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The following is a fan-based
FICTION
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"Loud and Lethal"
March 9 2526 - Hour 0412
GYSGT Logan 'Log' Sutton
Orbit over Planet of Biko
"They are not going to like it."
Sif's words summarized what reaction I expected from the team as soon as I gave them their first mission. I had expected this to happen as I knew that this was a crucial operation within the logistical aspect of the war on the Covenant.
"They will have to like it," I quietly replied. "It's not something we can say no to."
Biko was not 'important' within the big chess board that was made by the known galactic map, at least not for the UNSC's current efforts. Still, it was a particularly relevant planet that could have been turned into a logistic sector for the Covenant's war machines, and one that had a few problems within its government due to how many rebellious groups existed in it.
There had been clues of Covenant's activities soon to begin within the planet due to their recent glassing of Etalan and their consolidation on a slower-paced but more focused campaign to capture more planets. This was the battling grounds for Operation: SILENT STORM and... I was a bit nervous as Cole wanted something done before we could start the operation. There has been an issue already with Seoba, one of the planet's three moons, with the Insurrectionists having turned it into their base of operations and having used it as springboard for a coup on the legitimate government.
Things turned bad when the idiots trying to 'rebel for a just cause' expected the Covenant to be their friends by spilling info on this operation. The end result was some killing, the fall of the UNSC Starry Night, which was the flagship of the Task Force deployed for the bulk of the operation, in the Ice Quarry within the moon and concluded with Blue Team activating the nukes within the ship to prevent our enemy from capturing it. Which is why our 'reserve team' was instantly deployed by Cole's orders as he wanted to know the full situation.
By all means the Covenant shouldn't have been able to have any ship within the area this soon, and this presented a few questions that couldn't be ignored. The idea of this secondary mission, Operation: DUSTBOWL, was to approach one of the ships that we knew was the nearest to the planet's surface, infiltrate it and get a look at what was the current Covenant's disposition. Nothing more, nothing else. We were provided with a few UH-144 Falcons and the leadership was divided between me and Commander Marmon Crowther.
The chief in charge for the 21st Space Division, an Elite ODST group named 'Black Daggers', had been fairly interested to 'speak with me', mostly on the basis to check if we weren't some 'Spartans going by another name'. The animosity between the ODST and the supersoldiers was still running high, but I saw no reason to question him on the spot. Not when he could grill my ass through rank superiority if I got too chatty in that regard. Plus, I saw his men as a necessary addition to the manpower pool due to the importance of this operation.
We weren't going to traverse a UNSC-Controlled planet, not when the rebels were in charge of the main settlements and definitely had the AA systems recalibrated to destroy any of our vehicles. If that came to happen, quantity would be more than welcomed against a large contingent of rebels. Beyond that... I guess this wasn't a horrible operation. Just risky and seemingly unimportant if one ignored the vast risk value currently riddling Operation: SILENT STORM.
Soon I was back to the team and my expectations on their reactions were on point. There was clear disappointment in their faces at the general points of the operation, but nobody pressed too much into this discomfort. I could tell they had understood quickly enough I had no power on altering the parameters of the operation, only arguing on the entry points and the route to take. And as far as Sif could tell from a proper look into it, the best route was the furthest possible from the big cities. Keep into the desolate sections of the planet and go around as many settlements as possible.
It was a simple plan and, from what scouts could say, we were meant to have a swift entry into the target. Just a few hours to get in and then get out. Now... I will just say that Murphy has been feeling lonely in recent times, and saw it as a good reason to visit and say hi. An hour later as the Falcons took off and started to carry us to our destination, we were greeted with a surprise. A very plasma surprise at that.
Pink shots from a Covenant Anti-Air turret managed to hit one of the wings of the Falcon we were boarding, forcing it to crash while the rest of the flock scattered and forced an emergency landing. Nobody got struck by the blasts, but the dizzy crash-landing proved to be fairly fun since it came close to ending in an explosion. The impact wasn't enough discombobulating to force any concussion, and we were quickly leaving the vehicle as soon as it had landed.
The pilot is dead. I'm scanning for any other contacts within the area.
"Status report, team," I ordered loudly, and I was greeted by their lights flickering green. "Good. Now... Eagle 0-0 to Eagle 1-0, do you copy?"
I was greeted by static, a jamming system. Gritting my teeth, I was also given some news from Sif.
Contacts moving from East. Two squads, two Elites and eight Grunts.
"New plan, move over the rocks on the west and take position. Rodriquez, get that sniper cracking some squidface's heads."
There was no verbal response as the entire group moved into a better-defended position as the patrol started to come out of the woods. The Sangheilis were removed from the picture as quickly as possible, with the first to fall dying from a headshot and the other getting clipped by two shots in the neck. Grunts were sent in a quick panic at this development and were easy to pick off with the DMRs me and Felicia were equipped with. Once the area was cleared from trouble, the team was allowed to be at ease and... provide me with a reasonable question.
"What's the plan, sir?" Gage inquired and I slowly nodded.
"There's something that is jamming our signal. We find it, destroy it and then regroup," I muttered quickly. "Sif, did you track it?"
I believe I do. There are multiple signals that might match, three to be precise. I will track them on your HUD but I suggest you keep your heads down. I'm receiving loud reports of more troops being deployed to reinforce the defenses before Operation: SILENT STORM unfolds.
"This doesn't sound good," Michael remarked calmly.
"But it's not impossible. We just need to be careful and... take them out before reinforcement can supply them," Serin argued positively and her rebuttal gained a few nods. "Sir, I believe we're ready to go."
I offered a smile at that confidence, spotting that someone had really used this month to not only get better at simulations but also understand her team. Without much else to say, it was time for us to go and get out of the area as quickly as possible. We had three spots to find and... these were difficult to get through.
The first two were doable since the Covenant hadn't built much to protect these positions. There were plasma barriers and barricades, but nothing that managed to cover them from any flanking. The real issue was the amount of troops deployed which rendered stealth impossible. Too many ears and eyes looking around for any troublesome and suspicious matter. Going loud was possible as Sif could jam back their communications, but doing so meant having to be quick in dealing with these defensive posts as leaving their communications disrupted for too long would just draw more attention to us.
Two hours and several depleted ammo mags later, we were finally looking at the last jamming device... within a very fortified position. There were bigger barricades, AA turrets and I saw a few Brute Chieftains and Elite Zealots. They were really playing rough on this occasion and we were running out of bullets. Good thing that I had the team pick up some Plasma weapons or we would have been having some real troubles. The real MVP was the Plasma Grenade and how many unused ones we found in the previous two assaults. Zealots and Chieftains had tougher armors, but explosions are still explosions and they don't care about their armors' feelings.
Another hour went through, a very intense firefight that resulted in us running out of ammo and ultimately relying on their own weapons. We found more portable shields, more grenades and also some Phantoms that had been put to the side in case they needed to evacuate or move around troops. With the third and final jamming system, it was finally time to check on how Crowther's situation was. It's been a few hours and I had a genuine worry I was going to deal with some bad news. Turns out I was worrying for nothing. Mostly.
"Eagle 0-0 to Eagle 1-0, do you copy?"
The communicator buzzed with life. "Eagle 1-0 here, it's good to hear you're still alive. We've found an old bunker with military-grade equipment and used it to fend off some assaults. What's your situation? Over."
"Pilot died in the crash and we managed to find their base. The Covenant has infiltrated deeply within the planet after an operation to kill off the Rebel forces that had taken over the planet," I replied flatly. "This has been going on for a while and we suspect they managed to trick us by using UNSC's Comms within the planet to sabotage our reports."
"I have two wounded, light stuff, but the rest of the group is working well. What's the next move from here?"
"We just captured the base and now we have two Phantoms in their hangars. We can use them to infiltrate the target as predicted."
"Sutton, you're asking me to keep on going with this situation? We're not armed for this."
"I... I know this isn't a good situation, sir. And I would have called for a retreat if not for the fact that this could happen again, except in greater scale if our fleet is unprepared for what's going on with the Covenant and their current force within the area."
"And you think this will help?"
Sir, I can disguise the ships' signals as theirs and make sure we are not struck down again.
"...Fuck it. Your funeral if this comes to bite us in the ass, Sutton."
"That would be the least I expect from failure, sir," I replied sarcastically, and was glad that I didn't get reprimanded because of it.
It would take half-an-hour for them to get to our position, but they didn't come to us empty-handed. Cases of ammos and weapons were brought to our attention, and I decided to pick a MA5B rifle with a M301 Grenade Launcher for the occasion. Once we were done regrouping and taking care of the soldiers' injuries, we were quick to board the Phantoms and make our way towards our original target.
This was just the tip of the iceberg, that much I could tell from how many Covenant flying vehicles were buzzing in the sky...
AN
If you remember a while ago, Thela had visited the place and took care of this business. The Covenant had tricked the UNSC into trying to 'stop them' from entering the planet when they actually have a large foothold in it. They are trying to pull a 'Harvest' back to the humans. Of course, things will not go as well as they were planned...
Also no, Thela isn't in Biko. She has been relocated to help in Etalan due to stronger resistance from the defenders.
REVIEW Q&A!
danielsnow: Those are canon Marines, except they are introduced through the comics/novels.
Gordon Freeman: Jeez, most of the lewd is happening in the background and most of it is not canon. At least, not until the war is over. The thing is that I get it, and I appreciate the criticism about possibly mixing porn and plot. But that's the thing. I'm not planning to turn it odd by adding the lemons mid-fight or mid-story, but rather put the lemons on the side for those that wants them in separate chapters so those that don't can go around and not skip anything about it. Alas, by the end of the day, the most popular pairing here is Log/Thela. And yes, that's what I'm going to go for in the 'True Ending'.
Austin: I'll give the summarized thought behind my opinion and then my opinion about the TV show trailer: 1) It's shit; 2) The reason I see it as shit is the fact that the show goes to break a lot of premises that are necessary to make the story coherent with the main timeline: Not only the Halo's discovery scene felt so forced in a stupid manner (while also retconing Halo CE) but it also introduces that 'human-looking villain' (which I think is a Mgalekgolo and not flood since that would just be the series going full dumb) which doesn't make sense as to why the Covenant fights the UNSC. All in all, there just so much effort to make a soulless show with 'subpar' effects. Yes, they are cool, but definitely pale in comparison to some of standard Halo's cutscene. Compare the fighting scene shown in the trailer with the Halo 2 Remastered's Bomb Cutscene. It just doesn't hold the candle. So no, I don't feel I like that show since they are taking too many liberties with the excuse of 'alternative timeline'. There are just so many things one can change before the series is just another sad Videogame adaptation made to get a quick back out of nostalgia.
Tom2011: *Shrugs* Because I can.