Lumbar Mountain Range, Providence
December 1, 2557
Although the Council of Chieftains was now on the defensive, the fight for the planet was far from over. Brute forces still maintained an iron grip on New Addie as well as the majority of the continental area west of the capital city.
Thanks to Abdicated Fortitude's retreat from a surprise UNSC naval assault, Admiral Brady and the Diablo were able to provide much needed reinforcements to the exhausted Eon and their ODST contingent. The cruiser had already detected the convoy of survivors from the base and sent Pelicans to evacuate them to a trio of UNSC corvettes who would then take all the civvies to the safe space of Jupiter. They then provided relief in the form of reinforcements and medical supplies to the wounded.
This was the beginning of Operation: FINAL DRIVE, the UNSC's last homecoming push to end the war on Providence once and for all to drive the Council of Chieftains and their followers away. Fighting nonstop for nearly three days now, this would be Eon's last mission before a long well-deserved leave for a couple months.
Despite all of their protests to stay on duty, Tyrant wouldn't take no to his assigning.
"Think of it as paid vacation." He said during their debrief, "Right after you complete this last assignment."
"This is Frostbite Four-One, airspace is clear, standing by to assault perimeter defenses with a full payload of sixty eighty eights." On the orbital feed just at the edge of the mountains, a holographic display of three broadsword fighter squads rapidly approached the main brute forces.
"Frostbite Four-One, you are green for engaging."
"Knocking on the door. Five seconds. Weapons away." Just as the pilot replied, several of the enemy blips vanished.
"Confirmed Frostbite Four-One, all perimeter targets are neutralized. Pull your boys back and ready escort. Time for Phase Two."
The interior of the Diablo was a flurry of activity on its starboard side hangars. More than a dozen pelicans sat in the bays, all of them loading the mighty M808B scorpion tanks. Crewman rushed to meet the schedule, loading ordinance and performing final checks before the operation kic
Weighing at sixty six metric tons with super dense Titanium-A armor, the scorpions were the UNSC's primary armored fighting vehicle. Production started out with the M808B variant bearing the brunt of the human's vehicular force, however the Bravo model became much more scarce after the war and the standard 808 became the mainline. However, that didn't mean the Bravo model was retired. The UNSC's scorpion tanks of all variants were as lethal as any and with threats coming from out and within, all the assets available were necessary.
Packing a single M510 ninety mm smooth bore cannon, the shells ripped straight through enemy shields and made a complete mess out of anything that was organic. Even the mighty hunters stood no chance after being directly hit by the lethal gun.
The tanks all had an emblem painted into the right sides of their hull, depicting a black hooded figure with a scythe in one hand and holding up tiny skulls. Some of the tanks had their emblems with more skulls than others.
These scorpions were those of the famous Reaper Company, one of the most decorated armored battalions during the Human-Covenant War. Originally, numbering forty tanks, Reaper Company participated in massive UNSC drives, most notably the Battle of Mare Erythraeum and the Battle of Istanbul, where they were the only armored unit to stand between four Covenant columns and a massive scarab. Through several hours of brutal fighting, they prevented them from advancing into south and east Europe, where the armed forces located inside the city still had yet to ready themselves.
Six of the Reaper's tanks were destroyed that day, but in their eyes it was a fair trade as they had demolished nearly three times that amount in Covenant assets, plus a scarab walker.
At the end of the docks, two of the pelicans were going to carry the rarer M850s, better known as Grizzlies. The two commanders of the Reapers would be commandeering these ones.
The Diablo had now descended to twenty thousand feet, just over the peaks of the Lumbar Mountains. One by one, the pelican's engines fired up and they accelerated out of the hangar down to the surface.
"All Reapers online."
"Rodger." The Sergeant shut the hatch to his Grizzly, "Reaper Two is ready."
After all members of the tank battalion checked in, Reaper One began to address his team, "Alright boys, here's the plan. Operation: FINAL DRIVE is in full swing. Our targets are two Covenant spires, one in downtown New Addie and two of the Spartans are taking the second out a couple miles out to sea. One of them contains a teleportation terminal linked directly to the Covenant battleship. One it is down, the navy will eliminate the carrier. In order to make the approach to the city spire possible, we need to eliminate the hostile antiaircraft wraiths. They'll shoot our birds right out of the sky." He paused for a moment, "Any questions?"
No replies. "Good. We just got the green light. Prep all systems online."
"Roger." The second in command replied, "Reaper Two ready."
After all the tank crews checked in, Reaper Two shut a visor over his helmet with the digital display. The grizzly was still locked to the pelican and a quick look at his surroundings.
By now the pelican had descended to a couple hundred feet above a plain field, surrounded by his fellow comrades. The skyline of New Addie loomed in the distance and even more ominously was the bulbous Covenant battleship holding position right above it.
Some of the buildings were billowing black smoke to trail into the sky while other parts of the former beautiful metropolis seemed to be unscathed by plasma. One of the buildings had a pair of spider-like scarab walkers clinging to its face. Just before the first large cluster of buildings, the Covenant spire stood out, its vivid purple color contrasting the gray structures erected around it.
"Approaching designated drop zone. ETA in thirty."
"Copy that!" Reaper One boomed, "All Reapers, prep for armor drop!"
"We got bogeys incoming on our eleven!" No sooner the pilot called it out, the pelicans shook as a flock of seraph fighters strafed the lines. Luckily a squad of broadswords had swooped in, watching the dropships from above to save them from a shootdown.
Reaper Two looked over to his co-pilot and they fist bumped, noting that the pelicans were descending. The fun was about to start.
"Ten seconds out."
"Copy that." Two ran a quick scan of his systems, all green.
"Five. Four. Three. Two. One." The pilot called out, "Disengaging clamps, releasing armor. Go get em Reapers."
The two clamps holding the grizzly released and the tank was in freefall for a good twenty feet before impacting the ground, its treads flexing as it absorbed the shock of the eighty ton machine.
The pelicans dropping off the armored division slowed to a crawl and then accelerated into the sky upon releasing their cargo.
"I think we got their attention." Reaper One commented. Just in front of the spire, the crew could see a dozen banshees headed their way. Just at the end of the field were three wraiths, already active and moving in their crablike manner. "Alright boys, pick your lucky targets!"
There was no hesitation to fire. Both grizzlys were leading the pack and opened up with their twin one twenties right after another. They slammed into two of the wraiths putting them out of the fight.
The scorpions behind let out their shells of doom. The third wraith never stood a chance and the banshees had all been swatted out of the sky like flies.
"That the best they got?"
"Easy Redeye." Reaper One said, "That was just the first wave. Recon said that there were sizeable amounts so expect anything from wraiths to a scarab."
"And everything in between."
"That's right Ram. Reaper Two, take Raven and Raider to the left side to scout up. The rest of you are maintaining this heading."
"Copy. Raven, Raider on me."
"Roger." Both chimed.
Reaper Two throttled forward, parting the side field as they came into the suburban area. A small playground obstructed their access to the street, but the grizzly had flattened it.
"That's what I love about tanks." Raider chuckled from behind, "We always got the right of way."
Reaper Two followed the street as it looped around the suburban area. They had just reached one of the subcities of New Addie and had about two miles until they hit the spire.
"Hang on." Raven reported, "My motion tracker picked up a vehicle."
Reaper Two's remained clear, "Mine's clear."
"Yeah. Nothing." Raider added.
"Keep your eyes peeled." He said, "Reaper One, how's it going?"
"Lots of brute armor." Even over the rumbling of the tank's engine, they could hear the booming sounds of the UNSC tank cannons firing. To them, it was a sweet sweet sound. "Multiple wraiths engaging on us. If possible, cut through the residential area and cut off any reinforcements. I don't want us walking into a trap."
Raven's cannon barked and Reaper two saw a shot punch straight through a rather nice house. Smoke suddenly blossomed on the other side and shards of metal exploded out onto the street. Some of the pieces glowed dull orange.
"Brute chopper." Raven said after a moment of silence.
"Let's not overstay ourselves," Reaper Two proceeded forward, casting a look at the smoldering hunk of metal and mangled body at the back. "All this cover with the houses gives them an advantage so keep eye on the corners."
Five minutes later, Reaper Two, Raven and Raider had left the housing area and now advanced to the highway. They had left four more destroyed choppers in their wake.
Realigned with Reaper One just a few minutes behind, Reaper Two and his two scorpion accomplices pressed forward, moving a couple miles away from the spire, the designated target.
"Reaper One, we got a problem."
"Say again Reaper Two."
"Significant brute armor obstructing our path." The tank driver's eyes widened, never had he seen one up close.
"Significant?"
"Hostile scarab class armor blocking our advance to the spire. Requesting backup now!"
The monstrous quadrupedal machine resembled a giant purple quadrupedal spider and possessed enough firepower to turn event the mighty grizzlies into heaps of slag. The lights at the very front shifted down to see the three tanks and judging by its tense posture, it did not greet them fairly well.
Reaper Two led off with two shots, followed by Raven and Raider. The smoothbore shells detonated straight at its "eyes" but visibly did little damage.
A loud screech followed and the scarab's mouth began glowing green.
"Move!" Reaper Two screamed to his two compatriots. He knew exactly what was about to happen.
Jerking the throttle and twisting the grizzly to move laterally, the tank lurched forward just as the scarab targeted and fired a devastating beam of plasma. Fortunately, the main gun traveled at a slower speed, so they had to time it right in order to survive. Their odds of three tanks against a monstrous scarab were very lopsided.
Raven and Raider circled underneath the tank, taking shots at its belly. To their dismay, the undercarriage was thickly armored and it did nothing more to piss it off. The scarab backed up, trying to expose the threats underneath, but it never took its eyes off Reaper Two.
"Destroy the scarab now!"
He fired both cannons just as the scarab fired again, the shells did nothing to stop the plasma stream and his movement just got all but one tread. The Titanium armor covering it immediately burned off in an explosion and parts of the motor had melted too.
"Fuck." Reaper Two cursed, seeing the scarab still ignoring Raider and Raven and preparing to deliver a final shot. His hands trembled as he tried to hit the escape hatch. If he had enough time, maybe he could be out of the vehicle before it was vaporized. The tread was destroyed and the tank immobilized, hence its uselessness. The scarab had the vehicle squarely in its sights and was already charging a finishing blow.
"Sorry girl." He remorsefully apologized, chuckling slightly from the irony of him talking to a machine. It was the first time he had ever done so.
The hatch opened with a hiss and he peered out to see the scarab nearly done charging its fatal beam.
A flurry of shots suddenly erupted from the right as Reaper One and the rest of the company had arrived. They had seen Reaper Two's predicament and wasted no time in saving their comrade.
The scarab turned its attention to the nine tanks approaching and fired back. The beam cut through the air and all the UNSC assets scattered like a bunch of roaches.
"All units OPEN FIRE!" Reaper One shouted.
At once, another volley of thunderbolts crashed into the scarab's front legs, detonating in deafening balls of fire. The scarab suddenly collapsed to the ground, with a third round from all available units severing the joints.
"Reaper Two? You okay?"
"Yeah. Thanks for the save."
Reaper One chuckled, "You can buy us all a drink later."
"Can't wait." He couldn't help but grin at the rest of the company's laughs that followed.
"Command, perimeter defenses around the downtown spire are neutralized. Proceeding with Phase Three."
"Copy Reaper One, take all remaining assets in fighting condition and eliminate the brute offensive occupying the highway entrance west of your location. Spartan team is active and en route."
Two pelicans crested the sky, banking left to face the spire. The structure served as an outpost from the Abdicated Fortitude and its carrier escort. The remains of their fleet had engaged the Diablo and her own fleet and losing rapidly. Without the assistance of the battleship or the carrier, it was only a matter of time before the UNSC came out on top.
Fowler and Austal were taking the city spire, while Bowman and Pine were out against the one situated off the coast. The Council of Chieftains were feeding troops from the carrier down to the planet from one of those two spires, which housed a teleportation terminal.
Unfortunately any HAVOK warheads were out of system and wouldn't reach Providence for a couple of days which could prove disastrous, so an EOD team from the Diablo had recovered a M4093 Hyperion missile that was launched and deactivated earlier in the battle, using its three warheads to improvise. Techs had already outfitted timers and detonators to them and all they needed was to commence delivery.
One of the warheads was nearly ten feet long and it was far too heavy for two Spartans to carry, so it was strapped to a flatbed warthog and would be dropped off at the top floor.
Fowler and Austal immediately saw small groups of grunts and brutes firing up at them with small arms in attempt to defend their position. The pelican's chin mounted gun spooled up and it sent a solid stream of light down at the floor, mincing all the hostile infantry on the top floor.
"LZ is clear, I'm bringing you down." The pilot confirmed before slowly descending down to level out with the deck.
Fowler and Austal jumped out, performing a quick scan of the area as the second pelican detached the flatbed warthog with the improvised nuke.
"Let's clear the inside."
The closest door opened up and they stepped through into a large bluish chamber. A large set of doors was ahead and they parted to reveal a group of brutes, including a captain with a hammer.
The Spartans both primed a grenade and tossed it up the ramps to their location. They detonated, killing three brutes and alerting them to their position.
Fowler sprinted forward, finding the closest target and letting loose with his assault rifle. Further back, Austal dropped one with six bursts from a BR85. He then unslung a brute shot and rapidly fired all four grenades, clearing most everyone out.
The captain had staggered back and swung his arms around to strike with the hammer, just as Fowler put a full clip into him and Austal had launched two grenades right at his face.
"Clear."
"Alright, let's secure the terminal."
The two of them proceeded cautiously up to the main room, stacking up on the sides of the door when it opened. It wasn't uncommon for something unconventional like the brute stalker units to be lying in wait.
"Hey," Fowler stopped looking over his shoulder, "What is it?"
"Something feel kind of off to you?"
"What are you talking about?"
Austal shrugged, taking a look around, "I mean this. We blew past a scarab and two lances of brute infantry. You think an entrance to a capital ship wouldn't be more heavily guarded?"
"No idea."
They proceeded slowly inside the room, noting a large purple circle and a small console floating in midair at the back of the room.
They noticed something else too. A dark object about the size of a mongoose ATV sat in the corner and beeped online, a motion sensor detecting the two Spartans.
Fowler and Austal were already in fight or flight mode with every fiber of their instinct screaming at them to get out. He didn't need to give it a second glance to know that it was a bomb.
The younger Spartan was already scared enough and they quickly bolted to the exit when it exploded.
Both of them were thrown in the air as if they were rag dolls as the entire chamber atop the spire exploded, blue fire shooting out of the open roof and side entrances. The warthog was hit by a concussive wave and it teetered on the deck's edge before slipping off the side, crashing two hundred and ten feet below.
Fowler was lucky and managed to land on his stomach, hearing his own heart beat rather loudly in his ears. Austal on the other hand, had hit the wall with his back taking the brunt of the impact.
Austal had done a little bit of work with explosives and bombs during his tenure with the Marine expeditionary forces and it could be much of a liability when it came to deducing with extreme precision about any explosive device in how and if it would kill.
Fowler had a slight cushion from the blast and probably suffered from broken bones, but Austal's back was closer and he had been catapulted forward by the extreme pressure with the force turning him around and slamming into the wall hard enough to partially tear through.
He found himself shivering and it wasn't even from the matched temperature his MJOLNIR was providing and his mind flashed through various scenarios upon his death. Lately, he had listed Gabrielle Addison as his only family contact and now he could see her at the next door apartment, answering to a pair of stern uniformed men and being regretfully informed that he has died in a bomb explosion. The fantasy scene was enough to block out the frantic calls from the pilot to their transponders. He had some very close calls as a Spartan, but this one easily topped them all by a longshot.
The hum of engines faded into hearing just as blackness claimed his eyes.
Nice close call at the end. Sorry I haven't been on for a while, but I fully intend to finish the story and start again.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.