was practically firing in all directions. Massive shells the size of bowling balls smashed into buildings, punching holes into the pavement and knocking over walls.

"Viking 3-3, this is Warhammer 4-3 Charlie!" he heard Sam yelled as they ran. "Hit that yellow building on the right! It's full of fucking Covies!"

"Copy! Alright Milton, you heard the fucking man: hit it with the fucking Argent! Rocket out -!"

There was a loud explosion that sounded remarkably similar to a Jackhammer firing, before a black blur slammed into the building in question, causing the entire front wall to collapse in a massive cloud of dust. And out from the dust came –

"Covies in the open!" Adel roared as he dropped to one knee and opened fire.

His first target was a Covenant Grunt that had somehow lost its mask and as a result, sounded like it was choking. Adel's first round caught the creature smack dap in the middle of its chest, causing the alien to stumble backwards, before Adel's next four rounds slammed home, hitting the creature in the neck and head. Adel immediately panned towards a nearby Jackal, but just as he pulled the trigger –

Click

"Shit! Jam!"

BOOM.

The Jackal promptly exploded as it took the 40mm shell directly to the chest, showering the street with gore.

"Come on Adel!" X screamed as he grabbed a hold of Adel, even as Adel tried his best to clear his jam. "We gotta go, we gotta – "

xxx

Zek

CRACK! TWANG!

Zek ducked as a bullet shattered the brick wall just above his head, showering him in masonry dust, and he realized he'd been firing from this one window far too long – the humans had been able to locate his position.

He tucked his head and took off running down the hall, just as he heard the roar of a heavy weapon.

Boomboomboom!

The bolts from the human Shadow vehicle came screaming in and proceeded to obliterate the room Zek had been in moments before. Zek could feel splinters and chunks of masonry getting strewn about, and he stumbled forward, landing on the ground next to Rezan.

"Zek! Are you well?" Rezan yelled.

"I don't know!" Zek admitted as he blind fired his rifle out the hole Rezan was taking cover behind.

"Well – LOOK OUT!"

Rezan shoved Zek to the side and activated his energy pavise in time to intercept the hail of human bullets that flew their way. Zek winced as the pavise began to glow from the blows, but it held long enough for the barrage to end, whereupon Rezan promptly returned forward with his Type-25 pistol.

"This is not good!" Rezan noted as he ducked back down.

"We need to destroy that human Shadow!" Ziik yelled from his spot on the other side of the hole. He paused to toss a grenade out the hole before resuming. "It is too powerful!"

"Agreed."

Zek couldn't help but jump as the Sangheili Major appeared out of nowhere.

"If we destroy that vehicle, then the humans will undoubtedly fall like the leaves on the wind," the Major continued. "You three Kig-Yar: come with me!"

Feeling a bit mystified, Zek nevertheless scrambled to his feet and followed the Major as he lead them through the building. Leaping through a hole in the wall, Zek found himself in another building entirely. Not only that, when he glance out the nearest window, he realized he had a much better angle on the human Shadow.

"Take this," the Major demanded, holding up a bag and when Zek opened it, he found it was full of grenades. "I will be able to destroy the vehicle with this -" he held up his concussion rifle, "- but not if the humans are firing at me. You Kig-Yar while need to eliminate the remaining human warriors."

Zek nodded as he began distributing the grenades among his comrades. The Major waited until they were all ready, then bellowed:

"Warriors! ENGAGE!"

Zek promptly activated the grenade and hurtled it out of the window. He watched as the grenade fly through the air and land amongst a large crowd of human soldiers.

"GREN-" he heard one of them yell before the grenade exploded, tearing the humans to shreds. Zek waited until he heard Rezan and Ziik's grenades going off before he climbed to his feet and began firing.

At the same time, the Major stood and began emptying his concussion rifle into the vehicle's roof and side. Zek saw the vehicle absorb two hits before –

xxx

Adel

KABOOM!

Adel was knocked off his feet as the Armadillo unexpectedly went up like a two hundred fifty kilogram bomb. Flaming pieces of armor were sent straight into the air, only to come crashing down and landing amongst the infantry.

Staggering upright, Adel looked back in horror as the Army crew came stumbling out of the vehicle, all three of them completely engulfed in flames. He wanted to run over and go help them, but they had already attracted the attention of everyone else around them, plus, plasma fire was still raining down from all directions.

"Viking 3-3 is down, Viking 3-3 is down!" someone was screaming over the radio. "Our vehicle support is down!"

"CORPSMAN!"

"Where the fuck did that come from!?"

"Contacts up high!" X suddenly screamed as he snapped his rifle up and began unloading on the windows overlooking the wreck of the Armadillo, and Adel looked up in time to see a three Jackals and a single Sangheili standing in the window –

"Shoot those motherfuckers!" he roared even as he lifted his rifle up and began unloading, but he was a second too late as the Covenant promptly disappeared.

"Reznik! Lay down some suppressing fire! Gale, pop a grenade in there!" Sam roared and Adel glanced over his shoulder in time to see Reznik just unloading an entire magazine from his MA5B while Gale popped a grenade into his under-barrel launcher, raised the sights, and fired.

Bloop!

The grenade flew through the window where it detonated in a very unsatisfying explosion. Sam must have thought the same as he came running up and slapped X on the shoulder.

"X! Hit those fuckers with the Jackhammer!"

X tossed his rifle aside and planted the launcher onto his shoulder.

"Back- "

"You're clear!" Adel screamed before X could even finish. "Drop those pricks!"

"ROCK- "

WHOOMP!

The entire room exploded outwards as the 102mm thermobaric rocket flew through the open window and detonated in the middle of the room. Adel couldn't tell if they had gotten the Covenant or not, and wasn't given the opportunity to find out as Lancelot came running up.

"Assault team, on me!" he roared before taking off once more.

Pausing only long enough to recover X's rifle for him, Adel took off in Lancelot's wake.

Lancelot led them into the lobby of a nearby building where the Reynolds, as well as the Marine machine gun team and the Army heavy machine gun team, were setting up their guns.

"Set up here!" Lancelot demanded. "Staff Sergeant Reynolds, establish a base of fire here, and start suppressing!"

"Aye, sir!"

"Everyone else, FOLLOW ME!"

Lancelot disappeared into the chaos, followed by the regular riflemen. Another grenade exploded nearby, but none of them faltered.

"Adel! Help me reloading this stupid thing!"

Adel turned his attention back to X, who was struggling to remove the empty tube.

"What do you want?" he yelled, tossing his bag to the ground.

"'Nother thermo!"

"Shit! Hey, fuckface!" he screamed at one of their ammo bearers. "Get over here and give me that damn rocket with the green ring around it!"

Fuckface, or 'Reznik' as Adel supposed he was actually called, came running up and turned around to allow Adel access to the rockets he was carrying. Adel struggled to remove the straps hold the rockets down.

Meanwhile, the machine guns were beginning to get put to work.

"Start talkin' MGs!" Reynolds commanded.

"Got it Sar'nt!" the Army commander, Corporal Mauser yelled. "Let's go Cooper! Three second burst, fire!"

The Army trooper manning the gun, Cooper, promptly let it rip.

"No, higher! Bring it up!"

"Hooah, Sar'nt! Cooper! Aim higher!"

While the machine gunners were working on figuring out their targets, Reynolds had grabbed Sam and dragged him over to the edge of the window.

"Corporal!" he yelled, ignoring the plasma that splashed nearby. "See that there buildin'?"

"Aye, Staff Sergeant!"

"I want it gone!"

"Aye, aye, Staff Sergeant! Adel, break out the C-12 and start making a satchel charge, let's go!"

As Adel hurriedly moved to start gathering all the pieces he needed, he couldn't help but reflect on all the chaos raging around him, and with a sinking heart, he came to a depressing realization:

That this was only the beginning

"Let's go Devil Dog, HURRY IT UP!"

xxx

Zek

Zek couldn't help but continue to pant from his near-death experience, even though it had occurred several minutes ago. The fuel rod cannon the humans had fired at him had been far faster than he had anticipated, and if it hadn't been for that grenade they had fired first, he and the others probably would have never left the room in time.

Nevertheless, the human Shadow was destroyed, which meant they could focus on eliminating the rest of the vermin.

"Major 'Kalamazee!"

Zek looked up as an Unggoy came running out of the chaos towards them.

"What is it?" the Sangheili Major demanded to know.

"Minor 'Merok is saying the humans be trying to 'flank us! He needs help!" the Unggoy gasped out.

Zek could see 'Kalamazee nodding his head and baring his teeth. "Then he shall have it. Warriors! Hold your ground! Kig-Yar, with me!"

With a loud mental sigh, Zek climbed to his feet once more.

This was going to be a very long day.

XXXXX

High Orbit, Actium
May 7, 2545
0812

Amber

"Attention all hands, we are T minus five mikes to transition back to real space."

Amber immediately sat up straighter in chair at that. For the last hour and a half, she, the crew, and – now that she thought about it – probably the entire fleet, had been sitting idly in orbit, simply waiting. The Fleet's part in Operation: SUDDEN PURGE II, wasn't to occur until after the ground forces had committed to their attack. That way, the Covenant Navy would be forced to choose between defending their landing site, and defending their positions, which would hopefully make it easier for the UNSC Navy to sneak in and destroy them.

With the UNSC Army and Marine Corps having started fighting some forty-five/fifty minutes ago, Amber's ship, the UNSC Gabrielle, along with the rest of their destroyer squadron had gone ahead and jumped into slipspace in order to get into position to attack the Covenant. Now apparently they were less than five minutes away from that point.

The sound of loud chewing caught Amber's attention, and she glanced over her console in Tuna's direction. He was chewing on something loud and scented, and it clearly wasn't the tobacco he normally had before a fight like this.

"Hey, Tuna! Whatcha eatin'?" Amber asked in an effort to distract herself.

"Raspberry flavored gum," Tuna replied. "Pam's been pushing me to stop using tobacco products, if only for Cecelia's sake."

Amber nodded in understanding. Pam and Cecelia were Tuna's wife and daughter, respectively. "Got anymore?"

She could see Tuna nod before reaching into his shoulder pocket and digging out a small pack, of which he tossed over to her. Pulling out a stick, she popped it into her mouth and started chewing.

"Nervous?"

"Little bit," Amber admitted. "First time in non-simulated combat, at least aboard this ship. Don't want to screw up."

"What's there to screw up?" Tuna asked with a shrug. "You know just as well as I do, the only reason we're here is because we're responsible for maintaining the main battery. Aside from that, we don't do much else. Heck, we aren't even the ones who fire the main gun in battle; they control all that in the CIC."

Amber shrugged. In all honesty, that was the problem. On Waystation, she had been in control of her destiny, controlling an Onager turret, but not only that, it had mostly been an individual fight. Here, on this ship, she was part of a team with people who would be depending on her to do her job right. And that upped the pressure considerably.

"How is this attack even supposed to work?" she asked instead. "I know we're supposed to be jumping in close to the Covenant fleet, but I thought we weren't able to do in-system micro jumps like the Covies can."

"I don't Amber, I just work here. All I know is that it took the processing power of four smart A.I.s just to get us these jump coordinates, and it apparently will only work because of the amount of guidance beacons and mapping buoys we have in the system feeding us real-time, exact information. Other than that…" Tuna shrugged once more. "We can only hope it works otherwise, this could be a really short trip."

Amber shivered. Every Sailor that ever traveled through slipspace knew the risks they were taking. Despite having been using it for over a millennium, much of slipstream space was still a mystery to the UNSC.

"Attention all hands," Amber heard the Officer of the Deck suddenly announce over the intercom. "We are transitioning back into real space in three… two…"

Amber hurriedly braced herself.

"…one… MARK!"

Gabrielle shuttered as she swiftly exited from slipspace. Deep within her bowels, Amber immediately glanced at her displays. She didn't have access to the ship's exterior cameras, nor the tactical displays inside the CIC, so she had no idea what was going on outside, but she did have access to the channel the crewmembers of the CIC used to talk to each other, so she hurriedly switched her radio over.

Immediately she was assaulted by a series of voices as all sorts of people were talking over one another.

"ALERT: incoming Bandits bearing direction one, three, seven, four – "

"TAO, this is Radar… holy shit! TAO, we're picking up the signatures of three Covenant battle groups on approaching bearing – "

" – MULTIPLE CONTACTS ON FULL – "

" – powering weapons – "

" – the hell did all these guys come from!?"

Amber and Tuna exchanged a worried look. That didn't sound good.

"There weren't supposed to be Covenant this close!" Tuna exclaimed over the increasingly frantic calls of the CIC.

"Did anyone tell them that?" Amber automatically snarked back but internally, she found her heart was beating like a snare drum and she suddenly found it hard to chew her gum as all her saliva in her mouth had unexpectedly dried up.

She perked up when she heard a sharp voice coming through the radio.

"TAO, unlock all weapon systems, set Ramparts to automatic and prioritize those fighters: keep them off my damn ship!" Commander Mark Lancaster, captain of the ship, barked over the chatter coming from the CIC. "Arm Archer pods One Alpha through Five Alpha, and give me a firing solution for target 13-Bravo. Coordinate with the UNSC Michaela, and standby to fire on my mark! Helm, check port to direction one two five!

"Aye, Captain! Missiles, unlock Archer pods One Alpha through Five Alpha and lock on to designated target. Weaps, load an AP shell into the MAC and standby to engage! Ops, find me a firing solution for target 13-Bravo!"

Amber couldn't help but wince as she heard Shepard's aggravating voice replace Lancaster's on the radio, however she did her best to bring it under control as she turned her attention back to her consoles. The main capacitors were beginning to surge with power while at the same time, a loud thunk noise filled the compartment as a multi-tonne solid core tungsten shell was dropped into the breech. Amber glanced her screen which showed the inside of the breech itself to make sure the projectile was seated properly, before glancing at Tuna.

"We're at full charge and power levels are holding steady," she reported. "Gun ready!"

"Copy! Switching control over to the CIC!" Tuna yelled back, even as he reached out and pulled a switch that would enable remote firing of the MAC. At the same time –

"All batteries: FIRE!" Lancaster roared.

"Weaps: fire at will," Shepard repeated.

Despite the significant amount of sound buffering that separated the main battery compartment from the MAC itself, Amber could nevertheless feel the retort of the magnetic cannon firing as it sent the massive shell screaming downrange at speeds in excess of Mach twenty. A moment later, the entire system shot back, causing the Gabrielle's maneuvering thrusters to automatically kick in in order to compensate for the recoil.

"Shell away!" Tuna yelled over the radio while at the same time, Amber heard the head missile technician yelling, "Missiles away!"

"Splash, MAC," Shepard report barely half a second later. "Bridge, CIC reports minimal damage. Thirty seconds for missile impacts. Weaps, reset firing mechanism."

Amber was already on it. Not that there was much for her to do as the system had already automatically begun to recharge the capacitors while another solid core shell had been placed into the breech. Nevertheless, she carefully monitored her screens, to make sure everything was working exactly the way it should be.

"Splash, missiles," Shepard reported. "Ops, anything?"

"We're reading minor fluctuations in the target's shields, ma'am! Recommend re-engaging before target can compensate!"

"Weaps, re-engage target 13-Bravo," Lancaster ordered before Shepard could say anything.

"Copy. Weaps, re-target 13-Bravo and fire when ready!"

"Cop- VAMPIRE VAMPIRE VAMPIRE! I've got three inbound plasma torpedoes bearing portside, one seven three!"

"Launch countermeasures! Helm, standby to ignite portside emergency thrusters on my mark!" Lancaster commanded. "MARK!"

There was a loud bang and Amber found herself grabbing hold of her console as the entire ship physically shot to the side. Seconds later, the bulkhead walls rumble as something struck the outer hull while at the same time, a warning flashed across one of Amber's screens.

"Reading power fluctuations in capacitor three!" she reported.

"Probably radiation interference from that plasma torpedo!" Tuna quickly replied. "Divert some power over to number two, see if that doesn't level it out!"

Amber hurried hit a series of buttons as Lancaster called out over the radio, "Damage report!"

"Sounding and Security, CIC: report status?" Shepard echoed.

"This is Sounding and Security: minimal damage to the outer hull, though we are seeing minor shrapnel damage to Rampart turret four!"

"Understood. All available secondary battery gunners, report to turret four and begin emergency repairs."

"Helm, check port three three degrees and bring us back around. Weaps, prep MAC and arm pods Five through Eight, re-target 13-Bravo, and fire as she bears!"

"Ops, I need that firing solution right now!" Shepard warned.

"Got it! Sending to you now!"

"Missiles away!"

"Weaps, fire at will!"

"Shell away!" Tuna yelled, even as the MAC recoiled once more.

"Splash, MAC. Ops?"

"Hang on, getting a reading… shields are down!"

"Bridge, TAO: CIC reports shields on target 13-Bravo are down, I say again, shields are down!"

"Re-direction all Ramparts towards that target and give a status on my missiles!"

"Weaps, divert all secondary batteries towards 13-Bravo," Shepard was commanding, even before Lancaster had fully stopped talking. "Ops, give me a status on those missiles!"

"Missiles: ten seconds to impact!"

"TAO, head's up: Covenant pulse lasers are still active and have begun to engage our missiles."

"Target those pods with – ," Lancaster started to say before he was abruptly interrupted by Shepard.

"One moment, sir, UNSC Michaela is firing – it's a hit! Getting readings target 13-Bravo has been cored from stern to amidship! They're losing power… I think they're down for the count, sir!"

Amber couldn't help but join along with the rest of the crew as they broke out in cheers, even though technically she didn't really do anything. Plus, given that she didn't really know what was going on, she didn't know if destroying this one ship was good or not.

Still, the destruction of any Covenant ship was good in her book.

"Focus up people!" Lancaster snapped, instantly silencing the cheers. "We still got – "

"VAMPIRE VAMPIRE VAMPIRE! Incoming plasma torpedoes bearing three three seven!"

"Where'd those come from!?"

There was a noticeable hesitation in Shepard's voice as she replied, "Target 13-Bravo, sir!"

For his part, Lancaster didn't seem interested in wasting time berating anyone. "Launch countermeasures starboard side! All engines ahead, flank! Those silos on that ship most draw their power from another source, so take out the entire vessel! Weaps!"

"Weaps, load up a HE shell and standby to fire. Ops, lock onto the largest power source you can find; that should be what's controlling those torpedoes!"

Hastily reaching up to the levers above her head, Amber yanked on one of them in order to switch magazines. This time, instead of an AP shell, a HE shell was loaded into the breech. Technically speaking, the term "HE" was a bit of a misnomer, as there was no explosives inside the shell, but with a flat nose and a soft core, the shell was designed to shatter upon impact as opposed to punch right through, essentially achieving the same effect.

Amber watched as the shell was loaded into the breech from the port side magazine, before throwing a glance at Tuna. "Gun ready!"

"Fire!"

The MAC recoiled once more.

"Target is trashed," Shepard reported.

"Status on those torpedoes?" Lancaster immediately asked. "TAO, what's the status of those torpedoes!?"

Rather than answer, Amber suddenly heard Shepard announce over the ship's intercom, "All hands, this is the TAO! Torpedoes inbound, starboard side! All hands, BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

Amber blanched and immediately grabbed her console. For a full second, nothing seemed to happen. Then –

BOOMBOOM!

The entire ship was sent reeling as two explosions echoed throughout the entire vessel!

The deck beneath Amber's feet violently shook, and if she wasn't sitting down and strapped in, she would have fallen over. As it was, it took Amber just about all of her strength to avoid accidently slamming her head against the back of her chair. Warnings light started flashing across her screen, and all sorts of alarms began blaring, and over the sound of that, she could hear the very bulkhead walls groaning as if being placed under great strain, and she looked up in alarm as rusty dust began falling from the ceiling.

At once, calls began ringing out over both the intercom and the radio.

"WARNING: HULL BREACH DETECTED."

"We're hit! Two plasma torpedoes, amidship, first deck, starboard side!"

"Fire detected in compartments eleven and seventeen."

"All available DC teams, TAO: report to first deck for immediate damage control!"

"We got a hull breach, amidship, main deck!"

"This is Commander Lancaster: seal all hatches and bulkhead doors leading to the breach! Helm, check starboard one three degrees, show our good side against the Covenant!"

"CORPSMAN! We need corpsmen down in compartment seventeen!"

"Medical teams to first deck, compartment seventeen!"

"Sounding and Security, TAO: report status on the rest of the hull!"

As she listened to the reports streaming in, Amber felt her heart leaping up to her throat. Compartment seventeen. That was very close to Poolsie's station!

Without thinking, Amber began to unbuckle her safety harness and climb to her feet.

"Hey! HEY! AMBER!"

Amber looked around wildly to see Tuna gesturing at her.

"I know you're worried about Poolsie," he told her. "Hell, I am too. But we can't do anything about it now. We got to focus on our jobs: the Gabrielle is reeling, but she's not down. Not yet. And because of that, we got to make sure we can still hit back. Let's run a diagnostic, and make sure the MAC is still operational!"

Amber swallowed as she realized Tuna was right. With a bit of reluctance, she sat back down and pulled up a screen.

"Capacitor three looks like it's bent!" she warned.

"Make's sense: it's located about where the ship got hit. Lancaster's still got another six capacitors to play with, but our focus now is to get that one back online."

Tuna pushed himself away from his station and climbed to his feet.

"I'm going to get some tools and run down there and see if I can't get it fixed," he told her as he strapped a TACPAD to his arm. "Stay here, let the CIC know what happened, and see if you can't isolate the problem!"

"Right!"

Amber grabbed her radio.

"CIC, this is Main Battery. Damage report: capacitor three is down, cause unknown. We working on isolating the issue now, but right now, you're going to be down one seventh power," Amber reported.

"Copy," Shepard replied, sounding distracted. "Captain, receiving encrypted message from the squadron commander: the UNSC Raphaela is under heavy fire. Captain Olivetti is ordering us to accompany the Michaela on a flanking attack on target 7-Alpha in an attempt to draw their fire."

"Alright, let do it then! Helm, come about one one seven degrees, fore. Weaps, load AP, obtain firing solution on target 7-Alpha and standby to fire on my mark."

"Captain, be advised: Main Batt reports MAC has sustained some minor damage, and that we are no longer able to fire at full power."

"Understood! Sitrep on our hull damage?"

"Breach has been sealed, however we're still combating the fires. Sir, I'm also getting reports from Second Batt that Rampart three is down on that side, I say again, Rampart three is down, however crews are reporting they will be able to repair the damage and bring it back online, it'll just take some time."

"How long?"

"Second Batt reports… twenty minutes, sir."

"Alright then. Comms, signal the Michaela and inform Commander McNeil as to our status: we're going to need him to take point on this attack, however we should be able to provide him some supporting fire. Helm, all engines ahead, full. Weaps, status?"

"Time to maximum effective range, thirty seconds sir."

"Amber!"

Amber glanced up from her console to see Tuna preparing to leave the room, with a cart full of tools.

"I'm heading down!" he told her. "You isolate that problem yet?"

"No, I'm still working on it!" she replied and turned back to her screen in time to hear Lancaster order the radio ordering, "All batteries, fire!"

"Weaps: fire!"

Just as Shepard said that though, all of Amber's screen abruptly went black.

"What the – " Amber stammered, before kicking the bottom of her console in the hopes it would bring her screen back online. Naturally, it didn't work. "TUNA!"

Tuna immediately came running over. "What happened?"

"Everything just went black and I have no idea why!" Amber yelled even as she reached over the flicked the power switch a couple of times. Her screen immediately came to life once more, but now they were filled with all sorts of error messages. "What the fuck is this shit!?"

"CIC, Bridge: I did give the order to fire, did I not?"

"Uh, yes sir, you did."

"Then why didn't the MAC go off?"

"… I don't know. Weaps, fire!"

"TAO, this is Weaps: we're pulling the trigger but nothing is happening. We're not sure what the issue is."

"Main Batt, this is the CIC: we just lost fire control. What the hell is happening?"

Amber ignored the call as she frantically typed away at her keyboard.

"Amber, anything?" Tuna called from his station as he worked just as frantically.

"No, I can't figure it out!" Amber called back. "It doesn't – wait! I got an error code, zero three seven! 'Remote access offline.'"

"What? That doesn't make sense."

"You look at it then!" Amber snapped.

"Main Batt, CIC: give me fire control!"

Amber grabbed her radio. "CIC, Main Batt: we're working on the issue!"

"Well, work faster!"

"What the fuck do you think we're doing!?" Amber snapped back before she could restrain herself.

"Fuck!" she snarled as he hurtled the radio away.

"Hey! Knock that shit off, right now!" Tuna snapped. "Reset the hardline, see if that doesn't do it."

Doing her best to rein in her temper, Amber reached over and began flicking the switch from "remote" to "manual" a couple of times, before glancing at her screen. "I got nothing."

"Crap," Tuna grunted as he pushed his seat back and popped open the panel beneath his console. "Hardline might have been unplugged by the explosions, or maybe it was cut or damage, I don't know. I'm going to work on this issue, but it's going to take some time before I can figure it out. Let the CIC know that, for now at least, they're not going to be able to fire the MAC from there."

Amber growled under her breath and reluctantly picked up her radio once more. Before she could say a word though, Shepard cut in.

"Main Batt, this is the TAO: give me a sitrep," she demanded.

"CIC, Main Batt. Situational report as follows: remote fire control offline, cause currently unknown," Amber informed her, doing her best to keep her impatience from rising to the surface.

"Understood. And Main Batt, next time you disrespect me in such a blatant manner again –"

"Lieutenant Shepard, this is not the time or place for this," Lancaster interrupted before Shepard could finish. "Main Batt, switch over to manual control, and do it now!"

"Aye, aye Captain," Amber hastily said. Flicking the switch over to manual, she grabbed a hold of the firing handle. "Gun ready, standing by to fire."

"TAO, you have control."

"Standby, reacquiring target… Target locked, FIRE!"

Amber twisted the handle. At once, the entire MAC leapt back as it spat out a shell at high speeds, and Amber let out a mute sigh of relief. She was slightly concerned that wouldn't have worked either.

"Splash, MAC. Minimal damage. Bridge, target 7-Alpha is coming about. We're picking up a massive surge of energy on her forward bow – she's preparing to fire her forward energy projector!"

"Helm, prepare to ignite ventral side emergency thrusters! Weaps, hit that target and knock her off-balance before she can shoot!"

"Main Batt, load AP and fire when ready!"

Amber hurriedly reached up and pulled down on a couple of levers, quickly glanced at her screen to make sure the right shell was getting loaded into the breech. Grabbing the firing handle, she quickly twisted it –

- only for nothing to happen.

"What the hell!?"

Amber glanced at her screen.

"Ah, are you kidding me right now!?" she exclaimed as she realized the MAC's capacitors had no charge as, for some reason, they hadn't automatically done so. "Tuna! The automatic reset is down, too!"

"What!? This can't all be from those plasma torpedoes, this has got to be from those kamikaze Banshees!"

"But we went through the entire system with a fine-tooth comb!" Amber protested even as she began the entire sequence of getting the capacitors to recharge. "Chief Carrizosa even signed off on our work! Why are we having so many problems!?"

"I don't know, but we're going to need him down here to help out!"

"Helm, ignite ventral emergency thrusters!"

Amber was nearly knocked off her feet as she felt the Gabrielle launch straight up into the air.

"Goddammit," Amber hissed in pain as she accidently bit the inside of her lip.

"Main Batt, CIC: I understand you're having issues, but I need you to work a lot faster than this. We're in the middle of a heavy fight here; that gun needs to fire whenI give the order, not after!"

"Do not respond to that," Tuna snapped. "Chief Carrizosa, this is Tuna: we're having a lot of issues down here in the main battery. I need another body to help me with repairs, but I also need GM Owain on fire control."

"Roger. I'm coming down."

"Alright Amber, as of right now, your primary focus is on firing that gun," Tuna commanded. "Do whatever you have to, just keep it firing. I'm going to be working on this; let me know if something else breaks!"

"Got it!"

Amber turned her attention back to her controls as Shepard began to speak once more.

"Bridge, CIC: 7-Alpha is breaking contact and falling back. Michaela is signaling she's pursuing."

"Helm, all engines ahead, flank! Weaps, lock onto 7-Alpha's engines – shut them down!"

"Main Batt, CIC: status?"

Amber grabbed her radio. "CIC, Main Batt: gun ready!"

"Ops, give me a firing solution on target 7-Alpha's engines!"

"VAMPIRE VAMPIRE VAMPIRE! I'm picking up signatures on three, now four plasma torpedoes bearing four eight seven!"

"Helm, snap to direction zero one five – EVADE!"

Amber grabbed her radio. "CIC, Main Batt: you want me to shoot or not?"

"Negative Main Batt, hold fire, we lost the target. Ops, give me status on those vampires."

"Vamps have split up – I'm tracking two torpedoes headed towards the Michaela, two headed in our direction bearing five nine six and headed straight for our dorsal hull!"

"TAO, launch countermeasures forward of our bow and Helm, check down six five degrees!"

Amber grabbed hold of her seat in order to brace herself as she felt the Gabrielle pitch forward rather abruptly. Beside her, she could hear Tuna cursing.

"Tuna, you alright?" she called out.

"Can't work under these conditions!" he complained.

"Sorry, I'll be sure to lodge a complaint with the Covenant if I get a chance!" she sarcastically replied.

"Your sarcasm isn't helping!"

Any retort Amber may have had as she heard Lancaster abruptly call out, "CIC, give me status on those Vamps! Did they go for the decoys?"

"Negative! Vamp are still tracking us!"

"Helm, give me a quarter turn port along our longitudinal axis, Weaps, lock onto those Vamps with missile pods One Echo and Four Echo and attempt to kill with bird!"

"Affirmative! Missiles away sir! Standby… no joy, I say again, no joy with birds!"

"All hands, BRACE FOR IMPACT DORSAL SIDE!"

Amber gritted her teeth and grabbed her restraints. For the second time in less than fifteen minutes, she found herself bracing for another impact.

BOOM!

A single explosion sent trembles down the entire length of the ship, but Amber dared not relax as she waited for the other torpedo to hit. For a long moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then –

"CIC, what's the status of that other torpedo!?" Lancaster demanded to know.

"Search now, sir. The second torpedo… the second torpedo overshoot! It missed!"

"What!? How?"

"Uh, unknown – wait! Target 7-Alpha was just taken out and as a result, torpedoes must have lost their magnetic guidance at the last second!"

"Taken out? By whom?"

"Getting IFF tag… it's the UNSC Hermione!"

"The flagship of Cruiser Battle Group 9? What are they doing – never mind. TAO, damage report!"

"First torpedo only grazed us sir. Damage control teams are working on obtain a full diagnostic, however preliminary reports suggest most of our dorsal armor is… gone, sir, boiled away by the plasma."

"Understood."

For a moment, it was silent and Amber waited, unsure of what they were about to do. Then Lancaster spoke up once more.

"TAO, this is the Captain. I want a no-shit assessment: can the Gabrielle continue in this fight?"

Shepard was silent for the moment, and Amber found herself holding her breath, waiting to see what Shepard would say. It seemed unusual to her that the Commander Lancaster would be asking Shepard what she thought, as this normally would be a decision he should be making, but then again, it was hard for her to understand what was going on aboard the rest of the ship stuck inside her hole.

"No, sir," Shepard finally replied. "I don't believe we can. We've got damage across the board, multiple systems are down or damaged, including our main battery, and we've expended roughly half of all our countermeasures and ready ammunition reserves. With Cruiser Battle Group 9 having joined the fight, recommend we withdraw to rearm and enact repairs, sir."

This time it was Lancaster's turn to be silent.

"Agreed," he finally said. "Contact Captain Olivetti and request permission to withdraw. Inform the Michaela, and see if she can't move in and provide as cover as we withdraw."

"Copy, contacting now… Sir, Captain Olivetti has given us the green light, however… sir, we've lost all contact with the Michaela… furthermore, Ops can't find their IFF signature… well, anywhere, sir."

There was silence on the radio for nearly a minute as the implications of that statement hit everyone listening. Somehow, during the chaos, their sister ship the UNSC Michaela had been destroyed without anyone noticing.

"Understood," Lancaster finally said, his voice grim and tensed. "We –

"BANDITS BANDITS BANDITS! TAO, this is Ops: we're picking up signatures of nearly four dozen Bandits approaching from three different vectors: four six degrees up off our dorsal bow, two seven degrees off our starboard side bow and two three seven degrees off our ventral bow!"

"Which group is the largest?" Lancaster cut in before Shepard could say anything.

"Dorsal bow group, sir! I count twenty-one separate signatures consisting of both Type-31 Seraphs and Type-52 Phantom gunboats!"

"Helm, check up four six degrees and point our main battery right at the incoming!" Lancaster roared, even as Operations continued to speak. "Weaps, direct all Archer pods at group two off our starboard bow and Ramparts at group three off our ventral bow!"

"Missile Techs, load ASGM-10 missiles in pods One Alpha through Five Alpha," Shepard yelled before Lancaster had finished. "Second Batt, redirect all guns to newly establish coordinates. Main Batt, load Beehive rounds, half charge, and prepare to fire!"

"Main Batt confirms!" Amber yelled into her mic before grabbing her controls. "Swapping shells!"

Working as fast as she could, Amber set about removing the shell already in the breech, shoving it back into its proper magazine. Then, grabbing and twisting a nearby dial, she rotated the breech around so it opened up to the third magazine that held all of their specialized magazines, and loaded up one of the shells known as a "Beehive" round. Shoving the round into the breech, Amber checked her camera to make sure it was seated properly, before spinning in her chair to face the panel that control the MAC's capacitors.

"Half-charge," she muttered under her breath as she set about disconnecting the capacitors to every other magnetic coil along the length of the MAC's barrel. "Gun ready!"

"Fire!"

Amber twisted the firing handle.

The room shook as the MAC recoiled once more, but even as it reset, Amber didn't bother wasting time waiting for orders. She quickly began disconnecting the coils she had just used, then reconnecting the ones she hadn't; they were still at full power, which meant it would just be faster to reconnect them as opposed to waiting for the others to recharge.

Grabbing the controls to load another shell in, she hesitated, not entirely sure what they were about to need next, then realized they would probably be still dealing with the incoming Bandits, so she hurriedly went about loading another Beehive round into the breech.

Sure enough –

"Helm, come about starboard and target that second group of Bandits!"

"Second Batt, shift fire to group one!"

"CIC, this is Main Batt," Amber yelled into her mic. "Gun ready!"

"Copy! Standby… not yet, not yet… fire!"

Amber twisted the handle once more.

"Direct hit! I count seven Bandits splashed!"

"Captain, TAO: Bandits are right on top of us! They're too close to use the main gun!"

"Roger! All secondary batteries and missile pods, fire at will! Keep the Bandits away from the dorsal and starboard hull! Armor is stripped in those locations, and we can't afford to take any more hits there! Helm, all engines ahead, full, but give me a three quarter speed turn port side on our longitudinal axis to keep those Bandits guessing!"

"Main Batt, TAO: reset firing mechanism for anti-ship fire, then standby for further orders! All other batteries, you're weapons free! Keep those Bandits off us!"

Amber hurriedly loaded an AP shell into the breech of the MAC, then reconnected all the capacitors back to their magnetic coils along the barrel in preparation for their immediate use. Once that was finished though, she found there wasn't exactly anything left for her to do, but at the same time, she found she couldn't exactly sit still. She glanced over her console in Tuna's direction.

"Tuna, you alright?" she anxiously asked.

"Man, this would be going so much faster if I could figure out what was wrong," she heard him complain. "Chief, did that do anything?"

"Negative. Try the port to the right!"

"There is no port to the right!"

Realizing how busy he was, Amber decided not to bother him further. Instead, she decided to turn her attention back to the radio as the rest of the ship did their best to fend off the Covenant fighter attack.

"Turret two, CIC: we're picking up a cluster of Bandits approaching off our forward bow, bearing – "

"- engage with missiles pod One Charlie through Five Charlie all targets within the designated area: sweep them all clear – "

" – turret three reporting ready ammunition reserves down to twenty-five percent, gun crews requesting immediate resupply from arms locker…"

"All hands, be advised, Seraphs attempting to engage us with plasma charges -!"

Even as Shepard announced that, loud rumblings could be heard coming from all directions.

" – taking hits from plasma charges all along our stern – "

" - Sound and Security report status on integrity of the hull – "

"- TAO, Ops, I'm seeing two concentrations of forces: one appears to be going for our engines, the other – "

Amber looked up from the noise of the radio. She could have sworn she heard a noise coming from the barrel of the MAC…

"Tuna, did you hear that?" she yelled.

"Hang on Chief. What?" Tuna yelled back.

Amber shook her head. "Never mind! I just – "

"Main Batt, CIC: did you copy!?"

Amber grabbed her radio. "Negative, say again your last."

"I said lock down the barrel cover to the MAC! Bandits are attempting to fire plasma charges down the barrel! I say again – "

The remainder of what Shepard was saying was lost to Amber as she looked up in alarm as the bulkhead wall separating the compartment from the breech of the MAC began to rattle and shake.

"Tuna," Amber called out as she started to climb to her feet. "Do you hea–"

BOOM!

Without warning, the wall abruptly exploded inwards!

The last thing Amber saw was a piece of metal hurtling straight towards her –

- then the world went black.

---

1. M875 Engineer Breaching Vehicle (EBV): this vehicle was briefly mentioned back in chapter 15, though I didn't give it a name or a designation, so I figured I would do it now. Basically, it's a mine breaching vehicle built on a M850 Grizzly chassis. However, instead of a dual 120mm main cannon, it's instead armed with two mine clearing charges on the rear, and a mine plow mounted on the front. In essence, it's intended to be the UNSC equivalent of the USMC's M1150 Assault Breacher Vehicle.

Author's Note: "Rifle Division"

I suppose now would be as good of a time as any to explain what the difference between a "Rifle Division" and an "Infantry Division" would be in my little slice of the universe. It's nothing that fancy but essentially, an "Infantry Division" would be a mechanized infantry division, similar to the way infantry divisions are in the modern day US Army, whereas a "Rifle Division" would be more of your traditional light infantry division.

In other words:

- Infantry Division = equipped with IFVs and MBTs

- Rifle Division = equipped with Warthogs utility vehicles and Wolverine half-tracks

(* note: I would have rather not used half-tracks as I do understand there are pretty good reasons why half-tracks pretty much disappeared after WWII, however the M9 "Wolverine" anti-aircraft tank – which is built on a half-track - is a canon unit from Halo Wars, and it didn't make sense to me the UNSC would have that one variant chassis for that one specific role, so I figured there had to be an "troop carrying" half-track variant. To make things simple though, I kept the name the same.)

So, now you're probably wondering, "Then what's the difference between an Infantry Division, and an Armored Division?" Well, essentially, the way I imagine it is, an "Armored Division" is more of a tank division.

What I mean by that is, while both divisions would of course be combined arms divisions (with their own artillery, engineer, tank, IFV, air support, etc.) in an Armored Division, there would be a lot more tanks and armored battalions as opposed to an Infantry Division, which would have more mechanized infantry battalions. To explain further:

In a standard US Army "Armored Brigade Combat Team," there are usually two armored battalions (consisting of two tank companies and a single mechanized infantry company,) and one mechanized infantry battalion (consisting of one tank company and two mechanized infantry companies.) That's how a brigade in an Armored Division would look.

In an UNSC Army Infantry Division, the brigades would be reversed: only one armored battalion, and two mechanized infantry battalions.

Furthermore, the vehicles for both divisions would be slightly different: Armored Divisions would be equipped with M432 "Armadillo" IFVs and M850 "Grizzly" MBTs, whereas Infantry Divisions would be equipped with a bit lighter equipment: a yet unnamed IFV and M808 "Scorpion" MBTs. The idea being that, in an armored offensive, Armored Divisions would be used in the "spearhead" role, whereas Infantry Divisions would be more for the "exploitation" role.

So, to summarize so far:

Armored Division = tank division

Infantry Division = mechanized infantry division

Rifle Division = light infantry division

Cavalry Division = motorized infantry division (with Bisons as their main vehicle)

(*the divisions would be further divided in that, Armored and Infantry Divisions would have belong to the UNSC Army proper, whereas Cavalry and Rifle Divisions would have belong to the Colonial Militia, but that's for another note.)

(**also note that the US Army does not, nor has ever, used the designation "Rifle" for any of their division types. This is a Soviet Red Army/Russian Ground Forces term, which they use in lieu of "infantry")

Now, I realize this is more than likely a rather inefficient and probably an unrealistic way of organizing things, giving different divisions rather specialized roles as opposed to only having a few units that generalize in everything, but one thing I've noticed about when reading up on world militaries is that, the larger the military is, the more willing they are to invest in specialized units versus more generalized units. Special operation forces in the United States is a prime example of this: just looking at units that sort of deal with direct action alone, the US military has about eight separate units that all specialize in different roles, as opposed to other nations like the United Kingdom or Germany (which I think both have two,) Canada (which has three, I think,) or France (which I believe has four.)

Basically, the larger the military, the more money and personnel they have that can be reserved for specialized roles. And, given how large (and politicized) the UNSC Army most undoubtedly would have been prior to the Covenant invasion… well, it made sense in my head though no doubt some of you will disagree.