Writeer's block was a bit less problematic this week, thankfully. This chapter here finished up the first arc of the story, likely going to be a bit less action in the next few chapters. (Though hopefully enough plot and such to keep everyone interested.)
As always, reviews and comments are appreciated.
Standard copyright disclaimer: I do not own Halo or any associated media, characters, or settings which are properties of 343 or Bungie. This is a work of fanfiction written purely for entertainment and not for monetary gain.
0845 Local, 16 August 2549
Collins, Levosia, 26 Draconis System
More than a dozen Warthogs rolled down the four lane urban road. An mix of armed and troop-carrying vehicles carried a platoon of UNSC Marines, and, crammed into the back of one of the Warthogs, the six surviving kig-yar of team Yankee 1.
Chac Lon squawked a curse as the Warthog rode over another one of the potholes that were ubiquitous in the city of Collins. The combination painkiller/stimulant injection he'd stuck into his leg was starting to work, but his adrenaline was also coming down. He'd definitely feel it tomorrow, after the fight was over.
"Remember, this was your idea." Zep Yan gentled needled him.
"I am aware." Chac Lon responded. "At least my arms took the worst of it." For any kig-yar, especially a T'vaoan who fought the way he did, mobility mattered more than anything else in combat.
"You think we're winning?" Chac Lon asked as the Warthog drove past the wreckage of a downed Banshee. The wrecked fighter was still burning; Chac Lon saw no sign of the pilot.
"Covenant's getting desperate at least. Have to be to risk damaging the thing." Zep Yan gestured at the governor's building. Minutes ago, the Covenant began the upper parts of it with the few Wraiths at their disposal. Surely the enemy commander knew that collapsing the building would bury what they were looking for, but the human and kig-yar snipers on the upper floors must have made the risk worth it.
Neither of the kig-yar knew that all but one of the Wraiths had already been destroyed by human forces. The last retreated with damaged armor and a dead unggoy hanging out of the gunner's seat.
The Warthogs rumbled on. Chac Lon sorted through his equipment for a bit, before frowning and turning to other kig-yar. "Any of you have extra needles? I'm down to barely 30?"
"Here you go, boss." One of the other kig-yar passed Chac Lon two canisters of needles. "Don't need these anymore."
"Thanks." Chac Lon slid the canisters into a pocket of his armor. "Wait. Zhak, what happened to your gun?"
"Got broken in the last fight, so I traded it to one of the humans for some ammunition for this." Zhak gestured to the human rifle slung over his shoulder, and the five magazines he was carrying.
"The human willingly traded you for a broken gun?"
"Human didn't know it was broken." Zhak laughed.
Chac Lon pointed to the other kig-yar's rifle. "Did they give you that, too?"
"Nah, lifted this off one of the dead humans. He didn't seem to mind." Zhak laughed again, drawing a confused look from the human Marine in the passenger seat.
Chac Lon barely held back his own laughter. His squadmate had good instincts, but it was probably for the best the two humans in the front seats didn't understand kig-yar. "Seen those before, called 295 or something? Look a bit different from the ones the regular UNSC uses."
"Still works mostly the same, though. Humans probably dump their old stuff on colonies and give good stuff to these guys here." Zhak replied, gesturing at the Marines in their convoy.
That made sense to Chac Lon; give your best equipment to your best soldiers. It seemed like the humans changed their weapon designs a lot more frequently than the Covenant did. He'd heard the plasma rifle the sangheili used had been around since before the kig-yar were integrated into the Covenant. The plasma pistol, too. The T'vaoan pondered this for a moment. Wouldn't it be simpler for the humans to just stick with a single design? Although...
A few minutes later, the convoy came to a stop. Sergeant Johnson dismounted from the lead vehicle and addressed everyone; "Listen up Marines! – and everyone else. Covenant's making a big push, but the bastards don't know we're here! We're gonna go in, hit them hard, and make them regret ever coming to this planet! Am I right Marines?"
"Hoo-rah!"
"First and second squads, take point and push forward. Third follow, back them up when they make contact, and fourth has the heavy guns." Johnson patted the barrel of the minigun on one of the Warthogs, thenpointed at the cluster of buildings ahead of them, directing the Marines inside. "Yankee, get up high and get us eyes on the bastards."
"Mind if I take shots at a couple?" Chac Lon joking asked as he jumped off the Warthog, shaking a cramp out of his left arm.
"Go ahead, any squid-head you kill is one less my Marines have to deal with."
0900 Local, 16 August 2549
Planetary Government Complex, Collins, Levosia, 26 Draconis System
Zealot Jarro 'Zufamee ducked behind the corner of the hallway, dodging a burst of gunfire. A fraction of a second later, he jumped back into the open, leveling his plasma rifle at the pair of humans down the hallway and opening fire. Both fell within seconds, leaving the corridor empty. 'Zufamee motioned to the lance of sangheili behind him, and sprinted forward to the next corner. There, as he had so many times before, he blindly threw a plasma grenade down the crossing hallway. Grimly, 'Zufamee noted that he was down to only a single grenade. He would have to send one of the lower ranking sangheili back to confiscate some from the unggoy.
The human's dogged tenacity had stalled the Covenant's primary advance along the boulevard leading to the large complex of buildings in the city center. Not only was that complex most likely the seat of the human government of this planet, but according to the luminary it was also where the Forerunner artifact lay. 'Zufamee had done his best to impress the importance of their mission on the troops under his command, and he had succeeded. But zeal alone could not win fights.
On the fly, 'Zufamee devised a new plan of attack. The majority of his forces, including their paltry allotment of armor, would mount a feint against the main human defensive position. Meanwhile, 'Zufamee and a few files of sangheili and unggoy would enter the belowground portions of the complex and push forward in search of the Forerunner artifact. Likely the humans would have placed it in the most secure position possible; beneath the large building at the center of the complex.
Getting underground also put him and his sangheili out of reach of the humans' snipers. Well, not only humans. 'Zufamee had been shocked when his sangheili and kig-yar came under fire not only from regular human rifles, but beam rifles! At first he had hoped that the humans were only using captured Covenant weaponry, but using long range optics his subordinates had seen kig-yar fighting alongside the humans! 'Zufamee confirmed it himself; a quick look through his subordinate's scope showed no less than three kig-yar on a single floor of the building. One of those damnable kig-yar had even come close to killing him! Thank the Forerunners his instincts were so honed after years of service to the Covenant that he barely was able to dodge the attack,
'Zufamee did not have any particular affection for the species, but he was shocked that the kig-yar would stoop so low. He would make sure to have the kig-yar under his command interrogated after this battle was won. What few surviving kig-yar he had, anyway. The ones fighting alongside the humans seemed to have targeted their brothers (Or was it sisters? 'Zufamee recalled that many female kig-yar fought alongside the males.) with a vengeance. Even more evidence of how dishonorable the ones fighting alongside the humans were.
The major behind him threw another grenade, and 'Zufamee charged in after. This time, he opted not to use his plasma rifle, and instead ignited his blade. Two humans were killed by the well-thrown grenade, leaving two humans and an unggoy alive. Another example of treachery. 'Zufamee had run into more than a dozen unggoy fighting for the humans so far. Why were they fighting against the Covenant? Had they been working for the kig-yar that also fought alongside the humans? Had the humans corrupted them both? 'Zufamee vowed to destroy them either way. Still, even if treasonous they were still unggoy, and his sangheili would cut through them easily. (Nevermind the major a few hallways back that had been burned to death by an unggoy wielding grenades and a plasma pistol. Or the minor whose face was destroyed by a shotgun-wielding unggoy minutes before.)
The Zealot quickly dispatched the humans and the unggoy. The enemy barely managed to dent his shields. Still, there was a problem; they had been following these tunnels for nearly half an hour, and they still seemed to be getting no closer to the artifact. His compass told him they were heading generally in the right direction, but he wanted visual confirmation. 'Zufamee looked around, and saw a stairwell leading out of the tunnel a bit back. He pointed at one of the less experienced sangheili in his lance. "You. Go to the surface and confirm our position. Take care that you are not seen." The other sangheili nodded. "It will be done."
He returned a minute later. "We are near the base of the main human building. There are many human defenders aboveground, but I was fortunate that their view of me was blocked by vegetation."
'Zufamee pointed down the hallway. "Quickly, we must move with haste! Our prize is near, and soon we shall claim what is rightfully ours!"
The sangheili sprinted to the next bend, followed by their unggoy. There, 'Zufamee paused. Listening, he could hear human conversation ahead.
"Engage active camouflage." 'Zufamee commanded his sangheili, as he activated his own camouflage and became virtually invisible. "I will enter the fight and draw the humans' fire."
'Zufamee crept forward. Ahead of him was an open area, where the hallway split in two and widened. On the sides were a pair of catwalks, with an open area in the middle that held a group of pipes for heating and cooling of the building above. At the other end of the open space, about 50 meters away, the pipes went back underground and the catwalks merged. It was here that the humans had set up their defensive position. The Zealot saw a dozen humans and three unggoy, hiding behind sandbags and makeshift barricades. At least two of the humans had light machine guns, aimed across the open space. Against other humans, it would have been a formidable position. But for 'Zufamee and his warriors, some of the best in the Covenant, it was no challenge at all.
The Zealot made it halfway to the human position before he was spotted. One of the unggoy noticed the fainting shimmering of his active camouflage, pointing at him as it shouted out "Invisible!". As 'Zufamee broke into a sprint, the unggoy was silenced by a burst of plasma from another sangheili.
The humans were now very much aware, but they still didn't actually have sight of the sangheili. As they began blindingly firing the pair of light machine guns down the corridor, 'Zufamee took advantage. He slid low, ducking beneath the human rounds. In a moment, he was upon the human position. The Zealot stood up, reached across the sandbags, and grabbed the human machine gunner by the neck. He barely managed to scream before 'Zufamee snapped his neck. It was only then that the Zealot ignited his energy sword and disengaged the active camouflage.
The situation descended into pure chaos for the human defenders. 'Zufamee cut down two more humans before dodging grenade from one of the unggoy. Roaring, he speared the unggoy in the back with his blade, cutting into the unfortunate being's methane tank and igniting it. By now half a dozen humans were shooting at the Zealot, but still his shields had not dissipated. As he ducked into cover, 'Zufamee watched as his sangheili shot down three more humans. One of the humans fled down the hallway. Coward, thought 'Zufamee as his shields recharged. He flees even while his brothers keep fighting. Indeed, as 'Zufamee thought this one of the majors under his command fell, as a pair of humans peppered him with buckshot. Seconds later, both humans died under a hail of plasma, and the last two survivors ran, leaving the position empty.
The respite for the Covenant forces was brief, as human reinforcements arrived not even a minute later. The first indication of their presence was a rocket that appeared out of the darkness and impacted against the back wall, killing a pair of unggoy and an already-injured sangheili minor. As it did, a squad of humans at the far end of another hallway opened up, filling the corridor with lead. 'Zufamee was unfazed. "With me, brothers! Crush these humans and their lackeys!"
Another rocket killed a third unggoy and peppered 'Zufmaee's shields with fragments, but still he pressed on. These humans did not have as good of a defensive position as the last ones, but they were more aware of the threat facing them. 'Zufamee did not see as first one, then another of his sangheili fell to concentrated human fire. He was already upon the humans, nearly decapitating one with his blade before impaling another.
His shields flared as a hail of buckshot pellets slammed into it. Roaring, he turned to swipe at his assailant. Amazingly, the human dodged! Rolling out of the way of the sword, the human came back to his feet and fired again, doing more damage to 'Zufamee's shields. This time, the Zealot's strike was true, and he impaled the human through the abdomen, lifting the UNSC soldier up against the wall.
Somehow, the human was still trying to fire the shotgun, feebly working the action before noticing a shell jammed in the ejection port. The human dropped the weapon, before smiling as he seemed to look past 'Zufamee. This may be a human, but such bravery is commendable no matter who it is.
"You fight well, human." 'Zufamee said. "Perhaps I shall remember you once the Great Journey begins."
The human spat blood, as their smile grew wider. As they tried to raise ther arm to point behind the elite, the human barely managed to get out two words; "grunt...rocket..."
"Catch this, flappy mouth!" 'Zufamee barely had time to realize the unggoy was shouting at him before the first rocket hit the floor inches away, wiping out his shields (and tearing the human to pieces). A fraction of a second later, the second hit, and 'Zufamee knew no more.
0905 Local, 16 August 2549
Collins, Levosia, 26 Draconis System
Another unggoy fell, a needle protruding from the side of its head. As it dead, Chac Lon was already scanning for the next target. He found it; a kig-yar with a needle rifle bit away from the dead unggoy. Another shot, another dead Covenant soldier. Watching through his own scope, the Marine on the roof with him saw it fall.
"Jesus Christ, jackal, you sons of bitches are scary."
"Barely even three hundred meters, don't they teach you humans how to shoot at that distance?" Chac Lon replied. That got a groan from the human.
Chac Lon had split his (reduced) squad into two groups of three, and positioned them on the roofs of buildings along the edge of the Covenant advance. Sergeant Johnson decided to send some humans along with them, one for each of the kig-yar. Officially to provide 'fire support', but they both knew it was to keep an eye on the kig-yar. Lance Corporal Albert Johnson (no relation) was Chac Lon's 'minder'.
Chac Lon was actually taking a bit of a liking to Corporal Johnson. The doorway to the roof they were on had been padlocked shut; Chac Lon had been about to try and bash it off with the butt of his rifle when Johnson pulled out a pair of crescent wrenches and simply snapped the lock off. Quite the useful trick; Chac Lon would have to let the rest of his kig-yar know how to do that. (A few minutes later he also remembered that he could have used the plasma daggers he'd gotten installed in his armor to just slice the lock off. That made him feel a bit stupid.) And, needling aside, Corporal Johnson had proven to be a decent shot with his marksman's rifle. Already he'd put a hole in the head of a sangheili and taken out a few unggoy.
The UNSC's attack on this part of the Covenant line was intended to be a surprise. It had succeeded. There were some forces here, some elites, some jackals, some grunts, but the Covenant's heavy forces were either attacking the governor's office or defending their landing site. The ones here held up well enough against the militia and few UNSC squads that held them in place, but they were definitely not ready for an attack by an entire company of Marines.
Listening in to the radio net, Chac Lon also heard that another UNSC force was attacking the other side of the Covenant's pocket at the same time. The intent was quite obvious; to split the Covenant-held area in two, and cut off the forces at the governor's office from their line of retreat. The pocket was a few streets wide at this point, so Chac Lon couldn't see the attack on the other side, but aside from the radio chatter he was starting to hear gunfire and plasma fire from that direction.
Already Chac Lon, his kig-yar, and the human marksmen parked on the nearby buildings were taking a toll on the Covenant. And now the rest of the Marines were pushing in. Chac Lon looked down at the street below him and saw a squad of Marines in a firefight with an entrenched Covenant force. The Marines were putting out a steady stream of fire, but weren't advancing. At first, Chac Lon though the squad of Marines and the file of sangheili, unggoy, and kig-yar were evenly matched. Then, he noticed the other squad of Marines across the street, creeping through the shadows along a row of damaged buildings. The goal was clear; the first squad would keep the Covenant pinned, until the second surprised them on their flank.
The T'vaoan nudged Corporal Johnson, and pointed at the Covenant position. The human nodded in understanding and lifted his rifle. Chac Lon aimed at one of the kig-yar in the enemy position. It was crouched behind its shield, protected from the fire coming from the Marine squad below, but from Chac Lon's vantage point they were vulnerable. He squeezed off a round, and the kig-yar fell gurgling with a horrible chest wound. Regaining his sight picture, he saw as startled unggoy standing near the fallen kig-yar, looking around in confusion. Chac Lon moved his aimpoint over the unggoy's face, and fired again. Another shot, another kill.
Meanwhile, Corporal Johnson was shooting at one of the sangheili that had been firing at the squad of Marines. The two shots he got onto it didn't penetrate its shielding, but he did get it to take notice. It ducked behind cover, ceasing its fire against the Marine squad on the street and instead pointing toward the building where Johnson and Chac Lon were hiding. Their position soon came under plasma fire, but it was clear that they were just firing blindly and didn't have a bead at Chac Lon or Johnson. The pair scooted back from the edge of the building, but easily avoided the danger. Meanwhile, the sangheili had drawn the attention of the other kig-yar in Chac Lon's squad. Within seconds, one was dead from a needle through the skull. Another sangheili's abdomen disappeared in a pink explosion after being hit by multiple needle rifle shots.
At that the surviving kig-yar and unggoy broke and ran. Unfortunately for them, both squads of Marines saw the opportunity and chose that moment to press their attack. None of the fleeing Covenant survived. Neither did the lone sangheili who did his best to stop the rout before dying to a hail of bullets.
Faintly, the roar of engines could be heard blocks away. "Here comes the cavalry!" Corporal Johnson shouted as the noise got closer. Suddenly, five Warthogs appeared from around a corner and sped toward a knot of Covenant forces. Even though the Covenant had no vehicles of their own in this area, the weapons they did have, along with a pair of mgalekgolo, were more than capable of taking on the human vehicles. But the humans had the initiative and morale; they were pumped up, ready to go instead of hunkering down trying not to die.
The miniguns on the first three Warthogs simply shredded any of the unshielded unggoy or kig-yar unfortunate enough to be caught in the open. Dozens fell in seconds, coating the street in blue and purple blood. The hardier sangheili, with their personal energy shields, lasted long enough to get to cover or fight back.
The lead Warthog was engaged by a high-ranking sangheili with a concussion rifle. The sangheili unloaded a full magazine into the human vehicle, sending it skidding out of control into a concrete barrier. It came to rest on its side, with the gunner dead after being thrown clear. Before the sangheili reloaded he was torn to pieces by fire from the other Warthogs and Marines on the ground.
By now the mgalekgolo had seen the Warthogs and were turning to engage them. The first shots from the lumbering behemoths missed the human vehicles. The Warthog gunners quickly engaged them with their miniguns, but the mgalekgolo could shrug off hundreds of rounds from them. Those weren't the only armaments the Marines had, though. One of the Warthog was the uncommon variant with a rocket turret, and the gunner on that one rapidly put a full salvo of three rockets into the nearest mgalekgolo. It stumbled backwards, injured but alive and covered in its own blood. But the rockets had not only hurt many of the worms that made up the creature, but also torn off large pieces of its armor plating. It came under fire not only from the Warthogs, but from any human (and kig-yar) in range. The mgalekgolo barely managed to get off one more poorly aimed shot from its arm cannon before it slumped to the ground, inert.
The other, enraged at the loss of its brother, charged at the nearest Warthog. Instead of firing at it, the mgalekgolo simply closed the distance and smashed its arm down onto the front of the human vehicle, bringing it to a stop and destroying the engine. Amazingly, both Marines survived and stayed barely conscious enough to bail out of the Warthog before it caught fire and exploded. The mgalekgolo's next shot barely clipped a Warthog, burning the gunner but not taking the vehicle out of the fight. But by now the lone mgalekgolo was the target of every UNSC shooter within range, and the rocket Warthog had reloaded. Another salvo of high-explosive rockets killed the other colony of worms, leaving it in a heap feet away from its brother.
As the Covenant struggled to regain their cohesion under fire from the human vehicles, it looked like the Marines had won. Suddenly, a group of sangheili exited the building directly below Chac Lon and Corporal Johnson. Two minors, and a single ultra. The three minors were wielding plasma rifles; while they were firing them at the humans they were clearly more interested in protecting the major and avoiding getting hit. The sangheili ultra also had a plasma rifle in his hand. But in his other hand he had a civilian by the neck, holding them in front of himself to use as a human shield. Shocked, the Marines nearby stopped firing for a few moments, trying to figure out how to engage the sangheili without hitting the defenseless civilian with their own fire.
All of this took place barely two stories below Chac Lon. From his vantage point, he had a clear view of the sangheili ultra's back. It clearly had no idea the T'vaoan was there. Quickly, he brought up his rifle, and moved to aim at the ultra's head.
Before he pulled the trigger, he stopped. If his aim was off, and the sangheili jerked the human the wrong was as he fired, he might put a round into the human's head. Chac Lon remembered Korhonen's warning from earlier, and even if it was an accident he didn't want to get the rest of his crew put in prison indefinitely. And even if his aim was true, it would take more than a single shot to pierce the ultra's shields. He needed to kill the sangheili in a single shot.
"Cover me!" Chac Lon yelled to Corporal Johnson.
"What?!" Corporal Johnson only got a single word out before Chac Lon vaulted over the edge of the roof toward the sangheili below.
Chac Lon hit the ultra feet first. Even though he weighed only half what the sangheili did, Chac Lon was falling from nearly 10 meters. And he was ready for the hit; the other guy wasn't. Chac Lon's needle rifle went clattering to the pavement, but he managed to latch himself onto the ultra. The sangheili grunted in surprise as the kig-yar hit him and the pair tumbled to the ground. The impact also knocked the human out of the sangheili's hand; it went sprawling to the pavement, dazed but alive.
With his left hand, Chac Lon grabbed the front of the sangheili's helmet, getting a firm grip and a reference point. Even as they hit the ground, the ultra's hands were coming up to grapple with the kig-yar. But Chac Lon activated the plasma dagger on his right wrist. Yelling, he plunged it into the back of the sangheili's neck, right through a narrow gap in the armor.
As the plasma severed its spine, the sangheili jerked for a moment, then lay still. For a moment, the battlefield was still, Marines and sangheili alike in shock at what had just happened. Corporal Johnson broke the silence a fraction of a second later as he leaned over the edge of the room and starting pumping rounds into the sangheili minors below him. That was enough to wake up the Marines from their shock, as they likewise emptied their magazines into the still-stunned sangheili. The minors died without firing another shot.
Groaning, Chac Lon rolled onto his front and crawled toward his discarded needle rifle. His impulsive decision had gone better than it had any right to, but he was still hurting. A bunch of the cuts and scrapes on his right side had reopened, and his left shoulder was in pain again. Still, he was alive. As he stood up, he briefly locked eyes with the human civilian the sangheili had used as a shield. They stared, mouth agape.
Covenant Light Cruiser Seeker of Transcendence
In Orbit of Levosia, 26 Draconis System
"By the rings, this is a disaster! The hierarchs will have our heads for this!"
"Calm yourself! We are soldiers of the Covenant." Shipmaster Orna 'Leromee softened his tone, and patted his panicking subordinate on the shoulder. "This failure rests on me, and me alone. The Prophets will punish me as they see fit, but you all have conducted yourselves with honor."
Inwardly, a part of 'Leromee knew it was hardly possible for him to have anticipated what happened. His fleet was tasked with artifact retrieval, not ground combat, but still he had defeated the human forces in space and nearly won on the planet. Could anyone have dealt with unexpected treachery by Covenant species, and the Forerunner artifact being positioned just perfectly to deny him the ability to use full firepower? Perhaps someone like 'Vadamee could have, but 'Leromee was not egotistical enough to compare himself to that Fleetmaster.
'Leromee had ordered a full retreat back to the ships an hour ago, when it became clear the situation on the ground was untenable. The last attack on the human stronghold had failed, with the Zealot 'Zufamee dying in the process. ('Leromee resolved that he would keep the fact that the zealot died at the hands of an unggoy secret; no need to make the situation more of a farce than it already was.) The humans (and their allies) had then attacked on multiple fronts, splitting the Covenant forces into two pockets. Only at the cost of multiple dropships and fighters had the Shipmaster managed to evacuate the forces he had.
Before he could leave to deliver the full report on what had happened here, and deliver himself to the Prophets' mercy, 'Leromee still had two tasks remaining here. The first was to compile any and all information on the treachery the Covenant had faced. Already he had his sangheili combing through combat footage, radio intercepts and other data. Who were these kig-yar, and why had they betrayed the Covenant for humanity?
The second was to deny humanity the opportunity to evacuate the artifact from the planet. Here 'Leromee's options were more limited. Human reinforcements could show up at any moment, and his fleet was already damaged. His best option was to alert the rest of the Covenant, so they could send a proper force to take the planet. But, there was still something he could do now. 'Leromee looked at the image of the human space elevator on the screen in front of him. While the ground battle had been ongoing, humans had been constantly ascending the elevator to board ships docked at the top and evacuate the system. Time to put an end to that.
"Tactical, target the space elevator, all torpedoes. Four at the upper station, two below to sever the cable."
"It will be done, shipmaster."
Eleven thousand civilians were on the upper station of the Levosia space elevator or in ships docked to it when the plasma torpedoes from Seeker of Transcendence hit. All perished. Simultaneously, the other two torpedoes hit the tether 200 kilometers below the station. Severed from its counterweight, the rest of the space elevator began its long fall to the surface of the planet below.