[Near Epsilon Clarion Entrance]
The massive Forerunner facility stood menacingly in the distance as the tracers of bullets and plasma flew through the air around it, with Banshees and Hornets dogfighting in the air above and cutting through the rising plumes of smoke and ash like angels and demons dueling in the heavens, at least that is how it appeared to troops on the ground. A small platoon of several Grunts and Brutes accompanied by two Elites and a Kig-Yar Jackal walked along a path littered with bullet casings and plasma scorch marks. Wrecked Warthogs and Marines corpses were littered around them, scattered among the corpses of their Banished comrades and destroyed Ghosts and Choppers.
"Man, this war just takes and takes, don't give nothin'!" One of the Grunts complained in their methane infused high pitch voice, taking another breath from their rebreather before receiving a light pat on the back of their gas tank by another Grunt.
"Hey look on the bright side, least we ain't fightin' the nasty flood, those evil robot Created guys, or what's left of the Covenant!" One of the Brutes walking alongside them could not help but chuckle.
"I am unsure whether to be glad we are fighting these humans or not. They have definitely proven to be far stronger than I had thought... They have given us more resistance than the Covenant ever have. And you are right, we are lucky that commander Vordius and Pavium managed to halt the infestation and re-contain it inside the remains of High Charity."
"Yeah, but I honestly kinda feel bad for the humans. Poor guys all alone... Ehh, screw em, just means we'll eventually win through attrition!" The Grunt yelled out as the Kig-Yar groaned.
"Unggoy shut up, watch for prey!"
"Alright alright, calm down, not like were gonna suddenly get ambushed by, I dunno, meteors falling from the sky and soldiers of death springing out-" Suddenly, one of the Elites looked up to the sky and cried out.
"Incoming, take cover!"
"Ah crap-" The lone Grunt, and several others, were crushed by the impact of a Single Occupant Exo-atmospheric Insertion Vehicle, or simply a drop pod, as the door to the pod burst off as a lone ODST soldier stepped out holding a M41 Rocket launcher.
"Alright Sunray, this is Major Vaughan, we've landed. Report in."
The rest of the pods burst open quick unison, as several more ODST's emerged. The first soldier to step out of his pod carried a large M99A2S3 Stanchion Sniper rifle, fitted with a ATLAS HISHOT PRO-X scope. Sparks wore a Ghillie suit over his standard armor, with a SinoViet LCX-20V1 sensor module attached to his helmet. "Lance Corporal Sparks, all good."
The second to step out of their pod was busy tapping away at a wrist computer as MQ-96 Personal Support Drone deployed and began hovering beside them.
"Corporal Turpin, doing just fine and Hank here reads all systems nominal." The small Drone beside Turpin let out a quick peep. Another pod opened up as a trooper slowly stepped out, with medical equipment on their back and belt, as well as a red medical helix seen on their shoulder.
"Petty Officer Gruss, reporting in. Anyone get hurt during the fall?" A series of negatives rang out from the squad as Gruss sighed. "Good, don't want to babysit you the whole time."
The last trooper to emerge had a WILLOWKEY TSCS chest rig attached to their armor and holding H-165 FOM in their left hand as they used it to scan the area. "Warrant Officer Quinn, all clear here. Sensors show we got more Banished all around us, so get ready folks." Quinn said as she adjusted her sensor equipment to scan and mark surrounding hostiles, uploading the data to the HUD of her squadmates as Hank designated targets for Sparks to snipe, quickly aiming down his scope and firing the first shot through the skull of a Grunt.
The team then pulled out their weapons and quickly started firing towards the Banished hiding in cover all around them, as a Brute leaped from cover and attempted to charge them, only to get blown back by Vaughan's rocket launcher. The Jackal raised it's rifle and took aim only to be blinded by a flash from Hank and domed by a sniper shot from Sparks. Quinn continued collecting data with her helmets UA/Type 05 and chest rig while simultaneously firing her M7S SMG, picking off two more Grunts while Gruss.
"Detecting two elites, cloaked on either side." She was quick to mark them as both Hank and Sparks turned and shot at the cloaked Elites at the same time, not shattering their shields but disrupting their camo enough to allow them to be easily picked off by Vaughan and Gruss. Soon, the remaining Banished in the area were dead.
"Sector clear. Quinn, get us a comm link to Isabel."
"Copy." She quickly began establishing a communications link to the Spirit of Fire in orbit with her equipment, meanwhile the rest of the team reloaded. Soon, Vaughan put his finger up tot he side of his helmet and spoke. "Isabel, landing site is clear, were about ten clicks away from the Clarion."
"Good, make your way to the rendezvous with Red Team, you'll be helping assault a Banished fortress in order to gain access to the facility."
"Sounds like a plan." As he deactivated the link, he turned to the rest of his squad. "Turpin, send Hank ahead to scout and take point. Sparks, Quinn, cover the rear. Gruss, watch our flanks." The rest of the squad nodded as they quickly moved along the path towards the facility, with Hank flying ahead and Turpin close behind. "Let's go get off this rock."
The lone Sniper was perched on the cliffside overlooking the Banished base of operations, gripping his Signature-suppressed anti-materiel rifle tight as the two support drones beside him scanned the area, marking all hostiles and designating priority targets while the soldier lowered his rifle and raised it to the earpiece on the side of helmet as he spoke on the comm link with an Australian accent.
"This is Watchdog-1, confirming several Grunt squads led by Elites, Elite rangers, a pair of Hunters, some Ghosts, two Marauders, a Wraith tank, two Reavers-"
"Watchdog-1, this is Warlock, we don't need you listing off every single hostile. Just give us the major targets." The voice of Jerome said over the radio as the Sniper chuckled.
"Copy that, I can confirm that there are four Blisterbacks, two set up and active on both sides of the base. And from what I can, right smack dab in the center, is an Elite Royal Guard, no doubt the one in command of the base, got the whole fancy armor and everything, complete with a complement of Elite Enforcers. And when there's a Royal Guard..."
"The Shipmaster is involved. Well, correction, former Shipmaster, now just Let 'Volir. Could've guessed with all the Elites, heard he doesn't like working with brutes that much. Can you detect any possible cloaked mines or troops?"
"Yes, marking them now." He said before turning and nodding to his drones as they scanned and marked several cloaked plasma lines along the roads. He then looked back into his scope and turned his attention to the entrance of the Clarion facility, watching a much more heavily armored and stronger looking Brute march in, escorted by two jump pack Brutes. "Warlock, I may have confirmation on the presence of Atriox, currently unsure. Just watch him and his escort walk into the facility."
"Understood, come on back to the rally point, we'll start making a plan."
"Copy that, Watchdog-1 oscar mike." The sniper said, his active holo-camouflage engaging as he and his drones disappeared from sight. His footsteps along the mossy ground were quiet as he shuffled and slinked his way through the bushes, quickly ceasing any movement to let a pair of Grunts pass.
"Y'know, I kinda wanna start a strike. Get some better benefits, more pay, stuff like that."
"Eh, Yap Yap promised us he'd ask the Shipmaster to consider giving us a raise. And honestly, all we need is better dental and we'll be fine, have you seen what our teeth look like?"
"Not really, haven't had a mirror to look at." The two Grunts became quieter and quieter until they were eventually out of range, allowing the sniper to quickly move across the road. He soon came into a clearing where the three Red Team Spartans were seen standing around a portable holo-map table. Behind the Spartans was a large D81-LRT Condor as it slowly hovered down from the sky, it's engines cooling down with it's descent as it soon touched down on the ground and it's ramp lowered. Several Marines and a Warthog rushed off the ramp, as two Pelicans descended to drop a pair of M808S Scorpions. These Scorpions joined the other vehicles currently assembled in the clearing, as two Cyclops, a duo of M9 Wolverines, and a trio of M400 Kodiak artillery trucks were seen being tended to by their crews and Marine combat engineers.
Near the vehicles were several landed Hornets as Marines were seen loading onto either side of the aircrafts and holding rocket launchers, while the Vulture gunships and lone Nightingale remained in the air.
The sniper deactivated his camo, saluting the Spartans as they simply nodded to him, before he looked to one of his drones and nodded to it as it uploaded its gathered data to the table, displaying the Banished base and it's troops, as well as marked priority targets and the entrance to the facility. "Good work Watchdog, now assemble with the rest of the force and get ready to move out."
"You got it sir, and please mate, call me Riley." The sniper said before quickly rushing over to join the rest of the infantry gathering around the landed Condor, as crewmen unloaded supply crates and ammo pods to supply them to the troops.
"Alright, so Isabel said the ODST squad would meet us at the Renedvous right before we attack, and she has a jammer up and running so that when we attack, the Banished can't call for help. First off, all three of us join up with the ODST's and move to take out the Blisterbacks, and when they're down it will signal the attack. Alice, you'll and a squad of Hellbringers and a Sniper will focus down the Hunters with smoke cover from the Nightingale, take them out so Douglas can lead our Cyclops to take our their vehicles so our Warthogs and Scorpions can move in to launch a heavy assault with artillery support from the Kodiaks. The Reavers will keep our Hornets and Vultures out of the fight so the sooner we take them out the sooner we get air support. When the defenses are weakened and the Rangers are gone, I'll lead the infantry to rush the base and destroy before we regroup and move inside the facility." Jerome said, drawing out the plan on the holo-table, including precise predictions of enemy positions and movements, before looking up to his Spartan comrades as they nodded to him.
"From what Isabel told us, the ODST support we'll be getting is none other than Sunray 1-1, the guys who took part in Operation Spearbreaker about a month ago. Heard they got some serious skill."
"Well, we'll take all we can get, cause this is gonna be the big one. Cause remember, this facility has the ability to trigger the firing of every single halo array. Were here to both get the code and blow the facility to kingdom come."
"We got explosives powerful enough to pull something like that off?"
"Isabel will be interfacing into the main mainframe of the Clarion to get the transponder, so she'll be setting up the facilities core to overload while she does that. Should blow right as we all evacuate. If that doesn't do it, the Spirit of Fire has a MAC blast and several archer missiles primed to pound the facility into a crater. Any other questions?" With his Spartan comrades shaking their heads no, he nodded and reached down to grab his assault rifle. "Then let's go storm the castle."
Sunray 1-1 silently walked through the dense forest between their landing zone and the rendezvous, thick layers of leaves covering the ground, quiet wind whistling through the trees and rustling the branches and bushes around them. Each squad member kept their weapons raised high, aiming in all directions surrounding them and checking for any potential hostiles. Even if they seemed alone, the tension was still high with the threat of a potential cloaked Elite leaping out of hiding to assault them.
"Coming up on the rendezvous, one click out. Looks like they're already waiting for us." Quinn said as she walked beside Vaughan, still examining the streams of data on her HUD that her equipment was constantly gathering. Anyone else would be overwhelmed by the amount of information, but Quinn was both well trained and accustomed to handling data. She was a technical liason and signal corps member after all, it was her job to organize and sort through mountains of tactical info and relay it to her squad. Vaughan couldn't help but chuckle as he walked alongside his squadmate.
"Gotta admit, Commander Jerome likes to be on time. Lookin' forward to meeting the man himself." From the back of the squad Gruss spoke up.
"Honestly don't get what all the hype over Spartans is about, they're just big soldiers jacked up on augmentations and power armor." Gruss then received a light pat on the shoulder from Sparks as he snorted.
"Well you ain't ever seen them in action. I have, and trust me, they live up to the title." In front of the front was Turpin, as she examined her MC5 Individual Data/Net Terminal on her wrist pad before turning and nodding to her drone Hank as she gestured forward and the drone flew ahead. Soon, Hank's status indicator on Turpin's terminal, flashing Blue - Green - Blue. 'All clear, no hostiles. Allied combatives present.' Turpin quickly relayed this info to the collective HUD displays of the squad, uploading it to their displays as they all flashed green lights in confirmation. The squad formed up as Vaughan took lead, having Turpin order Hank to signal to the Spartans and mark where they would be arriving from.
Approaching the edge of the treeline several Marines could already be seen waving to the squad, as Vaughan took one hand off his launcher and waved back, before quickly yelling out the sign. "Reach!"
"Retribution. Good to finally meet you Major." The voice of Spartan Jerome spoke he stepped forward and saluted the ODST's as they emerged from the trees, before they saluted back.
"Same here sir, glad to finally be working with the man who took down the Enduring Conviction."
"Please, it was all Isabel." Behind him, Alice couldn't help but chuckle.
"You don't give yourself enough credit. Anyways, plan should be uploaded to you right about..." The HUDs of the ODST's received a notification as they quickly accessed it to view the display of the Banished base and it's troops, with distinct objective markers placed on the four Blisterbacks. "Red Team will split off from the main force and help you guys take down the enemy artillery, maybe pick off some other hostiles along the way."
"Got it. Quinn, link with the Kodiaks targeting software, you'll be providing target designation." Vaughan said as Quinn nodded as she took out her designator and opened a link with all three Kodiaks, receiving confirmation from their operators to link their targeting systems to the designator. With the link established, Quinn flashed a green light on her HUD, which carried over to both the ODST's and Spartans as they linked together into a new unit. "Alright, were all set."
"Then let's get this party started. Major, lead the way." Douglas said, gesturing for Vaughan to take point as he nodded, quickly moving to the front of the force and the ODST's closely following behind him. Jerome signaled for Alice and Douglas to cover their rear and flanks before he turned to the squads of Marines and nodded to them, as they saluted and quickly ran back to the staging site to prepare the force. Jerome then quickly turned and joined the squad, walking alongside Vaughan as Hank flew overhead and scouted the path forward.
"Heard what your team pulled off during Operation Spearbreaker, did a good job taking that ship out."
"Don't mention it sir, just doing our jobs. Where were you during the op?"
"Busy fighting off the Grunt warlord everyone calls Yap Yap, heard of him?"
"Crazy little fella with the Methane Wagons and Goblins? Yeah, I know him. Still don't get how he became a damn commander, though I guess unique tactics and strategies are just as valuable to the Banished as they are to us." Soon the squad slowed down and ducked into cover as the Banished base came into view, with several turrets scanning both the ground and air while a crimson dome of energy was spread over the entire base, with Ghosts and Choppers circling around on patrol with Grunts and Brutes marching or training by shooting at training dummies wearing salvaged marine armor. Two watch towers were at the far ends of the base, near the Clarion facility entrance, as Elite rangers and Jackal sniper were present. On the two ridges on both sides of the base could be seen the squad's primary target, the four Bliasterbacks.
"Alright, Red Team will handle the left, Sunray can handle the right. Soon as the explosions ring out, we'll need the Kodiaks dropping their ordinance."
"Sounds like a plan. Quinn?"
"Designator dialed in. Linked to both Kodiak targeting and Spirit of Fire."
"Good. Turpin, have Hank mark every single hostile near our targets so we don't get surprised." Turpin nodded as she sent the drone forward, it's cloak module engaging as it vanished and flew up close to one of the ridges, marking the artillery vehicles and the infantry squads around them. The exact numbers and configurations of the squad was relayed from Hank to Turpin, and then to Quinn as she cataloged it.
"This, is gonna be fun." Sparks whispered to himself as he calibrated his scope, meanwhile Gruss just groaned.
"Just a heads up, if you Spartans get shot I have no idea how to properly treat thanks to all the augments and stuff."
"Don't worry soldier, we'll be fine." Douglas said as he cracked his knuckles before reaching his shoulder and grabbing his rocket launcher, as Vaughan whistled.
"Compensating?"
"Depends, are you?"
"Touché."
"Alright everyone, let's rock and roll." Jerome said, flashing the White status light signalling for everyone to commence the operation as the Spartans split up from the ODST's as they moved towards their targets along the tree lines, staying in cover to remain out of sight. In a couple minutes, the two teams flashed Green - Red - Red. 'In position.' With this, another White status was flashed, the same white that enveloped the worlds of those caught in the explosion that rocked the base, leaving nothing more wrecks where the Blisterbacks used to be thanks to coordinated explosive shots and grenades sent directly into the ordinance tubes, blowing them sky high with a single move.
And as alarms blared through the base and the main HQ's doors lowered to reveal several Brutes roaring and charging forth, Vaughan cracked his knuckles and reloaded his launcher. "Alright boys and girls, time to party."