The Gate of Reach
Chapter Four
Italica
Welcome to Chapter four, where the Flame dragon rampages, Italica is raided by bandits,
I hope you enjoy, and as always, please review!
-Simply
Disclaimer- I do not own either GATE or HALO, only the story.
30'th March, 2853
Faragut / Japanese-Claimed Special Region
The Vault
11:12 Faragut Time
Two USSC Pelicans flew over the treetops, locating a small structure.
Landing near it, scientists and one or two squads of marines exitted, immediately heading towards the structure.
Doctor Catherine Halsey walked towards the structure, and a small pad lighted up.
Putting her hand onto it, the pad scanned it, and slowly, the ancient doors of the Ancient Human Installation opened.
The squad hurried inside, and suddenly, a floating being came.
It spoke. " Greetings, reclaimers! I am 3141-B Timeless Guardian, the monitor of this ancient Human-Forerunner installation!"
Halsey asked. " What is the purpose of this installation?"
Timeless guardian replied, " This facility holds the final 25 Normal Humans and 25 Forerunners, their knowledge, and the full databases of the Concordia Cooperation!"
Halsey asked, " The Concordia Cooperation? That wasn't in the forerunner databases… We are capable of building Arks, HALO's, and just recently, shield worlds. Yet, we have no idea what it is."
Timeless Guardian said, " The Concordia Cooperation consisted of the Human-San'Shyuum Empire and Forerunner Ecumene survivors after the activation of the HALO Arrays! The San'Shyuum, However, decided to pass away, as they believed that they should die along with the rest of their people.|
" I have been instructed to bring you to the vault, where the interface lies, reclaimers!", it added.
" Lead the way. How do you know our language?" Halsey asked,
Timeless said, " I analyzed the speech pattern in your radios, and it is very similar to the human language!"
20 Minutes Later
Andron was a ancient human researcher, expertising in technological development and research.
He heard the " HISS!" Of his Cyrogenic chamber depressurising, as he slowly opened his eyes.
He saw several… Rather short humans, similar to those who have been devolved in weird clothes, speaking a weird language.
Timeless, the world-AI spoke, " Greetings, Andron. It has been 153,682 years since your civillization fell, and the reclaimers have successfully found the shield world! I have to say, I am impressed with how much they have advanced!"
The pods opened, as Halsey looked at what seem to be the person in charge of the facility exit his pod.
The person spoke, in Latin,
" Hello, I am Andron.. A researcher of the Concordia Cooperation.
15'th June, 2853
Faragut
Kingdom Planetary Operations HQ
11:10 Faragut Time
At landing bay 5, a crowd of Marines surrounded the area, as a USSC C-1513 " Carrier Pigeon" Atmosphere-To-Ground Transport aircraft desended into the atmosphere, and onto the pad.
THE Master Chief is here. John. Fucking. 117. The master chief, John-117.
He walked off the side entrance of the CarrierP, his helmet on, and still, John-117, The Demon, The reclaimer, the saviour of the whole god fucking galaxy. The Master Chief is here.
He swiftly saluted Doctor Halsey, and walked towards the Command HQ, with marines following, wanting to get a signature.
He looked around. The place was not only a op HQ, it is also a small town. UNSC men walked around, off-duty. People just living life. Hell, there was even a small coffee shop nearby, courtesy to Starbucks.
Walking next to him is Cortana in a synth body, now used to being out of digital space. She nearly went rampant so long ago, yet due to forerunner tech, metastabillity is now ensured for all synthetics, and people and synths can live for thousands of years, and even forever.
Halsey walked alongside them, talking with Cortana about things only people with the brain of Halsey can even understand.
Chief was to be in charge of the local Army and Marines. He tapped his arm display, and his helmet disappeared into a Slipspace Storage Point, Slipspace Translocation is not often used for Humans due to the risks, but it definitely is handy for storage.
2 Hours Later
Reluctantly, the UN from the past and the USSC decided to conduct joint operations on this planet.
A M-529A2 " Guardian" Infantry Fighting vehicle and two USSC M24A5 Warthogs glided across the terrain, with two Toyota HMV's and a Humvee from the Old UN side following at full gas.
" I seriously can't believe we are on a mission with stuff from HALO…. Like, my friends back in the US would be so fucking jealous," Lieutenant Duvat said.
Itami said, " Yea, it was hella shocking. Kuribayashi literally fainted from seeing UNSC… USSC Marines." Jeez, they are good people."
Kuribayashi was in one of the warthogs, probably chatting up one of the USSC Humans. He thought it was weird. Elites and humans working together, Brutes and Grunts riding along, it was weird.
They rolled into a village, and the strong smell of burning wood and… Burning flesh filled their noses.
The USSC Marines strapped on respirators and hopped off. Looking up, they saw a village hanging off a tree, on fire.
They climbed up, and found many burnt corpses. Calling for a S&R Unit to come investigate, they looked around.
Looking down the well, they saw a well, and looking down,
" Dang… THERE IS A SURVIVOR!"
The USSC S&R Pelican soon arrived. The S&R Personnel managed to rescue the sole survivor, a elf girl.
Doctor Halsey, who is in charge, said.
" New orders, move to attempt to evacuate any nearby villages."
Several hours later
Coda Village
The warthogs rolled into the largest local village. The locals looked on in shock, as the small convoy rolled into the village.
The Village chief was in disbelief, yet decided to evacuate the village.
Villagers loaded their carriages, and warthogs helped to tow them.
Sergeant Andrew Williams is an average synthetic Marine grunt. He looked around, and looking up from his gauss turret,
He heard the comms operator down there say, " Hold up…. Command said that…. They are tracking the fire dragon… ETA 5 MINUTES! FIRE DRAGON ETA 5 MINUTES! Kingdom, send in some god-damned CAS, hopefully a Longsword or hell, a short sword, maybe even a god-damned seraph, just hurry."
4 Minutes Later
The Civilians all hid in a nearby natural cave.
" INCOMING!"
Plasma turrets, M2 Brownings, and M41 Rotary MG's spat out lead and burning gas. The 12.7x99mm AP Rounds managed to pierce into the thing's soft parts, but pinged off the scales.
The plasma on the other hand, burnt into the scales and flesh of the Dragon, causing it to roar in pain.
Suddenly, a burning dot in the sky slowly largened, revealing a USSC Light Support Corvette. Both local and UN looked on, as USSC troops shaded their Visual displays.
Everyone looked on, as the four Bottom-mounted 35 mm Rotary Autocannons, two Bottom-mounted DEW Arrays, and four pulse laser emitters aimed, and fired.
Two bright beams of pure bright light speared out of the array, slamming into the dragon's chest, burning a hole directly through.
The Streams of 35mm HE Round found their way towards the hole in the dragon's chest, as the dragon gave a final defying " ROAR!", and collapsed.
" Well… That was exciting…" A USSC Marine remarked.
Another marine replied, " Shut the fuck up, Andy. "
Meanwhile, Three Pelicans and a Carrier Pigeon descended, picking up the civvies, who were shocked at this sheer display of technology.
The Aircraft soonly took off, and disappeared in a sonic boom.
18'th June, 2853
Italica, Faragut
City Wall
16:24 Faragut Time
A small USSC convoy arrived outside of Italica.
" What do you want with us, men with horseless carriages and inpenetrable armour?" A local said, scared.
" We are here to have a look at these cities…. Just a part of the job."
Princess Pina said, " Where do you come from… Our people were massacared at the two gates. You come from one of them."
Squad Lead Lieutenant Jane Shepard said, " We come from beyond the skies and heavens from another planet far away."
Pina stuttered, " What… Impossible…"
Jane simply said, " If you would like to, we will show you.."
Pina shuddered and said, " A-Alright…"
Jane spoke into her headset, " USSC Small-Yet-Furious, please conduct In-at ST Travel, .75 KM above my location, thanks."
" Yes, Lieutenant, coming down now." The commander of the corvette USSC Small-Yet-Furious said, as Jane replied, " Thank you, Commander."
Pina looked in shock and fear as a small cut in the fabric of reality itself appeared over her, as a 250-Metre long corvette slid out of the 11 dimensions of slipspace.
Pina was shocked. " My god… Massive flying airships capable of going beyond the heavens… What have we angered?" She muttered.
A nearby marine, a Sangheili said, " Apparently, a Intergalactic Government, who does not like being attacked."
Pina was shocked at the Sangheili. " W- What are you?"
The Sangheili responded, " I am a Sangheili, one of the species consisting the USF, and one of the founding races."
Pina asked, " How many manpower do your militaries have.."
Jane now replied, " Approximately 52.9 BIllion personnel amongst several branches. But we are in a Long period of peace. However, we have over a trillion people in the reserves.
Pina gasped in shock. These people are on a whole other level compared to the empire, and the empire is so, so wrong.
The next day, Early morning
Pina asked these… Men from the skies, " Can you defend the other gate?", thinking that it is a death mission, when the bandits flank them.
" Sure… You sure you don't need help?" Shepard said.
" No, no thanks…" Pina said.
2 hours later
Looking through her headset, all the enemies seemed to be on the other side…
Shepard said, " Everyone, on the Warthog, now."
One of Pina's knights yelled, " THEY ARE OVERRUNNING US!"
Pina hoped that those men from the skies were holding on their own.
Meanwhile, Command replied to Jane.
" Copy, Shepard. Sending several lightfoots and pelicans to you. Old UN is also sending a bunch of Chinooks and Hueys, hold on tight."
Jane nodded, as they approached the battle zone, rifle at the ready.
Pina stabbed one of the bandits, killing him, and she was afraid.
Suddenly, two screeches were heard.
Pina looked over there, and there was two of those horseless carriages.
These weapons on the horseless carriages spat out beams of light. Burning through the sinful bandits. Vapourizing some, and cause it some to scream in pain.
In a bright flash, several bandits were vapourised
" PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW", Pina heard, as a bunch of bandits were shot through with some sort of bright pulse.
Shepard aimed at a bunch of bandits near the princess, and fired.
Five blobs of plasma shot out from the barrel of her Plasma rifle.
The Bandits screamed, as they were burnt through. She ran towards Pina,
" Your Majesty, several of our aircraft are being scrambled. They will arrive soon!"
Pina was confused, yet still breathed a sigh of relief.
5 Minutes Later
A mighty " WOOSH!" Rang out as a detachment approached Italica.
Under the eyes of the scared locals, SPARTAN teams and Marines started cutting down the Bandits.
A Pelican gunship flew over the bandits, autocannons mowing down enemy ground troops.
Hueys carrying old UN troops rained down hell on the bandits, as machine guns fired.
A pair of Lightfoots rapidly dropped down their small squads of SPARTAN XII's, and lifted off again, guns blazing.
Another pair of Lightfoots conducted a strafing run. Four beams of Plasma sliced through the battlefield, killing all enemies in their way.
Suddenly, with four loud " WOOSH"'s, four rockets came out of each lightfoot, killing all in their way, as automatic Grenade launchers mounted in the troop compartment dropped cluster grenades, killing the rest of the enemy troops.
Pina was shocked. " A flying iron Pegasus… Mowing down people without mercy… We humans are very pitiful compared to these machines…"
Jane stood next to her, helmet off, her long red hair exposed.
" This is not even war. Although humans are somewhat pitiful against these machines, behind the machine's, in the controls, are brave men and women, fighting for their homeland."
She smiled as a USSC Rapid FOB Was deployed by a CarrierP, personnel instantly crewing it.
Her team walked up to her, and she said, " Well, I strongly suspect sending like a hundred aircraft was overkill."
Everyone else chuckled, but next to them, Princess Pina was pale.
" I may have defeated one evil, but in order to do that, I might have invited another evil in…"
The air was filled with aircraft, as Chinooks and Hueys landed.
Corpsmen and Medics ran around, using Dermal regenerators to help injured civilians.
Eventually, the time came for the talks.
One of the princess' knights said from the list, being confused at the demands from the two representatives of the two massive nations.
" The USSC and the United Nations requests…. A Discount in trade taxes, right of passage, and a small amount of land for a Foward Operations Base and airfield. These demands have been accepted…", she said, shocked at the minuscule amount of demands.
The USSC and UN Troops were getting along well, talking about their lifes,
The USF DIplomat and the UN Diplomat talked together, each helping each other, and going along swimmingly.
This rapidly increased the pace of the cooperation between old UN and the USF.
19'th June, 2853
Magicia City, Faragut
Previously FOB Kingdom
09:12 Hours
The Aposite Rory appeared at Halsey's desk.
Halsey asked calmly, " Who are you?"
Rory asked, " I have been sent by the gods to send you a message… Do not interfere in this land, or you shall be destroyed… The gods can change the weather, destroy the largest mountains, and are beyond you.."
Halsey smiled and said, " Well, we are also capable of these feats. Might I show you in the military exercise in about an hour."
Rory smiled, thinking that Halsey was bluffing, and said, " Alright, whatever you say."
48 Minutes Later
In the plains near the main walls of the city, Rory looked in shock along with the other locals and the UN, as lines of T-520 Berserkers rolled across the plains, firing missiles and guns.
After all of the other demonstrations, Halsey said finally.
" Finally, for our last demonstration, I suggest you look towards that far-away mountain…." Halsey said.
Everyone looked, as Halsey spoke into the radio, " USSC Banishment, MAC Load Ultra-Light 2-B, ¼ Charge. Grid 12522-12521-152102. Fire."
Arcs of electricity suddenly appeared, as a beam of bright light speared down from the heavens.
The 500-Ton Ferric-Tunsten Projectile speared from High orbit to the ground.
A massive explosion appeared, and soon, all that was left of a massive mountain was a massive crater, smoking.
To say the least, Rory was afraid. These people lack magic, yet they could still shape mountains. They can probably control the weather, and they are beyond anything even the gods have imagined.
" Then.. I will uh.. Take my leave…." Rory said.
Halsey smirked, as the aposite ran away at a high speed.
" Well… what an interesting specimen." Halsey said. " I wonder how the hell did she evolve to this?"
21'th June, 2853
Faragut Orbit
12:13 Hours
A massive remnant fleet of Two Karel-Pattern/CAS Class Assault Carriers, several various light carriers, 50 Kel-Pattern/CCS-Class Battlecruisers, and a lot more ships, counting at about 120 Ships in total.
They were the remains of the New Convenant Empire.
Their master, Fleetmaster Thon'Valern gave the order.
" Fire on the heretics. Destroy them. THE GREAT JOURNEY MUST CONTINUE! TO THE BITTER END!"
Lances of Plasma slams into the hardlight grids of the Washington-Class Dreadnought in High orbit. A soft yellow grid lights up, as the dreadnought rapidly turns towards the oncoming enemies.
Admiral Adama gave the order. " Load all the MAC's,prep secondary missles. Spin up the Foward energy lances and DEW Arrays. I want a SITREP on Missles and the ARBITER Gun."
AI " Andrewson" said, " Sir, PSMAC One Capacitors at 25.2 Percent. PSMAC 2 At 51.72 Percent. PSMAC 3 At 98.41 Percent, prepped to fire. PSMAC 4 loading projectile, capacitors at 65.2%. Foward Plasma Projectors A at 24.2 Percent charge, projector B at 98.2 % Charge. Hardlight lance at 100%, Clear to fire. Meanwhile Particle Accelerator Alpha is at 2.1 Percent, and 2 is at 63.4%. DEW Array One through 4 Cleared to fire. ARBITER Gun commencing spin-up, give it one or two more minutes. We are deploying escorts. Escort cruisers are reporting all weapons ready. We are ournumbered 120 to 11, After remaining escorts are launched, we will be outnumbered 24 to 15, USSC Rapid Response fleet en-route.
Also, CLAYMORE Missle pods 1 Through 34, 53 Through 242, 263 Through 792, 825 through 1200, and 1235 Through 1250 are prepped. ODIN Nukes One through Five prepped, and LOKI Tactical Nukes are being loaded. Secondary Weaponry batteries reports 86.2% Functionallity."
Adama nodded. " Command escorts to engage, and deploy a fighter screen. How are our shields? What seems to be their objective?"
Andrewson nodded and said, " Aye, sir. Shields at 74.2%, They seem to be trying to capture the planet, sir."
Adama opened a tab on the holotable. As the hopelessness of his situation looked slightly better.
" They are using older ship models, mostly from the Great War era…. But they outnumber us by a lot. Send a alert down there."
He had his Dreadnought, 2 carriers, 20 cruisers, 22 Destroyers, and 30 Frigates.
He split his cruisers, destroyers and Frigates into 5 Hunter-Killer groups.
Each hunter-killer group had 4 Frigates and destroyers, and 3 Cruisers each.
He ordered the groups to split up, and flank the enemies from both Above and below.
He looked as one of the Hunter-Killer groups moved into range.
Bright flashes occurred as projectiles launched at immense speed slammed into the covenant lines.
One of the Frigates fired it's Primary MAC,clipping the engine of a Covenant remnant cruiser, and turned it's secondary MAC on another ship, as a destroyer fired a massive salvo of missles, literally melting the surface of the cruiser, which's engines were already disabled.
Two Frigates crowded a CCS, as they fired eight torpedoes, and dozens of decoys.
The bright flash of PD grids lit up the sky, as two of the torpedoes, and dozens of the decoys were swatted out of the sky, as the Frigates broke off.
The torpedoes created several mini slipspace ruptures, tearing the Covenant ship apart.
Meanwhile, the space between the two factions lit up, as USSC Energy lances drained the shields of Covenant ships.
The battle was going swimmingly for the USSC, yet suddenly,
The Covenant decided for a new tactic.
Fire from dozens of Covenant ships slammed into one single Reach-Class Cruiser, the USSC Sunrise of Balaho, draining the primary shielding.
The secondary shields kicked in, yet were stripped down even quicker.
The Reach-class cruiser attempted to conduct a emergency slipspace jump, but it was too late.
A final barrage of missles, torpedoes, and gun rounds launched from the Reach-Class Cruiser, as a beam of Plasma fired towards the cruiser, slamming into the cruiser's foward Hangar bay.
Dozens of escape pods and shuttles launched from the cruiser, but it was too late.
The flames reached the Nuclear Weaponry Storage facility, and one was set off.
With a bright flash in the USSC Lines, the cruiser, along with two weakened frigates and a destroyer with shields down were vapourised.
Adama was angry, as he saw four ships disappear from the holotable, replaced with debris and escape pods or shuttles.
Meanwhile on the planet, locals looked in shock, as Katanas, Longswords, and many other aircraft intercepted hundreds of landing craft, yet Still, hundreds of them, AND TWO LIGHT CARRIERS! Managed to descend in the Atmosphere.
The Covenant forces' goal?
Alnus Hill.
The Batte of Faragut has just begun.
END OF CHAPTER FOUR
Thanks for reading! As usual, leave a comment, I appreciate some good ol feedback! Covvie Remnants, shocking amirite
-Simply
Das Codex
Miranda-Class Support Corvette
Dimensions
250 Metres Long
50 Metres Wide
75 Metres height
Weaponry
10x 35mm Rotary Plasma-Coated Autocannons( 8 Side mounted, 2 underslung)
10x 50mm Rotary Hardlight Projectors ( 8 Side-mounted, 2 underslung)
7x DEW Arrays ( 4x Bottom-mounted, 1x on each side, one aft)
2x Spinal Hardlight Lances
Various DEW PD Grids
V-542 Lightfoot
Weaponry:
2x Side-mounted Hardlight lances
1x 30mm Chin-Mounted Rotary Autocannon
4x Modular Use Weapon Mounts
( MODULAR) 2x Cluster Grenade Launchers
( MODULAR) 2x 13mm Rotary Hardlight Autocannons