Helljumper

by M. Cartwright

The year is 2550. A team of elite ODSTs callsign "Charlie Six" are enjoying a much needed shore leave after months of fighting. The Covenant invade in the midst of their R&R and in the height of the battle, the team is recalled to a remote ONI base in the mountains. They find the Covenant are determined to seize the base and the team begins to ask the question: what're they after?

5. Spooks Don't Exist

HALO: HELLJUMPER

By M. Cartwright

CHAPTER V: SPOOKS DON'T EXIST

0112 Hours Local Time, July 6th, 2550 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \
Observation Post Angel overlooking Half Mile Rd, Business District A,
Pearl City, Crystal

Ward leaned against the concrete partition along the roof of the building now designated as "OP Angel," staring down the optics of a spotter scope. Lance Corporal Wilson stood holding his rifle, the bi-pod deployed, as the pair watched the now-battalion size Covenant force went about their business unaware of the chaos that was about to ensue. Captain Schruger had informed them that battalion had processed their request for air support and granted it. Six Longsword fighters were on their way to unleash hell upon the Al-Julani Mining Corporation headquarters, repurposed by the Covenant as the center for command and control of the ground invasion within Pearl City.

However, the Longsword flight wouldn't be on station for another ten minutes. So, until that time, an AC-220 Vulture Gunship was currently circling the airspace right under the Covenant's noses. Ward had informed the Vulture—callsign "Thunderclaw"—of their plans and they were standing by until the ambush teams were in position and ready to initiate their assault. Thunderclaw would then rain down a hailstorm of fire on top of the Covenant while the Helljumpers engaged in with hit-and-run tactics. Guerrilla warfare at its finest, he mused with an evil grin.

"Lots of tangos down there, Staff Sergeant," Wilson pointed out, sounding unsure that the plan was going to work.

Ward nodded even though Wilson wasn't paying attention. "That's why we have to be quick and precise about all of this. We hit their lines, demolish them, and disappear before they know what's happening. We aren't trying to take them all out; just enough to make them realize that picking a fight with humanity is a deadly proposition."

Wilson scoffed. "That's a lesson I don't think they'll ever learn."

"Then we'll keep on teaching it to them."

"Thunderclaw to Charlie Six, interrogative: are your teams in position?"

Ward opened his map. All three teams had linked with his VISR so that he could track their movement. Charlie Four and Five were on either side of the first intersection, while his men had split up to reinforce both squads with added manpower. He set up an open channel with the sniper teams and spoke into the mike. "Sniper teams, report."

"Team One, this is Team Two, we're set with targets acquired," reported Sergeant Perkins, who was spotting for Corporal Deen.

"Team Three here, we're good to go," Staff Sergeant Reid said. He was spotting for Private First Class Hollinger.

Ward patched Thunderclaw into the open channel. "Thunderclaw, Charlie Six Actual, all forces good to go; standby for mark. Over."

Jonathan looked through the scope and zoomed in on a Jackal sniper at the second line of defense. It was likely that the other two teams had the snipers at the first line pegged. He checked the wind meter. The wind at that distance was headed from east to west. That meant that the majority of the wind was blocked by the buildings. He grinned. That would make target acquisition a lot easier for Wilson.

"Target: Jackal on sniper tower, second line of defense, range one-five-zero," Ward droned, watching out of his peripheral as Wilson zeroed in on the target.

"Windage?"

"Coming in at five miles per hour from east to west," Ward stated. "The buildings are blocking most of it. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Ready to fire."

Ward nodded and, out of nervous habit, checked his map one more time to make sure everyone was in place and ready. Satisfied that they were, he clicked the COMM and gave the order. The thundering crack of Wilson's sniper rifle followed by an explosion of visceral gore out of the Jackal's chest was the response to his order. Two more reports of sniper rifles resounded and two more Jackals fell. Then the air filled with the thundering roar of the Thunderclaw's guns followed by Covenant troops being eviscerated where they stood.

Then the two ambush teams initiated their assault, mopping up whatever Thunderclaw missed. Through the zoom on his scope he could see the looks of confusion and terror on the Covenant's faces—and their Elite oversees tried in vain to regain control of their men. Once the first line of defense had been obliterated, the two teams retreated back to the adjacent streets and moved forward, heading for the second line. Ward gave Wilson target dope on an Elite Ultra barking orders to his troops, trying to organize his men before the assault reached them.

Wilson's rifle spat out a high-powered, high-velocity round and the Elite's orders were cut off mid-sentence. His subordinates ran in terror, searching for whatever cover they could find. The echo of Team Two and Three's rifles told him the bastards weren't having much luck with that. When the assault teams had reached the line, Thunderclaw let loose with his cannons, pulverizing large numbers of the Covenant before the teams could even start firing.

Ward caught movement in the upper left corner of his scope. He readjusted and zoomed in, only to widen his eyes in horror. One of the six Wraith tanks that had, so far, remained stationary and unfazed by the destruction and chaos in front of it… started moving forward. Its cannon aimed high and a second later it fired. Ward peered over the spotting scope and watched the massive globule of plasma rise into the air at an arc. He waited a few more seconds and watched as it arced towards its target.

It was heading right for them.

"INCOMING!" he barked frantically, grabbing the spotter scope and hooking it to his belt. "Bug out now!"

Wilson picked his rifle up off the partition, turned about, and bolted towards the ladder. The Staff Sergeant held the hatch open for Wilson while his eyes followed the ball of plasma that was screaming towards the roof. As soon as Wilson had disappeared down the access shaft, Ward climbed into the shaft and slid to the bottom of the ladder. A moment later there was a loud boom as the entire building shook at its foundation. It sounded like part of the building had collapsed.

Ward darted towards the stairs and headed down them. They needed to move to another position. As he stormed down the stairs, he spoke into his helmet mike. "All callsigns, OP Angel compromised! Break," he said, pausing only to wait for a door that was partially damaged to admit him out into the city street beyond. "Thunderclaw, priority target: enemy Wraith tank located at the third line of defense. Take it out before it can fire on anyone else!"

"Thunderclaw copies. Engaging."

Ward decided to join Sergeant Perkins at OP Guardian. Wilson was right on his heel as he booked it into the building and began storming up the stairs. After eight flights of stairs, the two reached the rooftop and joined Perkins and Deen in searching for targets. "Hey Staff Sergeant," Perkins greeted nonchalantly. "Glad you weren't vaped by that Wraith."

Jonathan nodded. "Me too."

Somehow, despite the thundering cracks of sniper rifles, the staccato of weapons fire, the rumble of explosions, and the resounding death throes of Covenant troops—Ward distinctly heard something headed their way. The noise became steadily louder as the seconds ticked by. At first he would have been tempted to say it was the air support they had called. But, no… that couldn't be possible. The flight would have announced themselves over the COMMs.

It didn't take him long to realize what it was.

Four air-to-ground attack craft, Banshees, screamed by overhead. At first the Staff Sergeant thought they were headed for his ambush teams. But after a sudden shift in trajectory and an increase in altitude, the realization hit him like a Warthog driving full speed into a brick wall. He immediately keyed his mike, frantic to usher a warning before it was too late.

"Thunderclaw, look out! Flight of Banshees headed straight for you!"

"Roger, we got 'em on scope," the pilot replied, his tone unwavering. "We'll take care of 'em."

Before he could add anything more, another voice crackled in his ears. "Eagle Flight carrying twenty-six ATG missiles on station. Time to target: three mikes. How copy?"

"Solid copy, Eagle Flight," Ward replied, the smile on his face obvious in his voice.

This seemed to motivate the ODSTs to fight harder. Wilson and Deen fired indiscriminately into the crowds of hostile troops while the assault teams picked up the slack left by Thunderclaw as it dealt with their Banshee problem. The Covenant had begun to reorganize itself and fight back, but the damage had already been done. There was no way they would be able to fully recover.

And once Eagle Flight brought down the Al-Julani building, they would be in total disarray. Their plan seemed to be working out better than anyone could have hoped for.

"Uh, overwatch teams, we could use some support by—SHIT! COVER!"

Ward honed the scope on the assault teams and was met with the sight of a pair of Hunters ahead of them. A single green stream of plasma came hurtling towards the team and sliced right through a pair of troopers who hadn't been lucky enough to reach cover in time. Ward tapped Wilson on the shoulder and pointed in the direction of the Hunters. The sniper zeroed in and muttered "acquired" to let him know he had them on scope.

A quartet of high velocity sabot rounds slammed into the lead Hunter. Two out of the four ricocheted off its thick armor harmlessly—while the other two met their marks, penetrating through its lower abdomen. The beast howled in pain so loud that Ward had heard it, and it charged towards the teams on the ground in rebuttal. Wilson ejected the spent magazine and in a blur of motion, inserted a new magazine into the mag well and pulled back the charging handle, feeding a round into the chamber.

Another four shots and the Hunter crashed to the ground with a resounding thud. Its bond brother growled with rage and charged the line—more successfully than its brother—and swiped at a pair of troopers with its massive shield. Thankfully, the two ODSTs were able to dodge the attack and rolled away from their aggressor. An untold number of grenades landed beneath the armored behemoth's feet and detonated, engulfing it in smoke and flames. Wilson held his finger a quarter of an inch off the trigger as he waited calmly for the plume of smoke and dust that had materialized to dissipate. When it finally cleared enough to see, Ward spotted the figure of a Hunter lying on its back.

It was dead.

The Staff Sergeant was about to say something when the radio crackled to life.

"Eagle Zero-One to Charlie Six, be advised: we are coming in for our first run. Shot out. TOT thirty seconds, over."

Ward couldn't help but smile. "Eagle Zero-One, roger that!" He quickly switched channels. "One, report!"

"We're good, but those damned Hunters caught us by surprise," Thomas stated. "... And… PFC Jernigan is KIA."

Ward frowned grimly and shook his head. Another casualty of this God forsaken war. He looked to Sergeant Perkins. His shoulders had slumped down and his grip on the spotting scope had noticeably tightened. He would have to talk to him later. "Roger that. Heads up, though. Shot incoming… ten seconds out."

No sooner had he said that did the missiles pass over their heads. All eyes fell upon them as they sped towards their target, leaving behind a trail of smoke in their wake. The missiles made contact with the building and exploded in a brilliant flash of orange. Debris rained down on the Covenant guarding the door as smoke billowed from the areas of impact. "Eagle Zero-One, delta hotel! Hit it again! Thunderclaw, fire everything you got at that building."

"Zero-One, copies. Shot out! TOT fifteen!"

"Roger, Charlie Six. Engaging!"

Auto-cannon fire and air-to-ground missiles peppered the Al-Julani building. Debris of different sizes and types rained down on the Covenant below. The assault teams disengaged and fell back as per plan. With the building out of the way there would no longer be a need to advance on the enemy. Ward planned to let command know about the Covenant troops and let the regulars deal with them. After all, the Helljumpers did soften them up for them.

The next string of missiles zipped by over head and collided with their target. Not even half a second later the ground began to quake beneath them. Ward could feel the roof of the building they were atop of shaking slightly. Then, as a climatic finale to the battle, the Al-Julani Mining Corporation headquarters collapsed. Dust and soot settled in the streets and an eerie silence fell upon the area. Ward activated his VISR's infrared vision setting and saw the two squads were on the first floor of the building they were in.

"Charlie Six, Eagle Zero-One, can I get a BDA?"

Ward chuckled. "Eagle Zero-One, BDA is as follows: delta hotel, target destroyed. Outstanding job, zoomie!"

"Thanks, Jarhead," the pilot replied with a laugh.

With that, the connection was cut. Thunderclaw reported it was returning to base for refuel and rearmament. Just as he was about to congratulate everyone on a job well done, the radio crackled back to life. "Charlie Actual to Charlie Six, come in."

"This is Charlie Six, mission accomplished, Charlie Actual," Ward said proudly. The others on the roof silently congratulated each other. "Advise you send in the Army for mop up."

"Copy that. Break. Be advised: you're being pulled out of Pearl City. A Pelican has been dispatched to pick you up at your location," Captain Schruger explained. Ward furrowed his brow in curiosity.

"Uh, roger that. Interrogative: why aren't we staying in the city?"

"That's classified, Six Actual. Orders come straight from the top," Captain Schruger said.

The top? Who in the UNSC brass would have a team of six ODSTs abandon the fighting in the capitol city of Crystal? What was going on? Who had given the order? There were more questions than answers… and he didn't like it. Though, the Captain's next words would say it all. It would explain everything but hint at nothing. The next words were a codeword that every ODST had adopted as slang due to the nature of their relationship with ONI and NavSpecWar.

"Sierra. Delta. Echo."

Translation: Spooks. Don't. Exist.