Yet again, through the fog and darkness of Malevelon did Helldivers and Marines march. The joint patrols of Sergeant Veratti and Sergeant Johnson rolled on through the murky water, rifles at the ready just in case the Bots decided to pop up from the treeline up ahead. They were wet, ass-deep in nasty alien water and feeling all sorts'a crap dancing around them in the water.
Alessia listened to the distant thumping steps of the enemy patrol and their song, sung to match their cadenced march. As they climbed out of the water, the Marines and 'Divers took cover behind the thick trees, watching the enemy moving forward. A squad of SEAF Infantry lay on the other side, armed with Liberators and break-action shotguns from the looks. They gave waves of the hand, to which Alessia gave them an 'OK' sign with her hand and showed them to wait.
She radioed, "Eagle-1, I'm getting you Coords. Drop hot..." before tapping her tacpad again. She primed the beacon, threw it and landed it square in the midst of the Bot Patrol, surprising them. Marauders, Troopers and every other member immediately prepared to swivel about and engage, but Eagle-1 was quicker on the draw, her engines roaring as she swung in low, dropping a full payload on the bastards. As she arced back up into the sky, she dumped flares, rising into the heavens.
She sighed, relieved they had the woman on station, before motioning to the group of SEAF Infantry to march their way. The leader of the forward platoon raised his hand and approached, saluting and stating, "Ma'am. 4th Colonial Defense Militia, Corporal Miles. I'm the highest-ranking survivor of the Bots' assault on our position and am here to give the report you asked for on the way over."
"Send it," She replied as her men and Sergeant Johnson's pulled security.
"Hostile force disposition marks one tank platoon and possibly six infantry platoons, including support from heavy mechs, ma'am," The soldier replied as he cradled his Liberator, "They pushed us out of an artillery site we built up right over that ridge and overwhelmed an Air Defense system just North of that. If you're here for the jammer they set up after we were dropped off here, it's North-West, so if you wanna hit all three sites..."
"Thanks, Corporal. You can either back us up, or you go another klick back the way we came and you'll have a radio to contact Command. We dropped in from our Destroyers and RV'ed with the Sergeant and his Marines there," Alessia tilted her head to Johnson. She felt a hand tap on her shoulder and looked back to see her AT Gunner, asking, "What's the matter, Cadet Lindt?"
"We got incoming armor, ma'am. Suggest we duck and prep for ambush," Tomas told her as he hefted his launcher. He looked to Rado, the man carrying the launcher's ammo pack, before stating, "I think we got a perfectly good ambush position here. If all else fails, we still got a direct link to Eagle-1 and can call her in to rain hell on the bastards..." to which the Sergeant nodded.
"Set up, then. There, there and there. Get rifles at the ready. Corporal?" She nodded, motioned to the target positions in the shrub, then turned to face the SEAF Infantrymen. Though several of them looked battered, they all nodded, packing their gear and loading up. Several even had disposable Anti-Tank launcher tubes with them. She nodded approvingly, then showed them to rally up and set up their weaponry.
Johnson complimented, "Ready fighters if nothin' else, the SEAF."
"They're holding the line in most parts of Malevelon," She admitted as they moved to ambush positions, Johnson rallying up his own AT Gunners with their Jackhammers to support Tomas Lindt and Radomir Harper, his loader. The team medic, a rather new arrival and close friend of Radomir, Helena Häkkinen, readied her medical gear, her white armor already covered by the black muck of this place.
Taking a knee, the group listened for enemy movement, weapons at the ready. Slowly, the ground began to rumble as treads crunched the rocks and hardened dirt. It was still far enough away for the group to have time for a chat. A Super Destroyer exploded up above, shining a dim, short-lasting light over the future battlefield ahead as Tomas and Radomir prepared the AT launcher.
Alessia sighed deeply, peering through a pair of binoculars right down the 'road' that was more a well-travelled path of dirt while checking her mission timer. They had plenty of time, still, before the Super Destroyer left and left them without Stratagems and only a temporary Evacuation site, so she settled in, drawing her own Breaker Shotgun and checking her magazine count. Her mind wandered
She looked at Johnson and asked him, "Sergeant... Genuine question, what's the UNSC gonna do once we're done here? I mean with the 'Bots and Bugs?"
"Probably nothin' much beyond ensuring the UEG's reps are safe while talking to your folks," He replied calmly as he slid down next to her, then loaded AP Slugs into his own shotgun. He asked her, "Why, worried somethin's gonna start between our peoples?" as he looked her in the eyes. Well, the visor of her helmet, more-like, since the polarization made the glass black and opaque.
"Honestly, I hope not. Your standard Marine is as trained as us Helldivers, which puts some pretty Non-Democratic thoughts in my mind in regards to our odds against you all," She whispered back to him, making sure to keep her com off so their Democracy Officer didn't hear her. Johnson snorted, clearly thinking that something like that wouldn't happen. Or even if it did, that cooler heads would prevail. Alessia wasn't so sure. At least, not as sure as she should've been.
As they perched their guns, the woman listened in for enemy armor moving in, then watched as Tomas and Radomir shifted their position a little, Tom requesting that Rad be ready with a shell. The first tank came into view alongside the thumping marching feet of the two dozen machines supporting it. She showed the men to stand by, raising two fingers for the anti-tankers to be ready to shoot the moment the tank rolls past. She slid into cover, perched her gun up and made sure she was covered by mud.
Beside her, Johnson and his Marines had pretty much faded into the scenery, almost like Ghosts glaring back up into the red eyes of the machines. The Commiebots' feet thumped as they marched forward, their modulated voices belting out their standard march, a barely understood garble of words for humans. When the tank's tracks were inches from her face and she could see each individual bolt, she cocked her fist up, then pumped it down.
Four separate anti-tank projectiles slammed into the back of the tank, followed by three more. Its ammunition supply, whatever it was, went up in flames, the tank's hull shattering under tandem-warhead HEAT rounds impacting all around its body. The infantry was quick to open fire next, meeting the escorting 'Bots with heavy weapons fire. Marine Riflemen tore the machines apart with deadly precision, while the Sergeant poked up and fired her automatic shotgun into the crowd of Troopers, only to watch enemy Marauders and Berzerkers charge through.
Through the exchange of fire in the foggy darkness, the echoes of gunfire and thundering cannons filled the air as the UNSC's own second set of reinforcements strode forward. Johnson's shotgun barked a second before the first thump filled the air, causing everyone to look back and watch as a pair of UNSC Mantises marched forward, firing their missiles and autocannons. They'd recently been dropped off by UNSC Pelicans, Johnson soon realized, probably to support them.
Tomas snorted and said, "I'll be fucking damned, boss! They actually brought their own artillery agai-!" before a bullet doinked him in the helmet. It was a genuine doink, which sent the young AT gunner tumbling to the floor with a concussion. Helena ran up to him and checked him, before giving the all clear, sticking a stim in his neck and watching him straighten up immediately, calling out, "I'm alright! Wasn't using my brain much anyway!"
"Yeah, we can tell..." Murmured Alessia as she ducked into cover to reload her shotgun while the others(IE Radomir and Helena) let out awkward laughs. She slammed in a fresh mag and racked the bolt back, then popped out from cover and spent the entire magazine deconstructing a berzerker. Johnson, meanwhile, was doing work alongside his team against the battalions of enemy Trooper Bots charging them. (Battalions was exaggerated, but going by how many pairs of red eyes she was seeing...)
Tracers filled the sky, but yet again the troops were taking casualties. A pair of Marines took rounds, one of them torn in half by the autocannon strapped to the arm of a Marauder. The reply was a missile that took the Marauder's entire upper torso off, spraying its comrades with shrapnel and its own body parts. Beside the Helldivers, the SEAF Infantry was torn to shreds by Berzerkers. The leading chainsaw-wielding maniac machine sliced the Corporal in half, spraying gore and viscera across the battlefield.
The 'Divers switched to their firearms. Automatic rifles and shotguns pelted the enemy with AP Pellets and bullets, shattering the frames and even tearing a Berzerker completely in half, spraying Radomir with oil and painting Helena's white armor a shade of black. She swore in Finnish, trying to tend to one of the 'surviving' SEAF Infantrymen, but found no luck, the man dying in her arms.
Rado tapped her on the shoulder and told her, "You did all you could..." before aiming his Stalwart LMG and firing in an arc, cutting bots' legs off and then doming them in the burst, the barrel slowly starting to glow a burning, bright-hot red. The girl nodded, sighed, then scoffed at the machines and aimed her shotgun, dumping shells from it toward the enemy unit.
Before long, blood mixed with oil as the guns fell silent. The husk of the enemy tank lay in the middle of the road, a hopeful block for any further attempts by the enemy's tank platoon to advance. The striding Mantis mechs moved past it and stopped in front of the crew, one of the pilots exiting and stating, "We'll go for the enemy Jammer! We've got the gear!"
"Alright! We'll take the SEAF gun and AAA missile system!" Johnson called back. The pilot gave a thumbs up and entered back into the armored hull of the fighting vehicle. With thumping steps, the machines stepped into the fog, their autocannons roaring, spent casings laying splayed out across the battlefield. Helena packed the dead away for recovery, while Alessia and Johnson surveyed the battlefield.
Johnson kicked away the head of a 'Bot and murmured, "Shit never gets easier, does it? We should move."
"Yeah..." Alessia sighed. She looked back at Tomas and asked, "You good, Cadet?"
"I'll live, ma'am. Parents always told me there's not enough brain for me to lose if I go into the military," He quipped, garnering a few chuckles out of the Marines and his own team. Alessia nodded approvingly at that, checked her gear and called down a resupply on their position. Once every member of the team grabbed the ammo they needed from the landed pod, Alessia showed Johnson and his Marines to follow, the group pushing into the forest as her mind returned to the question from before the fight.
What would the UNSC do with them if they weren't in this clusterfuck of a war...?
Super Earth:'Prosperity City'
The obvious answer would've been 'Preparing'. Not unlike what they were doing right now, thought a young man as he stared out of the window of the skyscraper they were in. There was almost a sterile beauty to Super Earth, humanity's home in this Galaxy. Sprawling megalopolises with beautiful greenery, happy civilians in samey clothes and patrolling military staff milling about each street.
The dystopian utopia if he was to name it in a contradicting way, he thought. Turning his head, he looked over to his partner, a young woman with black hair and auburn eyes, as she finished a Super Earth Standard Burger, then sighed and looked at him. Calmly, she said, "Seems mighty nice here in Prosperity City. Oughta wonder why we haven't moved here earlier...?" and she smirked.
"Yeah," He nodded, leaning back, "Honestly beats Mega City 6, but don't let the Mayor there hear that. Man really prides himself in it. I mean, I don't blame him, the beachside views and all are beautiful, but I prefer the cool, cool North here," and he cast a quick sideways glance. A man sat across from them let out a sigh and stood up after finishing his meal, then stepped away. Sighing deeply, the man leaned forward to his girl and said, "SEAF Thought Police, I'm guessin'."
"We're new faces. Of course, they'd keep tabs on us..." She replied as they stood up. They walked together, speaking in as low a voice as possible, as she told him, "That's also double normal for Government employees, I'm guessing..." only for them to exit onto one of the many green courtyards of the Super Earth Federation's First Administrative Building, Area 10. A statue of the Helldivers lay ahead, showing them in a standard heroic pose with the plaque below reading, 'To The Helldivers who gave their lives for the finalization of the War Against the Cyborgs. Image immortalized on Cyberstan'.
He furrowed his brows at that and said, "Really laying it on thick, are they?" in a murmur. She chuckled and took a sip from a canteen she'd brought, before checking her wristwatch. He said, "Quarter past twelve. We still have a quarter of an hour before we gotta go back to work... You wanna take a look-see around the inner areas of the building? See if we can find that Mainframe CT asked us to check?"
"Yeah, sure..." She nodded, then hummed and looked around as they entered into the building again, moving past a mezzanine and into the inner workings of the place. Going through security, which was manned by what looked to be Veteran Helldivers, each bearing some scar or another, like missing limbs, the pair strolled through the scanners with little regard, then showed their IDs.
The leading guard nodded and tilted his head, muttering, "New in the workplace and already tryin' to show up the folks who've been running Administrative for the past decades... Makes ya think when we're gonna be outdated," which garnered a few bitter laughs from the other security staff. The two ignored it, however, stepping deeper into the areas and noting that the deeper they went into the immaculate halls, the more staff seemed to be packing weaponry.
A Militarized society, through and through, both thought. Both also wondered how many of the pistols and revolvers were just for show versus actually being loaded. Revolvers, they could easily see, were packed to the gills with rounds, however. Meaning the normal sidearms probably were, too. Meaning they had to be careful, thought the girl.
They entered into a backroom area, ensuring they weren't spotted as they did so, before moving quickly past anything that might see them and make them seem suspicious to the wider Super Earth polity. They were only there to work and check on something, after all. They ducked behind a vending machine, letting a patrol of Helldivers clad in armor with gold inlays get past them and made it to one of the mainframe rooms with five minutes to spare.
They made sure they weren't followed and that security cameras didn't see them, with the girl standing guard at the door as the man installed what Cortana, the famed intrusion AI, had asked him to install into the mainframe itself:A chip with a small partition of Cortana that would give her direct wireless contact through the Galactic Wide Web that she'd managed to access thanks to ONI.
He gave a thumbs up for the all-clear, then the two quietly slipped out of the place and went back to their workplace as fast as their legs could carry them. Cortana, meanwhile, opened her eyes onto the Planetary Intranet of Super Earth and smiled, cracking her knuckles. She whispered to herself, "This is gonna be interesting..." as she started plucking up whatever Data was labelled 'CLASSIFIED' or similarly loaded words.
Super Earth's Encryption scheme was decent, at least. She could give them credit for that, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to crack into this stuff over time. Or send it back to ONI Central on Earth and allow their AIs to take a crack at it. They needed Intel if they were gonna change things in this little Facade of Democracy. Intel and proof to show the people whenever they found it opportune.
The UNSC didn't need a Cold War with Super Earth after the Victory against both the Terminids and the Automatons was seized. They needed an ally in this new galaxy and a base of operations to explore it from. What better place than the Sol copy here, after all? So she thought as she pruned the Intel she received of any Branches she might consider unimportant.
Chief also waited for her. New mission...