Chapter 9: Coming in Hard and Fast
Firebase Sherman Command Tent
"She's late." Mako growled.
"I'm sure she has her reasons." Major Mackenzie sighed.
Officers from both the Marine and Rebel Covenant forces had gathered together in the command tent/makeshift briefing room to try and discuss a strategy for their ultimate goal: the capture of the Loyalist Covenant's last remaining stronghold on Karth.
"Sorry I'm late sir." Karla strode into the room.
"Ah, Captain Wellings. I'm glad that you could make it." Mackenzie grinned.
Karla sat down and realized that her helmet didn't really fit quite right. Shit, she probably picked up Paccone's helmet by accident. It didn't really matter much anyway, since she was planning on taking it off during the briefing.
"Well, now that we're all here, we can finally begin this briefing." Mackenzie nodded to Pelamee who was standing next to him. "Me and Unit Commander Pelamee have been discussing a suitable war strategy for ending the civil war on Karth and right now, we are actually in a position to achieve that objective."
There was some anxious muttering throughout the tent. This was obviously big news. Mackenzie pointed to a crudely drawn map of the Citadel and the surrounding cityscape.
"We've punched a hole in the Loyalist Covenant line that gives us a straight approach to the Citadel, the last serious base of power for them on this entire planet. However, it should come to no surprise that the objective in question also happens to be the most heavily defended area on the entire planet." There were several snickers among the audience at the remark. "To pull this off, both we and our Covenant friends here will be playing to our strengths."
Mackenzie picked up a marker and began drawing several large arrows on the map, each one pointing towards the Citadel.
"Pelamee and his forces are going to use their numbers advantage, surround the Citadel, and push it in from all sides. Meanwhile, our forces will be driving straight in." Mackenzie pointed to a small arrow on the map. "We'll punch through the weakest point of their line and destroy them from the inside out."
"Excuse me, sir." Wrall raised his hand. "But how are we going to do that?"
"Pelamee and his associates have informed me that there is a maze of utility tunnels underneath the Citadel. The tunnels are not guarded very heavily because the Loyalists aren't expecting much activity down there."
"How wide are the tunnels?"
"They're pretty narrow, but they're big enough to cram a Scorpion through. That's how we're going to punch through down there. I'm pretty sure the Covvies down there won't know what to do when staring down the barrel of Scorpion."
Everybody laughed at the prospect.
"Anyways," Mackenzie continued, "We'll have sniper teams posted on the surrounding buildings for recon and suppression duties. We'll also be landing a small crack unit onto the roof of the Citadel and try and breach the thing from the top. That's where our Pelicans come in."
"Are there any anti-aircraft defenses around the Citadel?" Barfbag asked nervously.
"Well of course there are." Mackenzie drew several circles on the map. "There's a ring of plasma turrets designed to shoot down incoming aircraft, but Pelamee's Banshees should help screen you against their fire. Is everything clear now?"
Mackenzie eyed the audience again, waiting for any more questions.
"I also have to inform you that we are committing everything we have to this battle. That means the only assets you'll have at your disposal are the ones you bring with you. We have no reserves, no reinforcements, and we can't totally rely on the Separatists to back us up."
"So this is basically a do-or-die mission." Karla said.
"In so many words, yes." Mackenzie nodded. "The attack is scheduled to start in eighteen hours. I suggest you start organizing your men and packing up whatever you can. Dismissed."
Firebase Sherman
"I hope you like flying, boys and girls." Paccone grinned as he approached his squad. "We're one of the lucky squads who are going to get straight into the middle of the pile of crap that's building up."
"Typical." Kumi sighed.
"Sam and Leo are on sniper duty. Suppression, recon, all that normal stuff. The rest of us be knocking on the roof of whatever the hell they call that huge tower thing." Paccone pointed to the Citadel in the distance. "And our lives will be in the hands of good ol Barfbag."
"Crap." Sam, Leo, and Kumi all said in unison.
Motor Pool
"Get them ready and get them moving!" Karla yelled as Marines hurriedly began packing and inspecting their vehicles. "Get these vehicles combat ready!"
"We're really going all out on this one, aren't we?" Wrall strode alongside Karla. "I mean, we're even grabbing the transport and supply hogs and bolting weapons onto them."
"That's right. We're going to need every ounce of firepower we can get. This operation is going to depend on a lot our armored push."
"But in narrow tunnels. Damn, that's going to be murder on our mobility." Wrall winced.
"It can't be helped." Karla shrugged. "We're running so low on supplies, the Pelicans are pretty much on their last tanks of fuel and some of our Marines barely even have a full clip of ammunition. We have to end the fighting on our terms or we all die."
"No pressure, huh?"
"You cannot even begin to imagine."
5 kilometers from the Citadel
"I hope you kids are strapped in tight." Barfbag said as he leveled out his Pelican. "I predict that things are going to get bad and get bad fast."
Barfbag glanced at the rear of the Pelican and made a quick count of his passengers. He had one Marine squad and a Spartan sitting in his ship. As if that weren't bad enough, he and the rest of the Pelican formation were surrounded by a flight of supposedly friendly Banshees, headed towards a heavily defended LZ, all while running on half a tank of fuel.
Yeah, there wasn't a single thing that could go wrong here.
"We've reached the first LZ. Sniper Team Five, now is the time to get the hell off of my ship."
"And we love you too, Barfbag." Sam said sweetly as she hopped off the Pelican. "Try not to play chicken with the ground or anything. It'll suck trying to find a new sergeant I like."
Sam and Leo watched as the Pelican slowly rose in the air and shot away into the distance. They then immediately began to set up their sniper gear. Sam quickly assembled and mounted her rifle, ready to fire while Leo set up his optical and communications gear. Once the other sniper teams had sent confirmation of their locations, they began to scan their designated zones.
"This is Sniper Team Five." Leo said into his radio. "Sectors Three to Six are hot. Multiple infantry and armor units taking position from position 432 to 535."
"Roger that, Sniper Team Five." An anonymous controller replied, "Continue reconnaissance. Orders are to hold fire until cleared to do so."
"Damn." Sam sighed. "Guess I'll just have to wait for my fun."
Citadel Utility Tunnels
"I despise these tunnels.' A'kash hissed as he slunk along the interior of the utility tunnel. "It is too hot, too humid, too dark, and too damp down here for my tastes."
"Calm yourself, A'kash." K'var sighed. However, he had similar sentiments. Patrolling the Citadel utility tunnels was usually a task delegated to the Unggoy, but ever since the ungrateful little creatures rebelled along with the Sangheili, K'var and his fellow Kig-Yar found themselves on the bottom of the Covenant hierarchy. K'var had almost wished that the more sensible Sangheili would have ejected the brutish Jiralhanae from the Covenant. Almost.
Another thing A'kash disliked about being posted in these infernal tunnels wasn't just the fact that it was a degrading task. The narrow tunnels, humid air, and running machinery basically numbed all of his superior senses. The darkness hampered his eyes, the humidity nullified his nose, and the endless hum of machines deafened his ears. The Sangheili with their power armor, the Unggoy with their breather masks, and the humans with their inferior senses would not be as adversely affected as himself and his Kig-Yar brethren.
"Do you hear something?" A'kash cocked his head, trying to hear some inaudible sound.
K'var strained his ears, but all he could hear was the obnoxious humming of generators and sewage pumps. "No, nothing at all."
Suddenly, without warning, a large projectile shot past A'kash and K'var with incredible speed, its wake shoving both Kig-Yar against the sides of the tunnel. Both Kig-Yar looked on in horror as the tank shell continued down the tunnel and plowed straight into the small guard post that was set up farther back in the tunnel. The guard post, and a dozen of A'kash and K'var's fellow Kig-Yar was instantly incinerated in a ball of high explosive fire.
To make things worse, there was a loud clanking noise that began to overwhelm the background hum of machinery. A'kash and K'var both slowly turned, already knowing and dreading what was coming towards them.
With all of its armored fury, Shiela charged down the tunnel like an angry mythical beast, spitting fire at anything that moved. A'kash yelped as a 7.62mm round pierced his thigh. K'var bent down to help his wounded comrade, when a grenade clattered onto the ground beside him. Thinking quickly, K'var grabbed the grenade and raised his arm to lob it back at where he believed the enemies were. Unfortunately for him, at the same exact moment, a rifle burst punched into his elbow, mangling his arm and causing K'var to drop the grenade. He watched in horror as the explosive clattered to the ground on his feet.
"Oh-"
Tarin winced a bit as the grenade made mincemeat out of the pair of Jackals.
"That was a nice shot, Lieutenant!" A passing Marine said, amazed.
"It was nothing." Tarin reloaded her rifle. "Now keep the column moving! If the Covvies didn't know we were coming, they do now!"
Even as she said these words, a long convoy of Warthogs, Scorpions, and Vipers trudged down the tunnel, with groups of vehicles splitting off at intersections to create multiple points of entry and confuse the Covenant defenders.
"It's just as we thought, Captain. The tunnels are playing hell with our wireless communications." Williams turned off his now useless radio. "We've managed to patch into the landlines built into the tunnel, but there's no guarantee that the Covenant won't be able to hear what we're saying."
"Well, that's why I brought some insurance along." Karla motioned to Mako and squad of Elite Black Ops troopers behind her. Mako nodded and one of the black-clad aliens popped open an access hatch and began fiddling with the controls within.
"What's he doing?" Williams asked curiously.
"He is ensuring that our communications cannot be heard by the false Prophets." Mako said proudly. "We are no strangers to the finer arts of electronic warfare."
"Either way, that gives us an advantage over the bad Covvies." Karla waved her arm to signal the convoy to keep moving forward. "Let's keep it moving!"
Citadel Airspace
"We're coming in low and fast." Barfbag announced as the Pelican slowly began to close the distance between it and the Citadel. Bright lances of plasma energy lanced out through the air in a vain attempt to hit the aircraft swarming all around it. "I'm in no mood to get nailed by a plasma turret, so please don't blame me if I have to take a little evasive action."
"Just get us down there in one piece and we'll call it even." Paccone grunted.
"Roger- oh shit!" Barfbag glanced at his radar screen and suddenly made a sharp dive, catching his passengers by surprise. Overhead, a pair of fuel rods flashed past, followed by the Banshees that had fired them. These clearly weren't friendly. "Going evasive!"
Barfbag maxed out throttle. The Pelican shot forward in a surge of speed, flying and weaving through multiple buildings and streets in an attempt to shake off the Banshees. However, the enemy craft were tenacious and kept close on his tail. To make things more interesting, the Pelican's fuel warning began to blare. That meant he only had about thirty minutes of flight time left, tops.
"We've got no time for a clean landing!" Barfbag yelled. "We're going in for a full-fledged combat drop!"
Everybody in the passenger compartment collectively groaned. Combat drops were generally saved for worst case scenarios or when the LZ was too hot for a Pelican to land safely. The drop involved the Pelican flying at the maximum height and speed allowed for a passenger to safely disembark, though in most cases the limit was much higher than that. The passengers would have to leap out of a moving Pelican without severely injuring themselves. Now, this kind of tactic was not much of a problem if the LZ was an open field of grass, but when missions required landing on a small piece of land like the rooftop of a building…
"Are you crazy?" Kumi yelled, suddenly glad that she was strapped into her seat. "If we go out too early, we're paint on the wall, and if we go out too late, we're paint on the ground!"
"That's what makes it interesting!" Paccone laughed and hit the hatch control switch. The Pelican's loading ramp slowly opened, giving the Marines inside a good view of their pursuers.
"Uh, Barfbag? I think you might want to fly a bit faster." Kumi glanced at the Banshees that were slowly growing larger.
"We're over in the roof in five!" Barfbag yelled. "Go go go!"
Kumi took a deep breath and leapt out of the rear hatch. She saw the purple roof of the Citadel rushing up at her. She instinctively curled in a ball and rolled the moment she struck the roof. However, since she was the last one out of the Pelican, that also meant she was the closest to the edge of the roof. The next thing Kumi knew, the ground disappeared underneath her and she was falling…
"Whoa there girl, can't have you dying on me yet!" Paccone grunted and he grabbed Kumi by the collar of her vest. The weight of her falling caused him to slide across the floor but some nearby Marines and Nicole proved more than enough to properly anchor him.
"Th-thanks Sarge." Kumi looked down at the endless abyss under her. "I owe you one."
"Damn, you move pretty fast for an old man." Sam teased through the radio. She had undoubtedly seen the entire scene from her position.
"I am not an old man." Paccone grunted. "I should know, since your sister does not complain at all."
"Ooooh, you win this one, Sarge." Sam growled.
"What about Barfbag?" Kumi gasped as she was hauled back onto the roof.
"Aw, he's gonna be fine." Sam said casually. "He's probably pissing his pants right now, but everything's covered."
There were two distant cracks that reverberated through the cityscape.
"And now loveable old Barfbag can fly home in relative safety." Sam said proudly.
"Alright, let's get this party started!" Paccone waved to the other Marines who had landed on the roof. "Find whatever serves as the door to this damn place and bust it open. The Spartan goes in first and we mop up anything that's left!"
"Watch out, you've got drones coming up from the north side!" Sam warned.
Paccone, wasting no time, whipped around and drew his submachine gun. The storm of bullets ripped through the swarm of drones that began pouring over the edge. At the same time, a squad of Jackals and Brutes burst out from a hatch on the roof, which forced the Marines to divide their attention on two different fronts.
Kumi mainly concentrated on the Drones. The buckshot from her shotgun shells proved to be very effective against the fairly vulnerable and tightly packed Drones, sending insect parts flying and lifeless Drones tumbling to the distant ground below. Meanwhile, Nicole was already tearing through the Jackals and Brutes that had made their way to the roof. The surrounding Marines did a good job pinning the Jackals, leaving Nicole open to deal with the Brutes. She fired off several well controlled bursts from her battle rifle, taking down three Brutes with accurate headshots. A quick punch sent a fourth Brute flying straight off the edge of the roof, sending it plummeting to its death. The fifth and last Brute roared in rage and swung its huge bladed weapon at her. Nicole ducked and avoided the blade with almost superhuman speed. She then sent a powerful kick straight into the Brute's knee, shattering the kneecap and bending the entire leg the other way. The Brute roared in pain and fell over. Nicole then took the chance to leap onto its back, grab its head, and twist it around with a sickening pop. Nicole let the lifeless Brute fall to the ground and glanced at the Jackals. Demoralized by the loss of their heavy-hitters, the Jackals quickly broke ranks and ran, leaving them easy pickings for the Marines. One Jackal looked as if was about to reach the safety of the hatch when its head inexplicably exploded from an unseen bullet.
"No thanks are necessary." Sam said proudly.
"Let's move in!" Paccone yelled and jumped into the hatch, guns blazing.
Utility Tunnels
"Keep her rolling forward." Wrall said as Shiela rumbled down the tunnel. "And keep that cannon firing!"
"The damn transmission is acting funny!" Scottie complained.
"We're in a goddamn tunnel!" Wrall yelled back. "There's only so many directions we can go!"
"I'm just saying, that's all."
"The little bastards are running like the rats they are." Kazi grinned and she looked down her gunsights. "They're not putting up much of fight."
"Better for all of us that way." Shion said as she reached into the ammo compartment to grab another tank shell.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a Jackal armed with a fuel rod cannon appeared from a hidden alcove and fired its weapon. The fuel rod slammed into the rear of the tank, melting armor and frying circuits. Some of the electrical systems shorted and began to catch fire.
"Shit, everybody out!" Wrall yelled, undoing his restraints and popping open the hatch.
With quick, drilled reactions, Scottie and Kazi immediately popped their escape hatches and clambered out of the tank. Wrall was about to do the same when he realized that he had lost track of Shion.
"Shion, where are you?"
"I'm coming!" Shion said. Unfortunately, the fire alarms detected the electrical fires and automatically attempted to seal the ammunition compartments. The door safeties were apparently not working, as the compartment door suddenly slammed shut on Shion's left arm. She screamed and cursed in pain while she tried to pull her arm out. "I'm stuck!"
Wrall paused for a second. He saw two choices before him. He could climb out of the hatch to safety, but that would mean having to leave behind Shion to her inevitable demise. On the other hand, if he stayed, there was the chance that he would be blown up along with Shion once the fires touched off the ammunition.
"Not this time." Wrall said to himself. He leapt down from his seat and rushed to Shion's station. He winced as the smoke from the fires stung his eyes and throat. He stumbled his way to Shion, who was still trying to free her pinned arm. "Stay still!"
Wrall grabbed the edge of the compartment door and pulled with all his might. The door m moved a bit, but not nearly enough to free Shion's arm.
"Get out of here, sir! I don't want you to die because of me!" Shion pleaded.
"No, I am NOT leaving one of my crew behind!" Wrall growled. He pulled harder against the compartment door.
Suddenly, without warning, the compartment door snapped open, making Wrall fall backwards in surprise. He quickly got up, grabbed Shion, and pushed her out through Sheila's hatch. He quickly followed suit and escaped. However, before he left, he saw the compartment door slide back into place, sealing the ammunition off from the fires.
"Are you okay, sir?" Kazi asked as she and Scottie yanked Wrall out of the hatch.
"Yeah, I'm fine. How's Shion?"
"Her arm's busted up pretty bad, but the medics say that she'll be fine."
Wrall glanced over to see a pair of medics tending to Shion's injuries. They applied a quick-setting resin on her arm as a makeshift cast to prevent her from moving it and then escorted her back to the rear.
"That was quite a close call." Karla said as her Warthog pulled up. "Though what interests me is the fact that your creaky leaky old tank hasn't been blown to pieces. Actually, I don't think it's even on fire anymore."
"What?" Wrall glanced at Shiela. The fires that had threatened to engulf the tank and its surroundings were nowhere to be found, as if they had magically vanished. "I have no idea how that happened."
"Well, in any case, we can salvage her after the battle." Karla shrugged. "Though since you're not a tank commander without a tank, I suggest you sit this one out."
"No way, we came too far to back out now. Isn't that right?" Wrall turned to Scottie and Kazi.
"Give me a working gun and I'll take on the Covvies any day!" Scottie boasted.
"I'm in as well." Kazi agreed. "It may not have the same oomph, but a battle rifle does the job as well."
"Then I suggest we keep moving." Karla grinned. "We're almost there."
Citadel
"My lord, the infidels are beginning to penetrate our outer defenses." A Kig-Yar messenger said sadly. "I believe some of them may be inside the Citadel already."
"Alert the guards!" Lazarus yelled angrily. "Nothing gets inside the Citadel alive, even if it s our own retreating troops! The heretics must be kept from defiling this sacred place!"
The Jiralhanae honor guard nearby saluted and marched out of the room to meet the coming invasion. Already, Lazarus could hear the explosions and gunfire getting closer.