Outside New Addie, Providence
November 29, 2557
Bowman felt the weightlessness take over as he stepped into the frigate's ground gravity lift. The field easily neutralized his anchoring on the ground and looking down, he could see the surrounding environment begin to grow smaller. Everything shrunk as he was lifted nearly twenty stories off the ground. Shade turrets, Covenant supply crates and the mass of dead bodies that he and Pine had slain in order to board.
The frigate's ventral side opened up and the Spartans felt their own gravity take over. Underneath them, the lift sealed shut a second before their boots hit the ground. Pine flexed his knees to absorb the shock from the impact. He had stowed the sniper rifle on his back for an M6G pistol, since its ranged advantage would be virtually obsolete. The advanced optics of his Deadeye-class helmet were also disabled, except for the shorter range motion trackers.
Bowman did a quick check of his MA5D rifle and pistol, both in well operating condition, but his ammo supply was limited.
"First things first, we locate the shield generators and take them offline. That way Austal and Fowler are able to board from above." He keyed his comm channel, "Fowler what's your ETA?"
"We've begun descent already. We're in the high atmosphere and expected to hit the frigate in six minutes."
"Shield Generator area is just a couple of rooms away." Hades said, "The quickest path is through that doorway and you'll encounter moderate resistance."
"Copy all."
The door opened with a flash of its border lights and revealed a long hallway with splitting ends.
A single brute captain and a squad of jackals had been patrolling and yelped in surprise at their new visitors.
The Spartans reacted faster. Bowman drilled the brute with his rifle and Pine squeezed off shots from his magnum. Two of the jackals had their craniums turned inside out. The brute's shields flared and died. It roared and returned fire from the underhand grenade launcher.
Bowman leapt to the side to avoid two of the grenades and pulled out his sidearm, emptying his clip into the ape. The forty five caliber rounds punctured his hide and it went down with a wet gurgle.
"Grab that Brute Shot." Bowman gestured to the grenade belt on the dead captain. "You'll probably do more damage than just a magnum."
Pine scooped it up, frowning at its awkward holding and yanked the spare belts off the corpse. "Just remind me not to fire it too close."
"Fowler and Austal are now four minutes away."
"Copy that." Bowman stacked on the side and leaned out, exposing just part of his upper body and weapon. "Clear."
They proceeded down the hallway into the shield generator room.
It was full of hostiles. A pack of brutes, mix of grunts, jackals and in the center was a chieftain. Scanning his face when he turned indicated he was not a council member, but that didn't spare the fact that they all needed to be taken out. Behind the forces was the large cylindrical blue-white generator. From this room, all shielding on the vessel could be controlled. Proceeding the generator field was a U shaped array of panels and displays to show the shield status.
"No way we're going to take them all with this."
"Let's just go."
Bowman freed a frag grenade from his belt and tossed it towards the largest cluster of grunts and jackals. The Spartans dashed to cover barricades when the grenade detonated.
The brutes barked orders to their lesser soldiers, trying to contain the chaos. Plasma and spike fire flew overhead, impacting the wall behind them.
Leaning out, Bowman peppered a pair of jackals with his rifle and eliminated three grunts with his grenade. "Last mag!"
Ross fired the brute shot at the tougher hostiles. At first, he was surprised at the amount of recoil it had for an underhand weapon accompanied by a grip. The grenades traveled over the side, creating explosions with the force of two grenades. Two of the less armored brutes went down, their bodies crackling with the electric charge accompanied by the high-explosive projectiles.
The chieftain snarled, shouldering the all too familiar golden overhand rocket launcher. The fuel rod gun was a highly feared weapon. It was devastating in both close and long range combat.
The gun fired radioactive fuel rods, smaller man-portable versions used on Covenant anti-armor explosives. It was similar to the arm mounted guns on lekgolo hunters, but they fired a gel-like projectile instead. They fired quickly and did devastating damage to armor.
In the War Games simulator, a fuel rod gun was powerful enough to kill a Spartan with a single direct hit.
Message was; steer clear of that.
The chieftain launched a flurry of fuel rods, hitting the back wall. The Spartans' shields flickered from being downed and they felt heat from the blast prick their skin.
"I'm flanking them!" Bowman shouted before he took off.
Popping out of cover, it didn't take long for the chieftain to target him with the fuel rod. The Captain ducked just as more soared over his head. Diving to the floor, he had avoided the splash damage to his shields.
The brute shot could certainly lay down a whole lot of hurt with a rapid dispensation of its six grenades. It shot them out as fast as he could pull the trigger, although it wasn't a bright idea, since it kicked like an angry cow.
He spotted movement to his left and whirled around. A blue shielded jackal chattered, snapping its teeth and raising a needler.
Pine thrust the blade bayonet outwards. It caught the jackal at the base of its neck and the razor edge cut through with the smoothness of a cleaver. The jackal fell back in a pool of open blood with its head nearly lopped off.
"Ross we're inbound one minute! Why aren't those shields down yet?" Austal yelled. From his icon on the HUD, they were falling rapidly on the back of the frigate.
"We're working on it! Standby!" Bowman yelled back over the gunfire.
"Damn it!" Fowler cut in, "Tell the Cap he's just blowing shit up, not writing a goddamn novel!"
"We got our own problems here!" Pine took another shot at the chieftain. A lucky grenade directly impacted him, but instead of falling, he nearly stumbled back. The smaller brute in front of him wasn't so lucky.
"We're going to be bouncing on a very heavy trampoline if you don't hurry!"
The chieftain unleashed another barrage of fuel rods towards Ross' position. One of them detonated close and threw him in the air away from his cover. He was out in the open.
The chieftain let out a pleasing growl and took aim with the launcher.
With a war cry, Bowman broke cover, sprinting over open ground and crashed straight into the larger brute and knocking it over. The fuel rod skidded out of his hands away from grabbing range.
The other grunts and brutes were surprised at this bold move and Pine took out his sidearm, putting the small aliens down with single accurate shots. A brute tried to hammer him with his burly arm, which was ducked. Ross then jammed the barrel into his headdress and emptied the final three rounds out of his pistol.
The chieftain tossed Bowman off of him and landed a devastating punch on his stomach that felt like his own insides had just been liquiefied. As he struggled to reinflate his lungs when standing up, he unsheathed his CQC WS combat knife. Standard issue, although he secretly envied Austal's twin custom Sting throwing blades.
The brute charged, closing the gap between them in seconds. Bowman anticipated it, sidestepping and thrusting the blade into the first gap he could find in the split second. The skin was tough and it seemed that the sharp tool was suffering more damage than its target. Kind of like trying to stab concrete.
The brute roared in pain, flailing his arms behind his back to try and dislodge the knife stuck in its hide. Bowman whirled around, his foot lashing out to the midsection. The kick caused it to reel even more and some of the armor underneath had buckled from the force.
Seeing his chance, Bowman used the distraction to sprint towards the controls.
The brute was much faster. It tackled him with surprising speed and he nearly got the wind knocked out of him a second time.
Thinking fast, he noticed an advantage and used it to the fullest.
Pine had killed the last brute by bashing his empty magnum on its head thrice before he sprinted over to the controls to deactivate them.
Bowman grabbed the brute's belt and yanked on it. Satisfied, he twisted out of the grip and shoulder barged it away.
The physical strength of a Spartan was amazing, but it seemed as if the brute's motions were as if a bully had merely shoved it.
When it snarled at Bowman, he held up his hand. In it he clasped a pair of spike grenade pins.
UNSC Medical Facility, Lumbar Mountain Range, Providence
The gear that Ivey and Gabrielle had brought was small enough to fit in a single blue duffel bag. Slung over the man's shoulders, the pair made their way into the civilian ward of the facility.
The tunnels stretched towards a farther plateau of the range where snow had begun to dust the area. Winters could grow harsh from unrelenting cold and the dryness. Already the water supply was limited and the staff had sent teams up into the mountain area to bring back snow for melting.
The Admiral in charge of the Providence had reluctantly let any media through and explicitly told all of them that he and his deployed forces couldn't guarantee their safety if they proceeded.
When they agreed, they were transported a long way, heading clear from the attention of the single Covenant Battleship standing in between the planet and the majority of the UNSC fleet.
Gabrielle knew that neither of them was supposed to be there, but she knew the output of a fat check was what had made her take the risk. Ivey was allowed along as well, since he had training with weapons.
Already the two of them had begun to document the events unfolding, interviewing evacuated civilians, medical and military personnel. This was a rendezvous point to evacuate civilians from New Addie and her suburban areas.
"You've been awfully quiet the entire trip." Ivey said next to her, "I don't think I've ever heard your voice except for interviews and all."
"It pays to save breath." Gabrielle grinned. In the short time they had been together, Ivey had presented himself as a very social and likeable person. His demeanor also seemed like it hid something else, but she thought little of it, most likely a family concern. "I'm just thinking if this ends up like one of the glassed colonies like Draco III." He noticed a trace of a tear in her eye.
Ivey nodded, most people knew well about that colony and the fate of its inhabitants. Once all the UNSC defenders had been neutralized, the Covenant herded up the remaining human survivors to be ripped apart by vicious grunts and jackals. Footage was leaked, showing the horrific acts. Everyone died; men, women and children. None were spared.
Draco III was considered one of the most horrifying battles of the war and the Spartan-IIs of Red and Blue Team were deployed against them. In return, they easily defeated the Covenant occupiers in a ruthless slaughter when witnessing the feed, avenging the victims.
"What interests you about Draco III?" Ivey asked.
Gabrielle looked out, "That's where I last heard from my sister."
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright. Not many people know about it. Just another secret to keep from everyone."
"Everyone? You got any family?"
She nodded, "Well if you count immediate family, then no. My mother's dead and I have no idea where my father is. Only family member I really consider now is my boyfriend."
"He'll understand if you tell him. What's his name?"
"Marcus. Marcus Austal."
Ivey raised an eyebrow. Gabrielle noticed the gesture, "You know him?"
"I've heard the name."
The Spartans are in a position to eliminate most of the Covenant fleet, but is it enough?
Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.