The Spectres raced over the track, their gravity engines screaming as they went. Dahl sat in the head vehicle while West had the third and last, his gunner going wild on the plasma cannon.
These were old models, like the ones Hammer Company had fought on Sigma Octanus, with a pilot and co-pilot seat meant for Grunts or jackals, in addition to the turret and seats on the wings. Five passengers top. They all carried eight.
Plasma shots pinged off their windshield and bumpers. Soldiers, crammed on board, did their best to keep out of the fire and return the favour to the colorful blurs as they sped by.
Corporal Willis held the wheel of Dahl's vehicle while the major tried to raise someone with eyes in the sky or guns with enough range to provide support.
"All air assets are currently engaged, Hammer 1-1, you're on your own. Command out." Came the matter-of-fact answer.
Dahl shook his head and muttered, to himself, "Well fuck you too!" Then, to Willis, "Corporal, slow down, I need to figure out where we're at!"
"Yes, sir…" The vehicle decelerated to a less breakneck pace and, instantly, the intensity of incoming fire increased exponentially. Fuel rods exploded against the hull of their vehicle and a Carbine pellet went right through Dahl's leg and into Willis' shoulder.
"Fuck! Punch it, Corporal!"
"But you said…" Someone in the rear vehicle shouted something about being shot and West told her to suck it up.
"I know what I said, punch it!"
And they once again sped up to a blur. Dahl inspected his leg, which didn't even bleed, and injected so biofoam into Willis' shoulder.
"Dude! Get that thing out first!" Whined the Ranger, forgetting all about proper protocol when addressing a superior, "I wanna have mini-mes one day, you know?"
This was not a Corporal to Major exchange, but a Ranger to Ranger one. Dahl squeezed the man's forearm and gave him a short nod.
"Buddy, if you don't get sterile by all that plasma flying around, depleted Uranium won't do it."
Needler rounds smacked and bounced against the hood as Willis snickered, "Real smooth, sir, I feel much better, thanks!"
They flew in an arc, the tracks taking a right turn into the city, and found themselves thirty meters from a Wraith mortar tank, its main gun already warm and both coaxial turrets blazing.
Plasma bolts ripped through their windshield and one clipped the gunner's knee, though the kid barely took notice and just kept firing his own turret into the beast.
Willis did not stop and Dahl yelled something about going left, so he did, ripping through shacks and tents like a bulldozer in a Super-Mart.
The Wraith fired, a blue orb gracefully making its way toward the second vehicle, but it too turned left and the plasma bomb exploded right in front of West's Spectre, which vanished in a cloud of electric smoke.
The radio filled with "We lost Victor 3!" And "West is down!" and other similar exclamations. Then, the Spectre, its hood and windshield scorched, pierced the smoke to follow its brethren, leaving the Wraith to blindly pump plasma into the shanty town. It could have followed them in, but they, with their open canopies and slim frames, were much better suited to navigate this maze.
"We're out in the fucking sticks, Major!" Willis did his best to follow to way of lesser resistance, avoiding metal and concrete to break through wood, plastic and rubber.
The gunner, Private First Class Mitchell, loudly agreed before incinerating a Grunt carrying a fuel rod cannon. The little bastards popped up from every corner, but from where he stood, he could see them easily enough.
"You secure that shit, Rangers!" Dahl, deep inside, felt like bitching along with them. "Corporal, take a right turn, Sovja Highway should be just a klick…" Green bolts smacked into the Major's chest plate and he rose to return fire.
The Spectres soon emerged from the junk yard and ripped through chain link fence meant to keep the inhabitants away from the road.
Once on the highway, about a meter above ground level, the convoy was once again showered with plasma and the right side of Willis' helmet somehow liquefied on its own accord.
The man screamed but his hands never left the wheel. It was Dahl who ripped the thing off his skull and put out the fire in Corporal Willis' hairs.
"Shit! Shit! We're never going to make it, man!"
"Can it, Corporal, you're a Ranger, not some candy ass JROTC, act like it!" Grunts and Jackals, hiding behind the fences, in the shanty town, did their best to hit the fast moving vehicles with low velocity energy weapons, most of the shot either crackling far ahead or way behind.
Dahl's M392, however, did not suffer that problem; he downed enemy shooters with double taps, sometime using the gun's high power to kick through sheet metal and instruct those dumb bastards on the difference between cover and concealment.
"Major! Roadblock ahead!" Roadblock… Willis had one hell of a sense of humor! There was a fucking Vulture gunship burning in the way, from one fence to the other, and Jackals with Carbines and Beam Rifles waited for the Rangers in front of it.
Mitchell kept them pinned while the convoy dived off the road and back into the slums.
"Geez Louise!" Exclaimed the left wing's passenger, pulling a length of chain link fence out of his midsection, "This ride sucks!"
This time, however, they found a path large enough for them to fit in, some permanent building showing up here and there, crawling with Covies.
"Take a left!" Dahl's eyes flipped from his map to the road, to the sights of his rifle.
"Where?! There's a roach motel there!"
Looking up, the Major realized they were already ten meters past the aforementioned street. "Shit! Willis, you need to slow down!"
"This shit again?!" Their whole vehicle was blackened and clipped now, fuel rods and plasma bolts ramming the road from overhead.
"Just go left 'soon as you can!" Dahl turned to Mitchell, "They're on the rooftops, suppress them!"
Silhouettes scurried against the sky line, raining down a myriad of colorful death on the exposed convoy.
The Spectres went to fast for the Rangers to get a clear shot, and by the time one rooftop was supressed, they were already two buildings further.
A fact colorfully explained by the Private, "Fucking bolts move like snails on Ritalin!"
"Be grateful that's what they're shooting us with!"
As if on a cue, another fuel rod impacted the ground just next to Victor 2, almost knocking it off the road. "Yeah, right!"
The whole convoy steered left a block further and, once again, "Roadblock!"
Looking back forward, Dahl was faced with a pile of burned out vehicles, fifty meters ahead, crawling with excited Grunts.
"Convoy, halt!"
They stopped hallway down the street. There were mostly just permanent buildings now, mostly bombed out concrete, all of which were crawling with Covies determined to blast the Spectres to pieces.
Dahl hopped off his vehicle, cursing under his breath, and walked a dozen paces down the street. A few shots whizzed past him, but most were intended for the vehicles.
Yeah, down there, thirty meters out… An alley or a secondary street, just large enough for them to fit in.
Plasma and fuel rods splashed against the walls, explosive needles bouncing off all over, making it safer to just walk back in the middle of the street.
He hopped in his seat to find Willis bleeding from the left cheek, tiny purple shards shining amongst the blood, and Mitchell was slouched over his weapon, an unexploded needle stuck in his neck.
One of the three Rangers sitting out back pulled him down and took his place. The needle glowed,but never detonated. Bad fuse or something?
A new volley of needles bounced off the vehicle's armor and Dahl snapped out of it. "Thirty mikes, three o'clock, punch it!"
Willis did as told and saw the alley at the last second. "No way it'll fit, dude!"
The gunner, doing his best to keep the rooftops clear, laughed at that, "That's what she said!"
All those bastards on the rooftop had to do from that point onward was shoot straight down and a curtain of plasma rained on the Rangers. One burned Dahl's wrist and his weapon, knocking it out of his hand, but the Major instantly switched to his sidearm and began firing at exposed limbs overhead.
The new gunner had his arms severed at the elbows while West reported multiple wounded, including himself. They emerged in another street, and went left, toward the city proper.
The firing seemed to slow down, the Covies apparently momentarily outpaced, and Dahl took this opportunity to take stocks, "Who's injured?"
Basically, everyone. He rephrased, "Okay, okay, who's not?"
No response.
"Fuck!"
The convoy screamed past abandoned buildings for five minutes, every able bodied shooter either scoping the rooftops or patching each other up.
After ten minutes, Willis took a hand off the wheel to feel his face. He did not look at the Major, but said, hesitantly, afraid to jinx himself "I think we made it, Sir, we're out of the red zone!"
That they were. Dahl looked over his shoulder, visually inspecting his men.
Two dead, four would be driving a desk for the rest of their career, everyone else would most likely make it through. He opened a channel with the whole convoy and congratulated them with his usual succinctness, "Damn fine work, Rangers, Blackburn will be proud."
A few answered with "Ou-ah!"s, but not many.
They were almost inside the city proper when West reported spotting three Pelicans at three o'clock. Everyone turned to look, wondering where these 'Air assets' had been hiding all that time, but saw only a four stories tall building.
"You sure, Lieutenant?"
"With all due respect, sir, I'm a smartass, not retarded, there were three DC-seven-seven bearing on our position."
Dahl kept the convoy going and, sure enough, the three birds, sporting Marine Corps colors, soon hovered over them, a man roaring in loudspeakers that they were authorized to open fire if the Rangers did not stop.
"ODSTs?" Willis said the word like an insult.
"Seems that way. Convoy, halt!"
The Major stepped out and said nothing as most of his men did the same, bloodied and bruised like gingerbread men fresh out of a blender.
Four black armored Marines, ODSTs, fast roped out of the Pelicans. This prompted a dismissive sneer from Willis. "Are these jokers trying to impress us?"
West, limping all the way to the front of the convoy, arrived just as the ODSTs made it to Dahl.
"What?" Asked the Signal Specialist, a wide and honest smile painted on his face, "Your pilot can't land this thing? Tell him autoland's the red handle market EJECT…"
The ODST leader, a Lieutenant called Korva, crossed his arm and tilted his head, "Very funny, you have any other good ones like that, or can we start acting grown up again?"
Before West could make things interesting, however, Dahl took over, "We're under direct orders from General Stensworth, high priority, so either provide support or get out of our way, Lieutenant."
That should have gotten them out of the way, but the ODST just shook his helmet. "Your orders have been overridden, Cole Protocol is enacted."
"Afraid I don't know what this has to do with an injured Marine." That much was true, Dahl didn't see any way this one kid at the back of West's vehicle could compromise Cole Protocol. Maybe he knew things, but they wouldn't have sent him alone on the frontlines then…
The ODSTs just pushed past Dahl, Willis and West to inspect every Spectre one by one. The Rangers followed, but said nothing, the Major transmitting a video feed from his helmet straight to Colonel Blackburn.
When they found the Marine, the ODSTs made sure to check on their brethren's condition before rifling his pockets. Personal items were put back in their place and they only took a single thumb sized chip.
"AI core…" West whispered, pulling the Company's own AI from his helmet.
The ODSTs were about to insert the chip in a handheld, tricorder-like device when Blackburn gave the order.
"Don't let them wipe it, Major, I'll take full responsibility, just get that chip!"
"Lieutenant!" Dahl's tone was worried and, when the ODST turned to face him, the reason why became clear.
The Lieutenant's visor shattered and he fell back as Dahl jumped on top of him, punching the Marine's helmet with his own twice before ripping the chip from his limp hand and tossing it to West. The ODST took that opportunity to strike back at the Major's unarmoured head, catching him on the right temple and knocking him off in one punch.
"What the fuck!" Yelled the man, pulling his broken helmet off, "That the best you've got? You fucking boyscout!" He turned to West, shaking with anger, saliva and blood dripping from his mouth. Hand it over, now!"
Lieutenant West took a step back and cleared his throat, "Hey, sure thing, man, Cole Protocol and all…" He threw the chip underhand and the Marine caught it, not wasting any time to jam it in the handheld device and wipe it clean.
A/N: Added the origin of every Platoon, since not all of them are actual Rangers. I'd also like to note that though these guys are the U.S. 1st Batalion 75th Ranger Regiment's spiritual successors, they're not American troops and vary from their predecessors in multiple ways. Why? Because I friggin' say so. You hardcore military will immediately realize how.
Now, for those not as well versed in military jargon, let me explain a bit:
Hammer Actual means the leader of Hammer Company. Blackburn answers to that callsign, as well as Hammer 1-1 Actual, though that's supposed to be Dahl. Dahl should be in charge of Hammer, but Black outranks him, making Dahl his XO and somewhat redundant.
West leads Hammer 1-1 on the paper, however, because they're a SigSpec unit and he's in charge of this aspect.
Hammer 1 means the first platoon of Hammer company and Hammer 1-1 means first squad of first platoon.
Hammer 1-1 counts eight members, including Blackburn, Dahl and West, same goes for all units except 1-2 and 1-3, who a SPECWAR squads and have only six members.
SPECWAR is the division Noble Team, from Reach, is attached to, but mostly represents the UNSC's version of Green Berets here.
Using the U.S. Tier system (Navy SEALS being Tier 1, Green Berets Tier 2 and Rangers Tier 3), Hammer Company counts Tier 3 (Rangers) and Tier 2 (Hammer 1 and 2) members, whereas ODSTs and SPARTANs would be Tier 1.
There are two exceptions to this; Hammer 5, a mechanized infantry (Regular UNSC Army units with Warthogs and Elephants) and armoured division (scattered remnants of a whole division) and Hammer 3, which replaced losses from an Army engineering corps... Hellbringers, more accurately... That's guys with heavy armour and flame throwers.
Hammer Company: Col. Blackburn/ Mjr. Dahl
Hammer 1 = Command Group/SIGSPEC/SpecOps
75th Ranger
Army SPECWAR Group 4, Charlie/Delta Squads, Permanently Attached to Hammer Company.
Hammer 1-1: Lt. West
Hammer 1-2: Sgt. Delacroix
Hammer 1-3: Sgt. Krauser
Hammer 1-4: 1st Sgt. Caleb
Hammer 1-5: KIA
Hammer 2 = Rifle Platoon.
Army SPECWAR Group 6, 4th Platoon, Permanantly Attached to Hammer Company.
Hammer 2-1: Lt. Norrisson
Hammer 2-2: Sgt. Peterson
Hammer 2-3: Sgt. Endrose
Hammer 2-4: Sgt. Frank
Hammer 2-5: Sgt. Keller
Hammer 3 = Heavy Weapons Platoon.
75th Ranger
Army Engineer Corps, 6th Division, 1st Hellbringers
Hammer 3-1: Lt. Laurent
Hammer 3-2: Sgt. Jackson
Hammer 3-3: Sgt. Ortega
Hammer 3-4: Sgt. Vargas
Hammer 3-5: Sgt. Orlev
Hammer 4 = Rifle Platoon
75th Ranger
Hammer 4-1: Sgt. Carter
Hammer 4-2: Cpl. Wilkins
Hammer 4-3: Cpl. Beauprés
Hammer 4-4: PFC. Smith
Hammer 4-5: PFC. Gosinov
Hammer 5 = Armored/Mechanized Platoon.
8th Armored Division, Remnants, Permanently Attached to Hammer Company.
9th Mechanized Infantry Division, C Company, 1st Platoon, Permanently Attached to Hammer Company.
Hammer 5-1: Lt. Cody
Hammer 5-2: Sgt. Beller-Faust
Hammer 5-3: Cpl. Mendez
Hammer 5-4: Sgt. Jones
Hammer 5-5: Sgt. Higgs
Hammer 6 = Rifle Platoon
75th Ranger
Hammer 6-1: Cpt. Pierce
Hammer 6-2: Lt. Tchenkov
Hammer 6-3: Sgt. Volker
Hammer 6-4: Sgt. Tennison
Hammer 6-5: Sgt. Xian
Hammer 7 = Rifle Platoon
75th Ranger
Hammer 7-1: Lt. Cole
Hammer 7-2: Sgt. Hoyt
Hammer 7-3: Sgt. Steel-Halls
Hammer 7-4: KIA
Hammer 7-5: Sgt. Lafayette
Hammer 8 = Rifle Platoon
75th Ranger
Hammer 8-1: Lt. Shen
Hammer 8-2: Sgt. Coste
Hammer 8-3: KIA
Hammer 8-4: KIA
Hammer 8-5: Cpl. Webbs
Hammer 9 = Heavy Weapons Platoon
75th Ranger
Hammer 9-1: Lt. Carpenter
Hammer 9-2: Sgt. Wilson
Hammer 9-3: Cpl. Turner
Hammer 9-4: Sgt. Popov
Hammer 9-5: Sgt. Mbanta