-IIXII-

"Squad 2 has been wiped out! I repeat, Squad 2 has been wiped out! We're on our ow-"

Chips gasped when a Needler round went straight through the head of his squad leader. He immediately moved in to hide himself behind a tree, feeding a fresh mag into his BR55HB right after. He was, however, forced to relocate to a different tree when a plasma grenade came in to demolish his previous cover.

"These suckers are kicking us hard, aren't they?" he called out to his other squadmates. "Where's Squad 1 when you need 'em?"

"I'm not picking up anything! Guess it's safe to assume they're wasted!" Hoxton replied from the side.

Chips cursed. He briefly went out of cover to take down a pair of Unggoys with his BR55HB, only to go back into hiding when a pair of Ultras appeared. Knowing them, they were more than likely to wield Concussion Rifles.

The UNSC Marine could practically hear the squid jaws yelling out death threats in their own language. He wanted to toss a frag their way to shut them up, but sadly he was lacking the required explosives due to an earlier battle involving a pair of Hunters.

Thankfully, one of his squadmates decided to make his dream a reality by tossing a grenade at the Ultras as an attempt to take them out. The grenade detonated, but by the time it did the Ultras had already distanced themselves by rolling away to safety.

Those agile bastards.

Another firefight broke loose soon afterwards. Despite outnumbering the Ultras, the odds of winning were not in their favor.

"Come on, guys! There're two of 'em!"

"Easier said than done, jackass!"

Chips rolled his eyes. He went out of hiding and fired off short bursts at one of the Ultras. Then to his surprise, the bastard's shield flickered and died to signal his vulnerability.

"The one on the left! Shield's down!" Chips called out, and it didn't take long for his entire squad to turn the Ultra into Swiss cheese. "Good job, boys! Now eyes on the other one!"

Just as those words left his mouth, a couple of fellow Marines perished from a blast caused by the remaining Ultra's Concussion Rifle. The bastard roared in celebration before deciding to sprint his way over to the rest of them. The squid face did so while blasting anything that got in his path, which made it difficult for the Marines to return fire. One made an attempt to do so up-close, but a kick to the face along with a broken neck was the end result.

Chips could hear the Sangheili heading his way at a rapid pace. He quickly pulled out his shotgun. Assuming the Sangheili was unaware of his presence, the Marine rolled out of hiding and started blasting the bastard repeatedly when he got close.

"This one's for my mother!" he roared.

Chips managed to successfully kill the Ultra's shield, but at the cost of all his shells. He dropped his shotgun and attempted to reach out for his pistol. Much to his surprise however, the Sangheili was quickly peppered with gunfire courtesy of his squadmates. When the alien came crashing down near his feet with one final groan, Chips sighed and turned to his fellow Marines.

"You guys know I had him, right?"

"Sure, yeah. Let's go with that."

Chips flipped his bird at his buddy, Hoxton. All he got in return was a laugh.

"Watch out! We got a couple of Phantoms incoming!" a Marine called out.

With that, Chips reacted by loading up his weapons as quickly as he could while getting to cover, something the other Marines soon followed.

"Ah crap..." Hoxton sighed. He reloaded his pistol, looking somewhat dejected. "Just when I thought I could catch a break-"

Just then, a bright golden beam came down from the clouds above and tore through the Phantoms. The aircrafts proceeded to explode in mid-air right after, undoubtedly killing anything that was onboard.

The UNSC Marines watched in stunned silence as a woman descended down upon the wreckage. Her entire body was emitting a bright light rivalling that of the sun, which began to dim down after a brief period of time. With the help of her huge wings, she cleared off the smoke which had been brought up by the destroyed pieces of the Phantoms, further revealing her appearance to the Marines.

"Wait a sec, that's..." a Marine spoke out.

Chips slowly emerged from his hiding spot. Once his eyes registered who it was, he loosened up and gave out a sigh of relief. "One of the Gensokyians. About damn time. Heck, she even has her own cannon. Things can't get any better than this."

"We essentially got ourselves a tank!" a Marine cheered as he got out of some bushes nearby.

The man's words ended up hyping the rest of them, and Chips had no right to complain.

In a sense, his fellow Marine was right.

Those Covenant troops were screwed now.

-IIXII-