Chapter 3: Best laid Plans

The scene was otter chaos, Insurrectionist forces swarmed John's position. Only minutes ago he had stumbled across what looked to be an abandoned mine, closer inspection with his sniper rifle revealed it was occupied by the Innies. He took note of the mine's location for his mission report and was about to move on when the entrance suddenly exploded.

'Explosive and Loud' he thought, this was David's handiwork. Sirens went off alerting every Innie around for kilometers. Before long two dozen hostiles were gathered at mouth of the mine, some came from the temporary buildings just inside, but the majority arrived from the surrounding area. Most of them were armed with M3A3s, they all inspected the mine entrance for intruders and additional explosives. Afterwards they began to fan out looking for the culprit, not bothering to venture deeper into the mine. Proper military procedure would have been to secure the entire area including the mine interior. Ignoring the interior of the mine was a foolhardy mistake in his opinion but the Innies didn't follow military doctrine, so John let it go.

With all the increased activity he was sure to be spotted if he tried to move up the pass, it was better to stay off the plateau for now. John observed them carefully, he didn't become a great sharpshooter without learning patience. As the patrols fanned out John was forced to relocate twice, each time further from the mine. Eventually John heard a convoy of vehicles moving at high speed. Using the scope on his sniper he identified five heavily armored and modified warthogs heading for the mine. The front and rear warthogs were armed, the three in the middle were modified to carry cargo. Even his thermal sight couldn't reveal the interior of the vehicles, whatever they were hauling they wanted it a secret. Looking at the entire convey he saw every warthog was occupied by only one driver, except the third, the third seemed to have a female passenger. It was difficult to get a good sight on the occupants, but John managed a partial image of the occupants in the third warthog.

Looking at the image he had a clear picture of the driver, dressed in a militia uniform with captain stripes. John frowned, if the local militia were helping the insurrectionists, then things just got a lot uglier. Shifting his attention to the passenger, she was a mystery most of her face was covered either by the driver or by foliage. Curiously she was dressed in a lab coat, a civilian perhaps? The picture would have to be examined latter, right now he had to focus on the mission. John watched on as the Warthogs entered the mine. By now most of the patrols had dissipated, and John snuck his way through the pass.

David was having the time of his life. Their commandeered warthog moved at top speed toward the relay through the rough terrain, thankfully warthogs were rugged and built to handle uneven ground. The warthog bypassed all the Innie patrols that weren't sent to their diversion. Realizing it wasn't one of theirs, the Innies opened fire on the hog as they sped by. David took every opportunity to fill any poor bastard that got in the way with lead.

"When we get to the relay how long do you need to kill the jamming signal?!" Tony shouted over the roar of M41.
"Won't know until we get there and I take a look at it sarge!" Vince shouted back.

The relay soon came into view, it was a small compound built adjacent to a mountain, any ground attack had to come from the south or east making it easy to defend. Inside the walls multiple buildings stood, with the main and largest building serving as a base for a massive interplanetary communications antenna. The other buildings housed servers for data storage and lodging for technicians and a small garrison. The compound was surrounded by titanium walls, the only way in was through the main gate. Between the noise of the engine and the machine gun, the squad was sure to attract the compound's attention.

"Break through the gate and get us to the main building!"
"On it Sarge!"
"David, keep an eye on the walls!"
"You got it boss!"
As the warthog broke through the trees, the squad began to take fire from the walls of the compound. The Insurrectionists had multiple M247 machine gun emplacements stationed on the wall, they swiveled to acquire their new target and unleashed a hailstorm of bullets. David downed or suppressed as many as he could, while Tony helped by targeting the Innie gunners with his DMR. Bullets bounced off the hood denting the armor, threatening to pierce the hog's cabin. The windshield shattered as Vince drove through the security barrier at top speed, then proceeded to bring the warthog to a skidding halt in front of the main relay building.
"Last stop everybody out!" Vince shouted!
"Vince, kill the signal, David and I will cover!"
"Copy, sarge!"
Vince rushed into the building, David stayed on the Warthog's gunner position while Tony stood behind the bullet ridden warthog shooting over the hood. Their combined efforts managed to clear the interior of the small compound, only manned by a handful of Innies. Their earlier diversion was a success, the Intel suggested heaver enemy resistance. Most of the stationed personal must have been reallocated to the mine. Once again Tony made a mental note of how important the mine appeared to be. David stayed on the gun, scanning the horizon while Tony fortified his position and took collected weapons from the fallen innies, most of his ammo reserve depleted.

However their respite was short lived as insurrectionist reinforcements arrived to retake the relay. David kept them suppressed with the continuous barrage of lead from the M41. Tony picked off any hostiles that got too close with his DMR. At first it was manageable, the Innies began probing attacks to test their defenses and discover their numbers. The moment they realized the entire compound was being defended by a two man team, Tony knew it would be over. Vince had to kill the signal so orbital support would be possible.

"Status?!" He shouted over the team's comm.
"Innies did a number on the relay, I'll have to run a full diagnostic and reboot the main computer to restore the original protocols." Vince replied.
"Better make it quick!"

More and more Innies arrived, quickly tipping the scale of balance of their standoff. With each passing moment the Innies became more brazen. Some even began to scale the wall from the outside. Tony frowned, the Innies would never waste this much manpower and resources attempting to recapture a position. They relied more on hit and run guerilla style tactics. These Innies were far too organized, whatever they wanted to hide with the jamming signal was of paramount importance to them.

Tony stopped firing and ducked behind the bullet ridden warthog to reload the M3A3 he liberated from a dead combatant, his DMR ran dry ages ago. Hearing David shout in pain, he glanced up at him and saw that he took a bullet in his left arm. Letting his left arm go slack, he continued to operate the M41 with just his right arm. That mad bastard would never stopped fighting as long as he was able.
"Vince!" Tony shouted over the comm. "I need an ETA we're getting overrun!"
"Working on it Sarge, they did a lot of damage to the relay!"
Tony seated a new magazine and returned to a firing position, as he did he spotted an Innie standing on the wall with a M41 rocket launcher aiming right at them. The M3A3 was ineffective at this range, he would have to release an extremely controlled burst. Tony moved to get his sight on the target lining him up carefully and squeezed the trigger. But he was too late, Tony eyes widened at the sight of the barrel of the rocket launcher lit up in flame as the chemical propellant ignited to sent the rocket on its course.

Time slowed, as Tony shouted at his oldest squadmate to move out of the way of the approaching explosive. Just before the rocket left the tube he saw a bullet impact the Innie's chest, causing the rocket to go off course. Fueled by adrenaline and instinct Tony dove away from the warthog to avoid shrapnel and a possible fuel explosion. The flash of light and sound were disorienting, Tony looked up to see the warthog being tossed over onto its side by the force of the explosion, throwing David from the gun. He hit the ground with a hard thud and laid there still.

John moved as quickly as his legs could carry him, he was still feeling the effects of his landing. He had since run out of painkillers and was relying on stim patches to push himself. Tearing off an old stim patch he rubbed a new one onto his forearm and took a deep breath. All the gunfire coming from the relay told him the squad was in danger. John still couldn't get any of them on comms, if the jamming signal was still up they might need his help.

He came to the end of the tree line and was able to get a clear view of the compound's exterior. Innies swarmed around the outside walls. Some of them created makeshift staircases out of crates to climb over the walls. Using his practiced eye John estimated himself about three kilometers from the target, shooting at this distance would be difficult especially in his state. He would have preferred being a little closer to the targets, but he couldn't afford not to act, the fighting was getting worse, he had to help the squad.

John began to scan his potential targets, he spotted an Innie scaling the wall with an M41 rocket launcher. He became John's first unlucky target, John relaxed his breathing and tried to steady his aim, all the stim patches were causing his arms to tremble. He waited for his target to finish scaling the wall, at three kilometers away it would take his bullet eight seconds to reach his target. The less the target moved the better, if he was at a hundred percent he would estimated his target movements and taken the shot, but in his handicapped state he couldn't risk missing the target. The Innie completed his climb stood on the wall, John fired. The next eight seconds felt like an eternity. He watched helplessly as the rocket fired, while simultaneously his bullet struck his target in the chest, causing the rocket to go wide, impacting somewhere in the compound. John hoped the rocket didn't strike any of his squadmates, but he couldn't dwell on that now. He began to target the other Innies in order to disrupt their attack. One by one they began to fall.

Someone was shouting at Tony, but he couldn't make out any of the words over the ringing in his ears. He lifted his head to see the flaming wreckage of the warthog, still covering him from enemy gunfire. Vince was off to his left dragging an unconscious David with his left arm while firing his pistol with his right.
"Sarge! Sarge, get inside!"
He shook the fog from his head, and reached for the nearest rifle, wincing in pain, shrapnel caught him in his right shoulder. Briefly glancing down he had small cuts all over his right side. He grabbed the rifle with his left hand and retreated into the main building. For some unknown reason the gunfire had lessened up, Tony knew better than to question good fortune. He took a defensive position at the main door while Vince checked on David removing his helmet and portions of his armor.
"How is he?"
"Unconscious, multiple bullet wounds and lacerations, possible head injury. How about you?"
"Took some Shrapnel, nothing serious, worry about David. What's the status of the relay?"
"The jamming signal's down, planetary comms should be working again but its going to be a while before the relay is fully functional again. I got worried when neither of you acknowledge my message."
"Good work Vince. See if you can raise John on squad comms, I'll Contact Armstrong."
Keeping one eye on the door Tony radioed the frigate tasked to provide the squad support.
"This is Alpha-12 Actual calling UNSC Frigate Armstrong, how copy?"
"This is UNSC Armstrong, good copy, ready to render support."
"Armstrong, requesting immediate archer barrage, danger close, half a klick north of our location trailing north. Authentication: Raptor-One-Six-Kilo-Niner."
"Copy Alpha-12, archer missiles inbound."

While Tony radioed to Armstrong, Vince contacted John.

"Alpha 12-4 to Alpha 12-3."
"This is Alpha 12-3, good to hear from you Vince."
"Likewise, what's your status?"
"Pretty banged up from my landing, I'm three kilometers to your north east laying down sniper fire. How's the squad?"
"David's unconscious and Sarge is wounded, he's calling in support and re-"
Tony switched comm channels and interrupted.
"Alpha 12, listen up, Armstrong's bringing the rain, danger close north of the relay trailing north.
"You dropping down ordinance Gunny? That's one hell of a welcome back present."
"John, good to hear from you, are you clear?"
"I'm three klicks away, should be fine, going to be one hell of a view though." John said as he watched seven missiles streak through the atmosphere.