Elster held on. Images played back from last night's Raid on her HUD, ranging from the army of Covenant forces that'd clandestinely landed on Vieri, to the image of mass mobilizations across the entire planet. She watched with a muted awe the mobilization of forces taking place from a directly-linked Satellite above Szurdok. Hundreds of UNSC Vehicles, transports and even two Frigates vectored from orbit to assist in the assault came down upon the enemy's position. She could see the faint purple of the Covenant's LZ past the hills whilst manning the MG on the Warthog she'd just repaired, with Kat driving and Six riding shotgun.
Dot began her report to them, her voice dull as always, "It appears that Noble Team's discovery last night was not an anomaly. Large Covenant deployments have occurred undetected, and we are now under attack across the Viery territory, including orbital defenses. As per the Winter Contingency, we are countering on every front. Noble's reconnaissance has also identified sophisticated Covenant army hiding canopies, and has been pinpointed what's believed to be a landing zone for additional Covenant forces, the origin of which is yet to be determined."
"That landing zone has been tagged by UNSC Command as a Priority One target." Carter spoke over the radio. Elster tensed heavily, pressing herself into the MG's twin-stocks and making sure she was ready to take the recoil. She saw faint flickers in the distance, black and white clouds looming over the arid area of combat dead ahead, a place filled with mountains and wide canyons, resembling Kitezh. She heard Kat and Jun exchange words, then looked up at Carter's Helicopter, one among dozens of air assets which included Warthogs.
She then gazed forward as an explosion rocked the area. Noting the plume, she saw the mushroom-shaped device that presumably acted as a hiding canopy collapse under the blast. She gasped and ducked as a plasma bolt struck the gun shield of the 'Hog, then looked ahead and saw them. Three squadrons of Banshee fliers swooped in, their antigrav generators hissing and droning audibly. Bursts of plasma raked the assaulting force of UNSC vehicles, catching two Warthogs in the strafing runs. One of the vehicles burst aflame and flipped forward as a plasma boulder struck it.
"Looks like we stirred the Hornet's nest!" The girl commented as she shifted her weight to bring the gun around. She aimed up at the first Banshee, crosshair locking onto the thing, before she squeezed the trigger. Fifty-cal rounds left the barrels of the weapon at hundreds of rounds per minute, punching through the thinner plates of one of the canards and cutting it. The vehicle banked as one of its wing-tip antigravity generators failed, but the pilot regained composure just in time for Elster to rake the canopy.
It veered off and slammed into the ground ahead of them, causing Kat to steer left as shrapnel from the purple-white blast washed their vehicle and pinged off the gun shield. Behind her, the thunder of a 90mm ECH gun echoed and a tungsten shell punched clean through the maw of another Banshee, opening it like a can of sardines and causing it to blow up mid-air.
Kat veered left, then hard right toward a bridge upon which plasma mortars landed while Elster filled the air with machine gun fire. Kat looked to both of them, though, then called out, "You might want to hold on to something!" causing Elster to brace as she finally registered the destroyed bridge. She gasped and ducked from the gun, grabbing onto the Warthog's roll cage frame in preparation to jump off.
Kat punched it, the vehicle's engine revving and roaring and making Elster pray she wouldn't have to fix it again. She felt the imponderability hit for half a second as the vehicle jumped the broken bridge, then braced as it started to tumble over and pushed herself off of it. She felt herself hit the sandy ground hard, slamming into it and skidding to a halt across it, before hitting a rock with just enough force to wake her up.
She grit her teeth and watched as Kat went to wake up Six, before noticing the Covenant armed forces on the ridge they were. Plasma already started to fly their way, alongside concussion rifle blasts. She ducked behind a rock and went to grab her rifle off her back, only to feel nothing. She looked around in a panic, noticing it was on the floor, bent to hell due to the impact. She grit her teeth and drew her pistol, checking for dents and thanking the maker it still functioned.
Kat ran up to her and asked, "You still with us, Elster?!"
"Alive and kicking, no thanks to your driving! I need a bigger gun!" The girl replied, even garnering a short laugh out of Kat. She poked up over her cover and scoped in a pair of Grunts with her pistol. Two shots rang out of the barrel and struck both, causing the creatures to fall limply to the ground. This was gonna be a pain to deal with, she figured just as another Warthog crashed while trying to jump the bridge, the Troopers' screams audible from afar.
"Kat, Six, Elster, what's your status?" Carter requested calmly over the com.
Kat ducked behind cover as a bolt of plasma struck next to her. Six ran up to them and fired a grenade from his launcher. He had set it to remote-detonate, holding down the trigger to keep transmitting the 'stand-by' order. He let the grenade detonate in airburst, blasting apart a bunch of grunts and a lance of Jackals, before Kat replied to Carter, "Pylon is down and we're advancing up the hill!"
A Fuel rod blast struck behind them, atomizing a rock, followed by another one detonating just above them against a tree branch that immediately vaporized. Their Geiger counters spiked for a second before settling down again. Six poked his head up over cover and stabilized his grenade launcher on the rock, before squinting and firing a fragmentation grenade as his visor polarized.
Atop the hill, two green hover turrets, shielded and with glimmering emerald guns in their maws instead of the usual twin plasma blasters, aimed at them. The artillery turrets were being guarded by a platoon's worth of enemies, each in cover behind rocks or utilizing Jackals' shields as cover while firing needles and plasma their way. He ducked back down as the grenade exploded and said, "Two Fuel Rod Shades, plus about a platoon's worth of enemies."
"We gotta move before we get atomized," Kat noted, "Lieutenant, Private, let's haul it!" and she jumped out of cover, firing her assault rifle as she moved. Elster and Six both nodded to each-other and followed, Elster priming a fragmentation grenade and long-arming it toward a squad of Elites. Plasma rounds and a Concussion blast staggered the girl, but she pushed on as her shields recharged.
Six himself was being peppered by plasma pistol shots and needler rounds, but he managed to shoot off another 40mm grenade from the single-shot break-action launcher. It burst in the air, raining shrapnel down on the Elites. One of the monsters' shields broke and Kat was quick to draw her pistol and blast its head clean off as the trio pushed. Another fuel rod bolt lanced past them, radiation spiking, then struck the hulk of the destroyed Warthog they'd jumped the gap over the river with.
The team pushed forth, rifles ringing as they dodged Plasma Fire from all over the place. Kat cocked her right fist back and threw a punch with the momentum of her run behind it, snapping an Elite's neck with the hit. A second aimed its concussion rifle at her, but was pelted by rounds from both Six and Elster, the latter of which quickly shoulder-checked it, pinned it to the floor and filled it full of lead with her pistol. She ducked with a yelp as another shot from the fuel rod Shade turrets flew over her.
Her skin felt like it was being pricked by a thousand needles, while her internals almost had a moment of failure because of the radiation spike. She ducked and crouch-ran to the next piece of cover as she heard the impact of that round. She followed up by throwing a frag right at the antigrav base of the turret. The explosion seemed to do it in alongside the Grunt manning it as its husk rolled back upon detonation.
She looked to the ground and found a fallen Needler. Jumping, rolling forward and grabbing it off the floor, the girl took aim and opened fire. A full burst of needler fire filled the air between her and the enemy turret, several of the rounds making contact with the pilot and combining into a burning pink explosion which blew the turret's cannon clean off.
She hummed, looked at the now-empty Needler and tossed it aside. Kat gave her a nod and said, "Not bad..." before watching as a Pelican swung in for a landing. The two saw it drop off a Warthog with a pair of missile launchers as its mounted armament, all while Six was already moving toward it. He grabbed something off the bed of the vehicle as he reached it, then threw said something to Elster.
The girl grabbed it out of the air and looked to see it was a DMR. She checked the ammo in her pouches and nodded, before walking up to the Warthog. She paused, however, at the edge of the cliff, watching the battle going on across the river from them. On semi-open plains where the only cover was a piece of rock jutting out of the ground every few hundred feet, tanks and Warthogs clashed with Covenant Ghosts and Wraiths, while Falcons flew in low and fast alongside other defensive elements, putting the hurt on the Covenant's air support.
Six took the wheel of the Warthog, while Kat took the gun. Noticing this, Elster quickly marched up to the other seat and climbed aboard as Carter called out, "Two, Six, Seven, be advised:ONI has ID'd two hostile anti-aircraft guns southwest of your location..." while Six already hit the throttle to the max and began to drive. Kat replied to Carter, while Elster held on tightly to the vehicle's roll cage.
They trundled down the beaten path, next to the cliffside, while the battle around them raged on. Distantly, the enemy cannon roared as it discharged plasma shells. Six veered to the right, then to the left, drifting down a hill, then forward and up another. The first gun came into view, a massive emplacement, its coil-filled maw already powering to send in a second salvo of plasma bolts.
"2-Lima-4 to Noble, those guns are pounding us with high-velocity plasma shells!" Reported one of the pilots of the Falcon gunships. As the Warthog rolled forward, Elster could see the ongoing air battle, heavy gatling cannons meeting plasma from banshees. Elster was awed by the size of the Covenant's defensive emplacement, but hanged on tightly to the vehicle's roll cage still, holding her DMR close.
"That means support from the Frigate, Grafton, is also out of the question..." Dot commented impassively.
"Nobles, all our birds are gonna be stuck out of range until you take out that first gun," Carter ordered. Kat swiveled the rocket launcher of the 'Hog about as their vehicle rolled down the road and into the Covenant's lines. She zeroed in on an enemy vehicle first. A Ghost hoverbike was rushing toward them, firing its twin plasma cannons, while, on the hilltop where the first AA gun was placed, Covenant infantry came out to greet them.
Bolts of plasma struck around and over them, forcing Six to partake in some defensive driving. He drifted around a rock as a scarlet ball of plasma struck next to them. Elster caught sight of the enemy vehicle that fired it. A Revenant rolled up, aiming its gun at them. She grit her teeth and fired back at it with her DMR, feeling a slight prick of heat on her skin as bolts of plasma hit the Warthog and her from the right. She long-armed a grenade up the ledge where the Tyrant AA gun was, before watching Kat fire off a salvo of missiles from the launcher.
All six missiles connected with the Ghost, shattering the vehicle in a blaze as Six drove toward the Revenant, weaving through its shots. One round hit close enough for the SPARTANs' shields to flare, but Six floored it toward the machine while Kat locked onto it. A burst of missiles lanced out from the barrels of the launcher, puncturing the forward armor and immediately killing the crew as the vehicle burst ablaze.
The Warthog rolled around beside the ridgeline and climbed upward, meeting the first of the enemy's infantry head-on. A Covenant General Elite with a concussion rifle fired at them, hitting the Warthog and barely slowing it down as it plowed him through. Kat and Elster followed up by wasting a squadron of Covenant units that were reinforcing the man, missiles and bullets piercing flesh, bone and energy shielding.
"SPARTANs, new intel. The guns can't be damaged by normal weaponry." Carter spoke up.
"Which is why we suggest destroying the fuel cells inside," Dot added while Six and Elster dismounted and marched on inside, sweeping the area clear with assault rifle and DMR fire. A dozen Grunts met their end to bullets from their weapons as they pushed in, with Elster noticing the massive central glass-and-alloy pillar that was housing a blue-burning energy ball behind a shield. Humming, she kicked the shield, causing it and her own to collapse due to the similar frequencies interacting. She then threw a grenade inside it and motioned to Six to follow her out.
Alarms began to blare from the gun's control systems as the two walked out and looked up. Elster watched with muted awe as several conduits sparked and detonated across the body of the weapon, moving all the way up to the maw of the gun. One of the two prongs that contained the magnetic containment coils meant to shape the plasma into superheated bolts outright launched off the top, while the other bent to such a degree, it caused Elster to wince.
"That's one gun down," Kat commented. 2 Lima 4 called up air support as the SPARTANs walked over to the edge to see the ongoing battle Three massive, four-legged platforms had been deployed by the Covenant, plasma cannons on top firing toward the aircraft while the strange beam weapons mounted in their mouths spewed emerald-burning beams which melted UNSC tanks.
Explosions rocked the platforms, however, as the tanks and Warthogs returned fire. Kat hummed and said, "Well, fireworks are gonna be coming soon," as she motioned toward the two UNSC Frigates coming into play. The group ducked as the roar of fusion-powered engines came from above. Two of the delta-wing Longsword bombers also flew in, diving toward the valley where the enemy Scarab platforms were.
A multitude of explosions struck the enemy vehicles as the two aircraft dropped their payload, then banked away. Two of the Scarabs immediately got blown to pieces, followed up by the third's reactor going critical. Elster snorted and joked, "How's that for a blast...?" before turning toward the Warthog. Six and Kat gave each-other a look, then followed her to the transport.
Six immediately took the spot of driver again, while Elster sighed and looked to Kat, disappointment somehow deducible from her body's motions. The girl shrugged and said, "Six is a better driver than both of us. I'm not sticking my neck out in a place with cliffs to teach you how to drive..." before she reloaded the launcher's tubes and manned it. Six snorted, but managed to contain the laugh, SPARTAN discipline and all.
Elster mounted up and rode shotgun again as Six began their drive over, with Kat stating, "Six, I wanna get a better look at those Spires..." as they rolled by the cliffside. The SPARTAN nodded and veered gently to the left, before straightening their drive on the road. In the distance, several tall spires surrounded by energy shielding stood as monuments to the Covenant's presence in the area.
The vehicle ground to a halt for a moment as Six hit the brakes in front of a destroyed bridge. A Pelican was quick to fix it, however, as it flew in carrying a deployable bridge attached to the rear magnetic clamps. Upon arriving, the Pelican hovered and lowered the bridge as gently as possible, then lifted off. Six didn't wait for anyone to tell him to, pushing the vehicle's throttle to maximum and driving over the makeshift bridge.
They entered a canyon, travelling down one of the roads on the cliff face toward a group of industrial buildings built into the rock wall across from them. On a bridge dead ahead, Troopers exchanged fire with the enemy, using concrete barricades as cover. One of them noticed the SPARTANs and their 'Hog approaching and waved them over, a smile on his face. Kat traversed the missile turret toward the Aliens on the other side of the bridge and squeezed off a salvo of missiles.
A twin-plasma Shade Turret caught the brunt of the salvo, detonating and spraying shrapnel all around it. Several Jackals collapsed and two grunts died out of a squadron of twelve. The SPARTANs and Elster dismounted, rifles at the ready. The Trooper that'd waved them over spoke, "It's damn good to see you, SPARTANs!" as he and his comrades joined the team in its assault.
Pushing forward, Six spoke, "Keep it tight, Troopers," as he zeroed in on and shot an Elite whose shields were still recharging. Elster followed up with a few of her own DMR-based headshots against the Grunts and a disarming shot against a Jackal's hand, causing it to drop its Plasma pistol. She followed up by shooting it in the head as it exposed it. It dropped dead, its shield flaring and dissipating.
Pushing up past barricades and cover, the group put down whatever was wounded, but still moving. Dot spoke up, "New intelligence on an enemy High-Value Target being present in your area. An Elite Zealot, in fact," which caused the group to pause.
"Zealot? We're onto something big here, commander," Kat stated over the com, eager.
Elster racked her rifle's bolt and readied herself. She remembered what the last Zealot nearly did to her. Carter spoke up, "Eyes on the prize, Noble. Take out that Zealot if you can, but keep moving toward the Spire," all while the group began to push up the side stairwell of the industrial building. Kat hummed, then approached a pipe that served as cover and showed the team to wait with a raised hand.
Elster took a knee next to the troopers, while Six pushed forward and pied the corner. He took a step back and gave a confirmation nod as Elster saw it, too. Red dots on the Motion Tracker, marking a marching enemy unit. She shifted on her feet and pushed up next to them, before noticing a gas tank, painted red and with 'flammable' warnings plastered all over it. She pulled out her sidearm and aimed for the cap, watching as the Covenant's first soldiers came into view.
She then put two rounds through the tank, one in the cap, flinging it clean off, and another in the tank itself. The explosion rocked the platform and washed the Covenant troop in shrapnel. The UNSC forces marched past the metal-laden corpses and pushed further up the stairs, meeting the first true signs of resistance as Grunts with full-face gas masks opened fire on them. One of the Troopers behind the SPARTANs caught a needle right in the mouth and tumbled over, falling down the stairwell with several loud, sickening crunches during each impact.
Six put a grenade between that Grunt and his buddies, letting it detonate as an Elite Major turned the corner, hefting twin plasma rifles and opening fire on them. The entire fireteam lit him up, bullets pinging off the shield and causing the monster to stagger back under the whittling barrage of bullets. Once its shield burst, bullets started piercing through the body armor. It died, corpse flung over a safety railing behind it.
The SPARTANs and Troopers pushed on forward through the compound and underneath an archway of pipes. Six showed them to halt again, though, before poking out. A burst of automatic plasma fire struck his shields, nearly collapsing them. He hummed, drew his grenade launcher and quickly fired, blasting the grunt manning the plasma gun mounted at the end of the catwalk.
The group continued their push, meeting little resistance until the main courtyard. There, they caught sight of it. The Elite Zealot was present, carrying a Fuel Rod gun. Elster was really starting to hate those damn things at this point. Below it was a squadron of grunts and Elites, of course. The troop continued its assault, not even slowing down as they punched through the enemy, inflicting mass casualties.
Elster was the first to climb up the stairwell. She grabbed a plasma pistol off the floor and charged it up, aiming for the Zealot as it prepared to fire at her team. One ball from the Fuel Rod gun escaped and three Troopers were vaporized in a flash. Elster grit her teeth and let go of the overcharged plasma bolt. It homed in on the Elite, but it sidestepped it, then turned toward the Replika.
She boosted herself forward as the bastard started firing. Three bolts slammed around her, her Geiger counter kicking into high gear. She watched the bastard drop the spent artillery piece and grab a plasma repeater off its back, before opening up with it. Dodging under the bolts and taking a few against her shields as the others came about, the girl shoulder-checked the Elite and headbutted it, feeling her metallic spine slightly compress.
The monster replied with a hoofed kick square to her chest, sending her skidding back, before it charged her. It fired the weapon continuously, despite taking bullets from her allies, until it overheated in its hand. It tossed it aside and grabbed Elster by the throat with one hand, slamming her against the floor and cocking back its other hand. It clenched its fist and an energy dagger powered on.
Stabbing down, it felt its hand caught by Elster's. The blade stood mere inches from her helmet, held back only by the girl's left hand. She grit her teeth, then slammed her helmet's face-plate into the Elite's jaw while it roared, chipping a couple of teeth. She jumped back onto her feet and drew her rifle. She opened fire on it, combining her weapons fire with her allies'. She punched clean through the bastard's shields, sending it scrambling before Six finished it off with a headshot.
Six elbowed her in the shoulder and gave her a nod, before stating over the radio, "Actual, STRIKE Team, HVT neutralized and mining facility secured. We're proceeding to the next gun and the Spire..." and showing Elster to follow. Finding a hole in the floor, the SPARTANs and Elster descended down it, finding a deeper part of the facility wherein a garage was. Several Grunts spotted them and tried to make it to the vehicles they'd stored there:A Revenant and a Ghost.
Kat took the Revenant and told Elster, "Hop on," as Six took the Ghost. The girl complied, mounting up and feeling the light wobble as the vehicle's anti-grav generators kicked on. The two Covenant-made vics rolled forward toward the second gun, whose wail echoed around them as it fired. Covenant Troops already came into view, Elites, Jackals and Grunts.
Two of the Jackals lifted their shields and one of them charged its plasma pistol. It let loose the shot just as Kat fired the mortar on the back of the light tank. The EM burst disabled the vehicle's electronics for a short while, causing it to fall to the floor and skid a couple of feet. Six, meanwhile, sped forward, ramming through the Covenant forces even as the Elite General commanding the defense, one with a concussion rifle, fired at him.
The SPARTAN drifted the vehicle and fired the twin plasma cannons at the Elite, forcing it into cover while the Tyrant AA gun's maw boomed once more, plasma rounds lancing into the sky and striking one of the Falcons coming in to support them, vaporizing it in a blow. The Revenant soon regained its power, with Kat immediately lobbing a plasma shell the way of the Elite to force him out of cover. The round struck a rock, spraying molten material all over the place as the two crewmembers pushed the vic to its limit.
The Elite aimed its concussion rifle at them and fired a burst as they got close. Two of the three shots fired impacted the vehicle, sending it skidding into one of the three 'legs' holding the Tyrant in place. Kat and Elster both grunted, slightly discombobulated by the blasts, before Elster dismounted and Kat brought the vehicle about. Thundering footfalls filled their ears and all of them looked to see a pair of Hunters striding out of the place.
Elster swore to herself and ducked as the first of them fired its cannon. The heat and radiation made her feel sick, but she worked her way to dodging the hits, all while making sure the Elite wasn't gonna try and kill her. She saw the General as Six slammed into its back with the Ghost, before the SPARTAN turned toward the Hunters and powered on the vehicle's boost.
The headlong charge toward the Hunters was punctuated by volleys of plasma cannon fire from the vehicle. One of the Hunters, annoyed at the pest, swiveled about and swung its shield-arm downward. Six saw the attack coming and jumped off the Ghost just as the impact struck the vehicle and caved its engine bay in, before landing on the creature's arm and running. He pulled out a plasma grenade and slammed it into the beast's exposed head, then jumped.
Just before the beast exploded, Kat filled the other with enough plasma hits to cause it to stagger next to its sibling. There, the Plasma grenade shredded the stuck one to pieces, while its sibling was washed with guts and blue fire. It roared, pained and angry, before a second blast from the Revenant's mortar blew it to smithereens. Elster sighed in relief, falling flat on her ass next to the rock and watching as Kat and Six coordinated the hit on the enemy AAA Cannon.
The mortar shot that destroyed it lanced out from the smaller gun of the Revenant. A similar display to the previous gun filled Elster's visual sensors as she watched it detonate. She sighed deeply, stood to her feet and marched forward as radio calls came in and the two frigates approached their intended targets. A Falcon flew in with Jorge aboard, while Kat marched toward her. The girl patted her on the shoulder and told her, "They'll need a second gunner, Seven. Mount it up."
Elster nodded, then picked up the pace as Jorge waved at her. She saw Six get on the right-hand side of the Falcon and mount up on what looked to be an automatic grenade launcher. She went to the other side, sat down and took the other gun, to which Jorge said, "Need a ride, too, eh? Welcome aboard, Elster..." before the Helicopter began to lift off. "I'd beware, both of you. We tagged a lot of targets when we were travelling near the canyon..." Jorge told both of them.
Six and Elster looked to one-another, then nodded. Both tugged on the charging handles of their grenade launchers and watched as the ammo display flared and switched to the guns themselves. The Helicopter ascended and began its travel down the canyon. Below them was a rushing stream of blue water and, around them, were rock canyon walls resembling pictures from Kitezh. Beyond, lay the field of battle and several spires.
"On the bridge!" The Pilot called out as the aircraft flew in low. Dead ahead, between a series of other mining buildings and a wider open area, lay a bridge crossing over the crevice. It was being crossed by a squad of Aliens, so Elster and Six both tightly squeezed the triggers and let loose. Twin thumps echoed repeatedly from the two grenade machine guns, explosions blossoming across the concrete as the rapid-fire weapons spat out grenade after grenade.
The transport flew forth, exiting the canyon itself and banking right, to give the crew a clear line of sight on both the Spire and on a pair of Wraiths bombing the hell out of their allies farther on the left. Elster immediately started hammering her Wraith with the grenades from the launcher, hitting its rear multiple times and denting the armor. It blew apart at the seams, while Six's seemed to suffer a similar catastrophic failure.
The two continued firing as the Helo approached the target area, the main Spire, wasting several more platoons of enemies along the way. As the helicopter approached the target itself, the pilot seemed to hesitate for a moment. He spoke to the SPARTANs, "There's the spire..." as he hovered above the pulsating blue shield. Elster leaned over to get a good look at the Spire and her eyes widened. The sleek, strangely biological-looking 'stalk' rose tall, mushrooming at the top into a main platform with a thin, hollow shaft and a heavy base at the bottom.
"Copy. Dot?" Jorge inquired as he looked over the side at it.
"Latest intel suggests the Spire is projecting an electromagnetic energy shield," Dot replied with that same monotoneness Elster had become slightly accustomed to.
"Copy that. Priority one, pilot. Gotta know what's inside," Jorge stated. The Pilot hummed, hesitant, then gave his approval, gently nudging the helicopter inside. A wave of static washed over Elster's HUD and she felt the EM pulse prick at her internals, to the point she got slightly nauseous. She shifted uneasily in her seat and felt the vehicle begin to drop rather rapidly. Several callouts came from the pilot and the other Troopers aboard. Jorge himself said, "Lock your armors!" And Elster wondered if she could actually do-
The vehicle hit the ground like a hammer blow, skidding, sliding and tearing itself apart as it dug a neat little canyon in the sand. Elster had been thrown out of it. She hit the face of a rock hard, to the point where she heard and felt one of her arms stop working. The world around her spun for a moment, memories playing back of a similar had landing. A sole figure stood above her, checking her over, though she only had half her vision... All was blurry...
Then it cleared. Elster groaned and felt her left arm hanging loosely out of its socket. She looked over to the SPARTANs, to see them slowly recovering from the impact. Her left shoulder had, in fact, been pulled out of its socket by the force of impact, but no other diagnostics played over her visual sensors' HUD. She grit her teeth, grabbed onto the arm and pushed it back in with a sickening crunch of titanium bones and articulations locking back into place. She then pulled one of her three remaining repair sprays and shoved it in the wound, squeezing the trigger and letting the polyurethane foam form.
She let it cure as she stood up, then she tested the movement of her arm, rotating, flexing and extending it. Finding the movement range to be just right, she stepped up to the other two and grabbed a rifle off the floor, casting a quick glance of acknowledgement at the dead men that'd been with them on that bird. Jorge looked over at her and asked, "Second crash for the day. Doing alright?" to which she shrugged. Jorge hummed and nodded, then stated, "We gotta get upstairs, disable the shield. Six? You good on that end?"
The SPARTAN pulled out his grenade launcher and thumbed the switch. The Grenades would henceforth have a slight EM Pulse when fired, meaning Six could disable anything the Covenant threw at them for a short time. And considering the fact there seemed to be a Covenant Banshee overhead, well, Six probably already had a plan. Jorge gave a nod to them, then said, "Already picking up a lot of enemy contacts. Let's start pushing."
Elster booked it with the boys, rifle in hand as she scanned the tops of rocks. She wasn't in the mood to be ambushed or shot, honestly. She kept up with the two SPARTANs despite them being transhuman supersoldiers to some degree. Then again, she was as close and far to them as it got. Close in the sense of being tantamount to a superpowered human, but far in the sense of being who she was.
The first Covenant units appeared. A needle rifle shot snapped by Elster's ear, followed by a second one slamming into and detonating off her shields. A Skirmisher stood atop a rock, firing at them. In front, grunts and Jackals, as well as an Elite in blue armor. The SPARTANs and Elster formed a wedge with Jorge at the front. Bullets rang out as they met the enemy force.
Plasma bolts began to fly, some hitting the SPARTANs and blasting through their shields, others hitting Elster's own shields and armor. She dodged and weaved as best as she could between them. Some still hit and nearly punched through her armor, which she felt heating at points, but once they closed the distance, the first enemy was met with the butt of her rifle. Bones broke, necks snapped and bullets, boots, fists and rifles met alien skulls.
The further up they pushed, the harder the resistance got. And the damn Banshee had noticed them. Elster called out, "What the hell are they even defending!? We caught their Banshee's attention!"
"Apparently, it's a teleporter!" Jorge replied as he hefted his LMG. Six waved him off from shooting at the Banshee, drawing his grenade launcher.
"What's it linked to!?" She demanded as she took a knee and fired a burst at another Jackal that got on top of a rock. Three bullets, each hitting center mass at the sternum, throat and then head. The bird squawked and tumbled off the rock with a series of sickening bone crunches. A plasma bolt washed over the shield on her head, forcing her to blink away the greenish-tinted light in her eyes.
She grit her teeth and charged the Grunt that fired at her, slamming the butt of her rifle down on its head and cracking it wide open. She staggered, surprised at her own strength as the blue blood of the little creature stained both her weapon and her armor. Shaking her head to clear the surprise, she moved to follow the SPARTANs upward, then watched with muted awe as Six shot a grenade, let loose its EMP and disabled a Banshee before boarding it and kicking out the Elite.
She shot the Elite dead as she watched the SPARTAN take off, with Jorge noting, "Actual, Six is en route up to the Spire! We'll hold'em off here!" before motioning to Elster to follow him to the open area between the rocks and the platform. She and Jorge went back to-back, firing their weapons at the advancing enemy teams that were trying to cut them off.
"Copy that. I'll be in there with a Falcon as soon as the Shield's down. Prep for a hot extract, the Grafton's waiting to blow that thing to pieces..." Carter replied. Jorge and Elster nodded to one-another. Each turned to face the hostile targets pushing them, firing away in their respective 180-degree arc to keep them away. Elster herself was gunning at the Grunts trying to rush them from the Platform, keeping them suppressed with bursts of AR Fire.
"So, Elster," Jorge started as he swept the area ahead with his MG, pinning down a pair of Elites armed with plasma repeaters. He looked back while keeping the trigger squeezed down on the MG's trigger. He wanted to ask something, clearly, seeing as Ariane was clearly a fairly important person for Elster. He hummed and quipped, "When's the wedding?"
Elster snorted, "Soon as we're done here..." appreciating the light bit of humor as she attempted to keep the other enemies in the AO pinned as well. Of course, the battle wouldn't really last that long. Both of them looked up as the shield above began to dissipate. The Falcon came in, bursts of autocannon fire filling the place and wiping a slew of enemy forces as it touched down.
The two rushed aboard and jumped in, with Carter hitting behind his seat. The Pilot took the hint and lifted off, aiming to recover Noble Six first. The SPARTAN ran, with Jorge and Elster extending their hands out from the Chopper's side to catch him. The man jumped, pushing himself far, before both of them grabbed him and lifted him up onto the vehicle. He took a seat as Carter ordered, "Get us outta here!" before radioing in as the Chopper started flying away, "Control, this is Noble One! Spire One is green and you're clear to engage. Have a nice day."
Elster removed her helmet, listening from afar to the radio, "Copy, Noble One. Be Advised, All ground units:Frigate Three-One-Eight Heavy is inbound and MAC Rounds have been authorized!"
"MAC Rounds?! In atmosphere?!" Jorge seemed almost surprised.
"One way to get their attention," Carter quipped, "Hand on to your teeth, people!"
Elster smiled at the quip, then went quiet, her mouth slightly ajar as she saw one of the many UNSC ships she saw in orbit fly in. The gun-shaped vessel was beautifully utilitarian, reminding Elster of home, but the black armor plate with few white stripes gave it a sense of danger greater than what even the Eusan Navies could muster. It was eerily beautiful to watch it approach its target. Before long, however, Elster heard the ripple of charging magnetic coils, followed by the sharp screech of the round leaving the barrel. A bright-white flash burnt itself into her robotic retinas for half-a-second and the blast reverberated through her titanium endoskeleton, before she saw the spire cored, collapsing.
Jorge gave an approving nod while looking at the team, just as the sky above began to glow purple. Elster blanked, looked up and her gaze settled on the Grafton just in time to see a massive energy beam core her. The beam cut through the frontal 'prongs' of the vessel and into the bridge, a multitude of explosions rippling across the hull of the ship as the beam dissipated.
"New contact:High Tonnage." Dot reported, annoyingly monotone...
Elster gasped, looking up as Jorge called out dismally, "No, no! Somebody tell me this ain't happenin'!" and saw it. At an incredible length, with a hooked prow and massive bulbous body linked by a long neck, with armor plating thicker than any conventional UNSC vessel and sitting at many times the size of the UNSC's largest ships. Its energy projector, located in the belly, began to cool.
Elster's heart sank as her mind tuned out the conversation. She stared with not even awe, but an awful sense of dread at the massive Carrier...
What monster did the Covenant bring in from the pits of hell...?
AN:I will be taking a hopefully temporary break from this story to focus on others for now and I feel like this is a decent enough cliffhanger, hehe. Thanks for reading.
I'll see you all later.