Chapter 3
Marcus shook in his seat as the Pelican was bracketed by Covenant Plasma fire, his new Platoon leader, Lieutenant Javid, called for everyone to ready themselves over the Comms. The fear was already noticeable in his voice, and he hoped that he would find a way to hide it for the sake of the rookie Marines with him, because Marcus knew that whilst the ODSTs will be doing their best to hold the landing zone, they're going to need support immediately, and if Lieutenant Javid began to panic, a lot of good people were going to die today for nothing. One of the marines next to him was patting her magazine against her helmet before placing it into her Sniper, he didn't really understand why people felt the need to do that. In basic he was told about it, but he forgot the reason, perhaps to ensure the rounds are secure, whatever it was, he pushed the menial thought from his mind and checked his Assault Rifle, he flicked the safety off and placed his helmet on, pulling his mask over his face, Faust began to dread the cold weather and the fight, he had no problem killing the Alien threat, but he wished to be home, for proper rest. "Alright Marines, stand up, get ready" Javid had called over their radios, the Marines did as he said as the Pelican came to a sudden halt, the doorway opened and the soldiers piled out, Wraith shells were firing onto their positions and as the Pelican they had been deployed from attempted to lift off and return to the Epoch, it was hit by one of the large Plasma Shells, its cockpit burned opened, the two pilots inside vaporised as the remains of the dropship came crashing to the ground, destroying an unmanned barricade and causing the front of a shop to collapse. "Push forward Marines, we'll cover the gaps in the line whilst the rest of the Pelicans deploy their units, then we advance when the 'hogs arrive" the Lieutenant barked, Marcus was happy to hear an order from his CO and promptly turned to advance to the ODSTs position, the two Corpsman that deployed with the deployed Platoons set to work on assisting the wounded ODSTs whilst the Marines set up their equipment or began to fire on the exposed Aliens ahead of them, the recruits were, for now, coping well as dozens of Grunts rushed forward into the hail of gunfire, dropping dead, those that ran were cut down by the Brute's behind them, it was a pitiful sight. A second Pelican now landed behind them and deployed their Marine forces, with them dropped a Mongoose ATV, a pair of Marines immediately mounted it and set off to the South West, Marcus didn't know why, but presumably to link up with the other LZ's. As turrets were set up they soon managed to carve down any Aliens who broke cover, the ODSTs soon ceased firing, their Submachine Guns ran dry and so had their pistols, they'd held on all night and soon withdrew to a nearby building that was set up as a command post for rest, they'd be lucky to be withdrawn so chances are they'd wait for ammo and join with the Marines as they forced their way back into Utgard. An hour passed and the small LZ was packed with Marines and their equipment, some ODSTs were gathering ammunition and Mongooses were driving off in the directions of the other LZ's. "Staff Sergeant Grantham, get your squad over here, now" the Lieutenant shouted from the Command Post, "Faust, Little, Mikhailov, Winters, with me, let's go" Grantham said, Marcus got up and followed the five men down to their Platoon Leader and gathered around. "We're cramped here, and that makes us inviting targets, we need to extend our line and rally with the other UNSC forces before we can retake the city, I want you to scout around, we've sent out Mongoose units but we've lost contact with all but two, we need larger forces, you, Sierra 1 and Oscar 6 are being sent forward to link up with this LZ" Lieutenant Javid said, pointing to a grid square on his map that Grantham swiftly copied down to his own, "Once there, report back, we've had trouble establishing stable communications so we are desperate to make sure we are as fighting fit as possible". Faust's new Sergeant gave a nod and gestured to the gathered squad to follow him, the Marines checked their weapons and soon had left the safety of the LZs perimeter. Despite having survived the past hours engagement, Grantham was taking it slow, too slow, every second they spent out in the exposed street made them easy targets, "Sir" Marcus called out to the lead man, "what is it Corporal?" the Sergeant replied, his head visibly scanning every building, most were ruins but sometimes there were intact structures, and those were often the ones the Covenant liked to use to ambush the Marines or Army forces who would be on patrol, "Sir, we need to move faster than this, if there's Cloaked Elites or Grunt squads in these ruins we're going to make very good targets for them, we need to link up with the other Marine forces and sort out communications as fast as possible" Marcus said to his squad lead, the man was silent for a few seconds and his reply sank his heart, "if I need your input, I'll ask for it Corporal, we advance at this pace, and scan the buildings as we pass, anyone sees anything, call it out", "if you say so sir" Marcus replied, and the Sergeant turned as if to scold him, but the NCO quickly dropped to the ground, his body limp as the green glow of Plasma slowly dimmed to a black scorch mark, the Sergeant was dead. "Everyone spread out! Find cover, now!" Marcus shouted as he dropped to his knee, firing his assault rifle at the location the shot had come from, but the Alien had moved on, taken cover as the street now fell eerily silent, Marcus slowly moved over to his dead Sergeant and dragged him behind cover, grabbing his tags he placed them into a spare pouch attached to his armour before scavenging the dead man's ammunition. Over his headset Marcus told the squad to advance carefully up to an abandoned home that was still intact, they would breach the door and clear it out, setting it up as a strong point and calling for one of the other squads to support them. As they advanced Mikhailov caught a glimmer in the corner of her eye, immediately firing at it the sparks of the bullets creating a series of sparks. It quickly disappeared but the Marine kept firing her rifle, "Cease fire Marine, do not waste your ammo!" Marcus shouted over the rattle of the gun.
"Everyone, stack up here" Marcus ordered, the remaining four Marines lined up behind him, fortunately Titch had a shotgun and so placed himself behind Faust, "I'll kick the door, and throw in a frag grenade, when it goes off, stand in the door way and fire until your shotgun's empty, let's not take any chances with the new guys, if you hit anything we'll move in, understood?" Marcus asked his friend, "Understood mate" Titch replied, pulling back on the pump to ensure a shell was ready. Marcus took a frag from his belt and pulled the pin, he waited for a second and then kicked open the front door of the homestead, throwing the explosive into the building he swiftly moved to the other side of the doorway to allow Titch easier access. Seconds passed that felt like hours before the loud explosion echoed through the home, Titch stood in the doorway firing twelve 8 Gauge shells into the front room, when he was out of ammo he stood back and Marcus ordered the other three Marines into the home whilst Titch began the process of reloading, "Clear" Marcus shouted, the three Marines with him followed him into the corridor, they approached the first door and Marcus opened it up, inside were grunts taking cover behind desks they'd overturned, presumably this room was an office for someone working from home but it didn't matter now, Mikhailov fired off her Battle Rifle and hit two of the Grunts straight in the head, they dropped dead immediately, a third Grunt however managed to hit Winters in the leg with its plasma pistol and a fourth was about to prime a plasma grenade before Titch stormed back into the room and gunned it down, Winters stood there, frozen, "Mikhailov, stay with him, for fuck sake, Titch, on me" Marcus ordered, the two men moved further down the corridor now, they breached the final door before the stairs, Marcus sprayed the room with his Assault Rifle, when it was certain that the room was clear they moved cautiously to the upstairs, a large open room with two Jackals and an Elite observing a hologram of what was probably a high ranking Elite giving sermon. Marcus had heard of the strange Sermon like gatherings the Covenant held but didn't really believe it, he was confused now he had seen it with his own eyes, but he didn't have time to think on it, they should strike whilst they still had some semblance of surprise, Marcus fired on the two Jackals and they dropped, lifeless, to the floor, the Elite turned and activated its Energy Sword, it was too late, Titch fired three shells into the Alien, the first two merely broke its shield, but the third tore through the Elites armour and flesh, tearing a large hole into its chest, the creature roared in agony before it too dropped dead. "Good work, let's go get the other two then" Marcus said after the brief engagement. They turned back and headed down the stairs, Winters was sat in the front room, Mikhailov had taken position by a window, there were just three of them now, Winters was frozen with fear and Grantham was dead. "We'll hold here, radio one of the other squads, we need to get to the other Landing Zone or we need to withdraw but either way we need to leave here and we can't do it alone" Marcus said. Mikhailov nodded, Titch merely stood there stoically, Winters was sat shaking, shell shocked. Faust walked over to him and took the Radio off his back, "Sierra 1, this is Zulu 2 we are in need of assistance, do you copy?", there was silence, "Sierra 1, this is Zulu 2, we need assistance, copy?", the Radio remained silent, "shit" Marcus muttered to himself, "Oscar 6, Zulu 2, we are in need of assistance do you Copy?" the Radio again remained silent, "Bugger, I think we're alone" Marcus spoke up, we can't stay here, we'll fall back, I need to go out there and grab Grantham's map, I imagine the Covvies already know any other UNSC positions, but to be safe, I'll take it, Titch, holster the Shotgun, take Winters' Assault Rifle and take up position at the window with Mikhailov, I would rather not have my face blown off" Marcus said, Titch placed his shotgun over his back and took the Assault Rifle from Winters, as well as a couple of spare Magazines. Marcus made his way to the door and peered around the street, it seemed empty and so he advanced down the street over to his former Sergeants body, rifle raised, the few seconds it took to make his way there made his stomach tighten as the eerie silence overtook him, the corpse of his former squad leader lay where Marcus had left him, he searched the man's pockets and pouches until he found the map, then sprinted off, back to the safety of his squad.
"Mikhailov, take care of Winters, get ready to move out, we're pulling back" Marcus said, he walked over to the Radio and placed the straps over his shoulders, he made sure it was firmly held in place over his back before turning to check his three squad mates were ready, Winters had his side arm but Titch carried the man's assault rifle, it wouldn't matter anyway, Winters was in shell shock, he would be of no use to them in combat, Marcus just wanted to get him back to safety so he could get help, away from the hell-hole of a city they were fighting in. "Everyone ready?" He asked, Titch and Mikhailov nodded, the four of them left the home, passing the body of their fallen Sergeant, Marcus had them moving at a faster pace than they had been moving before, ensuring they weren't at risk of an ambush again. After a half hour of walking they returned to the LZ, apart from the occasional rattle of machine gun fire from their turrets, the LZ was calm, the Marines were mostly sitting around resting. Marcus made his way to what seemed to be a Command Post with a group of officers most of them laughing and joking as if they weren't sat in the middle of a warzone. "Lieutenant Javid?" Marcus asked, one of the officers turned to him, "that's me, what can I do for you?" the officer replied, sounding more like a human resources employee than a commanding officer. "Sir, I'm Corporal Marcus Faust, of Zulu 2, you ordered us to seek out other LZs and establish secure communications. Sergeant Grantham was KIA, Private Winters is shell shocked, he needs medical help, Mikhailov, Little and myself are the only combat effective units of the squad, we lost contact with Sierra 1 and Oscar 6 we had to withdraw" Marcus said, his voice was emotionless for the debrief, Lieutenant Javid merely glanced at him, no concern for the loss of twelve Marines, "Thank you for informing me Corporal Faust, fortunately, we got working communications with the rest of the Marines in the city about twenty minutes ago" he said with a dismissive tone, a hint to Marcus to leave the command post, the officer turned away and Marcus rubbed his brow instinctively despite the helmet blocking his hand from his face, he turned away and left the CP. Mikhailov was talking to a Corpsman about Winters who sat staring into the darkened sky, his eyes lifeless as if his emotions had been stripped away, where others flinched at the odd explosion he merely continued his gaze into the clouded atmosphere. Titch sat, helmet off, mask down drinking from his canteen. A wraith shell flew overhead, slamming into a building just behind the Landing Zone. Marcus saw the casualties laying out in the Medical Post and was shocked by the recent conversation, of his Commanding Officer's emotionless reaction to the loss of twelve more Marines, and he wished for Alice to be in charge again, he wondered how high the Divisions strength was after their redeployment and hoped that whoever their General was, was a lot more conservative with the lives of the men and women under their command.
As midday came around, Marcus stood by a turret next to one of the new recruits to the Division, he was just gazing around, scanning for any hostiles, despite being here for hours no major offensives had been launched, and this worried Marcus deeply, the Covenant would be preparing a defence, or worse, planning to destroy the scattered Marines. Just because the UNSC forces could talk to each other, didn't mean they could easily arrive to reinforce their positions, especially if the Covenant had moved into the gaps in their lines, they needed to move, not wait. He started to wonder what the city would have looked like before the war, before the glassing, when the sunlight would beam down across the skies, but he couldn't, and it worried him that he couldn't remember what peace felt like, for most of the days and in most locations across Harvest it snowed, sometimes if they were lucky it would stop for a couple of hours, maybe even a day or two, but it was a frozen waste for the most part, Utgard was one of the largest urban areas on Harvest before the war, and now it was just ruins, there were few other towns, but he imagined they were the same as Utgard. Harvest was a very rural planet before the war began several months ago, so perhaps the villages had escaped the worst of the fighting and orbital bombardments, but he would never know. He was knocked from his thoughts as the Marine next to him fired a couple of bursts from the turret, Marcus levelled his assault rifle and looked down the road, there were three Elites and with them stood dozens of grunts who were cautiously jogging forwards, the turret had cut down three of them, but their pistols fired surprisingly fast and soon Marcus had to take cover, the Marine lay down awkwardly and squeezed the trigger of the turret, but without being able to see none of the two men were sure they were hitting back, Marcus quickly popped up and fired a burst from his rifle, six rounds hit one of the little Alien creatures but it continued coming, firing its plasma pistol, forcing him to drop back behind cover. He pulled one of the two grenades he had left from his belt, he pulled the pin and counted for what felt like three or four seconds, then he chucked it over the rubble he was crouched behind, the explosion shook the two marines but as he popped his head over to see what happened, he was confronted by the Amber eyes and four jaws of an Elite, he barely had time to jump back as it swung its fist towards Marcus, thankfully it had no sword just its plasma rifle but the power in the muscles of an Elite would have been enough to daze him, long enough for the Alien to fire off enough bursts of its weapon, killing him in a couple of shots, the second marine dropped the turret and swung his battle rifle into his hands, the three round burst weapon did little except make the creatures shield flicker, but it was enough time for Marcus to recover his sense and join with shooting the Elite, it roared and fired its plasma rifle, killing the Marine Marcus was stationed with, just in time a woman turned the corner into the small outpost, she fired a shotgun dead into the Elites head, the shield dropped immediately, Marcus' rifle ran dry, his counter hit zero and he was forced to reload, but the woman pumped the shotgun, the shell pierced the helmet of the Alien and the force blew off the left side of its face, the beast fell to the floor, rifle reloaded Marcus stood, nodded towards the soldier alongside him and began firing at the Grunts who had followed in their officers footsteps only to now be greeted by the shells of a shotgun and the high velocity rounds of an assault rifle, the little creatures who didn't drop dead turned and ran, but one did something that no one expected, it pulled out two plasma grenades from some sort of compartment it carried, the grenades were primed as it charged towards another of the Marines guard posts, the soldiers inside managed to gun it down and the Alien went up in blue goo as the creatures grenades detonated, there wasn't much left of the body, the plasma would have vaporized most of it, and the remnants would have been blown off down the road and into the ruins around. "Thanks, for the help, you saved my life" Marcus said to the Marine next to him, she seemed shocked at the sight of the Grunt that had tried to charge her friends, she just nodded, and Marcus didn't try make her talk, he picked up the dead Marine who had tried to fight off the Elite and placed him carefully over his shoulder, taking him outside, he walked towards the Medical post, Hornets flew overhead now, he had no idea from where they came from, they didn't deploy with the Marines when they were sent from the Epoch. One of them fired a volley of missiles as it whizzed eastwards.
"Corpsman?" Marcus called as he approached the medical post, which was little more than a tarp tied up from one ruin to another with camp beds for the wounded and those needing field surgery. "Is he alive?" a man shouted back, pulling gloves from his hand and wiping his brow, "No, an Elite got him, burns through and through" Marcus replied solemnly, "fuck, alright, follow me" the Corpsman said, gesturing him, the two men walked over towards a part of a ruined building, the place was filled to the brim with body bags, stacked up towards the ruined roof, the Marine grabbed another one, empty of course, and lay it out on the floor, Marcus placed the Marine into the opened bag as gently and respectfully as he could. The Corpsman zipped the body bag back up, and Marcus helped add him to the pile of the dead, it was a harrowing site to see so many dead, and he hoped none of his friends were in one of the bags. Marcus and the Corpsman exchanged a curt nod and he walked out, overhead the smoke trails of Artillery shells could be seen, if the Artillery had begun firing and there were Hornets overhead it must mean a big push was coming, he hoped this would be the one, Utgard would be liberated and the ground war could end, the Marines merely cleaning up the remnants in the countryside and that would be it, the UNSC could fight into covenant space or even hold the line for long enough for the enemy to decide a war would not be worth fighting, bleeding the enemy so badly they wished for peace. "Marines, listen up!" Lieutenant Javid shouted over the increasing thump of artillery and whizzing of Hornet VTOLs overhead. "We're going to move out, link up with the other units of the Division, and advance into the city centre, from there we hold the line, ODST forces are to be dropped from the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, the four hundred strong ODST force will push their way in and link up with us, once we win this engagement, we'll be pulled off the line, get yourselves ready we move out in five" he explained, Marcus was squad lead now, and he had to keep them alive with a Lieutenant who wished them all dead. "Fuck me" Marcus mumbled to himself. He worried when he realised he was in command now, the thought had been removed from his mind, he hoped for the wars end and didn't think about what had to happen for that to be achieved. "Alpha, on me, now" Marcus called over his headset, he placed his helmet on and gave it a tap, making sure it was secure, he suddenly thought back to the time on the Pelican when he questioned why another Marine did that, he smirked at the pettiness now he was mimicking the same action, he pulled his mask over his face and waited, Titch was the first to arrive, followed by Mikhailov, Lieutenant Javid ordered the Marines to move out, Mongoose's and Warthogs and were the first to advance, the Mongoose units were to act as improvised force recon whilst the 'hogs were to be used in support, but as the Marines were leaving Marcus was forced to wait, "Is Winters that bad?" he asked the last two members of his squad, "yes sir" Mikhailov answered, "I don't think he has much time left in the Marines, first Pelican off world has his name on it, the Aliens were just too much for him, can't say I blame him" she finished, Marcus sighed and gave a nod, "We move out then, stay close to me, trust me and Titch, if Javid orders you to do anything that seems suicidal follow my orders instead, I don't trust him, not after the amount of cock ups he has made today. Understood?" Marcus said to Mikhailov, "I understand" she replied to him, Marcus smiled under his mask and the three of them left, making up the rear of the Marine forces, cackles of gunfire could be heard throughout the city, and above the Marines the darkness was lit by fresh fire cause by the Artillery duel that was going on, Wraith 'shells' flew overhead casting eerie blue glows over the city whilst the smoke flumes of Artillery Shells from the Cobra's created some artificial cloud cover, in the distance Longswords, Hornets and Banshees fought for control of the skies, Marcus hadn't seen an aerial battle in the skies of the Harvest before, and if he wasn't forced to scan the buildings and parks around him for enemy contacts he'd find himself glued to the spectacle above. It was clear the human pilots had more skill, but the covenant had the firepower and the technology, which just about tipped their favour. "Contact right!" a Marine shouted, firing into nothing, "Cease fire" Marcus shouted up the line, "If you don't see a shimmer don't fucking fire! Conserve your ammo, if you think they are cloaked call it out and wait for a sign, don't waste ammo" he said over the comm links, there were clicks of acknowledgement and the line continued to advance, the warthogs kept back their turrets facing the direction the Marine had called out to ensure they were all covered. Some troops were beginning to search the buildings and the lines stretched thinner, after an hour of advancing the Division, or what was left had reunited, but they must have been behind schedule because out of the darkness hundreds of flames appeared before burning out, then hundreds of small chutes could be seen deploying, Marcus understood now why fighters and VTOLs had been engaged, they were distracting the enemy Anti-Aircraft fire and ensured the enemy fighters couldn't attack the incoming Orbital Drop Shock Troopers in their pods. Marcus pulled a map out of one of his pouches and checked their coordinates, they were still a good six or seven miles away from the centre of Utgard, and the ODSTs were elite units, but there was a small number of them compared to the Marines, and if they weren't there to reinforce them they'd be overrun, forcing the Marines to retake the entire city alone, as opposed to half the city. "Lieutenant we need to move" Marcus said over the radio link in his headset, "I understand that Corporal but we have time" the Lieutenant replied nonchalantly, "Sir the ODSTs are dropping as we speak you can literally see them in the sky, we can sit here and let the Covenant focus them down, encircle them and destroy them, or we can advance to our objective and allow the ODSTs to help us take the remainder of Utgard" Marcus said, anger visible in his voice, "Understood Corporal, since you are so eager, take a platoon sized group and move up road India, there's at least a hundred covenant defenders scattered in the ruins along that road, and a shield blocks us from the North, if you think you can breach it and get us going again by all means, go ahead" the Lieutenant said. Marcus hesitated, he was eager to get going, but he wasn't willing to throw lives away against a strong point, but at the same time, another unit was going to have to move along that road and clear it out, so why not him and his volunteers. "Okay sir, I need at least seventeen volunteers, give or take a few" Marcus said, he made his position clear on the HUD on their helmets and three squads him, "Alright, we move up, carefully, how many do we have?" he asked rhetorically, he counted up the troops who volunteered, "okay, eight on each side of the road, keep at least a metre between each other and call out any enemies you see, scrounge grenades and ammo, and if anyone has a grenade launcher speak out now" Marcus explained to his group, he gave them a couple of minutes and then they advanced along the road, leaving the small car park behind them.
The first one hundred metres was quiet, everyone advanced carefully and quickly, it almost seemed like Javid had been given false intel, but as they crested a small hill further up the road, the wreckages of four mongoose ATVs were burning, scorch marks littered the road and pavements and the bodies of five Marines lay where they once stood, their corpses badly burned or mauled by strange looking orange spikes. The upper sections of abandoned buildings were covered in bullet holes, the troops must have been able to fire back a few bursts before being forced to retreat, which was encouraging for the Marcus who could at least expect a few weakened hostiles, but as he was thinking that, bursts of Plasma fire cut down three of the Marines to the left of the road and forced the others to scatter, finding cover wherever they could, "shit, did anyone see where that came from" a Marine called out over comms, "sir, you jumped into the very building those bolts came from, I'd stay frosty if I were you" another Marine said, Marcus poked his head out from behind the small pile of rubble he lay prone behind, a pair of Marines were lined against a door, one was placing a breach charge onto it, the second stood ready to charge in once the charge was detonated, he had a Battle Rifle, which wasn't the greatest close range weapon, but the buildings and ruins needed clearing so they would have to make do with what they had, and at least those two were doing something, Marcus looked to his left where the Marines had been cut down, from his HUD he knew they were dead, so he glanced further back, craning his neck awkwardly, one Marine was pointing to something and another had her grenade launcher at the ready, suddenly you could hear a 'flump' sound and an explosion happened just above Marcus' head, he assumed that was where one of the Alien positions was, because it would be rather embarrassing if the Marines were trying to kill him instead, he laughed slightly at the thought, with the enemy position hit the two Marines stacked to breach moved into the building, or, at least, they tried, as the explosion blew the door open, the second Marine skirted the first, Battle Rifle at the ready but it didn't matter, he was cut down by the same strange orange spikes the recon Marines had been killed with, the first Marine grabbed the man's body and pulled him back to safety, but by the HUD it was clear the man was dead, that was four Marines down already, Marcus needed to take charge of the situation. "Alright, the Grenade Launcher, stays where she is, the Marine with her, stay with her, spot for each other and keep us all covered, you are our heaviest weapons team, so stay safe and stay alert, the rest of the Marines to my left, all over you regroup at the building to my direct left, clear it, set yourself up in that building, the centre of the street is too dangerous, so we're going to use our breach charges to blow through the walls instead, we go house to house, room to room, when you reach the shield, stop, we go no further until we can figure out where the power source is, understood?" he said through comms, he got several clicks of acknowledgement and with that he used hand signals to gesture to the Marines behind him, they all made their way into the building to Marcus' direct right.
"Alright, we're going to do the same, we breach walls, then we clear the buildings, be careful, they hide everywhere, if you suspect something is cloaked, call it out, we'll figure something out, understood" Marcus asked, "Yes sir" the group of Marines responded, Marcus pulled a breach charge from one of his pouches, they didn't have many, so he had to hope that there were enough to make it through each covenant strongpoint along Road India. He placed it securely on one of the walls, he activated the charge and it began to bleep quickly, it wouldn't detonate until Marcus linked his detonator but it was a reassuring sound that meant it functioned as it should, some of the Marines knocked over some furniture to make sure that they had some extra cover, the remainder had stacked a good three or four feet back, safe enough distance to not get themselves blown up, but close enough that they could advance rapidly through the breach and find themselves cover or engage the enemy. Marcus looked around, they were as ready as they were going to be, "breaching" Marcus shouted as he detonated the charge, part of the wall came crumbling down and one of the Marines chucked in a grenade, once it had exploded they all advanced, some grunts stood dazed and confused, waving their pistols around and firing blindly, one of the Marines was grazed and suffered a minor burn but survived, the rest of the group gunned down the aliens gathered in the room, it looked like an opticians, glasses lay scattered about, glass was shattered everywhere along the floor and eye charts were lining some of the walls, it was a strange place to set up a strongpoint. "Clear" one of the Marines called out, Marcus glanced around, he nodded, content with the calling, "alright, move up, you, you, and you, downstairs, you and you, with Titch" he pointed to the man next to him "you'll take upstairs, the rest of you, we'll clear out the exam rooms, they'll be tight, so be careful", the Marines advanced, following their orders and advancing in separate directions, Marcus advanced down the tight corridor, there were at least seven exam rooms to clear, and barely enough Marines with him to clear them, followed by Mikhailov, Marcus stood at the door to one of the rooms, he kicked it open, inside was one of the strange Ape like aliens he had a couple of weeks prior, it was examining the technology and equipment inside, though it seemed less than impressed with it as it began smashing everything, Marcus fired into the back of the beasts neck and his assault rifle rounds shredded into the beasts throat, but it turned, grabbing Marcus and lifting him with just one arm, even as it bled out, blood pouring from its huge jaw and out of its neck it still had the strength to lift him and all his kit with ease, Marcus dropped his rifle, his vision began to blur, he tried to calm himself and went for the knife holstered on his shoulder, and with it he stabbed the alien in the eye, he was aiming for the top of its skull but with his vision blurred he was content with wounding it more severely, the creature roared and its blood spurted across his helmet, even with his mask covering his nose the smell was horrendous, but thankfully, the wound forced the Brute flinch, dropping Marcus down to the ground, he clambered for his weapon, Mikhailov finally had a shot lined up and her battle rifle burst to life, four three round bursts to the face finished the alien off, it dropped to its knees and Marcus barely had time to roll out the way as it finished its death throes by falling forward face first, the blood was a dark purple/red colour and began dripping from the multiple wounds, pooling up along the floor, in the chaos they hadn't realised that another Brute like creature was throwing around another Marine, it was in ornate looking armour and wielded a large hammer, bored of toying with the human in its hands it threw the Marine against the wall, she screamed in pain as she hit the wall, slumping down, but before she could collapse to the ground the alien had caved her torso in with its hammer, as If a tank had just rolled over her and completely flattened her torso as thinly as possible, the other Marines slowly withdrew, firing their weapons towards the huge lumbering creature, as they got back into the clearing of the main room of the opticians Marcus threw a frag grenade behind him, though he may as well have fired a paintball, as apart from wounding the creature, it did little to stop it, the Beast seemed to almost go berserk with rage, but another Marine had had the idea to throw the dead grunts plasma grenades at the creature, it was extremely effective, the plasma burnt through the armour of the Brutish alien as if it was a plasma pistol through Marines, the beast roared in anger and pain as its right arm was blown off, forcing it to drop its hammer, the fur of the creature caught fire as the heat of the plasma melted and burned away the flesh, it was a gruesome sight, blue flames engulfed the beast as it dropped dead, either of shock, blood loss, or sheer overwhelming agony, maybe a mix of the three, within seconds the engagement was over, the dimly lit reception area now awash in an eerie blue glow as the Brute's body burned.
The remaining Marines just stood, the blue glow all that illuminated them as they gazed at the burning body, even with his mask up Marcus could smell the charred flesh of the dead enemy. He knew he had to keep them all moving, or they'd allow the scene of the battle to overwhelm them, and that would make keeping the advance up even harder than it already was. "Marines, listen up, we keep moving, we have gotta disable the shields that block this street or we can't link up with the ODSTs. Understood?" Faust said, Titch nodded and his words were followed by a chorus of "understood" and "yes sir". "Get a charge on the wall at the end of the corridor, we stick to the 'house-hopping' idea", Marcus looked towards the Marine that had killed the Brute, "Do you have any other Plasma Grenades picked up?", "Sir?" the Marine replied, still coming out of the shock of the scene around them, "Plasma Grenades, do you have them?", "No sir, but...But I can search for some on the bodies of the dead" the Marine managed to stutter out, "good, you and you" Marcus said, pointing towards Titch and a female Marine next to him, "help him find some, we'll use them against the bastards". The two Marines nodded and the three of them set to work, overturning corpses and searching for any explosives, "right, who has a charge for the wall?" Faust asked, "I do sir" a timid looking Marine replied,"alright mate, good, go set it up, don't detonate it till I say so, got it?", Faust asked, the Marine nodded and set off down the corridor, cackles of gunfire could be heard from outside, and as it drew him back to the situation at hand he hoped the other group of Marines were doing okay, because if they weren't, he didn't know how they would get through several more covenant strongpoints to deactivate the shield. "Charge set" a shout came from down darkness, "understood" Marcus called back, "alright, everyone head down, stack up" he ordered, the Marines moved cautiously, a line formed which left the smallest gap besides the gathered soldiers. "Okay, on my mark", Marcus checked his gear, then had a glimpse at the ammo count on his Assault Rifle, twenty-eight rounds, he didn't bother reloading, though he probably should, but he needed to conserve ammo, "three..." Marcus began, "two..." he took a deep breath as his heart began to race again, it took all his strength to hide the tremors, "one. Mark" and on his word the wall ahead blew apart, the Marines piled through the gap as quickly as they could. Silence followed, They were now on a shop floor, the contents scattered or long since looted before the evacuations, the shelves were damaged by plasma burns which had made holes, or bullet holes, inside were a dozen dead Army troopers, some civilians, and a pile of dead Grunts closest to the window by the street, presumably they were swarmed, an effort to save the most 'important' units of the Covenant by throwing the Grunts into the fray. Torchlight from the Marine's weapons lit the way ahead, it was empty, the Covenant had abandoned this building, "should we check for survivors here sir?" a Marine asked, she was stood closest to one of the trooper's bodies, Marcus thought for a second, and whilst he didn't want to waste too much time, he wanted to put their minds at ease, and if there were no survivors, especially civilian, it might push the adrenaline into them that they needed to kill Aliens, which was sick, but he needed the recruits to be willing to fight, and to keep them alive they'd need any edge they could get, and unfortunately, rage was as good as any, "alright, you" Marcus said pointing to another Marine, "place a charge on that wall, you, you and you, check for survivors, you, Twitch, Mikhailov, with me, we'll take up a position by the window and the door, turn your torches off when there, stick to the shadows" the Marines nodded, Marcus walked over to the doorway and flicked off the torch on his rifle, the streets glowed red, and flashes could be seen from across the road, the other team were still alive, and making good progress, "charge set" a voice called out, "copy that" Marcus replied by radio, "No survivors, they're all dead. Alien pricks" a voice called over the comms, "stay focused, stack up, we are getting close to the shield now, eyes peeled in the next building, after that we'll be by the shield, let's go!" the Marines once again stacked along a wall, the whole thing felt frustrating and Marcus was almost tempted to order an all-out charge along the road, but he wasn't that stupid, "alright, go ahead, blow it". The wall came down, and the female Marine who'd asked to find survivors was cut down by a plasma rifle burst, six bolts had hit her and all burnt through her armour, killing her instantly, "shit, stop! Stop!" Marcus called out, but in that time another Marine had tried to go in through the gap, a barrage of green and blue bolts of plasma slammed into the man's armour, burning through it and killing him in seconds.
"Get a grenade in there! Now" he shouted, a blue glow began emanating from the hands of a Marine behind him, who swiftly advanced past Marcus and lobbed the grenade blindly around the corner, through the breach, they waited for the explosion and charged into the hole in the wall, they were greeted to a small grouping of dead grunts, and an Elite sat against a wall, it weakly attempted to lift its Plasma Rifle but Marcus and Mikhailov unloaded into it, killing the Alien before it had the chance to kill anymore, "Titch, grab their tags, then meet up with us, time to go upstairs, follow me" Marcus said over comms, a Marine to his left went back, it must have been Titch, the rest of the Marines, all six of them, moved up behind Marcus, the stairwell of the home was tight, there was little room to manoeuvre and if an enemy struck now they could probably kill every Marine with a burst of Plasma fire. As they approached the upstairs grunts were having their equipment checked by a couple of Elites, who seemed frustrated, Marcus understood nothing they were saying, if they were even saying anything and not just roaring, he gestured to a Marine behind him and ducked down as best he could to try hide himself, another Marine made his way quietly up the tight gap between the soldiers and the walls of the stairs, "do you have any grenades?" he whispered, the Marine nodded, he pulled a frag grenade off his belt, "here you go sir", Marcus nodded, and the Marine ducked down, both to hide himself and to make sure the shrapnel that would fly from the grenade wouldn't hit him. Faust pulled the pin on the grenade, counting to five, which felt far too long, he threw the explosive into the group, there was no time to react as the Grunts Methane tanks went up in flames, vaporising three of the small Alien creatures, and blasting the two Elites backwards into the walls, Marcus moved up and fired his assault rifle into one of the Elites as the Marines behind him followed up, a couple of others kicked in the door of what was likely the bathroom but found nothing, Titch was the last man up, but was relieved as his shoulders relaxed and he lowered his rifle. "Move quickly, these flames are gonna spread and I want that shield down, so let's not get ourselves burned alive, get a breach charge on that wall, that's it, and then we can get it down, and keep moving forwards" Marcus said, Mikhailov walked to the wall, she placed a charge on it, flicking a switch, the gentle bleeping of the device reassuring all the gathered Marines it was functional, the Marines reloaded their weapons and checked their equipment, better to be safe than sorry, "everyone ready?" Marcus asked, there was a collective nod of heads as he looked around, the fires were noticeable, he was hoping the other team were keeping the Covenant busy, he didn't want to have to deal with enemy reinforcements with only six of them left. "Set it off", Mikhailov clicked the detonator, placing it back in her pouch as Marcus turned the corner, he cut down a Grunt with a burst of rifle fire but as the Marine behind him got through the gap he was hit by a stray bolt of Plasma, his leg was hit, he was alive but he wouldn't be able to fight, "shit Mikhailov pull him back through then join us in the attack, we'll come back for him" Marcus barked over the radio headset, from the corner of the eye he saw the man being pulled back, so he continued sidestepping and firing at his targets, a Plasma Turret that was previously being aimed down the road was now being repositioned, he gunned down one of the Grunts, but the second managed to keep going, dragging it behind itself with difficulty, as it did so an Elite moved in to cover it, not out of respect for its comrade but simply to ensure they could get superior firepower against the Marines, Mikhailov came through, her Battle Rifle blaring, the iconic sound of the three round burst weapon echoed the room as she tried desperately to kill the Grunt with the turret, the Elite began to roar and drew its Energy sword, from outside an explosion could be heard, the shield, which had been casting a blue glow throughout the room began to flicker and then dimmed before popping back to life, it was clearly weakened, but it would stop anything in its tracks, the second team had completed its objective, Marcus snapped back to attention, focusing his fire onto the roaring Elite, Mikhailov got lucky and must have hit an important part of the Grunt's Methane tank, it began to spark and soon exploded, the creature flew forwards before slamming into a wall, with nowhere to go the creature span back around as the gas escaped uncontrollably, it soon flew into the Elite, knocking it off balance, allowing Titch and another Marine to break the aliens shield and then cut it down, they opened fire on the Grunt, putting it down out of sheer pity. Marcus wouldn't forget it, it was funny at first, but to hear its screams as it desperately tried to flee, he began to wonder if it had family, if it even wanted to be here fighting, he felt his throat choke up. "Stand clear" a voice shouted, snapping him back to the situation at hand, they all made their way through the breach, Titch was checking over the wounded Marine, the fires had spread, but they'd be able to get out the way they came before it became a serious threat to their safety. A large explosion was heard and Marcus popped his head through the hole in the wall, the shield flickered and finally died. "Alright, Mikhailov, Titch, help him to his feet, we need to get out of here before this place really goes up in flames, you two, with me" Marcus raised his rifle, there was no real need, but it made him feel reassured as they passed through the buildings they had been fighting through just minutes earlier. As they entered the corridor of the opticians, Marcus took note of the scene, the crushed female Marine, whose entire torso had been flattened like a pancake, there was nothing left, the bones must have been entirely powdered, her head and legs could almost be mistaken for a separate body, it was a horrible sight, and as they got into the clear space of the main room the Brutish Alien's body had finally burned out, its hammer lay on the floor alongside its decapitated arm. "Alright, we'll leave out this way" Marcus said as he gestured towards the door of the Opticians. "Team two, report?" Marcus asked over comms, there was silence, he was about to ask again when a crackle of static burst through and a voice could be heard, "Sir, five dead, two wounded, but the objective has been destroyed" a woman said, she sounded exhausted, and Marcus couldn't blame her, he longed for nothing but sleep. "Lieutenant Javid, Corporal Faust here, Road India is clear, I say again we have cleared Road India". There was again silence, but he expected that, the Marine forces further back would be rushing around gathering their equipment before they even thought to respond to his radio message, the minutes ticked by, overhead a Falcon transport whirred, it was strange to see, he thought the Army had cleared out of the city and were fighting in the rural parts of the Planet. "Faust, we're sending a tank to your position, as well as a transport 'hog, hold your positions, Army forces are coming to assist you, get your wounded back here, and position the Scorpion where you need it, but hold that damned position at all costs, understood?", Marcus was confused, but Javid would never answer him anyway, so he merely gave an "understood sir" in response and left it at that. The Marines gathered their dead on the side of the street, and pushed the destroyed Mongoose ATV's up to the shield to form an improvised barricade, the wounded sat against the wall of the building where the Grenadier had taken position with her spotter, it was quiet where they were but gunfire could still be heard echoing throughout Utgard and the odd flash of the giant wraith shells would illuminate the sky, hitting UNSC positions. Half an hour passed before the promised Tank arrived, followed by the transport Warthog, the tank commander popped his head out the hatch, "Roll up to those ATVs and hold there, keep some space for us to move along it, we're using that as our frontline. Shoulda just left the bloody shield up" Marcus laughed, the commander gave a laugh and then set about moving his tank up to the makeshift barricade, "Alright!" Marcus shouted to get the Marines attention, "Load the wounded onto the 'hog quickly, then set up by the barricade!" Marcus ordered, he holstered his assault rifle, the magnetic grip forcing it to stay pinned to his back, he made his way over and helped load the three wounded Marines onto the transport, "alright, get them out of here" he said to the driver, she gave a curt nod, and then set off back down the road towards the main Marine force. "Sir, why are we waiting here?" One of the Marines finally asked, he didn't have an answer and knew that Javid wouldn't give him one, not a straight one anyway, "I don't know Marine, we have orders to wait for a unit of Army troopers to reinforce our positions, but until then we hold the line. I don't know why".
Three hours passed and more and more Falcons and Pelicans filled the air above Utgard, in the distance Marcus could swear he saw drop pods entering the atmosphere, though he couldn't be sure, had the offensive failed? Had something gone wrong? he didn't have a clue, and that unnerved him. Army reinforcements finally arrived, they looked exhausted, clearly, they were moved here straight from their previous deployment, no rest, and no resupply. Their Warthog's were covered in scorch marks and their armour covered in dirt and blood, the fighting in the countryside must have been much worse than he had believed. "Welcome to Road India, the greatest road in all Utgard, we have luxury accommodation, an optician a shop, and a huge fire" Marcus said as the soldiers dismounted, some laughed, most were too tired, they set themselves up in positions and rested, it was pointless to try motivate them at the time, Marcus set about finding himself their CO and finding out what was going on, but as he saw the troopers slump in exhaustion, eating or sleeping and doing their best to recover, he thought it best to wait, and so went to join the last of his Marines at their makeshift barrier, if the Covenant were to come, there wouldn't be much of a defence. A further hour passed, the road ahead was quiet, sometimes a curious Jackal would test the alertness of the UNSC forces ahead of it, but after a round or two slammed into the shield the curious scout would flee back to the safety of cover, slowly but surely Army troopers, who had recovered somewhat from their fatigued state would come reinforce the improvised defences that blocked the road, but once they deployed a barrier or set up a machine gun emplacement somewhere they often dropped hopped around into well covered ruined positions or the few standing buildings around them and returned to sleep, apart from Marcus and the remains of his platoon, the barricade was understrength, the tank crew were sat on the tread covers and laughing and joking, anything to pass the time, but all the spare time led Marcus to wonder what was going on, the sky was full of UNSC transports, Pelicans, Falcons even Herons were flying about overhead, it was unnerving and reassuring all in one, the relief that there must now be hundreds of thousands if not millions of UNSC forces on the planet now, but at the same time, if there were that many soldiers deployed on Harvest, something must be going on, either in Space, which is forcing rapid deployment, or on the ground, which requires the combined arms of the UNSC to come together to deploy such large numbers of boots on the ground. "Corporal Faust" a voice came through on the Marine's radio, Marcus made his way over and picked up the headpiece, "Sir?" he replied, trying to hide the tremor of his voice as he waited anxiously for what his CO might say. "Return to the park, we're leaving Utgard and heading to the country" Lieutenant Javid said, his voice showing no emotion, but Marcus expected no concern from the commanding officer of his Company. "Yes sir, understood". Marcus sighed heavily, "Alright Marines, listen up, we're heading back to the park, we're being redeployed to the country" he shouted to the last of his group, "the country?" one Marine began curiously, "I thought the Army were dealing with resistance in the country", it was obvious that he was scared, and he didn't blame him, he was too, but he had to try remain composed, "So did I, but the orders are in, so we best get walking".
The Marines gathered their equipment, and left for the park that the rest of the division were held up, it felt like a short walk compared to the last time, but it still took half an hour to get back to the rest of the division. As they approached the park, it was an impressive site, foxholes, barricades, tanks and Warthogs with machine guns were dug into defensive positions, a command tent was up, and in the ruins of a building a medical centre was set up with Corpsmen doing their best to tend to the wounded and comfort the dying. "Mount up Marines, we're leaving!" a Captain shouted as he boarded a Pelican, Marcus and his group piled onto the nearest transport as it was taking off, barely making it. The flight lasted an hour and a half, but to Marcus it felt like minutes as he drifted off into sleep, the Marine's had already departed the dropship and Titch, who was furthest from the door had to wake him up to get him out. Marcus placed his rifle onto his back and felt a heaviness overtake him, he was exhausted, and now, he and the Marines were in the middle of nowhere, a temporary firebase had been set up, several markings lay around the base suggested it had been deployed from a ship called the 'Spirit of Fire'. "You ever heard of it?" Titch asked as he caught Marcus staring at the logo painted onto the firebase's wall, "hm?" Marcus began as he tried to form a response from his groggy mind "yeah I heard a bit about it, a colony ship I think, I dunno why it would be all the way here at Harvest in the middle of a warzone, let alone what it is doing deploying a firebase instead of civilian structures, are we that desperate already?" he laughed at his own dark joke, and Titch laughed with him. "What are you two laughing at?" an authoritative woman's voice boomed behind them, instantly the two snapped to attention as if it was a natural response, suddenly she burst into laughter at the two rigid men who hadn't even turned to look at her, "how have you guys been?" she asked, Marcus was confused but as he turned he caught Titch's smirk, "oh you know us Alice, just taking in the sights, we're a couple of regular tourists you know?" he said with a smile as their previous Sergeant removed her helmet and lowered her mask, "in that case I bet you have a lot to tell me, like how in the hell did you two bastards survive storming all those covvie strong points?". The two men looked at each other, Alice could tell by the looks they exchanged that it wouldn't be a happy story. "I saw the wounded that came back from your assault on the enemy, I was relieved neither of you were with them, but I can tell it wasn't good, one of them said you even encountered an enemy and were forced to burn them alive?".
Marcus looked at her, then to the floor, "Yeah, one of the Marines, he erm... he had picked up a covvie plasma grenade, it blew off the bastard's arm, and its fur caught fire, but even then it still had the strength to thrash people around, were it not for the shock, pain and blood loss, it would have taken a lot of ammo to kill it, it killed one of the Marines with a hammer, crushed her body, she was flattened, her head, looked normal, her legs and arms, looked normal, but it was if someone had taken a tank, and ran over her chest, then placed back with her limbs, it was..." "You don't have to finish, I understand" Alice said as Marcus' voice began to fall off into a tremor. He felt angry, not afraid, he just wanted to kill as many of the Aliens as possible, the war had to end, he wanted it to be their planets, and their people who suffered, not Humanity. The three of them stood in silence for a few awkward seconds that felt like eternity, but Alice chimed in again, "by the way, I was on Javid's dropship, he and the other officers, were talking about what was going on, and why the offensive at Utgard has been put on hold, I couldn't here all of it, but apparently there is a huge covenant landing zone about eight klicks south of here, the reason it has taken us so long to realise is because of something to do with the Covvies sacrificing ships to make us think they were coming at us piecemeal, we had no reason to explore Harvest's low orbit I guess, but somewhere up there are a dozen ships, that have Aliens deployed to them, prepared for combat, and then deployed at the landing zone, from there, I guess it is to whatever theatre of war the Alien pricks feel like starting with us, including, Utgard, which is why it has been seesawing between us and them almost every month" she finished, "and you said you couldn't here everything? That sounds like a lot to me" Titch joked, Marcus sighed and rubbed his brow, the grumbling of tank treads was heard as six Scorpions were heading off wherever they were needed. "Did you hear of anything like troop composition, is there cover between us and them, because if not, a fucking lot of us are going to die" Marcus said angrily, this wasn't Javid's fault for once, but he knew that his CO would have no problem sending tens of thousands of Marines to their deaths in a full frontal charge across open ground if it was left to his own decision. "Well, ever the happy bunny aren't you?" Titch replied sarcastically. "There's a few hilly between us and them, it must be serious, because rumour around, which I overheard getting of the Pelican – pays to listen lads" Alice laughed and then continued "is that even ONI is here, they have elite recon units scouting the LZ, if it makes you feel any better though, we do have dozens of Cobra artillery vehicles driving into position behind the hills, when the time comes, we're going to be attacking guts rather than Aliens" she finished confidently, Marcus laughed, he pulled down his mask and scratched at his beard, 'the worst part of war' he thought to himself sarcastically, 'itchy beards'. The Marines were bunked wherever they could be placed, as Marcus, Titch, Alice and the rest of their division had arrived way after the majority of UNSC forces they were in hastily erected tents, forced to rely on burning wood to stay warm, but it was better than no shelter at all, especially as the snows of the plasma bombardment induced winter had begun to fall again. As no calls had come for the Units to form up, most of the staging ground fell silent as the Marines, ODST's and Army units slept, the big push could come anytime, and they all wanted to be as alert as possible when that time came.