Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Iron Cross. Enjoy the 2800-word chapter. I do not own Warhammer or Halo, Gameshop and 343 do.
(Bega-IV, January 7th, 2532.)
Halius seemed to remember the battle in question when it was all over.
Halius looked over and then sighed, silence was beginning to become a friend at the time. There was a lot more to try and there did he have to relax… All the battle ebbed and flowed from his mind.
And he hated it, he hated that so damn much he wanted to break and scream inside, he wanted this over.
The Ultramarine ducked behind a piece of cover, fire, and bullets flying all around him.
Halius hummed before a Banshee crashed into the tower, exploding in a ball of fire that showered them with molten metal.
He hummed, thinking of all options… He wished to think of it all before now. Halius thought of himself before he looked to himself and then looked at Linda.
The woman was eager to try and figure it out now… She would continue to figure out something. She lifted her rifle and then shot a brute, the covenant soldier falling to the ground.
Halius could see dozens of Orks and Covenant soldiers clashing, most dying in droves as plasma and bullets impacted each other with screams of pain back and forth.
Halius meanwhile had breached the command center, most of the staff having left during the fight or being killed in general.
He of all such people was odd, he was much odder and odder. Halius frowned and then thought of the next move before he looked to the side, the rest of his squad present.
"I do not understand the covenant controls… And I cannot translate this language." Halius hummed before he looked to the side.
He sighed and then thought of his next move. The idea was growing on his mind that they had plenty of ideas and the fight outside was going to cause problems.
If it was up to him? He would let the Orks and Covenant kill each other, the losses here might at least slow down their plans across the galaxy.
But he knew damn well that they had a larger fight to deal with, the Prophet was possibly here, a target he could not afford to pass up so easily… And secondly? They had lost Kholo, the least he could do was make sure the hundreds of human soldiers did not die in vain.
Still, that was a tall order even for both Ultramarines and the best soldiers within the UNSC.
"The Greenskins are going to overrun this base soon. We both know Orks outnumber the Covenant 20 to 1." Halius heard in a tone that was a dead silence maker.
He would sigh if he could but instead? The Ultramarine only turned, grabbed his bolter, and marched outside, pausing only to shoot a pair of Orks attempting to charge him.
"Clear out the rest of the base, we need to get work done soon," Halius stated before he sighed and then looked around, exhausted now.
Halius hummed, tiring himself out when it came to it… If they were going to fight? They would fight harder than both sides.
Still? The push towards them was shocking…. But only from the Orks, it did not surprise him that the Covenant were being decimated considering how little they seemed to learn.
Halius hummed to himself and then looked to the side, questioning what was going on at the end of the day. The sound of gunfire pulled him from his next thought.
Halius questioned just how many soldiers the Orks had slain in the two minutes they had been present… A thousand? A few hundred? Perhaps more than he would guess… Perhaps more than he guessed.
"Admiral Cutter, we might not be able to hold this position…. What is your situation? We have reason to believe a Covenant VIP is present… And we are attempting to hunt them down." Halius added with a sigh to himself.
Granted? He had VERY good reason to believe this could have gone terribly but it was better than nothing, the crash of armor and clack and whine of weapons fire told him that the covenant was being pushed back.
Halius decided to mentally give the Spartans 10 minutes before if no further progress was made. He would take their forces and flee to the UNSC-established landing zone. They could hold only so damn long.
"Spartan? 10 minutes is all I shall offer before we must retreat if you can do more? We will fight… But this is not a battle we can win hand to hand alone." Halius stated with a frown.
He knew damn well that it ate him alive before he sighed to himself.
Halius looked upwards and into the sky where the carrier sat… All their problems and this flagship had been keeping them here.
"Acknowledged," Chief stated before the line went dead.
Halius sighed to himself and then thought of the problems in trying to fight off a small damn army. They had fought worse and this would be a mere skirmish to them in any other case… But for now? He had LITTLE to see and to do, little to understand besides the fight.
Halius simply lifted his bolter and opened fire on the dozens of Orks, knowing the Covenant was the lesser enemy compared to the waves and waves of Orks that bared down on them.
If he was able to think of what was growing on his mind before he looked to the side as he clicked his fingers.
He had a lot more to try and figure it all out, now, and then were very different in his time and very much beyond himself… Now and for good. Perhaps it was meant to be written that way, perhaps he did not know.
He held a LOT more on his mind, a LOT more than it as of now, a LOT than he could repay, something he held onto now and for good.
Still? What he did do next? He held fewer ideas as to how it had to be and none of them were easily done.
Then again? If he had to do this… He would scream because he knew damn well that nothing he said and nothing he did was helping.
(With Chief)
Chief would admit that trying to ride an entire gravity lift into the belly of the carrier was not a smart move… He would also admit he had an idea as to how it should go. He guessed very well the Prophet was here.
"Chief? He is right, there's hundreds of soldiers… I am running out of ammo fast." Linda stated to which several bolter rounds were heard.
"Rally to me, Spartan… Chief? If you can complete your mission? Rally to me at the landing zone, I am taking the remaining troops there and holding it." Halius stated before more bolter fire was heard. "We cannot hold the base… And neither can the covenant, I have a feeling we might soon be watching them all crash and burn." Halius added.
The final burst of gunfire reminded Chief the others were busy. They held onto a lot more land than he was asked to… And it bothered him before now.
Chief had his orders. He would not forsake those orders; he would not be able to deal with it.
"Chief? I am going to need to fall back, there's hundreds of Orks and Covenant and most of them are pushing against us." Linda stated with a few more rounds of gunfire.
She sounded less panicked and more tired, beaten down. Chief felt at a disadvantage with only 3 Spartans but it was clear they would make due.
"Chief, we're on route… Admiral Cutter is pushing to keep the landing zone secure and we've managed to dig in." Jerome stated.
Chief said nothing… 5 Spartans against an entire army of Covenant?
As Kelly once said? P*** poor odds for the little guys.
(With Halius)
The trek downriver towards the landing point saw Halius and the group fighting. Halius expended an entire clip, slammed another in, and then fired until that one was dry.
The river next to them ran with ichor as dead soldiers from the Covenant and Orks fell into it. Halius seemed to think of it all when it came crashing to the ground.
The Spartan seemed to be thinking of it all when he was all done and dusted. Halius cursed as he looked to the side, pausing to crash his bolter into an Ork, caving in its skull.
Halius seemed to believe as well that he had a LOT more to try and figure it out. All of it was going down the line. She had been able to think of it all now.
She did not want it that way now. None of them did at the end of the day, something about it all became easier and easier now.
The idea he had to finish it all would come up often as he guessed it should have.
The Ultramarines and ODSTs regrouped at a small basin at the end of the river, taking cover at a gap near it which split the river in 4 different directions.
Halius questioned how over 100 soldiers would be evacuated but it was clear that the issue of escape would be meaningless if they could not manage.
Halius and the other Ultramarines emptied their weapons into the rows of Orks, several groups of Covenant also fighting them, Halius discarded his empty bolter and started firing his pistol at them, and more and more soldiers collapsing.
Halius watched an ODST be reduced to a torso, their body collapsing to the ground from plasma fire.
Halius put a slug through the skull of an Ork, watching them crash into the water as he expended the rest of the grenades, watching chunks of Covenant and Ork splash down the water.
Perhaps to him? There was no real way to escape. Why? Because he knew damn well what was going on… Damn well, what would be done to end it?
The slow and drumming ebb of gunfire from them began to fade away as their ammo began to drop… Then came the crash of thunder as a series of pods split open behind them, revealing more ammo.
Halius thanked Captain Titus for watching over them as he reloaded, reclaimed his bolter, and opened fire.
"Master Chief? What is your position?" Halius asked, only answered by gunfire. "Jerome? Are the Master Chief and you safe?" Halius asked as he frowned, tossing an empty magazine to the side.
Halius of all people was easily thought to be tiresome. He guessed Chief was winning, the carrier was still in the same position… Though with several Ork Kroozers baring down on them.
If anything? Halius would be happy they destroyed each other. Halius was far too happy at the end of the day and believed the loss of the Kholo system to be worth it if it had happened.
The only possible problem he held with such an issue that even Halius found annoyance in was simple… They would kill even those Halius need not kill if the Orks cleansed the system of Covenant? Halius would still wish to think of it differently.
He was still bothered more than anything by how hard it was to fight a war with the Orks.
Still? He of all people was tired, he was very tired and would continue to remain in such dire straits now and for good. Something about it all was amusing to himself.
He and the UNSC force began to dig in more and more and the number of soldiers the Orks and Covenant lost began to increase.
But? It would not last, not now, and not without losses on their side, something which needed to be done now and forever at the time being… All of this was odd.
He was just done reminiscing when the sound of Gatling cannons from before made him turn… A pair of D77 pelicans set down, engines baring.
"Aboard," Halius stated as the Pelicans began to spin up their cannons, Orks being turned to pulp under the barrage.
Halius waited for a moment as a Thunderhawk broke through the clouds followed by another, much larger dropship.
Halius would ponder it for a moment if not the fact they had little time to ponder it, to begin with… And all of this was amusing.
(With Chief and Red Team)
Chief finally shot down the next elite and climbed over their corpse, their body smoking from the source of the carbine Chief had spotted them with.
He had been… Disturbed, more disturbed by the fact there were so many Covenant soldiers and it was clear they had been forced backwards.
"The Prophet is not here… We checked the communications." Jerome stated as he continued to fire his magnum. "He was never here, he transferred to the fleet's flagship a few days ago," Jerome stated.
Chief sighed and simply felt he would find SOME contentment in the fact the shields had been broken by the last barrage upon the ship. He and the others regrouped near a phantom.
"Linda, status?" Chief asked as he and Fred continued to open fire on the swarming Covenant.
"We lost 15 ODSTs so far… We are 90% evacuated and heading to orbit soon…. What about you?" Linda asked to which Chief was silent.
The Spartan wanted to give her good news, to admit those 15 deaths were not in vain… But it would be a lie. He also knew those deaths were serving little purpose now as the rest of them had been tossed at the rest of the Covenant.
The problem? He knew that Command would still see it as of now as of the time being.
All of it would be for naught.
(With Halius)
Halius stabbed through an Ork, watching another of the ODSTs be torn in half by an Ork next to him.
He had been put through the wringer, he had seen soldiers die in droves today, and he had seen several Ultramarines recoil, struck by weapons fire and with marred armor, the shots peeling away at their armor and the flesh beneath.
And he had been hurt, an Ork shoota having struck him hard enough to be dealt a wound he needed to heal.
Halius finally managed to board the Thunderhawk with his brothers, the last of their forces departing as he watched a trio of Ultramarines be overwhelmed by the Orks… He growled silently but looked ready to snap if one saw him under his armor.
With a small hiss of pain? He collapsed into the armor, tore the rounds from his armor, and tossed them out the door as it closed.
"Contact the medical staff," Halius stated before he frowned and finally allowed the exhaustion and emotion to catch up to him.
All of him was tired, beaten into the ground… Something about it all came crashing to the ground… An idea of it all when it was said and done.
Halius watched as the Covenant and Orks tore at each other… Before a fireball exploded in the distance.
The assault carrier exploded, shattered in a dozen places, and broken into them just as well. The wreckage began to rain down on the planet like a storm as the resulting shockwave of the dying craft echoed across the planet.
"Spartan, have you completed your mission?" Halius asked before static came over. "Spartan? Master Chief, what is your operational status?" Halius asked and got static again.
The Ultramarine was quiet… Then hung his head, Halius had lost comrades before, he had lost many.
But the Spartans? If this was their swan song? He felt… A hole in his chest as he added them to the growing list of people he had felt.
"I am sorry… Spartans." Halius said before he hung his head, thoroughly broken enough for the day.
'Sometimes I detest the burden I was given.' Halius thought.
Author Notes
Phew. Another chapter is done! A few things.
Yes, I am aware of how dangerous the Orks are. If there were 200000 of them in each battle? The battles would not end.
Yes, I am aware Ultramarines and Astartes are trained to show no emotion. They are still people and have cracked in the cannon, Halius still feels the weight of the people on his back.
I decided against capturing the Prophet who was written in Kholo. It would lead to making the UNSC and Ultramarines better than they are.
The next chapter will show more of the Aftermath of the battle and Linda and Halius bonding. Until the 900–6500-word chapter in 2-10 months, Lighting Wolf out!