Chapter XCVI: Terror in Broad Daylight
August 3, 2543 (UNSC Calendar)/one month later
UNSC Inconvenience, Campo Sorrisco System
"Give me a sitrep Eliza," I ordered as I walked out of the of the cryo bay, my squad in step behind me.
"Don't boss me around, I am-"
"Eliza…" I growled.
"Fine. Lambari is under attack. The Covenant arrived two days ago, we are the first UNSC reinforcements to arrive."
"Space?" Camilla asked.
"Same as always, the UNSC Navy suffered heavy losses but managed to inflict some light-to-medium casualties in return before retreating to the other side of the planet. Covenant Navy hasn't given chase just yet, instead opting to drop off troops and remain in orbit."
"Ground?" Agnarsson queried, his question was more relevant to us.
"It's a mess. And I really mean a mess. There are at least four different fronts and both human and Covenant units are operating completely devoid of support."
"Sounds like a good thing," Snark pointed out.
"Maybe," I conceded, "but we're still fighting a war with no intel or reliable support."
"As the good sergeant said," Eliza agreed. "It's tough down there." She went on before I could ask any more questions. "So far the UNSC Army hasn't suffered heavy casualties. The Air Force managed to save over sixty percent of their aircraft and ordinance from the initial bombings."
"Good," Scarecrow said. "Air support always comes in handy."
"True that," Schitzo agreed. "You should really use it more often bud." Schitzo was wearing black fatigues and a gray t-shirt. He actually looked like a halfway decent ODST when dressed up like that. "By the way, we look slightly ridiculous walking like this. Fast pace, one man in the lead and six men behind. This looks like something Michael Bay would direct."
Who?
"Michael Bay, the one with the explosions and the giant robots."
And the attractive girls all over the place? I asked. Great, I am the Michael Bay of the twenty-sixth century.
"What are you complaining about?" Schitzo teased. "You get to save the world, remember?"
And the girls.
I sighed and shook my head to myself. I didn't get to save the world, I just got to delay its destruction as long as I could. I found myself wishing, not for the first time, that this was only just some crappy action movie from the twenty-first century. Things might look tough for half the film, then all of a sudden the tide would change, courtesy of an ass-pull. Still, you always knew that the good guys would win, at worst one of the good guys would get himself killed while saving the rest.
Here you got yourself killed for nothing as a norm.
Suddenly I found myself cursing Agnarsson for introducing us to that stupid twenty-first century crap. I mean, who the hell has orgasms over media created over half a millennium ago? It's just weird, and annoying, and weird. I seriously hated him for that, I hated myself as well, being simply absorbed into anything pertaining to twenty-first century entertainment. Except videogames, those things were the most pointless and fake things that I could think of. Seriously.
Back to the situation at hand.
"Civilian evacuations?"
"Since the scout ships arrived the entire planet was put on red alert. Several thousand civilians chose to leave the system while the rest opposed the idea. The ones that left were but a minority. No other ships have left this system since the main invasion force arrived."
"Damn," Lamberti said. "Big colony?"
"Medium-sized. Just over five million inhabitants, most of them living in cities clustered in a relatively small area."
"I take it that the battle is taking place there?" Grass asked.
"Save for a few insignificant exceptions, yes."
I took in all the information. The battlefield was a mess, not good for us, but certainly not good for the covvies either. I only needed to figure out whether that was helpful or harmful for us. "Where are we dropping?"
"Uppergap, small city by Reach or Paris IV standards, but one of the largest in this planet."
"Population?" Lamberti asked.
"Pre-invasion or current?"
"Never mind, I don't want to know."
"Wise man," Sutton nodded.
By that point Reaper Squad was inside the drop bay. Our armor had been moved here, well, at least my armor had been moved here. I didn't like the idea of someone going through my things to get my armor here, but I appreciated the fact that I wouldn't need to take the long trip to my room and back. Besides, my armor looked rather impressive on its mount. It did have an intimidating effect on humans.
I started putting on my armor directly above my pants. The satellites indicated that weather down in Uppergap was a comfortable thirty degrees Celsius, nothing that I couldn't handle. Besides, it's not like we would be doing missions in vacuum. I suddenly remembered that faulty jump and looked nervously at the neatly folded undersuit in a cubbyhole with my name on it.
You're pushing your luck, I told myself as I ignored the under suit and resumed putting on my armor. To my credit, I did grab a long-sleeved Kevlar shirt before putting on the rest of my armor. The boots felt oddly heavy at first, but the exo-skeleton eventually powered up and I felt no heavier than usual. If I added the entire weight that I was carrying on armor alone it would probably amount to five kilos, tops. The rest of the weight was lifted by the armor itself. Technology and its wonders.
My battle rifle and pistol had also been moved, that annoyed me further, but I could see the practicality in that as well. I slung my rifle over my shoulder after doing a quick check and making sure that it was loaded and oiled. My pistol I strapped to the holster on my thigh after doing the same checkup. Its barrel extension/silencer poked out of the bottom of my holster, giving the M6 pistol an awkward look when strapped to my thigh.
I immediately started shoving magazines down every possible pocket. I was already out of battle rifle drum magazines, which meant that I carried significantly less ammunition every mission. I had been thinking about getting Marina to make me some new ones, but I didn't know whether I would end up looking like an asshole. Looking more like an asshole.
I picked up the grenades and made sure that they were tightly secured in their places. Last mission one flashbang had fallen off of the webbing after a particularly rough dive, didn't want that happening again.
"Sarge, you want explosives?" Lamberti asked giddily.
"Sure," I replied with a smile. I had a small obsession with explosives, being talented enough with their use to use them better than most people, but it was nothing compared to what Lamberti could do with them. The Italian light-gunner could make a single cube of C12 bring a firestorm comparable to that of a thermobaric bomb. I mean, it was just insane what he could do. What I just didn't get is that he couldn't make subtle explosions. Lamberti had a hard time blowing the hinges off a door, instead opting to blow the door from its hinges. Subtlety wasn't his forte.
The explosives expert tossed me a couple of plastic bricks. C10 explosives. I raised them in thanks and placed them in my butt-pouch. The hard fabric of the pouch would protect the explosives and their detonators whenever I landed on my ass or decided to sit down. It also held chocolate bars, the real deal, food paste, nutrient bars, water purification pellets, and a picture of me with my family. I had taken it from Camp Afghan back in Jericho VII when I found my uncle. It was an honest-to-God picture, printed on paper and everything, practically an antique.
I grabbed my knife from my combat boot and slid it into its sheath in my armored boots. The almost imperceptible weight made all the difference, it felt like it belonged there, and in a way, it did. The only pieces of equipment that I had kept since I joined the Corps were my armored boots, my rifle, and my Damascus steel knife. My helmet had been destroyed, my shoulder pads had been switched, the chest piece had been damaged and switched for another one. It still had the two slashes across, reminding me that I should switch it even though I never did.
I secured my other two knives and looked at my team.
Camilla, Agnarsson, and Sutton were already ready. Lamberti, Konstantinov, and Snark were not.
The Russian Helljumper cocked his shotgun one-handed and slid it across his back. His MA5K was also slung vertically on the right side of his back. It probably made for a lot of weight, but no doubt the benefits payed off, at least in Konstantinov's opinion.
"Showoff," Lamberti said with a chuckle. "Sometimes I wish I had a shotgun just for that."
"Here," Konstantinov replied, tossing his M90 at the Italian. "Try it."
Lamberti did so and grinned like a five year old seeing his gifts under the Christmas tree. He tossed the shotgun back and picked up the spare shell from the floor before handing it over to Konstantinov as well.
"Ready?" I pressured.
"Done," Snark said finally. He had just finished strapping his large pauldron to his left arm. The piece of armor looked slightly off on the sniper's thin frame.
"Good, here's the plan." Honestly, I had no idea what the plan was, but that's what you have AIs for, right?
The squad converged on the holo-table, surrounding it and looking at it. The device immediately turned on and displayed an accurate real-time depiction of the battle going on in Uppergap. The city did look smaller than several other places that I had been to, and nothing compared to New Alexandria or let alone Mexico City.
That put aside, it looked pretty much like most colonial cities. The downtown area was made up of unnecessarily tall skyscrapers, some of them connecting to each other through walkways or support beams, nothing unusual. The further away you went from downtown the shorter that buildings got. There were some residential buildings surrounding the downtown as well as some small commercial districts. The suburbs were on the city's outskirts and looked exactly like I would expect them to, rows upon rows of old-fashioned houses. The city also had an airport, a seaport, and a spaceport. Both the spaceport and the airport were close to each other while the seaport was on the opposite side of the city, facing the ocean (obviously).
The city was burning. I could see small representations of shortswords and seraphs doing bombing runs on certain streets. So far only a few buildings had collapsed, blocking off some streets, but nothing really major.
"Your mission is as follows," Eliza said, popping up an avatar of herself on the corner of the holo-table. "You are to drop in this area." While she said that she moved over the holographic city and pointed to the floor with her finger. The way she bent over was decidedly not family-friendly, but nothing that I wasn't used to. "The spaceport and airport are both already under attack by the enemy, the airport will likely fall in a matter of hours. The seaport, on the other hand, is not under attack yet. It is unlikely that the Covenant realize the importance of sea travel, if we manage to hold on to it we can resupply the troops in the city and evacuate civilians via submarine."
"Support?" I asked, tapping the objective into the command pad in my forearm.
"So far? None."
"You're telling me that the people down there haven't sent anyone to defend the place?" Camilla asked incredulously.
"No, the UNSC Army is currently engaged in civilian protection."
"The Marines?" Sutton asked.
"There were only a few units of UNSC Marines present on the planet, and most are fighting in the spaceport. Echo Company hasn't deployed yet."
"Understood," I said. "We get in, secure the area and hold it until reinforcements arrive. Simple, easy to remember."
"All right, but how long until reinforcements arrive?" Agnarsson pointed out.
"Less than a day," Eliza informed us.
"Could you be any more vague?" Agnarsson muttered under his breath.
"Yes," the AI informed him before disappearing.
"Very well, you got the gist of it. We go in, we hold the place. First line of defense, not the first time we've done this."
"Yes, Staff Sergeant!"
"Good. Now, how do we go?"
"We go feet first, Staff Sergeant."
"Climb into your pods, let's get this over with."
They all put on their helmets and I followed suit. My HUD instantly went active, making me feel like everything was under control. It was a familiar sensation, albeit a deceiving one, I knew that very little was actually under my control. The helmet asked me to confirm that I had no under suit and warned me about the dangers that involved. It could still seal and cover my head, but the rest of my body would either freeze or cook.
I climbed into my pod and watched the hatch close from above. It wasn't long before the warning lights flashed. They went through the familiar colors at just the right pace. Red, yellow, green.
And then we were off.
"Green," Angel said after a few tense moments.
"Good, Snark, climb that water tower and give us a sitrep on our surroundings, everyone else converge on me."
"Do I really have to climb all the way up just to climb down immediately after?" Snark complained.
"No," I replied. "You can jump down."
"Yeah, you're good at that kind of thing," Bumblebee added.
"Fuck you. Both of you."
"Any time Snark," I said, dismissing his complaints.
The rest of the squad moved to my pod. We had landed in the middle of a warehouse right outside of the seaport. Most of the pods had landed in containers, making it difficult for whomever was inside to climb out, but mine had landed in a small building, punching a hole through the roof and landing on the floor. I had a nice view of the seaport from here, this place was apparently a security building. Small, one story high, only one window and one door. Not to mention the incredible amount of screens displaying security feeds. That last one was kind of a giveaway.
"Sarge," Grass called out before walking inside. "Don't shoot me."
Like I could…
"Don't worry," I chuckled. "Come on in."
We waited a minute for the rest of the squad to join me in the building. They were calm and composed, exactly what was expected of the best of the best. I nodded at them and ordered them to take up defensive positions in the building. I asked Scarecrow to give me a lift and I climbed to the top of my pod. From there I jumped to the roof.
"Snark, you there yet?" I asked. I could see that he was almost on the top of the water tower, but he was still climbing.
"Just about," he replied. "And done."
"What do you see?"
"Shit, it seems like the port is already under enemy occupation," Snark cursed. I could see him looking through his scope on the railing surrounding the water tower. "Small group. I can only see a dozen grunts."
"Jackals?" I asked. I already knew there would be an elite nearby.
Snark took a couple of moments before answering. "Don't see any of them," he admitted. "But there might be some out of my line of sight. The port's a pretty big place Sarge."
"Got it. We might need you to cover us."
"Sure, take your time," Snark said.
I climbed back down, hopping on the top of my pod and then to the floor, avoiding the shattered pieces of floor. "So, what do you think?" I asked. It was a general question, but it was directed mostly at Grass and Caboose, they were the ones with the best understanding of tactics in the squad. After me of course.
"The port is about three hundred meters away, right?" Grass asked.
"Correct."
"Open ground, no cover?" Caboose joined.
"Bingo."
Both of them looked at each other for a second before looking back to me. Grass was the first one to speak. "We leave Snark for sniper support here and move inside the compound. We call in a drone and take the covvies out silently."
"If they detect the drone they'll know they're under attack," Angel pointed out. "Better to not use one."
"Drones have stealth technology," Grass reminded.
Angel chuckled. "Right, sorry, forgot about that. And since elites, grunts, and jackals can't look straight up I take it that they are completely undetectable."
It was a clear day, the smoke from the city wasn't lingering above the port, the wind was blowing from the ocean, pushing the smoke inland. A drone would immediately be spotted if anyone so much as looked up. Maybe they should paint the UAVs a light blue underneath, ought to improve their chances of survival.
"You have a point," Grass conceded much to her chagrin.
"So we go in without a drone," Bumblebee said. "It's not like we haven't done that kinda thing before, ain't it?"
"Man's gotta point," I told my squad. "Same plan, Snark?"
"Got it, just don't leave me alone for long."
I smiled. "We don't plan to, just as long as you do your job."
"Great."
"Ok," I said, turning back to my squad. "Let's move out."
We left the security building and exited the warehouse. The chain-link fence surrounding the storage facility had to be cut open, but not one of us planned on taking the whole detour and go out the front gates. Call us lazy bastards if you will, but breaking through reinforced steel with pliers also takes a special kind of strength. Granted, not that much strength, but still some. Yeah…
The space in between the warehouse and the port was nothing but an empty field. The brownish grass would do nothing to cover us from incoming plasma and wasn't tall enough for any of us to hide beneath it. Frankly, it made me nervous to have to walk across the stretch of land without any cover, but I knew that Snark was good enough to keep any sharpshooter off our backs until we reached the wall that surrounded the seaport.
"Scarecrow," I said as soon as all of us were leaning against the polycrete wall surrounding the seaport.
"Got it."
The huge man put his back against the wall and intertwined his fingers in front of him. Angel was the first one to go. He took two steps before jumping into Scarecrow's hands. The huge ODST propelled the Italian up, helping him vault over the fifteen foot-tall fence. Angel grabbed on to the top and produced his pair of pliers from one pocket. He used them to cut the razor wire on top and pushed the metal aside. Once it was safe to climb over he pulled himself up and jumped to the other side.
"Grass," I ordered.
The statuesque blonde nodded at me and jumped over the wall with the exact same motions that Angel had used. Caboose and Bumblebee quickly followed the only female squad member and Angel. Once the four of them were over the wall they fanned out slightly to set up a perimeter of sorts. Their helmet cams showed me that there were several polycrete barricades stored in the area, they would serve to hide us from view and to stop a plasma bolt.
"Here I go," I warned Scarecrow.
"Go for it," he said almost daringly.
I jumped and almost vaulted over the wall, but twisted in midair to grab on to the wall instead of going completely over it. I climbed and placed one leg on each side. The position had me exposed on all sides, but it was necessary for my goal. I slowly let myself fall to the front, belly first, while kicking at the razor wire with my feet. I let one hand fall down and offered it to Scarecrow.
"Jesus fuck you weigh half a ton," I said as soon as I caught him. "I appreciate the mass and all that, but I mean. Wow."
"Thanks Sarge," Scarecrow deadpanned as I heaved and pulled him up just enough for his other hand to reach the ledge of the wall.
Once he had both hands there I dropped to the other side, rolling on my side to minimize the force of the impact. I couldn't resist coming out of the roll with my gun raised, not because it was actually necessary, but because it looked cool when you did that. I glance around me to spot the exact positions that my squad was in. Once I was satisfied that they had me covered I let myself stand normally.
Scarecrow oofed as he dropped himself from the wall. I turned around to see the big man dusting himself off. He nodded at me and I beckoned to him. Scarecrow and I moved towards a polycrete barricade and crouched behind it.
"Stealth?" he asked me.
"Yes, I think that's the best option," I replied.
Scarecrow heaved a sigh. "Not my forte," he admitted. "Perhaps you, Grass, and Caboose could scout ahead while the rest of us stay behind. We'll move up when you clear the area ahead."
"Sounds like a plan," I said, nodding. "Snark, where are the closest hostiles?"
"Wait a moment… There are two grunts two buildings away from you. They are patrolling the area apparently. Not doing a terribly good job at it."
"I'd say," Bumblebee agreed with a light chuckle. I was surprised to see the Scottish Helljumper agree with our marksman, they usually fought over the dumbest things, much like Angel and Grass.
"Caboose, Grass, you got silencers?" I asked them.
They both flashed their affirmative lights.
"Great, screw them on," I ordered. "Snark?"
He sighed. "On it."
I could understand his annoyance. To properly silence his EMR he needed a silencer that was little bit over a foot in length and thicker than a can of Coca Cola. The thing wasn't really that heavy, but it was cumbersome and difficult to screw on. Snark had to give up space on his lower back where he could've stored grenades or a knife. This is just me, but I would hate having one knife less.
"Ready," Grass said.
"Ok, move out, you take the right," I told her. "Caboose on the left and I take the middle."
They flashed their green acknowledgment lights and fanned out. I turned around and gave command of the rest of the squad to Scarecrow. He wasn't as high-ranking as Angel, but they both knew he was the better leader.
I left the area with piles of polycrete barricades and suddenly had a lot less cover. To my side were two buildings made out of some kind of thin metal. Prefab buildings evidently, probably served as offices to the various companies that shipped stuff in and out of this port. They would provide enough cover from the sides, but nothing to hide behind if an alien popped around the corner. I walked through with both buildings to my sides, my pistol raised. The red silhouettes of the two grunts were getting closer. It was a good thing that Snark had a clear line of sight on them.
"They're almost on you Sarge," our marksman warned me.
"I see 'em." I put my back against the wall of one of the buildings and waited for the grunts to pass. "So, knife, or hands?"
"Hands," Grass said.
"Knife," Caboose voted at the same time.
"One each is going to be tricky," I told them.
"Fine, use your hands," the Russian said.
"Got it, Snark, you've got my back."
The sniper winked a green light. "I usually do."
I waited a few more seconds until the grunts were in range. As soon as they were close enough I jumped out of cover. Both of the grunts jumped back in surprise and one of them actually dropped its gun. The other alien tried raising his plasma pistol but met my boot with a lot more intimacy than it would've liked. The alien that had dropped its gun tried turning around, but within an instant my hands were grabbing at its face. The little alien might've been a coward, but it was heavy and strong. I pulled it towards me with some effort and snapped its neck with one quick motion.
The other alien was still stunned and trying to make sense of what had just happened then I punched it in the face. After it fell to the ground I took its gas mask from it and let it choke to death on the ground.
"Nice one," Snark said. "I liked the neck snap, nice touch."
"I thought so too," I replied with a smile. The two grunts were dead or dying on the ground and the loudest noise had been the sound of vertebrae being twisted. I was quite satisfied with myself. "See any more aliens?"
"Not in your immediate vicinity, no."
"I see an elite," Grass informed us suddenly. "Three grunts behind it."
As soon as the aliens' silhouettes appeared on my HUD I ordered Caboose to join me. He trotted towards my position and crouched beside me. He spared the dead grunt one glance and then curb stomped the other one. I raised an eyebrow at him behind my polarized visor.
"You're a psycho," Snark laughed.
We turned to our right and joined Grass. She was hiding behind yet another small building, keeping a careful eye on the small enemy squad. So far, they were milling around the area in between the buildings and the pile of containers.
"How do we proceed?" Caboose asked.
I thought for a few seconds. I got an idea. "Grass, you stay here, Caboose and me will go around some of the containers and position ourselves behind the elite. Make a noise or something to distract the grunts, then we take him out."
"Why do I have to stay here?" she asked grumpily.
I sighed. "Because last time you tried some up-close-and-personal combat you ended up breaking your blade."
That shut her up.
"Caboose, on me."
Both of us backtracked and then sprinted across the open space that separated the containers from the office buildings. As soon as we left that open space we found ourselves surrounded by piles of huge containers. The metallic boxes were at least ten feet tall each and were piled on top one another until they reached stacks the size of three-story buildings. It felt like I was inside a labyrinth of some sort. It was slightly off-putting.
"Over here," Caboose said, pointing to a gap in between the container wall. I followed him through it and we ended on the other side. We both stopped before leaving cover.
"You see them?" I asked.
"Yes, they're close."
"Grass, go!" I ordered.
I heard the sound of something falling down. Grass had entered the building directly in front of the aliens and dropped something to make a credible noise.
I peeked out of cover to see the result. The elite snapped its head quickly but then raised one arm almost lazily and barked some orders. The three grunts yelped in fright and wobbled towards the building, they opened the door carefully and started searching for whatever had caused that noise with frightened expressions on their faces.
"Want me to take them out?" she asked me.
"Nah, let's do the elite first."
"Roger that."
"You want the honor?"
"I do," Caboose said with what could only be a smile behind his visor.
The Russion ONI mole slid out of cover and crouched while drawing his own knife. He now had his silenced carbine in one hand and the sharp blade in the other. Caboose closed in on the elite as silently as a ghost and stopped behind it. The elite was looking at the building the grunts were in, waiting to hear their report. I wasn't an expert in alien behavior, but if I had to guess I would say that the elite was annoyed and more than slightly bored. The fact that it was actually slouching was something that I rarely saw in that race, usually standing broad-shouldered and proud.
"Go," I encouraged.
Caboose aimed at the elite's knee joint and fired one rounds. The report from his gun was audible, but nothing that would alert anyone else besides the grunts or my squad. The elite fell to the ground, using its other leg to keep itself afoot. It started opening its mandibles to cry out in pain just as Caboose stabbed the creatures open mouth, killing the scream before it left its throat. The elite died instantly as the knife destroyed its brain and collapsed to the floor. Caboose immediately rolled to the side and hid behind a crate.
The grunts barreled out of the building, having heard the suppressed gunshot and wondering what had caused it. Once they saw their dead leader in the ground, a pile of blood forming around it, they started panicking.
"They must be shitting themselves," Grass said humorously. "Poor little guys."
"You can take them out now, wouldn't want them to think the situation through and make contact."
There were three suppressed gunshots and the three grunts fell to the ground. One of them rolled down the stairs that lead to the building's door. Grass emerged victoriously from the door, holding her own MA5B in her hands. She looked at the grunts and started dragging the bodies inside the building. The grunts left trails of bioluminescent blood as they were dragged, leaving a grim marker of the firefight. If what had transpired here could be considered a fight at all.
"Shit, Phantom," Snark warned.
"Hide," I said.
Caboose immediately stopped dragging the elite's body and dove in behind his crate, pressing himself against the wall as tightly as possible. Grass placed herself inside the building, completely out of sight to anything from above. I remained where I was, my hands squeezing the grip of my pistol tightly. The dropship flew overhead and I could feel my body vibrating as its anti-grav units propelled it above us. I looked up and saw a brief flash of gray above. The ship was flying towards the edge of the seaport, towards the docks.
"Snark, what's it doing."
"It's dropping off some personnel," he replied. "Ten grunts, four elites, and… fuck. And two hunters."
"Fuck," I echoed.
"Sarge?" Scarecrow asked.
"Plan stays the same. Move up."
"Acknowledged," he replied.
Grass joined Caboose and I and we started moving towards the docks. So far we hadn't spotted any covvies, but we were still alert to the situation. We went through the containers with utmost care, making sure to stay quiet and keeping our guns raised at all times. It wasn't long before we encountered enemy presence. I heard stomping and ordered my team to halt. From the sound of it, it was coming from one aisle to our right.
I turned my translator on.
"-d idiot," a distinctively jackal voice said. "Probably forgot to check in or turned off its radio."
"Pillaging, that's what I would be doing," another similar voice said.
The translator in my helmet had different voices for different aliens. There was one 'default' voice for each race. It changed its tone and key slightly to differentiate different individuals from one another. It was relatively new software, and I hadn't really had the need to use it.
"Silence vermin!" a deeper voice said. It was obviously an elite. "Be ready."
"Please, your brother's probably taking a nap," the second jackal replied with a mocking tone.
There was the sound of a body moving and then I heard something banging against a container.
"I do not need to hear your opinion," the elite growled. "If you open your mouth once more you'll wish you were dead."
I could picture the jackal opening its mouth to say yes to its leader before thinking better of it and nodding quickly. I almost laughed at the mental image. I heard the sound of a body falling to the ground and knew that the elite had dropped the jackal after lifting it from the ground, probably from the throat. I had seen elites do that to marines before.
"Follow me," I ordered.
We emerged into the aisle that the aliens were in just as they moved out. The two jackals were in step behind the elite and the blue-clad alien walked with its back straight and its shoulders wide. No doubt intending to give a good impression to its underlings. The two jackals weren't facing me, but even I could tell that they were both shooting daggers at the elite, especially the one with dirt covering its armor and legs.
I drew my backup knife slowly, as if to not make any noise, and motioned for Caboose to do the same. I ordered Grass to keep her weapon raised and aimed at the elite with hand signals and started moving towards the aliens very slowly and as noiselessly as possible. We closed in on them slowly but surely, not wanting to give ourselves away by walking to fast. It wasn't long before one of the jackals figured out that something was wrong.
The alien raised its beak and said something after sniffing at the air. I jumped at it before my helmet could translate the phrase and slit the jackal's neck. Caboose bounded and did the same thing with the other jackal. I could hear the air leaving their lungs through the new body cavity that we had created. The elite didn't turn around and I thanked God, Buddah, Allah, and Yahweh for our luck.
"Silence," the elite barked.
Silence indeed my friend.
I took aim with my pistol at the back of its knee and fired. The round went through the elite's armor with ease since it didn't have its shields turned on. The elite managed a cry of pain and anger before Caboose stabbed it in the back of the neck, severing its vertebrae and leaving it unable to move. The huge alien slumped to the floor. Caboose kneeled besides it and turned it over, the elite had a look of anger frozen on its face, its eyes still alive. Caboose ignored the alien's eyes and slashed its throat open with his knife even as I cleaned up my own.
"Move up," I ordered Scarecrow.
Us three left the bodies where they were and kept moving forward. The stacks of containers stopped abruptly to give way to a paved road. The road was just wide enough to allow trailers to drive parallel to each other and then the stacks of containers started again. The road was currently housing a group of six grunts walking in a loose formation, all of them looking like they hated their lives.
In the space of a few seconds, they would have no lives to hate.
"Grass, get a bead on them, same goes for you Caboose, these ones we shoot."
"I got the closes ones," Caboose said.
"I got lead and the one to its right," Grass decided.
"I got the other two."
We positioned ourselves as well as we could in the cramped quarters. "On my mark," I indicated. "One, two, three, mark."
Grass and Caboose took out their targets in less than half a second. I waited for the bodies of the dead grunts to fall to get a clear shot at my targets, after which I promptly took them out with well-placed headshots. I nodded at my fire team and motioned for them to cover me. I moved towards the bodies of the grunts and confirmed that they were dead. They were, bullets to the head don't really leave much room for error.
"Ok, so we took out the original group," I stated. "We're still missing the ones that were just dropped off."
"Hunter's might be trouble Sarge, you sure you don't need help?" Scarecrow asked.
"Not at the moment, we'll take those out last."
"If you say so," he replied.
"Snark, can you see anything?"
"No, the- wait. Yes, they moved towards the dock, I can see them clearly. The hunters are staying on the dock."
"No doubt to keep the grunts at ease," I interrupted.
"Yes, whatever. Elites and grunts are returning, they're out of sight."
"Sarge, I just downloaded a map for the port," Grass suddenly said.
I smiled, she certainly thought outside the box. "Great, what's near that dock in particular."
"Dock 5," she informed me. "There is a wide open area for loading and unloading. A couple of cranes and a customs office."
"Not much in the way of cover," Caboose noted.
"For once, that will work for us."
"Yes," I agreed. "We take out the grunts first, keep silent, they still don't know we're here."
"Unbelievable isn't it?" Angel asked.
"Almost," Bumblebee admitted.
We stopped just outside of the open space, hiding behind a bunch of piled up crates. The lettering on the crates was in cyrillic, I could read in cyrillic… just as long as it was written in Spanish or English. Yeah, I pretty much knew how to translate the letters and that's about it. Not really useful by any means, I didn't know anyone who would bother to write in cyrillic in a different language. An odd skill to have, isn't it?
I looked over the crates and spotted the alien platoon. The elites were chatting with each other, too far away for my translator to make anything of it. There was one red-clad major and three minors. The grunts were divided into three different groups and were chatting with one another without worry. The elites looked somewhat annoyed, no doubt because the squad that was supposed to be here hadn't come up to greet them as they should've. In their place I would've entrenched myself and waited for the ambush, but they were cocky and overconfident.
"Grass, help me with the closes grunts," I ordered. To Caboose I added, "Cover us."
The closest group consisted of only three grunts. They were chatting about something involving nipples. I ignored it, dismissing the topic as a malfunction on the part of my helmet's translation software, but it still amused me.
The three grunts were looking towards the sea, taking in the sight while chatting. That was their undoing, since none of them saw us coming. I took position right behind them and waited for Grass to do the same. I counted to three with my fingers and then stabbed a grunt through the skull. I was surprised at my own strength, breaking through bone is pretty hard, especially the skull. I guess my augmentations did a lot more than I gave them credit for.
Grass stuck to the classics, instead slashing her grunt's throat and then doing the same to the third alien while I pried my knife away from the grunt's skull. As I pulled the knife out little pieces of brain flew out along with blood. I shook my knife to get some of the blood off and sneaked back into the piles of containers to avoid being spotted. So far, so good.
"Caboose, they spot us?"
"Not yet."
"Good, circle around that customs office and take out the two grunts silently. Can you do that?"
"Easily," he cockily announced.
I did a mental shrug and beckoned for Grass to follow me. We took a large detour while trying to sneak around the elites and find a nice position from which to kill the remaining grunts. We had to be careful, but not too much. The two hunters were looking at the sea, their bodies rippling as the worms that made them up moved and shuffled. They didn't hear us, or feel us, pass.
"They're dead," Caboose informed.
"Good, set up shop in a high vantage point," I ordered. "The crane accessible?"
"Yeah, got it."
The last five grunts were huddled in a circle much like kids do when they talk in recess. Well, at least that's what I used to do. Nevertheless, the grunts being in a circle meant that we couldn't get closer than we already were through stealth. They had eyes on all directions and if one of them spotted us we would have five plasma pistols firing at us. Instead, we would have to take a different approach.
"Three and two?" Grass asked.
"No, your rifle makes too much noise."
"So, zero and five?"
"Afirmativo," I smiled.
"You know, you sound a little bit weird speaking like that?" she teased.
"You mocking my native language?"
She shook her head. "No go ahead."
"Eso creí."
"Ok, now that's just mean."
"¿Y qué? Tu te la buscaste."
"Yeah, whatever."
I knew that she just had to be thinking that out of the four languages that she spoke Spanish wasn't one of them. I was thinking about it as well, Spanish was the second most spoken language right after English. It was even one of the official languages of the UNSC. Why she would learn Hungarian before learning Spanish or Mandarin was beyond my understanding.
I popped from cover and nailed the five grunts with five well-placed shots.
Simple, really.
My pistol's state-of-the-art suppressor was more than enough to quiet down the gunshot. Sure, it still made some noise, but nowhere near as much as Grass's rifle would've made. The grunts collapsed to the ground before they even knew what was happening.
"They know something's up," Caboose announced. "They're back to back, scanning the area for hostiles."
"They're scared as shit."
"I'd be too," Grass said, "if suddenly my entire squad was dead and I didn't see it happen.
"In broad daylight to boot," Snark added.
Snark, right. "Hey bud, you still got an eye on the hunters?"
"Yeah."
"Ok, as soon as we take them out I want you to get to the wall, I'll send someone to help you up."
"Roger that, Sarge, appreciate the touch."
"Caboose, status report."
"If I didn't know any better I'd say that the elites are shaking."
"Toss a grenade at them will ya? From high up, I don't want them to see it coming."
"Oh ho ho, this is going to be good," he laughed.
The grenade detonated two seconds after Caboose said that. I didn't see it blow up, but I just knew that it had landed right amongst the four elites. The explosion drained their shields completely but didn't kill them. Grass and I popped out of cover and took aim at the startled elites. They had been pushed outwards by the blast and were struggling to get their bearings back. One of them had even fallen over and was trying to stand up.
One burst from my BR55 fixed that. The other elite closest to it stretched theatrically and raised its head as I hit it with another burst. The last two aliens were promptly dispatched by Grass.
"Fire on the hunters," I ordered Caboose and Snark.
They both complied and I soon heard the faint noises that Caboose's suppressed carbine made. Snark's rifle was too far away for me to hear anything though, but I knew that he was taking shots at the two large aliens, aiming for the gaps in their armor and no doubt scoring hits. The hunters roared in anger, testament to the skill of my squad.
"Oh shit," Caboose cursed. He jumped out of the crane's control room just as a green round from the alien's assault cannon made contact with the control cabin. The Russian Helljumper held on with both his hands onto the crane's arm. He made his way sideways while still firing and avoiding enemy fire. Eventually, his and Snark's combined fire- well, his distracting fire and Snark's accurate shots, brought down one hunter.
"Ha! Got one," Snark cried triumphantly.
Not good.
The other Mgalekgolo roared that characteristic roar that their race seemed to have. My teeth clacked together at the sheer strength of the sonic boom and my whole body seemed to shake. The surviving hunter spotted me. It probably decided that since the human that killed its pair was too far away I was the second best option. Or perhaps it just went berserk, I don't know. Hunters are beyond my understanding.
"Shoot it!" I yelled.
I emptied my entire clip at the charging alien just as Grass did the same, but the hunter didn't seem to feel anything as it barreled towards us. Just before it reached us it jumped and slashed at us with its shield in a killing bash. Grass jumped out of the way and ran away while reloading. I dodged the bash and rolled to the side. I took a knee and emptied what was left of my magazine on the hunter's exposed torso, drawing some orange blood.
I jumped backwards as the shield slammed where I had just been kneeling. I rolled back again just in time to avoid a follow up blow. I stood up and looked at the ogre for the briefest of instants before turning around and running for my life. I had quite literally opened the can of worms.
"Sarge, what's wrong?" Scarecrow asked.
"Nothing," I replied as nonchalantly as I could. "Hunter wants to make me its bitch, that's all."
"Hey, are you in the containers?" Angel asked suddenly.
"Yes," I replied. I had just made my way inside the stacks with the intent of losing the pursuing alien. For a creature of that size it certainly moved with a lot of speed. What it lacked in agility it made up for with in strength, smashing into containers rather than stopping and lose sight of me. "Why?"
"Set up a charge in one of them and detonate it as it runs by."
"Got it," I said, reaching for the charge in my pouch.
I slung my rifle over my back as I doubled my pace. I reached for the detonators and placed a metallic device inside the pile of putty as I ran, a task that is more difficult than it sounds. As soon as I was done I slapped the C10 to a container and looked over my shoulder. The hunter was just far enough behind me that I would be out of the lethal blast radius when I detonated.
So I pressed the button twice.
The C10 charge blew up right next to the hunter. I don't know if the explosion killed it, but what followed certainly did.
The container was cut in two by the detonation, weakening the structure. The weight of the containers proved to be too much and they collapsed to the side, right on top of the hunter. The topmost container knocked over one of the containers stacked in the row next to it, bringing them down as well. That set up a domino effect that brought down at least ten rows of containers. Well, it is amazing what you can do with one little block of plastic explosives.
"You knew that was gonna happen?" I asked.
"I could only hope," Angel replied with a smile.
I looked at the collapsed pile of containers. The closest one was just five meters away from me, and even then I had to run a little more after I detonated the C10. If I had decided to stop I would've been crushed just as thoroughly as the hunter. Scratch that, I would've been crushed slightly worse than the hunter. I didn't have armor that could withstand rockets.
"Angel, you're an asshole."
Thanks to Sniper Fodder for proof-reading this chapter.
I bet you didn't expect the title to refer to the terror that the covvies would be facing.
There it is, the longest chapter I have written so far in this fic. Over eight thousand words in all. Not that much by some standards, but I usually clock at about five and a half thousand. Still, this is a pretty long chapter with a slightly different type of action that we usually see in this story. I hope that you enjoyed it or else I wasted a lot of time writing this. That would make me sad. :(
Let me know what you think, will ya?
-casquis