1306 hours, February 18, 2536 (military calendar)
Planet Tyrphenis
Tyrphenis City Mall
The combat at the mall has been raging for a few hours now and it only seemed to pick up as time went on. The front of the mall had turned into a complete warzone. They managed to push the front line to the parking lot entrance and that was now the front line. With the frontline so well established there, it made entrance for allies and survivors impossible to reach the front. So, they came in through the side entrances where the enemy wasn't focusing their attention at.
Deployed walls from nearby ships had crushed the gates and fences of the mall that originally surrounded the mall giving the building better cover. Watchtowers and turrets had been dropped from the Spirit of Fire to help build up the defenses. Marines could be seen manning them and constantly firing. Artillery could be seen firing off in the side of the parking lot, no doubt targeting the incoming enemy forces. Above on the roof of the mall, rows of snipers were picking off any target they could see but they mostly went for enemy snipers. They were a serious threat. And behind them on the roof were installed anti air pods constantly firing and reloading. They could hold as long as the maintain control of the air. That required them to be always operational.
A three-pelican escort came in for a landing in the newly established airport section in the parking lot. The ramp landed for Tsunade and Shizune to come walking out followed by two other civilians dressed in fancy clothes and a squad of Spartan III's. They could be seen ignoring the events going around as they headed inside. Once inside the busy mall where they could see all the stores had been repurposed for new purposes, they grabbed a nearby Sergeant and got directions for the command center.
Entering the now command center which was an electronics' store, the party could see different parts of the store being used for different duties in the battlefield. In the middle the group could see the tall figure of Naruto overlooking a map with his helmet off on the table. He was surrounded by other officers and a few other Spartans.
"Naruto" called out Tsunade gaining his attention. Looking back as he recognized the voice, he noticed Tsunade and her party. Giving out a few extra orders he grabbed his helmet and walked up to her.
"Tsunade" he spoke with a hint of affection in his voice and a smile at Shizune. He then looked to civilains he doesn't recognize.
"Major Naruto, this is the Governor of Tyrphenis City Nickloas Thumpen and the Prime Minister of Tyrphenis Alexis Heldon" she introduced surprising him a bit. Why are these two important people here in a warzone. To which he asked her.
"With the skies not being cleared for takeoff, they were to remain in a bunker until it was safe for them to evacuate. They thought it would be safer around you and your forces instead of a bunker" she explained to his frowning face.
"You know it is not safer being around me at this time. I am fighting a war, not babysitting high executive officials" he explained to the outraged two.
"Excuse me!" started Alexis to which he turned to the young blonde hair female. "I demand that you protect us until you can safely escort us off this planet" she stated glaring up at him.
"I do not have time to argue with you. If you want to stay here until its safe then stay inside the mall, but don't expect me to be standing by your side like your personal protector" he answered as the building shook a bit. Placing his helmet on and grabbing his battle rifle he looked down at the group.
"Stay here" he warned before lightly grabbing Tsuande's and Shizune's arm in affection and walking away. "Spartan team, on me" he called out walking to the entrance with Titan Team forming up behind him.
Stepping outside the building with the Spartans forming up behind him, he looked on as he could see the fighting picking up at the front. He could see that the waves of Covenant that was attacking with waves of elites and loads of grunts had changed. There were a lot more elites attacking now with hunters, jackals, and grunts.
Placing on his helmet and locking it in with a click and hiss of it being sealed he led the sprint towards the front. Passing through the parking lot as more forces headed towards the same location. Once reaching the entrance he could see that they established a front line a bit further ahead of the entrance. Marines and ODST could be seen using improvise cover to fight the charging enemy. Once every bit of distance he could see a Spartan III help hold the line.
Looking beyond the front line he could see the enemy charge in reckless abandonment. They were charging without any care for their lives or those of their comrades. Looking back at the team, he gave them a nod signaling them to spilt off and help the lines. He on the other hand did his own thing by running towards the middle of the front lines and formed hand seals. Sliding to a stop he took a deep breath as fents opened up in front of his mask and breathe out a turret of flames towards the enemy.
"Katon: Gouka Mekkyaku" he thought using the flames to incinerate the charging enemies. He could hear their cries of shock in pain, but he knew that some of them survived the attack through their own methods. Jackals and Hunters used their shields as cover. A few elites were lucky enough to able to use their own personal shields to dive to cover before it shattered. Grunts were very unlucky as they had no shields to protect themselves and no time to get to cover. But like their nickname, there were many to replace them.
With the Covenant forces were recovering from the sudden wave of flames and could only see smoke and flames at the moment. Performing a visual scan of the area to see something, they were met with sounds of their fellow forces meeting brutal ends by something moving in the shadows. A lead elite in red armor stepped forward to look closely only to meet a brutal end of his head being cut off.
As the elite fell to the side the others noticed enough to see it was a tall demon holding a knife with some energy coming off it. "Demo-!" was the yell starting to be vocalized from a elite's mouth, only to be cut short as another demon landed down on top of him, crushing him with his weight. The demon aimed his assault rifle down at the back of the elite's head and released a burst of rounds before facing off the next elite.
From all sides elites and jackals were surprised attack from Spartans and Elemental Marines much to their shock. A pair of hunters getting full visual of the attacks charged up their cannons to fire when chains made up of charka wrapped around them restraining them. Moving around and struggling as much as they like, they couldn't break free which set them up for the turret of a scorpion tank to turn to face them and blow them into pieces.
With the remaining stragglers from the wave being picked off quickly by marksmen, they ambushing party retreated back to their defensive line as the next wave was coming with a escort of ghosts and wraiths.
In Orbit
The fleet had managed to bring the fighting to a complete stalemate. While the enemy has move vessels then they do, the Maelstrom Fleet had extremely powerful vessels. Some vessels capable of doing damage that outrange what the Covenant ships could do. The Maelstrom shield technology and sentinels was a major game changer.
From her bridge of her new and improved Punic-class Supercarrier, "Red Death" Kushina watched as another Covenant cruiser in the distance exploded into flames as one of her MAC rounds tore it to pieces. From the side of the ship a Covenant Frigate tried to escape around it only for her vessels laser cannons to lock onto it and unleash a barrage of green lasers. The shields and armor didn't stand a chance as it shredded through it with ease.
"Mam, we have visuals on the fleet maintaining a hold away from the area" reported an officer as a barrage of missiles were launched from the ship targeting a Frigate.
"Let me see it and forward the feed to Admiral Hiruzen" she ordered stepping away from her Captain's chair and over to the holo table to see the feed start up. The feed showed space with lights of ships in the distance. It zoomed to get a better view to show Covenant ships and some ships that the crew couldn't recognize as they never seen them before, but they were massive. Dreadnought-class. Some other things Kushina noticed was that they were different from the standard Covenant looks. The energy signature and lights they were giving off were red. On top of that, the ships had extra armor plates on them giving off a silver-gray shine. Extra armor plates on some areas were formed to be sharp, giving it a brutal and savage look.
Zooming on to different locations she could see the design change was also done to their fighters and other aircraft patrolling around the ship. Looking around more she watched as it zoomed in on the side of one of the larger ships to see a symbol she never saw before. It was red with three triangles pointing outward and a strange triangle ship in the middle.
"Admiral Hiruzen do you recognize that symbol?"
"Negative. I'm searching the records for them as well to see if it was documented before. PJ search the database we have collected from the Covenant" he finished going through a few files as PJ nodded and close her eyes to search.
….
"Found it" she called out projecting a file for both of them to see.
"They are called The Banished. Brutes who defected from the Covenant underneath the leadership of Atriox" she started showing the image of a large brute that was heavily armored and holding a glowing red hammer.
"He defected from the Covenant?" questioned Hiruzen "And lived" added PJ. "He is one of the very few to leave the covenant successfully and the only one to come out this strong. He hired and brought in more Covenant species into his growing army becoming stronger over time to the point that he became a threat to the Covenant and us. Wherever he goes death and destruction follows him. Following us he is number 1 on their hit list" she explained
"Show me what else do you have on him" ordered Kushina as a file appeared on the table to be looked at. As she looked through the file which had more details PJ continue on giving a summarize of some of the info, they had on him.
"He is considered to be one of the deadliest brutes in their history. Smart, disciplined, strong, and a expert tactician. He doesn't let the Covenant's religion hold him or his forces back. With ruthless efficiency he takes and eliminates all in his path if that will make what is his, better. His current goal is unknown, but it is assumed that he wants total control of everything" she finished
"Which is why he and his fleet are not attacking but building up out of combat range" stated Kushina. "He is waiting for us to either tire or wipe each other out before getting rid of the survivors. And he has plenty of time to do this as well. Planet invasions could last weeks to months depending on the events"
"Which is why we need to wrap this up fast and evacuate the area" stated Hiruzen bringing up the map of the entire battleground from in the space to on the aground. "We can not fight a two front war while protecting civilians. We need to extract everyone from the planet and leave the area. With the arrival of the Banished, this planet is lost. But we will leave nothing for them to have"
"Sir?"
"I will clear a corridor from the mall that Naruto is currently located at to my ship. We will ferry transport ships through that corridor until everyone is off planet. PJ, have the sentinels focus on ship recovery. Leave nothing of the UNSC here and if possible, bring in Covenant wreckage. Everything we leave here, is something the Banished can claim and use against us in the future.
Kushina, I have a special task for you that I'm sure you would love. What do you say to having the Covenant hold off our Banish issue for some time" he finished with a smirk as she smirked back
"Well brutes and elites quite easily fall for taunts. Their pride and honor can't take insults" she laughed evilly.
Note:
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