The battle continues
Sergeant James Hackett grits his teeth as he takes cover under the window. He and his squad were currently on the third floor of an old office building, even as he gripped his gun as tightly as he could, he could still feel his hands shaking. He didn't know what from, it could have been fear or adrenaline, but he really didn't know which at this point. Not that those around him were much better of course, on either side of him, his guys were in a similar position to him, taking cover and just waiting for the right moment.
Above him, he could hear the loud banging coming from the UNSC ships flying overhead, despite it all that might just be the most surreal part about all of this. The sound of those weapons going off brought him comfort, he spent most of his life fearing that sound, fearing what it would bring to him and his family and friends. But right now, the sound of that cannon brought no small amount of comfort as it meant that those alien ships would be being kept busy, he knew full well what that would have meant if they were gone. Those larger and more powerful ships could have just wiped them out from where they are now.
"Hold, they're nearly here" a voice called out from his radio.
The sound of it caused him to jolt slightly as he was so pent up, he let go of his weapon and with a shaking hand he brought it up to his ear "Copy that" he whispered and against his better judgment, he slowly lifted his head and looked out through the broken window. The building they were in was right on the outskirts of the city, so they had a good view of the large grasslands that made up at least thirty miles of the land surrounding the city before it grew into forests and mountains. And that proved useful now as it made sneaking into the city with an army a very difficult thing to do.
At one time the view brought him no small amount of comfort, he remembered seeing it all the time when he was growing up. Now, it was a horror show. One of those alien ships was hovering in the air about the brunt grass. It's weapons firing at something over their heads, the sounds and sights of MACs and rail guns being fired back at it. That alone made him want to vomit what little he had for food later. The rest of it didn't help him, on the ground directly underneath the ship was what looked like a large mass of moving... something, for a moment he thought it was a large grouping of insects.
Though even when he first saw it, he knew deep down that it was something far worse. That was proven as the more he looked at the mass the more the shapes started to take form into bodies, larger than humans and wearing armour with colours he wouldn't have expected to see. He could see large vehicles within the mass "shit" he heard a voice mutter next to him.
Something he could agree with, how the fuck were they supposed to survive this? He shook his head and did his best to control himself, he knew the plan. They would hold for as long as possible then when it got too much, they would either retreat down the streets or up the building where they would get an air evac.
Thankfully they wouldn't be facing this horde on their own, they were in the middle of two other large buildings that were being defended and the UNSC ships over them would provide fire support if they asked for it. Well not them, it would need to be either of the ODSTs or those big, armoured freaks.
They were all spread out evenly, the big guys in the armour were on the ground with the ODSTs, while he and his guys were to provide cover from above.
"Hold" the voice said again. He looked back down from the window and knew what he needed to do, he turned his head and looked at those on either of him, giving them all a small nod.
The sound of weapons being clocked echoed throughout the still furnished office "Remember, priority targets" he remained them all. During the mission briefs, they were told how many types of aliens were in this Covenant and that alone boggled his mind. On their way over from the highway where the ships landed, he looked over the data he was given in the reports. Well, he said data. It was a mostly crumpled-up sheet of paper that had a listening he could read. Thankfully Diggs who was in charge of the ODST answered all the questions he had.
Taking another glance at his guys, he made sure that they all placed their Assault Rifles on the ground next to him and checked over their Sniper Rifles, they weren't looking for anything specific, just jitters, everyone does that before a fight. All except the most veteran of veterans, which they were not of course "big guys in mostly armour" Derin on his left spoke up, it was more to himself than everyone else.
Which was who they were aiming for "Anyone with a shield" James said back. While the big guys were something they needed to keep an eye out for. Sergeant Diggs told him that some of the smaller ones had small handheld shields that they hid behind, if they had the chance to bring them down then they would take it as well.
"Snipers ready" the machine asked them. Since Hackett wasn't allowed to know their names, ranks or even what they were because it was so classified then machine will have to do.
Shifting his knees slightly, James looked back out over towards the large mass that he could now make a lot more clearly. But he knew that the army wasn't his choice, it was those who were so much closer than that. Of course, the enemy wouldn't be rushing them in one clear line, no the enemy would come at them in waves and first was about to reach them "Ready" he said into his radio.
"Ready" Jorge listened in closely as the snipers all gave their confirmation that they were ready. The largest of the Spartans was waiting in cover behind a large steel pillar in front of the office building, there was a row of seven of them that the ODSTs were taking cover behind, three of them for each one. While he was on his own, not that he could be surprised by that of course, he wasn't just a Spartan but the biggest one they had. Take that along with his armour and heavy machine gun, he was only just barely able to keep himself hidden away behind the metal.
He was the only Spartan present on this front, he didn't like it one bit but he couldn't blame John for making the call, they needed to defend those missiles or there was no point in this fight. He would just need to make do with his weapons, nearby allies and his laser marker on his hip that was synced to the Ajax just above them.
"On my mark" he said into his radio as within his helmet he took another look at his display, his number of allies here and on the two other buildings, his ammo, weapons at the ready and his link to the battle channels.
Turning his head, he caught sight of the one in charge of this grouping of ODSTs. Second Lieutenant Thomas Millar was hugging his own pillar, his weapon down and ready, his shoulder pressing against the metal. He didn't know the man at all but based on the rumours that he heard and some reports he read, not to mention the brace on the man's hand he could just about make out. This one had some type of altercation with Atlas a week or so ago. He didn't know what about it, but he had faith that the man wouldn't let that get in the way of the mission.
He gave him a nod, and after a moment it was returned. Giving him the clear signal that they were ready. He looked back forward, closed his eyes for a moment and took a one more calming breath. When he heard the sounds of heavy footsteps not too far away, he moved "MARK!" he shouted as he moved out from cover, pulling the trigger of his heavy weapon before he even had a target.
When he stepped out of view, he had his first target immediately. He saw three groups of seven that were all calmly walking forward, he took note of their arrogance of just walking forward with no real formations into a city that was being openly defended. Either way, it wasn't something he was going to complain about their incompetence.
"WWWAAAAA" The Elite started to yell when it saw him move but it couldn't raise its weapon in time to stop him. His heavy machine gun fired ten rounds per second and each one hit their targets right into the elite's head.
He briefly saw the shield it had activated though that didn't last longer than another second before it gave out and without the protection, the head of the alien was shredded under the bullets. Jorge let go of the trigger for just a moment as he turned and aimed at the next target, the Elites were now under fire from all sides and above.
A round of sharpened spikes smacked against his shoulder guard, not enough to get in as they shattered against him. But knowing even with that same second, if the spike was just a few centimetres higher it would have missed and gone through the armour around his neck, whether or not it would have gone through his underlayers and breached his skin was something he didn't know and didn't want to risk again. He turned the barrel, turned a few degrees to the right and aimed right at the large Brute that was yelling at him along with the grouping with others of its kind.
Unlike the Elites, most of these guys didn't have shields and it was quickly ripped up by the rounds. Jorge wouldn't like and say he didn't take some satisfaction from the death he was inflicting on the enemy, he did. He moved on to the next target and much like the last he was brought down. A flash of light came into view, and he looked down to see a bright blue ball at his feet, he acted quickly, stepping back and turning around as fast as he could. But it wasn't enough to help.
The force of the grenade pushed him back towards the glass doors of the entrance to the building, despite his size and weight in the amour. He was pushed through the glass. As he was flying through the air, he was able to quickly go over his state from the blast, he could still think calmly and rationally so he wasn't going into a state of shock. His body hit the ground and he slid two more feet, if he wasn't going into shock then any type of injury, he would have couldn't have been bad. His body stopped moving and he quickly started to pick himself back up, he didn't have any trouble doing this, so his arms and legs were intact.
He turned around and faced forward, he could make out the others holding off the enemy well enough but when he looked further back behind the enemy lines, he could make out the enemy tanks 'Wraiths' as they were being designated moving forward. He cursed to himself as he ran forward, bending down to grab his weapon as he did so, the heavy weapon feeling as light to him as it always did.
"Snipers, target the vehicle chassis" he ordered as he let his weapon fire right into the hatch of the tank he knew where the pilot was. He didn't give an exact location, but he hoped they would see where he was firing and take it from there.
"DROPSHIP INCOMING!" Alice screamed from her corner on the rooftop as all turned to face her as they did so. Dougless who was kneeling down near the edge of the roof, more out of a way of not straining his body from his injury than for the cover. Yet even he turned around to see what was coming.
Sure, as she called it, Jerome spotted the Phantom approach from the sky, in the same direction from where the rest of the ships came from. While not ideal, they all knew well enough that the ships above them wouldn't be able to get all the incoming ships.
"Target the Phantom!" he ordered, looking back over his shoulder and pointing towards the AA fun.
Thankfully the one using it seemed to notice him quickly and knew what he was getting at "Incoming!" Doug shouted from his kneeling position as he fired his DMR at his target and the bullets bounced off the armour of the Dropship as the Phantom got closer to them.
Thankfully he wasn't alone, and the AA fired from both barrels right at the ship as the front of it started to go over the roof they were taking cover on. For once the Spartan found himself thankful that the Covenant seemed to be the more advanced of the races as when the thrusters of the flew over him a lot closer than he would have liked, he wasn't roasted from the heat as he would have been if this was a Pelican and that was something he could use.
Before he could fire another round, he was blasted from his kneeling position halfway across the roof as the front cannon of the dropship seemed to choose him as the first target. As he flipped through the air, his injury from not even five minutes before made it impossible for him to steady himself and he flipped a couple of times before he fell on his stomach. Not giving himself a moment to recover, he shrugged himself onto his back and moved his hand to his hip. Reaching for his sidearm, he grabbed his pistol and aimed.
The first thing he noted was that the Phantom was on fire, loud purple flames sprouted from the engines he saw not even a second ago, the second was that it looked out of control as the AA gun continued to rain fire upon it. Doug saw a figure in the corner of his vision, looking into the corner of his eye he could make out the armour of the ODST as one kneeled next to him, his rifle was out and he was firing at the side of the dropship. The Spartan blinked as he could see the bay doors open and large groups of contacts jumping out.
Though it wasn't clean.
That much he could make out enough through his momently daze. Another engine on the ship gave out and it started to spin uncontrollably, those who jumped out did so at just the right time. He couldn't make a correct count on how many, but he could see the leader of them enough. It was a Brute based on the shape it had but this one was different from others he'd seen before; it was wearing a lot of armour, and it carried a heavy-looking hammer.
Knowing that it would be a waste of ammo to waste on him, he aimed his pistol and fired at the grunts and Jackels that jumped off with the big fucker. His weapon sang and the first round went right through an unexpecting Grunt before the Jackels started to move front with their hand-held shields. He tried to get up but found himself unable, while not doing it perfectly due to the situation, he took a couple of microseconds to try and understand what had happened and why he couldn't move.
He could tell that he wasn't paralyzed due to the great deal of pain he was in, but that was also the problem, whatever he hurt it was hurt badly. For now, he grits his teeth and gets back to it, aiming his weapon for the gap in the shields, taking note that despite it all. The ODST in the AA gun was still aiming upwards and firing at the incoming ships. He could see Jerome and Alice do their best to take down the big guy, he also noticed that his weapon ran out of ammo.
The ODST next to him noticed both that and that he was in the line of damage, he looked over Doug in another direction and if he was talking to someone, he couldn't hear it. What he could do was take the rifle that was handed to him, the ODST handed him his weapon and moved out of view behind him, not questioning the action. Doug aimed and fired more precise shots at the advancing enemy that focused on him and the other ODSTs while the two remaining Spartans dealt with the big one. Feeling two sets of hands grab the back of his armour, he was pulled back towards the wall a little further away from the fighting.
At least he was sure that was the plan until the Phantom went further into the air away from them into an uncontrollable spin. For a moment he hoped that it was going to crash further away from them. At least that was until it made one more final turn and he had a feeling this was going to be a last fuck you from the pilot for shooting it down. The front of the ship slammed into the corner of the building right underneath them and he felt the ground cave in all around them.
Jerome fired his weapon as he ran forward towards the Brute, the large alien roared at him as it brought the hammer back over his shoulder and swung it forward with one hand, the Spartan was faster however. He sidestepped the attack but to his surprise, the hammer let lose a powerful force as it struck the ground, it was so strong that it knocked him off his feet and if it wasn't for the small, elevated wall of concrete around the edges of the roof, he would have been pushed off it completely and fall to the ground bellow.
The wall cracked and he nearly broke through it completely. He was sure that the Brute would have gone for him then and there, but Alice moved in fast. She fired her weapon into the Brutes back and Jerome watched as the shields flared up. There was a small flash in the corner of his eyes, his instincts took over and his head moved a couple of inches to the side by a couple of inches, able to move out of the way of the plasma round that would have gone through his visor.
Quickly moving into a kneeling position, he immediately rolled to the side to avoid any other fire, when he rolled, he thought about where the attack came from. As soon as his feet flattened on the ground, he turned and aimed. The three burst round left the barrel and landed right between the eyes of the grunt that tried to kill him. He was about to carry on with the rest of the little ones but stopped when he heard Alice grunt from behind him, a sound he was able to make out of all the explosions and fire happening around them.
Trusting the others to deal with them, he quickly turned and started to move towards the Brute, ignoring the explosion happening above them from the Phantom that sounded like it had just blown an engine. Alice had his rifle pressed against her chest as she used her speed and smaller stature to wave in between the larger alien's body. Firing her weapon as she did so, causing the Brute shield the flare up even more.
As he neared the Brute, the alien was able to use its free hand to grab her by the back of the neck and swing her free of its body, it turned to approach her before she could land giving him a good opening. The Spartan sprinted across the roof but he didn't give his position away by firing as he did so. No, instead he tried something else completely. when he neared the Brute, Jerome jumpe d into the air and with his muscles, he was able to clear the height of his enemy.
Both his feet landed on the shoulder plates of the Brute armour, of course, it flayed its body around in a blind attempt to throw him off. But before it could, he moved with his free hand and grabbed the underside of its chin, then he pulled back as hard as he could, with his free hand he aimed his weapon at the back of its head and pulled the trigger, not removing it for a moment causing rapid fire.
That combined with the strength of his whole body pulling its head backwards. Despite its much bulker size and strength, it wasn't able to stay on its feet. Jerome could feel himself fall to the ground, bringing the Brute with him but before he could what he assumed was the Phantom rounded back into the building and crashed into it just below them. The ground under him and from what he could see half of the roof caved in under them.
All he could do was let out a small yelp as he fell down an unknown number of floors before he came to a stop, he only caught the colour purple before his helmet smacked against it before he and the Brute both rolled off what he assumed was the Phantom moving fall further down into the building. His body rolled across the new ground, and he only had a moment to shake his head and try to pick himself up before he felt a large hand grab him by the back of the head and lift him into the air, he didn't stay there though.
He felt himself being thrown across the floor, only catching the sight of the Brute's now unarmoured head "RRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOO" it roared at him as he landed on his back, thankfully not rolling which allowed him to keep eye contact with the enemy.
The Brute reached down grabbed his hammer and started to march towards him, Jerome was quick to stand up when he had a moment and take an account of his surroundings, the first thing he could see was the burning Phantom that looked like it was half hanging out the side of the building, ready to fall out at any moment. It was also on fire for the most part but since this building was mostly steel and concrete, he didn't have to worry about it catching alight.
What did concern him was that it was painfully clear that he didn't have any weapons on him, except his combat knife. Using all the training he had, he quickly grabbed it and moved in a ready stance, taking note that despite all the small rocks and shards of steel falling around them due to the crash, some of which fell onto both of their armours, the enemies didn't flare up with protection. Telling the Spartan that the Brute no longer had shields, which was an advantage he was planning on taking advantage of.
He just hoped the others would continue to guard what was left of the roof from the next wave and trusted him to look after himself.
A bit shorter this time around for the chapter, sorry about that this has been a long week. I'll try and make it up to you for the next chapter.
Next Story update: Project Atlas
