Halo New galaxy Ch8 Same old, same old
22nd July 2554
Riga Lillo system, planet Rio
It took Vice Admiral Hammond's task force around three weeks to reach Rio. She overlooked the defending fleet under Captain Cutler. There had been very little space activity from either of the three sides. The UNSC had been lucky with this one. But in one of the few battles that took place Cutler's flagship, the Light Carrier Twilight Bark had been destroyed. He'd been lucky to survive in a lifeboat. Now he commanded the three ships remaining from an Autumn Heavy Cruiser.
On the ground the marines under Lt. General Horus was holding out and inflicting heavy casualties on the Storm. The unknown faction had stayed away from heavy fights with the UNSC and focused on mostly fighting the Storm.
Fireteam Crimson was inside one of the Pelicans heading dirtside. Their target was an outpost acting as a chokepoint for an entire valley. It kept the Storm inside it bottled up and unable to launch a major offensive in that region. It allowed the marines to focus their forces on other regions.
Nomad was fiddling with his sniper in his lap.
Everyone was silent. No one had said a word for the majority of the journey. The Scot, Charlie Evans was the one to break the silence.
"So why you think the Ex-Covies attacked Rio?" He asked Mira.
His question got the attention of Locust and Lizzy. John Cooper didn't do more than raise an eyebrow under his visor. Nomad didn't show that he even heard the question.
"I don't know," Mira said simply. "It doesn't matter either."
"Doesn't matter?" Evans disagreed. "That-"
"To us," Mira interrupted him. She looked right at the Spartan IV. "If it is important to us, we'll know. Otherwise we do our job. We have an outpost to reinforce and a valley to clear out after that. Focus on that. This isn't your old ODST unit. It'll only be the six of us against every ex-Covie in that valley."
"We got this boss," Lizzy assured her. "Not to worry."
Locust snorted aloud.
Mira looked at him.
"Got something to say Marshal?"
He shook his head after a moment. He leaned his head back.
"No ma'am." He cocked his head down slightly. It seemed he thought about saying something but decided against it.
That worked just fine for Mira. She didn't mind not talking to him. He was a good soldier that usually followed orders, but not always and he had problems with authority. Mira figured he's skills at killing aliens was excellent enough to ignore his bad qualities.
When the Pelican finally landed they jumped out into the darkness of night. Mira was first out and could see one main building and three smaller bunkers making out the outpost. There was craters and burnt vehicles parts here and there between the bunkers and the main compound. She saw five marines immediately. Not a lot of security at night. But she didn't know how many they had in the bunkers.
"Damn," she heard John Cooper said. "Check this out."
He pointed with his SMG at the sloop on the other side of the bunkers. It was littered with corpses. The grassy hillside downward was absolutely filled with corpses of marines and ex-Covies. If anything could be positive with the evidence of a bloodbath that the outpost had seen it would be that there were twenty-five ex-Covies for every marine. Elites, Grunts and Jackals laid dead by the hundreds at least. Mira counted four Hunters too. It had been a number of helluva fights.
"Where's our welcome committee?" Nomad noted that no one was meeting up with them yet.
Mira walked towards the main compound.
"Cooper, Lizzy, Evans, Locust I want you checking their perimeter. Nomad with me. We're finding whoever is in charge," she ordered.
"Copy that," Evans complied.
"On it," Cooper said.
They got saluted from the exhausted marines but there weren't a single officer in sight yet. Walking inside the compound Mira and Nomad made their way into the command center.
"Sarge!" A female marine yelled.
A Central American man came over and saw the Spartans. "Oh, damn," he exclaimed and snapped off a salute. Mira saluted back she looked at his tag on her HUD. . E. PARRINO.
"Master Sergeant. Where's your CO?"
The Sergeant hung his head sadly.
"Captain's Ciera's dead, and his XO 1st Lieutenant Berga," he told them. "So is ever Company officer accept me and five more, all None-coms and lower than me. I'm in command."
Mira and Nomad was surprised.
"Over the whole Company?" Mira questioned.
He shrugged even sadder. "Thirty guys left, sir-ah, ma'am. Came here with two-hundred and fifty marines. Full Company. But everyone's dead but us. If it wasn't for our Mortar and quick to respond air support we'd be dead already. Unfortunately air supports been busy for the last seven attacks. Mortar is everything holding them back. We bombard the sloop when they try charging up, butcher them before they get to shoot at us."
Nomad looked at Mira. "Son," he said. "We're your best friends. Our mission is to reinforce this outpost, than start clearing this valley." He shifted his weight on his feet. "How many Mortar you got Sarge?"
"Err, ten, sir," he said hesitantly.
His hesitation got Nomad to tilt his head and take a step forward.
"And ammo?"
"We, uh, ah, have six a shot each, I think," he kind of admitted.
Mira and Nomad exchanged a look.
"You think?" She asked with disapproval over the lack of valid information.
"I-I didn't have all the Intel, Captain did and the El-Tee but-but-"
"Well find out Sergeant," Mira raised her voice.
It caused him to snap off a salute. "Y-yes Spartan ma'am!"
He scurried away to get the information. The Spartans turned to face each other.
"Rather shitty operation here," Nomad said in the privacy on their helmets.
"They've lost almost the whole Company," Mira defended the marine's position. "Everyone who knew something is dead, leaving a man who's probably never led another more than a Squad to command a close to Platoon size unit."
"Right sorry," Nomad apologized, still in the confines of their helmets.
Mira smirked slightly.
"Just don't tell all that to them."
He frowned inside his helmet.
"Not a complete idiot."
"Oh no, I meant more a lack of social skills."
Nomad was silent for a good twenty seconds. "I'm socializing with you and the team."
Mira couldn't help but smile. "Because we share a barrack, if you could choose, you'd never talk to the team off mission."
"Hey, hey," he protested. "Not true. I'd always talk to you."
She couldn't help but keep smiling at how sweet that sounded. Nomad was the closest thing to family she had. They had been the best of friends as kids on the colony of Castile. But both their families was butchered by the Covies when-at the time-Admiral Bauer had chickened out of conducting any kind of resistance. It was twenty three years ago. She'd been six when her she lost her home and family. Nomad had been eight at the time. They had been been recruited to ONIs new Spartan III program.
"Crimson lead," Mira heard Lizzy-Crimson four-through the commlink in her helmet.
"Report, four," she said.
"We've got Jackals sneaking around below the sloop. Say, a hundred meters away just at the edge of the tree line," Lizzy informed her.
"Copy. Keep an eye on them," Mira said. She kept looking at Nomad. "Get out and find a sniping position."
"On it," Nomad affirmed and jogged out.
He found a rocky hillside beside the outpost that overlooked the area.
At that time the Master Sergeant came back.
"Ma'am, we have-"
"Prepare your men," Mira cut him off. "My people have seen Jackals in the forest a hundred meters down the sloping side into the valley."
The marine tensed up. "A-are they attacking?"
Mira frowned. She understood that they were tired, exhausted after three weeks of fighting. They all looked dirty, like they hadn't showered for all that time.
"Prepare your men Master Sergeant," she said harshly.
"Yes, sir!"
Mira then marched out of the compound and towards the bunkers. "Two, report."
Nomad was quick to respond.
"Lead, a got three Jackals in the tree line. Either snipers scouting ahead or scouts to get a look at the outposts defenses," he reported. "Permission to eliminate them."
"Granted. Shot the little beaks off," Mira allowed.
"Crimson lead. You may wanna see this," Cooper said.
Mira made her way to meet him. He stood outside one of the three bunkers. Surrounding them was dead bodies of aliens and a few marines.
"What you got six?" Mira asked.
He nodded down and kicked the Elite.
"An Elite, so?"
"Look at the armor, sir," he said.
She noted that he didn't wore Storm armor, but the old Covenant armor from the war. Specifically he wore the orange armor of an Officer.
"He's armors not Storm," she said. "He's from the armor faction then?"
Cooper nodded.
"I looked through the bodies that came all the way up and they're all wearing old armors from the war," Cooper explained. "With one add-on." He kicked the Elite enough to roll him over. Mira saw a white hand painted onto his chest.
"Do they all have them?"
He nodded. "From what I can tell, almost. They all have a white hand marked on their chest armor. Elite, Jackal, Grunt. Then a spotted Elites with Storm armor too."
"Crimson lead, all Jackal snipers eliminated," Nomad said.
"Copy," Mira answered before focusing on Cooper again. "Send the information to Vice Admiral Hammond immediately."
"Understood," he nodded.
22nd July 2554
Riga Lillo system, planet Rio
CAS class Assault Carrier Prudent Revenge
Ursa Zumaba stood on his bridge and overlooked his battle with Mdama's small fleet. He wore his silver colored armor. He was the Fleet master and had served in the Human-Covenant War.
"What is the position of the UNSC fleet?" Ursa asked harshly.
An orange armored Sangheili with a white hand on his armor turned to face him.
"They are holding position Fleet master," he said. "The new ships stopped with the other."
"Good," Ursa said. "If they wait until we have destroyed Mdama's fleet, we can focus on them."
He was angry because he'd been granted command of such a small fleet. He used to command massive fleets of up to over a hundred ships. At least at the end of the war. Now he led a tiny squadron, all thanks to his brother's desire. He felt his older sibling squandered his incredible talents.
"What if the humans attack while we fight the other faction?" His Second in command asked.
What surprised many was that the Fleet master had chosen a Kig-yar as his second in command. The best explanation was that he didn't actually chose. Roshaka Zumaba did, his older sibling. The kig-yar had served with with Roshaka during the war and when he created his own faction the Kig-yar-Taa-swore his loyalty to him. But he was just as intelligent and tactical in his ways as any Sangheili of equal rank.
"I count on that they will sit back until one of us has been defeated Taa," Ursa explained. "Keep pushing. Don't hold back anything."
The Kig-yar remained pensive. He had his doubts about this strategy. They were not only outnumbered by the Storm space fleet, but the UNSC as well. Granted many of the UNSCs ship was smaller and less powerful than theirs, but that Super Carrier looked damn intimidating.
While their Assault Carrier was five kilometers in length, the Super Carrier was twenty-eight kilometers. It was around three km in height. Clearly it was a great threat. It was heavily armed-like the rest of their small ships-and they were skilled and had proved-over and over again-to be of sound tactical mind. There firepower didn't worry Taa, but their ingenuity did. There was a reason they won the war and lasted as long as they did. Ingenuity was a big part of that.
"Fleet master, I want to add to the record that I-" Taa started.
Ursa glared at him, which caused Taa to shiver and stop talking.
"Our troops on the ground needs our support. They need the enemy eliminated," he growled. "The Covenant of the Hand do not abandon its troops. We are not the old Covenant."
Taa nodded obediently.
22nd July 2157 CE
Attican Traverse, Gadd system
Legionnaire class Carrier Palaven's Pride
When it had come out from the jump through the relay Senior Captain Raedimus had demanded a sensor sweep through the system. Now came the respond.
"Senior Captain," a Turian crewman spoke up. "We are detecting the eight ships reported are orbiting Gadd."
Raedimus walked forward towards the view scree with the ship on.
"The big one, zoom in on it," he narrowed his eyes.
As the screen zoomed in, he narrowed them further, and breathed in, and out. It was truly massive in scope. He had read the report from the ship that discovered the incursion. Twenty-eight, almost twenty-nine kilometers in length. He had never seen a ship of that size. Ever. The construction abilities of these aliens were indeed magnificent, and terrifying at the same time.
"Where is the UNSC task force?" He asked. They should have beaten us here. His fleet had left through the relay in time to ensure the UNSC would manage to reach Gadd at the same time, even ahead of them. In fact, they had been damn lucky the UNSC had any ships this far from their space. Otherwise it would have taken months for them to arrive instead of three weeks.
"I don't know, sir. They should arrive soon though," an officer said.
"Sir!" Another shot up. "The enemy is launching fighter!"
"How many?" Raedimus asked calmly.
"Five hundred."
His eyes widened, but he quickly regained his compulsion.
"Spirits," he mumbled. His Legionnaire Carrier only had about two hundred fighters. "Launch fighters. All cannons prepare to fire. I want all ships battle ready."
"Yes, sir."
The Palaven's Pride had a following of eighteen Light and Heavy Cruisers under Raedimus command.
"I want the Light Cruisers acting as a defense screen around us and all fighters on the defensive and within the range of our guns."
"Yes Captain."
He turned his gaze to the Turian female to his side. She was wearing the regular black and red striped armor of a marine. Her face had red facial markings and her eyes was yellow and sharp. She looked about as calm as Raedimus. She was Ira Praetor, rank of Commander and in charge of their ground forces.
"I presume you have a plan, sir," she stated.
"My plan, is to holdout until the UNSC jump out of…slipspace, is it?"
She nodded. "Correct."
The fighters was almost in range of the Turian Flotilla. Luckily the larger ships remained out of range.
When they entered range they began to fire their Heavy plasma cannons and class-2 projectile cannons. The Turian ships kinetic barriers did little to prevent the plasma. The outnumbered Turian pilots began the fight of their lives.
"Sir, their weapons sir is penetrating our shields," an officer informed Raedimus.
"Dammit," Raedimus grunted.
Though skilled, the Turian pilots was dropping like flies. They were too badly outnumbered. Although the Cruisers provided full support, they couldn't deal with the fighters fast enough. For every enemy fighter shot down, the Turian pilots felt like ten more appeared. And with the ships shields being pointless it made everything even worse. A hit from those bigger ships would likely blow right through the armor in a shot. The Super Carrier could certainly eliminate the Turian Carrier in one shot. But Raedimus didn't seem like he was going to find out, since he was losing badly.
"Captain UNSC ships jumped in," an officer said.
"Not a moment too soon," Raedimus said calmly. "Open a channel."
"Open sir."
"This is Senior Captain Raedimus of the Turian Hierarchy Carrier Palaven's Pride. Your timing in impeccable," Raedimus said.
"This is Captain Brett West of the UNSC Reach's Revenge," a strong male voice responded. "I see you're busy already, Senior Captain."
"They launched a wave the moment we jumped in-system," Raedimus pressed. "If you wouldn't mind giving us a hand."
"I have already given the order for the pilots to deploy," Captain West assured him calmly.
The Poseidon class Light Carrier had three Autumn class Heavy Cruisers and two Charon class Light Frigates deployed alongside it. The Carrier was commanded by Captain West himself. His Longsword Interceptors quickly and with ease launched into battle and engaged the massive force of Seraphs.
The UNSC squadron had left slipspace and jumped in five-thousand kilometers from the Turian flotilla.
In the colony Kaaldrumee overlooked the holographic display of the battle. It had been set up in the Administrative building shortly after their arrival.
The Arbiter was deeply disturbed about what just happened. The UNSCs arrival was troublesome. Not because they could destroy his ships. Concord of Justice could shot those tiny ships 'out of the water', to use a human expression he heard long ago. What worried him was the fact the UNSC cooperated with the Turians. It could mean the UNSC would hunt his faction down with Turian aid. Turian and human cooperation was bad, especially in Turian space.
This untied task force could just be the first wave. For all he knew it was a hundred starships on the way. Could he take the risk? Was it worth fighting for this colony world? Both answers was no. in the end it was rather pointless. Reparations on the Light of Fied was going well.
When he launched his fighters he hoped the size would scare the Turians off. But now it had turned into a shooting gallery. Brave pilots was dying for this planet. A part of him was happy that most of the pilots had been Unggoy. It meant that the Sangheili pilots wasn't at risk. Most of them anyway. There was almost two hundred Sangheili pilots involved, or it was at first. Some had surely died by now. He mentally kicked himself for thinking that way. He was trying to build a new age, and he couldn't think like the Covenant had. He was something new. Something greater.
He shook his head and looked at Revazum.
"Revazum, did you give the order?" He asked.
Revazum nodded.
"We have begun evacuating troops to the Concord of Justice," he affirmed.
Kaaldrumee could hear in his friend's voice that he didn't approve.
"We didn't come here to fight," he said. "I will not lose ships fighting a pointless battle."
Revazum just nodded obediently.
In the long run, this battle would be beyond unimportant to his plans. Kaaldrumee looked back at the display of the battle. His fighters was wreaking havoc with the Turian ships, and dozens of squadrons was engaging the UNSC. Two of the Turian ships had been disabled after his fighter's targeted specific section such as engines. The Turian fighters had fallen in numbers quickly by now. Most of them were dead. But they still managed to get a five-one kill rate and eliminate a large amount of enemy fighters.