Chapter 23: Svenson
Svenson hadn't left his apartment in the few days it had been since he returned to it. He hadn't gotten any calls, there was no sign of the approaching Covenant fleet yet. He still had time to himself, which he spent mostly sleeping. And most of the times he tried to sleep he would be woken up by the sounds of VTOLs flying past the apartment complex.
He hadn't eaten since he left Firebase Veles, and he kept the entertainment feeds on the highest volume it could go. He didn't need to worry about noise complaints anymore, he was the only one left in the building. There was barely anyone in the city either, only Army patrols looking for any possible signs of a Covenant stealth insertion.
Svenson stared at his rifle that he had taken with him from the firebase. He examined every little detail in its design as he awaited something better to do. It was an MA5C model, which was much newer than the MA5B he had used on Alpha Halo. He only had 32-round magazines as opposed to the 60-round ones he had, but the rifle could still pack more of a punch.
A sigh escaped Svenson's lips. He was beginning to wish he'd had that break, the one that he couldn't handle at the time. He wished he had more time to explore the city, and to meet more new people. Cas was a good man, but Svenson still couldn't find a way to talk to him. Graves was just an asshole, and Simone was too strange of a person for Svenson to understand.
He missed his old fireteam. He missed talking with Kamal between each mission, and doing his best to comfort Faraday. To his own surprise he even missed getting yelled at by Arceneaux and O'Hale. When he thought about it, he had never really spent much time with them until they were thrown into a battle. Fighting the Covenant was what had always brought Svenson and his peers together. In any other situation, he was barely even capable of communicating with them.
When he was a kid he was much better at talking to people. He had been everybody's friend in school, though he always let them distract him from getting good grades. There were even those who he had considered to be more than friends, but they were long gone now. The horrors of war had changed him, and the horrors of whatever the hell happened on Alpha Halo only made things that much worse.
Even if Svenson were to survive the coming fight, which he fully expected not to, he wasn't sure he could keep going. If the scientists on the planet eventually find what they're looking for and they somehow bring an end to the Human-Covenant war, there was no way he could return to any sort of normal life.
Despite how uncertain the future was, Svenson was still going to fight. And he was still going to give it his all. No matter how much he wanted to die in this fight, he was going to do his best not to. Because just one more life could be just what humanity needed, and he knew that life could be his.
The next day the call to return to Firebase Veles came, and Svenson almost didn't notice it over the sound of the entertainment feed. He watched a reboot of an old television series from the 22nd century, which was the first space opera to actually have been filmed in space. Since the outbreak of the war it hadn't been safe to film there, and it just may never be again.
Svenson sat up, turned off the feed, and answered the call. He could barely hear Nagata's voice as his ears readjusted to the absence of sound.
"Svenson, we need you back at Veles ASAP," Nagata said. "We're picking up massive radiation spikes in orbit, that Covie fleet is gonna be here real soon."
"On my way," Svenson said as he stood up from his bed. He wished he could take a shower, but there was no time for that. He just hoped the troopers at the base wouldn't mind how he smelled.
When Svenson made his way out to the plaza there was already a Warthog waiting for him. The driver didn't look at him, nor did he say a word when he climbed in. Once he was in the back, he was brought to the firebase in a couple of minutes.
He hopped out of the back of the Warthog as they arrived, and he was brought to the command tent just outside of the base. Inside was Nagata and Rosenfeld, who didn't even seem to notice him entering. They both leaned over the holotable as it showed them a view of the fleet in orbit. A man's voice came through the speakers on the sides of the table, and Rosenfeld communicated with them.
"The download is complete, we're on our way out," the man said. When he finished speaking one of the frigates in orbit broke away from the defensive formation.
"Alright, Tigershark you're clear to jump," Rosenfeld said.
The frigate on the display disappeared. The remaining ships in orbit consisted of two heavy cruisers, four frigates, and an assortment of corvettes and smaller support ships. Svenson had no idea of what the approaching Covenant force consisted of, but he wasn't sure if they had the numbers to take them on. The UNSC usually needed a three-to-one advantage in any space engagement to even have a chance of winning.
"Welcome, Svenson," Nagata said, seeming to just now realise he'd entered. "You're right on time."
"What's the situation?" Svenson asked.
"We've sent the Tigershark away to a safe location with the data on this world," Rosenfeld explained. "We don't want to risk losing it."
"If the Covenant make it past our fleet, they'll be coming for the city," Nagata said, emphasising the word 'if'. "They'll be aiming to wipe out the human population first before they go anywhere else, since that's what they usually do."
"We're hoping this Covenant commander is like all of the others," Rosenfeld said. "According to Spartan A144, he's obsessed with this planet. Which means he'll want it all for himself. We know he won't risk glassing it."
Svenson nodded, that much he knew. All there was for him to do now was wait. A battle was about to begin in orbit soon, Svenson would only be needed once they made it to the ground. He didn't have nearly as much faith as Nagata in their victory against the enemy fleet.
Several long and uncomfortable minutes passed. Svenson could feel his heart racing in anticipation, and he noticed the other two seemed anxious as well. A single Covenant assault carrier appeared on the display, the projection marked it as a CAS-class.
"Veles, Helios, we've got an enemy contact on sensors," another man's voice came through. The display marked him as Captain Cantor of the UNSC Helios, one of the two heavy cruisers in the fleet. "We're moving to engage."
"Keep the enemy in range of the weapons platforms," Rosenfeld ordered.
Svenson felt the ground shake underneath his feet, he almost thought that the carrier had fired on the surface before Simone entered the tent. He quietly stared at the display for a short moment before speaking.
"That's it," Simone said. "That's the Song of Unity. The rest of the fleet shouldn't be far behind."
As if the Spartan had just summoned them, several slipspace portals opened around the carrier. From the portals came two cruisers, and two smaller corvettes. The carrier on its own would have been enough to decimate the entire defence force, but with the backup there wasn't much hope of winning. Svenson wondered why Nagata thought they even had a chance.
Hundreds more smaller contacts appeared on the display, a swarm of fighters had been launched from the carrier. Everyone watched in silence and listened to the panicked shouts of the personnel on the ships as they coordinated with each other. Simone was unusually still, which was nearly impossible. Svenson saw a look of distress on Nagata's face. There was something more that he didn't know.
Svenson wasn't sure if he should ask about it or not, but he decided that he needed to know what was going on. "Is something wrong?" he asked.
"That's not their whole fleet," Nagata said. "There's six ships missing."
"Any idea why?" Svenson asked.
"No clue," Simone responded.
"Our probes on the other side of the planet aren't picking anything up," Nagata said. "They're just simply not there."
Svenson watched as one of the orbital weapons platforms fired. A giant MAC slug went straight through the bow of one of the cruisers, disabling the entire ship long enough for one of the UNSC frigates to blow into pieces with a salvo of nuclear missiles. Another platform fired, and punched a hole straight through one of the corvettes, causing its reactor to explode and destroy the entire ship. Each platform's MAC was strong enough to either destroy or disable an entire ship with one well placed shot.
Maybe Nagata was right. The Covenant ships were being extremely careful, so far none of them had returned fire on the UNSC forces. The swarm of fighters had begun engaging the defence fleet up close, and the fire from their plasma cannons was enough to tear two corvettes apart. Another frigate suffered significant damage before the fighters attacking it were destroyed by a squadron of Longsword fighters.
"As long as they keep holding their fire we'll be fine," Nagata said. "I wonder if these idiots even knew what they were going up against before they showed up."
A squadron of Covenant fighters rushed past the defence fleet and attempted to take out one of the weapons platforms, but they were chased off by another Longsword before they could get any shots off. Another shot came from the defence platforms, and gutted another one of the corvettes. Svenson saw a smile forming across Nagata's lips as the Covenant seemed to be losing.
One of the voices of the personnel in orbit became panicked, and they were shouting something that nobody could make out. After that, the six missing ships arrived. Four Covenant cruisers, and two corvettes joined the battle. They had exited slipspace underneath the defensive cluster, between the defence platforms and the planet's surface.
Each cruiser fired a volley of plasma torpedoes at the unprepared defence platforms, completely destroying the defensive cluster in a matter of seconds. They no longer had the means to quickly disable the Covenants' ships, and so defeat was certain. Nagata's smug grin had faded to a look of distress.
"We've lost contact with the weapons platforms!" Captain Cantor shouted.
"This is the UNSC Black Talon!" another voice shouted. "We're taking heavy fire from those cruisers!"
The four cruisers that had just arrived had begun firing on the Black Talon, the second heavy cruiser. Several more distress calls came in from the rest of the ships in the fleet. They were getting slaughtered out there. A single move had completely turned the tide of the battle.
The Covenant carrier slowly manoeuvred around the warzone, positioning itself to the side of the Helios so it could avoid accidentally shooting the planet. A series of lasers fired out from the carrier's side, each one piercing straight through the Helios's hull. A volley of plasma torpedoes impacted on the Black Talon, and the ship was blasted into millions of pieces.
Svenson heard alarms from the firebase. The troopers were getting ready for the Covenant to make landfall before the battle in orbit even ended. Everyone knew the remaining ships up there weren't going to make it. The remaining frigates launched their escape pods toward the planet, which were quickly intercepted by the Covenant fighters.
The Helios turned toward the planet and burned hard towards the surface as it was struck by another series of lasers. One of the Covenant cruisers fired a salvo of torpedoes at the Helios as it entered the atmosphere, but the ship's point defence cannons shot each one down before they could hit.
Before they knew it, the Helios touched down just outside the city limits. Svenson heard the loud sound of the ship crashing in the distance, and he could even feel the ground rumbling under his feet despite how far away it was. Maybe I'm just imagining it, he thought. Nagata let out a disappointed sigh after the battle was lost.
"Troopers are already taking up defensive positions in the city," Nagata said. "Svenson, you're with the Spartans. We can't lose Firebase Veles."
"Spartans?" Svenson asked.
"Ezekiel is back on his feet," Nagata said. "You're with him and Simone."
"I estimate that they'll land most of their forces outside the city and make their way in," Rosenfeld said. "Our air defences will make sure of that. You'll be defending the base, I won't be surprised if they launch drop pods at us to get past the anti-air guns. It's imperative that we don't lose them."
Svenson nodded along with Simone. He nervously eyed the display as the Covenant ships moved. Only the carrier and one of the cruisers were making their way down, the rest remained in orbit presumably keeping watch for reinforcements. Simone made his way out of the tent, and Svenson moved to follow him, but he stopped when he heard Nagata contact the science team at the anomaly site.
"Have you made any progress?" Nagata asked.
"Not much," came the voice of William, who was still attempting to communicate with the intelligence deep in the planet. "I think it knows the world is in danger, we're picking up lots of energy spikes down here. But we haven't been able to communicate with the intelligence further."
"Keep me updated," Nagata said. "The Covenant are making their way to the surface now."
"Try not to die before we figure this thing out," William replied.
"No promises."
Svenson left the tent before Nagata could chew him out for eavesdropping. She and Rosenfeld left together shortly after he did, and moved to join the other UNSC Army forces on the front lines.
Svenson spotted Simone entering the firebase and chased after him, which was where he saw the other Spartan. Ezekiel stood tall, even taller than Simone, and wider as well. His bulky armour was covered in pouches presumably filled with either ammunition or explosives, and he had a heavy backpack attached to his back. The hands that he was missing had been replaced with shiny prosthetics that the Spartan was still getting used to.
Ezekiel stared forward blankly, though Svenson assumed he was looking at something. The Spartan could've been looking at him and he had no real way to tell. He leaned against a wall nearby and crossed his arms as Svenson and Simone approached him.
"I take it we're finally going to see some action?" Ezekiel asked.
"Affirmative," Simone said. "Covenant forces are on a fast track to the city."
Ezekiel put his fingers together and made the motion of cracking his knuckles, but he let out a disappointed sigh when he remembered that he no longer had any knuckles, not real ones anyway. The prosthetic hands hadn't been built with the motion of cracking knuckles in mind. Svenson felt a little bad for the Spartan.
There seemed to be a lot more emotion in Ezekiel's voice than in Simone's, and he seemed a lot more expressive too. You think you understand Spartans and then… Svenson mentally sighed, he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself. But simply being there was drawing attention. Ezekiel turned to look at Svenson, and this time he could tell the Spartan was looking directly at him.
"You coming with us?" Ezekiel asked.
"Yes, sir," Svenson said awkwardly. "Lance Corporal Svenson reporting for duty."
"You don't need to be so professional with me," Ezekiel said with a slight chuckle. "Simone on the other hand…"
Simone stared at Ezekiel with an unknown expression hidden behind the faceplate of his helmet. Svenson wondered how long the two had known each other, but based on the way Simone was standing Svenson assumed he was annoyed. Svenson was reminded of the banter he had with Kamal on Alpha Halo.
"I'll keep that in mind," Svenson said.
"So, where are they touching down?" Ezekiel asked, stretching out his arms and neck. He reached down and grabbed a grenade launcher, which Svenson hadn't even realised was there.
"They're suspected to be landing outside the city," Simone explained. He reached for the DMR on his back and held it tight. "The Sergeants want us close to the firebase."
"Oh great, so they want the Covenant to come to us first," Ezekiel sighed. "Great…"
"Don't worry, they'll sure as hell be sending a few drop pods down with aliens for us to fight."
Several squads of Army troopers joined them and took defensive positions around the base. Everyone was silent from that moment forward, they all knew that the Covenant would be there at any second. Svenson and the Spartans huddled in the entrance to the base's command centre.
The sound of mechanical humming was soon carried across the air as the Covenant's Phantoms entered the city's airspace. The base's defence turrets turned toward the direction the sound came from, and they opened fire. The sound was deafening, and the ground shook with each shot. Svenson looked into the sky and saw a squadron of Phantoms zipping through the air, they were moving faster than Svenson had seen before. One of the turrets was able to land a shot, and the side of the Phantom exploded. The transport hurled toward the ground outside the city, and the other three moved on without it.
More squadrons of Phantoms flew overhead and engaged in evasive manoeuvres when they saw the turrets fire. More anti-air guns around the city fired into the sky, shooting alien transport after alien transport down. A few crashed into the city, onto the streets and in the sides of buildings, and then they stopped attempting to land inside the city. No more Phantoms appeared in the airspace.
Comm chatter spoke of the engagements that had begun outside the city as the Phantoms touched down. All Svenson and the Spartans could do was wait for the Covenant to make their way into the city. Distant gunshots and explosions made the anticipation much worse. A pair of AV-14 Hornets streaked through the sky as they approached the Covenant attackers.
"All forces in the Kujo City airspace," Sergeant Rosenfeld said over their comms. "Covenant cruiser on approach. I repeat: Covenant cruiser on approach."
Something crashed into the ground outside the walls of the military district. Svenson squinted and spotted the top of a Covenant drop pod sticking out above the wall. Another drop pod landed next to it, and then another landed in the yard just in front of the base.
"Alright, here we go!" Simone shouted.
Two more drop pods slammed into the ground, and their doors popped open. Two Elites came out of the first two drop pods, and the second released a trio of Grunts that had been comically stacked on top of each other. Both of the Elites came out swinging, they opened fire on the troopers' positions with their plasma rifles. Svenson cowered in the entrance of the base and fired on one of the Elites while Ezekiel fired a grenade into the group of Grunts, which killed them all right away.
Jackals climbed the walls in the distance as even more drop pods came down over the city. Svenson was able to deplete the Elite's shields with his assault rifle before Simone took it down with a single shot to the head. The second Elite moved fast through the yard, jumping from side to side to avoid the bullets flying at it. It jumped over the cover of one of the trooper squads and slammed its gun into one of the troopers' heads. The combined fire of all the troopers' weapons was enough to take it down before it could actually kill anyone.
The Jackals formed a defensive line with their handheld shields and marched forward, blocking bullets while returning fire. Simone and Ezekiel moved ahead into the open, and took the shots as if they were getting hit with foam darts. Ezekiel fired another grenade past the line of Jackals, killing three of them with the explosion and causing the others to falter. They were all gunned down before they could recover themselves.
Svenson heard a mechanical droning somewhere above him. When he looked up at the sky he watched as the clouds parted, and the massive Covenant cruiser came into view. He remembered seeing one in the sky above Fumirole, but back then he hadn't been directly underneath it like he was now. He was expecting the thing's glassing beam to fire and wipe everyone and everything out despite knowing that the Covenant didn't want to risk damaging the planet.
"Don't worry, that thing isn't going to fire on us," Simone said as if he could read Svenson's mind.
"And hopefully it knows its soldiers can't beat us here," Ezekiel said with a satisfied tone.
The cruiser didn't launch anymore drop pods, they knew their forces would continue to get slaughtered that way. They just had to hope that their forces fighting in the city outskirts got through the UNSC positions, which wouldn't be likely. The Army forces had the home field advantage, they knew the city while the Covenant didn't.
"Covenant are breaking through on the east side of the city," a trooper said over comms.
"Reinforcements are on the way, keep holding," another trooper said.
"Hey," Ezekiel said as everyone stared up at the cruiser in the sky. "Looks like something is happening."
The circular port in the underside of the cruiser began to slowly open, and a beam of light shone down onto the city streets. Svenson thought it was about to glass them at first, but then he realised that the port was a massive gravity lift. None of the anti-air turrets in the city were designed to take on a Covenant capital ship, but they opened fire on the cruiser anyway when they noticed that something was happening.
"Troopers, clear the area!" Simone shouted. "We've got incoming!"
Something fell out of the port, Svenson couldn't tell what it was until it crashed into a group of buildings in front of them, shooting up a massive cloud of dust around it. Svenson coughed and covered his mouth when the wave of dust hit him. A loud mechanical roar came from the distance, and Svenson could see green lights shining through the clouds of dust.
"Fall back to the base! Get inside, now!" Simone shouted.
Every trooper in the area complied, but Svenson stayed and waited for the dust to settle. Mechanical whirring sounded in the distance followed by the boom of something massive hitting the ground. Svenson felt the whole world shake around him. He could see the shape of something huge approaching.
"Svenson! What the hell are you doing?" Simone shouted.
Before the dust fully settled, Svenson could see it. A Covenant Scarab marched straight towards them, crashing through buildings and crushing abandoned cars in its steps. The thing paused when it got a line of sight on the base, and it charged its beam cannon. Only then Svenson realised how much danger they were in. He turned and fled into the base as the Scarab opened fire, cutting straight through one of the base's defence turrets before it could begin shooting back.
"Why are we in here?" Svenson asked Simone. "That thing is gonna tear this base apart and kill us all."
"We need to procure some vehicles," Simone said as they ran through the base. "We're taking that thing down."
Firebase Veles began to crumble around them as the Scarab's weapons cut into it. Simone and Ezekiel led Svenson and the troopers to the base's vehicle bay, where there were several Warthogs left, just enough for each trooper to mount up.
"Svenson!" Simone shouted as he climbed into the driver's seat of a Warthog. "Can you take the gun?"
"I got it," Svenson said without a second thought. He climbed onto the back of the Warthog and gripped the handles of the turret.
Svenson hadn't handled a Warthog turret in a long time, but he was confident he wouldn't suck at it. If he could handle a Covenant shade turret, he could use a Warthog turret. Ezekiel climbed into the Warthog's passenger seat. Svenson was surprised the vehicle could even hold two Spartans without buckling underneath their weight.
"The front entrance is too dangerous, we're heading out the back," Simone said. "Everyone stay on my tail!"
Simone drove the Warthog through the dark corridors of the base; the base's main generators had gone out from the damage, but Simone still seemed to know exactly where he was going. Svenson wondered if he had extensively studied the base's layout in the short time he was here, or if he was just familiar with firebases like Veles.
The Warthogs eventually made it outside, they seemed to be nowhere near the firebase now. The back entrance had been hidden underneath a bridge several blocks away where no one would ever suspect it. Simone drove up the ramp to the bridge and through the city streets that hadn't yet been destroyed. The Scarab soon came into view. It hadn't moved as it melted the base with its beam.
"Phantoms incoming!" Ezekiel said.
Svenson looked up at the sky and saw several Phantoms exit the hangar bays of the cruiser. With Firebase Veles's anti-air defences gone, they could safely land in the area around it. Svenson wasn't sure if they had the numbers to deal with the Covenant reinforcements, but they would deal with them anyways.
The Scarab turned away from Firebase Veles and faced the Warthogs directly. Svenson could feel his entire body trembling at the sight of the huge siege engine.
"Alright troopers!" Simone shouted as he planted his foot on the Warthog's pedal. "Let's take this thing down!"
