Halo New galaxy Ch11 Fernando Island Chain
26th July 2554
Riga Lillo system, Rio, 824th Marine Division's Headquarters
Lt. General Horus had gathered Shepard, Mira A305 and Vice Admiral Petra Hammond. However Hammond appeared via screen. She refused to leave the Reunification when the two Ex-Covie fleets still battled in orbit. They had already crumbled in numbers, with the unknown factions having lost their Assault Carrier and Mdama's task forces flagship heavily damaged but still fighting the other faction.
The Divisions HQ had been established nearby the beaches only twenty-four hours ago. Horus wanted to move closer to the front. She felt too far away in the old HQ that was sitting in the closest town.
Horus activated the holotank and brought up a map over the region.
"The Storm has withdrawn to this island chain and are digging in," she began. "Locals named it the Fernando Island Chain. Candali, Rodman's Kingdom, Lakeside, Timber Heaven, Falling Star, Hawaii and Blue Switzerland are the islands respective names. All currently under Storm control. Thanks to our Air Force friends the Storm no longer dominate the skies."
"For now, it's closer to a stalemate, with us having more success than them," Hammond added to the briefing.
"Yes, correct Admiral," the female general said. She looked at the screen for a short moment. "My marine boys and girls have locked down every other foothold they have on the mainland. We're moving in on them as we speak. Which leaves the assault on the islands. Colonel Shepard."
"Sir," he said.
"I need your Battalion to lead the charge." She focused in the holo map on the seven islands. "If we wait for my Division to gather its strength. We're spread out too much attacking Storm holdouts to launch an all-lout offensive immediately. That'll give the enemy too much time to dig in and play defense."
Shepard nodded understandingly as he listened carefully. He theorized that General Horus wanted his drop troopers to jump in head first and jump from island to island in some kind of lightning warfare. What little he knew about Lt. General Daniella Horus was that she was calm itself with a preference for aggression in combat and firmly believed that offense was the best defense.
Around them techs and lower officers carried out tasks and keyed consoles and gave orders to different units and coordinated between the ground and aerial forces.
"Your Companies will airdrop in one per island and quickly secure an LZ. With an LZ secured I can ship in marines to assume control and secure the whole islands." She looked at Hammond for a moment.
"Unfortunately we don't have enough Pelicans to deploy larger numbers to five islands at ones," the Vice Admiral filled in. "So your marine backup will come in behind you. Hopefully the skies will be under our control at that point so the Storm won't bother them, but we can't assume that."
"Correct," Hammond started again. "The 29th Sky Hoppers will land on the first five islands, when possible, you will redeploy to assault the sixth and seventh islands." She paused. "How's your casualties?"
"Low, sir," Shepard replied. "We're strong enough to carry this out. The Sky Hoppers will kick the alien assholes off Rio for good."
Having been silent up till now Mira spoke up. "Sir."
"I know," Horus answered simple. "Your team's mission. I haven't forgotten about our greatest asset." She glanced at Shepard to see the ODST Colonel's reaction. ODSTs and Spartans weren't known to be on the best terms. But he didn't show at all that he felt any kind of disgust about the Spartans being referred to as a greater asset then his troopers. "I need Fireteam Crimson to drop on the seventh island. Blue Switzerland. Your mission is to eliminate the airfield. Destroying their airfield will cripple their aerial capabilities."
"My team will succeed, sir," Mira said flatly and stood to attention.
"I have no doubt," the general said in a finishing tone. She put her hands behind her back and looked at Mira and Shepard respectively. "Questions so far?" when she was met with silence she smiled. "Excellent. Admiral, how's your progress?"
Hammond shifted slightly in her seat before answering. "The enemy is still pummeling each other into oblivion, making it a lot easier for us. The unknown Command ship is gone with crew and all and the Storm's Command ship is crumbling in our three way fire fight."
Horus nodded to the Admiral's screen.
"If anyone can dispatch those shits, it's you Petra," she said honestly.
"I have to give my people most of the credit." She sighed. "And…the ex-Covies. If they wasn't pummeling each other this would be a lot harder. We'd be outnumbered if they hadn't already thinned each other out heavily." She finished with a smirk. "Makes it a lot easier, which I don't mind at all."
She looked at Shepard for a moment.
"Colonel Shepard. How's your Company CO's doing? No injuries?"
"None," Shepard assured her with a knowing look. He knew immediately that she was really asking about her grandkid. Daniella Cornfield, Captain of Sierra Company. "No injuries or casualties."
Horus leaned over the holo map.
"Prepare you men," she ordered Shepard. "You leave in two hours. Inform your officers and decide who drops where accordingly."
He snapped off a firm salute. "Sir!"
She then looked at Mira.
"I want to go through the details of your operation in private."
"Yes general," complied Mira.
Shepard knew his men was itching to continue the fight. To continue kicking the aliens off Rio. They had mostly rested up and helped eliminate straggling groups of Storm infantry still present. He worried about dropping in with minimal Intel about enemy numbers. If he spread out too thin he could lose several of his Companies. It was a pretty aggressive plan, but if it went wrong Shepard's Battalion would pay the price. If the Storm's air power wasn't broken his troopers would be trapped without reinforcements. A lot of this operation depended on everything going perfectly well. Hopefully the general had a backup plan.
Shepard cocked his BR85N and jumped inside the Pelican. It was time to launch the operation to free five of the islands from the Jul Mdama's forces iron grip. It was up to Cornfield's Sierra Company to take the first island and the second fell to Hathaway's. The third was Keegan's and the fourth Hendricks with the fifth was Wu's Company. Shepard himself joined Cornfield and Sierra Company.
"Hey Colonel!" A cheerful and familiar voice said through his helmet comm.
He recognized it to be the same pilot as when he landed back on the 22nd.
"I see you're still flying around," Shepard said.
"Yeah. Happy to see you made it through this far too, sir," the male pilot said honestly. "But I expect nothing less from someone with your reputation Colonel."
"How's the skies looking?" Shepard asked as the Pelican took off.
"Hmph. Well, the xenos put up a freaking hard fight," he said somberly. "Lost a lot of good pilots. But don't worry. I'll get you to the island in one piece. Apollo Squadron won't fail."
"I have no doubt." Shepard sat down. "What's your name?"
"First Lieutenant Duke. Julian Duke."
"Lt. Colonel John Shepard, but I guess you know already."
The pilot chuckled lightly. "Yes, sir! To be fair you're a bit of a legend since the war. What you did on Nebula Station is legendary in the ranks. Air Force, navy, army, marines whatever. Helljumper's. Hell man. Kinda like one of those Spartans or something. I mean one of the threes not the new punch. They're not as skill I heard. Rumors say the older is better."
"You're not gonna compare me with the old Spartan IIs right?" Shepard hoped. He wasn't that good.
Duke laughed.
Shepard noticed that Daniella looked at him from across.
"I'll leave you to your flying so we don't crash," he lightly joked with their pilot.
"Haha, I'll do my best to stay airborne," Duke promised.
Shepard shifted to a private frequency with Daniella.
"What's on your mind?" He asked friendly.
It took her a moment to say anything.
"I…I am concerned about something," she admitted. Her voice was tense.
"You know you can always speak freely. What's on your mind?"
"Well, sir…" She paused. "This isn't the time."
"Alright. We can do this after the mission. Ok?"
"…Sure."
"If it's about the mission though-"
"It isn't," Daniella quickly interrupted him. "I got it. We go in, kill everything not human, wait for the jarheads, move on to the sixth or seventh island and kill everything there. It wasn't hard to get."
"Sounds about right. By the way Daniella, she asked about you."
"My grandma? Really?" She was hesitant to ask.
"She was as subtle as she could, but yes. Asked about my Company Captains well-being."
Daniella scoffed. "Doesn't sound that subtle."
Shepard titled his head and breathed out.
"She's worried about you."
"I get that, but I don't need a Vice Admiral looking over my shoulder," she said adamantly.
The rest of the journey Candali was mostly silent, apart from a few conversations between the men. They were mostly about family combined with jokes and how they wanted to kick some xeno ass and kill 'em all for slaughtering the innocent town folk in the nearby towns and villages. Candali was the smallest island in the chain only being three kilometers in length. It had the fourth smallest population, since Timber Heaven, Rodman's Kingdom and Blue Switzerland had a local population of zero. Candali had two-hundred civvies living on it. Or it did. Shepard hoped to find survivors but experienced told him that the ex-Covies rarely left survivors. Most of the two-hundred civvies was certainly dead. If not all of them.
"We are landing on the beach in one minute," Duke said over the comm. "Ready yourselves ladies and gents."
"How's the LZ looking Lieutenant?" Shepard asked.
"Hostiles are approaching. Gonna be a firefight."
"Copy."
"Colonel, all Platoons ready for immediate action," Daniella told him. "3rd Platoon with Lieutenant Horse is first down."
"Understood," he answered simply.
3rd Platoon's 1st Lieutenant Marvin Horse was a damn good trooper. He was a career soldier with twenty-two years of experience. He was approaching forty-one years old. He'd lived through the majority of the war and fought through more battlefields then most of the boys and girls in the ODST Battalion had ever seen. The reason he wasn't ranked higher than a 1st Lieutenant was because he had refused several promotions. Shepard had made a mental note of asking him about it ages ago but never had the time.
This whole thing felt like the war all over again to Shepard. Apart from the suicidal attacks from Grunts and armor change it all felt like a déjà vu.
"Welcome to Candali," Duke said as the Pelican sat down and opened the ramp.
Daniella and Shepard ran outside together with the Platoon with them. They found Horse's men fighting already and their Pelican taking off. They could also see bodies and marks from Pelican missiles hitting the tree line and killing a large amount of Grunts and a Hunter. Made them feel pretty lucky.
"Create a defensive perimeter!" Daniella shouted at her men. She then gave orders over comm to men not in shouting distance.
The other Pelicans bringing in her remaining Platoons was setting down.
Two Companies worth of Jackals, Elites and Grunts was firing at them.
Shepard put a three-round burst that cracked a Jackals helmet and killed him.
He quickly overlooked his surroundings with a tactical eye. They landed on a sandy beach, fifteen meter long and ended in green grass and twenty meters later there was a tree line. Currently forty Jackals and Grunts with a handful Elites charged towards them from the edge between the sand and grass. They charged in a half circle like madmen ready to throw themselves into the meat grinder.
"Reiben!" Shepard alerted.
The Staff Sergeant turned her head to her superior.
He pointed towards one of the Elites. It charged with ten Grunts.
"Take that thing down!" He ordered.
"Copy!" She shifted the SAW and rained a hail of lead over the Elite and the Grunts with it.
It took a few seconds for half the Grunts to topple over in the sand and leaked blue blood. One of the little buggers got hit by four bullets. He leaked blood but barely slowed down. He kept charging and firing his Fuel Rod. He used it perfectly and scored a hit, ripping a trooper's upper body into pieces. A sniper round hit his helmet and cracked it. Even when losing his mask he held his breathe-ignoring the bleeding from the left side of his head-and dropped the Fuel Rod cannon and went for a simple Plasma pistol. He started firing crazily and hit two troopers, scrapping one's chest armor and hitting the other in the leg.
Reiben and three of her eight Squad members filled the Elite she fired at with bullet holes and brought him down. A Grunt started running away but was shot in the back by the wounded crazed Grunt that continued holding his breath since he couldn't breathe the atmosphere. He managed to fire three bolts at a trooper. His visor was hit straight on and he was dead before he hit the ground.
The crazed Grunt drew upon a Plasma grenade when his pistol overheated. But finally three rounds ripped through his head and finished his fanatical killing spree. The man killing him was 3rd Platoon's CO Lieutenant Marvin Horse.
The last Pelicans landed to drop off the Company's last Platoon. The 4th. The other four had already made it dirt-or sand-side.
A Squad of troopers put up a turret and one of them started mowing down everything none-human moving on the left flank.
"Go die you sons of bitches!" He screamed.
It didn't take long clearing up the aliens. Shepard was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that a second wave was being prepared to attack them. He patiently waited for a moment as Daniella was giving orders and moving her men up towards the tree line. He didn't intend to micromanage her Company without a damn good reason to do so. Such as incompetence and Daniella was far from incompetent. Not a lot of people managed to become a Captain at twenty-three.
After giving her Lieutenant's orders Daniella turned to Shepard.
"I'm thinking we got another wave incoming soon," she said.
Shepard nodded and smiled behind his visor. "I agree." He looked at the perimeter being established. He then looked up towards the sky. "As long as the perimeter holds and the air boys clears the skies, we're in a good spot."
He wagered that Hathaway had reached his target by now. The others had longer to travel and was probably still in transit. Hathaway's Vector Company was tasked to take the island Rodman's Kingdom. Shepard could swear that whoever first explored the island was a guy named Rodman. Without a doubt.
"Colonel Shepard," Shepard heard in his comm. "This is your eye in the sky. Ya got incoming marching up front the dirt road through the forest."
It was one of the pilots above them.
"Appreciate the warning. Thanks."
"No prob. Sir! My Squadron's moving in to cause some damage before they hit you. Got some armor with 'em."
Shepard turned his head to Daniella.
"Get rocket launchers up to the road. Next wave incoming!" She ordered immediately. "3rd Platoon on me, move up!"
"How much time we have? What kind of armor's we got?" Shepard asked.
"One kilometer away with four Ghosts leading the charge with ten Revenants, three Wraiths and a battalion's worth of troops…okay sir, my boys over the settlement reported in. Looks like the majority of the xenos is heading your way. But they're two kilometers from your current location."
"How many we're taking Major?"
"One Battalion's worth of troops with all armored vehicles. Wraiths, Revenants, Spectres, Ghosts, Banshees and even some of those Goblin mech things. The lot."
"Thanks for the update. Stay safe up there Major," Shepard said calmly. He was surprised that any of those walker things was here. But that was a hell of a mix of armor coming their way. But first they needed to think of the incoming wave. They needed to take out those Wraiths quick.
When he reached the front troopers and moved up to Daniella.
"Daniella. Which Platoon can you spare right now?" He asked directly.
"Eh…2nd, sir," she said, albeit confused of his purpose for this line of questioning. El-Tee Pavlenko is a good Platoon CO."
"Excellent. I'm going to lead them into the forest and ambush the Covies." He raised his hand when Reiben tried to protest. He continued looking at Daniella, with Reiben standing in his peripheral vision at the moment. "When you strike, we'll be positioned behind them and in a position to eliminate the Wraiths before they liquefy our men."
With that he opened a channel to Pavlenko.
"Lieutenant Pavlenko. Get your Platoon up here now."
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"We're gonna set up an ambush."
It took fifteen seconds for the Platoon to meet up with Shepard.
"Good luck, sir," Daniella said honestly with some worry about her CO jumping right into the battle.
Reiben definitely knew the feeling. Ones again the Colonel put himself on the most dangerous part of the battlefield. It was like he was intentionally planned ways to make her job harder.