Chapter 1 - Feles et Mus
May 7th, 2545 (17:05 Hours – Military Calendar)
Aquilla System, Actium
Commonwealth of Pavia, Continent of Treviso
Near Clay-Antonia Shipyards
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Actium was a world whose very existence was a mystery to scientists. Located in the Aquilla system as the fourth planet from the star, its very being as a celestial body was both a denial of mathematical possibility and common sense.
Being 1.5 times the size of Earth and twice that of Miridem, it was in relatively the same stellar neighborhood as Aquilla's neighboring star, Euryale-1. By extension, it was also in range of Euryale-1 when it went supernova 22 million years ago. Its self-destruction had an apparent magnitude of 4, beating both the records of the SN 1987A and SN 2307B observations by a whole order of magnitude. Put plainly, the blast, with the star itself weighing an estimated 10 solar masses beforehand, would have had the destructive capacity to obliterate the Aquilla System and everything nearby. Yet both the star and at least one of its original planets remained perfectly intact, hence why Aquilla was dubbed by many in the UNSC scientific community as the "Miracle System" and Actium as the "Miracle Planet".
In the wake of the explosion, Euryale-1 turned into a pulsar neutron star. It remained close to the seemingly indestructible world at 2.728 light years distance, making it almost four times closer than Earth's brightest star, Sirius. Actium's close proximity to the new celestial body made it so that the planet had 26-hour days with evenings where the sky was a predominantly light blue hue due to the radiating light from Euryale, creating what were colloquially known as 'Blue Evenings' or 'Solar Evenings'. Whenever the local star Aquilla set, the surface of the planet would remain temporarily well-lit. At the same time, the stars in the night sky would also be visible, contributing heavily to Actium's status as a scenic destination and hub for tourism among the inner colonies. Hence the origin of the popular romantic phrase: "A Night on Actium."
Next to other worlds like Camber, New Carthage, Reach and formerly Miridem, Actium was part of the dozen planets that fell under the classification of the "Nexus Beltway", worlds that connected Earth to both the Inner and Outer colonies as well as vice versa. It was a major point of commerce and trade by proxy.
Other than being in the top-3 list of planets with the highest rate of annual tourism, it was also known for its massive naval shipyards.
Actium was host to one of the three Subdivisional Headquarters of Sinoviet Heavy Machinery, the others being on Reach and New Carthage while the primary headquarters resided in Southeast Asia back on Earth. Sinoviet possessed multiple shipbuilding installations on the planet including several Xiaoping-class Shipyards the size of entire cities. There the construction of new ships for the UNSC Navy was actively carried out and a large number of vessels involved in the war effort had their birthplace on this planet as a result. That fact alone made its defense against the current Covenant onslaught critical to humanity's chances for survival.
On the early morning of May 1st, the first Covenant ships slipped into the Aquilla system, quickly growing in numbers until an entire fleet had assembled on the outer edges. Actium's entire population was immediately prepared for mass-evacuations as the Aquilla Home Defense Fleet was sent to face the Covenant naval forces, then quickly forced to retreat to Actium. The tactical U-turn was due to the arrival of the second Covenant fleet on the other side of the system's outskirts mere hours after the first. Both proceeded to bare down on Actium in a coordinated stellar pincer, descending on the home defense fleet and laying siege to the world itself.
On the same day, the alert had also gone throughout the UNSC military network on Reach. In response, a dozen naval battlegroups were assembled together from the Epsilon Eridani Defense Fleet and the 341st Expeditionary Fleet to form the Reach QRF.
Duncan and the rest of Epsilon barely had any time to adjust to being back at Falchion before they found themselves being issued new deployment orders. Much to Duncan's own chagrin, he had been too tired to even reach the Dante Building's communication cubicles and fell asleep on his bunk shortly after their arrival. Now he was regretting it. He would have to wait another unknown stretch of time before he could check on Erica or O'Reilly and let them know he was still alive.
On May 1st, the entirety of the 7th Battalion was dispersed to different elements of the Reach QRF alongside contingents of Marines, Pilots and Armored personnel inbound to Actium. They left Epsilon Eridani, stopping at the Greydowns gas giant to link up with the Cygnus quick reaction force. Their number added 20 additional ships to the original fleet's 71, giving them a sizable boost in naval strength.
By May 4th, the relief forces had arrived at Actium to find the world hanging by a thread. Although they had fared marginally better than the Ulterin Home Defense fleet, Aquilla's fleet was visibly on the ropes. They were barely clinging to the northern and southern atmospheric regions. Everything else in between was under Covenant control.
Strangely, rather than glassing the world, the two invading fleets had chosen to occupy the major territories in the eastern and western hemispheres.
Instead of reaching the major population centers under assault, the leadership of the Actium relief force sent the bulk of those forces to assist in the protection of the Sinoviet shipyards. Under the orders of the Subdivisional Headquarters, the company was effectively abandoning the planet and moving its assets off world. To do it they required the protection of naval battlegroups assigned to different sites far away from major settlements.
The 7th Battalion had been attached to Battlegroup Indigo; a group tasked with the protection of the northeastern island-continent of Treviso. The ODSTs themselves were dispatched to one of the less-populated regions within the Commonwealth of Pavia, a protectorate of the Republic located on the mainland of the larger, southeastern continent.
The battalion was dropped at the Clay-Antonia Shipyards to protect it against local Covenant incursions. Given its Xiaoping classification, the installation was easily the size of several conglomerate townships and operated similarly in its magnitude. The site was projected to take a week before it would be fully cleared of all naval assets.
Garrison, now a Colonel after a promotion that came in the aftermath of Miridem, organized the four companies into a three-layered defensive grid across the installation's encompassing jungle terrain. Meter-deep trench lines and machine gun nests were dug to strengthen each position, making it harder for the Covenant to flush them out. Despite that fact the invaders still tried their hand at wiping them out.
For the last three days Covenant expeditionary forces had launched repeated assaults on the shipyards by both ground and air. Scores of ground infantries backed by dozens of light and heavy armor units attempted to storm the first trenchline. Meanwhile their manta ray-like Phantom dropships flew in to drop their warriors off within the Clay-Antonia itself. Organized machinegun efforts, combined with artillery fire, helped to break the ground effort while rocket teams hidden on the rooftops of the yard's outer buildings regularly stopped the air assaults cold.
At first, attempts by Banshee and Seraph squadrons to bombard the location had to be stopped by UNSC air support. However, airborne threats became less of an issue after a Marine company helped them setup well over twenty M71-Anti Aircraft Guns around the yard's outer limits. Groups of five were installed along the perimeter fences to guard the northern, southern, western and eastern skies. This, in addition to the trenches, helped create an effective surface to air killzone of roughly 200 meters from the perimeter gates. The killzone was gradually transformed into a graveyard of hundreds of dead Covenant, smoldering attack crafts and downed dropships.
All the while the 3,000-local yard-workers continued to load equipment onto outbound cargo ships.
Thankfully, the shipyards had sent off most of its newest harvest of Stalwart, Charon and Paris-class frigates prior to the invasion. Remaining frigates still under construction had their skeletal frames prepared so that larger Navy ships from Battlegroup Indigo could attach to their hardpoints then transport them out of the system. They were presently working at the rate of seven frigates discharged a day. It was relatively fast given the workload. The only question that remained was if it would be fast enough.
Whether the amount of dead had any effect on the Covenant's morale remained to be seen, however, since they continued to send one wave after another regardless of their near total casualty rate.
They had manpower to spare where the ODSTs did not. While the latter had kept their casualties to a minimum, the point remained that they couldn't hold this position forever. There was hearsay among the troopers that the only reason the Covenant hadn't come in-force yet was because they were still busy dealing with the main population centers in the east and west, something the UNSC brass were rumored to have counted on. It would've explained why they were sent to the shipyards first to ensure the safe extraction of naval assets rather than secure the evacuation of Actium's civilians. There was an uneasy feeling that the upper-command was allowing the Covenant to devour the cities in order to buy enough time for Sinoviet' s planetary departure.
For the most part, the worry that eventually the enemy would send greater forces dominated the battalion's attention, and today they were doing just that.
In the evening, word came down from command that another wave was gearing up to attack the Clay-Atonia Shipyards from the north. However, satellite observations had picked up on two Scarabs dispatched from Treviso's southern coast to flank the facility from the southeast.
Garrison, in turn, dispatched Epsilon to deal with the threat in their backyard while the rest of the battalion handled the northern threat. Epsilon was sent along with a squadron of four AV-14 Attack VTOLs better known as Hornets to assist.
There was no chance of using the airborne assault vehicles to hit the quadrupedal walkers head-on. While it wasn't impossible for a squad of ODSTs to take out a Scarab, dealing with two required a stealthier tact. Instead of a frontal attack, the Staff came up with a different idea, one that involved commandeering a number of Spade trucks from the garage of an abandoned farm in the area.
They found the walkers three kilometers southeast of the shipyards and closing. The veiny network of dirt roadways cutting through the dense tropical forestry helped them to outmaneuver and stalk the craft. It was more like playing a game of cat and mouse, as Yuri had put it, only with the roles reversed. Here the mice were the predators and the cats the unwitting prey.
With the help of the Hornets maintaining an observational distance they managed to track the Scarabs' expected route to a mountain pass. The landform curved about for one and a half kilometers before splitting off into two outbranching passes leading to more level ground. The beginning was narrow enough so that the Scarabs would be forced to go one by one. Considering the only other way forward would be to climb a steep mountain range spanning the continent's full width, the pass was the most likely option.
Once the Scarabs crawled inside, it quickly became a game of divide and conquer. The ODSTs drove under the shadows of the enshrouding forests to track them. Eventually the unequal terrain within the pass caused the rear Scarab to fall behind the one in the lead, creating a several hundred-meter gap. The moment the lead walker disappeared down one of the branching passes the ODSTs ambushed the straggler.
Less than a minute after their vehicular assault the craft gave a final bellowing roar before an internal eruption tore it into two ragged halves. With one down, the squad was eager to repeat their little maneuver on its next of kin.
The second Scarab never turned back to see what fiery fate had befallen its brother. It continued on its way out of the pass.
By the time the troopers caught up with the second craft it was already on more level ground, trotting towards the distant shipyards as it stomped its way through the forest below.
Duncan clung to the frame of the truck with his left hand to steady himself while shouldering his SPNKR with his right. His right forefinger twitched over the trigger with its middle neighbor shifting over the safety each time the vehicle bounced over the uneven dirt road. Hector was busy at the wheel, balancing his own launcher between his legs as he drove after the Scarab two hundred meters ahead.
While they could see it through the foliage, the dense tree-cover hid the three advancing Spades from detection. The Staff and Deaks were driving another truck twenty meters further along the same road. Nova and Zack were doing the same on the opposite side of the Scarab's wake.
"Ep-2 to Ep-1, ready when you are." Nova said over comms.
"Copy." The Staff replied. Another ten seconds passed as they started catching up to it.
The window to strike came the moment the assault platform's left foreleg rose from the earth and began arcing forward.
"Now!"
The Staff wheeled his truck off the road and darted out into the Scarab's line of sight, headed straight for where its leg would land. The frontal cannon never got the chance to take notice as the bio-mechanical limb slammed into a Ramón tree, guillotining it uncleanly down the middle. The Staff and Deaks leaped out of the truck a second before it impacted the foreleg's heel, then disappeared in an explosion as the Type 18 Magnetic Bayonet-Style Claymores mounted to the front bumper made contact. The blast consumed the gargantuan limb in a geyser of light and smoke.
On the other side, Nova and Zack leapt out a second before their vehicle crashed into the right foreleg, detonating on impact. The powerful claymore explosions rocked the Scarab to a standstill. Lights flared and sirens resounded a loud warning as the main body began to crouch.
"Here we go!" Hector shouted as he drove the last spade out into the open. They came out behind the descending Scarab and swiveled to a stop in front of its vulnerable troop bay. Duncan tossed two frag grenades into its dark-chrome interior. The twin-explosions cut down the team of Grunts and Jackals inside and sent them sprawling away in sprays of blue blood. "Bay clear."
"Alright," Hector said and pulled himself out of his seat. "Let's move."
The Spade was close enough for them to use the roof to hop into the bay. They quickly headed up the central ramp onto the top of the main body.
The 'head' was still moving, searching the jungle floor for a target. The same could be said for the rear anti-air turret which swiveled from one horizon to the next. In the distance, several Hornets circled about the titan, out of its effective range but ready to fly-in for the expected extraction.
Duncan and Hector locked onto the AA turret and fired off two rockets each. A quartet of explosions battered the frame, smashing away its crest and leaving a contorted husk behind. While green energy still glowed within its cracked depths the weapon looked otherwise neutralized.
They slammed fresh rockets into their launchers and headed down towards one of the observation decks.
"I've got point." Hector said as he took the lead with Duncan close behind. They ran into a Grunt manning the plasma cannon there. Hector bashed in its skull with his launcher before it could so much as yelp. They kept moving towards the rear with only seconds until the Scarab broke out of its current lockdown.
But right before they could turn the corner, something else did. In the brief second between Duncan spotting it and the flash of light that followed, he realized three things. Firstly, that it was a Major judging by its orange armor, secondly, that it was too close for them to use their rockets without killing themselves in the process, and thirdly, that Hector had already fired.
There was a thuck sound of metal penetrating flesh and a fizzle of broken energy shields as the Major was thrown clear of the Scarab. Rather than explode, the projectile had simply impaled the Elite and the force of its velocity sent the corpse spiraling off into the forest below.
Duncan gave Hector a look. He shrugged in reply as he loaded in another rocket to replace the one he'd fired. "Good thing it was a dud."
Duncan shook his head at the unbelievably close call and moved past. They slipped into the back of the craft. Waiting for them there was their main target: The Scarab's core housed in a small alcove. A circular, blue energy shield stood in their way. The two spread out across the rear platform, getting a safe distance between themselves and the core.
"Go!" Hector said and they shot a unified salvo. The explosive duo punched the shields into a light shade of red.
"Again!"
A second rocket salvo broke the shields and enveloped the device on the other side. All around them the emergency sirens blared with renewed vigor. The smoke cleared to show electrical energy discharging from the damaged core, its light flickering from a passive blue to an angry, pulsating red.
"That did it." The Staff said over comms. "Ep-4, Ep-8 get yourselves out of there, now!"
"On it!" Duncan shouted as the two of them sprinted up the length of the other observation platform. "Ep-4 to Tango-4, you almost there?"
The pilot of the Hornet appeared ahead of them, heading towards them for a quick pick-up. Then a sudden column of emerald fire spewed out at it from the still functional focus cannon, forcing the Hornet to veer off course.
Both ODSTs stopped at the head only to find their Hornet moving away to avoid a trio of AA plasma bolts. They turned on the turret to find it damaged but still operational.
"I thought we took this thing out?" Duncan hissed.
"Guess not." Hector aimed his launcher at the gun and pulled the trigger. It clicked, empty. "Right, I'm dry."
Duncan saw the passageway leading back down to the lower troop bay and was about to suggest they just hop off when a myriad of smaller explosions began popping off across the Scarab. The ramp leading inside was quickly enveloped by a shower of flames and sparks.
The Staff came back on. "What's your situation, Ep-8?"
Duncan was about to respond when a rocket slammed into the focus cannon. He looked back to see another Hornet strafing the Scarab's front with its twin rotary cannons. An ODST clinging to its starboard skid shot their SPANKR, sending another rocket into the focus cannon. The explosive punch broke off more of its metal mandibles and caused its second plasma salvo to come out misshapen. Yet it kept its attention on a second much closer Hornet running decoy.
"Ep-9 to 4 and 8, we'll handle the focus cannon. Deal with that AA so we can get out of here, over?"
"Roger." Duncan said, catching an idea. He dropped his launcher and took a plasma grenade from his belt. Hector didn't even have to look at him to echo his thinking. They both dashed up different sides of the incline leading to the turret. When they were close enough, they primed the grenades and tossed them onto the mouth of the turret. The whining blasts of energy caused its molten opening to fuse together, creating an artificial blockage.
"That's good enough." The pilot, Tango-4 said. They watched him pull in next to the Scarab. As if to test their theory, the turret turned to fire on it, only for the fused opening to block the discharge. The subsequent backup caused the energy to spew through cracks in the gun like a leaking faucet.
Duncan took a running start and leaped aboard the Hornet's starboard skid, then nearly slid off. A hand caught him. The ODST already onboard pulled him in.
Hector jumped next, landing onto the skid and causing the Hornet to dip slightly. Thankfully, it was still able to turn and veer off from the smoking Scarab.
The other Hornets similarly moved away. Seconds later the walker let loose a resounding death cry before being enveloped in a massive burst of blue flames. What was left thereafter fell to the forest floor in a burning heap.
Duncan breathed a sigh of relief at the second close call for the day.
While most Hornets were only able to carry two passengers, one on either skid, the ones they were using now had extended skids long enough to carry a small fireteam. Right now, theirs was carrying two plus Hector who technically counted as a binary by bulk alone. The rest of Epsilon had already gotten aboard the other Hornets as well.
"Good job, Epsilon. That's two more Scarabs to our name." The Staff said. He switched to a frequency that everyone else could hear and contacted the Colonel. His voice came on a second later.
"This is Neptune-Actual, how are we looking back there Ep-1?"
"Neptune's backyard is clear. We've got two smoking Scarabs and a whole lot of enthusiasm back here, sir."
"Copy that. Come back to base and bring that enthusiasm with you. We could sure use it right about now."
"On our way."
At the Staff's order, the Hornets started on a northerly heading. As they did, there was another explosion off to the side of the wreck. It was reddish orange, meaning it was more than likely human ordinance.
"What was that?" Deaks asked.
"Probably just secondaries from the claymores." Nova said.
Rico chuckled to himself. "I mean, killing them twice seems to defeat the point of doing it the first time, doesn't it?"
Duncan stared at the sight of the small explosion. So did Hector. They both could tell that it just so happened to be the right size of a rocket detonation. It could only have been the same one Hector had fired into that Elite.
Duncan stared at him. "Dud, huh?"
Hector shrugged, nervously laughing. "Maybe Zack's right about that Irish luck of yours after all."
Duncan slugged him in the shoulder. He pulled himself down into a seated position on the skid and watched the fiery wreck of the Scarab fall away in the distance.
He glanced up at the ODST standing on his left. While his face was hidden by his visor, the one feature that made him uniquely distinct was the black-shaded handle of the Katana sheathed on his back. A vertical pattern of bloodred diamonds marked the length from the bottom of the handle to the hilt. He'd seen a few troopers with their own unique pieces of gear, like Deaks with Silver Buddha. But it was still difficult to get used to seeing a man with a traditional Japanese sword on his back fighting in a modern war.
His attention fell to the nametag just below his left shoulder pauldron: 'W. Ikimoto.'
"Hey Ep-9." He called.
The other ODST turned to him.
"Thanks for the quick thinking back there."
"Yeah." Hector added, giving him a two-fingered salute. "Thanks Mito."
He gave them the thumbs up. "If things go the way I think they will you might be thanking me like that a lot more often."
Duncan felt he was probably grinning at them behind his visor. He decided to leave him be rather than challenge that claim. The guy was a rookie after all. Since Duncan was still fresh enough to know how he felt upon first coming out here, he couldn't help being a little jealous at how the man, only a year younger and a year less experienced than himself, could be so cool under pressure this soon.
Private Wagatsumo Ikimoto, or simply Mito as everyone preferred, was a rather attentive guy. He was an Earth-boy just like Duncan. Fresh from ODST Training Camp Hideyoshi in Hokkaido, Japan he quickly proved himself to be of the brave sort as well, often quiet although not introverted. He'd managed to beat back Deaks' insults with a few confident one-liners early on and was ready to pounce even when he looked relaxed. Apparently, he preferred to use his sword over his UNSC-issued combat knife. He was rumored by other ODSTs to be a master with it as well, and his post-graduation specialization files suggested the same. With those skills, and with some contestation from Deaks, he was made the squad's official CQC expert and the newest member of Epsilon.
The Squad had officially met the trooper during the stop at the Greydowns to link up with the Cygnus QRF. He'd been aboard their ship from Reach already but they hadn't gotten to meet him until then. That was due to the exchange of personnel between ships which led the Staff to check their squad registry and find out that they had a new, ninth member. As it so happened, upon their return Colonel Garrison decided to personally assign one of the newest batch of rookies sent from Sol to their squad, then forgot to tell them about it. They managed to track Mito down by asking around for him. Even he wasn't sure where'd been assigned and was hanging with elements of Alpha Company in the mess hall when they found him.
He was doing good, so far at least. But Duncan wondered when or if he would crack, and if the squad had already started a pool on his survival odds.
Mito slipped off his helmet to let the wind blow through his lowcut, jet-black hair which flew about in the turbulence. His East Asian features became more evident in his slightly epicanthic eyes with high cheekbones and a few faint scars on his face. He looked relaxed.
Duncan decided to take a note from him and do the same. He watched the forest zip past far below his boots, quietly enjoying the momentary peace that he knew would undoubtedly evaporate the moment they got back to the shipyards.
Feles et Mus – Cat and Mouse